Story |
PSYNCIN' IN THE CHaiN is a dreamworld featured in AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES.
It is the sixteenth chapter, the sixth and final Somnium of the Resolution Route, the thirteenth and the final reachable one in the entire game. It is a Somnium world created from Kaname Date's dream by the Prototype Psync Machine. Saito Sejima entered this Somnium to swap bodies with Date and return to his original body.
History[]
Saito did a weird dance after entering Date's Somnium world, and checked the surroundings. Date retained consciousness while being Psynced, but he was barely able to take any meaningful action. Under Saito's operation, a screen showing Falco's face was destroyed, and Date passively followed suit.
Date realized that this was the effect of Saito's Psync on himself, and investigated the surrounding objects with extremely limited abilities, but he couldn't even get any valuable information without Aiba's help. In front of another screen that displayed "sync," Date had to smash the screen just like before. Afterwards, the Psync Machine was activated, it appeared that Falco and Rohan were swapping personalities inside the Psync Room, and the door leading to it was also opened. Date went in and investigated the gear on the Psync Machine, he saw Saito put on it with ferocious smirk.
Then Date checked the gear on the Psync Machine again, but his hand was punctured. Then he saw that the Psync between Falco and Rohan ended, and Falco, whose personality was now inside Rohan's body, awakened and left through the nearby door in a sluggish motion. Date followed through the door and found himself in the Dark Room of the Kabasaki Chemical Plant, where the Prototype Psync Machine was kept. He noticed from an old TV that Saito had thrown a picture of Iris and Hitomi together into a pool of blood.
Date came to the pool of blood and tried to stick his hand into it, but only got a removed eyeball instead of a photo. A nearby TV turned on, showing Saito knocking Falco (in Rohan's body) to the ground, followed by Saito's maniacal laughter from a nearby mirror. He went to the mirror and found Saito's body reflected in it. Date performed various actions on the mirror to no avail, and could only conduct a simple investigation, but his body automatically took out the eyeball he had obtained before and reached out to the mirror. Then, in the mirror, Saito, whose left eye socket was empty before, regained his own left eye. Saito said "that's it, just a little more..." before sinking into the ground, seemingly entering the deeper layers of Date's Somnium during the Psync. Date's body also began to sink uncontrollably. In an instant, the whole room was completely flooded with blood, and Date began to sink into the pool of blood. He tried to advance to the Prototype Psync Machine, but in vain. Just like that, he was completely submerged.
When Date woke up, the pool of blood disappeared, and he saw the end of Saito and Falco's body swap through the Prototype Psync Machine. Falco's personality was transferred into Saito's body, and he woke up and rolled to the ground. That was the end of Saito's Psync with Date.
Name[]
- The name "PSYNCIN' IN THE CHaiN" refers to the "chain" of body-swaps that Hayato Yagyu performed 6 years ago, leading into the creation of the identity of "Kaname Date." The title could also refer to the chain of body-swaps/murders that Saito Sejima commits throughout the story, with this Somnium being his last one on the chain.
- The name of the Somnium's achievement, "CHaiN: % s ! n k", is probably a twisted display of the word "sink." This word may represent Date being sunk in a pool of blood in this Somnium, or it may mean that even if Date retains consciousness in his Somnium, he cannot resist Saito's activities in this Somnium world, sinking in the ending of his body being exchanged back.
- The word coincides with SINK in the game's first Somnium title, SINKIN' IN THE BRaiN.
- There are numerous garbled texts appeared in this Somnium, and the prompt texts of each Mental Lock is thoroughly displayed as "concealed," which means that Date as the subject cannot obtain the detailed information of this Somnium world, but only Saito can.