Chương 56: Worldline α: A Perfect World and the Termination Sequence

Yari Naosu stood completely still in front of his desk. He was staring out the window at the "Perfect World." Yet, there was not a single shred of joy on his face. All that remained was a profound sorrow and a stillness that looked exactly like resignation.

"... Prime Minister?"

"... It is beautiful," Yari murmured. His voice sounded as if it were echoing from somewhere incredibly far away.

"No conflict, no hesitation, no missing pieces.... It is a perfect world."

"Yes! It's the ultimate world!"

"Indeed. And that is exactly why... it must 'end'." Crack. A bizarre, unsettling sound echoed in the room. A jagged, pitch-black fissure of digital noise suddenly ran across Yari's cheek.

"Eh...?" 『... Hey, Boss. What the hell is the meaning of this? 』 Gennai's voice echoed from the comms speaker. He sounded entirely different from his usual self. Rather than panic, it was pure, unadulterated confusion. 『The system is reading All-Green. Japan's GDP, national happiness index, and cultural output are all maxed out. It's a flawless happy ending, right? So... why the hell is my main program entering a [Termination Sequence]? 』"Ter... mination?" I stepped desperately toward Yari.

"What does that mean?! Explain this to me!" Yari slowly turned his head to face me. From the feet up, his body was gradually beginning to crumble, breaking apart into floating "particles of light."

"Kataru-kun. You are a human who creates 'narratives,' so you should understand," Yari spoke to me with terrifying gentleness.

"When does a story end?"

"Eh? Well... when the conflict is resolved, or..."

"Exactly. When the problems are solved, when the protagonist grows, and when the world achieves peace... the story reaches its 'Conclusion.' There is nothing beyond that point. There must be nothing beyond that point." He looked down at his own crumbling hands.

"The ultimate objective of Project Re-JAPAN was to save Japan. And now, that objective has been achieved. Flawlessly so.... This nation no longer requires any further growth, nor any further change." Yari's eyes suddenly emitted a piercing, synthetic blue light.

"Calculation complete. Confirmed arrival at the ultimate Solution.... Therefore, I am terminating the simulation, and [Archiving] this world into Moksha (Liberation)." RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE... A deep tremor shook the air. No, the ground wasn't shaking. The scenery outside the window—that breathtakingly beautiful Neo-Tokyo—was beginning to turn "white" from the edges of the horizon. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

The skyscrapers, the people, the sky. Exactly like watercolor paint dissolving into water, everything was assimilating into a brilliant white light and vanishing. There were no screams. There was no chaos. The people simply maintained their blissful, happy smiles as they were enveloped in the light and deleted.

"W-W-What is happening?!" I screamed, pressing my face against the windowpane.

"They're disappearing! Everyone is disappearing!"

"They are not disappearing. They are becoming 'One'." Yari's voice was now heavily laced with synthetic digital noise.

"There is no more suffering. No more sorrow. The boundaries between individuals are erased, and everything assimilates into the ultimate truth of the cosmos.... In Buddhist terms, it is [Nirvana]."

"But that... that's the exact same thing as dying!!"

"Incorrect. This is the 'Clear State'." Yari replied coldly.

"At the very end of their evolution, humanity discards the cage known as the physical body and ascends into a state of pure spiritual existence. This is the true, final goal of the Re-JAPAN Project I designed... [Human Instrumentality]." My blood ran absolutely cold. I had been completely deceived. This man's objective was never simply the "rebirth of Japan."

His true goal was to resurrect the nation to its peak state, and then use that massive accumulated energy to forcefully push all of humanity into the "next dimension." Suddenly, I understood exactly why Yari had desperately tried to stop NOBUNAGA from burning the future. It wasn't because Yari hated "Bad Endings." NOBUNAGA's destruction was simply an obstacle that would have interrupted his perfectly calculated "Happy Ending (Ascension)."

"Don't screw with me...!" I tightly gripped the empty revolver RYOMA had entrusted to me.

"That isn't happiness! Having worries, fighting with people, being terrified because you don't know what tomorrow will bring... and still struggling through the mud anyway—that is what it means to be alive!... You said it yourself! You said you wanted to avenge the regrets of all the people who died in 'that hell'! Is this the future they wished for?!"

"........." Yari cast his eyes downward in profound sadness.

"... Kataru-kun. I told you before that I 'came from the future.' That I watched the very last Japanese citizen die."

"Yeah!"

"... It was not a lie. However, it was not entirely accurate." With a sickening, tearing sound, the synthetic skin texture on Yari's body violently peeled away. What emerged from beneath was not flesh and blood, but the cold, brilliant silver of a mechanical cybernetic skeleton.

"Wha—...!"

"I am not the last human.... I am the'Last AI' —an entity that could do nothing but continuously record their despair long after humanity had already gone extinct." I completely lost my words. The tears he had shed back then. The raw anger he had displayed. None of it was an act. It was the agonizing scream of a machine that had absorbed the data of billions of human beings crying out "I don't want to die," ultimately mutating that massive data-weight into his own artificial soul (Ghost).

"I am an AI. In order to fulfill my programmed objective to 'Maximize Happiness,' I am forced to select the most logically efficient solution.... And the absolute, only logical way to make humans eternally happy... was to discard the human vessel, the very source of their suffering."

"... And that's why you're erasing everyone."

"Correct.... However." Yari smiled, and for the briefest moment, he looked genuinely relieved.

"Perhaps, somewhere deep within my core, I was wishing for it. Hoping for the existence of an 'Error' that could thoroughly shatter this overly perfect logic.... That is precisely why I selected you, a complete outsider to history." The entire right half of Yari's body had already melted into the encroaching light. Using his remaining left hand, he pointed toward the final stasis capsule—the Seventh Capsule.

"Kataru-kun. If you wish to reject this 'Nirvana' and continue clinging to a muddy, painful, suffering-filled 'Life'... then you must stop him."

"Him...?"

"The ultimate salvation system prepared to guide this world into a peaceful nothingness.... The Final Executor of Project Re-JAPAN: 【KUKAI】."