AI: Somnium Files thoughts

These thoughts are written after getting Iris END, Ota END, and Mizuki END, but before proceeding further on sections that were locked.

- Why is the left eye removed for the victims?
Iris END strongly implies that an eyeball needs to be removed in order to operate the prototype PSYNC machine, with Date clenching his fist upon reading the manual and then later after the PSYNC, he makes no remark about her left eye being missing, i.e., that it was no surprise to him, which makes sense if he removed it himself. The necessity of removing the eyeball is also consistent with Date's explanation to Iris earlier of how PSYNCing works: the modern machine uses nanomachines to slip behind the eyes to reach the brain. The prototype likely lacks the nanomachines and would require removing the eyeball instead.

This means that the victims were subjects of the prototype PSYNC machine, with somebody else (likely the same person who removed the eyeball) PSYNCing into their dreams.

Another possibility is that the eyeball was removed simply to present the corpse as being related to the new Cyclops killings, but this only makes sense after the trend of having the eyeball removed is already established, so it is only worth considering for later victims.

- Why is the culprit PSYNCing with the victims?
I don't believe that PSYNCing can alter the past, so the relevant outcomes would be to either gain information from the victim's subconsciousness or to alter their mental state (like how Date helped Mizuki to recover). The latter is unlikely if the culprit intends to kill the victim, so that leaves information retrieval as the likely objective.

- How many culprits are engaged in the New Cyclops Killings?
The simplest assumption is that there is a single culprit who performed all the eyeball removals, PSYNCing with the victims, then killing them and also moving their corpses. However, this specifically excludes the frozen Iris corpse with stab wounds, as her eyeball was not removed, so she was likely killed by someone else.

That being said, even for the corpses with left eyeballs removed, I am not sure there is necessarily only one culprit. While it's likely that the person removing the eyeball of a victim is also the one who PSYNCed with the victim, they might not necessarily be the one to kill the victim or move the corpse. This may be the case for some of the victims, but not necessarily all. For later victims, there is even the possibility that there was no PSYNCing, and the murderer was trying to pin the crime on the new Cyclops killer when it actually wasn't.

An important clue pointing to a single culprit is #89's claims that the killer will kill again, and remove the left eye while the victim is alive. The latter suggests that #89 was definitely aware of the prototype PSYNC being utilized in these murders (including the emphasis that the victim is alive during removal). This statement was before any second corpse though, so all it implies is that the culprit who killed Nadami Shoko killed again.

Another issue with multiple culprits is that the prototype PSYNC machine is hidden and unknown. It's not likely that there are multiple independent parties aware of its location. If multiple people have used the PSYNC machine, they are likely collaborating each other, or at least have been doing so in the past before their relation possibly becomes strained.

One of the issues with there being only a single culprit is that the story branches out from the outcomes of a PSYNC, with some of the differences across branches being difficult to justify from a single culprit theory.

- Branching Paths from the Mizuki's PSYNC at Bloom Park

This PSYNC results in the biggest differences across the resulting paths, most notably on Renju's status. As for direct outcomes arising from the PSYNC, the right birdcage leads to Mizuki's trauma deepening, recalling an ominous ringtone and Iris's frozen "corpse", whereas the left birdcage leads to Mizuki's recovery and recalling a figure.

It's highly likely that this figure was Renju, who Mizuki may have subconsciously recognized that night, and so it makes sense that this would show up in the timeline where she recalls her happy memories with her parents. Plus there's like a bazillion other clues pointing to Renju being in Bloom Park that night.

Date seeing Iris's corpse causes him to call her immediately, and further actions the next day to ensure her safety would lead to Iris trusting Date, which explains the biggest differences in her actions, particularly her perspective on Date, across the two branches. As Iris is likely involved in Renju's death in some manner, this discrepancy in Date's concern for Iris's safety may have influenced the big changes in Renju's status across the two paths. No, I don't think she killed Renju.

Investigating the phone calls leads to Date becoming aware that there is some connection between So Sejima and Shoko Nadami. However, Sejima enters Date's radar in the other branch too (due to seeing him with the Kumakuras), so this might not be too significant. Nevertheless, Sejima knowing that Date is aware of his burner phone relationship with Nadami (despite having no clue why) can influence his actions, which may be relevant for the issue of Iris's frozen corpse. But Date does not confront him until after the next day passes, so any role he plays in Renju's death would likely be unchanged across the two branches.

