Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

I thought about it a little
And my current suspect is Luna
This is based on 999's formula though
My guess is that the game setup and execution depends on the decisions that the players make
I don't know why Sigma has the responsibility, or well, I don't know anything about Sigma at all to even guess why he's here
But it was Luna who pushed Sigma to make the decision
not unlike how Santa pushed Junpei back in 999
So I'm guessing Luna is connected to the game setup
and is at least partially responsible for making sure the players act as intended
Like Santa though, she might not necessarily be the main mastermind, but merely an accomplice

---

> big red button
> Sigma and Alice discuss what kind of scary thing would happen if they press it
> Luna presses it

She was also like, "I'm sure Zero would want us to play through the game instead of letting us self-destruct from something like this"

---

Okay, so here’s the thing
I was trying to figure out why K was put inside the armor
From a meta perspective, this was likely done to prevent the player from recognizing him until the reveal
From a story perspective, this was likely done to prevent other characters from recognizing him
Namely, other participants
Since this was specifically designed for the Nonary game
From the meta perspective, my immediate reaction from the start was that he is from 999
But as the game progressed, revealing more of his backstory and general character, it seemed like this was not the case
Perhaps he is someone known by another character, but even so, the game never shows you any other characters, even when discussing backstories
I can’t imagine that his face is one that the players fail to recognize
This led me to the following conclusion:
His face is of one of the other participants

This explains the meta reasoning for having his face hidden
And also the story justification
I don’t think he’s a clone; clones were only mentioned in the context of myrmidons, and I highly doubt there is another myrmidon

It also doesn’t make sense for K to be a robot, because his face wouldn’t really matter then
I’m pretty sure K is a regular human
So it’s the other person that’s different
Perhaps one of the other characters is a robot with an ADT layer in someone else’s face

Specifically K’s face
Currently my best guess is Sigma
It seems likely that the robot, being modeled after K, would have height close to K
Phi also examined a bunch of corpses in the Luna-Ally-Ally route, and I imagine she’d point out if any of them were robots
So that leaves Quark, Sigma, and Phi herself
It makes most sense from meta for K to have Sigma’s face
They went so far out of their way to keep his face hidden that anything less would be probably be a disappointment
The only issue I have with this is that Sigma doesn’t have amnesia, so he’d likely possess K’s memories, but then he would’ve noticed the overlap when K talked about his past

Zero Sr possibilities, from least to most likely:
9. Dio - Confirmed to have infiltrated the game, which doesn’t make sense if he executed it as Zero Sr
8. Tenmyouji - Used to be a strong candidate, until he slipped that Zero  gave him a choice. The lack of clarification further supports the authenticity of the statement. Finally, the Luna-Ally-Betray ending confirms that he desperately just wants Quark out, even at the cost of everyone else, which wouldn’t make sense if he designed the game that imprisoned Quark in the first place.
7. Quark - Follows from the Tenmyouji reasoning, but there is an extremely unlikely possibility that he manipulated Tenmyouji into it.
6. Sigma - As the player can follow his thoughts, ZeroSigma only makes sense if Sigma lost his memory after beginning the game. With no indications of amnesia, as well as the general absurdity of such a scenario, Sigma is pretty clear.
5. K - His position is too unusual to make sense if he were Zero, but he actually does have amnesia. Still though, the armor was specifically designed for his participation in the Nonary game, which doesn’t fit with him being Zero. His willingness to betray and escape with 9 points also suggest that he’s not consciously pursuing Zero’s actual objective for the game.
4. Phi - She knows things that she shouldn’t, but they’re presented in a manner that suggests that her knowledge isn’t due to setting up the game. I have no doubt that the factors that let her know things are correlated to her participation in the game, and even that she likely has a good idea of the objective of the game, but I’m fairly confident that she’s not the mastermind.
3. Clover - Her participation in the previous Nonary games, as well as her general behavior strongly suggest that she’s not Zero. Her reactions to events are too strong to be faked, and 999 showed that she’d be awful at putting up a false front.
2. Alice - Too little is known about her, except her connection to Clover. Her strong reactions (weaker than Clover though) seem authentic though, and suggest that she’s not Zero.
1. Luna - The top suspect gets more suspicious by the day. Even her strong reactions (which seem more authentic than Alice’s fwiw) are actually consistent with being Zero, like panicking about Chromatic Doors closing, or dealing with Sigma’s spiteful betrayals. She’s also the only character that we know almost nothing about, with no suggestions on why she would be selected to participate in the game at all
Even by elimination, it boils down to Luna vs Alice, with Luna making more sense even without meta reasoning
It’s interesting to note that the only two realistic candidates are the ones that die in the routes I’ve seen
I wonder if other routes in which they aren’t murdered demonstrate strong cases for them not being Zero
Being murdered btw, means very little, since Zero would likely participate as a normal player with the same dangers, with little to no admin control once the game begins

