YoRHa Boys: Prologue
“Specifications for the No. 2 model and the No. 9 model were safe on the lunar server. Both she and I would be created again. We’d meet again. And we’d die again. Over and over, time and again, until one day, we’d finally fade away, the secret of humanity still held tightly to our chests”
Nier: Automata YoRHa Boys starts off with a prologue of the main characters from the game, 9S and 2B. The story is told through the perspective of 9S as he trails behind 2B. However, this is before they were given their proper titles. They are only referred to as No. 2 and No. 9. No. 2 is delivering some documents to their creator, Zinnia. No. 9 decided to follow her and try to make small conversation. When they deliver the documents, No. 9 decides to ask him how he got his name. He claims a fad was the reasoning for his name. No. 2 jumps in and asks if they will be given names. Zinnia hesitates and claims their superior will assign it to them. No. 9 finds his hesitation odd but does not question it.
Later in the lab, he is rummaging around in the server files and finds a big empty space. This is where he decides to decrypt it in hopes to see what caused Zinnia hesitation. Maybe he was worried about something but couldn’t say. No. 9 then finds out about the YoRHa Black Boxes, and the Council of Humanity. He becomes angry and decides to take his revenge.
While No. 2 is doing an assessment test away from the lab, No. 9 begins his plan. He snaps the neck of a researcher, stabs 3 androids, one of which he fooled into looking out the window and exposing her back to him. He places incendiary charges around the base, in hopes to destroy it. Eventually, he makes his way to Zinnia’s room and eliminates an android who happens to be in that room. No. 9 strikes Zinnia and confronts him with regarding the Council of Humanity. No. 9 wanted to torture Zinnia and take out his anger while he waited for No. 2 to return. Soon after slicing an “x” onto Zinnia without killing him, the charges No. 9 placed would go off. The power was cut, and the back up turned on showering everything in red.
No. 2 would arrive shortly after and approach Zinnia. No. 9 was hidden in the corner, waiting to strike her. Zinnia was not able to warn her fast enough and No. 9 struck her. This is where he explained why he did all this. Zinnia hesitated about the YoRHa units receiving names because they were always meant to be destroyed. Project YoRHa was made by Zinnia to improve android morality. They would convince humans were still alive on the moon, and create the YoRHa units as improved androids with Black Boxes created out of Machine cores. No. 9 explains they are monsters because they share the same core as machines, and they were never meant to have names because in the end, the bunker would be destroyed in order to keep the secret buried forever. In the end, No. 2 would stab No. 9 after she heard enough. She claimed he was not well. No. 9 managed to tell her that he was happy this version of him was able to be killed by her. No. 9 knew that he would be rebuilt and so would No. 2. He ends his thoughts with claiming it would be nice to meet her again.
This book starts at the beginning of Project YoRHa. While they are testing the YoRHa units and getting everything set up. One thing that surprised me is the fact that No. 9 kept referring to No. 2 as a sweet and kindhearted person. Despite her cold personality she still has a soft center. I already knew more or less what would happen when No. 9 first discovered the Council of Humanity files. I did not expect him to go on a killing spree in the base. He still cared for No. 2 since he waited for her to be away so as to not get hurt. I understand why no. 2 did what he did. I think he wanted no. 2 to be happy and receive a name but Zinnia robbed her of that luxury by making them all be assigned their factory numbers. They are not like the other androids, yes they are stronger but they are also made of the same thing they are fighting. No. 9 had the right idea when he called them monsters. Meant to be destroyed in the end by a backdoor that was scheduled to open for the machines to infiltrate. Thereby destroying all the evidence, and forever keeping the lie of humans on the moon alive. No. 2 killing No. 9 in the end of the prologue might be the very first time she has had to kill him. She cares for him and even jokes with him, even if it is just a small amount. She had to do what she thought was right, or maybe she did what she wanted to believe was right. No. 2 was faced with 2 realities. One where she kept on living her life believing humans were alive and did everything in her power to fight for them. Another where she was faced with the truth, and had to find meaning in her existence without humans to protect, and where she was a monster. She probably decided it was better and easier to believe No. 9 was faulty and was lying to himself. So she killed him. As I said before, this might be the beginning of a long cycle of death where she had to get rid of her kindness and become the cold person we first met in Nier: Automata.
“I’d like to see you again. Wouldn’t that be nice? Don’t you think so, No. 2?”
