Ch.3939. Suspicion.

# 39. Suspicion.

Suddenly, I thought that knowing the future might be less fun than I expected.

“Hmm… I was excited to read all these accumulated messages, but they’re all awkward to respond to.”

Today I had quite a busy day meeting Robot and Puppy.

But the people who sent these messages are just seeing me wandering through completely empty streets.

Messages saying things like it looks like a city where ghosts live, or that I might have chosen the wrong destination. Different expressions, but they all mean the same thing.

If I were my usual self, living through days that were similar to yesterday, I would have laughed at these messages and thought deeply about them while chatting.

Unfortunately, today brought a huge change to my life. And I’m the only one who knows about this change so far.

Even for someone like me, it’s impossible to seriously engage with an unchanged past while living in a changed future. The excitement I felt while bathing quickly faded away.

“Living alone in the future is lonelier and more boring than I thought.”

The time gap that can’t be bridged no matter what. I’ll have to wait until this time tomorrow to receive interesting messages.

“Whatever I say now will be boring by the time you hear it tomorrow—so let’s take a break for today!”

I said goodnight to my friends and told them I’d see them tomorrow as I turned off the drone.

Usually, after ending a broadcast, it always felt desolate and lonely, but not today.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow. How will my friends react when they see you?”

Will they be surprised like I was? Or will they be familiar with you?

I still have no idea where my friends live.

Robots and AI were supposedly once as numerous as humans, so they probably weren’t limited to just this city. It would make sense if some people were already familiar with them.

Actually, it would be strange if everyone found these robots unfamiliar and fascinating.

“Hey. Is that place called Paradise cut off from the outside world?”

“Cut off… you mean?”

“Like, once you enter Paradise, you can’t easily leave, or you can’t know what’s happening outside from the inside. That kind of thing.”

“Hmm, depending on your perspective, you could say yes or no.”

“That’s a really irresponsible answer.”

“I can’t help it. Since I’m a robot, I can’t fully enter Paradise. If there’s anything I do know—people who enter Paradise can always freely leave, but they soon forget how to leave.”

They can always freely leave, but they forget how to leave?

What does that even mean?

If the Paradise the robot speaks of is the paradise people hope for, then those who enter would have no reason to return to the outside world.

But having no reason to leave and forgetting how to leave are completely different things.

“A peaceful world with no material hardships, and no conflicts or disputes between people.”

I mulled over the characteristics of Paradise that Robot had described. Earlier I just heard it and thought it sounded good, but after hearing about forgetting how to leave, I realized there was something strange mixed in.

—Can humans really avoid all conflict with others just because they have material abundance?

This is both a story about human nature and about this world.

Humans are individuals who think and act differently, so they can’t all have the same thoughts or the same tastes.

If people in Paradise were given the same time and items every day, some would be dissatisfied with just that fact.

Also, even if they said “take whatever you want, as much as you want,” unless every item was infinitely available—which is realistically impossible—conflicts would inevitably arise.

Moreover… considering lifespans, aren’t the humans currently in Paradise people who lived in cities facing the apocalypse?

Could a society composed of people raised in cities full of decadence, pleasure-seeking, conflict, and greed really exist without any disputes or conflicts?

Absolutely impossible. This isn’t just a thought but an answer derived from my own experience.

If that were possible, the world wouldn’t have ended up like this in the first place.

“…You said they implanted chips in people’s heads.”

I could think of two possibilities.

And in these possibilities, the “chip” Robot mentioned to me played an important role.

The chip implanted in the heads of people living in this city—not the Tower city, but all the cities I’ve passed through.

If that chip goes beyond simply making it easier to handle machines or making life more convenient…

If it’s advanced and frightening enough to contain emotions and memories that humans should fully experience with their brains…

Then creating a perfect paradise in this world might not be impossible.

“—Do they erase memories of the outside world or something?”

The first method would be to erase all memories and emotions of people who enter Paradise.

Humans who fully recognize good and evil cannot enjoy true peace. Just as Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden when they realized good and evil.

Even if I always try to live morally and virtuously, who can guarantee that the person next to me will do the same?

Even I, who so desperately wanted to enter “a city with traces of humans,” hid a weapon on me out of suspicion that someone might harm me.

At the point where human actions are divided into good and evil, humans learned suspicion. They had no choice but to be suspicious.

Suspicion can be like rain that hardens the ground, but sometimes it becomes a flood that kills all living things on that land.

And once suspicion rises, it doesn’t stop there but spreads around, spreading anxiety and distrust throughout society.

The only way to prevent this is—to make everyone in Paradise unaware of good and evil.

If not that, then interfering with their minds to make everyone think the same thoughts and have the same tastes and personalities….

Either way, you end up losing your original self, don’t you? I don’t like either possibility.

“If Paradise is such a terrifying place, I might need to reconsider whether to go there…”

Even if I could meet people, if my memories are arbitrarily erased to the point where I forget that I wanted to meet people in the first place, what’s the point?

It would be like becoming a completely different person who just looks the same—essentially dying.

As I stared at Robot with eyes full of distrust, Robot blinked its camera a few times—

—and then began shaking its head vigorously. Considering the display is attached to its body, it’s essentially shaking its entire body.

“No! No! There’s no way such violent acts would happen!”

Robot, with an expression of shock, completely denied my thoughts. Waving its thin arms around, adding that how could I think of such terrible things.

“No?”

“Yes! Paradise simply provides a peaceful and free life to those who come, without any other interference!”

“Hmm… I still don’t understand.”

Paradise doesn’t interfere with people who come, yet those people forget how to leave Paradise.

How does that even happen? It’s hard to accept.

“Well, whatever, as long as it doesn’t directly harm me. You’re sure it doesn’t mess with people’s heads?”

“That’s what I’m saying! Why are you so suspicious!”

“Okay, okay. I’ll believe you. I guess I’ll find out the details when I get there.”

This conversation just raised more questions, but I did learn something.

That Paradise and this city might be quite disconnected from each other.

If Paradise has existed longer than I thought, and is so isolated that they don’t receive news from the outside world…

Then it wouldn’t be strange for people in Paradise to find the city’s scenery or technology unfamiliar.

“I’m looking forward to it in many ways. It might sound a bit strange to say this, but I want to go to Paradise soon.”

I smiled as I looked at the drone.

Thinking about the possibility that the people behind this camera might be in Paradise.

“…But Mori. You’re not planning to sleep like that, are you?”

“Huh? I was going to sleep like this.”

“You’ll catch a cold! A cold! You didn’t even dry your hair properly!”

Robot shouted, forcibly sitting me up as I was lying covered only by a blanket with nothing on.

It’s not like I have any suitable clothes to wear, and I’m not so weak that I’d catch a cold just because I didn’t dry my hair—why is it making such a fuss?

“I’m really fine, and I’m getting sleepy. Can’t I just go to sleep?”

“Be quiet!”

Robot nags at me, saying I’m being unreasonable.

…I wonder who’s really being unreasonable here.

As Robot forcibly dried my hair with a hairdryer it brought from somewhere, I seriously pondered this question.