The aftermath of the April Fools' project side story.
Do you know what "The Butterfly's Dream" means?
One day, a man dreamed that he had become a butterfly, flitting and fluttering through the sky. The dream itself carries no deep meaning, but upon waking from it, the man thought thus: "Hm — did I, just now, dream of becoming a butterfly and then wake up? Or is it the case that the butterfly who is dreaming is the one who truly exists here and now?"
Don't you think that's an interesting way of looking at it?
This isn't limited to butterflies alone. The important thing is: what is the basis that lets you definitively define "the self that exists here and now"?
When you witness a scene that seems like a "dream" to someone, is the self standing there truly not you? And when you glimpse what you'd consider an ideal world — could you resign yourself to calling that place a dream?
Or perhaps, with that way of thinking, the needle swings too far toward the dream — they say you've lost sight of the boundary between dream and reality.
No, no — getting sidetracked is one of my bad habits. Let me wrap things up more clearly and concisely this time, shall I?
In short, though it was only a brief, fleeting span of time, there was indeed a dreamscape that should have existed here.
It took place in a world whose flow of time differed from the original, and I don't know whether things truly played out that way… but whether it was the world in which you, having become a butterfly, danced and fluttered about, or a reality you'd rather believe "was all a dream," the one who ultimately makes that judgment isn't those around you — it's your own perception.
——The world he sees reveals its different facets to him, again and again.
From among those, choosing one world and walking forward into his own reality — that is the mission he has been given.
And so, what becomes of the worlds that were never grasped?
It is, I suppose, my privilege to worry my head over questions with no answers.
Someday, will he affirm the dream he has seen — or deny it? Will he judge the world he walks to be dream or reality?
It's terribly unfortunate that I won't be there beside him to witness it.
Truly, a mistake uncharacteristic of me.
Since deleting works places a burden on the website, only the main text was removed.
Just like a dream.