Remember11 - Post-Satoru Thoughts

Note: These are written after Satoru route and can contain spoilers from any part of the VN.

First, I'm gonna list down relevant stuff that were already confirmed or were implied so strongly that they're pretty much confirmed:

- The original Yukidoh Satoru has black hair, while the original Enomoto Naoya is blonde. The "Satoru" that we follow is Satoru's consciousness within Naoya's body.

- The teleportation moves the locations of Cabin-Jan2011 -> SPHIA-Jan2012 -> Center-Jul2011 -> Cabin-Jan2011. Originally, the Cabin is in Mt Akakura, SPHIA is in Aosagi Island, while the Center (in both time and space, between the three) is in Moegi Village in the Hiwa district.

- During teleportation, people also teleport along with their consciousness, with some exceptions. Consider an area X that teleports out and is replaced by an area Y. In the simple case, if X contains only one consciousness among the set {Satoru, Kokoro, Alpha} while Y contains only one living body among the same set, then this consciousness will not teleport, and will instead inhabit the corresponding body in Y. Initially, all three locations at their respective time contained a single body and consciousness from that set, which causes each body to be inhabited by alternating personalities in the order Kokoro -> Alpha -> Satoru -> Kokoro.

- Similarly, there seems to be another set {Keiko, Hotori, Beta} that follows the same rules. In this case, it appears that the consciousness transfer occurs even when the vessel is dead, i.e. Hotori's body near the Cabin.

- Alpha and Beta are the twin children of Utsumi. They were caught up in all this when they were not even born yet, while Utsumi was hospitalized in the underground area in the Center in July 2011.

- Alpha, in particular, is responsible for the unusual actions in Kokoro's/Satoru's bodies, like tearing the newspaper, being cut by Yomogi's knife, killing the black-haired dude, and going on a rampage in SPHIA.

- This whole teleportation system is controlled in the Center, inside that white cube. Yukidoh Satoru and Enomoto Naoya were both involved in the project.

Uncertain issues:

- Why was this teleportation system set up? What are the objectives of the project?
Likely to save the three people from the shelter cabin. At the very least, Satoru (black-haired) would probably have wanted to save Lin. Naoya's (blonde) intentions are less clear, but well, he works for some big company, and they were interested in the results of this experiment, I guess.

- What is the relevance of Satoru's flight ticket?
This was only brought up at the end, to explain CYuni's actions. If the crash site was not discovered, then Satoru would have flown to Australia and supposedly have stayed there for quite a while. He likely would not have started this project, which means Kokoro and the others would die. Thus it was necessary for the crash site to be discovered, in order for Satoru to receive the news (including about Lin being on the plane while her body is not found) and cancel his plans to Australia in order to focus on this project to save Lin.

- Who was trying to kill Satoru?
For the bathtub incident, there was no killing intent, but Satalpha simply tried to drown himself/herself. This makes sense, since Alpha is an unborn child who doesn't breathe but is surrounded by amniotic fluid, thus explaining Satalpha's inclination to drown in water. Note that Satoru's body would reflexively try to avoid being drowned, so Satalpha would need to muster up some strength to force the self-drowning. This is averted when Satkoro takes the sleeping pills, weakening Satalpha to prevent him/her from forcing the self-drowning. And for the Day 5 "poisoning", it was also Satalpha who drank both bottles unknowingly, just like how it was Kokalpha who ate the hard tacks in a state of extreme hunger. This still doesn't explain who stabbed Satoru's left arm, or who tried to push him off the clock tower.

- Who pushed him off the clock tower?
My guess is that it was the black-haired dude (Naoya in Satoru's body). It was probably necessary in order to invoke amnesia on Satoru (in Naoya's body)

- Who stabbed his left arm?
I think I can distinctly recall Satoru/Satkoro fighting someone off. The stabbing itself likely happened during Alpha's turn. It could have been Alpha finding a knife and stabbing himself/herself, or it could have been someone else. Maybe Utsumi thought it was Hotori and decided to take this blackout opportunity...?