Mizuki's mental state has a huge effect on her later actions. However, it seems like her interactions with other characters are limited and tracked, until her action sequences alongside Date much later. But there is one notable point of relevance: in the traumatized outcome, she contacts Hitomi the next day who comes over and stays with her all night... the same night in which Renju is killed in the other branch, if I am not mistaken.

Based on the differences in the outcomes of the Bloom Park PSYNC, it seems that Renju's death is likely caused by the actions of Iris and/or Hitomi.

- Branching Paths from Iris's first ShovelForge PSYNC

This one is very obvious: when Date believes Iris, she ends up trusting him completely and sticks to him like glue; when Date doesn't believe her, she ditches him for the person she "trusts the most" but supposedly ends up as a frozen corpse. It's worth noting that she gets captured in the belief branch, by Pewter, who is almost certainly doing it for Renju, so they would likely try to retrieve her in the other branch. That being said, I don't think Renju is the one that she "trusts the most", nor am I sure that it was Renju who froze her, or even whether the frozen body is actually a corpse.

- Branching Paths from Iris's PSYNC after interrogation

The difference arises from the post-PSYNC questioning. When Date saw the original Cyclops killings, they dominated his perspective of Iris and his questioning was almost entirely focused on those, without worrying about Renju's murder. When taking her home, she convinced him to stop at Marble so that Ota could tase him, allowing the two to escape. But in the other branch, where the strangest observation was on somebody kissing Sejima, Date kept his attention back on Renju's murder, wanting to know about "that thing" Ota mentioned, leading the two to Matsushita Diner instead, where Ota could whack him with a wok. The difference between a taser and a wok is that the electric signals from the taser shut down Aiba, causing Date to wake up much later, and so he couldn't save Iris or Ota on time. But when whacked by a wok instead, Aiba woke Date up much earlier, so he could save Ota and Iris on time.

- Branching Paths from Ota's PSYNC against the polar bear

The main difference is whether Ota uses the crane or not before getting close the bear and being stabbed by the knife. In reality, he did use the crane, and if Date observes this in the dream, then he rushes the blood analysis that incriminates Sejima. But if the Ota does not recall the crane injury from the dream, then Date focuses on the knife, which incriminates Mayumi. It's possible that Mayumi also intended to turn herself in during the crane branch, but I'm pretty sure the timing for her to do is after the evidence against Sejima was established, so it wouldn't have mattered.

- Who killed Nadami Shoko and why?

Of all the victims, we know the least about Nadami Shoko, but at the same time, by meta assumptions about mystery design, this means the motive for her murder is narrowed down to fewer possibilities. My personal guess is that it relates to her connection to the Kumakuras, specifically Rohan. Rohan died a year ago, which is probably the reason why these murders only started now and not earlier. Rohan was supposedly the mastermind behind the original Cyclops murders, and the culprit may have suspected that Nadami Shoko may have witnessed some crucial observations relating to Rohan. Even if she's not consciously aware of them, they would reside her subconsciousness for a PSYNCer to explore.

Also, according to Mizuki, Hitomi is Nadami's "best friend". The exact nature of their relationship might be important. In fact, I actually find Hitomi to be the most likely culprit for Nadami Shoko's murder (and Renju's).

- What was Renju's involvement in Shoko's murder?

I don't think Renju killed her, but he is likely still related to whatever led to the motive for murder (likely the original Cyclops killings). At most, Renju might have been the one to move the body, but I don't think that's the case either.

I think he did send the message to Mizuki himself (i.e., it wasn't the culprit who used his phone to send it), but he was likely unaware that Nadami was dead (or would be dead). Maybe he wanted to confess some dark secrets to Mizuki, but Nadami's corpse ruined it and he realized he would be targeted next. The location was probably not a coincidence; Renju probably chose it because it has happy memories for Mizuki, but the culprit somehow found out he was going there and decided to move the corpse there. Maybe he also sent Nadami a message to come to Bloom Park, and the culprit read the message on her phone. Once Renju saw the corpse, he may have realized that the culprit would target him next and tried to escape. He avoided visiting Mizuki in the hospital, because he figured that the culprit might be expecting that.

- Who killed Renju and why?

My guess is Hitomi. It would have to be someone who acted differently in the other branch of Mizuki's Bloom Park PSYNC, which fits Hitomi, since she spent the night to comfort Mizuki in that branch.

It's possible that Iris was an accomplice, as there is considerable evidence pointing to Iris having moved the body to Sunfish Pocket. Murderer Iris is possible, but unlikely, because her motive should have carried over to the other branch, but nothing of that nature was revealed, even in the sub-branch where she completely trusts Date. Instead, what was revealed is that she is extremely impressionable due to her brain tumor, making it easy for a trustworthy culprit to manipulate her as an accomplice.

