End of the World Broadcast

“─What are you doing there?”
I move my head and wave my hand, following the drone that strangely avoids making eye contact with me.
The drone that usually flies high in the sky but somehow knows and comes when I mutter softly or trip on something like a stone.
Now, even though I’m calling it to come here, it not only moves away from me but completely disappears from my sight.
It’s as if it’s thinking on its own that it shouldn’t capture me bathing on camera, and moving accordingly.

“It was already amazing that it follows me well without me controlling it… is it really being controlled by a person?”
Thinking about it, there were many strange things about the drone.
Well, it following around my vicinity without specific control could be explained by the fact that I always wear the controller on my wrist, so it’s not strange if it moves around with that as the center.
But the way it always comes around when I say or do something unusual, precisely filming my face or what I’m looking at and talking about… no matter how you think about it, it’s not normal.
The former might be explained by saying it’s designed to detect movement and move accordingly.
But the latter is impossible unless the drone has intellectual ability, isn’t it?

“……Hmm, I’m not sure.”
But I couldn’t assert that someone else was controlling it from afar, or that the drone had the ability to think and judge on its own, just for such reasons.
The biggest reason is none other than the fact that I assembled this drone myself.
In an abandoned city where not a single person remains, I dismantled and reassembled the drone I found by chance many times, relying on a single blueprint.
The blueprint only had information about communication, with nothing specifically written about it thinking on its own or being controllable from outside.
Even if it could be controlled from outside rather than with the controller.
Approaching it logically, they wouldn’t have made it so that someone without any authentication could control the aircraft without any restrictions.
Besides, who would know about and control an incomplete drone in an abandoned city?
Given that it’s connected to the network, to say someone who saw my video is controlling the drone in reverse with outstanding technology… there are too many strange points.

As I said before, would a civilization with such outstanding technology have just left these cities and things behind?
“Just the machines left without owners would have been quite valuable…”
Even if people didn’t come directly, they would have sent drones that could transport goods, or hacked the drones here when electricity was being supplied to take them away.
In that respect, the possibility of someone controlling the drone from outside was… not very high.
Also, would a strange person who takes control of the drone without the owner’s permission move the drone far away in this situation?

“…Thinking about it most simply, maybe the controller has a function to read brain waves or signals from the person wearing it.”
If it can read my thoughts or actions through the controller I always wear on my arm, the behaviors mentioned earlier aren’t strange.
Now that I’ve taken off the bracelet, it can’t understand me telling it to come here, and if it’s set not to film things that could be ethically problematic… then it’s not strange for it to behave like that.

“Whatever it is, it’s a really suspicious and interesting fellow, I tell you.”
How I happened to find such a drone, it’s really amazing.
I chuckle and lean against the edge of the snow removal box.

“Phew….”
Tingle, tingle.
From my hands that are always stiff despite wearing gloves, and my feet that are blistered and scarred from never resting comfortably for even a day, I continue to feel a tingling pain.
The pain like being constantly pricked with a needle all over my body keeps being felt, but strangely, I didn’t dislike this pain.

“I want to stay like this forever….”
My body feels pain, and the sensation of sight or touch on my skin still feels unfamiliar.
But thanks to this pain and unfamiliarity, the sense of being alive feels stronger than ever, making me keep smiling.

My head and body have become a little strange.
“Still, resources are limited, and the attention people give me won’t last forever, so I need to move quickly….”
Finding the drone, getting plenty of food from the supermarket, getting many treasure chests from the train station, and so on.
I’ve been experiencing an abundant period that I’ve never experienced in the past year, but that doesn’t mean I intend to settle for the present.
My goal is, after all, to meet living people directly… and escape from a solitary life.

