Ei Sekigahara/Story

> I can't go on... My head... feels like it's splitting...
>
>

***The section below contains spoilers for the story of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. It would be ill-advised to scroll without caution if you want to have a blind experience with the game, or have not completed it in its entirety.***

## Remembrance

Ei Sekigahara is originally from 2064 along with his sister-like figure Ryoko Shinonome. After Ryoko exclaims that she will fight for Tetsuya Ida, Ei joins alongside her. Later, he overhears a conversation between Ida and Ms. Morimura. They discuss the worst case scenario, in which Ida wants to perform another loop while Morimura wants to initiate Operation Aegis. Ida doesn't want to live in a world where Operation Aegis comes into fruition, while Ms. Morimura is tired of running away. Morimura notices Sekigahara there and asks how long he has been standing there. Sekigahara doesn't care about who they are, as long as they can defend his city against the kaiju. Telling him that he will pilot the Sentinel that defends it, Morimura then walks away. Sekigahara then confronts Ida about him using Ryoko, to which he replies that he didn't mean to and that he will be more careful. Ida also explains that he wants to shift the command order without Morimura's knowledge, which is why he asks Sekigahara to update the 3rd Generation Sentinels as promised. Operation Aegis is also explained to Sekigahara, stating that while it can set up good defensive measures, it also means they won't be able to perform another loop and time will cease to exist, leaving them to remain in a chaos driven hellscape.

Following Ida's orders, Sekigahara goes to see the Miura A.I. and meets Tamao Kurabe there as well. Miura had seemed to tell her something, which she doesn't plan to tell anyone. However, she wants him to stop poking his nose into the matter, which Miura can't do. She reluctantly agrees to keep his line open if anything goes wrong and leaves. Sekigahara had seen her at the No. 18 too, so he questions Miura on who she is. Miura tells him that she's the pilot of No. 18, but Sekigahara was confused because he thought only A.I. could pilot No. 18. Not giving a response, Miura then shifts the focus on how Sekigahara doesn't call him by number but by name, and how he does believe Miura was a human once. Raising the lift so they could talk face to face, they discuss the computer in the underground UFO. Miura reports he found information in the time of 2188, and is currently decoding it to see if it helps their current predicament. He notes how the data has been quarantined almost certainly by Ms. Morimura, who seems to have ulterior motives. In order to hide a certain log, he download a backup into the memory of Sentinel No. 17. He wants Sekigahara to retrieve it if No. 17 ever gets badly damaged. Then as Sekigahara updates his Sentinel, Miura asks Sekigahara if they are friends, to which he responds "of course we are."

Ei walks by Ida on his way to see Ryoko, and asks her what she was talking to Ida about. She says it's nothing, much to Ei's dismay. Ryoko then installs DD-426 into Ei's Sentinel in order to prove that Mr. Ida is right. During the Sentinel Infection Incident, EI's Sentinel transmitted DD-426 to all other Sentinels. In an attempt to save the pilot's lives, Morimura force transmits all the Sentinels away from the fight, which causes all of them to wind up in different sectors. There was no response for Sentinel No. 15, 17, or 18 when transmitting. Sekigahara got force transmitted to Sector 1, in the underground facility. He finds out he's in Shikishima Tech Lab #6, 6th level underground. While Sekigahara gets a headache, androids approach him from both sides. Then all of a sudden, Tomi Kisaragi comes in and shoots them with a phaser. Kisaragi mentions that the surface is full of radiation and how she examined his Sentinel. She explains to Sekigahara how he's been infect with DD-426, a program implemented into his nanomachines that can make him lose his memories by severing a portion of a nanomachine from the brain in the place that stores his memories. He asks if there is any way to reverse it, but Kisaragi says codes implemented can't be deleted. She estimates about a couple days to a month before Sekigahara turns into a husk, though explains she found a way to delay it's effects. In exchange for slowing down DD-426's effects, Kisaragi wants to get out of 2105 via shifting, which only those with nanonmachines can do. Sekigahara notes the robotic leg she has. He pieces together from what Tsukasa Okino told him earlier, that an A.I. stole an android and escaped, which seems to be a match with the Kisaragi android in front of him. The android tells him to ask Okino about DD-426, as he knows more about it than anyone. Sekigahara accepts the deal the android made and gave pills to Sekigahara, before shifting out of 2104.

