July 17th. The Omega attractor field, -0.195284 to be precise. A year after Mayuri's D-Mail from the Alpha field to her mother informing her of the promise was sent. A year after Mayuri's memories of Okabe were wiped, or should have been. The roof of the Braun building during the night, with the second floor a lonely, barren space to let. Because no one had ever lived on that floor. Of course there was no mad scientist and his friend to rent the floor. This never happened, the universe rejected it. Why, then, does a certain scientist have clear memories of building a time machine there? Why does a cheerful high school girl have sudden depressing feelings of missing something, and dreams of events in that room that obviously never happened? And furthermore, why was a strange man in a lab coat stood on the roof above that room hugging a young girl in a summer dress?
"Thank you... for finding Mayushii,". A quiet, sad voice could be heard coming from my 'friend' currently stood facing away from me. What was she thinking, sending us this far from the steins gate!
I had had a year to think about the situation, and a whole year to search for the divergence meter. It had been placed in the house of the Tennouji family, which was odd as we were never together in this world line to create it. But, little is known of the future of this attractor field so it is possible. I got there to see, displayed in fashionable nixie tubes, .195284. A very strange output indeed, however with all the thinking time i concluded that it may be a negative divergence as the meter had no – sign. Due to the lack of a first digit, i thought it was probably -0. something. If I was correct then that means there is a whole attractor field between here and the beta timeline, and whats worse is there is no lab to create the PhoneWave (name subject to change). And Kurisu was nowhere to be found either, so no time leap machine. However, there is still hope- I had managed to contact Daru and using similar techniques to what i did originally I convinced him to lend his skills to my crazy experiments.
This is mainly the reason i was here. I was stood on the roof waiting to be able to see Mr Braun. Terrifying as he may be to some, this Hououin Kyouma would not be put off! (I would ask as nicely as possible to rent the second floor for a price suitable for him). What I was certainly not expecting was my troublesome (yet admittedy rather cute) hostage to turn up almost in tears on the roof with me. Seeing her in this state was unbearable, so i held her from behind to try to make her happy again without thinking. It was too late that I realised she would have no idea who I was, and could probably sue me for this. To my surprise though, she did not resist at all and when she found out who I was she remembered me from a long time ago (before she became my hostage of course, and only knew me by my last name Rintarou). Even as I went on to mention her being my hostage, she did not seem at all surprised, and actually sounded slightly happier. It was then that i remembered how others, such as Faris remembered some events of previous world lines, and even Mayuri remembered her deaths as dreams. Come to think of it, why had she come to the roof of this building that she should have absolutely no memory of and see no significance in it? Unless...
"Mayuri... have you been having strange dreams recently?" I forced myself to ask. I had to make sure.
"Ehhh? Rinta-kun, how..?"
"Of course," I interrupted her mid sentence. It was true. "The night your grandmother died... you dreamed that you failed to keep her promise and she died alone, didnt you?. In the dream you were stood near her grave alone, and someone came to you..?"
"Whaha? How did yo-..." I felt her stiffen and looked around at her face. Her expression had changed to that of shock. Could it be that she remembered dreaming about the D-Mail... and understood what had happened?
"That message to your mother you dreamed about... uh this is kind of hard to explain. It, um, wasnt a dream, nor where most of the others probably."
"Oka...rin?".
She never thought of that name before, she never even knew my first name so how else could it be possible... she must have finally accepted those dreams as reality.
As I was thinking this, she suddenly turned around to face me and violently returned the hug. "Okarin!". Well, i guess this is what its like to meet your friend after having forgotten them completely. Except it wasn't like that for me... the great Hououin Kyouma posseses the magical eye, Reading Steiner. So i had never forgotten... the year after the change in divergence i had primarily spent searching for her. I had finally done it.
"No matter how far you run, the great Hououin Kyouma will always track down his hostage.". No reply came however, as Mayuri was currently crying into my chest. Guess this is what it feels like to acquire an extra year's worth of memories. Little did I know that was not the reason she was crying, for I had not been there the night of Kurisu's sleepover. I had not heard what she and Kurisu revealed to each other, nor did I know that she was aware of what I said to Kurisu.
"Mayushii is sorry... for sending the message... for forgetting about Okarin. For a year, Mayushii had felt something was missing, without knowing what it is. I'm so happy that Okarin finally found me. This time I really will remain a hostage forever."
