Applying Humanity
6.

Haru climbs out of a hole with no bottom and no ladder
and no life rope except the one he's forged himself through a belief that was based on lies

But humans have a talent for that that other species lack; they are able to delude themselves with lies and create an entire world, an entire way of life
and this Haru creates a rope out of the shattered parts of his heart and uses it to climb out of hell.

Yuujin – the betrayer, the demon who guards the door to hell, the final enemy – he waits for them.

And Haru just smiles, more at peace than he's ever seen

And here he realises
just how unlike a human he is
and
just how like a human he is

Because Haru's eyes are as stubborn as he's ever seen,
because Haru's smile is as stubborn as he's ever seen,
because Haru's heart is as stubborn as he's ever seen
if he's managed to put it all back together without a trace of a crack
and without casting him aside to do it.

He's overestimated Haru.
He's underestimated Haru.
Or perhaps he was banking on this very thing, banking on Haru being more than Leviathan had bargained for, being everything Minerva had bargained for, being everything and more that Yuujin had bargained for…

And who was it, in the end, that made Shinkai Haru the saviour of all AIs?
Because, in the end, that's what all of them want from him
and Minerva who's had the most faith is the one who loses out
but that's alright
because Leviathan is defeated after all
and Yuujin is saved after all

And even if he has to fade out of existence now, he sees that same stubborn look in Haru's face as the one he bore when he climbed out of the darkness as he knows
He knows

That Haru will open a future for him
after his file has closed.