Inspired by Enso (円相)
It was the last day of winter in Hokkaido.
The snow had begun to melt around the edges of rooftops, and the icicles on Kai’s windowsill were dripping like little ticking clocks. The sky, once cold and clear, was now filled with clouds that looked soft enough to sleep in.
Kai stood outside in her boots, staring at the patch of snow angels she and Nami had made just weeks ago.
The edges had faded.
One wing was already half gone.
The snow had shifted, melted, moved on.
She knelt beside the fading shapes and sighed.
“Why does everything good have to end?” she asked quietly.
From the nearby trees, a familiar voice hooted.
“Who says it’s the end?” said Fuyu the owl, landing softly on a bare branch.
“It just looks like one.”
“But the snow angels are disappearing,” Kai said. “And Nami already flew home. We never got to finish our story…”
Fuyu blinked slowly, as if listening to the silence itself.
“Maybe that’s the point,” he said. “Some stories aren’t meant to be finished. They’re meant to open.”
Kai tilted her head. “Open?”
Fuyu fluffed his feathers. “Come see.”
He swooped down and drew a wide, looping shape in the snow with one wingtip – a circle, almost closed, with a small gap.
“It’s called an ensō,” Fuyu said. “A Zen circle. It reminds us that some things are beautiful because they’re not perfect. Or complete.”
Kai leaned closer. The open part looked like it had been left there on purpose.
It made the shape feel… alive. Like it was still moving.
“Is that what our story is?” she asked. “Something that’s still going?”
Fuyu gave a small, approving hoot. “Exactly. Just like winter makes space for spring. Just like Nami flying home leaves space for what’s next.”
Kai took a stick and traced her own ensō in the snow beside his.
Her line was wobbly. Her circle off-center.
She smiled.
“It’s not perfect,” she said.
“And it never needed to be,” Fuyu replied.
Just then, a soft wind stirred the trees.
Tiny blossoms, pale and simple, had started blooming on the lowest branches.
Kai stood up and looked at the snow angels one last time. Then she turned toward the house.
“I think I’m ready for my next discovery,” she said.
“What will you find?” Fuyu asked.
Kai grinned. “I don’t know yet, but I think the circle has just begun.”
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