Garden Nobody Waters — entry II. Corrections are never only about grammar here.
Reyneese had left her practice sheet behind. Shiya picked up the brush.
「本人 がいなくても、書 き換 えるのね。」 — You rewrite her even when she’s not here.
「いない時 こそよ。時間 が節約 できる。」 — Especially then. Saves time.
“She’ll notice.”
“Good.”
“She’ll know it was you.”
「なお結構 。」 — Even better.
One character crossed out. Another placed. The final clause shortened. The sentence changed the way a badly set bone gets properly reset: less comfortable, more correct.
「優 しさは曖昧 さの言 い訳 にならない。」 — Kindness is not an excuse for vagueness.
“You’re harder on her than anyone else,” Hiyori said.
“Incorrect.”
“You care whether she improves.”
Shiya set the brush down with surgical precision.
「N1レベルを目指 しているなら、美 しさは正確 さの後 でいい。」 — If she’s aiming for N1, beauty can come after precision.
“And if she wants comfort?”
「他 の人 のところへどうぞ。」 — She may go elsewhere for that.
Hiyori tilted her head. “You say that as though she hasn’t already done exactly that.”
Shiya said nothing.
Of course Reyneese went to everyone. Tea for one person, silence for another, practical help for a third. She made care look effortless because people only ever saw the receiving end. Shiya, infuriatingly, had begun to see the structure.
“You didn’t make it colder,” Hiyori said. “Only cleaner.”
「矯正 を感傷 的 に語 るな。だらしなくなる。」 — Do not romanticize correction. It becomes sloppy.
「全部 そうなるわね。」 — Everything does, eventually.
「だから彼女 は、あなたの訂正 を捨 てない。」 — That is why she never throws your corrections away.