"Maybe there's no meaning at all."
Simon suddenly said. His voice was dark, unlike his usual self.
"What happened?" Haru asked with concern.
"My grandfather passed away. He had a long life. But what remained in the end?"
Ren said quietly. "The fundamental problem of existentialism."
"Existentialism?"
"Camus, Sartre, Nietzsche. They start from the premise that life has no essential meaning."
Simon looked up. "So it's meaningless?"
"Not meaningless, but there's no pre-prepared meaning," Haru supplemented.
"What's the difference?"
"Meaning isn't given but created."
Ren added explanation. "After the premise that God gives meaning collapsed, humans must create meaning themselves."
"Nietzsche's 'God is dead,'" Simon murmured.
"Yes. It's both liberation and burden."
Mio quietly entered and sat next to Simon. She said nothing, but her presence was warm.
"But," Simon continued, "isn't creating meaning self-deception? Pretending there's meaning when it's really meaningless?"
Haru thought. "Between meaning and meaninglessness, which is 'real'?"
"Meaninglessness is real, and meaning is illusion?"
"Why do you think so?" Ren asked.
"From a cosmic perspective, human activities are like dust."
"It's a matter of scale," Ren pointed out. "On a cosmic scale, maybe dust. But on a human scale, it's important."
"Which is the correct perspective?"
"Both are correct. The question is which to adopt."
Haru said quietly. "We can't live from the universe's perspective. We can only live as humans."
"So human meaning is valid?"
"Not valid so much as that's all there is."
Mio wrote in her notebook. "Meaning is relationship."
Simon read it. "Relationship?"
Mio nodded and wrote again. "Person to person, person to world."
Ren understood. "Meaning doesn't exist in isolated individuals. It's born in relationships with others and environment."
"What's the meaning of grandfather's life?" Simon asked.
"It's in your relationship with him," Haru answered.
"But grandfather is gone."
"Memory and influence remain."
Ren added. "Martin Buber's 'I and Thou.' Relationship is the essential reality."
"If relationship remains, meaning remains?"
"You could say that."
Simon exhaled deeply. "But eventually it will be forgotten."
"Even forgotten, the chain of causality continues," Haru said. "The influence your grandfather had on you spreads through you to the world."
"Like ripples?"
"Yes. Even when direct memory fades, indirect influence continues."
Mio stood up and opened the window. Wind came in.
"This wind too comes from somewhere and goes somewhere," Ren said. "It has beginning and end, but they're connected."
Simon quietly asked. "So does life need meaning?"
"The word 'need' is difficult," Haru answered. "Biologically, no. But to live as human, it's unavoidable."
"Unavoidable?"
"Because humans are beings who seek meaning," Ren explained. "Frankl's words. 'Man has will to meaning.'"
"We can't help but seek meaning?"
"Yes. That's the human condition."
Mio handed Simon a small paper. A single pressed flower.
"What's this?" Simon asked.
Mio didn't answer, just smiled.
Haru explained. "Maybe Mio's answer. The flower has no meaning, but it's beautiful."
"Meaning and beauty are separate?"
"They might be. But both have value."
Ren organized. "Does life need meaning. The answer isn't 'need' but 'humans seek meaning.'"
"An inescapable question."
"Yes. So there's no single answer."
Simon gazed at the pressed flower. "Whether grandfather's life had meaning, I decide?"
"You discover it," Haru corrected. "Not decide so much as find."
"Find?"
"Recognize connections that already exist."
Mio quietly stood up and placed her hand on Simon's shoulder. Just for a moment. Then left.
"Mio also showed an answer," Ren said.
"By touching?"
"By existing. By engaging. That itself is creating meaning."
Simon took a deep breath. "Life doesn't need meaning. But humans live meaning."
"Contradictory, but that's the answer," Haru smiled.
"Grandfather's meaning lives on in me."
"And through you, spreads further."
Simon carefully put away the pressed flower. "Meaning is in continuing to question."
"Philosophical," Ren acknowledged.
"Because questioning is living."
The three sat quietly. Meaning was before them, and also far away.