"—First, face your own past—"
That was the content of the trial.
Yes.
The first stage of this so-called trial was to face one's own past.
For most people, the past was not a pleasant thing.
Because humans were creatures who did foolish things.
No matter how outstanding someone was, they had once been immature. They had also gone through a rebellious phase, doing things that their future selves would find shameful and regretful.
That was why people usually held pessimistic views of the past. They disliked who they used to be, denied what had happened, and refused to face those unbearable memories, only optimistically acknowledging who they were now.
But that was unavoidable.
Compared to the past, the present was undoubtedly more important and more meaningful.
Yesterday's self was certainly more ignorant than today's self.
Today's self was certainly more immature than tomorrow's self.
The past was always losing to the present.
The present was always losing to the future.
That was the truth of this world.
Perhaps some people wished to return to the past, believing it had been better.
For instance, someone whose family had fallen from prosperity would miss its former glory. Someone with cancer would miss their once-healthy self. Someone who had done evil would miss the days when they walked beneath the sunlight. Those with no confidence in the future would miss their childhoods, when they had nothing to worry about and only needed to eat, drink, and play. That was why something called "regret" existed.
Yet the moment such pessimistic thoughts appeared, one's future self was destined to look upon them with contempt, thinking that the self of that time was simply too immature.
But if people truly could return to the past and face it, what sort of reaction would they have?