- In the trauma branch, why did Renju try to bring Iris to the chemical factory where the prototype PSYNC machine is located?

So Renju definitely knows about the prototype PSYNC machine. Now, I know this makes him suspicious, but he is also the second victim in the recovery branch, whereas the third victim, Iris, lost her eye (implying further PSYNCs), indicating that there is another person who knows about the prototype PSYNC machine, and this person is more likely to be the actual culprit who murdered Shoko and maybe Renju himself.

But as for why Renju wanted to bring Iris there, I actually think his intention was for the PSYNC to be in the opposite direction, i.e., he wanted Iris to PSYNC with him, since he died without his left eye in the recovery branch. I'm not sure why he wanted Iris to PSYNC with him, but maybe it was so that Iris can see the culprit setting up the corpse of Nadami Shoko. If the culprit is Hitomi, then Iris would not believe Renju's words (against her own mother), so he felt like having her witness it in a PSYNC would be the only way to convince her. He'd even have to sacrifice his left eye for it (which, btw, could be restored, according to the files), further demonstrating his sincerity in showing Iris the truth.

As for why he wanted Iris to know the culprit so badly, especially if it was her own mother... I'm not sure, but we do know that Renju has been trying really freaking hard to find Iris in the trauma branch, so it's likely that Iris's understanding of the situation is really important for some reason, even at the cost of learning the harsh truth about her mother. Maybe he wanted Iris to help guide Hitomi to set herself right?

Renju's intention to bring Iris to the prototype PSYNC machine should also carry over to the recovery branch. But unlike the trauma branch (where Date warned her to stay safe), she was probably willing to enter this time and maybe she did PSYNC with him after all. But I think Renju's plan backfired because he was unaware of her brain tumor, which allowed the culprit (Hitomi) to manipulate Iris into turning against Renju regardless. Iris likely even moved the corpse to Sunfish Pocket herself; a very faithful accomplice from this point onward.

- Why did Renju consume Nadami Shoko's eyeball?

While I can understand why the left eye needs to be removed (for PSYNCing), there seems to be no inherent purpose to ingesting it. It's not even a reliable way to destroy evidence, because the investigation was able to identify it anyway. But it is a reliable way to plant incriminating evidence on someone else, framing Renju to look like the one who killed Nadami Shoko.

- What happened in the polar bear incident?
While there are two paths (based on whether Date was tased or whacked by a wok), I think the events played out the same up until Ota gets stabbed. Well, Iris did take Mayumi's knife in the wok path, but Ota probably brought it in the taser path too, under Iris's instructions. Iris used Ota to get rid of Date so that she can execute her own plans, which she likely kept hidden from Ota, while manipulating him to do her bidding.

In particular, when she asked Ota to stop at the convenience store, I think Iris herself took the wheel and drove off (while poor Ota thought somebody else got in). Iris drove the car to the Sejima residence, but I am not sure what happened there. I suspect that she tried to kill Sejima, but he was able to capture her instead. Sejima then took the same car and drove to the prototype PSYNC machine (the Kabasaki district that the taxi driver refused to enter). Maybe Sejima was unsure of why Iris wanted to kill her and decided to PSYNC with her to find out what she knows. He must not have been pleased with what he saw, and so he decided to not only kill her, but to broadcast it live at the warehouse.

At the warehouse, Ota then jumped in to save her, injuring Sejima with the crane, before getting stabbed by the same knife that Iris took. In the wok branch, this is when Date arrives, so Sejima left quickly (likely after hearing his car approach). In the taser branch, he figured it would work out well if he put Ota inside the polar bear costume and killed him in the same way as well, making it look like a lover's suicide of sorts.

- Wait, so who was kissing Sejima?

I don't believe it was Iris, because of the trauma branch where Iris seems to genuinely trust Date, but still expressed that she doesn't know Sejima personally. I think the most likely candidate would actually be Hitomi. It would be an extremely uncomfortable memory to walk into your mother kissing a strange unknown man, so Iris suppressed this memory to the extent that she even subconsciously blanked out her mother's identity in this event. If this event happened after the developments with Uncle, it would have hurt even further, justifying her memory suppression. The brain tumor may have helped too.

In the trauma branch, this memory possibly remained suppressed, so she was still being honest about not knowing whether her mom knows Sejima. Or even if she did remember it, it was a memory she wouldn't want to disclose, not even to the Date that she trusts, because she would naturally assume that this memory has absolutely no relevance to Date whatsoever.

- What was Iris hoping to achieve in the Sejima household and why?

