End of the World Broadcast

A high ceiling with glimpses of sky between and ornate pillars supporting that ceiling.
Although many lights that would have made the building more splendid couldn’t withstand the passage of time and fell silent, now allowing me to examine the building only by the light of the flashlight in my hand.
Nevertheless, I’ve entered a building more splendid and magnificent than any I’ve seen so far.

“…Just as a person’s first impression is important, is a city’s first impression important too?”
All the cities I’ve passed through were surrounded by iron fences so high and sharp that they couldn’t be crossed by human power.
The fences are usually far from where people live and are quite thin, so they’re not very visible.
But because of those fences, ordinary people had to pass through this ‘train station’ to enter or leave the city.

“I’ve thought several times while wandering around cities that train stations seem to be built particularly magnificently… but this one is truly amazing.”
Perhaps because they’re responsible for the city’s first impression, train stations were beautiful and splendid even in the most remote cities.
But this building was in a different league, to the extent that I could say it was more magnificent than any building I’ve seen so far.
If this city’s history had continued, it would surely have been remembered as one of the great architectural wonders.

“…Could it be related to the black column I saw from the building rooftop a few days ago?”
The unusually splendid face of the city and the massive column whose existence I wasn’t even aware of until coming here.
The train station and the column are built almost in a straight line, making it feel far from a mere coincidence.

“Maybe that place is such a special location that they decided to build this train station connecting to it as magnificently as possible!”
Although it’s just speculation… considering the column that can only be described as peculiar in many ways, I think it’s quite a plausible explanation.
It would be stranger if a place with an enormous column visible even from tens of kilometers away were just an ordinary place.

“Hehe, now that I think of it as a special place, I feel like some miracle might happen.”
Perhaps many people who left the city are living together there, or maybe there’s a transportation method left that can easily take you to distant cities.
With such happy imaginings, I trudge around the interior of the train station.

“By the way, it’s somewhat disappointing. Such a magnificent and splendid building is now abandoned in this state.”
The actual height of the train station was low enough to be described as infinitesimal compared to other buildings. At most, it would be about 4-5 stories tall.
But nevertheless, the massive column stretched beyond the sky, and the ceiling had a splendid yet orderly beauty that gave the illusion of touching the sky.
But that’s only when pointing the flashlight upward.
When lowering the flashlight to see where “people” rather than “technology” would have stayed, the building instantly becomes chaotic.
Now, the interior of the train station was so filled with large bags and trunks that there was barely room to step.

“It seems many people wanted to leave this city like me. Although it looks like they were blocked by security robots and had to turn back.”
I can’t know when the electricity and water were cut off.
But the struggles and despair of people who realized that staying in this city meant death are vividly transmitted.
Numerous clothes and banknotes rolling on the floor.
And seeing a family embracing small crosses and Bibles, I passed between the now motionless security robots and security checkpoints, going inside.

“I naturally thought that machines stopped working after all people died… but it seems that wasn’t necessarily the case.”
The security robots at the entrance, unlike the robots I saw in the supermarket, were shaped in a way conducive to fulfilling their mission of ‘security’.
In fact, their appearance didn’t deviate much from the basic image that comes to mind when thinking of robots—a rectangular body with caterpillar tracks and robot arms.
However, they were as large as twice the size of an adult male.
With frightening weapons like batons or machine guns attached to each robot arm, those robots were excellent security robots.
Even I, despite knowing the robots weren’t working, unconsciously shrank when passing through the security checkpoint.
…Ordinary people certainly wouldn’t have even thought of confronting them.

“Ah. There’s a bag here too.”
In that sense, the fact that there was an intact bag in this space beyond the security checkpoint was evidence that the people of this city lived longer than I thought.

“The bag is in too good condition to have been left by someone who forcibly crossed during the chaos, isn’t it?”
They might have had a pass or something that allowed the security robots to let them through safely.
Then they would surely have taken the large train that would have been operating alongside the security robots to the next city.
What fool would choose to remain in a city heading toward the end with an escape right in front of them?

“By the way, the fact that only the bag is sitting here alone… suggests they came this far but turned back because they didn’t have the courage to traverse the snow field.”
Perhaps because the security robots had been guarding it firmly, the space beyond the security checkpoint was relatively clean.
There were only bags and trunks placed here and there, and even corpses, which I had seen to the point of boredom in the city, were not visible here.

“There are exactly two choices given to those who came this far.”
Will they abandon everything and advance into the unknown snow field?
Or will they remain in the familiar city even if it means starvation?

“I can choose the former without hesitation because I’m a wanderer and I’m on a journey to find survivors. But for someone who has a family or has lived in this city their whole life… it would be difficult to choose.”
Those who couldn’t overcome the fear of the unknown.
Or those who gave up moving forward, bound by reasons they couldn’t leave the city.

