At the beginning of Mizuki’s route in AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative after uncovering the killer’s pseudonym in Ryuki’s route, you’ll be tasked with exploring the colourful storybook world of Kizuna’s psyche to help with your investigation of the half-body serial killings.
Aided by Mizuki’s AI eyeball companion Aiba, you’ll need to navigate this dream world and solve a set of puzzles to unlock five mental locks and awake from the somnium. Unlike other sections of the game, this particular somnium doesn’t have any branching paths or difficult optional objectives, but it does require the same lateral approach to the game’s sometimes confusing dream logic.
Mental Lock #1
As soon as you enter this somnium, you’ll be able to see a large green storybook placed in the centre of this schoolyard area. The first thing you should do is inspect this large book and then select the option to read it. Aiba will read out the first page, which will tell the story of "little blue riding hood" and cause a short but important cutscene to play.
In the cutscene, you’ll notice something fall from the sky and transform into a book upon impact with the blue wolf ride. Head over to the book, which is labeled as a diary, and inspect it to begin reading, which will tell the second part of the story and unlock the first mental lock.
Throughout the somnium, you’ll use the large green storybook in the centre to help inform your next actions. This will be important for progression, as well as for searching for pages and green diaries.
Mental Lock #2
Return to the giant green storybook, interact with it, and then choose to read the page instead of ripping it. Aiba will read to you the first part of the story of “hannah and gretel”, and then a variety of structures will appear in the area such as a seesaw, a sandpit, a slide, and a climbing frame.
Move over to the newly appeared multi-coloured climbing frame. Climb it to obtain a page that sits on top of it, which will give you access to a fire spell.
From here, move to the centre of the yard and interact with the witch-shaped candle in front of the book. Use your newly acquired blaze spell by selecting the option ‘Zeblahtoh Toh!,’ which will melt the candle and change the picture in the picture book to a selection of sweet treats.
A cookie matching the kind seen in the new illustration will appear nearby. Walk over to it, inspect it, then select the option to eat it. This will cause the cookie to transform into another diary that you can read. Upon reading the diary, we’ll gain the second piece of the 'hannah and gretel' story, which will unlock the second mental lock.
Mental Lock #3
After unlocking the second mental lock, you’ll automatically return to the book, the pages of which will flip to change to the story of Cinderella. Your objective will tell you that you need to get the pair of glass slippers.
Return to the large storybook, and choose to read the story of Cinderella. Another illustration will appear, showing a castle with a large clock. The hand of the clock from the picture will fall into reality, allowing you to pick it up.
Now, head over to the luminescent clock tower slide. Inspect the clock on the tower, then choose the option to attach the hour hand that we just found from the picture book. Doing this will cause the picture book to rotate its position and change its illustration once again. You’ll also see the glass slippers appear inside the building.
At this point, you can go over to the pink tree to find a time capsule with a glass slipper inside it. Don’t waste time interacting with it for now, but instead remember this location and head towards the building’s entrance. The glass door is locked with a four-digit code with a colon in the middle, indicating a time.
If you observe the time on the clock that you just created on the clock tower slide, you’ll notice it’s pretty close to 12 o’clock - a minute away, in fact! Put in the digits 11:59 into the door’s lock to open it and obtain the glass slipper.
Now that you have the glass slipper, head back to the time capsule in front of the pink tree. Choose the option to insert the shoe, and the whole time capsule will transform into another diary that you can read, telling the second part of the Cinderella story and unlocking the third mental lock.
Mental Lock #4
The clock will strike midnight, shattering the world around you and closing shut the giant storybook. A small page will have appeared near the balloon bubble, offering another spell that dispels transformations.
The clock on the tower will have transformed into a picture of a frog, so this is the perfect place to use our new spell. Head over to the illustration of the frog, then choose the option ‘Formah Rans Titan Sid!,’ which will transform the frog into a different kind of clock.
Interact with this new clock device, and then choose the option ‘turn clockwise’.
This will rotate the giant storybook in the centre and start another cutscene revealing new information about Kizuna’s feelings, unlocking the fourth mental lock of the somnium.
Mental Lock #5
The final mental lock will require you to approach the swings. This will launch a minigame where you have to ‘kick the shoe further to win’. You have to win this twice to gain the victory and complete the somnium.
This is a pretty easy minigame: you just have to rock your analogue stick left and right in the right timing to launch your shoe further. After winning once, you should be able to get a feel for it. Win two rounds, and you’ll win the game, allowing the final cutscenes to roll, completing the somnium.