Chapter 1
AN-Yo... I have decided to stop complaining about lack of support for this epic anime and Visual Novel and have instead decided to start writing this. Sorry if the characters are a bit dodgy at times. I haven't actually played the Visual Novel yet so all my knowledge is based on the anime. (Curse the internet for pricing it so damn high... as well as shops for not supplying it... and myself for not having the console needed to play it on)
Disclaimer: Nope... I own nothing.
(I recommend you play this on Youtube while watching it... to give it the feel of the Visual Novel. Solitude- watch?v=XDp-0P0nTCc&list=PL376D6AD372E1EC3A)
The wind blows. The clouds flow. They change shapes. A dark sky. An orange of ruin.
The colour of dawn. The colour of dusk. The colour... of the worlds end. The colour... of the worlds beginning.
Suzuha's time machine looms ominously before me atop the Radio Kaikan, a mismatched sign of the coming chaos of the world. Not that I cared of course, I had been in this loop for so long that I had stopped caring about the future where Mayuri always died and where Suzuha's mission to the past ended in her untimely meeting with a loop of rope around her neck. I had focused on repeating those same days again and again and again and again and again and in doing so, I Hououin Kyouma and Okabe Rintarou alike had both lost our souls to the endless passage of looping time.
I had seen the same god damn days over and over again that I thought that the cycle of death and renewal would continue forever, even without my assistance. Death and renewal, like a Phoenix, my name sake for when I first created my façade of Hououin Kyouma.
I could almost smile right now... almost.
I had expected for things to continue regardless, the belief that nothing could change had been ingrained into my very being after all this time, like a cancer worming its way into my mind. The very idea that there could be a happy ending to all this had seemed jut ridiculous after a while.
That was why it had been so unexpected when she whom I wanted to save offered me a lifeline, a get out free card for all my problems. Suzuha had actually done something different. She made the effort to try and discover my change in personality, something no one else had attempted. That was why I owed Suzuha my very soul for offering me this chance to break free of that cursed loop.
Earlier Daru had sent the message to all lab members to inform them that the time machine was complete. Everybody had gathered at the lab, and I came to Radio Kaikan alone with the intention of ending this dreaded loop once and for all by doing a move so unexpected that things would have to change.
There Suzuha was waiting. She gives me her ultimatum in front of the time machine with a face about to cry. "I've said this many times before, but this time machine only goes one way. Once you go, there's no going back." she continues to look at me with her piercing gaze, I stare numbly back. "Even so, will you still come with me?"
I slowly nod. "You too. Are you okay?" I question her. "There's probably a high chance that both of us will loose our memories once we time travel."
Suzuha scratched her head nervously. "It took me 24 years to recover my memories, didn't it? But this time I have you. Something might change."
"Wishful thinking." I responded habitually. Even with me there it was likely nothing would change, the only difference would be that a man called Okabe Rintarou would commit suicide alongside Hashida Suzu. But perhaps-
Suzuha placed her hands on her hips and scowled at me disapprovingly. "So are you backing out then? I won't."
"...I'm already prepared." I responded. I don't know how it will turn out. We're certainly at a disadvantage. I didn't think I'd be this thankful to not know what's next. After all, I had repeated the same closed two days of peace. Who knows what could happen though- in the future we were walking towards anything could happen.
Its so stimulating its sending shivers down my spine. I can feel like I'm actually here.
"Did you give everyone an explanation?" asked Suzuha. She was talking about the other lab members of course. She wanted to know if I had settled matters here before the two of us journeyed into the unknown to stop SERN in the slight chance that it could prevent Mayuri's unstoppable fate... or that it could prevent hers.
"I bid them... farewell." And I did. The image of Mayuri, Daru and Kurisu came to mind. I did say goodbye. To Mayuri. To Daru. To Kurisu. The images of my friends disappeared one by one.
I sent them each a handwritten letter. I wonder if about now, they're all in an uproar at the lab. The thought made me smile.
I also mailed letters to both my parents, and my college friends, telling them not to look for me. My parents will probably be sad. But this time, I'm not running away. I don't want to think I'm running away. I'm not, the loop was me running away. This is me turning around to face my problems head on.
"It kinda seems like..." began Suzuha awkwardly. She stopped for a moment, standing beside me, looking at the time machine. Suzuha gradually smiles while still on the verge of tears. "... like we're eloping."
"There's nothing to feel guilty about." I responded blankly, the emptiness not quite gone from my soul yet. "Rather, I want to thank you, Suzuha," my voice broke at this moment an I struggled to form the next sentence in my mouth. "If you didn't invite me I would still be living like a corpse in the loop. Thank you Suzuha. Let's continue the fight to change the future... together."
AN- I recommend you play this now. Umnei No Farfalla- watch?v=IhI7lMhWkZE&list=PL376D6AD372E1EC3A)
It was odd actually, throughout this entire sequence of events I had sought to solve my problems by myself. Perhaps if I had relied on Suzuha sooner, perhaps if I had not tried to play the part of the lone scientist Hououin Kyouma, we may have been able to change Mayuri's fate without resorting to this.
"Yeah..." responded my companion weakly. We clasped hands. Her grip was so hard it kind of hurt. But the pain is a sensation I can feel. Unlike the numb emptiness I had previously felt. I almost wanted to do my signature laugh, to laugh against our impossible odds. Perhaps one day I would be willing to do such a thing again.
Nobody sends us off. There's no way anyone could. This time travelling I a one way ticket.
Once we go, there's no coming back again. 1975... that's before I was even born. Maybe I would even meet myself as a child. What an odd thought.
Back to the past.
No... that's not quite it.
We're on a trip to the undecided future. Not a world line Suzuha has been to. Not a world line Suzuha wanted.
We're reaching for an entirely new future.
"..."
"..." Our gazes cross, while we continued to hold hands. There was no need for words for between us. No fancy speech, nothing. All I needed was the reassuring grip of Suzuha's hand.
"Let's go..."
"...Yeah."
We're going to distort the world line from 35 years ago. That's why we're on a journey.
We boldly raise our faces, ready to fight fate. Together.
We stride towards the open door of the time machine. Suzuha leads me inside and I take a seat beside her as the door shuts. "Very techno." I remarked, studying the very cyberpunk theme of the inside of the machine. "Whoever made it had good tastes."
"He should." stated Suzuha as she began to press a few buttons. "You and Daru created it together after all."
Nothing more was said. Nothing more was needed to be said.
With a final tap, I noticed a gradual distraction in the air around us. I felt a migraine coming along, the feeling was reminiscent of my first usages of Reading Steiner. Fragments of gold spheres glistened in the cockpit.
"What... are these?"
"Oh, these always show up. They're something like fragments of time." I looked at her through the fragmented stardust surrounding us. "Pretty... huh?"
A final tugging sensation indicated that we were starting to travel. "To the future?" questioned Suzuha with her piercing smile.
"Yes..." I smiled, thinking of the unknown. "...To the future."
Then the world faded into nothing and I couldn't be happier at that one moment. The loop was over now... it was now time to break through that one percent divergence.
AN-Yes, I know... this was pretty much an altered and upgraded version of the Suzuha ending for the Visual Novel. What of it? Next chapter onwards will focus on 1975 when Okabe and Suzuha arrive.
Anyways... please read and review! Undying Soul out.