End of the World Broadcast

Now that all roads are covered in snow, they can’t be found at all, but in the era I lived in, when walking along roads with few people, you could occasionally see weeds or flowers that had grown through the asphalt.
Such flowers, being on the roadside, couldn’t properly absorb nutrients, and were in poor condition due to fine dust or exhaust fumes from cars. They were small, withered, and utterly lackluster in color.
Compared to many flowers grown in specialized machines or facilities designed to bloom beautifully and brought to flower shops, they were close to ‘garbage’ that no one would take even if given for free.
To my eyes, accustomed to flowers sold in flower shops like bouquets wishing for recovery, there was no objective reason to feel these flowers were ‘beautiful’.
But nevertheless, those flowers appeared far more beautiful than any flower sold in a flower shop, than any bouquet sent with wishes for recovery from illness.
Was it because they were nature’s colors miraculously blooming on the bleak asphalt?
Was it because I identified with their resilience, standing firm despite the environment that was unfavorable for life to grow?
Was it because of the causal relationships that humans unconsciously recall when looking at an object?
Or whether that flower truly contained beauty that transcended subjective perception, I cannot know.
I, we, often gained positive emotions from such trivial and irregular occurrences even in a world where everything had become massive and regular.

“Seeing such tall and huge buildings lined up, there are times when I get goosebumps all over my body, what about you?”
So what about artificial objects beyond nature?
Media such as paintings or statues, designed to convey one’s aesthetics or emotions, have been passed down continuously from ancient times.
But even objects not intentionally created to convey emotions or the same sensibility often felt beautiful and overwhelming, namely buildings.
Various buildings, stable and splendid enough to visibly show that they were designed with consideration for highly mathematical and scientific elements, evoke a strong emotion completely different from flowers or paintings.
If I were to express this emotion in words, it would be ecstasy or grandeur.
Well, not always, but especially in places where there are many exceptionally nice buildings gathered together. And when looking down at a building from above.

“How could they build such tall and huge buildings so densely? They surely didn’t stack such large buildings, some of which are curved, one by one with human bodies.”
In a world like the past, buildings that could each be called a city landmark are tightly packed here as if they were just common office buildings or houses.
It’s impressive, as if the technological power of this future era was saying, “Look how amazing we were,” but it also raises questions.
It seems inefficient to have built from the inside of a densely built area gradually outward… how did they create such a city?

“Surely they didn’t complete buildings elsewhere and drop them from above to below where they wanted to build, like Tetris!”
It’s truly nonsensical, but how many nonsensical things are there in this city?
And it’s not entirely far-fetched; even in the old days, they moved gypsum plaster houses well enough with road trains.
If drones or such means of transportation developed tremendously, there’s nothing that couldn’t be moved, even buildings.
…If that were the case, it would have been incredibly fun to watch, albeit unsettling.

“Ah. But I wonder if people of this era know Tetris? It’s an extremely old and famous video game… I’ll explain it specially!”
It’s a game where you drop blocks of various shapes, like buildings, sickles, or shotguns, from the top, to perfectly match a line without gaps and clear it.
While explaining the rules to people who might not know Tetris, I began to slowly climb the building with a telescope in hand.

Earlier, I spoke about the beauty of natural objects and the various positive emotions that can be felt from man-made architecture.
But what if there’s a building so large that mere human eyes cannot see it in its entirety?
If a building, whose beginning and end are unknown, whether it truly has an end, and whose width is unknowable, looks down on me from such a high place.
Could I express the same appreciation?

“Wow. It’s really high. To have such tall and huge buildings all beneath my feet, it’s an amazing feeling.”
When I climbed the building earlier to find the location of the supermarket, I also marked the position of the tallest building visible on my map.
It was so that if the weather cleared, I could climb up there to find my next destination.
While in the city, it doesn’t matter how I move since I’m consistently making maps.
But when leaving one city for a new one, I would climb to high places like this to check the direction of cities and to find cities that might have people.

“The weather isn’t perfect, but isn’t it good that it’s not snowing?”
It’s been several weeks since I visited this city.
But during that time, it was constantly snowing, making it impossible to see far.
With a good telescope, I can see up to a few blocks away, but not as far as I can now.

