The rules of Earth quietly collapsed in a single instant.
The movement of objects in open spaces was restricted across the board.
This invisible prohibition came without warning, yet seeped into every corner of human life in the cruelest way possible.
At first, it was merely a surge in traffic accidents.
Vehicles piled up on highways like toppling dominoes, while out-of-control trams roared through city streets, skimming the sidewalks.
To their horror, people discovered that the predictions of motion long ingrained in their instincts had become completely useless.
Emergency turns made by vehicles ceased to follow any logic, tap water surged wildly through pipes, and even the paths of falling raindrops twisted unnaturally.
More terrifying still was the backlash from the laws of physics.
The kinetic energy of fluids no longer obeyed the laws of dissipation. Thousand-meter waves suddenly rose from calm seas, carrying fishing boats and coral reefs as they brutally scoured inland cities.
Material deep within the Earth's crust inexplicably vanished, and the planet's diameter shrank rapidly. The changes brought about by weakening gravity became visible to the naked eye.
People involuntarily lifted off the ground as they walked, and drinking glasses slowly floated back up after hitting the floor.
Though the entire world was frantic, this out-of-control world forced everyone into slow motion, leaving them to await the apocalypse in a bizarre state of "slow living."
Geological upheaval reshaped the islands.
After the great subsidence, the strait at the base of the Izu Peninsula rose, and the caldera of Mount Hakone became an isolated island upon which Tokyo-3 stood.
The hastily built Mount Daikan Airport finally began regular supply operations. The roar of transport aircraft broke the island's silence, lending some substance at last to the illusion of recovery from the earthquake.
Tokyo-3 was busier than ever,