# LUNVALE
### Chapter 68 — *The Yamaguchi District Group*
---
Day twenty-five.
She woke at 7am.
The Yamaguchi district group was coming today.
Eleven people.
The seventh building was ready.
She lay still.
Then got up.
---
The kitchen.
Ren. Two cups.
She sat.
He pushed a cup toward her.
She drank.
"The harbor ward broadcast," he said.
She looked at him.
"Axel went out at 6am," he said. "Early broadcast. On the ridge signal." He paused. "One call came in."
She looked at him.
"Who," she said.
"Not from the four difficult searches," he said. "Someone else. From the eastern docks area. A man who had been sheltering in a storage facility." He paused. "He heard the broadcast for the first time this morning."
She looked at the cup.
"The eastern docks," she said.
"The ridge relay extends east as well as toward the harbor ward," he said. "Kai said it would. Eleven kilometres in the harbor ward direction — but also coverage of parts of the eastern docks."
She looked at the cup.
"He's coming in," she said.
"He left at 6:30am," he said. "Axel is at the boundary to meet him."
She looked at the cup.
"The eastern docks," she said. "Kai's assessment hasn't reached there yet."
"No," he said.
"This man might know things," she said.
"Yes," he said. "Axel thought of that too. He's asking him about what he's seen on the route."
She looked at the cup.
"Who else is in the eastern docks," she said.
"We don't know," he said.
She looked at the cup.
"We will," she said.
He looked at her.
She drank her tea.
---
At 8am the man from the eastern docks arrived.
He came in with Axel.
Fifties. Harbor-weathered like Toshi. The specific quality of someone who had spent time near water and been shaped by it.
He stopped at the entrance.
The pause.
Different from the others.
He didn't look at the noticeboard first.
He looked at Hiro's stall.
Then he walked directly to it.
Sat down.
Hiro put something in front of him without being asked.
She watched from the table.
He ate.
Then he looked at the noticeboard.
At the festival schedule.
At the children's harbor.
At the six names.
At the two houses and the gap.
He looked at the two houses for a moment.
Then he looked at Lena.
She came to the stall.
Sat beside him.
"The eastern docks," she said.
"Yes," he said.
"How long," she said.
"Since the third day," he said. "I was at the docks when Tuesday happened. I stayed." He paused. "The storage facility has supplies. I know the docks." He paused again. "I thought — if there were people there, they'd need someone who knew the layout."
She looked at him.
"Were there people," she said.
He was quiet for a moment.
"Some," he said. "In the first week. They moved on." He paused. "I stayed."
She looked at him.
"You stayed to be there if someone came," she said.
He looked at the stall counter.
"Yes," he said.
She looked at him.
"And nobody came," she said.
"Not until the broadcast this morning," he said.
She was quiet.
He was quiet.
"The eastern docks," she said. "What's there. What did you see."
He looked at the counter.
"Changed — fewer now than before. The eastern docks had high density in the first week. It's lower." He paused. "The infrastructure is mostly intact. The storage facilities. The loading equipment." He paused again. "The docks themselves — functional. The boats in the harbor are—" He paused. "Some are still operational. The smaller ones."
She looked at him.
"Operational boats," she said.
"Potentially," he said. "I'm not a sailor. But the boats I looked at — they seemed intact." He paused. "Nobody has been maintaining them. But they were intact when I last checked."
She looked at the table.
At the record.
At the map visible across the room — Kai's map, the city getting larger.
At the eastern docks. Still partially blank.
"Toshi," she said.
He looked at her.
"He worked the harbor for thirty years," she said. "He'll know about the boats." She paused. "And Kai is finishing the harbor ward assessment. The eastern docks is the next area."
He looked at her.
"You have a plan," he said.
"We always have a plan," she said.
He looked at the stall.
"What's your name," he said.
"Lena," she said.
He looked at her.
"I heard your name on the broadcast," he said. "A few times." He paused. "The first time I heard a broadcast clearly." He paused. "It was *Lena says the city is still here.*"
She looked at him.
"Axel says the city is still here," she said.
"He says it," the man said. "But I heard — I don't know." He paused. "It sounded like someone made him believe it first."
She looked at the stall counter.
Then at Axel across the room.
Reorganising something.
The forward momentum.
"Yes," she said.
She looked at the man.
"What's your name," she said.
"Kengo," he said.
She looked at him.
"Kengo," she said. "The docks need someone who knows them." She paused. "When we assess them properly — you'll be part of that."
He looked at the stall.
"I know every square metre of those docks," he said.
"I know," she said.
He ate.