What still baffles me though, is Alice’s death
Clover is cleared, but nobody else would be able to approach her and stab her without a struggle
Especially since the knife was in her possession
She could’ve been drugged, but Phi didn’t notice any injection marks (while clearly finding it for Luna)
I can’t imagine she’d eat or drink something given to her after she picks up the knife
Oh, yeah, I had another theory about Tenmyouji + Clover handcuffed
Tenmyouji might have handcuffed himself to Clover
The stab makes it unlikely though
Dio is still the top suspect for that
Also, having done Crew Quarters, I found the handcuffs there
I’m not sure who went to Crew Quarters in that route, but I think it was Dio, Quark, and Tenmyouji

So I was thinking about how Sigma can experience multiple possibilities, a feature that Uchikoshi always justifies in his VNs. Due to various reasons, I’m pretty sure this isn’t a reenactment of a previous event like in Ever17 or 999. This further raises the question of why this free flow through time is restricted to the Nonary Ambidex game.
- Perhaps Sigma’s ability only emerged at the start of the Nonary game. If Sigma is a robot, then maybe the start of the game is when he booted up for the first time. Or maybe it was the first time he booted up after a special component (that allows this Flow ability) was installed. This component would probably be explained off with quantum magic.
- My theories only get crazier. It’s possible that the Flow ability arises from being infected with Radical-6. Other victims probably experienced similar Flow control to a lesser extent, but the possibilities collapsed into their demise. Sigma’s infection is probably more severe, while he is somehow kept alive with better control over the Flow. This would also explain why Phi knows things, since she might be infected to a lesser degree.
- An even crazier theory I have is that the ability is only active during the eclipse. I’m having a hard time figuring out how the eclipse could be relevant, but it’s possible that the Nonary game started when the eclipse began, somehow allowing Sigma to move freely through the flow of time for the duration of the eclipse. This, however, would require even crazier supernatural justification, which cannot even be shrugged off as quantum magic.

I do have a theory about the eclipse that has no relation to the Flow control. Basically, I was wondering if Radical-6 is affected by sunlight, like if it is only lethal after exposure to sunlight. Being trapped in an underground shelter with abundant supplies is actually a blessing then. Any who escape would likely do so when the eclipse is up, so they will be safe for a while.
An alternative theory is that sunlight actually purges the Radical-6 virus, so the disease wasn’t a big deal until the eclipse triggered a huge epidemic. This would explain why Phi and Dio kept their protective suits on in Dio’s ending, to prevent infection while the sun is blocked. This theory, however, provides no insights on the Nonary game itself.

Also, I think it is very likely that Sigma's Flow control thingy would involve some justification along the lines of quantum states occurring simultaneously without collapsing to a measurement, using Schrodinger's Cat as an example

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Some interesting points to note:
- somebody has a cybernetic arm; not sure who though. K seems like an obvious choice, but I think it's someone else
- Luna's necklace has a blue bird and a key that plays music; the music makes her happy and symbolizes some journey to happiness
- The robots in VLR possibly follow Asimov's three laws; 016, in particular, is confirmed to abide by the 0th Law
I feel like I've seen the string "016" somewhere before in the game...

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> My theories only get crazier. It’s possible that the Flow ability arises from being infected with Radical-6. Other victims probably experienced similar Flow control to a lesser extent, but the possibilities collapsed into their demise. Sigma’s infection is probably more severe, while he is somehow kept alive with better control over the Flow. This would also explain why Phi knows things, since she might be infected to a lesser degree.

This was from two weeks ago, but it's relevant again after recent events
Alice is confirmed to be infected with Radical-6, and she also has some control over the FLOW after that ally/betray switcheroo
She doesn't seem to have a clue about it, however; awareness of the FLOW seems to be limited to Sigma, and to a lesser extent, Phi
It's possible that, although Radical-6 victims can mess with the FLOW, Sigma's ability is from a different source (as opposed to a Radical-6 infection)
he doesn't seem to display any of the other symptoms
I still think Sigma gains this ability due to being a robot (could he be 016?), but that Radical-6 victims can interact with the FLOW while lacking awareness of it

---

HOLY SOAP
So uh
I just
used the FLOW to reread K's backstory
since I was severely sleep-deprived back then and couldn't concentrate
and it revealed so much
I need to review my theories and make new ones

Alright, I spent some time thinking it over and I have some ideas
But first, some good news! (for you)
This destroys my theories about (a) Sigma being a robot modeled after K, and (b) Phi being K's stepmom, or the mother figure
Anyhow, the first thing I noticed was that K described that he was raised in a "facility"
and spent his whole life in it
When he talked about dining with his parents, the picture showed the exact same table and chairs from the Lounge area
This essentially confirms that K has lived in this very facility (hosting the Nonary Ambidex Game) his whole life
This also implies that K's backstory is at least related to the development of the Nonary Game
Next, K discovered that he was "created" for the purpose of continuing his father's work
This suggests that he is a robot, but due to the same old meta reasons, I highly doubt he is a robot
Instead, my guess is that he is a clone of his father
this would explain why he was raised without a mother in his early childhood as well