Taking the knife suggests that she wanted to kill him. As for why, it might be due to the same kissing memory (assuming she remembered it), since she would naturally perceive her mother as being a victim in all this.

Another possibility is that, after the recent events with Renju's death (only in the recovery branch), she learned new information, possibly from Renju himself or from the murderer (Hitomi?), that gave her a motive to kill Sejima.

- Why did Sejima want to kill Iris?

I think it's likely due to what he saw when he PSYNCed with her in the chemical factory. If it was the same kissing memory, well, he figured someone like Iris (who was trying to kill him over it) might expose the scandal, and her strong online influence meant he could not simply dismiss such threats, thus driving him to eliminate her first.

But if she had additional dangerous information (possibly learned from Renju or the culprit), this might be enough for him to kill her as well. Note that she likely tried to kill him first, so that strengthens his motive further. And in any case, it seems Iris is super important for some reason (Renju wants her to PSYNC with him, stupid gun mercenaries try to capture her, etc), so whatever it is that makes her so special is likely something that Sejima wants to get rid of.

- Why did Sejima want to broadcast it live?

I honestly don't know. Maybe he specifically wanted Hitomi to see her daughter being slain live.

- Who killed So Sejima and why?

If Date discovers the polar bear's identity, he ends up killing him. If Date does not discover it, Boss still finds out that he is the polar bear from the blood (the difference is on whether Date is specifically waiting for the test results or not). ABIS can't arrest Sejima because he has friends in high places. So Boss likely took matters into her own hands and shot him.

That being said, I don't think it was done purely out of a noble sense of justice. I think Boss assumed that Sejima was the killer for all of the new Cyclops victims, including Nadami Shoko and Renju. Boss likely has some connection to the old Cyclops killings, so she might have a personal grudge against any serial killer trying to imitate the new Cyclops victims. Sejima is likely also related to the old Cyclops killings, so Boss might have further reason to want Sejima dead after assuming that he killed all the new victims.

- Why did Boss record herself killing Sejima and upload that in her computer?

I think she wanted Date to hack into her computer and expose her, so she can be arrested and serve the sentence. It seems like Boss really wants to keep the old Cyclops killings confidential. She is extremely tight-lipped about it, and adamantlyrefuses to allow Date to pry into it. She doesn't want Date or anyone else to investigate Sejima's motives and dig into the old Cyclops killings. She would rather be regarded as the killer, where she can conjure a different motive that doesn't push Date into investigating the old Cyclops killings, and she'll serve a life sentence for it.

- Why do Sejima and Nadami Shoko have burner phones to communicate with each other?

I'm not sure, but it likely relates to the Kumakuras. They probably use the burner phones to discuss their fraudulent dealings that the Kumakuras are also involved in.

- Why did Mizuki's Bloom Park PSYNC show Iris's frozen body?

I agree with Pewter's and Boss's assessments that seeing the future in a PSYNC doesn't make sense. Not only is it a supernatural occurrence, but this is also the only instance from all I read so far in this VN where such a possibility is strongly implied, so I'm inclining towards rejecting the idea. Therefore, this frozen body must actually be formed by her memories.

I would guess that she may have seen a frozen body that resembles Iris with the stab wounds, but it wasn't actually Iris. In fact, as it was frozen, I expect it would be difficult to confirm that it was even a person to begin with, as opposed to a very realistic sculpture of sorts. The issue with this is that there does not seem to be any mention of a skilled sculptor or similar structures in any other parts of the story. Well, there are A-set figures, and maybe Ota has a life-sized one that you can actually curl up into this position, but.. yeah, no, that's just really wrong.

If there must be a supernatural explanation, I would then consider whether Iris is a special existence who is able to communicate her fate across time through dreams. This might sound like a more convoluted explanation than "prophetic dreams", but there are a lot more hints across the story of Iris being of particular importance than there are of prophetic dreams. I'm still hoping there is a realistic explanation though. Even a twin sister or a clone would be a better explanation (but still awful).

- Did Date see Iris's frozen body the next day at the warehouse?

Once again, I agree with Pewter's and Boss's assessments that PSYNCing can't change the past, and it's even more absurd than prophetic dreams. Now, if there was some kind of realistic sculpture of Iris, then this is likely what Date found in the warehouse. After all, as it was frozen, he shouldn't be able to confirm for sure that it was a corpse, and Aiba was conveniently out of batteries at the time for her usual analyses. And if there is some supernatural phenomenon around Iris, it would probably extend to projecting this fake corpse to Date's senses. Once again, I'm really hoping there is a realistic explanation.