She went back to the table.
---
At 9am the Yamaguchi district group arrived.
Eleven people.
They came together — not a straggled group, together. Someone had organised them. She could tell by the way they moved: a coordinated unit that had been moving together for an hour and had developed a rhythm.
They came through the entrance.
The pause.
All eleven of them.
Standing in the arcade entrance looking at the space.
Then one of them — a woman, forties, the specific purposeful quality of the organiser — looked at the wall.
"Is that it," she said. "The noticeboard."
"Yes," Lena said.
The woman walked to it.
The others followed.
They stood in front of the noticeboard — eleven people from the Yamaguchi district looking at what had been kept.
The festival schedule.
The children's harbor.
The six names.
The two houses and the gap.
They looked at all of it.
Lena let them look.
Then the woman said: "The wall across the street. Is that where the names are."
"Yes," Lena said.
"Later," the woman said. Not to Lena. To the group. "We look at the wall later." She paused. "First we eat."
She turned to the stall.
Looked at Hiro.
"Is there enough," she said.
Hiro looked at her.
"There's always enough," he said.
She sat down.
The others sat down.
Hiro fed eleven people.
---
At 10am Mira processed the intake.
Medical first. The Yamaguchi group had been organised at their shelter — they arrived healthy, their medical needs documented by whoever had been running the shelter's medical system.
Nadia looked at the documentation.
"This is thorough," she said.
"The shelter had a nurse," the organiser said. Her name was Mira too — a second Mira, a development Lena noted without the capacity to be surprised anymore. "She documented everything."
Nadia looked at the documentation.
"The nurse," she said. "Is she coming."
"She stayed," the other Mira said. "There are still people at the shelter who need her."
Nadia looked at the documentation.
"Tell her—" She paused. "Tell her when she does come — there's a position here."
The other Mira looked at her.
"I'll tell her," she said.
Lena wrote: *Two Miras now. The second Mira organised the Yamaguchi group. She has the quality of someone who has been doing this for twenty-five days and has developed strong opinions about how it should be done.*
---
At 11am the Yamaguchi group went to the wall.
She didn't go with them.
That was theirs.
She stayed at the table and wrote.
She wrote about Kengo and the eastern docks and the operational boats.
She wrote about the Yamaguchi group arriving together and eating first.
She wrote about the second Mira.
She wrote about the rhythm of it — the specific daily accumulation of people coming back.
Then she wrote:
*The city is building its own momentum.*
*The broadcast finds people. The people come. The people tell others. The others come.*
*We are no longer the only force driving the return. The city is driving itself.*
*That's what a city is when it knows what it is.*
*It returns.*
She put the pen down.
Read it.
Then kept writing.
---
At noon Axel broadcast.
Thirteen sentences now.
The twelve, and then: *If you are in the eastern docks — we hear you. Come in.*
He turned off the radio.
"Kengo's suggestion," he said.
She looked at him.
"He said someone might be listening," he said. "In the docks. The way he was listening." He paused. "He said they'd recognise the description of the docks. They'd know it was real."
She looked at the radio.
"Yes," she said.
He put the radio down.
"Eighty-eight," he said.
She looked at him.
"Including the Yamaguchi group," he said. "Eighty-eight."
She looked at the arcade.
At the spaces opening up — the seventh building now taking the overflow. The downtown buildings. The specific circulation of people coming and going.
"The seventh building," she said.
"Twelve of the Yamaguchi group are there now," he said. "Four are in existing spaces." He paused. "Wait — eleven in the group."
"Yes," she said. "Eleven in the Yamaguchi group."
He looked at the numbers.
"Ten in the seventh building," he said. "One staying in the third adjacent building — she had a room there before." He paused. "Daisuke."
She looked at him.
"He should see it," she said. "The building he finished."
"I'll tell him," Axel said.
She looked at the arcade.
"Where is Daisuke," she said.
"Sleeping," Axel said. "Still."
She looked at the arcade.
"Don't tell him yet," she said.
He almost smiled.
"No," he said.
He went back to the perimeter.
---
At 1pm Daisuke appeared.
Not from the east alcove — from the seventh building.
He'd been there.
She looked at him.
He came to the table.
Sat across from her.
"Ten people in the seventh building," he said.
"Yes," she said.
He was quiet.
"The west wing wiring," he said.
"Yes," she said.
"It's holding," he said.
"Yes," she said.
He looked at the table.
"I went through every room," he said. "At 7am." He paused. "Everything working." He paused again. "The heating system in room seven was — I had to do a secondary fix at 7:30am." He paused. "It's fine now."