- If Alpha is just an unborn fetus, how is it able to perform physical motor tasks in Kokoro's/Satoru's bodies?
Well, only the "consciousness" is detached from the body, i.e., not teleported. It's unclear exactly how much is encompassed by "consciousness" beyond the will and the memories, but it likely does not include subconscious abilities ingrained in the body. For example, when an adult walks from point A to point B, they generally aren't actively conscious of exactly how their leg muscles are carrying out this task. They simply have the will to move from point A to point B, and their body's subconsciousness will execute the task based on the trained muscle memory. Likewise, Alpha, despite being an unborn fetus, merely needs to decide to execute its will to eat/drink/walk/etc, and the trained mature bodies of Kokoro/Satoru will do so.

- Still, why would Alpha try to stab Enomoto to death like crazy or go on a rampage the next day, going as far as try to choke Yuni??
Well, in both these cases, bear in mind that Kokoro was in a pretty tense situation right before the teleportation. Kokoro/Satoru's body was probably already charged with adrenaline when Alpha took over. Normal people would probably try to analyze the situation and calm down, but an unborn fetus would go crazy. Hence the crazy reactions.

It is rather unrealistic for Alpha to go that far in their rampages, but it's not really too ridiculous given that Baby Colic is an actual thing, and the TIP pointed out that it is suspected that babies could turn into violent mindless serial killers if their bodies were capable of it, prior to developing sound reasoning abilities.

- Why is Satoru in Naoya's body?
Probably so that Lin doesn't become a clingy annoyance once Satoru saves her. It would be really silly if that's the reason. Seriously though, maybe the body exchange was necessary for the project. Maybe to make sure Satoru doesn't regain his memories (which could endanger the project).

- Why do the sets of {Satoru, Kokoro, Alpha} and {Hotori, Keiko, Beta} have their consciousness separated from the body instead of teleporting like the others?
Satoru being in Naoya's body might be relevant to this. It's likely that Satoru, Alpha, Beta, and maybe Keiko were either experimented on somehow to ensure that they split from their bodies, or they were specifically cherry-picked because they were likely to split up naturally for some reason.

The problem is that Kokoro and Hotori likely couldn't have been selected beforehand, since the project would have initiated after the seven days in Jan2011, at which point Kokoro and Hotori were already caught up in the crash.

Maybe it wasn't necessary to worry about Kokoro or Hotori because preparing Satoru and Alpha/Beta (and maybe Keiko, if that was intentional) was sufficient to ensure that their consciousness separates. They would then inhabit any living person in Mt Akakura, and it just so happened to be Kokoro and Hotori, causing their consciousness to separate from their bodies too. This is further supported by the fact that Kokoro didn't separate from her body in her Epilogue when Satoru made sure to stay outside the circle during the teleportation, implying that whether Kokoro's consciousness separates from her body depends on the state of the other bodies/consciousness in her set {Satoru, Kokoro, Alpha}, and it's not separated by default.

- Why are the exchanges restricted to their own set only?
It might be a matter of compatibility that's biased by past experiences. For example, the first time Satoru's consciousness took over Kokoro's body may have been random or arbitrary, but during the next transfer, Satoru's consciousness may have already considered Kokoro's to be the most suitable vessel due to past experiences. The same could apply to Hotori's set. Alternatively, there might be some specific fixed conditions that determine whether the consciousness separates and on who it would possess, and this constantly leads to the same personality exchange scenarios for as long as those conditions are unchanged. Satoru leaving the SPHIA circle was likely a violation.

- How did the plan fail for the Plan Failure End?
Clearly Satoru wasn't supposed to enter the white cube. Maybe it's because at this point he lost his final chance to save the Cabin trio, since the Center would have returned to Moegi Village by then and would not teleport to Mt Akakura until after the avalanche or right before the avalanche. So for Satoru to be in the Center at that time indicates that he has no chance of saving the Cabin trio and thus the project was a failure.