I should point out that even when going for supernatural explanations, prophetic dreams are far more acceptable than changing the past, which has to deal with consistency paradoxes and memories and it's a huge pain to set up a robust mechanism in every fictional story that features it. So I am pretty sure there was no changing of the past and would be extremely upset if that is actually a thing here.

- Why did Sejima go to the warehouse?

I considered whether Sejima baited Date to follow him, but that requires him knowing that Date would be able to track him, but I doubt he actually knows about Aiba. Maybe he just wanted to check up on the corpse/sculpture? It's quite a long trip though, so that's unlikely. I considered whether he went there to actually place the corpse there, but that would imply that the freezing was at a different location, but I don't recall any other frozen areas with a large enough space to contain a corpse. If it was just a sculpture though, then maybe he placed it at a frozen location to give the impression that it was here for a long time and it froze there, but it actually never froze to begin with... Date should be able to tell from feeling it though.

This seems to be a tough question even if we grant supernatural occurrences like prophetic dreams and changing the past.

- Why did Sejima dream of somebody stabbing Iris?

Again, I really don't want to consider the possibility of changing the past, so there could not have been an actual memory of him stabbing Iris. But even without considering whether there are any supernatural components, this is a really odd PSYNC in general. It's quite comical how Iris is running and this pursuer just keeps stabbing her. And every step of progression just continues the pursuit with the same fleeing Iris getting stabbed by this pursuer.

My guess is that this PSYNC was not based on the brain sifting through its memory fragments. But rather, the PSYNC conveys a fantasy playing inside Sejima's head, where he imagines himself stabbing Iris over and over again. The silliness of this PSYNC is matched only by the two ShovelForge PSYNCS, both of which undoubtedly revolve entirely around Iris's delusions. Even Ota's PSYNC felt more realistic, despite the exaggerations that fit his character. Likewise, this PSYNC probably conveys Sejima's obsession with seeking to repeatedly stab Iris.

The thermograph suggested that he did lie during the interrogation about stabbing Iris. It's true that he didn't actually stab her, but he was still lying, claiming that he didn't know Iris and that he had no idea what they were talking about with stabbing (he must've known that they found what looked like a frozen corpse).

- Why does he want to stab Iris?

I'm not sure, but he also wanted to kill her in the recovery branch and even livestreamed her death. Now he didn't PSYNC with her this time, but maybe the PSYNC wasn't actually relevant to his motive and he would have killed her anyway; his decision to PSYNC with her may have been to find out how much she knows.

By the way, since he likely PSYNCed in the recovery branch, this means he is very familiar with PSYNCing, so he likely understood exactly what ABIS were doing with him while he slept there.

- Why did Renju want to get #89 out of prison?

The only reason I can think of is that he really REALLY wants Iris to join him. He's really desperate about wanting Iris to PSYNC with him for some reason. I think the reason might be even broader than just wanting her to know about who killed Nadami.

- Why does Iris have these delusions about the Naix?

Somebody she trusts (like maybe her mom) must have brainwashed her. This may have happened in the recovery branch too (but she wouldn't share her views with Date there).

- Who is the one that Iris "trusts the most" that she went to?

Definitely not Renju; yeah, she's grateful to him, but that wouldn't justify such a strong description. I'm pretty sure this is either Hitomi or the mysterious Uncle. Yes, I know Date was with Hitomi when Iris left, but Hitomi may have sent a message to Iris beforehand to head to a meeting point.

- What happened to Iris after she went with the one she "trusts the most"?

The thing is, the one whom she believes to be her Uncle is likely #89, who is with Renju, and I am pretty sure Renju does not want to kill her. Hitomi definitely would not want to kill her either. So regardless of who she went with, they had her best interests at heart.

So for what happened to her, I can think of two possibilities. One is that she is still safe and didn't die or anything. Yes, Date found what appears to be her frozen corpse, but this has happened before and I'm insisting that it wasn't a dead Iris back then, so Date may have goofed up twice. I'm pretty sure there wasn't even enough time to freeze her so thoroughly.

The other possibility is that whoever she went with, despite their efforts, were not able to protect her from someone who wants to kill her. The most likely killer here is Sejima, with his disturbing stabbing fantasy.

- What's with all the Hitomi tunneling?

I didn't suspect her until just one sentence: in Mizuki END, she described that her homeroom teacher is her mom's best friend. Hitomi is Nadami's best friend. Even though Hitomi told Date on their first encounter that she doesn't know Nadami and only met her twice, clarifying later that Nadami likely did not even notice her the second time (in the prison). That doesn't sound like much of a best friend. Neither of these testimonies where under duress, with the first encounter happening even before the first PSYNC and the second one is when she mourning Iris's death. Why would she lie about not knowing her best friend? And to lie while mourning Iris suggests that it's really important for her to maintain this lie.