Hearing that Okino knows about DD-426, Sekigahara confronts him in the factory at Ayame Pass in 1944. He finds Sentinel No. 19 in the hangar along with Okino, dressed up as Kiriko Douji. Sekigahara notes that Okino has been laying low in Sector 5. He asks Okino how to stop DD-426, though inversely Okino inquires about who spread it in the first place. Since Sekigahara can't answer, Okino states that's why he has been hiding because he doesn't know who to trust. Okino gets shown the pills, who explain they are code that takes priority when processing, which only buys Sekigahara time. Sekigahara wonders why Okino isn't showing any symptoms of being infected, to which he explains that he actually had tested it on himself in order to separate the D-code from him which cost him his memories. He discovered the code a year ago which was created by 426. This is why Okino was unaffected when the battle of 2064 happened. Sekigahara questions him how he doesn't seem like he's forgotten anything. Okino elaborates, confiding that he transferred his memories to his nanomachines and created a simulated personality, becoming the true Tsukasa Okino. Sekigahara chasing Okino had caused a scene, in which Professor Douji wants to have Okino restrained. Okino then calls for Takatoshi Hijiyama, which makes Sekigahara have to run away.

Tamao Kurabe helps Ei Sekigahara by hiding him in the Sakura High school building. Keitaro Miura states that the military police are looking for Kiriko, and asks Tamao why she's protecting a wanted man. Sekigahara tells him the truth, saying her name isn't Kiriko Douji and that she isn't from this world. He wonders what she wants with the Sentinel and wants to chase after her before she leaves via the gate. Miura thinks he's a lunatic and a spy which should be taken in immediately. Tamao on the other hand, wants to know the truth, about how her parents aren't really her parents and that she came from the future. He claims that Kiriko has been tampering with her memories. While Keitaro and Tamao argue over what to do with him, Sekigahara hears Keitaro's name and reminisces on how they are friends in the future who have fought alongside each other. Miura has had enough and wants to bring Sekigahara in, but he points a gun at Miura and Kurabe, saying "poison is coursing through my brain as we speak" and runs away to the gate. He arrives at Tokisaka Shrine, where he learns Okino had already shifted away. Hijiyama then confronts him at the gate, where Sekigahara explains to him the truth about Kiriko Douji and that he's going to travel through time. Since Hijiyama thinks he's lying, he wants to see Sekigahara try time traveling.. Sekigahara travels to Sector 4, though he couldn't find Okino.

When he shifts into Sector 3, the battle there is already over. Ida had found Sekigahara with his drone and met up. They are both considered dead, but Ida has been secretly hiding away the whole time. When Sekigahara asks who planted DD-426, Ida claims it came from Sekigahara's Sentinel, though is unsure who the culprit is. Morimura had used Sector 3 as a trial run of Operation Aegis which was a success, though the real run will happen in Sector 4. Ida explains how looping is different from shifting, by stating that the world he came from (2064) never existed before 2049. Elaborating, Ida says that 2025 isn't the future or the past, and that this is how the 5 sectors were designed when he arrived from another world. Ida had learned via Miura's logs that 2188 is the real world that they came from. However, the world is destroyed before that time can come. The kaiju's goal is to take control of all the sectors, causing them to reset. This makes it so the world is recreated along with the people there. Morimura and Ida didn't go back in time, but just skipped the recreation, allowing them to live on. Ida reconfirms that Sekigahara delivered those pills to Morimura. Knowing that Ei, Juro, and Ryoko has no hope of fully recovering, Ida proposes a way they could survive, in which Ida takes their data from before they lost their memories and brings them to the recreated world which should stop the effects of DD-426. Ida needs Sekigahara's help to make sure they could loop, which means stopping Morimura's Operation Aegis. Sekigahara is hesitant to believe him, so Ida commands him to find Sentinel No. 17 to see the 2188 logs Miura made a copy of. Showing Miura in drone form, Sekigahara is ordered to tell Miura that he saved him from Ida so he could gain access to the logs, since Miura is uncooperative with Ida. Ida states that Miura has command over Sentinel No. 17 instead of him, so he can't get it directly. He'll ensure Miura, Sekigahara, and Shinonome come to the next world if Sekigahara agrees to help. He tells him to shift at at a new location, and that Ida's men will still be following him. Ida heads back to Sector 4 while Sekigahara activates Miura. On the way to the new shift location, he and Miura encounters Megumi Yakushiji holding a dying Juro Izumi. Yakushiji pleads for him to help Izumi, but he just tells her that entering a Sentinel will cause irreversible damage to the brain that leads to memory loss or becoming a husk. Sekigahara tells Megumi it's too late, as Izumi has been fighting in the Sentinel for 2 hours when even a few minutes can be fatal. Megumi begs for him to do anything, but all he can say is that he'll mourn this loss. He heads to the gate (presumably with Miura, Izumi, and Yakushiji) and shifts to Sector 4.

