"Why do you always ask questions?"
Simon asked Haru.
"Huh? Because... there are things I don't understand."
"But even when you get answers, new questions arise. There's no end."
Haru pondered. "True. When I understand one thing, ten questions emerge."
Mio sat quietly. As always.
Simon continued. "Socrates spoke of 'knowing that you know nothing.' Knowing what you don't know is the beginning of wisdom."
"But isn't that contradictory? If we ask to know, questions should decrease."
"The opposite. The more you know, the more questions arise."
Haru asked curiously. "Why?"
"Because the outline of knowledge expands. Inside the circle is knowledge, outside is the unknown. As the circle grows, the boundary line also lengthens."
"I see..."
Simon offered another perspective. "But questions have another meaning."
"Another meaning?"
"Not just to get answers, but questioning itself is the purpose."
Haru was confused. "Asking without answers?"
"In philosophy, many questions are like that," Simon said. "'What is the meaning of life?' has no definitive answer."
"Then why ask?"
"By asking, we confirm our existence."
Mio handed Haru a small note. "I question, therefore I am"
"A variation on Descartes," Simon smiled. "Not 'I think,' but 'I question.'"
Haru stared at the note. "Questioning as proof of existence..."
"Yes. Animals don't question. Only humans question their own existence."
"But," Haru doubted, "aren't questions without answers meaningless?"
Simon shook his head. "The process has meaning. By continuing to question, thought deepens."
"Quality of questions over answers?"
"Heidegger said 'questioning is the piety of thought.'"
Haru looked out the window. Children playing. Throwing questions at each other.
"Children question naturally."
"Because their curiosity is pure," Simon said. "Adults expect answers too much."
"Better not to expect?"
"Expectations are fine. But too much attachment makes questions rigid."
Mio wrote again. "Open questions, open minds"
"Open questions, open minds," Haru translated.
Simon nodded. "Mio always hits the core."
"But isn't it tiring to keep questioning?" Haru said honestly.
"It is tiring," Simon admitted. "That's why sometimes being satisfied with answers is also important."
"Isn't that contradictory?"
"Life is full of contradictions," Simon laughed. "Continuing to question and stopping to rest. Both are necessary."
Mio stood up and wrote on the whiteboard.
"Questions create meaning"
"Questions create meaning," Haru read.
"Yes," Simon said. "Meaning isn't something to discover, but to create."
"Through questions?"
"Through questions, through dialogue, through thought."
Haru took a deep breath. "Then it's natural that questions never end."
"If there were an end, thought would also stop."
Mio smiled faintly and returned to her seat.
Haru asked Simon. "What's the most important question?"
Simon pondered. "Asking that itself might be the most important question."
Haru laughed. "Another question multiplied."
"That's what humans are," Simon said. "Beings who continue to question."
Mio closed her notebook. Her silence seemed to contain the deepest questions.
The three left the club room, each carrying their own questions. Even without answers, there were questions. That was enough.