“Ha. Truly, there are many depressing and frustrating things in this world, but… when I see scenery like this, I think it’s fortunate to be alive. Don’t you think so too?”
The effort of investing a day to climb the tallest building in this area was well worth it.
The sky hadn’t cleared, but rarely, it wasn’t snowing, and from the rooftop, I could see the gate located at the edge of the city far away.
And beyond the gate, the vast horizon and the pure white snow covering it all were visible at a glance.
My legs, which had climbed a building of over 100 floors, were trembling as if they would collapse at any moment despite taking breaks in between.
But the sensation of having beneath my feet a world that was impossible to properly observe from below was incredibly fantastic.

“…But, what could that be?”
—-However.
The sense of openness I felt while looking at the wide-open world was devoured by just one architectural structure visible in the distance.
No, I’m not even sure if what I see in the distance is truly an architectural structure.
What kind of architectural structure can be seen from tens, hundreds of kilometers away?
The square column-shaped structure that emerges from the horizon and attempts to invade the sky again looked like a visualization of humanity’s endless thirst for knowledge.

“What on earth did the people of this era dream of─ what did they do?”
Right now, both in this city and in the cities I’ve passed through, there are buildings tall enough to touch the sky.
But buildings as wide and massive as that… didn’t exist until now.
Black.
Chaotic.
Numerous stairs and layers, tilted and protruding unstable reinforcing bars.
Even when magnified with a high-performance telescope, it’s impossible to even imagine what role this column exists to fulfill.

“…With my imagination and knowledge, I can’t predict what that structure exists for, or even how it was built.”
What could be the length, width, and height of that structure?
I’m simply, overwhelmed.
While looking at the cluster of tall towers, I felt positive emotions including ecstasy.
But that black column, even seen from so far away, is unsettling, and even unpleasant.

“Alright. The next destination is… it seems to be there.”
I murmur in a voice that has become quite calm compared to when I first reached the rooftop.
Even for me, who thought I had walked through a considerably developed city until now, my instincts send an incomprehensible warning about this concentration of technology built up to the point of freezing.
…But the essence of technology is to solve deficiencies and make life abundant and stable.
The city near that column, which obviously used technology far more complex than the technology used in this building and city where I stand.
It surely survived at least a little longer than this city.
*
“It seems it’s time for me to leave this city. There hasn’t been such a clear destination set during the past year, and while it’s a bit overwhelming, it’s also comfortable.”
After sitting on the rooftop for a long time making maps and planning for the future, I came down to the lower floors as the sky began to darken.

“Of course, I don’t plan to leave right away. To leave the city and go to another city, you know the snowfield I saw from the rooftop? I have to cross it with my bare body.”
So I had many things to gather, such as a thermos for warm water, thick socks, shoes to replace my worn-out ones.

“So I’ll go to the outskirts of the city over about 3 days, organize my supplies… and wait for a day when the weather clears.”
No one knows how long it will take to leave one city and reach the next.
There’s the issue of my physical strength, and the weather could be capricious. To begin with, I don’t even know if cities are separated by consistent intervals.
Having crossed the snowfield alone several times before, I sighed deeply recalling those experiences.

“Haah. In the end, such a day has come.”
At least the city, cruel and dark as it may be, is as clear as what can be seen.
Except for weapons occasionally hidden under the snow, all things that pose a direct threat are visible, and I can confirm in advance where I should go and where I can stay safely.
But the snowfield shows nothing. At the same time, nothing can be gauged.
Where I am now, how far I need to go. How much longer, how many more days I need to endure to reach a safe place is unknown.
To safely cross the pure white land where it feels like all information, including myself, could disappear, it wasn’t enough to prepare everything I could; I also needed luck on my side.

“Since I can’t control the weather, after preparing everything I can, I’ll just preserve my strength and pray to the heavens.”
I deliberately clenched my fists and made a bed in an office a few floors down from the rooftop.
Since it’s not a residential house, the windows are glass panels with wind coming in from various places, making it cold.
But perhaps because there was nothing to eat in such offices, it retained the relatively intact appearance it once had, so my mind was at ease.

“Ugh, I should also find a way to soak my body in warm water soon.”
And above all… maybe because I’ve used my body too harshly the past few days, I couldn’t possibly go down the stairs that span dozens of floors.
Judging from the pain in my legs, I should probably stay here without moving for at least two, no… three days.

[Aah, falling would be a disaster! Be careful!]
[Mori?]
“Yes. It’s Mori. Really nice to meet you!”

The fortunate thing was that unlike before, even when I couldn’t do anything and had to rest alone like this, there were people to talk with.
Firmly believing that with these friends, I could walk through the snowfield, which had only been frightening until now, with a smile, I gave a broad smile.