End of the World Broadcast

“My thinking is this. She… Mori exists in a time that is ‘already the future after we have received Mori’s video and acted.’ Even if it wasn’t so until now, it is right to consider that it became so at the point when this world received the video.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because if some action had a significant impact on the ‘unknown time’ between us and Mori, greatly changing the future, that video would not still be visible to us.”
“…Then are you saying that all probabilities and variables that exist in the world are fixed? Even our words and thoughts?”
“At least regarding physically existing variables… I think so.”
“Nonsense! Why don’t you surrender your degree and go write novels?”
The scientists considered Eugene’s words far more nonsensical than Mori’s video.
Scientists who analyze the microscopic world, which changes due to the influence of even mere light particles and shows boundless variations with each observation, expressed displeasure at Eugene’s statement that a series of futures, all future variables, were essentially fixed.

“No, wait. Thinking about it, his words can’t be completely wrong.”
But Eugene’s story wasn’t just fanciful.
From the perspective of 21st century humanity, all efforts to escape the end after seeing Mori’s video are future events, that is, uncertain futures.
But in Mori’s world, which is so far in the future that it doesn’t feel real, it’s merely a past that has already passed in the flow of time.
The authority to analyze causes and control variables through events that have already occurred belongs to people who exist in the same time period as the phenomenon or in the future, not to the ’cause’ existing in the past.

“…Maybe this means that our intended words and actions could be the cause that led to such a world.”
“That’s what I want to say! It’s right to devise countermeasures. I think it’s necessary action and the only way to escape human extinction. But… I think the current approach to countermeasures, which is short-term, material, and at the same time directly influencing Mori, won’t work.”
“…Good. Actually, arguing scientific proofs of the current era at the point when a video from the future has arrived probably doesn’t make much sense. Everyone seems to have a lot to say, but for now, let’s talk assuming what this young man says is true.”

Who would have thought that someone would directly intervene from the future to the past through a video? Putting thoughts aside, there wasn’t even anyone who thought it was possible.
What scientists, mathematicians, and those who explore supernatural phenomena should primarily pursue is ‘truth that does not change.’
But at the point where the truth they had believed to be unchangeable was disrupted, they needed a completely different perspective from now.

“According to your words, this world will end anyway, because no matter what actions we take, we will reach the future where she exists.”
“At least at this point in time, that’s correct. With such clear evidence that time is connected in a single line, there’s no need to argue about it.”
“Then I want to ask you, Eugene, do you have a strategy to solve the current situation? As we all know, changing an undetermined future is easy. We just don’t realize it.”

If the pendulum’s angle is off by just 0.00001 radians, the pendulum will move in a completely different pattern.
Similarly, it’s not difficult to change unobserved results by introducing minor variables. It’s just that until we compare each variable one by one, we can’t observe what made the result this way.

“But the method of changing a predetermined future like now is not written anywhere, and it’s a problem no one has thought about. There was no need to think about it. Who would have predicted that we, who thought we were always the person hanging the bead on the pendulum, were actually the bead hanging on the string?”
A bead hanging on a string cannot know how many degrees it’s tilted.
And the bead also cannot know if its movement has a significant effect on the result.

“That’s why I think proper communication with her is even more necessary. If she herself realizes that humanity’s survival depends on her hands, and finds the cause of the extinction that has already occurred and the countermeasures to inform us, we might be able to do what is impossible with ‘the common sense of this era.'”
An old man who had been listening to Eugene’s words spoke. He was a person who was more active than anyone else in direct communication with Mori, such as sending messages to the site where the videos were uploaded.

“But you don’t seem to think so?”
“……That’s right.”
However, Eugene, unlike the old man, no, unlike many scholars who insisted on discussing Mori and human extinction, had different thoughts.

“It’s too early to talk about the 21st century now. She is not ready to accept that the people she is talking to are not living people but humanity from the past, and we still don’t know anything about what happened in the future.”
“That’s why we should let her know the truth as soon as possible so that we can prepare countermeasures together, don’t you think?”
“No. No. Conversation with her could be a solution to the end, but conversely, it could also be a trigger that hastens the end. There’s a misconception here, what appears in the video is not a scientist like us or a hero from a fairy tale. It’s just one ordinary person!”

All that can be seen in the ruined city are only corpses, and all that can be heard is only her own voice.
In such a gloomy environment, Mori has endured alone for a long time of one year.
Even a person with the strongest mental strength would have their will shaken in such an environment, but what has allowed Mori to endure is just one thing.
Only one meager hope that there are survivors somewhere in the world.

“Let’s say we convey a message saying that all the people watching the video now are humanity from the past, and since it’s certain that humanity has perished, find the cause so that we can survive. Do you think she would be okay after seeing that message, after accepting that reality?”
As long as there is hope to hold onto, people do not easily collapse.
Conversely, the moment the only hope they were holding onto collapses, a person’s mind breaks down. We call this falling into despair.

“People are not rational. Decisions are always accompanied by subjectivity, and they don’t hesitate to fall into confirmation bias to maintain their sense of self. But, such irrationality is what has sustained her until now.”
The world has long perished.