- Why were Alpha and Beta dragged into the experiment?
Maybe that was part of the experiment, to observe how the unborn fetuses behave in the bodies of adults. After all, it seems like that's what Naoya (in Satoru's black-haired body) was  doing: watching the surveillance cameras.

- Could the newspaper and magazine have been legit?
Maybe. The Plan Failure End implies that Naoya and Satoru at least believed that their fate can be changed. So even when they killed a Satoru (in Naoya's body) who claimed to have witnessed Naoya's death (in Satoru's body), they dismissed that as being only one possibility of their fate and not a certain one. By a similar logic, the newspaper and magazine could also be demonstrating only one posibility which might not occur.

On the other hand, there are various indications that suggest that the events within a single timeline are all fixed and consistent. For example, Yuni's actions in Jan 2011 in the cabin are directly based on his past experiences that happened in the future.

- Why was Keiko carrying a baby at the end and singing Kagome?
Likely because Keiko realized at that point that her body has frequently been possessed by one of these two babies. So she may have felt connected to a baby somehow. Or maybe she may have even resented it for invading her body.

As for the Kagome song, it clearly appears to symbolize Utsumi and the twin children that she bore. "Who is that behind you?" is especially fitting, since the twins are right behind Keiko and Satoru in the cycle of possession for the two bodies in SPHIA that experience personality exchange. Keiko likely figured out the identity of Beta early on, and began to sing this Kagome song in reference to that.

- Why did Keiko kill all those people in the hospital?
I dunno, maybe she did feel that she was putting them out of their misery, by killing suffering patients. But then again, she also killed doctors and nurses so it doesn't fit. And either way, it kinda implies that there is definitely a murderous personality lurking within her.

- So does Keiko really have DID?
I don't think so. Satoru only seems to encounter a single Keiko personality for all seven days. The report claimed that she has as many as 11 personalities iirc. It's certainly odd that Satoru never saw her other ten personalities.

- Could there have been a personality exchange involved?
Well, her murderous rampage lasted about 30 minutes, which sounds too close to 33 minutes, implying that it may have been a transfer. On the other hand, I don't think there was any project with this kind of teleportation that extended to the hospital in Jan 2009.

- Who or what is Self?
No idea, tbh. Keiko asked "Where is Self?" after the hospital murders, and Utsumi also wrote "Where is Self?" after she killed Keiko and herself. I really can't think of any good ideas on Self.

- Who is That Guy?
No idea. Memories of That Guy were transplanted on to the SPHIA Satoru (who is in Naoya's body). It doesn't seem like Naoya = That Guy, since Satoru doesn't seem to have any memories from Naoya. Satoru's memories (e.g. with Lin) seem to be only Satoru's memories. Maybe Satoru is actually a different person with transplanted memories from Satoru, but this implies that That Guy = Satoru, which is inconsistent with the Plan Failure End where the black-haired Satoru finds That Guy as being annoying.

The TIPS suggest that That Guy is a 0th dimensional being. Possesses only an Absolute Will. And apparently this all began 11 years before 2012. On that note, the final TIP, on Yukidoh Sayaka, mentions that she died 11 years before 2012. Perhaps she is connected to That Guy somehow...

- What is Sayaka's relevance?
I don't know, really. She is Satoru's fraternal twin,  diagnosed with DID, and died 11 years before 2012. It is said that she appears in a flashback. Being Satoru's sister, I expect she would have black hair, and I am now reminded of the black-haired girl pre-OP. Now that we know that Hotori doesn't actually have black hair, I think it's more likely for this black-haired girl to be Sayaka, while the boy who was with her was actually Satoru. She was afraid of herself, that she might kill others and may even kill Satoru. But how did she die? And how does her death relate to Satoru executing this project? Also, her being Satoru's fraternal twin reminds me of Utsumi's twin children, but I'm not sure if that similarity is relevant.