Iori Fuyusaka literally runs into him at the Sakura High School gate while trying to get to school on time. Before he gets to question on who she is, she runs into the school to get to class. He notes her resemblance to someone else, and finds her student ID on the floor. Curious, he wants to look into it. Ei returns to Sector 2 for unknown reasons, where he comes across Iori. She had seen a flash in the science room and ended up there. He explains that Iori is in 2065's version of Ashitaba City, and connects the dots that Iori Fuyusaka is Chihiro Morimura after realizing she unlocked the gate. Deimos come up from the ground at a distance, which makes Iori remember her dreams. She repeated what her dreams had said, which makes Ei interrogate her about she knows about them. She then tells him about her dreams. Ei pieces together that her dreams are in fact Morimura's memories, but doesn't tell her. Iori tries to ask about his name when a drone flies over them. Ei shoots it down and tries to leave with Iori, though has to leave her to get away from Morimura and Gouto.

Still on the run, Ei attempts to use the science room gate to shift, though can't due to a gate lock. Ryoko suddenly comes from behind a counter and ambushes him. She believes he's 426, which he just laughs off and mentions someone leaving foolish evidence. The gate abruptly starts up a shift without Ei setting coordinates. Ryoko moves into the shift and pushes Ei away so he couldn't do anything. He shouts for Ryoko to stay out of it and runs into the shift with her. They end up in Sector 3, accidentally catching Tomi Kisaragi, Nenji Ogata, and Miwako Sawatari in the shift too. Ei runs to go delete the gate logs so he can't get tracked. Ryoko chases after him, phaser in hand. She confronts "426", who she believes killed Ida. She tries to shoot him but fails, as he is the register user of the phaser. Ei notices her injuries and how she hasn't been taking her pills, so he gives Ryoko his pills. Still not trusting him, Ei has to explain he is not 426. "We never lived too far apart. Ever since we were kids... Wherever you went, I followed. My big sister, Ryoko..." She remembers him, but he has to run. Before he leaves, Ei instructs her to take the kids outside and shift back to Sector 4.

As Kisaragi and Ogata are getting surrounded by androids, Sekigahara saves them by shooting them down. He asks if they are the only ones here. They saw Shinonome, but it seems she ran away. Tomi asks if he's with Morimura, but he only gives her a vague answer. A drone flew by them, which is how Sekigahara was able to find the both of them. After the 2 fetch Miwako, they come back to the area near the school. Meanwhile, Ei found Ryoko but she forgot him again and believes he's 426. Ei tries to reason with her, but she ends up running away. After explaining that Shinonome is going to shut the gate to Kisaragi, Miura flies in and reports that she used the crane to get down to the gate. Sekigahara orders Miura to not let the crane get locked up and they all follow her down the giant hole. As Ryoko is about to shift, Ei stops the process. She remembers Ei again and asks why they're here, though Ei doesn't answer and asks instead about her pills. She tells Ei she doesn't have any left, so Ei decides to set shift coordinates with Miura to 1985 to get them, along with getting Kisaragi and the others out of Sector 3. While he's doing that, Kisaragi opens up comms with No. 16 whom Miura calls Kisaragi. Miura asks where she is, but she doesn't know the location or how her current state is. Comms close, which leads Kisaragi to question why Miura called that person her name. Sekigahara and Miura explain that since Kisaragi has her biometric ID, she can open No. 16's comms due to being the same person. Kisaragi opens comms again, where No. 16 responds that she's outside the world, not recognized by any time. Universal Control denies her access to all sectors, trying to make her disappear. Comms shut off again, and this time be reopened for any substantial amount of time. Sekigahara then explains to Kisaragi that Universal Control is what monitors the world and what holds the primary gate. The mainframe doesn't want to let anyone know where No. 16 is currently at. Suddenly Sawatari warns that androids are coming in the mainframe, and Sekigahara and the others quickly shift to Sector 4. They successfully shift to Tokisaka Shrine in 1985, though Kisaragi notices Miwako is nowhere to be found. Ryoko and Ei dolefully explain to Kisaragi that Miwako is not like Ei or Tomi, that Universal Control had to pull strings so she couldn't impact the world because she knew too much.

Iori is hiding when she hears footsteps. Ryoko comes out of the left side and plans on retreating from 426 after she sees the androids aren't working. The cute guy runs in and denies he's 426, and pleads for Ryoko to come with him so he can protect her. Ryoko thinks he's just confusing her, and shifts away. Iori thinks he has feelings for Ryoko. Ei spots her, and asks what she's doing there and if she's alone. She just responds that she wanted to see if it was all a dream, "and... I guess it was." He is confused what she means, but doesn't ask questions and sends her back to Sector 4.

Sekigahara is briefly seen by Natsuno Minami running away from men in black.