Traces of life cannot be found anywhere.
The weather is like an ice age with only snow falling, and there is no possibility for new life to bloom.
If Mori were a character who purely followed ‘rationality,’ it wouldn’t be strange if she had taken her own life like the many corpses she had captured with the drone.
But Mori did not stop living even in that despair for a long time, and at the root of her steps was hope.
Mori’s will was so firm that it could be felt even through a video that crossed hundreds of years.
The problem was that the spark of hope, which had been maintained for the long time of a year, was gradually fading away.
As her habit of saying that life and death, hope and despair coexist.
She has long accepted the despair that might soon befall her, even as she smiles with hope.

“If she takes her own life after hearing the truth… we will never know how to escape the end. Not only that, but the only human who could change the world will disappear, leaving only a ruined world there, making it impossible to avoid extinction.”
The human world exists because of human will.
Without the will to observe the world, without humanity, time, space, matter, phenomena, hope, and despair cannot be observed.
Eventually, all worlds and definitions disappear.
Of course, traces of humanity’s existence, such as collapsed buildings and rolling corpses, would remain afterward.
But can a world that no one remembers or observes truly be said to exist?
Therefore, Mori is humanity’s last will, the world itself, and
Mori’s death means the complete end of the world.

“If Mori dies, or even if she doesn’t die… the moment the future changes even slightly, the video will cut off. But can we be certain that our future has changed just because the video was cut off in that way? Rather, due to Mori’s death, the desperate ideology at the base of the city could spread, and a more terrible end could come sooner.”
Moreover, even if contact with Mori causes the future to change and the video to cut off, it’s not direct evidence that we’ve completely escaped the end.
Just as a half-eaten apple and a quarter-eaten apple cannot exist in the same place.
This is because the extinction of humanity might still be predetermined, with only the process or duration changing.
Moreover, what if the reason the video cuts off is due to Mori’s death?
In just a few weeks, doomsayers and those calling for religion have filled the streets, and this would be like pouring oil on their words.
The world would become a mess more quickly, and the end would certainly be hastened, Eugene thought.

“That’s why I think it’s better to avoid direct communication with Mori until the final moment. The only thing that can save current humanity is only her will.”
“Then what is that final moment? Won’t she give up on life the moment she knows the truth, regardless of when it is?”
“We must guide her path so that she can help current humanity even without her intending to. To reach the future spanning hundreds of years from this moment now. And at the same time, so that she doesn’t realize that all of this is a path laid out by past humanity seeking salvation from Mori.”

From this moment on until the time Mori exists has been connected, becoming unchangeable no matter what is done.
This also meant that from now on, over hundreds of years, we could lay a path for Mori to save humanity through a future not yet observed, from Mori’s future.

“It would have been impossible if the time given between Mori and us was short. The shorter the time, the greater the direct impact a single variable would have on the time she exists. But as we can see from the fact that the video is still intact, our plan seems not to have had a significant impact on humanity’s primary extinction.”
“Then does that mean our planned plan has safely arrived at her time? Interpreted differently, it could also mean that even our efforts have become meaningless… but this is the most hopeful story among all that have come out so far.”
“Good. We need to start a project spanning hundreds of years. A nonsensical project where humanity living in the ‘past’ asks the last human in the ‘future’ to save the ‘present.'”

No one knows whether this is truly a project with possibilities.
But just as Mori has endured in a city with nothing until now.
Those who discovered hope for the first time decided to hold onto that hope.

“Wait, but is there a project that can continue for hundreds of years? Even after urban civilization ceases to function?”
“At this point, when we don’t even know Mori’s location, material things don’t have much meaning. Now, yes, it’s time for ‘will’ and ‘truth’ that can universally act on future human history and technology.”
“That’s too philosophical and… vague for me to understand. Can you give an example?”
Someone asked Eugene, who had become the center of the project.

[When I get to the next city, first… I think I should find a library.]
And Eugene, watching Mori in the video saying she should look for a library, slowly opened his mouth.

“For instance, how about something like, ‘All of human history and knowledge shall be preserved as books and paper in the safest place so that they can remain longer than humanity itself’?”
Each of these thoughts and words is already a past event in Mori’s world, and exists as a result.

“Good. Starting with such intentions, let’s find what we can do and what we must convey to the future. I’ll leave this to you, Eugene. And, I’ll also simultaneously proceed with material projects like building landmark buildings.”
“Great. Let’s all put aside achievements and rewards for a while, and work together until we save humanity.”
“By the way, to proceed with a massive project spanning hundreds of years, we need a catchy name. Do you have anything in mind?”
“…I don’t have anything in mind, but if I were to name this long journey to save humanity from the end, there’s one phrase that comes to mind.”
“Haha, whether by coincidence or necessity. I think I know what you’re thinking.”

Honoring the girl who wanders alone in a ruined world.
Even if the people here now die as time passes.
Hoping desperately that future generations will not forget the fact that the end is coming someday.
People wrote two words.

“Remember death.”
─Memento Mori.