Zenless Zone Zero Trigger: Sniper's Romance Guide

As the new chapter unfolds, a seemingly cold and unfeeling sniper bursts into our lives-Trigger. But is she truly heartless? Just as in her PV, her character story always conceals delicate emotions beneath that icy exterior. Let's explore what kind of character Trigger really is!

1. How does Trigger formulate "Top Secret Battle Plan"?

Trigger is Zenless Zone Zero's first "unrequited love-type" character. When our affinity with her peaks, we encounter her being inspected by soldiers at an outpost. Having forgotten her ID, Trigger is mistaken by the soldiers as a cosplayer impersonating Defense Force personnel. They even discover a suspicious document titled "Top Secret Battle Plan"-which ironically lists 'deliberately creating chance encounters' as its first strategy.

When we intervene to help, Trigger becomes visibly flustered. The soldiers remain suspicious, warning: "The target Trigger wants to attack might very well be you!" Seizing the opportunity, we(Belle) claim to the soldiers that we've indeed been "conquered." The full title of this document? "Love is War! Top Secret Battle Plan." Hearing this response, Trigger stammers like a startled deer: "I-I already...?" Our words force the soldiers to apologize instead. Trigger then laments that she, the mastermind behind these 'combat plans,' has now been counterattacked.

Truth is, Trigger always wanted to meet us. But aside from commissions, she couldn't find a legitimate "Dating Excuse," so she kept investigating our frequent haunts to engineer coincidental encounters. This so-called "Combat Tactics" manual is actually Trigger's self-designed "Sniper's Crush Plan"-first scout the location, then execute a precise "snipe" on us.

2. When did Trigger develop Subtle Affection for the Proxy?

But in truth, Trigger developed subtle affection for us long ago. In her character profile, Fairy remarks: "Quite harmless." This is high praise from the sharp-tongued Fairy. To put it in perspective, Fairy's assessment of Six Paths Alley cats is: "The chance of being killed by a kitten is small, but never zero." Yet for Trigger, it's "quite harmless"-"She firmly recognizes you as a comrade and holds obvious high favor toward you. It's speculated that a specific event left an exceptionally positive impression on her."

When did we leave this "exceptional impression" on Trigger? From the fifth layer of her Mindscape: "But with the Proxy, the one who gave her light in her darkest hour, it's not about locking in but being drawn in. Even if there's no reason to keep watching, she will never divert her aim - this is the will of a young lady."

"Darkest Hour" refers to the period when Trigger lost 90% of her vision. Since the fall of Eridu, the Lyra Squad had been nearly wiped out. Clinging to the belief that her teammates still survived, Trigger left the Defense Force and wandered alone through a blurred world searching for her former companions. It was then that we, as Phaethon the "Child of the Sun," seized the opportunity to appear in her gray world.

3. Trigger's unique Sensitive Constitution

Though the world was draped in a layer of gray cloth, it awakened a unique ability-"Ether Vision." Outside the Hollow, her other four senses (aside from sight) were honed to extreme sharpness. You might ask: "Which five senses? After losing vision, there should only be four." This fifth sense likely refers to the "sixth sense"-extrasensory perception.

Thus, in Wildfire Town, when Trigger asked us to share unknown anecdotes as compensation, she guessed the ending halfway through. Within the Hollow, enhanced by these five senses, she can clearly detect all objects emitting Ether fluctuations. With these abilities, Trigger notices what others miss: the faulty TV in the HDD array with poor connections; measures our body temperature to provide meticulous care; hears our heartbeat frequency; even appears swiftly with an ice pack when we twist an ankle.

As mentioned in Mindscape 4: "Of course, she definitely hasn't been using these stealth tactics to observe the video store when she can't find an opportunity to meet someone there... right?"

4. What is the Connection between Zoe's diary and Trigger?

When first encountering Zoe, there's a trash bin nearby where we can find torn diary pages. These reveal that Zoe's squad is named "Nemesis," derived from the Greek goddess of retribution, fitting her vengeful persona in the story.

On the diary's second page, Zoe mentions: If she were to take an apprentice, she'd throw them into the Hollow to survive her sniping. By leveraging environmental and psychological counterattacks, the apprentice could absorb her life's techniques-provided they weren't too unlucky. This mirrors Zoe's modus operandi after developing PTSD. The one who survived Zoe's trials? Trigger.

The third page details a squad member confessing to Zoe. At the time, she felt too shy to respond immediately and planned to accept the confession after completing their next mission. However, that next mission coincided with the eruption of the Zero Hollow. Truly, in New Eridu, you never know whether tomorrow or disaster comes first.

5. Trigger, a Perfect "Waifu" Candidate

Trigger possesses exceptional learning abilities and is willing to sacrifice everything for others. Driven by her people-pleasing personality, she constantly pushes herself to acquire new skills. After we suggested trying a massage, Trigger likely assumed we enjoyed it-she experienced it once and promptly claimed she'd mastered the technique, offering to give us massages.

By Master Chop's ramen stall, we accidentally uncovered a lovestruck girl's little secret: she wanted to cook for us. The straightforward Soldier 11 revealed that Trigger had asked about our favorite foods. Though Trigger swiftly clamped her hand over Soldier 11's mouth, it was too late. "Please forget everything you just heard!" she stammered shyly. But Master Chop, a seasoned observer, had already seen through it all.

In Anby's story, she once "complimented" Trigger: "You're such a dating veteran..." Trigger retorted that these were all tricks taught by the video store owner. Miss Trigger, how could you slander me like this! We upright, kindhearted souls would never study such tactics. Yet for the "actors in this play," New Eridu is their entire life-how many "coincidental encounters" has Trigger engineered with us in the game? How many times has she hidden in corners silently sensing our passing? How much has she truly sacrificed for us? We may never know... After all, even in the Zero Hollow, we encounter this blind girl who shares coins with us.

An interesting perspective: Perhaps Trigger intentionally "sniped" us here, confident we'd step into the "Coin Challenge" next. She has been waiting in this 'chance encounter' for a long time. Thank you, Proxies, for reading this far-but this doesn't mean our story with Trigger ends here. On the contrary, it's only just begun. And of course, don't miss future articles and Zenless Zone Zero-related merchandises!