"How can I say it so it gets through..."
Yuki murmured while gazing out the window. In the club room, only Yuki, Aoi, and Mira were present.
"What do you want to convey?" Aoi asked quietly.
"That's... I can't put it into words well. It's gratitude, but 'thank you' doesn't feel sufficient."
Aoi opened the notebook. "It's an encoding problem."
"Encoding?"
"Converting information into another format. Words are feelings encoded."
Mira drew a diagram. "Feeling → Encoding → Words → Decoding → Understanding"
"Right. The sender encodes feelings into words. The receiver decodes them to understand."
Yuki thought. "But when you can't encode completely?"
"Information loss occurs. This is called 'lossy compression.'"
"Lossy..."
Aoi continued explaining. "For example, MP3 compresses music. It deletes frequencies humans can't hear, making files smaller. Can't return to the original."
"But you can mostly enjoy the music," Yuki said.
"Yes. Not perfect, but practical. Meanwhile, ZIP is lossless compression. Can fully restore original data."
Mira added. "Lossless vs Lossy"
"Same with words. Perfectly encoding feelings might be impossible. But if you can retain important parts, it gets through."
Yuki looked up. "So I should think about which parts are important."
"Exactly. In encoding, you prioritize information. Retain the high-entropy parts."
"High-entropy parts?"
"Unpredictable, unique parts. 'Thank you' is predictable. But specifically what you're grateful for is information only you have."
Yuki thought for a moment. "That you always take my questions seriously without dismissing them. That makes me happy."
"That carries high information content," Aoi smiled. "Specific and unpredictable."
Mira nodded quietly.
"But," Yuki continued. "Even so, I can't convey everything. Subtle nuances, timing..."
"That's natural. Perfect communication is difficult even theoretically. Shannon's channel capacity determines the limit."
"Then what should I do?"
Aoi thought. "Use multiple encoding methods. Not just words, but actions, expressions, time. Adding redundancy increases transmission reliability."
Mira showed a note. "Multiple channels. Higher reliability."
"Yes. In communication theory, using multiple channels makes you resistant to noise."
Yuki's eyes lit up. "So writing letters or spending time together are also part of encoding!"
"Accurate understanding. Human communication is a multidimensional encoding system."
Mira stood up and handed Yuki a small paper. A simple diagram was drawn on it.
"Heart → Multiple expressions → Partner's understanding"
Multiple arrows were drawn.
"Mira was thinking about the same thing," Yuki smiled.
Mira just nodded, but her expression was soft.
"Encoding isn't perfect. But through trial and error, it gradually gets through," Aoi said.
Yuki began writing in the notebook. Gratitude in specific words. In information theory terms, it was high-entropy encoding.
"Thank you, Aoi-senpai. Even when I ask vague questions, you always answer seriously."
Aoi looked a bit surprised. "That's... likewise. Yuki's questions always hit the essence."
Between the two, information was correctly transmitted. Mira smiled quietly.
Even feelings that don't get through can reach if properly encoded. That was today's lesson.