Iori and Miwako get ambushed by Takemi Wajima and his gang in a back alleyway. Wajima creepily declares his love for Iori, when Ei comes to save the day. Ei wins in a fight against Wajima and his gang, with Wajima noticing his boxer skills. Iori thanks him, but before she has time to ask any questions he runs off at the sign of police sirens. Following her heart, Iori leaves her friends behind to go after him. After looking around a bit, she finds Ei in a telephone booth. Though she wants to tell him something, Ei says she shouldn't because the men in black will follow her too. When he runs away, she still follows him. On the intersection, Ei is caught by one of the men in black. Iori comes to the rescue by slamming into the black suit, though another comes from behind and grabs her. Yuki Takamiya then strolls into the scene, where the MiB asks for her help. She is irritated at the fact that they would harm women and children, and decides to help Iori and Ei instead. The both of them escape on motorcycle, where Ei says he'll take Iori home. Iori confesses to Ei that she loves him, despite loving Ryoko. He clarifies that Ryoko is more like a big sister to him rather than a lover. His home life was lonely with his parents being gone most of the time, but Ryoko looked after him. He just wants to see her happy and cared for, and nothing more. Iori sighs a breath of relief. Ei notes how they seem to be bound by fate. He asks her a question "what would you do if I told you... I'm an assassin from the future who came here to kill you?" Iori, unwavering, says she'd still love him. He finally tells her his name is Ei Sekigahara. Iori says she hasn't heard a no, but Ei brushes it off and brings her home. Ei will keep in touch with Iori, which makes her happy.

Sekigahara runs into the old school building where Yuki and a MiB were discussing the box. He shoots the MiB and reassures Takamiya that he only knocked him unconcious. Ei activates the "box", who is Miura. After confirming that Miura has gotten his memory back, Miura says they left Natsuno behind. Takamiya hears Natsuno's name and interrogates Miura about where she is. They leave for Sector 3, where Miura says Natsuno is. Using the Tokisaka Shrine gate they shift, but cannot find Natsuno. He explains what happened to Sector 3 with the kaiju attacking the city, and tells Takamiya that they will attack their town next. The only way of fighting back is via the Sentinels. Miura reports back in and says that she can't be found. Dejected, they return to Sector 4. A couple days later, Sekigahara finds the Tomi Kisaragi android in a broken state. Takamiya is shocked by it and asks if that is Tomi Kisaragi. He disproves it, showing her that it's an android made to look like her. Noticing the insides have been replaced, he theorizes Juro Izumi had swapped bodies and told Takamiya that Izumi is a mass murderer.

Juro Kurabe is walking home after renting a movie when he encounters Sekigahara shooting an android at Tokisaka Shrine. Kurabe hides while they have a showdown. Sekigahara apologizes, regretfully saying he never should've let him out of the underground. The android expresses how Sekigahara must beilieve he's handling his own situation very well, but claims Miura is aware of what Sekigahara is doing. The android claims Miura deleted his own memories (this is a mistranslation in the English localization, where they state that Miura erased Sekigahara's memories, though that never happened) in order to hide the logs from Sekigahara. Sekigahara hesitates, but just tells the android to stop stalling and runs away, thinking that Morimura must have planned his encountre with the android.

Though not physically there, Sekigahara shows up in Nenji Ogata's story briefly when talking about DD-426 with Ida and how neither Shinonome nor Sekigahara will recover from it.

Hijiyama finds a scout unit and Sekigahara in the old school building, where Sekigahara seems to have head pains. Sekigahara listens into the logs Hijiyama pulled up from the scout unit, and decides to follow him since he knows where Okino is. Trailing Hijiyama to the abandoned factory, he reveals himself to ask Okino to help him. When Okino asked why Sekigahara changed his mind of backing up his memories, on the contrast nothing has changed for him. He just wants to keep his memories. Okino explains the procedure; his memories can be saved while the consciousness can not. To help with the consciousness part, Okino will create a simulated personality that acts like Sekigahara, works together with the brain, and lets him solve problems in new ways while still being in charge of decisions. Sekigahara refuses the simulated personality however, he doesn't want what seems to be an A.I. taking over him. Sekigahara admits he just hates himself, and is better off not being the same as he is now. Okino understands and only will extract his memories. Continuing, After the memories are extracted they'll be saved and backed up in the nanomachines. The process will require a intercerebral map for his memories, which will take multiple trips to the factory to do. They start the process, and this goes on for a couple sessions.