His father's research, after all, was in genetic engineering
Next, K said his father created a robot to act as his mother
which K rejected
this doesn't seem to be too relevant, but that's exactly why I find it suspicious that this detail was even brought up in the story
Due to meta reasons, this mother robot that K rejected would have to be relevant in some form or another
which brings me back to Phi
Phi wasn't the human stepmom that K accepted
She was the robot mother he rejected!
The fact that this robot was specifically meant to be K's mother suggests that it is at least in a female form
So if it's not Phi, the other options are Luna, Alice, and... Clover
Alice and Clover are not likely due to various reasons
it could be Luna, but I'm still insistent on her being Zero, so that leaves Phi
Phi may have initially been created to be K's mother, but of course, she may have been reprogrammed for other purposes after K rejected her
Anyway, moving on to the actual juicy bits of information
The human mother figure that K accepted

Although K initially suspected that she might be his true mother (when she described his father falling in love), the backstory later discusses how she said she would have wanted to marry the man who saved her and live the rest of her life with him but couldn't
K further expresses his dismay about the "mother" caring more for somebody that K never met, more than K himself
So K likely learned that the man she wanted to marry was not, in fact, his father
This further supports the theory that K was a clone; he had no mother to begin with
The other woman was neither his mother, nor even someone who loved his father in that way
But she did know him when he was young, and they lived together much later with her becoming K's mother figure, so she is either a really close friend of his father, or a relative
I'm leaning towards the latter, specifically a brother
As for who she is, there are two more important clues, but reconciling between them was quite a challenge
The first is when K overhead the two talking about the mother being sacrificed
The background CG showed both parents
I looked long and hard at the CG
I couldn't recognize the father, and the angle made it difficult to reveal any facial features
This may have been intentional, i.e., the father does carry some distinguishing physical characteristic, possibly on his face, and the angle of the image deliberately avoided it

But there's not much I can theorize about what's NOT visible
The mother, on the other hand
Bears a striking resemblance to... the old lady found in the Ambidex room
It's such a strong resemblance that I am pretty sure it was very deliberate
K's human mother figure is none other than the corpse that Tenmyouji was so distressed about
(but I'm very sure that Tenmyouji isn't K's father; more on that later)
the other big clue about the mother, was her role
She accepted her fate as a sacrifice for the success of this research objective, one that she was convinced would save a lot of people
one that was planned a long time ago; even before K was born, since he was "created" to continue his father's work
But if some research project was known to save a lot of people so far in the future, it suggests that the threat itself was also anticipated so long before it happened

Furthermore, she told K about the man who saved her life a long time ago
We don't have a lot of data about events in the past, much less involving a man saving a woman's life
the only event that fits perfectly... is the first Nonary game
In other words, and I am being 100% serious, I propose that the old lady is Kurashiki Akane

K's mother figure (NOT a stepmom) is Akane
that would explain her comment about wanting to be with the man who saved her life (Junpei)
while also explaining how this research is based on handling a disaster that was anticipated far longer than it occurred
Her morphogenetic field is strong enough to let her see at least 9 years ahead; it's not a stretch to suggest that she may have seen events from much further into the future
And rather than live happily ever after with Junpei, she decided to work towards saving the future
working with K's father, whom she knew when he was young
Eliminating Junpei, the only "young" male from the 999 crew is Santa

But the old lady is definitely... old
This must be a long time after 999
Deriving the year based on indirect deductions has always been problematic in all of Uchikoshi's works
As far as I can tell, the only real contradiction is Clover
which extends to Alice, as they know each other
But I already had the theory that Alice was put in the treatment pod to prevent the Radical-6 virus from developing further
It's possible that Clover was also infected, and was also placed in the treatment pod
But the duration in which they rested was much longer than they could have imagined

Perhaps, they were snatched on the 22nd of December
2028
But they all slept for a really long time
in other words, the eclipse outside is not the eclipse of 2028
it's an eclipse from much later
This also explains how the outside world looked like a gloomy post-apocalyptic world, which Sigma couldn't believe could arise from just 6 days

There is one big issue though
though it may prove to be more enlightening
only three people awoke from the pod
This theory requires Alice and Clover to be two out of the three
but now it only accommodates one more person
I can exclude K, who was raised in this facility
I can also exclude Tenmyouji and Quark, since my theory was that they came in at the present time
Dio is also confirmed to have infiltrated from outside
This leaves Sigma, Phi, and Luna
Only one of these is a human from 2028
The others may be robots put to sleep, or a human from the post-apocalyptic future
Actually, the whole Phi vs Luna issue still puzzles me
If one of them is the human robot created by K's father, it's likely that they are Zero's "accomplice" since the Ambidex Game seems to arise from this research
But all of my evidence from before today, meta or otherwise, pointed strongly to Luna being the Zero accomplice
And yet, Luna must be a human, since she was killed by a tubocurarine injection

> (A) Hold on, what significance do you think K's father has? Why do you think he's connected at all?
> (A) is he the previous owner of the place?

or the current owner still
He, along with Akane, worked on stuff that ultimately resulted in the Nonary Ambidex Game
I suspected he didn't live to see it start

> (A) According to your theory, those two are the mastermind of the operation

Yup
Just like 999 😛
Akane and Aoi
well, okay, I did consider Aoi = Tenmyouji briefly, and that's still a possibility

Akane was meant to be a participant
She is Zero
Sr

> (A) But Zero Jr said that the real Zero was among the nine present

In that case
It's the robot that continues to carry out Zero's will
So, either Phi or Luna
or well
if it's not a robot, then it's Luna
but if it is, then Phi

I had also briefly considered Clover-Zero
when I realized she was the contradiction to the timestamp
but if Alice confirmed 2028, then that theory breaks
(I had also considered Clover as being a clone)
(yes, my mind went into a lot of crazy places today)

> (A) Here's something to chew on
> (A) was the presence of radical-6 in the game planned? If so why do you think Zero would allow such a dangerous disease in the premises?

