Lien Twining

* NI

## Name

*AINI SPOILER** Janitor of the Horadori Institute of Genetics (formerly)
* Locksmith

*AINI SPOILER** Chikara Horadori (former boss)
* Shoma Enda (friend)
* Quartz (ally, ex-partner in the time of thieves)

**Lien Twining** (ライアン・トワイニング, *Raian Towainingu*) is a supporting character in *AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative*.

In 6 years ago, Lien was an unemployed person. 6 years later, he becomes a locksmith and a person of interest in the investigation of the Half Body Serial Killings case.

## Design

Lien is a well-built young man with a face that fits the description of a foreign Caucasian. He has sprawling black hair with some gold highlights; he wears a purple leather jacket and white undershirt with vertical lines on it; on his chest is tattoo that reads "Danger Zone" and an airplane-shaped necklace; Black leather pants, a yellow belt, a yellow waist bag placed behind the waist, and black boots are on his lower body.

## Personality

Lien is a straight forward, kind, if somewhat foolish individual with a checkered past. Having once been a thief, he often faces discrimination from others, and struggles to prove that he's simply trying to live a normal life within the lines of the law after doing his time. This discrimination often makes him deeply depressed and makes him feel hopeless at times. However, he can be easily cheered up. Like Kizuna, he has an affinity for fairy tales and fanciful ideas like love at first sight, having fallen completely head over heels for Kizuna minutes after meeting her himself.

He has a tendency to give very bad first impressions, due to his criminal history, and initial stalker-like behavior with Kizuna, as well as his general lack of tact. He's also prone to getting caught up in his own feelings and making rash decisions (like spending all his savings on a glass slipper to impress Kizuna). However, he occasionally manages to prove to others that his intentions are pure, and is capable of respecting boundaries once they're firmly established. He is also shows himself to be quite heroic when the situation calls for it.

His initial stalking and showering of unwanted attention towards Kizuna appears to have been caused by his sudden elation at meeting Kizuna after being deeply depressed over being fired (essentially a fit of mania), and only manages make her deeply uncomfortable. He eventually agrees to take things down a notch once he understands Kizuna's boundaries. From there, the two actually manage to become genuinely close.

## Story

### Early life

Lien Twining was born on May 18, 1997 into a family of American father and Japanese mother. Where he spent his childhood is unknown, but he has been living in Tokyo, Japan, since at least the late 2010s.

It is likely that he traveled to Bali, Indonesia, during his teenage years at some point, and got a "Danger Zone" tattoo on his chest.

***WARNING!!***
***This article contains spoilers for*AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative *from this point on.Proceed with caution!***

From about 2016 to 2019, he and an ally named Quartz were engaged in theft under the Kumakura Family. They sneak into rich people's homes and steal their valuables. However, according to Bibi's later explanation, they would only choose the mansion of the unjust man for the theft. Lien probably only has a high school degree, inferred from the aforementioned past, as well as that he became already a jobless person in 2020 (he should have graduated high school in 2015).

Some time before February 2020, he learned from a job placement magazine that the Horadori Institute of Genetics was recruiting janitors, and decided to apply for the position there. After being admitted, he worked at the Horadori Institute for a while, and heard some rumors related to human experiments from the staff. Of course, these rumors could not be confirmed at the time. During his time as a janitor, he was rewarded with Odoroki-man Chocolate from a presumably older female janitor.

However, in early February 2020, the director of the Horadori Institute of Genetics, Chikara Horadori, found out about his past criminal record and used this as a reason to fire him, and insulted that "those who have fallen to the bottom of the valley will never be able to climb up in their lives."

### Relationship with Kizuna Chieda

On February 11, disheartened, he ate at Matsushita Diner and ran into Kizuna Chieda by chance. Lien overheard a conversation between her and a friend, and watched Kizuna's dance "Half to Whole" across the room and was instantly fascinated. He immediately rushed to Kizuna and knelt down on one knee to confess his love to her, but was declined. Kizuna said that she could only accept being ordinary friends with him.

The next day, when he went to Aioen Orphanage to meet Kizuna, he found a balloon tied to a tree in the garden. He then went to visit Moma Kumakura at the Kumakura Office, to unlock the "Vocholocho" voice-changing neckband that Moma was wearing, due to he could not find the key yesterday. There, Lien met Quartz there too, his former ally, and told her the existence of the balloon at Aioen. Moma was suddenly suffocated during the conversation when the voice-changing neckband was worn too tightly. Quartz asked Lien to unlock the lock on Moma's neckband, but Lien refused because he disliked Moma's bad breath. Quartz had to use Aiba's X-ray function to get the key from the safe to let Moma escape.