Ei pulls up to Iori on motorcycle while she's talking to Tomi and Miwako. He requests her to come with him, but Tomi questions his motives. Ei brushes it off stating there is no time to explain. After some encouragement from Miwako, the 2 drive away. On the ride there, Ei reveals Iori's dreams are not dreams or even premonitions, but the memories of Chihiro Morimura. He elaborates the Ms. Morimura is from the future and has been doing memory transplants on her. She asks if the same is for Kurabe and Amiguchi, but he doesn't know who Kurabe is until she says it's Juro. Ei tells her they're going to meet Ms. Morimura soon, who should have all the answers. When they arrive at the park, Iori asks if he can call Ei by his first name, which he goes with. Ei abruptly looks like he's in pain and takes his pills. Ei reminsces on how he lived in the Ashitaba City of 2064, with it now being in ruins. The kaiju will come to 1985 soon, which Iori pieces together why both he and Morimura are here. Ei states that Morimura can't fight the kaiju, and that it's up to the 15 compatible to change this world's fate including him and Iori. He doesn't believe this world is able to be saved though, and asks Iori to leave this world behind so they can go back 16 years and try again. She feels hesitant having to leave her parents and Miwako behind, but will do it to protect everyone. He expects Juro would be able to help her, which leads Iori to question if Ei will help too. Ryoko and him don't have much time left, he expresses with a bitter sweet smile. He knows he'll have to leave her and says he doesn't deserve her love. They meet up with Morimura, where Ei urges her to tell the truth to Iori. Since she won't speak, he tells Iori directly that Morimura was planning on taking over her body. Morimura clarifies that while that was her intention, it's not anymore. The only thing she can rely on is Operation Aegis now. 426 made sure the complete transfer on Iori didn't come into fruition. Ei questions her on Juro's current state, but she claims to not have anything to do with it. She would turn him back into Izumi if she could. She confirms that she did indeed transfer memories into Shu Amiguchi and Tamao Kurabe, to fulfill a promise she made. Ei wants to know why they were compatible. Morimura tells them that she is no longer human, an illusion produced by Universal Control. Her real self died when her world was taken over by the kaiju. Sector 0 doesn't save a person from a reset, but rather just keep the person as data and make a replica of them in the next world. There are 15 kids capable of carrying out the plans made in 2188, but she can't as she is now just a part of Universal Control. This is why she initially had the plan of taking over Iori's body. Ei had planned on using Sector 0 and stopping Operation Aegis by killing Ms. Morimura. They learn from Morimura that data stored in Sector can survive Operation Aegis. Ei despairs in realizing that he and Ryoko never had a way out of their situation and runs away. Iori chases after him and exclaims that they can fight together. he responds bitter sweetly "If only I had the courage to take your hand." and continues running.

Sekigahara hides while Yakushiji tries to locate him. He shoots the magical gun out her hand and interrogates her. Yakushiji remembers that he was one of Juro Izumi's comrades who fought alongside him. He asks what she's doing here and who she's being used by, but she just states she's fine with being used and runs away, gun in hand.

He comes to the nurse's office to see how Ryoko is doing. Ms. Morimura and Gouto are there as well. Luckily for him, Ryoko still remembers who Ei is. She can't remember her own name or what she was doing. Ryoko doesn't remember almost anything now, only the memories Ms. Morimura implanted in her about how to use the Sentinel and the gates. Everyone is dejected, since Ryoko can't remember the password to the infection. Gouto proposes they can still have Ryoko use the Sentinel, but Ei has had enough, interjecting that they've already taken enough from her. Ryoko remembers No. 14 and how Mr. Ida made it for her. She won't let anyone else fight for her but herself.

Ei brings Iori to the old school building, where he transfers the control of Sentinel No 15 to her. 426 told him how to do it. He explains what the Sentinel is for to her. Ei expresses his belief that he really was worthless in the end. He wants to tell Iori something, but he can't do it. Telling Iori to forget what Morimura had said, Ei wants her to believe in herself, and runs away.

The men in black are searching for Morimura and Sekigahara, who are hiding in a back alley. Sekigahara instructs Morimura to give him a message after he loses his memories for a message service. He reiterates that Operation Aegis seals the terminals that cuts Universal Control off from the city. This means everyone controlled by UC disappears, so Sekigahara wants to keep some terminals open. Morimura states they can't because the kaiju will attack any open terminals. She also reveals that they can't loop anymore. From the 2188 logs, Morimura had discovered a satelite that connects to the real world. From there she learns that the facility will be reset, which means resetting Sector 0 as well. She reminds a forgetting Sekigahara that Sector 0 is a unique Sector that is not a physical area, where you can send your data to be unaffected by a world reset. Without Sector 0 data stored gets removed, which puts Morimura, Ida, and the others at risk too. Operation Aegis is their only option, but even then they'll be left behind in a chaotic world. Sekigahara, suffering even greater, asks Morimura why she deleted the logs. According to her, 2188 is a very different place. She hesitates to tell him what transpires, but tells him that in 2188 Sekigahara is an assassin sent to kill Ms. Morimura because she destroyed mankind by selling nanomachines on the black market. When Sekigahara falls down in pain, Morimura runs to his side. A little girl comes into the dark alley way at this time. Confused, Morimura asks what she's doing here. The little girl says it makes sense she doesn't remember her since the last time she saw her was when she was a baby. Telliing her there's only need for 1 Morimura, the little girl shoots and kills Ms. Morimura with a phaser. Ei succumbs to amnesia moments later.

