A/N: This is more in line with what I wanted to write. Essentially a haiku novel. Slightly experimental with the grammar, completely doing away with usual tense in favour of grammatical aspect, indication of mood, perfective, and imperfective.

A medium-length fic, 50k words or so. Written in several installments. Three parts in total.

Natsugusa (summer grass) was named for the grass growing golden in summer. Fuyugusa (wintergrass) is named as it is because in winter, there is no grass.

A KyouSaya fic. Enjoy.

ふゆぐさ

wintergrass.

part 1: decretum

いくたびも
雪の深さを
尋ねけり

again and again
i ask how high
the snow is

Inside it is still dark.

Sayaka leans her head to the side, looking out the window. Or is she? Kyouko can't be too sure. Kyouko turns to look out as well. The window didn't see anything outside. Everything was dark. She couldn't even tell if they were moving.

But the lights from within reflected against the window, turning it into a looking glass. Seeing Sayaka's face superimpose with the figure of the young boy seated on the opposite side of the carriage, Kyouko thought they were all in endless purgatory, standing still in a moving scene.

The boy inside the window smiles, reading a book on stag beetles. The book is very colourful. Nearby him, his parents and sister talk amongst themselves. Kyouko thought if they were going to visit relatives. The boy looks excited.

Suddenly a blank face floats in.

It is Sayaka. Sayaka looks excited too, surely.

Her lips are looking a bit dry. Kyouko notices.

"Hora, Sayaka. You'll get thirsty."

She pulls out a bottle of mineral water from a plastic bag. After opening the cap, she nudges it to Sayaka's lips, just enough to form a small gap. Then, Kyouko slowly tips the bottle of water. Water flows. A trickle dribbles down Sayaka's lips, dribbles down the bottle onto Kyouko's hand. Kyouko pays it no mind.

When she's done, she wipes it all away with a handkerchief. She looks at Sayaka again, and she smiles. She is glad, and she is happy.

Again, Kyouko turns to look outside.

There is only darkness outside. This outside darkness was melting into the window, erasing parts of the looking glass at will. Sayaka's face turns into a detached eye, rocking back and forth, steadily. Occasionally, struck with light, it shines, as though alive.

Kyouko sighs.

Her eyes stray away from the Sayaka in the window, turning directly beside her. Kyouko looks at the window. The window looks back. She wondered since when the window had been looking at her. Putting her hand on the glass, she covers the window's eyes. Now the window can't see her anymore.

Kyouko turned her head to Sayaka again. She wondered if Sayaka was feeling lonely. But she didn't know what to say. And all she did was shut her lips tighter, leaning back into her seat. Kyouko was tired; it had been a long journey. Soon, they would be reaching their destination. It won't be long.

Listening to the faint rumble of the earth all around, Kyouko closed her eyes, body floating, as though buried in the atmosphere.

Then, the sound of the mountain roars into her ears.

Going through the long tunnel, past the country border, through the darkness ― and there it was.

The snow country.

Kyouko opens her eyes wide and gazed up.

The depths of the day turned white.

Light blows in.

"Look, Sayaka, we're here!" Kyouko says gently, almost pleading.

She turns to look at Sayaka.

But Sayaka can't see. She leans her head to the side, eyes pointed out the window. Sayaka's face grows pale as the driven snow. Her hollow eyes ring shrilly in the light. Inside it is still dark.

Kyouko's expression stiffens. The bitter cold melted from the outside into her heart.

Kyouko watches Sayaka for a while. She soon averts her eyes.

Then, she gazed out. But the window was nowhere to be seen anymore. It was swallowed up by a neverending field of snow.

Every now and then, Kyouko would be able to make something out in the distance. But in the blink of an eye, everything is gone. Everything melts away one by one, like the soft fabric of shallow dreams. The train shuttles on.

Kyouko's ears go temporarily deaf, as her head fills to the brim with the roar of mountains and snow.