As the light decreases, the stone also becomes smaller and is generally exhausted (disappears) in about a month.
Ha, I’ve been doing something similar.
As far as I understand it, luciferin needs the luciferase to act as a catalyst for a reaction which converts energy efficiently into light (not heat). But the rock is used up in that reaction, so returning the last smidge of it to the sea would be purely ceremonial.
Edit: Trying to have a sensible conversation about a thing which probably doesn’t exist in the form shown in the book is quite entertaining.
I like this interpretation. The merchant only says the light and stone size go together. There’s no exact explanation of the correlation (i think). And also, good point that it’s something biological that makes the light. So maybe only the biological part of the stone disappears.
Thanks for the clarification. I was fixating too much on 消える as disappearing (from time and space). I guess this is why it useful to practise reading (and not only grind vocabs).
And the prize for the best example sentence goes to…!
Yeah, this is the part which isn’t really made explicit, imo. Is it that the biological entity is gradually dying off (and thereby reducing the stone size as it makes up the outer layers or something) or is the stone itself the substrate being used by the biological entity, and it’s literally getting used up?
In the former case, perhaps the rock gets recolonised over the course of the year. In the latter… the stone is probably dead unless it’s formed by like, stuff precipitating out of the water onto the existing surface. But somehow, enthusiastic science seller didn’t give us enough information to know this, as far as I remember!
OK, just for “fun” I have tried to translate what 夜光鈴マン says on p257.
It still feels a bit rough, but given how much that page seems to have challenged everyone, I thought it may be of some help. And if not, at least I got in some translation practice. Feel free to suggest improvements!
It’s because the gem in the middle of the glow chime (for want of a better translation) is made from “nightglowstone”, which can only be mined on Aqua. The luciferin in the stone combines with oxygen via an enzymatic action called luciferase. When it breaks down, it produces light very efficiently. The glow emitted by nightglowstone is “cold light”, which has a very low temperature. As the light decreases, the stone also becomes smaller and generally disappears in about a month. But, very rarely, there are times when it becomes a pretty crystal and remains. It could be caused by the feelings of the owner, who is loathe to part with it. Or it could be a practical joke of the gods. At any rate, it’s an unusual occurrence.
I thought that was Akari talking in the bottom panel?
(sorry if they’re out of order or hard to read, though. I tried!).
Also, @Kyasurin , I think luciferin is simply the name of the enzyme, but I otherwise interpreted it the same as you(but I can’t say I’m completely confident either)
I’m pretty sure luciferase is the enzyme, and luciferin is the substrate/what the enzyme acts on (totally based on my knowledge of biology, not anything actually written in the text lmao xD). So I think in @Kyasurin’s translation, I would say via the action of the enzyme luciferase, but i don’t have the text to check and see if that accurately corresponds to the actual Japanese text (and I’m on my phone, so I can’t read the images either xD)
…Is it terrible that I didn’t even bother to look up the katakana for that the first time around? I just assumed it was a word/thing made up for Aria world and went on with my life xD I’ve even heard of luciferase before, but I totally failed to put two and two together…I blame katakana. It always sounds juuuust different enough that I have to read it 60 times before I understand what foreign word it’s corresponding to.
Yeah, luciferase is the enzyme and luciferin is the substrate, at least as far as I remember from high school biology classes. Guess I wasn’t paying attention when I wrote that! And yeah, that translation seems about right to me(but I’m still not going to say I’m completely sure about it, just in case I completely misunderstood everything while thinking I understood it, and because I’m bad at being confident).
The issue I had was that in the bubble relating to luciferin and luciferase, what I thought it should say, based on my understanding of the chemistry, is not what it actually appears to say, based on my understanding of what was written in Japanese. But good to see Tokyopop have gone with the chemistry.
Memo to translating self: don’t give up your day job just yet!
What does it appear to say based on your understanding of Japanese? I can’t see any issue, but perhaps I’m not paying the grammar sufficient attention.
unless it’s formed by like, stuff precipitating out of the water onto the existing surface. But somehow, enthusiastic science seller didn’t give us enough information to know this, as far as I remember!
Feel free to suggest improvements!
But good to see Tokyopop have gone with the chemistry.