Sekigahara wakes up confused with no memories in a rainy back alley. He doesn't remember anything, even his own name, or why he is carrying a gun. A woman is laying on the floor collapsed, which Sekigahara checks out. Seeing the woman is dead with a gunshot to her abdomen, he theorizes that he may have killed her. He notices the empty pill bottle on the floor, presuming it's his. He searches around the woman's body and finds a note with some numbers, though has no idea what it's for. In his own pockets there is a student ID belonging to Iori Fuyusaka and a key. An envelope on the floor contains a file on Chihiro Morimura (the women on the ground) and instruction to kill if she is unable to be captured. Suddenly he hears voices and hides. Men in black seem to be searching for him, so he sneaks away from the scene. Sekigahara is later seen chased up onto a rooftop by a MiB. He manages to get the upper hand on the MiB, who tells him he's from another dimension. Refusing to believe it, Sekigahara shoots him and takes his wallet and comms device. He runs away to the Kaede Riverbed while avoiding the black suits. While deciding what to do next, a sukeban girl gets his attention. She starts giving advice to stay in crowds since the MiB can track him. When Sekigahara asks who she is, she tells him that she's here to give back a package she borrowed. When he checks on the package, it projects a log of him he made before he lost his memories. The Sekigahara in the log states that this is not his world, but rather another world. Many people, including him, are unable to return home. Sekigahara of the past however, has found a way. The amnesiac Sekigahara is to find the hidden information pre-amnesia Sekigahara hid and not get caught. The log ends with telling Sekigahara to make the right choice. Though a little hard to believe, Sekigahara has no choice. He runs downtown to get to a safer position.

Ei decides to go to Sakura High in order to find Iori Fuyusaka, who may know something. While waiting at the gate, a girl runs towards the track room. Then, Iori catches sight of him, worried since she hasn't seen Ei in days. Ei acknowledges they're close, but he can't trust anyone right now so he pretends like he remembers her. Ei inquires about the pills, which seem to be his according to Iori. He also gives her back the student ID and asks if she wanted to tell him something. She mumbles to herself about their one sided love, which is awkward for Ei. Bringing up the files on Chihiro Morimura, Iori hasn't seen her since she heard about Ms. Morimura's secret. This reminds Ei of when Morimura had said "we must... accept our fate." A MiB is seen nearby, and Ei hides from him until Iori tells him it's safe. Iori has to go to school, but tells him they can go to the nurse's office he wanted to go to after. He has a flashback of the night before the battle of 2064. Ei meets up with Iori after school to check out the nurse's office. She reassures him there aren't any black suits on campus right now, Ei has concerns about being seen on campus, but Iori tells him he has a future Sakura High uniform so everything should be alright. On the way there they bump into a girl with braids who seems cautious about Ei, but leaves him be. Just as they're about to go into the school, Ei sees the sukeban girl once more though doesn't end up catching up to her. Without anymore interruptions, they head to the nurse's office. Iori went to a teacher and lied to get a key to the room. Iori gets self-conscious about being in a room alone together with Ei, which makes the situation awkward once more. Iori then goes to find a key to the drawer. Meanwhile, Ei finds Oral NM pills and records on student medical records on the desk. The records indicate that Ryoko Shinonome, Shu Amiguchi, and Juro Izumi had been administered with drugs. Suddenly, a strange girl comes into the room. Sekigahara tells her the nurse's office is closed, but the girl suddenly pulls a gun out. Sekigahara does the same, interrogating her. She explains that this is what he wanted, which confuses him. The girl with braids runs into the nurse's office, stopping them from shooting each other. The strange girl runs off. Interrogating Sekigahara, the girl asks what the deal was with Megumi and him, why he's wandering by himself, and where is Iori. He wonders what her problem is, but she just answers saying "well, clearly I'm just a hopeless busybody" before running off to find Yakushiji. He then has a flashback about the girl with braids, after hearing the exact same line as back then.