She looked at him.
"You went back and checked," she said.
"Yes," he said.
She looked at him.
At the fifteen-year-old who had worked through the night and woken up and gone back and checked every room.
"Good," she said.
He looked at the table.
"The eighth building," he said.
She looked at him.
"What," she said.
"There's a building two streets west of the seventh," he said. "I looked at it yesterday when I was checking the structural sight lines for the seventh's roof ventilation." He paused. "It's good. Better construction than the seventh. Less work."
She looked at him.
"How much less," she said.
"Four days," he said. "Maybe three."
She looked at the table.
At the numbers.
At eighty-eight people and the rate of return.
"Add it to the list," she said.
He looked at her.
"There's always a list," he said.
"Yes," she said.
He wrote it down.
Went back to work.
---
At 2pm Kai called in from the harbor ward.
*The third and final block of the western residential assessment is complete,* he said. *The full harbor ward western residential is mapped.*
She pressed transmit.
"Signs of occupancy," she said.
*Two buildings in the third block,* he said. *Both recently disturbed. Different pattern from Haruto's triangle — one person. Or possibly two.*
"Recently," she said.
*Within the last week,* he said. *The food stores, the threshold patterns — within the last week.*
She looked at the radio.
"Are they there now," she said.
*I don't know,* he said. *I didn't go in. The Changed density in the third block is higher than the second.* A pause. *I'll need a different approach.*
She looked at the radio.
"What approach," she said.
*I want to wait,* he said. *The harbor ward broadcast on the ridge signal. If they're in those buildings — they heard today's broadcast clearly. If they heard it—*
"They might come out," she said.
*Or call in,* he said. *Give them a day. If there's no response — I go in tomorrow.*
She looked at the radio.
"One day," she said.
*One day,* he said.
"Okay," she said.
*There's something else,* he said.
She waited.
*The harbor wall. I went past it on the way back.* A pause. *There are more shoes.*
She was quiet.
"How many," she said.
*Three pairs,* he said. *In addition to Yuki's husband.* A pause. *Different locations along the wall. Not together.*
She looked at the radio.
"Okay," she said.
*I thought you should know.*
"Yes," she said. "Thank you."
She put the radio down.
Looked at the table.
Ren was across from her.
He'd heard.
She looked at him.
"Three more," he said.
"Yes," she said.
He was quiet.
She was quiet.
She picked up the pen.
Wrote: *Three more pairs of shoes at the harbor wall. Different locations. Different people. The wall holds what it holds.*
She put the pen down.
Sat with it.
Then she looked at the fifth building.
At the wall across the street.
At what Mira and Haru Two would need to know.
She stood.
Went to tell them.
---
At 3pm she told Yuki.
Not about her husband specifically — she already knew. But about the others.
Yuki was in the fifth building.
She'd been spending time there since her sister had arrived. The two of them sometimes — sitting in the ground floor room, not always talking. Just adjacent.
Today Yuki was alone.
She looked up when Lena came in.
Lena sat across from her.
"The harbor wall," she said.
Yuki looked at her.
"Three more pairs," she said. "At different points along the wall." She paused. "Kai found them today."
Yuki was quiet.
"Different people," she said.
"Yes," Lena said.
Yuki looked at the wall in front of her.
At the left section.
At the seven confirmed losses.
"The wall should know," she said.
"Yes," Lena said. "Haru Two is adding them." She paused. "But I wanted you to know first."
Yuki looked at the wall.
"Why," she said.
Lena looked at the wall.
"Because you know what it means," she said. "To be the person who found the shoes." She paused. "You understand what the harbor wall is." She paused. "I wanted you to hear it from a person before you read it on the wall."
Yuki was quiet.
She looked at the left section.
At her husband's name.
"He wasn't alone," she said.
"No," Lena said.
Yuki was quiet.
She looked at the wall.
"The people who walked in," she said.
"Yes," Lena said.
Yuki looked at the wall.
"They walked together in the same direction," she said. "Even if they didn't know each other." She paused. "They all went the same way."
"Yes," Lena said.
Yuki looked at the wall.
"That's—" She stopped.
She was quiet for a long moment.
"Not nothing," she said.
"No," Lena said. "Not nothing."
They sat in front of the wall.
The names on the left.
The seven.
Soon to be ten.
They sat.
---
At 4pm the wall was updated.
Three more names in the left section.
Ten confirmed losses.
Haru Two entered them with the specific careful attention of someone who understood that each name was a person and each entry was an act of witnessing.
She stood in front of the wall when he was done.
Left: ten.