“When I get to the next city… what should I do first? I think I need to find some information first… Huh?”
As soon as I started talking about my next destination, the drone that had disappeared approached right in front of me.
How did it understand and come? I didn’t even put the controller back on that I had taken off.
To call it a coincidence… feels quite suspicious.
Even after coming close, the way it films my discarded clothes or the boiling water instead of me, unlike its usual behavior, is also strange.
Still… I have no choice but to dismiss it as coincidence.
I can’t dismantle the drone now or leave it behind.

“…Hello everyone. Did you have a good trip with the drone? I was chatting about various things while washing… and thinking about what to do when I get to the next city, and you arrived at just the right time.”
Splash, splash, I continue the conversation while letting them hear through the sound that I’m still in the water.

“When I get to the next city, first… I think I should find a library. To come to you, I think I need more information about myself or you.”
Although we’ve been talking through the drone for a long time, we still don’t know much about each other.
And it’s not like I can use incredible technology to find you at once.
It was time for objective knowledge about the current situation, and that’s how I thought of the library.

“Even if electronic devices have become useless and the information inside them can’t be seen… information recorded in writing will remain.”
Yes, like the many letters and pictures we saw in the slum.

“Come to think of it… I haven’t seen a library even once until now.”
As personal electronic devices became common, people grew distant from books.
Unless you like the unique weight of books or the feeling of turning paper pages, there’s no reason to hold a book in your hand instead of an electronic device.
Still, until my time, there were one or two libraries or large bookstores left in the city… but in this world, perhaps because computers succeeded in being miniaturized to the point where they fit in one hand, I hadn’t seen a library or bookstore at all during the past year.

“When I get to the next city, I’ll first look for a library… and if there isn’t one, then… what should I do, what can I do?”
Should I just wander around again and wait for a chance?
Since I’ve got this miraculous opportunity to talk with people, I want to try everything I can.
But I can’t quite grasp what I can do and what results I can achieve through my actions.

“Ah! I don’t know. I don’t want to think complicated thoughts right now. It’s enough to think about that while walking through the snow field.”
So, I gave up thinking.
I’m having a good time for once, and I don’t want to unnecessarily complicate this precious time.
Thoughts about the future are enough to have in the snow field where there’s nothing to do but walk.
For now, let’s set aside thoughts about the uncertain future and enjoy the immediate pleasure.
Worrying about the future from now won’t change the future much anyway.

“…I should add more warm water. Phew.”
Liberation and security from worries.
Even if it’s just for a moment.
Each of these little things gives motivation to move forward.

“Oh, it’s less snowy and less cold than usual… the sky that has been closed all along has opened.”
I took out just my arms to transfer hot water from the pot.
During that brief moment, moonlight seeped through the unfilled clouds and illuminated the whole world.
The darkness that reclaimed its original place as the city ceased to function.
It allowed me to face numerous stars that glimmer faintly along with the large moon.

“…In the era I lived in, the sky was always filled with smog, and stars were like fantasies that could only be seen through a planetarium.”
The endless sea of snow and.
The endless world of stars.
And me in between.

“…It feels like I’ve come to heaven.”
Those words sprang out involuntarily at the beautiful scenery.
Heaven.

“Heaven. Heaven…”
To heaven.
That phrase was written on the emergency exit door too.
Does that mean there’s a heaven-like city ahead?
Or did they come to dream of heaven after giving up everything?
Or is it a sentence written in admiration while looking at a beautiful world like I am?

“Whether heaven exists or not, I can’t know… but in the end, heaven is the world after death.”
I don’t completely deny the existence of an afterlife, like praying for the dead to go to a good place.
But still, I don’t want to imagine after death while I’m currently breathing and living diligently.
Every moment of being alive right now is too precious to imagine after death.
Unless death is really imminent, I want to use the word heaven only as an expression of admiration, like now.

“Hmm… but thinking about getting out makes me reluctant. I guess this isn’t heaven after all.”
How cold and painful will it be for my relaxed body in this comfortable water to go out into the world and put on clothes?
Life and death, happiness and despair.
They’re too close to each other, and that’s painful.