After dodging a cop, Sekigahara ends up back to the crime scene where Ms. Morimura had died. Her death hasn't been publicized yet, and the black suits disposed of her body. If he did hypothetically kill her, he knows the MiB were already chasing after him, so there was no point in luring Morimura to the back alley. He examined the key, which had a button on it. An automated motorcycle came to his location, which Morimura and Sekigahara and ownership rights to. He pulled up the travel logs, which had 2 locations he frequented. He chose to drive to the other location, as the first was just Sakura High. He asked the motorcycle if he left anything on it, which answered surprisingly that it had 2 logs from Sekigahara. He plays both of them. The first log tells him to stop Morimura's plan of Operation Aegis and to gain the 2188 logs. The 2nd log indicates that Iori was able to use Morimura's biometric ID, meaning she is Chihiro Morimura. He hesitates on stopping Operation Aegis, though says the answer is obvious. Sekigahara is confused on what his past self had done. He finally arrives to his destination, an abandoned factory in Higoromo-cho. A guy with a jacket spots him and guesses Sekigahara has lost his memories, surprised he even made it back to the factory. A "girl" with braids by the name of Okino comes out of the factory and examines him. Okino notes that 32% was not enough, and asks Sekigahara if he remembers him. Standing in front of Sekigahara's face, he remembers a flashback of 1945. Not remembering enough, Okino tries once more to make him remember, though it puts Hijiyama and Sekigahara at unease. Sekigahara then remembers saving his memories at the abandoned factory.

Ei decides to head to Sakura High once more. He sees the track girl talk to Iori. Iori was waiting for Ei at the school gate. There Ei reveals that he lost his memories to Iori. He asks if he can trust her, which Iori confidently answers that he can. She's a little upset that he didn't tell her sooner, but is willing to help. She never knew he was going to lose his memories, saying he doesn't really stick around for too long. He looked like he wanted to tell her something the last time he saw her before he forgot his memories, but didn't. Ei finds out Minami was just talking to her a bit ago, but he probably can't find her anymore so doesn't give chase. He hands Iori the note he has when Miwako comes by. After she questions Iori on how she's doing with Ei, Miwako helps finding out what the message is. She states its for a telephone message service that can leave messages over the phone. As Iori is helping Ei, 2 students are leaving the school. He recognizes Juro Izumi being the one having injections, and the girl who held a gun to his head. He decides to tail them, leaving Iori behind. Sekigahara walks into the Kurabe House, where he notes there's a meal for 3. The girl thinks Miura is home and comes to the living room, only to find Sekigahara pointing a gun at her. Interrogating her, she said she was told to shoot him, but before she could answer another question Juro comes to protect her. Juro remembers him as the guy who shot the robot at Tokisaka Shrine. Sekigahara tells Izumi to stay out of this, but Juro corrects him saying he's Kurabe. Sekigahara shot a stun shot at Kurabe, knocking him to the floor. The girl tells him to talk to the person on the TV if he wants answers. The cat on the TV starts talking, telling Sekigahara tried to ditch the game by throwing away his Sentinel. The cat goes on, stating that Sekigahara only thought about running away, but when he learned new information came back around to joining the game. He explains the gun the girl owns is a nanomachine injector, and allows Sekigahara to join back in the game. Sekigahara tries pressing for more answers, but before he can Miura slaps him from behind. The girl calls out to Miura, which makes Sekigahara remember the promise he made to the A.I. of Sentinel No. 17. Presumely Sekigahara runs away after that.

Sekigahara comes to Sakura High once more to try and find Natsuno Minami. He sees the MiB all over the campus. The track team members say she is still on a run. When going to look for her, he sees the sukeban girl once more, seemingly running away from him. He gives chase, following her into the old school building where it seems like he intentionally is getting lured there. He instinctively pulls a gun out at Minami when she surprises him, though lowers it after realizing it was her. The sukeban slaps him for pointing the gun at Minami, though they both eventually calm down. She notes that he forgot everything like Shinonome, and says she couldn't trust him because of it. Minami shows Sekigahara the unit, which he thinks was the one the sukeban gave her. She corrects him, telling him the unit she gave him was supplied by the SIU, where the black suits are from. She introduces herself as Yuki Takamiya, and tells him that she only knows all this because she's forced into working with the SIU. There's a message someone asked to show Sekigahara, which Minami plays. In the message log, Sekigahara asks Miura why he erased his memories. Miura knew of his lies, and of his partnership with Ida so he couldn't give him the info on the logs. He didn't want to show Sekigahara his terrible past in 2188, but does so hesitantly after Sekigahara pleads. The log plays out with an older man making a deal with Ei Sekigahara in 2188. He wants Chihiro Morimura killed for continuing to work on the project despite his warnings. Sekigahara knows the real reason however is because after acquiring Newmen. Inc., he initiated a large backdoor slush fund. Morimura's interstellar development project was the cover-up, but her actions messed up the man's plans. An international agency could cause an investigation that would make the man lose his position. The man thinks Sekigahara is threatening him, but Sekigahara just needs every bit of info possible to do his assassin work. The man gives Sekigahara the tools he needs to kill Chihiro Morimura in her lab at Sector 4. They negotiate payment and the log ends. Takamiya thinks he came here from the future to kill Ms. Morimura, and questions what he was planning with that man with the glasses. Sekigahara sorts through his thoughts. He's an assassin who came to kill Morimura, and maybe even Iori next. Sekigahara also lied to Miura, remembering it was because he was working with Tetsuya Ida, the man who has been calling him.