Its presence was necessary
My theory is that it was the Radical-6 outbreak that resulted in this post-apocalyptic world
I don't yet know how the game intends to fix that, or if that's even what the game is trying to fix
But the presence of Radical-6 within the participants is likely essential for finding the solution to eradicate it from the world
This isn't just to save one person or a handful of people
016 is acting to save the human race

The situation outside is likely much more severe
The viruses inside haven't advanced so far yet
It probably would, with time, but the game is planned to end before that
There's also the whole Chinese Room shenanigans that I've been trying to avoid

Also, I suspect that Akane's assassination wasn't random
Dio likely had specific orders to eliminate her

> (A) why is the old lady's body absent in different timelines?

Okay, there's no way I could answer that regardless of what theories I can derive
There's too little data about the Alice branch
Actually, wait
Akane probably foresaw all the different timelines
Zero Sr and Zero Jr act differently based on the choices Sigma makes
Zero Jr moved the body in the Luna branch
while its location is unknown for the Alice branch
but she's certainly killed, since Dio has her bracelet

> (A) so Zero also planted the bombs?

Actually, no
My theory about the bomb
is that it was K
K wanted to destroy the entire facility, out of the immature impulse of eliminating his father's research in order to save Akane
the detonator's location is unknown though
it's probably not with K now

> (A) but K had no memories

I'm still not sure it was placed later
but hmm
In that case
I'm gonna guess Zero Sr (Luna/Phi)
actually, no
It was probably Dio
Dio, after all, had the code to disarming it
Free the Soul likely wanted to disrupt the whole project
Dio's entire mission was to plant the bomb
well, assassinate Akane and plant the bomb

> (A) but no bombs were found in the other timeline (unless they just missed it)

Oh, hey!
That actually fits
kinda
The bomb was found after the first game, right?
In the Luna branch, they already found Akane's corpse
Dio likely didn't leave her corpse in Luna's room
He hid her elsewhere
But when Dio found the corpse revealed, and at an AB room no less
He realized he was being watched
and that his actions would not go unnoticed
He decided to play it safe and avoid further suspicious actions
He still wanted his knife back, but made sure to stay in line otherwise
But in the Alice branch, the corpse wasn't found, which is what Dio was expected
So he continued to carry out his mission, believing that his cover was secure

Zero is manipulating him without his knowledge, yes
OH
This also explains his AB choice!
It wasn't just Quark being Quark!
(though that might be part of it)
Once the corpse was revealed, Dio realized he was compromised, and his objective was to get out asap and report to Brother
hence the Round 1 Betray
and of course, the Round 2 betray
but on the Alice branch, with the corpse hidden
Dio chose Ally
He was continuing with his original mission
instead of trying to get out asap

what interests me the most
is Tenmyouji
Tenmyouji knows Akane
making me suspect he is one of the 999 participants
but the only options are Snake, Santa, Junpei, and Seven
I'm still entertaining the possibility of Tenmyouji-Santa, but that contradicts the theory that K's father is Santa
Snake is extremely unlikely, with Clover being around
and also because he's not blind
That leaves Junpei and Seven
I initially dismissed Junpei, but I'm starting to think Junpei-Tenmyouji makes a lot of sense
It certainly explains his reaction to seeing Akane's corpse
and how it controlled him for the rest of the game in all further branches
Quark not recognizing Akane isn't an issue; Akane did imply that she couldn't marry the man who saved her and live with him
Akane further implied that she was sacrificing herself for his sake too
so Junpei is not unrelated to this game

> (A) Even assuming that the old lady is Akane, which is based off of paragraph, how would Junpei (or anyone from 999) know what Akane looks like when she's old?

Interestingly, the fact that you asked this question further supports a theory I had about it
Tenmyouji said that Zero made him an offer
My theory is that Akane invited Tenmyouji-Junpei directly
no mask
She didn't tell him it would lead to her death though
It makes far more sense for Tenmyouji to accept an offer that could endanger Quark if it's coming from his lover (and likely Quark's grandmother too)
than some mysterious masked entity

> (A) For what purpose would Akane do that? Is she a sadist?

