wild gazebo

I think it's so interesting how Nameless shows up the Re.birthday Party, bearing the gifts of the God of Hope entrusted to her and things she's collected on her journey. The Self (Claudio), the Sun (Chance Traveler/Vella), and the Holy Thief (Rori/Rory). Her invitation (Kisage), her umbrella (Chondra), and her name (Asuka). She gives every standard party member, Kisage, and Asuka the tools they need to find hope and to break their cycles. Turn the 'pattern in the chaos' from a Circle into a Spiral, so to speak, a break where hope can enter.

Nameless can see Alex, even through the ONISM Man armor. She can still recognize him as Allison's brother, enough to banter and bargain with him in a fashion probably similar to when they were younger. Before Allison left his reality.

She doesn't recognize Michael, projecting himself to her through the Camera. He is invisible to her.

And yet she can see and even talk to Blue Michael, ostensibly his younger self. She can even interface with him when he first appears as his Forgotten Love self, when she trades her gun for a dance.

(An event that incidentally parallels a chapter of ONISM Man at the Center where 'MK' recounts a time when Allison asked him to hide her dad's gun. Strongly recommend OMATC if you want to better engage with YIIK's lore and themes btw. You can read it for free and before it's officially published through the official Y.IIKcord.)

Why?

I.V begins with Nameless falling from the top of the tower that Alex is imprisoned on. BP begins with Michael firing his gun at Alex, instead striking Nameless, and that's how she feels from the tower.

One could interpret these scenes as literal. They parallel how Carrie died, and Allison's fate is buried in layers of metaphor. However, I think it's interesting to consider them as metaphorical, in the sense that Alex and Michael respectively pushed Allison away. That she is probably alive out there somewhere, but she no longer exists in their reality.

An event I believe the following two diary entries have something to do with:

What Michael did to push her away may have been so much more unforgivable to Allison than anything Alex could have done. The part of her memory that lingers in Nameless seems to want to help Alex, but Michael? He only exists to her as the version of himself before their falling out.

The only one who can see Michael's desperate attempts to connect with Nameless, and feel the full tragedy of "Can you not hear me in this form?", is us, the Player. The one interfacing with the Digital Soul Vessel through Nameless.

Red Michael, Michael as he exists in the game, may as well be dead to Allison. And the version of Allison that Michael chases only exists in his memories, born again as Nameless. Or was it Carrie, or Semi?