Sekigahara and Takamiya drive to the SIU building on motorcycle. They park it a bit off from the SIU building to not seem suspicious and head to the overpass. There, Takamiya points him to the building. He advises Takamiya to stay behind, but before he goes Takamiya tells him that someone has been sending orders to the MiB. Sekigahara is confused, because he thought Ida was sending the orders. Takamiya explains that Ida had been killed by Shinonome. He is interrupted by the comms device, which announces he has been watching him with a drone, and that he has Iori Fuyusaka with him. Rushing into the SIU building, Sekigahara finds MiB soldiers on the floor with an android holding a gun at Iori. Sekigahara recognizes the voice on the android as Ida. Ida commands him to drop his gun, which he follows. Ida explains how while he did die, he saved his data from before dying and put his memories in an android just in case something happened. Ei wants Ida to release Iori, but he won't because Ei hasn't kept up his promise. Sekigahara grins, exclaiming he lost his memories so how could he remember the promise. Ida plays a log to get Sekigahara to remember. In it, Sekigahara in the log was ordered to back up Ida's data with Ryoko, along with obeying Ida's orders. He calls the Sekigahara in the log a moron who doesn't know anything. Ida promises to take care of them in the next world, so in this world they have nothing to fear. As he is about to shoot Ei, Iori pulls him away. Ida knocks her down, rendering her unconscious. Before Ida shoots him, Ei brings up Morimura and why she abandoned looping in favor of Operation Aegis. Ei reveals he remembers all his memories when Ida questions what he knows about Morimura's objectives. He flashbacks to where Morimura tells Ei their will be no more loops, which is why she turned to Operation Aegis. She also confirms Sekigahara assassinated Morimura in 2188. Sector 0 isn't going to save Ida now. The facility will be reset and Sector 0 will be lost. Ida shakes at the thought, quaking until Sekigahara puts him out of his misery. Ei wakes Iori up from being unconscious. Ei's past is over, but for their future it's only the beginning. Iori asks him if it's the beginning of something else too. Ei gladly smiles and says he thinks it is.

As the final battle rages on, Sekigahara is riding on his motorcycle to the fight. He sees Iori's Sentinel No. 15, and expresses how sincere she is with her actions. He can visibly see 12 Sentinels, making him the final one. He scoffs at the thought of how many people he's prepared for his game. Ei notes the enhanced first-gen model Sentinel No. 11, and gives the game a shot, entering it.

## Destruction Story

When they win the final battle and activate the emergency exit, they all appear in a space like area, trapped in what seems to be Sentinel cockpits. None of them can get out of their cockpit. Okino tells everyone to relax, which startles Amiguchi. He confirms both him and Tamao are fine. Okino tells the rest they aren't in Sentinel cockpits, and outside of Universal Control. Sekigahara explains that the 5 sectors are an artificial world in a virtual reality. They were born and raised in the simulation, waiting to wake up back in reality. They aren't on Earth, but a planet with a pod facility where they have been sleeping for years. Amiguchi questions if what they lived until right now is an illusion. Megumi expresses that even if it wasn't real, their experiences, their lives were real. Juro Izumi's plan he made 1 loop ago was by reconnecting the link to the terminal so the mainframe gets alerted, which causes the emergency escape procedure. According to Inaba, the emergency exit was the only means of escape, since no other plan would work. The reason this plan wasn't enacted at an earlier time was because the bodies of the 15 needed to be conditioned in order to live in the outside world, though now they're conditioned enough to leave. Fuyusaka asks about the people back in the city, which Inaba has to explain wistfully that they only exist inside the simulation, and aren't real like the 15 here. All 1.2 million from Sector 4, a total of 6 million across the sectors were managed and created by Universal Control. Professor Morimura saved their data however, so all the people still exist in the sim. Kisaragi questions what the interstellar development project was for, and if the kaiju were planned to test them. Shinonome answers for Inaba, telling everyone the 2188 version of her sabotaged the project because she was fed up with humanity and despair. Hijiyama had seen the logs of the final days where everyone died which he states was horrible. Gouto inquires on their new living situation. The planet is RS13-Alpha, a planet that is 1,200 light years from Earth towards the Virgo constellation and has 2 moons according to Inaba. Before Inaba goes offline again, she apologizes to the group. She didn't believe the plan was possible with so many inexperienced Sentinel pilots. She just threw herself onto the plan so she could end it all with no regrets. Against the odds, they won. She believes that no matter how far technology has come, humanity is the one who makes miracles happen. She tells them she won't be able to talk to them outside of their pods, and that she will always be watching from her command ship. The 15 come out of their pods and look onto their new world.

## Epilogue

Ei stayed behind while everyone else went back into the sim to monitor the pods in the epilogue.