Nope
_it was necessary_
Just as it was necessary to endanger the 999 crew in 999
and in fact, there were plenty of timelines that left a trail of corpses back then too
She knew that, regardless of the greater purpose, Junpei probably wouldn't agree to her death
but she was committed to sacrificing herself for that cause

> (A) But why would Junpei have to be in this game, rather than some random person? Why crush the one she loved?
> (A) I mean, Lotus was probably less necessary in 999 than Junpei
> (A) unless you're saying that Tenmyouji is central to this game

I'm not sure why _anybody_ is in this game, besides Dio
But I'm sure there are reasons

> unless you're saying that Tenmyouji is central to this game

I suspect it's not Tenmyouji, but actually Quark
but that's just meta speculation
no actual evidence for that

---

Side note
Kid K was holding a stuffed rabbit
probably the model for Zero Jr

---

btw there was a scene in the infirmary that seemed to confirm that Phi is not from 2028
When Sigma was expressing his surprise at the Radical-6 outbreak, both Phi and Tenmyouji were like "Yeah, yeah, let's move on"
as if this was old news
This further strengthens the possibility of Phi being K's robot mother

In other news
I found 016!
I decided to reread segments, and it occurred to me that my previous encounter with 016 must've been in the Luna tree
And then I thought it was during the Security Room scene
So I reread that part
But unfortunately, there was no 016 in the Security Room
but I decided to keep reading
And I found 016
written in blood in Clover's thigh
This implies that (a) it was 016 that killed Clover and Tenmyouji, or (b) the true killer used their blood to frame 016
I'm inclined towards the latter
The former implies that Clover not only knew that her assailant was 016, but chose to identify them as such instead of using their regular name that everyone is aware of
Given that Clover is from 2028, I highly doubt 016 existed back then (even with confidential SOIS access)
And again, choosing to identify them as 016 would be pretty useless, especially since her fellow coworker (Alice) is dead, eliminating the possibility that the writing was meant only for her

Furthermore, all the other evidence points to Dio being the killer, with how Tenmyouji was obsessed with spraying everyone with Luminol as well as the fact that Tenmyouji's hand wound is from Dio's knife (which he retrieved from Alice earlier)
So Dio is aware that there is a "016", but probably doesn't know who it is

But he nonetheless decided to frame 016 for the murder of Clover and Tenmyouji
Some other points
Phi said 016 sounded familiar, but couldn't quite recall it
I doubt she was lying, so this implies that Phi must have heard about 016 in some form
It's also possible that Phi is 016, but is not aware of it
Her general attitude during this entire section suggests that her efforts and reactions are genuine, as opposed to deliberately concealing information
The one exception is with regards to Quark
She is very confident about Quark being alive, and adamantly defends him from murder accusations
So I think Phi knows about Quark from before

This further supports my theory that Quark is integral to achieving the objectives of the Nonary Game
Also, I was reminded that Sigma lost conscious while seeing the world accelerate
From previous Uchikoshi works, these segments of lost consciousness are always important, with crucial events occurring without the player's knowledge
This was exploited in both 999 and R11
So I'm gonna guess that Phi did stuff while Sigma was out
I doubt she'd actually leave the Security Room (and kill people :P) though
but she probably saw other interesting things in the video feed that she decided not to show Sigma
There is also still the issue of the Ambidex Gate opening
Dio, Tenmyouji, K, and Alice are confirmed human with blood flowing
Clover is unlikely to be a robot; she is recognized by both Alice and the player

Quark is confirmed to be infected with Radical-6, implying that he is human as well
This leaves Sigma, Phi, and Luna
Phi is not from 2028, given her reaction to Sigma learning about Radical-6
I also realized that Luna is unlikely to be from 2028 as well, since she had no problems with casually suggesting that Sigma might be a robot, and even brought up the ADT covering as well
I doubt such occurrences were normal in 2028
Phi is a very interesting case
There are strong indications of her being connected to K somehow, which led me to believe she was K's robot mother
The problem is, this Security Room branch is one of the very branches in which Phi trusted K to Ally with her
when she knocked out Dio
This suggests that Phi is aware of her connection to K in the Security Room branch
If Phi is a robot and she is aware of it, then her reaction to "016" doesn't make sense
If she is 016, she'd know it
If she isn't, then this implies that there is another robot

Also, I eliminated Sigma as a robot; with Luna and Phi being non-2028, that only leaves Sigma as the third candidate for the treatment pod
Anyhow, regardless of Phi's state, it seems that Luna is a robot
It's possible that Phi and Luna are both robots, but the only remaining link to Phi being a robot is her mysterious connection to K
but if one of them was designed to be K's mother, then Luna certainly has suitable motherly traits
which fit with K's memory of her too, with how she would try hard to care for him and show her love, and crying when he rejects her
which... really doesn't sound like Phi
Luna being a robot also explains how the Ambidex Room was opened in this branch
Quark opening it has too many problems; he would have had to acquire his bracelet from the infirmary, and then, instead of outright leaving (since it was at 9), he would then decide to open an Ambidex Room
The fact that he was unconscious for a good period of time makes this even crazier, since he'd likely be very confused and even scared
definitely not  a state where opening an Ambidex Room would be the natural course of action
But if it's not Quark, then it must be a corpse

And the only ones without human wounds are Luna and Clover
Clover is almost certainly a human, and was still handcuffed to Tenmyouji too
Luna, on the other hand, had free movement
At this point, I'm convinced that Luna is a robot
Specifically, she is 016

