Spice sat motionless, staring at his terminal.
“…Biological molecules confirmed.”
Inside a sample brought back from a distant asteroid in space, molecules that make up life had been found. City researchers were announcing it, their voices trembling .
“Life may have been born from a fragment of a star.”
After a while, Spice quietly closed the terminal. Today was the start of the spring equinoctial week. Sonchō was heading, alone, toward a small stone monument deep within Dragon God’s Lake.
Spice said nothing, and simply followed behind him.
The two of them stood before the monument for a while.
“If that distant star, and this ground beneath us, are made of the same material—”
Sonchō said it quietly.
“…Maybe so.”
The spring equinox wind passed across the surface of the lake.
Margin note: In Spice’s notes, “coordinates where biological molecules were confirmed” and “location of the stone monument” were written on the same page.
【Today’s Drop】
- Biological Molecules Confirmed in Hayabusa2 Sample (March 17, 2026): JAXA announced that biological molecules, building blocks of life, had been confirmed in samples of the asteroid Ryugu brought back by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft .
- Start of Spring Higan (March 17): The beginning of the spring equinoctial week centered on Vernal Equinox Day. A traditional period for visiting ancestors’ graves.
This is an English translation of “星の欠片と春の墓前”, part of Tales of Amencho Town (蛙鳴町奇譚).