The next day, Lien went to Aioen Orphanage to meet Kizuna again and prepared his token of marriage proposal - a pair of glass slippers, but encountered her father Riichi Chieda. Riichi expressed great disgust at Lien's behavior of drinking beer in broad daylight, and left soon after. After that, Lien watched Kizuna's dance "Half to Whole" once again and showed his glass slippers for proposal. Kizuna gently refused, but after some discussion, they decided to put the glass slippers in a time capsule and bury it under a tree in the garden, and take it out after six years passed.

On the evening of the 14th, on the way home after leaving from Matsushita Diner, Kizuna was kidnapped by members of Naixatloz, and Lien received a call from Kizuna's father, Riichi, asking if he knew her whereabouts. Lien, who had no clue, contacted his allies, Quartz and Kaname Date, hoping that the two could investigate.

On the 15th, Lien tried to search for Kizuna's whereabouts in various places, but did not get any clues until Ryuki learned Tearer's expression of "Execution Chamber" from Iris's memory. After getting the clue, he took a large key as a weapon and went to Naix Japan Cathedral with a group of people for support. There, they overwhelmed a large number of Naix Members who were trying to prevent the rescue, and found Kizuna in the deepest part of the Cathedral. However, Tearer shows up. They threaten Ryuki to shoot Date, but Ryuki refuses, so Tearer detonates the bomb inside the Cathedral. Kizuna and Mizuki were injured in the accident, Lien carried the injured Kizuna on his back and withdrew from the destroyed Cathedral.

### 6 Years After Half Body Serial Killings

In the six years since the explosion event, Lien has found steady work as a locksmith. Since Kizuna's legs are paralyzed, Lien insists on visiting her from time to time.

Six years later, on February 10th, Lien witnessed Amame entering the Horadori Institute of Genetics, while Tokiko Shigure followed her quietly.

In the next day, while staying at Yoyagi Park, Lien and Kizuna met Mizuki Date who had become an ABIS investigator. On the 12th, Lien accepted Mizuki's commission and sneaked into the Horadori Institute of Genetics again in the midnight to find clues. This time they solved a series of mysteries after entering the underground area, found the slicers, and a deeper underground cell. Lien suddenly witnessed Tokiko's left half body, and fell into extreme fear. It was already the 13th, after he left the Horadori Institute, Date, disguised as Gen, asked him to unlock the lock on the Freezer in Brahman World Cuisine, and then he found an unidentified left half of the body. Then he went to Aioen to visit Kizuna, but the two had an argument related to the long-term visit. Fortunately, Mizuki just came here and tried to get some information from Lien. Seeing this, she thought of the time capsule buried under the tree 6 years ago and reminded them of it and helped them dig it out. The two took out their messages inside the time capsule and read them out, and their mood calmed down.

#### M2/M3: Relationship Break

In Gen and Amame Route, on the 14th, due to Mizuki needed to enter the Cathedral after the investigation on Shoma, and the entrance was locked, she went to Yoyagi Park to try to ask Lien for help, but happened to run into the two having a quarrel. Kizuna told Lien that she would never see him again and left the park. Lien, who has been depressed to the extreme, also received a huge sum of money from Riichi to settle the matter. He angrily threw the money on the ground, thinking it was an insult to his feelings. Mizuki tried to ask him to open the lock, but Lien refused, saying that every time he was asked to open the lock recently, he would get into bad things related to the HB Case. Who knows, Mizuki forcibly took Lien and Psynced him.

#### M2: Arrested by SAT

Mizuki and Boss learned about Lien's discovery of the left half of the body in Brahman during the Psync, and then Mizuki quickly asked him to come to Brahman with her to confirm the situation of the body again. After the freezer door was opened, the two bumped into Amame and Date who disguised as Gen.

After Mizuki briefly asked the people present about the corpse, she was informed that the Special Assault Team was coming here, probably to suppress and control them. Seeing this, Lien ran away from Brahman immediately, but fell into the arms of SAT and went arrested.

#### M3: Elope with Kizuna

In Kizuna and Lien Route, what happened to Lien on this route was the same story as in Gen and Amame Route before he was Psynced. The difference is that Mizuki did not find important information in Psync, so she had to interrogate Lien further. During this process, Mizuki received a video of the conversation between Kizuna and Riichi sent by Masked Woman, and learned that Kizuna's refusal of Lien came from her father's pressure, and then she told Lien that if he agreed to the commission to open the lock, she would tell Lien "a nice thing about Kizuna." So Lien readily agreed, and came to East Cathedral with Mizuki. Lien let Mizuki investigate by herself, he will not interfere. However, when he bumped into the right half of Uru's body that Mizuki accidentally found, Lien fell into depression again and slumped to the side. Fortunately, he calmed down quickly this time.

