[He's letting his fingers tap against his chin for a moment as he takes that all in. He's had his own talk with Togusa, and he remembers his discussion with Matt. In the end, the goal was all the same even if the different ways to get there were vast and he wasn't sure which way would work. It was always about meeting the same end, but it's times like these that he really thinks about the path they're setting on.]

I know. No, I know, it's...some people just want things to go back to the way that they were and forget any of this ever happened. [He's had that conversation with Malik enough times.] Some people would prefer to exist over allowing "their other self" to exist because they value this life more. [Togusa.] But...both sides of the soul can exist if the soul is stable enough. That's always been the ending, even if we're coming down to the wire of how to actually get there.

If enough energy is produced, the soul can stabilize and the regain process can be self-run. I don't know if that was always the goal of Retrospec, but I think that was the idea. Sort of like mass-production but monitoring the start. The problem was always Vanderweele changing things and harvesting the energy for other uses rather than feeding the cycle. Make sense?

So...it would be not only the existence of the heart to live, but the souls to house the memories of who you are. That's what fuels recreation.