She seemed reluctant to leave, but I insisted as I had to get the room. We had agreed to meet outside the Braun store at 8am the next morning, as it was a Sunday so she was not at school. A short while after she had left, I noticed a large figure strolling down the alleyway, and assuming it was Mr Braun i ran down the stairs to meet him at his shop. It had indeed been him, and after we agreed on a price 6000 yen higher than the monthly price displayed on the sign, I closed the deal and took the key. Entering the apartment was very nostalgic, and I was surprised to see that lots of the furniture was still here. Neither the microwave or the computer were there of course, that would have to come later. For now i realised it would be better to wait a while, so I sent Daru a message with the address and told him to be here at 8:30 with his computer. I wanted the half hour with Mayuri just to confirm what dreams were reality, after all I didnt want her jumping off the roof thinking she could fly because i told her that the last year's dreams were real. I rested a while on the couch and before I knew it I was fast asleep.
BEEEEEEP. Ughhh i moaned as I rolled off the couch and hit the floor. What time was it? 7:30 actually as the alarm had just gone off. I decided to go to the shop to get myself a doctor pepper and a coke zero for Daru. To my surprise, as I walked out of the front door of the building-
"Tuturu! Hi Okarin".
"Mayuri... you're half an hour early"
"Ehehe... actually it was an hour early. Mayushii thought that Okarin would be happier that way after being alone for so long". Well, the Mayuri of this world line sure seems a lot clingier than the old one.
"Well i appreciate the company but i was just going to the shop, so-"
"Great! Mayushii will come with you". Really, I could imagine this getting on my nerves very soon. So on we walked through the already unbearable heat towards the closest shop. "I've been thinking, didn't phonewave-chan start off as a microwave? Well... mother had one that only gets used about twice a day and-"
"You didnt..."
"Yep. The big guy downstairs said he would look after it for a while."
"Mayuri, your mother is really going to be unhappy with this." I stated as we entered the shop.
"But you need it to get back don't you? I mean, Mayushii remembers a girl, Chris-chan was it, that she noticed seemed to be close with you". She seemed to say this last bit without her usual enthusiasm, almost as if she was forcing herself to say it. Could it be that she wants t- no, its impossible. Me and Mayuri were very close friends but just nope. It must have been my imagination.
For some reason we remained silent as we walked back to the lab, the silence only broken when we arrived in front of the door and saw Daru sat on the stairs. Shocked, I checked the time. It was indeed 8:40. How had I lost track of time that much?
"You're late Oka-whoah! Who is that!?" he asked, completely taken aback by the girl stood next to me. I happened to notice a slight red trickle from his nose.
"Control yourself, Daru. This is a close friend of mine, Mayuri Shiina."
"How come... I never knew... Well, seems you got to her before me. Good luck", he added, with an emphasised wink.
"Wh.. What! Never in a million years!" I exclaimed. Then, I noticed that Mayuri suddenly adopted a surprised yet quite sad expression. "What's wrong?".
"Nothing of course!" she replied cheerfully, the sad face replaced instantly with her regular happy one. It must be my imagination... possibly even I imagined it because- NO. I stopped this thought immediately. She is a hostage turned friend, that is all she will ever be.
"Uh Okarin" Daru suddenly brought me back to reality.
"Ah um yes, uh Mayuri can you get the microwave and I will help Daru with this computer." Well, at least thats what I hoped was in the large box at his feet. I wouldnt put it past him to have a box full of explicit manga either.
"Microwave?" Daru said, confused. Without replying, i grabbed one side of the box and gestured for him to do the same. With a grunt, I lifted my side of the box which was clearly straining my muscles to the limit, whereas Daru held it whilst showing no signs of difficulty. I thought I felt something brush against my lower leg and the weight of the box lessened slightly, but I could see nothing below because of the way I was holding it. I struggled all the way to the top of the stairs and into the room, where I thought it was too much and exclaimed I was setting it down here.
As I did this, a girl ran out from underneath the box... Mayuri.
"What are you doing...?" I asked, quite surprised.
"I saw that you were struggling, and thought that it would be best to help Okarin. After all, Mayushii needs to apologise properly for the mes-" I patted her head as I often used to do, this time to shut her up before completing the sentence, as I didnt want to have to explain it to Daru. It worked well as she started her silly laugh that she often does when happy.
"Hou cute!" Daru exclaimed, which this time i couldnt fault him for.
"Mayuri... where's the microwave?" I had to ask, to break the silence before Daru realised what Mayuri had been saying before.
"It's downstairs in the shop... sorry Okarin I forgot all about it".
