Hikari continued whispering, her voice blending into the ebb and flow of the tide: "There's a saying that this bay didn't exist originally. Because its shape is rather irregular, it's difficult for nature to form such a strange depression. It's said that a tear fell from the sky and landed on this beach, eventually forming this inward-facing depression. That tear became the first drop of seawater in this bay, which is why the sea is so salty."
"Another theory, similar to the previous one, is that this structure was formed from fallen tears. However, it specifies the source of the tears as a woman longing for her lover far away, gazing wistfully into the distance, waiting for a sailboat to return from afar, bringing news of her lover—or perhaps, his corpse."
"This story doesn't sound good at all."
Anne, who had been sneaking closer, complained loudly, "Why does it always have to be someone's tears or something? Can't they come up with some nice imagery? It's such a beautiful scene, and now it suddenly makes me sad!"
Hikari spread her hands: "Well, there's nothing I can do about it. I'm just repeating what I've heard. Who knows where these rumors and stories actually came from?"
"But that has absolutely nothing to do with the problem we're facing now! No matter what, it's your sense of taste that's the problem!"
"No...that's not it..."
"Well, I actually have a different perspective."
I snapped my fingers, lighting a small flame. Seeing several pairs of eyes looking at me with a mixture of curiosity and disbelief, I couldn't help but smile. "Although it's just a country tale I heard somewhere, do you know the name of the outer sea? Why is it called 'Memria'?"
Everyone present shook their heads in unison, and even Xiao Ai'an wiped away her tears with the heel of her hand and sniffed hard.
"There is a saying that the outer sea surrounding us is the place where all the world's memories will eventually converge and flow through, and all memories actually have a specific flavor."
"Happiness is sweet, tranquility is bland, sadness is bitter, pain is spicy, and sorrow is salty... All these flavors are mixed together, ultimately giving the ocean, which gathers all the memories of the world, different tastes, so that everyone who tastes it can experience different flavors."
"But because there are more sad and frustrating memories overall, people often think that seawater is inherently salty."
"If we want to explore why that bowl of fish soup tastes so different to us, I think it might be because we used fresh fish that grew in it, and tasted the flavor of the sea from that fish, thus feeling the flavor contained in our memories?"
Although it's not the most accurate answer, it should be a reasonably plausible explanation.
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