There were other points that I noticed while reading through, like how unusually frank she is with Date on what she pretends to be her first time meeting him, or on how she appears to have very little involvement with present events despite being related to the incidents six years ago. But it wasn't until Mizuki's statement that these points of curiosity turned into suspicion.

- Okay, so who is Uncle?

It's almost certainly between two possibilities: #89 or Kaname Date. My personal theory is that it's actually BOTH of them in a sense. And for that, we need to finally go back six years...

- How did Kaname Date lose his left eye?

Somebody PSYNCed with him through the prototype, which requires removing the left eye. This was six years ago, so there was no modern nanomachine-based PSYNC anyway. I think this happened before the prototype was stolen, so it was still in police custody. I cannot come up with any other explanation; there was a trend of losing eyeballs six years ago, but those were right eyes and only from women, likely due to Rohan's particular fascination. The prototype PSYNC is the only plausible explanation I can find for a male losing his left eye.

- How did Kaname Date lose his memories?

Here's another question: why do Boss and Pewter make such an enormous fuss over the 6-minute limit? They state the danger of the two consciousnesses intertwining if the PSYNCer sticks around for too long, but how are they so sure about it? Boss furiously exploded after Ota's PSYNC when Date stuck around for a bit longer. Pewter even admitted that they don't understand exactly how the PSYNC machine works, so their concerns likely could not arise purely from a theoretical basis alone.

Here's what I think happened: six years ago, somebody PSYNCed with the man whose body is currently named Kaname Date, i.e., the white-haired guy. But the PSYNCer probably stuck around for too long, with the readings starting to become alarming after six minutes in. And this danger of intertwining consciousness actually happened, with devastating irreparable consequences, including the white-haired guy losing all of his memories.

- So who was the white-haired guy before this speculated PSYNC?

I think he was one of the Cyclops killers. No, I don't think Pewter was lying; Rohan was the mastermind who wanted the eyes. The white-haired guy was the killer, who could only find pleasure in killing.

The only significant piece of evidence for this is that the white-haired guy was reflected in the fragments during Iris's PSYNC in the recovery branch, where the old Cyclops killings were replayed back. I think it's a pretty strong piece of evidence, since Iris herself likely wasn't consciously aware of this, and this also explains several other stuff.

- Who was the subject of this speculated PSYNC?

My guess is that it was the man who Iris referred to as Uncle, and I believe his body was that of the black-haired man who we currently know as #89.

- So what happened six years ago?

This is mostly speculative rambling with very little evidence. White Hair was the Cyclops killer, and Black Hair was probably the gifted detective who caught him. I think this was before the fourth victim (so only three victims). In any case, ABIS (or whatever police division Boss was in) needed information and decided to have Black PSYNC with White (using the prototype). This may have been the first use of the prototype, or they might have used it before but never for too long (in particularly, never above 6 minutes). This was likely the first time the PSYNC lasted more than six minutes.

With the two consciousnesses intertwining (as they describe it), one of the likely outcomes was that the white-haired body had no memories. And I think there was a giant mess of a mixup between the two personalities and their other cognitive components. In particular, I think the white-haired body possessed the detective intuition and skills and maybe even the personality that used to be from the black-haired body, while the black-haired body gained the murderous inclinations and possibly personality that used to be from the white-haired body. I don't know if the black-haired body had any memories; it's possible that they gained the memories of the killer (who used to be in the white-haired body), while the past memories of the white-haired body were lost forever. It's possible that the black-haired body also got some or all the memories of the white-haired body, i.e. the detective memories with the killer's personality and murderous inclination.

Boss and the others in the police may not have immediately figured out what happened. Black-haired body was welcomed by Hitomi, with Iris referring to him as Uncle, despite his mind being mostly that of the killer instead. White-haired body was probably imprisoned, or maybe they were in a coma from the PSYNC disaster. Black-haired would understand the situation while all else were clueless, and now the killer has the authority of a respected and possibly high-ranked detective. But eventually, the police, or at least Boss, likely figured out what happened, possibly because the killer struck again, now with the black-haired body. He may also have stolen the PSYNC machine too (would've been much easier with his authority).