"Daru to the rescue!" shouted my pitiful friend, and he ran downstairs as fast as possible and returned holding a silver microwave. It seemed a much newer version than the one used for sending D-Mails. Then i thought something... what if this didn't work? Maybe it had to be a certain microwave. Now was not the time for having doubts, so I quickly explained to Daru about how i had an idea for an invention, and what it was (i gave a description of the origianl phonewave, not mentioning its other abilities which would come naturally if at all). Every now and then I randomly rubbed Mayuri's head, and although it must look absolutely ridiculous to Daru it kept her smiling and therefore distracted, so I didnt have to mention D-Mails at all. How easy it is to please her...
After the microwave had been sufficiently altered, I opened the box and to my dismay it was indeed full of erotic manga. "Daru you fool where the hell is the computer!?" I asked, rather annoyed at this.
"Under my manga," he casually replied. At this, Mayuri came running over to me. Damn, I forgot how much she likes manga.
"Ehhhh!?". She was holding something. "Daru-kun what sort of manga is this!?" she cried, clearly disturbed.
"Well, that you're holding there is call-"
"Not now Daru" I quickly interrupted, and after removing the manga from Mayuri's hand I began to lift the rest of it out. Really, Daru, you really are a filthy person, I thought to myself as I saw what he had in there. Finally, at the very bottom of the box, was a small laptop computer. Seriously, it must have weighed just over a kilogram. "Daru... how come you have brought this much manga to the lab?" I couldn't resist asking.
"I dont even know myself, I just had a feeling I would be spending a lot of time here from now on".
Is it possible that he, like Mayuri, had previous memories in the form of feelings and dreams? It was likely, but I didnt bother pushing it further.
As Daru did the necessary things on the PC, I became increasingly worried that this wouldn't work. After all, everything is different about this PhoneWave. Newer microwave, smaller computer... the only constant was the huge TV in the shop below, which Mayuri had apparently already checked. As much of an idiot as she is, she really does pay attention to details. Even I had forgotten about it, and my memories hadnt been reduced to dreams.
Finally the preperations had been complete: FG-1 PhoneWave (name subject to change) had indeed been completed for the second time. I noticed it was 8:30PM and that the TV downstairs would not be on, so trying a D-Mail straight away seemed pointless. Instead, I tried using the PhoneWave for what it had been designed for, and it did in fact remotely heat up the Juicy Fried Chicken Number One which I had secretly bought for Mayuri, to which she almost knocked me over with a sudden hug she was so grateful. Was it just me, or did the omega Mayuri seem to be going over the top a little with me? I dismissed it as her being excited over being reunited after a year, and forgot about it as i watched her happily eating the chicken. Daru was also rather engrossed in watching her eating, but it certainly wasnt for the reasons i was. Whereas i just liked seeing her happy, it was likely this was some strange habit of Daru's which id rather not know about to be honest.
After the testing, Daru left for home to watch TV as I currently did not have one. He said I could keep the computer for now but he'd like it back eventually. "Mayuri, do you not have to go home soon?" I inquired, for it was getting dark now and someone like her would be an easy target for an older version of Daru on the streets.
"Well about that... mother will have discovered the microwave now and may be wondering if Mayushii did something to it so i think ill stay here a little while longer". As if on cue, her phone began to ring and the look on her face when she answered told me it was indeed her mother calling about the microwave. As I watched her on the phone her face began to change, indicating that her mother knew what had happened and was scolding her for it. From hearing Mayuri's side, I had gathered that her mother blamed it on me (damn as if she found out about me... is she a secret organisation agent?). After the call ended, she was clearly very depressed.
"Mayuri?" I said softly. When she didn't reply, I went over to sit next to her and as I approached she jumped up and suddenly embraced me. Yes, for the third time in 24 hours. This time I could tell she was crying though so i carefully wrapped my arms around her and whispered, "what happened?".
"Mot...Mother said that i couldn't come here any more because... she blames it on you." She said in an almost untelligible whisper.
I had indeed aniticipated this would happen once I heard some of the conversation, but seeing how Mayuri reacted to it I guess it must be really important to her. Because of this, I realised that I had to help her. So, as i have done in the past, i brought back the hostage situation. "But you... are my hostage and you know that i cant let you escape me that easily. We're sending the D-Mail. Tonight."
Besides, i needed Mayuri for the D-Mail to work. Only she would be able to convince her past mother that her promise was a lie.
Even though i had since sat down, she had not stopped holding on to me. Anyone would think that I was HER hostage at this rate. Which, as i remembered the night before the D-Mail, was actually quite fun too to be honest. We sat like this for another few minutes, which although I am sure Mayuri was ecstatic to do so I was becoming slightly bored, and besides, my ribs would be crushed if she didn't let go soon. I went to the bathroom so she would let go of me, and after returning I finally spoke up, "Hey, Mayuri, can you help me with the D-Mail?"
