Window 4, 'the Giant Plains': A Young Giant Approaches the Window for the First Time

Window 4, "the Giant Plains," located on a hill in the city's north, opened at 10:07 p.m. on the 27th and remained open for 47 minutes. According to the Dimensional Survey Division, previous observations had mainly recorded an adult giant, dozens of meters tall, walking the plain while small human-like figures from a herding settlement lived alongside its movements. During the opening on the 27th, for the first time, a separate individual — believed to be a young giant roughly a tenth the height of an adult — was seen slowly approaching the window, escorted by several of the settlement's figures.

The young giant stopped roughly 30 to 40 meters short of the window, lingered there briefly, and then turned back with its escorts. The tremor was not strong enough to shake the teacups in the observation room, though a notepad on the desk is said to have trembled slightly. "In the past, the adult's footsteps have shaken the whole window," one window keeper recalled. "This time, because it was only the young one, the tremor was much milder."

■ "Not a Sign It Intends to Cross"

The division told this paper that while it was the first time a young giant had been observed approaching the window, it would be premature to read this as a sign of intent to cross. The basic rules — one-way passage, no control over the phenomenon — remain unchanged, and nothing can be done from this side to encourage or discourage it. "It's possible the young one has wandered to unusual places under its escorts' guidance before," an official said. "It may simply be that this time, that happened to be the spot where humans happen to be watching." The division stressed it was in no hurry to assign meaning.

TDA Director Makoto Hiura, at a regular press briefing, repeated the agency's standard line that "the observation network is functioning normally," adding, "It's more honest to say we'll record that it approached, without pretending to know why."

■ Stepped-Up Observation

The division said it would double the number of observers assigned to Window 4, from one to two, to focus on recording whether the approach recurs. It is also expected to set up a period of intensified observation centered on the young giant's behavior. "We'll consider how to prepare for an approach strong enough to shake the window, drawing on the experience of removal operations in the bay area," an official said, though no concrete response plan has been settled.

■ A Window Keeper's Account

The keeper on duty that night said, "I was used to the adult's footsteps, but the young one's gait was so light that at first I thought I'd misjudged something. What stayed with me was that the settlement's people didn't hurry the young one along — they seemed to wait while it stopped. It made me think there's a life over there, too, that doesn't rush its children."

■ Compared With Other Windows

The division is also weighing today's observation against previously reported events at other stable windows: the counting song at Window 2, "the Sea of Mechanisms," which broke right after five consecutive matches (October 23rd), and the color changes at Window 3, "the Slime Marsh," that responded to signal experiments (the 16th). "The phenomena differ window to window, but the shape of our own confusion keeps repeating — the other side shows a change, and our side can't keep up with how to read it. That pattern itself is worth recording," an official said.

Etsuko Kajiura, 58, the University of Wangyo professor chairing the panel of outside experts, previously reported, told this paper, "The ethical debate over whether we should even be watching may carry different weight now that what we're watching has widened from an adult to a child." She suggested the panel might take up the ethical dimension of this finding in November.

■ Different From a Removal Operation

Under the previously reported removal-operation framework for designated drift species — as in the September 2nd case in Edagawa — creatures that appear on this side of the boundary are handled under established procedure. In this case, however, the giant remains entirely on the other side of the window, and no effect on this side has been confirmed. A TDA biological management official clarified, "This is nothing like a situation calling for a removal operation. We're only watching something happen over there; nothing has happened over here." The official added, "Still, sharing what we've learned in case of the unexpected has its own value."

■ What Comes Next

The division will watch whether the approach was a one-time event or part of a recurring pattern, without assigning intent or identity to either side. The finding will be reported to the November panel of outside experts chaired by Etsuko Kajiura, previously reported.