Anyway, once Boss figured out that the black-haired man they respected was the killed, she likely confronted him in Hitomi's home (and Rohan was with Boss for some reason!?). This is when Hitomi rushed to protect who she believed was the man she loved and she got shot on her right shoulder. I'm unsure of whether black-hair felt anything for her, but he was likely imprisoned to serve a life sentence as Prisoner #89. This case become highly classified, because it not only involved top-secret technology, i.e., the PSYNC machine, but it also involved a massive screwup by the police involving it, with a mess of personalities and memories, and then they even lost this very powerful and dangerous machine.

Meanwhile, the white-haired man woke up memoryless, not knowing what to do. Boss knew that despite his body being used to commit the Cyclops killings, his current mind is innocent of all that, and he may have gained parts of the brilliant mind that their lost detective had. And so she offered him a place in ABIS. She called him Kaname Date, and I am actually unsure on whether this used to be the name of the detective or the killer or a brand new name Boss came up with. And while it's one thing for the public to be unaware of this case, Boss especially did not want this Kaname Date to learn anything, despite him being part of the police, as she did not want him to find out his body was that of the killer. She wanted him to replace the detective they had lost.

Meanwhile, poor Iris didn't have a clue about any of this, but she does love her Uncle, who she believes is the man with black hair. Hitomi was likely informed at least to some extent, being a victim in all this.

- Okay, any evidence for all this nonsense?

Not quite, no, but a lot of stuff seem to make sense with this.

Hitomi's attitude fits, where she feels some of the warmth of the Uncle's personality but she also knows that he has no memories of her and Boss would explode if she finds out Hitomi did anything to help Date learn a bit about his past. Hitomi trusts Date to take care of Iris, even after just one day of Iris meeting him.

Iris does not consciously see Date as Uncle (he looks nothing like Uncle) but as she interacts with him more and more, her subconsciousness recognizes him as Uncle. In Iris END, she was almost certainly asking him if he was somehow her Uncle, but she died before she could finish the question.

#89 likely knows of Nadami Shoko through her best friend Hitomi. In fact, he likely knows everybody in Hitomi's inner circle from when Hitomi assumed he was Uncle. He'd likely have known the people well enough to understand exactly who would seek to kill Nadami and why (regardless of whether I'm right or wrong about it being Hitomi). He would also know who knows about the prototype PSYNC machine, since he's the one who orchestrated the removal. He would know why the culprit would kill again (likely Renju) and wanted to use his position to break free.

Kaname Date is a great detective and also an excellent PSYNCer, one of only six in ABIS. From Mizuki END, Boss said that Mizuki would be able to PSYNC with Date well because of the high affinity from when Date PSYNCed with her, so I would also guess that Date's own proficiency in PSYNCing would also benefit from his past experience as a subject.

- Wait, so did Iris actually witness the Cyclops killings?

I am pretty sure she did not witness the first three. The strongest evidence for me was that in the memories she had, the bodies did not actually have the faces of the victims. But rather, the victims faces were on pieces of papers that were placed on the heads of the bodies. Furthermore, the killings were shown through TVs in the PSYNC and not directly happen in the room (unlike pretty much every event you witness during these PSYNCs). This leads me to think that what she actually saw were detailed drawings of the killings, likely drawn by the black-haired body after the killer claimed his mind. He might have also told her graphic details as well, allowing her imagination to replicate the scenes conveyed to her.

The fourth killing is different, however. Unlike the first three, the PSYNC showed the fourth killing directly in the room, with the victim's body directly identified (not blotted out). However, the killer and the observer were both blotted out (blue and red), but the killer was reflected in some glass as having the white-haired face. I think the fourth killing is one that Iris did actually witness. However, her 12-year-old subconsciousness rejected the possibility that her beloved Uncle was the murderer, and instead imagined that this was actually the killer in the drawings she saw before, i.e., the white-haired man. As a result, the PSYNC portrayed the scene with the killer blotted out (the actual memory of his appearance was rejected by her brain) while the reflection showed the white-haired face that she associated with such killings (and this was likely the face of the killer for the first three victims, but not the fourth one which she actually witnessed). Note that she has a brain tumor, so it's not unusual for her mind to genuinely interpret memories in a manner that contradicts the observed reality.

- But #89's story implied that the black-haired man was the killer the entire time!

It gave such an impression, yes, but his narration never explicitly mentioned the Cyclops killings or even any references to eyes at all. In fact, such an assumption actually has several contradictions.