Centre: nine.
Right: thirteen.
She looked at the left section.
At ten names.
She looked at all three sections.
At the full wall.
The full picture.
She stood.
---
At 5pm she went to the coastal path.
She walked to the fourth bench.
Sat.
Looked at the bay.
At the harbor ward visible.
At the harbor wall.
At the flat water.
She sat.
The evening light going amber.
She thought about the ten names in the left section.
About the harbor wall and the shoes.
About the people who had walked in the same direction even if they hadn't known each other.
She thought about the Drowned City.
About dispersing into the bay.
About *they're still here. In the water. In the coast.*
She looked at the bay.
At the water.
At the light on it.
She looked at the harbor ward.
At the western residential blocks.
At the two buildings Kai had found with signs of recent occupancy.
At the four names still in the centre section.
She looked at it all.
---
Ren found her at 6pm.
He sat beside her.
"Ten in the left section," he said.
"Yes," she said.
He was quiet.
She was quiet.
"Yuki," he said.
"I told her," she said.
"How is she," he said.
She thought about Yuki looking at the left section and saying *he wasn't alone.*
"Okay," she said. "She's okay."
He was quiet.
She was quiet.
The bay. The evening light.
"The two buildings in the third block," he said. "Kai's waiting a day."
"Yes," she said.
"The harbor ward broadcast went out this afternoon," he said. "On the ridge signal."
"Yes," she said.
"If they heard it—" He stopped.
"They might come out," she said.
"Or call in," he said.
"Yes," she said.
He looked at the harbor ward.
She looked at the harbor ward.
"The four difficult searches," she said. "Still in the centre."
"Yes," he said.
She looked at the harbor ward.
"Tomorrow," she said.
"Tomorrow," he said.
The first star appeared.
"There," she said.
"There," he said.
They sat with the star.
The bay below.
The harbor ward ahead.
Ten in the left.
Nine in the centre.
Thirteen in the right.
She looked at the star.
"The rhythm keeps going," she said.
"Yes," he said.
"Tomorrow," she said.
"Tomorrow," he said.
They sat.
Then she stood.
He stood.
They walked back.
---
At 8pm she wrote.
The eastern docks. Kengo. The operational boats.
The Yamaguchi group. The second Mira. Eleven people together.
Daisuke going back at 7am to check every room.
The eighth building. Three days.
The three pairs of shoes at the harbor wall.
Yuki saying *he wasn't alone.*
She wrote:
*Day twenty-five.*
*Ten in the left section.*
*Nine in the centre.*
*Thirteen in the right.*
*The wall holds all of it.*
*The ten who walked in the same direction.*
*The nine we are still looking for.*
*The thirteen who are home.*
*The city witnesses itself.*
*All three sections.*
*All at once.*
She put the pen down.
Read it.
Ren was across from her.
He looked at the pages.
"The city witnesses itself," he said.
"All three sections," she said.
He looked at the pages.
"Yes," he said.
She looked at the pages.
Then she picked up the pen.
Wrote one more line:
*The wall is the most honest document we have.*
*It doesn't choose what to hold.*
*It holds everything.*
She put the pen down.
Looked at the arcade.
At eighty-eight people.
At the warm room.
At the noticeboard.
At the record on the table.
At everything still to do.
She looked at it.
Then she kept writing.
---
**Author's Note**
Day twenty-five. The Yamaguchi district group. And what came with them.
Kengo from the eastern docks. He stayed to be there if someone came. Nobody came until the broadcast. Twenty-five days of staying. That's the other version of Haruto's story — not leaving notes, but staying. Being present in case. Both are forms of not giving up.
The second Mira. Of course there's a second Mira. She organised eleven people into a coordinated group and arrived with medical documentation from the shelter nurse. The arcade now has two Miras and four Harus. The city returning its people — its names, its patterns, its repetitions.
Daisuke going back at 7am to check every room. He worked through the night and then he checked. That's who he's become. Not through assignment — through twenty-five days of watching Hiroaki and learning what properly means.
The three pairs of shoes at the harbor wall. Kai found them. The harbor wall holds ten now — not just Yuki's husband. Ten people who walked in the same direction. *He wasn't alone.* Yuki says it and it lands differently than comfort would. It's not consolation. It's just true.
*The wall doesn't choose what to hold. It holds everything.* The most honest document the city has. Loss and search and found, all in the same space. All witnessed.
The two buildings in the third residential block. Signs of recent occupancy. Kai waiting one day for the broadcast to reach them. If they heard — they might come. If not — he goes in tomorrow.
The rhythm continues.