Ren

"I don't know you."

- Ren to Seto

Ren (レン) is a character in. She is called "the silver-haired girl" until near the end of the game.

Character Info
Ren is a stranger to the warm touch of another human. She has been lonely for most of her life, being in contact with only Shin whom she met at some point before the game's main events. She grew to become fearful of him.

Ren has a history with the Glass Cage Project. It is said in both an interview with the game's creator and in the manga that she "was one of the 'planned children' [...] that was [birthed to be] unnaturally suitable as a catalyst [for Glass Cage]." Because of that, she is able to naturally see manifested thoughts ("ghosts"/AI) and can read people's hearts, emotions and minds (as shown in the manga). In the manga, it is also mentioned she had some sisters but they were killed for the project somehow. She also has a very fast heart rate and needs to take special medicine to keep herself alive, as instructed by the project's doctors.

Personality
Ren is lonely, and some drawings suggest that she wants someone to be with her due to the fact that they say, "I want to see you," or "Come find me." She loves drawing and cats. In the manga of the game, she displays a more childlike and carefree disposition, though she is clearly saddened by the dilapidated and empty state of the world. She has also been known to sing to the moon on several occasions.

Game
Ren has silver-white hair with a lilac-colored lotus flower in it. She has red-violet eyes and wears violet hospital smocks tied together into a crude dress, with no visible underwear beneath.

Manga
In the time between the game and the manga, Ren finds a kimono and starts wearing it at the start of the Chapter 1. She still wears her crude dress which is shown underneath. In Chapter 3, when Seto dreams of being in school with Crow, Sai, and Ren, she is seen wearing a schoolgirl's outfit.

Story


Seto first meets Ren near the entrance to the old Azabudai Underground Station. She is sitting on top of some ruins, singing when he accidentally makes a noise and disturbs her. She runs off almost immediately after the encounter, fearful of the stranger.

She leaves graffiti throughout various locations and is always ahead of Seto. She eventually meets with Seto again near a pressure tank by a dam. In the brief moment they share, Seto is able to tell her his name. Ren is interrupted in her own introduction when a voice over an intercom tells her to return. She leaves only to see Seto again on top of the dam. She is inside an elevator, wanting help, but Seto cannot reach her. She goes down to a room where she is to lie down in a capsule and be the catalyst for the Glass Cage Project. A camera is pointed at her inside that room, and when the red light on it goes off, she reaches out from where she lies, saying "Help me," after which the capsule shuts her in. Seto and Sai, witnessing what the camera is seeing from an old monitor, are shocked to see her trapped.

When Ren meets Seto again, she is freed from the catalyst chamber meant for Project Glass Cage.Her time in the capsule has blackened out her vision, however, so Seto reminds her of who he is, holding her hand in his. She is unable to reintroduce herself again as an announcement comes over the intercom: Glass Cage is about to begin. Together they and Sai head to the bottom of the Twilight Tower - formerly Tokyo Tower - where the girls wait for Seto to return from his confrontation with Shin, the one who made Ren the catalyst in the first place.

Neither of them wait for too long and ascend the stairwell to the top of the tower. It's there that Shin's intentions are laid out; his heart, filled with rage and destruction is calmed by the words of Sai. The crystallized AI mainframe that Shin held to activate Glass Cage is tossed over the side voluntarily. Shin and Sai disappear, leaving Seto and Ren to travel together. Neither of them is alone. At the bottom of the Twilight Tower, Ren is finally able to tell Seto her name.

Fate
It is unknown what happens to them after the game, although it is known that Ren and Seto spent "countless summers" and several years together while looking for other survivors, but Seto ended up alone again, suggesting Ren died, possibly due to the lack of medicine she needed to live on.

The manga adds a short story set after the game. Ren and Seto find a talking cat named Shiro and decide to head back to Tokyo Tower to help the cat discover his memories. Ren reveals to Seto that she needs special medicine and she tries to assure him she will be fine without it and won't die. However, Ren knows this isn't true and she needs the medicine to live. She has a self-conscious dilemma and runs away from Seto, feeling that it would be better for them to separate because she knows her eventual death will make him sad. However, Seto finds Ren on the tower and he assures her that it doesn't matter in the long run and he wishes to be with her anyway. Ren and Seto part ways with Shiro at the tower, who is revealed to be a reincarnated Shin.

Trivia

 * Some say, when you meet Ren again, the cats you have befriended up until that point show up in the area. However, that has been disproved by others. Also, some players say that making cats your friends will increase Ren's affection for you. However, there's no affection system in the game.
 * In early images of the game, it shows Ren inside the observatory. This has led people to think that she was going to be playable at some point.
 * Ren's name isn't revealed in game until the very end. Until that point, she is only referred to as the silver-haired girl. However, both the North American and European game manuals and North American website reveal the name right away.