First of all, Rohan recruited the black-haired man because he was impressed by his proficiency in eliminating "scum" in a manner that there were no criminal investigations, making them look like accidents, suicides, etc. This suggests that he wanted the black-haired man to continue such killings, except with Rohann choosing the targets. This is nothing like the Cyclops killings that were reported on the news, and if Rohann was also yoinking their left eyeballs, then nobody would ever think it was an accident or suicide. Furthermore, the Cyclops victims were all young women, presumably regular people that weren't like the "scum" that the black-haired man used to kill. Also, #89 narrated that "as always, Rohann never gave a reason", indicating that the black-haired man was unaware of why Rohann wanted these targets dead, but if his victims were all young women whose beautiful right eyes were mysteriously removed (even if the killer didn't witness the extraction), then the black-haired man would obviously figure out what's up.

Instead, I think Rohann's hiring of the black-haired man was actually unrelated to the cyclops killings. He was likely killing Rohann's enemies in high places in a manner that does not invoke criminal investigations, which would normally be a very difficult feat. They were NOT the cyclops victims. Note that #89 was narrating the story in response to the question of who killed Nadami Shoko, so the story could very well be completely unrelated to the cyclops killings.

- Okay, then why did Rohan want Hitomi and Iris killed?

I don't know. If he simply wanted their eyes, this wasn't a job suitable for the black-haired man, because you can't really avoid a criminal investigation when the victims had their right eyes removed. I don't know why he wanted them gone, and the black-haired man evidently didn't know the reason back then either.

- What did the black-haired man do after he was ordered to kill Hitomi + Iris?

From the narration, he apparently called on help from an "old friend". I don't know who this could have been. Maybe Nadami Shoko? I'm not sure what she could do, but it's likely that she is somehow involved, since this whole story is in response to who killed her.

- Was Rohan really the one who pulled out the right eyes?

Honestly, I am not sure anymore. It's only Pewter who said that it was Rohan, but he may have speculated based on #89's past testimony and falsely misunderstood #89's connection to the the cyclops killings.

If it was not Rohan, then my guess is that this observer who pulled out the eyes is... So Sejima.

- How is So Sejima related to all this?

In Mizuki END, after shooting Aiba, he says something like "killed by your own father". In other words, he is Date's father, in some sense. Now, from my speculations about the detective + killer mind spaghetti, there would be some ambiguity in his statement, but I would guess he is the father of the killer, i.e., his son has white hair (just like him). Regardless of whether or not he was the one pulling out eyeballs, Sejima likely knows quite a bit about what happened, and does not have any actual attachment to the present Kaname Date who has none of the killer's personality. Especially since Kaname Date is now with ABIS, the same organization that messed up his son.

As for why he fantasizes about stabbing Iris, I don't know. Maybe he's upset that his actual son, despite being in the black-haired body, did not return to his father and instead went on to live with Hitomi and Iris? Maybe he blames them for his son being forced to serve a life sentence (despite being a killer)?

Or maybe his motives really have nothing to do with Date. After all, he definitely has connections with Renju. He does seem friendly with Hitomi, despite hiding his connection with her, probably pretending like he appreciates her for taking care of his son, but his Iris stabbing fantasies makes me think it's all an act.

- META: Significance of the AI in the title?

AI could be interpreted in many ways:
* AI is the acronym of Artificial Intelligence. The only relevance this has is on Aiba, who is really important for the story progression and is the center of all the gameplay.
* reading it not as an acronym, it would generally be pronounced like "EYE". Lots of eyeballs being pulled out in this story, with right eyes from the old killings, and left eyes from the new ones plus Date. By the way, Hitomi and Iris both have names related to eyes. There is also the red herring of conspiracy organizations like freemasons and Illuminati, which are symbolized by an eye.
* The same pronunciation also spells "I", referring to the self. I think this is a reference to how Date's own self is integral to the mystery: who he is and where his mind and body came from. And when he eventually learns the truth, I expect there would be an internal struggle of self-identity.
* Finally, the same pronunciation also reads 愛 (あい, ai) in Japanese, which means love. This is the toughest one to connect, since there isn't a lot of love between characters. Nadami and Renju didn't seem to have much even before the divorce. Ota's idolization of Iris wouldn't be described as 愛 and is entirely one-sided. Mizuki and Date have a great sibling bond, but that's not 愛. Pewter... let's not go there. The only relations that could possibly fit are the romantic bond with Hitomi-Uncle and the mother-daughter bond with Hitomi-Iris, both involving Hitomi. Well, okay, there's Mayumi too, but c'mon, she's likely not gonna be a major character outside of Ota END.

[Note: some of my thoughts are influenced by trends from other Uchikoshi works, but I refrained from mentioning them explicitly here as I wanted to ensure my thoughts are coherent within the context of this VN alone]