Chibi

Mara… something strange is happening.

---

Mara

Something strange is always happening with you.

---

Chibi

No. Not with me.

With the adults.

---

Mara

What did they do now?

---

Chibi

The baker shouted at his bread.

---

Mara

People don’t shout at bread.

---

Chibi

He did.

Just suddenly.

Like the bread had offended him.

---

(Mara looks down the street toward the bakery.)

---

Mara

Maybe he was having a bad day.

---

Chibi

Then everyone in London is having a bad day.

Look.

---

(A gentleman bumps into another man. The apology comes too late. Voices rise immediately.)

---

Mara

That escalated quickly.

---

Chibi

Exactly.

Adults are supposed to be calm.

Polite.

Disciplined.

---

Mara

That’s what they always say.

---

Chibi

But today they look like they forgot how.

---

Mara

Forgot how to be polite?

---

Chibi

Forgot how to pretend.

---

(They walk slowly past a row of townhouses as carriage wheels echo across the cobblestones.)

---

Mara

Everyone does seem… louder.

---

Chibi

Yes.

Their feelings are closer to the surface.

Like something is pushing them up.

---

Mara

Maybe spring makes people excited.

---

Chibi

Excited people laugh.

These people look angry.

Or nervous.

Or impatient.

---

Mara

Like their emotions are moving faster than their thoughts.

---

Chibi

Exactly.

---

(They stop near a small park gate.)

---

Mara

Why would spring do that?

---

Chibi

Spring wakes everything up.

Plants.

Animals.

Birds.

---

Mara

And people.

---

Chibi

Yes.

But people like to pretend they’re different.

---

Mara

Different from animals.

---

Chibi

Exactly.

But instinct doesn’t disappear just because someone wears a nice coat.

---

Mara

So spring makes instincts stronger.

---

Chibi

Yes.

And when instincts grow stronger…

civilization gets a little weaker.

---

Mara

Like a costume slipping.

---

Chibi

Exactly.

Adults spend their whole lives pretending to be perfectly controlled.

Perfectly reasonable.

Perfectly calm.

---

Mara

But today it looks harder.

---

Chibi

Yes.

Like the mask is slipping.

Just a little.

---

Mara

That sounds scary.

---

Chibi

Not really.

---

Mara

Why not?

---

Chibi

Because the earth does this every year.

Animals fight more.

Birds scream louder.

Everything becomes a little wild for a while.

---

Mara

And people are part of the same world.

---

Chibi

Exactly.

---

(Chibi watches the crowd moving faster down the street.)

---

Chibi

But there’s one strange thing.

---

Mara

What?

---

Chibi

If instincts are getting louder…

then something listening for instincts…

would hear a lot more noise.

---

Mara

From the whole city?

---

Chibi

Yes.

---

Mara

That sounds like a lot of signals.

---

Chibi

London is a very big city.

---

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