It has entered the 15th after leaving the Cathedral. During the day, Lien came to Aioen Orphanage again and told Kizuna the reasons behind her incident yesterday, and then the two decided to elope. Unexpectedly, Riichi hired Foreign Mercenaries to try to eliminate Lien. Mizuki, who was with the two, decided to let the two retreat on her scooter first, and she along with the Masked Woman who had just arrived worked together to repel the mercenaries. After a fierce battle, the three found that the Masked Woman looked exactly like Mizuki, and Lien quickly recognized that she was Quartz (Bibi). After saying goodbye to Mizuki and Quartz, the two embarked on a journey.

#### M1: Assist ABIS From Stopping the Nirvana Initiative

On the 14th, Lien tried to go to Aioen to meet Kizuna again, but found that she, Amame and Iris gathered there and discussed what seemed to be a serious topic, so he left and went to Yoyagi Park to hang out. There, he meets Ryuki and, after a game of coin guessing, answers him about his sighting of Amame.

In the evening, Lien was invited by Kizuna to Sunfish Pocket to have a date and hold a "video viewing session". Before Kizuna and Iris arrive, he first meets Amame who worked there, and Ryuki who came to investigate. Moreover, Lien reached an elopement proposal with Kizuna on the same day, and accepted the commission of Date and Bibi to open the entrance of East Cathedral.

On the morning of the 15th, in order to prevent the Nirvana Initiative, Bibi contacted Lien for support, and Kizuna also expressed to join after hearing it; in order to break into the Stadium, Lien proposed to Moma to borrow the armored vehicle, and Moma also expressed to join and also pulled on Ota together. In this battle, Lien took the large key, came to the scene in the armored vehicle, and acted as Mizuki's guard with Gen.

After the incident, Lien and Kizuna were interviewed by reporters and disclosed their relationship to the public so that Riichi could no longer interfere with the relationship. A week later, Lien and Kizuna were together at Yoyagi Park, and met Mizuki and Bibi. That sunset, Lien took Kizuna to Tokyo National Stadium and joined the group dance to Half to Whole.

### Ryuki Diverge

In the 閭｡陜ｶ荵句､｢邱ｨ Route, Kizuna's legs are not paralyzed, and her relationship with Lien seems to be going well. Six years later, on February 15th, the duo met Ryuki at Yoyagi Park.

## Gallery

Lien's profile imageLien's profile from 6 Years AgoLien's profile from PresentLien's concept artLien in the character trailer for *nirvanA Initiative*Lien expresses his proposal to Kizuna in Matsushita Diner
## Trivia

### Etymology

* His name **Lien** comes from French for "link", "tie" or "bond".
	+ Additionally, his name means "the scythe" in Swedish.
* His name **Twining** comes from English. "Twining" is used to describe an action of using a twine, a rope or a knot.

### General

* According to the notes of his Concept art, Lien's tattoo "Danger Zone" is the name of the theme song from *Top Gun*, starring Tom Cruise in 1986.

## Navigation

 Locations | **Tokyo**
*Chiyoda District*: Police Headquarters (Boss's Office, Psync Room, Interrogation Room) • Sunfish Pocket • Sekiba High
*Chuo District*: Horadori Institute of Genetics (Underground, Hostage Room) • Naixatloz Japan Branch (President's Office, Cathedral)
*Koto District*: Harbor Warehouse District • Date Residence
*Minato District*: Studio Dvaita • Aioen Orphanage • Ikume Shrine • Kumakura Office • Sejima Residence • Central Hospital
*Shibuya District*: Lemniscate Entertainment Offices • Yoyagi Park
*Shinagawa/Kabasaki District*: Matsushita Diner • Sagan Residence • Enda Residence • Kabasaki Chemical Plant
*Shinjuku District*: Golden Yokocho (Marble, Brahman World Cuisine) • Misetan Department Store • Tokyo National Stadium
**Side Ryuki:**
Dispossessed • Anyone Imagines • Ought to Know • Nothing to Be Done • Go • Farewell
**Komeji and Shoma Route:** Joy for Anguish • I Found Me • Past Its Ken
**Explosion Route:** Smiles for Tears • Well-Known • The Mind of God • Not All A Dream • She Was the Universe
**閭｡陜ｶ荵句､｢邱ｨ Route:** 遐ｴ邯ｻ逋ｾ蜃ｺ • All This Happened, More or Less
**Side Mizuki:**
Alone • Pass Mildly Away • End Where I Begun • Traveler • Left Behind • The Expense of Spirit
**Gen and Amame Route:** All Living Things • Of Arms and Of Man • Who's There • All That We Are
**Kizuna and Lien Route:** Bid the Soldiers Shoot • Sweet Silent Thought
**Resolution Route:** Hell • Visions • In Truth • Births • The End of Craving • Braver Than All Flowers

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/Uchikoshi\_Eng/status/1552982295937941504