The conception of re-recording "Final Distance" was due to the Osaka school massacre that took place in early-June 2001. The Osaka school janitor Mamoru Takuma, armed with a kitchen knife, stabbed and killed a total of eight children, with another seven others being attack. Mamoru was diagnosed with severe borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder and paranoid personality disorder; He was later convicted and sentenced to death by hanging on September 14, 2004. One of the murdered schoolgirls, six-year old Rena Yamashita, had written an essay about Utada, talking about how she wanted to become an actress and how Utada inspired her. Yamashita had won an essay competition regarding her essay about Utada. Utada was in the studio while being told by her father about this. While the recording the track, she reflected on emotions of sorrow, pain, anger and celebration and felt that she "found a new meaning" that she will "hold on to the end." She called the re-recorded version "the most beautiful thing I have ever made [...]" and "wish Rena-chan had heard it too [...]"