If I am correct about Luna being 016, then I'd have to admit that the gold files can be spoilery
since the deduction was rooted on the knowledge that 016 is a robot
(though I suppose if one assumes 016 is a character, then a robot would be a natural assumption since it would likely be an ID number of sorts)
Then again, it's possible that this is something that can't be figured out normally
I suspect that the gold files were designed for mystery purposes, providing enough clues for mystery enthusiasts to make thorough deductions that may otherwise be impossible to figure out
while being vague enough that players who are only in for the ride won't get spoiled while enjoying crazy plot twists that they'd never see coming
...it's kinda funny that I'm talking about crazy plot twists without actually having experienced any of them yet myself

---

Okay, so Clover isn't infected with Radical-6
This makes me wonder why she was captured and placed in the treatment pod
for all these years
She is probably important for keeping Alice stable
I also still don't know Quark's and Phi's roles

I'm also quite unsure about tree-specific events or lack thereof
- Alice Tree does not reveal Akane's corpse (or even move the AB Room for that matter)
- Alice Tree has the bombs (or at least, they're only found in Alice Tree)
- Alice Tree has Alice/Phi decisions dependent on Sigma's decisions
- Tenmyouji Tree has Quark's Radical-6 triggering early
- Luna Tree has Quark disappearing
Actually, wait, Quark's state changes with each tree

In Luna Tree, he disappears on his own after CD2 (and is later found in the Treatment Center pod)
In Alice Tree, the Radical-6 triggers suicidal intent after CD2 in the infirmary
In Tenmyouji Tree, the Radical-6 triggers suicidal intent before CD2 in the infirmary
Aside from Quark changes, all the other changes seem to involve Alice Tree deviating from the others
The changes start really early, with Akane's corpse not found anywhere despite normally showing up before AB1

Yeah, I still can't figure out where Dio could've hid the corpse
Not just on the Alice Tree, but also on the other two Trees
I highly doubt it was on Luna's AB Room
Even if Luna was anticipating a corpse, Dio wouldn't let others find it

---

Okay
this is crazy
really crazy
sleeping at 4 am after a long VLR session messes my head up
that when I wake up lying on my bed, my mind conjures up the craziest theories imaginable
I came up with two theories
The first and smaller theory is one that I thoroughly debunked later though
it was a theory that the Alice Tree takes place at a different year than the other trees
But there were several contradictions, the most explicit one being the presence of Axelavir in this tree
another major contradiction is Tenmyouji; having an old Junpei in 2028 makes no sense, and things like clones and cold sleep cannot explain that
Anyway, I scrapped that theory
But I then came up with something even crazier
And the amazing thing is
I started off by trying to answer a small number of questions, but the more I explored the other pressing questions, the more I found that this theory accommodates them perfectly

Actually, before that
There is one very specific segment I need to reread
One that may contain a clue so deceptively strong that it can either completely validate or completely crush my theory
(and I'm not even sure if there is such a clue)
Do you remember exactly when it was that Sigma described his actions on December 25th?
I need to reread that
I know it was something I encountered really early on, and it's likely in a common segment, but I want to find out exactly where it is

Okaaaaaaaay
Bad news: I found the scene, but it was an internal monologue, so it contained no clues whatsoever
Good news: While trying to find this scene, I stumbled on some other scenes that further support my theory
(but not the strong confirmation I was hoping to find)

Okay, I think I'm confident enough about this theory now
So basically, what was plaguing my mind was K's face
I was so convinced that he was Santa's clone for so long
that having Sigma's face was too much of a shock
So I kept trying to make sense of that
and then there were other big questions that also puzzled me
like on who created Zero (one of the players, but not Luna or Akane)
or on who the third person on the treatment pods was (Sigma and Phi both said they were taken on Christmas, and neither of them seemed to be lying)
and on how Sigma got Cybernetic Arms (he has no memory of it, and the cold sleep in the treatment pod would literally freeze him)
But then it all came together

It seemed necessary that memories were tampered
And the candidate that made the most sense is...
Sigma
My theory is that
Sigma is Zero
and K's dad
but he somehow lost all his memories

likely part of the project that he himself designed with Akane
Sigma "created" K (Klim) as a clone of himself, to continue the project in case he died
At some point he lost his arms (unsure if deliberate), and replaced them with cybernetic arms
The third person in the treatment pod is Phi
And the biggest supporting evidence...
is that you never see Sigma's face outside of that one flashback in 2028
And while it's common for VNs to hide the protagonist's face, they usually at least show their hair
And they wouldn't even show their face in flashbacks and whatnot
So it's very unusual for a VN to hide someone's face entirely in the present scenarios, while showing it clearly in flashbacks