"Anything... to make it so I never forgot about you...". She certainly was acting strangely at the moment.
"I need you to tell me then... what is the reason you sent the D-Mail in the first place?" She looked at me with sad eyes after this.
"But... its embarrassing. Mayushii will only say so if Okarin promises not to laugh"
"You can talk to me about anything Mayuri, you should know that by now."
"Ehehe, that pleases Mayushii. Well then, OK... its because Chris-chan told me that you... confessed to her..."
I was utterly shocked to hear this. Whilst I did indeed confess to Kurisu, this was certainly not a reason to send a D-Mail that would make me and Mayuri forget about each other, even if she did instantly regret it. Thinking back to all of my memories with Mayuri, things did eventually start to make sense though. There could only be one possible reason. Not wanting to hurt Mayuri any more, i decided to deny it. "What!? That never happened!" I shouted, feigning surprise. Or was it surprise... after all, Mayuri made it so i technically never did confess to Kurisu. Or actually, I never even met Kurisu at all. So why, at this moment, did I have to have feelings for Kurisu. The answer was- I shouldn't. However, me and Mayuri still have memories of being with each other, even in the Omega field. Still, though, I might be rushing it so i decided to pretend i had no idea about what Mayuri was thinking at the moment. "But anyway, even if I did confess, which of course I never did, why would that affect you so much?" At this, she became teary eyed again and I instantly regretted saying that.
"Because..." she looked down at the floor. "Because... Mayushii loves Okarin!", and she once again burst into tears. I couldnt bear to watch this any longer, so thinking to myself once again that I never had feelings to Kurisu because the entire universe denies it, I wrapped my arms around her again and whispered,
"And I love you too."
"Really?" She looked up at me with a huge smile.
"Would I lie to you? Of course i do," I replied, and we just sat like this for much longer.
"Okarin... is it OK if Mayushii sends a D-Mail? I promise it won't have an effect like my last one. I just have an amazing idea that I think will bring Mayushii and Okarin even closer together".
So overcome with emotion from the night, I didnt even think what it could be. In the last hour, I had completely made it so Kurisu was nothing but a distant memory. In the last hour, Mayuri had become everything to me. It seemed a perfect idea.
"Of course you can"
"This is the first time Okarin has let me use the time machine with his permission before!"
"Just one question... who is it to?"
"Myself... only a few weeks ago though, don't worry. It won't be able to push us apart, I promise."
"Okay then, just remember even if you do forget i exist then I have Reading Steiner... I will always be able to bring back my hosta-lover, i mean. Will we have confessed to each other by now if you send this D-Mail though?"
"Mayushii thought about this D-Mail a lot. We will have confessed before now. We will most likely end up exactly as we were before I sent it actually, just a few small changes will have happened around us which will make us love each other more".
"OK but the TV isn't on"
"Hehe of course, well I guess we will have to wait a little while then." I was very happy now that I saw Mayuri so cheerful now. I wonder how long she has felt like this... I feel really bad for not realising sooner. She must have felt awful when she saw me and Kurisu together. Forcing myself to stop thinking about that, I announced it was best to sleep for now and send it in the morning.
Despite the couch being ridiculously small for 2 people to lay on, we were both happy about sleeping on there. Anyway, Mayuri was cuddling up as tight as possible so the size of the space was irrelevant. I guess she was making up for so many years of not being able to do this with me.
When I awoke, to my surprise Mayuri had her phone out. I guess she was already writing her message.
"Tuturuu! Hi Okarin" she said in her normal cheerful manner when she realised I had awoken. "Mayushii would like to send the message in a few minutes, but first..." she strode across the room and knelt down on the floor in front of where I was sat. She leant in, and before I realised what was happening it was too late. She kissed me. No warning, no nothing. Well that confirms that last night was not a dream. It felt good, though. I couldn't believe that I had gone all this time without loving her. She was what I lived for now... this is what it's like to be in true love. Kurisu was nothing compared to this.
"This seems a good time to tell you now, Okarin. After the D-Mail, Mayushii remembered something instantly. It was a desire for a perfect world. Whilst I couldn't remember the people who were and were not in it, I certainly knew the idea. I was with the person in my dreams... the person I only recently found out was you. I had a whole year just thinking of possible ways to make it happen. Naturally one of those ways was what I would advise my past self to do, and I came up with some perfect sentences to tell myself. I replaced the unknown person with you, and came up with a D-Mail last night."
This was a surprising fact. That Mayuri had thought so deeply. But if she loved me for so long, it would make sense that she wanted to be with me and a strong desire for that must be able to cross world lines. "Thanks Mayuri for doing this for me... I never realised how important you were to me. I think, though, that I have loved you for longer than I thought." This was the best thing I could think of to say to keep it unknown that I ever loved Kurisu.