“I wonder what became of those who turned back on the brink of escaping from the perishing city.”
The end of those who returned to their birthplace, leaving behind all the precious luggage they had gathered to live in this place, the only escape from the city.
…Perhaps, I thought, I might have encountered them while passing through the residential area.

“It seems this is the last bag here.”
Though there were more people alive after the electricity was cut than I thought, as evidenced by the line of ownerless bags, even that was now at an end.

“This is the real ‘end of the city.’ If I open this door and go outside, unlike the city that’s desolate yet comfortable, I’ll depart into a truly unknown world.”
I put my hand on the handle of the door marked with an emergency exit sign.
“To Heaven” was written on the emergency exit with red spray paint.

“‘To Heaven,’ huh… How romantic.”
I struggled to open the door that wouldn’t open well, perhaps because it had been abandoned for a long time or was frozen from the cold, and went outside the city.

“Ugh… The wind is too strong.”
Immediately, wind unhindered by buildings or trees blew in, shaking my hair.

“Even though I’m wearing thick clothes, it feels like the wind is getting all the way in… I miss my hair that was long enough to reach my waist. I shouldn’t have cut it because it was bothersome.”
I slowly open my eyes, which I had kept closed until I got used to the cold, sharp wind.
Then a vast expanse of snow and the darkness beyond the horizon in contrast greet me.

“Wow. I’m already breathless.”
A sigh escapes me at the snow field where truly nothing can be seen.
You’d think I’d have gotten used to such snow fields after passing through several over the past year.
Perhaps because I know it’s such a painful time, far from getting used to it, I only feel a stronger impulse to put a cigarette in my mouth.
But the difference is… now I have a drone by my side that delivers messages from people.

“Alright! Whatever happens, this is a much better situation than when I had to break through the snow field alone, so there’s no need to feel discouraged already.”
Humans, strangely enough, are greatly influenced by the gaze of others.
Sometimes gazes can have negative effects, making you tense or feel suffocated.
But occasionally, just knowing someone is watching can make you feel good and give your body strength.
…Still, it’s quite overwhelming.
Maybe because it’s dark, I can’t even see that black column, so I have no idea how far I need to go.

“…I don’t know how long I’ll have to walk to the next city, but with all of you, I think I can endure for more than a month.”
If a city with tall buildings lined up gives people a sense of confinement.
A snow field with nothing in it, wide open, gives me a sense of overwhelming emptiness.

“…No, is a month too long? Yeah, if it gets that long, you who are watching this video will get bored too. I should hope to arrive at the next city within a week if possible!”
To overcome that overwhelming feeling, I joked to the drone for no reason, then opened the emergency exit door again to escape from the cold wind.

“Oh. I can stay here tonight. Was this the robot management room…? Lucky me!”
Having returned to the train station, I found a perfect room near the emergency exit while looking for a place to spend the night.
It seemed to be a place for managing various robots including security robots and cleaning robots, and it looked very good with a desk and a comfortable chair.
Given its purpose, perhaps to prevent access by ordinary people, there was an unusually complex physical lock on the door, rare in this era.

“Now. It’s time for you to work again. Maximus!”
Fortunately, I had a sturdy fire axe that had already helped me break and open locked doors several times.

“First… As I mentioned before, I’ll wait until the weather is at its best before properly setting out.”
Entering the room, I put down my bag, sat in the chair, and placed only the stove and the map on the desk.
In the instantly warmed room, I took a pencil and neatly wrote down my future objectives on the map for everyone watching the video to see.

“You might think, ‘Since it will take a few days anyway, is there much meaning in waiting for clear weather?'”
In fact, that statement isn’t wrong.
In a world where blizzards hit several times a day, how long would clear skies last?
In a world where it’s a miracle if the weather is clear for even a day, and where you should be thankful to the sky if it stays clear for half a day, there isn’t much meaning in insisting on clear weather.

“But you know… The path from leaving the city to the next city could be considered a journey in a way. If I’m going to embark on a journey, I want to set out with the best weather and the best conditions.”
Setting out on a journey while looking at a clear sky is different from setting out while looking at a gloomy sky.
The physical burden might be similar, but the psychological burden is greatly reduced.
And even when painful things happen, it helps you endure by recalling the blue sky you saw when you set out on your journey.
Considering that the hardest thing in a snow field is nothing other than not letting go of hope, nothing could be more important than this.

“So what will I do until the sky clears… You probably know by now, but I’m thinking of examining the bags and trunks here.”
The bags, which would have been filled with the necessary items for the people who lived here to escape from their nest, were like treasure chests from my perspective as a wanderer.
Not only will I find food, but there’s also a high possibility of finding useful tools, and I can also get clean clothes to change into!

“I shouldn’t be happy about things like this… I’ve really become a terrible person.”
Referring to a dead person’s luggage as a ‘treasure chest’.
Feeling a stronger impulse to change out of the clothes I’ve been wearing boringly for so long than guilt.
Whenever situations like this arise, I feel like I’m getting used to the end of the world and gradually falling apart…
But still… good things were good things.