Chapter 133: Choice 2
As he spoke, Moroboshi's left hand shot out toward the red button, his fingers poised to press down...
"Wait! Don't be in such a rush to choose!" Conan Edogawa lunged forward, his small hand clamping down on Moroboshi's wrist, stopping the motion just in time.
Moroboshi turned his head, a frown creasing his brow as he glared down at Conan. "What is it? You're not actually thinking of choosing the blue button, are you?"
Seeing Moroboshi's action halted by the small boy, Kikukawa and Emori, who had been about to press their own buttons, froze as well. They paused, but confusion was plain on their faces. They didn't understand Conan's reasoning for stopping Moroboshi and looked at him expectantly, waiting for an explanation.
Conan's own expression was a mask of conflict. In truth, he agreed that compared to the catastrophic blue button, the red one seemed like the only viable choice. Yet, a persistent, nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach told him that things weren't nearly that simple.
, even though Noah's Ark had just promised that pressing the red button would clear the game and allow everyone to return to the real world, what if there was a catch? The possibility might be small, but what if some hidden trap lay in wait?
He was certain that Noah's Ark had some ulterior motive for suddenly presenting them with this choice right before the game's conclusion. A decision of this magnitude couldn't be made so hastily.
Just as Conan was wrestling with how to articulate his doubts, Mouri Ran's hesitant voice broke the tense silence. "We're... we're voting on whether or not to let the Hydro Archon... die, right? Isn't that... a little wrong?"
Mitsuhiko nodded, his face also troubled. "Yeah, it feels like we're deciding someone else's life all by ourselves."
Kikukawa, however, had a different perspective. "So what are we supposed to do? Choose the blue button and let all those people in Fontaine suffer?"
"Exactly," Emori chimed in. "And the moment the blue button is chosen, we're all finished, too. Is there really any other choice here?"
Ayumi pulled away from Ran's side and stood up straight, wiping the tears from her eyes with her sleeve. Her voice, though trembling, was firm. "But I really, really don't want to see the Hydro Archon and Focalors sacrifice themselves. Conan, you're so smart, please think of a way! Can't you solve the problem without the Hydro Archon getting hurt?"
Hearing Ayumi's plea, Genta also turned to look at Conan with wide, expectant eyes. After listening to Ran and reflecting on their journey so far, he found the idea of pressing that red button incredibly difficult. Perhaps Conan really could figure out a solution to the problem that had them all stumped.
A muscle in Conan's cheek twitched. "..."
He wasn't sure whether to be grateful for his friends' unwavering faith or exasperated by it. The simple fact was, he had no clue what to do.
No matter how he analyzed it, based on what Noah's Ark had said, the red button was the only logical path forward. But was it truly that simple? What was the point of Noah's Ark giving them this choice in the first place?
also, Conan felt a strange sense of familiarity with this entire setup, this mode of choice. It was a bit like... like what...
That's it. The Trolley Problem.
"The Trolley Problem," Haibara stated, her calm voice cutting through his thoughts.
Conan shot a look of pure annoyance in her direction.
Seriously? Someone had beaten him to the punch again. He felt an overwhelming urge to pull his own hair out. Why was everyone like this...
"The Trolley Problem? What's that?" Genta looked completely lost. "I don't get it. Weren't we talking about which button to press? Why are we suddenly talking about a problem on a trolley? And what kind of trolley problem would we kids know how to fix anyway?"
"You don't even know such a famous thought experiment?" Moroboshi scoffed, his tone dripping with condescension. Seeing Genta turn to glare at him, he added with deliberate slowness, "You should really try reading a book sometime."
He continued, "The Trolley Problem is one of the most well-known thought experiments in ethics. The premise is this: five innocent people are tied to a trolley track, and a runaway trolley is hurtling toward them. Fortunately, you discover a lever that can switch the trolley to a different track. The catch is, there's one innocent person tied to that other track as well. Given the situation, should you pull the lever?"
Genta scratched his head, still looking baffled. "So... what does that have to do with what's happening now?"
Conan took over the explanation. "The question of 'whether to pull the lever' in the Trolley Problem is very similar to our choice today. At its core, it's about choosing between the few and the many. It's just that our choice is more complex, with other factors involved—including our own lives—which makes the two options seem incredibly lopsided."
"Yes," Haibara added quietly. "But no matter how lopsided the options are, once you make a choice, it means you have sacrificed the person on the 'other track'."
Genta looked hesitantly at Conan. "So... does that mean we're supposed to choose... the blue button?"
Conan felt a headache coming on. He knew Genta hadn't quite grasped the point. "Of course not," he replied, a dark shadow crossing his face. "While I'm not sure if we should choose the red button, we absolutely cannot choose the blue one."
Moroboshi's patience was wearing thin. "Then what are you agonizing over?! There are only two options. If we can't choose blue, doesn't that mean we have to choose red? Or can you magically conjure up a third option out of thin air?"
"Exactly, exactly," Emori and Kikukawa muttered in agreement.
Moroboshi glanced up at the countdown timer, his expression growing anxious. Less than three minutes remained.
Following his gaze, Kikukawa also saw the dwindling time and began to pressure Conan. "Have you made up your mind yet?! There isn't much time left. If you don't choose soon, we might not even have time to press a button before the countdown ends!"
Just then, a sudden flash of insight struck Conan. He had thought of something...
Seeing Conan's distant, distracted expression, Kikukawa's frustration boiled over into anger. "If you still haven't decided, then Moroboshi, Emori, and I aren't going to wait for you! We'll press the buttons ourselves. Time waits for no one!"
"Wait!" Conan called out, stopping them once again.
"What on earth are you trying to—"
Before Kikukawa could finish his impatient question, Conan spoke directly, his voice sharp and clear. "Do you remember what Noah's Ark said when it gave each of us a button? It repeated the instructions at the end. It only told us to make a choice. It never said that the choice had to be pressing the red or blue button. Or perhaps..."
A glint of white light flashed across Conan's glasses, reflecting the stark virtual environment. "Perhaps the choice... is to not press any button at all."
Kikukawa was stunned into silence by the interruption. Before his anger could resurface, Conan's question captured his full attention. He began to mentally replay the AI's words. "It seems... that's right..."
Moroboshi also recalled Noah's Ark's specific phrasing. When Kikukawa looked at him with an inquiring gaze, he gave a slight, affirmative nod.
Haibara raised a single eyebrow, a flicker of understanding in her eyes. "So, you mean we should choose not to choose?"
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