Also, past Uchikoshi VNs
Ever17: faces were deliberately concealed except when playing the other route, and this was exploited for identity deception
Remember11: faces were freely shown, even for the current narrator, and this did not affect the identity deception (which was actually really minor anyway)
999: freely showed his face, and this did not affect the identity deception
VLR seems to follow Ever17 in face-revealing policies, while no identity deception has been revealed yet (despite being standard for Uchikoshi)
So I'm suggesting that Sigma is actually really old, while he still thinks he's a college student
Of course, this means that the other eight characters would see Sigma as the old man that he is

and I can vaguely recall that there was some point where somebody commented on him being too old, except of course the player (and Sigma) wouldn't interpret it that way
They probably interpreted it as Sigma looking like he's ~30
Unfortunately I have not been able to locate this scene, so I couldn't confirm this
I thought it was when he was narrating his capture experience (with somebody expressing doubt that he's a college student), but that was apparently an internal monologue
While trying to find that scene, I observed the CG in which the eight characters are shown in front of the Zero screen
given that their faces had no details whatsoever, the absence of Sigma made no sense
He should have been with the other eight, and we should have at least seen his black hair even if his face has no details like everyone else
But nope, he wasn't shown there, likely because it would reveal his white hair that he himself was not aware of
Even the circumstances in which he removed K's helmet was one in which no other character could observe or respond to Sigma's confusion
because if anybody else saw K's face, they wouldn't see it as Sigma's face at all, so Sigma would be the only one confused

Also, I can't believe I'm using this as supporting evidence, but this would further explain Clover's repulsion towards him fooling around with her
(though I'd say it would have been well-justified regardless)
As I built up this theory, I realized one big contradiction
which is that the old man had a distinctive eyepatch
Sigma may not realize that he's old, but he should definitely notice if his vision is restricted to one eye
But this is the best part
Until this point, I couldn't fathom how the eyepatch could be relevant whatsoever
even though it was very distinct in the Director's Office, while K's backstory flashback made sure to conceal it
And now it suddenly contradicts this big theory that I had
I then went down further into the meta rabbit hole
The only relevance to Zero's eyepatch is to contradict the Sigma = Zero theory
And I interpreted this as further confirmation of the Sigma = Zero theory
Uchikoshi clearly realized that all of these hints would point to Sigma = Zero
And the eyepatch doesn't seem to serve any other purpose except to discourage this theory

The fact that Uchikoshi did not provide any explicit contradiction (like actually showing Sigma's black hair in any of the CGs) makes me further convinced of Zero = Sigma
As for how to explain the eyepatch: well, he lost his arms and replaced them with cybernetic arms; it's not much of a stretch for him to have an artificial eye too
So yeah, my theory is that Sigma is actually an old man with white hair, an artificial eye, and cybernetic arms
He is Zero, the creator of the Zero Jr AI, and of his clone K, and even of Luna to act as K's robot mother before her purpose was shifted towards the Nonary Game
But he was able to find a way to hide all his memories from between December 2028 to the present
And I'm not even sure if the memories of being captured are legit either
(if so, then Akane captured him because she knew of the importance of Sigma having the memory of being captured; but he would soon be released and the two of them would later work together for the Nonary Game)
I don't know how he was able to hide his memories from December 2028 to the present from his own self, but this could just be explained off with technological advancement

but given the supernatural nature in the amnesia for E17 Kid, R11 Satoru, and arguably 999 Seven, I imagine that Uchikoshi is gonna pull some more supernatural BS to justify Sigma's loss of memories from December 2028 onwards
and maybe also for K's amnesia too
in any case, deliberately erasing specific memory periods isn't too farfetched for a future ~2058 setting which already includes robots and clones
with the robot being the Best Character too, so that's really impressive

> 6. Sigma - As the player can follow his thoughts, ZeroSigma only makes sense if Sigma lost his memory after beginning the game. With no indications of amnesia, as well as the general absurdity of such a scenario, Sigma is pretty clear.

(from February 15th)
There are more than enough hints now to suggest that yes, Sigma did lose his memories, but only of those from December 2028 onwards. Given that the game takes place ~30 years after Sigma's memory of being captured, this scenario is not absurd at all
Anyway, so that's my Sigma = Zero theory
What do you think?

> (A) So the memory loss is Danganronpa style?

Yes, actually
I didn't think of that

> (A) Well, it's certainly more elegant than your thoughts on Thursday night, for sure
> (A) could also explain why we never hear Sigma's voice, even though we can hear all the others
> (A) Still, if there was a mirror anywhere in that facility, the illusion would break so hard

And I don't think it's a coincidence that there is no mirror anywhere
or a significant body of water
or even any glass, actually

> (A) There was a scalpel which may be reflective
> (A) There was water in the garden

> could also explain why we never hear Sigma's voice, even though we can hear all the others

I dunno if an old person could be identified by voice
but it would match with the Director's Office voice, at least

> There was a scalpel which may be reflective

Too small
Not a high chance that he'd look at his own reflection in it

> There was water in the garden

This I forgot about though
I think the water was really shallow, so he couldn't see his reflection
But I think I should revisit the Garden puzzle room regardless, and see what he says about it
if he mentions his reflection, my entire theory would collapse
(well, no, I'd probably come up with some BS like that it was an advanced display that shows his younger face as a reflection)

> (A) What is the motive? Why would ZeroSigma have any incentive to pull the memory trick on himself?

_it was necessary_
like all of Uchikoshi's other setups
This one actually makes more sense than other components though
Sigma is the one going through time
and is almost certainly the key to the project
The events had to be clearly planned out
Sigma knowing himself would likely fail to achieve the same results
For one thing, the danger component would be completely eliminated
and we know danger is essential for morphogenetic field access
Sigma likely wouldn't be able to "jump" at all, let alone retain any memories of the jumps
if he knew he was Zero and that it was all a setup (of his own design too)

> (A) I mean, why would Zero put himself in the game, rather than sit safely outside?

