Ah! I really understand! Without the liquid, the salt is like when you leave a dog unattended and it climbs on the couch! Without its owner, it gets to go out of bounds!

[There's no helping her. That's not a good metaphor at all. But somehow, Hibiki can see it. The water is her leaving for work, and the crystals are her pets having mischievous G-rated adventures.]

And the colloid is sort of like...if there were a stepstool to the couch that Inumi could climb even though she's a St. Bernard and doesn't need one.