[Conan Doujin] The Mystery of Theseus

Puzzle36 The Mystery of Theseus

Led by Miyano, Edogawa followed her to what she called "the place where Kuroba can be seen".

He received so much information in a short period of time that he lost his language for a while.Only the mind is still operating continuously, and it seems that only the mind allows him to realize that he still exists.

I was able to see Kuroba.Obviously, no matter what I tried before, it was just futile.

According to Miyano's theory, those so-called shields, the so-called "everything needs a reason", are nothing but self-preservation procedures run by the world in order to move towards the established ending.

If you don't need to know, you will never know.And people who don't need to know, will never meet.

I don't know if it was due to Miyano's prior arrangements, the place where I met Kuroba was not far from their starting point.There was Kuroba standing there, of course, in a dark hoodie with headphones plugged into his ears.His posture is relaxed, because the distance is too far to see his expression clearly.It looks like a high school student who can be seen everywhere, standing on the side of the road waiting for friends.

As the distance continues to shorten, more and more details begin to be seen.

Edogawa wasn't sure if his eyes were actually watching all this.

He is still alive.

There were no abrasions on the face and no bandages on the rest of the body.He stood there, breathing, waving, and even smiling.

Literally, alive and well.

But even all of this shouldn't exist.

"There is no time limit," Miyano paused, as if to make room for their meeting. "Although I don't think letting you meet will affect the revision, please try not to do unnecessary things."

The more polite the words, the more it symbolizes a warning.

"It's just saying goodbye," Edogawa smiled helplessly, "In other words...if it's confirmed that we won't meet again, there should be no need to say goodbye."

Saying goodbye is like a bookmark sandwiched between the pages of a book, able to evoke the memory of that moment whenever the owner of the book sees it.Because of the existence of this bookmark, that book will be opened again one day.

This world has no future, and to some extent, even the past will be eliminated.There are no possibilities to look forward to, no memories to look back on.Knowing this, saying goodbye seems really unnecessary.

The past will not be remembered, and the future will definitely not meet again.Farewell, like acquaintance, is something that does not happen in any world line. Whether it is commemoration or ritual, its meaning is erased from the root along with those that were strangled.

but......

"When you want to do something, just do it." Edogawa said these words silently in his heart.

The mood suddenly improved a lot.That's right, no matter what reason he needs, whether it makes sense or not.I want to do it, I'm happy to do it.I was able to convince myself that it was enough.

"Yo," paused the music and took off the earphones, Hei Yu casually twisted the earphone cable and stuffed it into his pocket, "Long time no see."

"If I'm not wrong," Edogawa was a little surprised by his attitude that nothing happened, "Miyano should have already told you about the 'correction'?"

"Well... I understand a little bit." Hei Yu's eyes darkened.

It has nothing to do with the revision of the world line, and he only learned about it later.His disappearance was entirely due to his own decision.

When asked "Do you wish to escape from the current situation", Kuroba hesitated.The reason for the hesitation is probably because the idea of ​​"wanting to agree" lingers in my mind.The hesitation triggers a sense of betrayal, which morphs into guilt.After struggling like this for a long time, the voice of "Is it really okay to go on like this" started to play in a loop, circling endless self-questioning in the subconscious.

The thought of "wanting to escape" drives the heart.How to explain this psychology to the detective, Kuroba has not yet made clear his attitude.

But today's little detective seems to be just here to chat.

"Let me ask you," he kicked the stones on the ground, "when playing a game, if you want to get through an ending, what is the prerequisite?"

"Pre... premise? Let me think about it..." This question was unexpected by Hei Yu, "Well, not handicapped?"

This is indeed the major premise for clearing many games.Edogawa rolled his eyes angrily. "At this time, don't hurt me. There are also many games that don't require operational ability."

"Then tell me, what kind of prerequisites do you need to get through the game?"

Edogawa's expression became serious again.

"The premise is that the ending has been written in the system."

No matter how high the degree of freedom is, a game cannot break away from its established procedures. If a player insists on trying to find out something other than the game system through complex operations, it will probably trigger a bug or even cause the game to crash completely.

The end of non-existence is non-existence.No matter how many times you try, that imaginary future will never come.

But trying is trying.It's like Pandora's box, if you can't open it, you can never open it.Even if you see the things flying out of it, and try your best to stuff them all back, the fact that "the box has been opened" will not change.

Edogawa sighed.

He opened the box and found some wooden parts inside.It's logical to try to piece those parts back together.So he did.

He turned to Kuroba.

"Do you know the Ship of Theseus?"

"I don't know much." He didn't quite understand how the topic turned here, but Kuroba continued, "Probably...a ship will gradually be damaged over time. In order to make it work for a long time, New parts need to be constantly replaced. But until all the parts have been replaced, then it is not clear whether the ship is still the original ship ... such a contradictory story."

Don't you understand this well?Edogawa lowered the half-moon eyes,

"So? What does the detective want to express with this?"

"You just said that in order for the ship to work for a long time, new parts need to be replaced?" Edogawa smiled wryly, "We are the replaced parts."

When a ship is built, anyone can immediately know that it is a ship by looking at it.And if the individual parts are scattered all over the place, no one knows what they were prepared for, what they will be assembled into, or whether they will be assembled at all.

"We analyzed those parts and assembled the ship without authorization, but now," Edogawa closed his eyes, and laughed shortly, "it will be disassembled into parts again."

Kuroba also laughed.

"Did the detective regret having assembled the boat?"

"I don't know," Edogawa shook his head, "I don't know if what I'm doing is 'correct'. But when one day, someone suddenly tells you, 'You shouldn't have existed in the first place', isn't it almost the same as Are you saying, 'You're doing it wrong'?"

Perhaps, never met, never cooperated, is the correct appearance of this world.

It was slowly darkening.

When there are so many things to say, but nothing can be said.Although Miyano said "there is no time limit", judging from common sense, no one would be willing to stand on the road and chat until the next morning.

Edogawa watched the sky was dyed strange colors of deep purple and orange red.

"Will we meet again?"

silence.

"I think so."

"Why so sure?"

"No matter what kind of world you are facing, it is the result of thousands of choices," Kuroba continued Edogawa's theory, "If the famous detective at that time still thinks it is the right choice," he said The corners of his lips were raised, "Then we will definitely meet again."

It's just another chance to choose again.

The setting sun faded completely, and the deep purple gradually turned into pure black.Black Feather suddenly remembered something.

"Sorry," it sounded like a sincere apology, "I can't watch the fireworks together."

Edogawa narrowed his pupils slightly.He himself had almost forgotten that agreement.The one month agreed upon at that time seemed to be too far away in the future.And now that the date is approaching, whether it is really possible to watch the fireworks is completely irrelevant.

That day probably won't come.

However, if there is such a day.Edogawa thought.If there is a day when we meet again...

"That--"

He opened his mouth.

"The next time we meet,"

He laughed, and the curvature of his brows and eyes was unprecedentedly relaxed.

"Let's watch the fireworks together."