Because he's the one who would be able to jump through time with perfect memory

> (A) The same motive could be also given to a non-sigma zero

The non-Sigma Zero would still have to eliminate their memories of being Zero
and in any case, all of the evidence points to Sigma
Klim having Sigma's young face, Sigma having cybernetic arms that he has no memories of acquiring, etc
Various individual circumstances also eliminate all remaining characters except Phi
And even PhiZero requires her to lose her memories
and she has no supporting evidence, compared to so much evidence pointing to Sigma
not only on hard facts, but on meta reasoning as well
SigmaZero addresses most of the pressing questions I have, without affecting any of the remaining questions
I still need to figure out who the hell Phi is and why she's important, and on how this project intends to prevent the Radical-6 epidemic

And also on how Dio got the bracelet in the Alice Tree
(yes, I am still convinced by the absence of both the corpse AND the knife that Akane was not killed in the Alice Tree)

Oh, yeah, while I was looking for hints on characters referring to Sigma as old
I stopped specifically to read Tenmyouji interactions, since he's the other old guy
and I found the scene where Tenmyouji and Quark see the lounge
Tenmyouji said he would buy Quark more root beer floats
and said he found some rare earth metals the other day
I seriously can't believe I missed this the first time, though I guess that was still really early into the game
You wouldn't refer to specific metals as being earth metals if you lived on earth and the entire civilization as you know it is on earth

So this not only confirms that the human race moved beyond earth, but also that Tenmyouji himself probably wasn't living on earth either

> (A) OR it can be metals that are rare on earth, like gold

Hmmm
I dunno if it would make sense to refer to them as "rare earth metals"
if Tenmyouji was living on earth and he found gold, he'd probably refer to it as just "rare metals"
wouldn't make sense to qualify it with "earth" if he was living on earth, found it on earth, and it's rare on earth
but if he were living on the moon or on Mars, and he found a metal that's rare on earth (and probably not naturally found in wherever he is), then it would make sense to call them "rare earth metals"
Either way, it suggests that there are humans that moved outside of earth, likely in the moon or in Mars
which entertains the possibility that the entire Nonary game is in the moon/Mars
Actually, wait!
That explains Phi's superjumps!
well, okay, maybe they're not in the moon, since everybody would notice the gravity change
so they're likely in Mars

> (A) K did a superjump too at the start, carrying clover

Wait, hold on
K's superjump makes sense
Phi's don't
because I reverted my theory about Phi being from the future
if Phi is from the past, she would believe she's on earth, and wouldn't be able to execute the superjump
K was likely born and raised in non-Earth, so that superjump would likely seem perfectly natural to him
Well, Phi still knows things that she doesn't know why she knows
that might be enough to allow her to subconsciously make the superjump
even if she doesn't consciously know that she could do it
Everyone else that believes they're on earth, with no indications otherwise (conscious or subconscious), would be unable to perform the superjump
nor would they notice the slight discrepancy in the gravitational force
Tenmyouji and Quark though, I bet they can consciously execute superjumps if they wanted to
(and Luna too)

There is one other thing I'm curious about
So while going through Sigma's recollection of the capture
He said that he recently got dumped by his girlfriend
Jus a single cold email with no explanation
Of course, maybe this was just to show the kind of life he was living
But... K's backstory pointed out something else
K's backstory indicated that Akane knew K's father when he was young, and even watched him "fall in love"
Now, if Sigma = Zero, then this means Akane knew Sigma when he was young
This could refer to the period after Sigma was captured, but I imagine that he wouldn't have a normal life after that point
So I think this most likely refers to the period before Sigma was captured
In fact, my guess is that Akane was the one who dumped him
She probably pretended to be his girlfriend, under a different name, possibly to expose any openings in order to capture him
She probably did something to his car too

Sigma fell in love with Akane, while she was secretly trying to devise a plan to capture him
This is just speculation, and it doesn't really have any relevance in resolving any of the other mysteries
But it does lead to an interesting situation with Sigma and Tenmyouji both in love with Akane

> He said that he recently got dumped by his girlfriend

(I also briefly considered if it might be Phi, but he would have certainly recognized Phi if that's the case; Akane fits better since he never really sees her when she's 20)

> (A) if that is true, there is no reason for Akane to dump him by sending a cold email
> (A) She could've just revealed herself and persuaded him, since they would've worked together later

...that's true
Okay, maybe it was some random irrelevant girl
but Akane was watching him from a distance
Either way, it doesn't have much relevance, I think

---

Got both passwords
no story scenes
The final puzzle got me thinking though
If it foreshadows the outcome, then three characters will not escape
Though I suppose another way to interpret it is that the Betray spammer won't get to escape early until the others get 9
My guess is that Dio will be up against somebody with 11 points (Phi?)
Phi and Dio will spam Betrays while the others spam Ally until they're all at 9
Then Phi allies so that Dio's pair goes up to 9
and they all escape