Mira was just staring out the window in the library.
Sora sat down next to her. "Mira-san, are you okay?"
Mira nodded. But her eyes conveyed something.
Leo came over with a book. "Seems troubled."
"Did something happen?" Sora gently asked.
Mira wrote in her notebook. "Sad. But don't know what's sad."
Sora thought. "You know the emotion, but not the cause?"
Mira nodded.
Leo sat down. "Alexithymia. Difficulty identifying and describing emotions."
"Alexithymia," Sora translated. "Emotional awareness difficulty."
"So there's a name for it," Mira wrote.
Leo began to explain. "Not a disorder, but a trait. Some people struggle to put emotions into words."
Sora supplemented, "You feel the emotions themselves. But it's hard to verbalize or understand them."
Mira wrote. "Heavy chest. But is it sadness, anxiety, or loneliness?"
"It might be mixed," Sora said.
Leo nodded. "Emotions are complex. Not always discrete categories."
"Emotions are complex and can't always be clearly categorized," Sora translated.
Mira looked intently at them both. "How can I understand?"
Sora thought. "First, try focusing on bodily sensations."
"Body?"
"Emotions manifest in the body. Heavy chest, tight throat, stomach ache."
Leo supplemented. "Somatic markers. Body signals that accompany emotions."
"Somatic markers," Sora explained. "Emotional signals."
Mira wrote in her notebook. "Now, heavy chest and tight throat."
"Slowly observe that sensation," Sora encouraged.
Mira closed her eyes. She was quiet for a while.
Leo waited. Sora watched silently too.
Mira opened her eyes and wrote. "Feels like I lost something."
"Sense of loss," Sora said quietly.
Mira nodded. "Yes. Loss."
"Do you know what you lost?"
Mira thought. After a long silence, she wrote. "Sense of security."
Sora understood. "Something changed, and you no longer feel safe?"
Mira nodded. "A friend moved far away. Physically close but emotionally distant."
Leo said quietly. "Loss of connection. That's a valid reason for sadness."
"Loss of connection. That's a valid reason to be sad," Sora translated.
Tears welled up in Mira's eyes. "It's okay to be sad?"
"Of course," Sora said gently.
Leo supplemented. "Naming emotions helps regulate them. Affect labeling."
"Naming emotions makes them easier to regulate. Affect labeling."
Mira wrote large in her notebook. "Sad."
Sora smiled. "That's good."
"But," Mira wrote. "Even if I put it in words, it doesn't go away."
"It doesn't need to disappear," Sora answered. "Sadness is proof that you lost something important."
Leo nodded. "Grief is the price of love. If you didn't care, you wouldn't feel sad."
"Grief is the price of love. If you didn't care, you wouldn't be sad."
Mira cried quietly. Soft light streamed through the library window.
Sora gently sat beside her. "Expressing emotions is difficult, isn't it?"
Mira nodded.
"But today, you expressed a little."
Mira wrote. "Thank you."
Leo said. "Emotions need time. And safe space."
"Emotions need time. And also a safe space."
Mira took a deep breath. "Here is safe."
"Yes," Sora acknowledged. "Here, any emotion is accepted."
For a while, the three sat quietly.
Mira opened a new page and wrote. "Want to know more emotion words."
Sora suggested, "How about keeping an emotion journal? Daily practice of naming bodily sensations."
Leo supplemented. "Emotion vocabulary grows with practice. Like learning a new language."
"Emotion vocabulary grows with practice. Like learning a new language."
Mira nodded. "I'll try."
Sora said, "You don't need to express perfectly. Just finding close words is enough."
Mira smiled slightly. "Today, I'm sad. Is that enough?"
"It's enough," Sora answered.
Leo stood up. "You did well today, Mira."
"You did well today."
Mira wrote in her notebook. "I'll practice again tomorrow."
Outside the window, clouds drifted by. Emotions too, would someday drift away. But for now, quietly accepting the sadness that's here.
That was Mira's first emotional expression.