A Nostalgic Galgame Memory — NekoNade Distortion

　Following the Kiss the Future essay I just wrote, let's talk about another work by Motonaga Masaki. I certainly love Kiss the Future for its content, but what I admire most is its attitude and the way it exists as a work. NekoNade Distortion, on the other hand—I love every part of it. As anyone familiar with Kiss the Future can tell, Motonaga Masaki is a writer who builds his stories around philosophical themes. Every project he's worked on reflects his personal interests and obsessions in some way, but I think NekoNade Distortion is where those tendencies appear most vividly.

A Nostalgic Galgame Memory — Mirai ni Kiss o -Kiss the Future- - HazeDenki.net

HazeDenki.net

　If you're born an otaku, there's a good chance you'll encounter at least one thought experiment in your life. Unlike real-world experiments, thought experiments exist only in the realm of imagination, and their bizarre premises have always captivated the otaku mind.

　The Trolley Problem. The Five-Minute Hypothesis. Philosophical Zombies.

They're all irresistibly fascinating. Among them, Schrödinger's Cat has been referenced so often across various works that you've probably heard of it at least once.

　Put simply, it's about observation and certainty. Events become fixed through observation. A cat placed inside a box where poison gas has a 50% chance of being released exists in a state where its life and death are undetermined until someone observes it. When the box is opened, perhaps a kitten will leap out with a cheerful meow. Or perhaps you'll be left traumatized. The outcome depends on you. More precisely, it depends on your recognition.

　Have you heard of the double-slit experiment, often called "the most beautiful experiment"? It's notoriously difficult to explain, and I certainly don't fully understand it myself. But, broadly speaking, it's an experiment suggesting that light behaves differently when it is being observed than when it is not—or at least that's how I understand it. If you keep digging deeper into ideas like these, you eventually arrive at the heart of quantum mechanics, where you discover that everything in the universe may be described in terms of particles and waves. Or so they say.

　"Observation" is an incredibly fascinating concept. Take the Five-Minute Hypothesis I mentioned earlier. What if the universe was created just five minutes ago, and every memory you possess was implanted at the moment of creation? Modern science can neither prove nor disprove such a claim.

　If that's the case, perhaps this world is a game launched five minutes ago by some higher being—a god-like entity beyond our comprehension. Right now you're in your room, so you're observing and recognizing the room around you. But can you prove that Mount Fuji exists at this very moment, even though you cannot currently observe it? What if the world only loads Mount Fuji once you move close enough to perceive it? Mount Fuji can continue existing because someone in Japan is always looking at it. But what about places that nobody in the world is observing? Can we really know whether anything exists there at all? Just like Schrödinger's cat...

　I've spent all this time without saying much about the game itself. The reason I've gone so far off track is simple: if the ideas I've been rambling about interest you, then you'll almost certainly enjoy this game. As for what kind of story unfolds within it— I'd rather leave that for you to discover through observation yourself.