The Five-Minute World Hypothesis.
A rather obscure hypothesis. Many people believed it was the sort of question only someone with too much free time would ponder, while others simply claimed the hypothesis could not be disproven because there was no evidence capable of refuting it.
Suppose everything in this world had been created five minutes ago.
All memories and other traces of what had happened "before" had likewise been created five minutes ago.
The Creator had done so merely as a joke.
How could anyone refute that?
Even carbon-14 dating could not serve as evidence against it, because all traces of the "past" had been arranged five minutes ago.
In other words, the Creator had suddenly taken an interest and neatly arranged the entire Earth five minutes ago.
Everything you had experienced before was false. Even your memories had been fabricated.
The more carefully you thought about it, the more terrifying it became.
As for whether the world had been created five minutes ago, even Kurumi could not provide an answer. Even with her ability to rewind time, it would have been useless.
Because those were all things that had already "happened."
Why did the famous scientists throughout human history ultimately end up butting heads with theology? Had science reached its end?
Who knew?
Kurumi raised her eyes, signaling Sendou Aya to continue.
"During my exploration of the world, I discovered that it had originally been in a normal state. There was no magic power, no so-called demon race, and certainly no cursed witches like us."
"Then, very suddenly, all of that appeared in an instant."
"Existence is reason enough," Kurumi replied blandly.
Sendou Aya paid it no mind and continued, "I believe you have already noticed the Sword Shaman from the Lion King Organization, Himeragi Yukina."
"The Seventh-Type Assault