I stood up, turning on the computer and plugging in the PhoneWave. "Your message ready?" I asked, to which she gave a nod. "Get ready to send it to yourself. When should i set the date?"
"Exactly 3 weeks ago," she replied. I set the timer on the PhoneWave to then, and pressed the button. The discharge started and i thought to myself thank god that its working.
"Send when you're ready".
"Before I do... I'd like to tell you that Mayushii loves Okarin, and will do in the next world line. And also, that Chris-chan will never get between us again"
Before I could reply, the sparks stopped and the world went white.
-1.130238
Reading Steiner suddenly kicked in, and my vision slowly came back to me. As far as I could see, I was inside the lab. Mayuri was sat on the couch, staring at me staggering across the room. When I came to my senses properly, I noticed 3 huge differences instantly. 1- There was no PhoneWave. 2- We had a considerably larger couch. 3- The divergence meter was on a shelf on its own. Wait, that can't be possible. What on earth did Mayuri send to make this happen?
"So it finally happened, then. Okarin and Mayushii are together again!" Mayuri speaking startled me. "Do you like the changes?"
Wait what? How does she know anything has changed? Then something she said came back to me... "perfect world..." Indeed, a perfect world would be one where we were together and had all our memories of each other. But how did she make that happen with a single D-Mail? "Mayuri... how..."
"I explained everything to my past self. I knew I would believe it, so I wrote down everything we have ever been through together. Then, I added my own bits which would make our world nicer. I'm not sure how all that fit into a D-Mail though... it was supposed to only send small texts.
"New microwave, possibly a new TV downstairs," I quickly stated. Everything made sense suddenly. "Thanks again, Mayuri. This world is amazing I'm sure." I realised that by writing down everything, she was practically giving herself reading steiner. Thank god for us being in the Omega field or that D-Mail would never have sent.
That remined me, we have a divergence meter now. I looked out of curiosity and to my surprise there was a new tube. It had a – sign in it. That's my Mayuri... always attentive to details. The number displayed, -1.130238. Mayuri moved us into a new attractor field with that D-Mail? Her memories wouldn't have done that if just those were sent. She must have got her past self to do something drastic. "Hey, Mayuri... because you have thought about this a lot. What is before Omega?"
"I think it is Psi. Why do you want to know this?"
"As i suspected. The Great Hououin Kyouma has plunged the world into further disorder, and entered into the glorious Psi Attractor Field!" Then, something crashed into my back. Worried it was an unknown convergence point of this attractor field, I began searching for Mayuri to make sure she was safe. Then I realised it was Mayuri. How stupid i was... she had hugged me from behind.
"Mayushii is very happy that you think the world she created is nice". That's right. She pretty much did create a whole new world. She changed the past so that the present and future would be perfect for us both to live in together.
I moved back towards the couch and sat down. Depsite the large size of it, Mayuri insisted on sitting so close to me so that we were touching. Not that I minded. After all, now i abandoned my feelings for Kuri- I forgot something. The thing she said before the D-Mail, about Kurisu. She couldn't have meant... was that what changed the divergence so much? Had she made something... happen to Kurisu? I was about to throttle Mayuri when i thought of this from her perspecitve. She had probably loved me since we met. She worked so hard to build our relationship, then this new girl comes and steals me away. From her perspective, Kurisu found out about Mayuri's feelings for me. And then she said that I confessed to her, which after i said i didn't Mayuri would have thought Kurisu lied about it to distance Mayuri from me, therefore destroying all her hard work. It would have been quite easy for Mayuri to tell her past self that Kurisu was evil, and its best to find her and push her under a bus or something...
No. It was best not to blame Mayuri for this. It was also best that I didn't find out where Kurisu was either, because knowing how protective Mayuri was of me she probably made something absolutely terrible happen. To take my mind off it, I decided to do something.
"Hey Mayuri do you wanna go to Kitchen Jiro or something?"
"As long as you're there, ill do anything"
Well, she is certainly romantic at the moment. Maybe she wrote to be extra romantic with me in that D-Mail. That was a nice thought if she did.
And so we went to eat at Kitchen Jiro, I ordered my usual ridiculous meal with pork cutlets mixed with curry. Mayuri ordered some normal food. This was very similar to the night she sent the D-Mail, where we had shared our food and been ashamed because we looked like lovers. Now, we did the same without being ashamed. Being officially lovers sure does come with its benefits.
From leaving the restaurant to getting back to the lab, we never let go of each others hand. Which was awkward at the ticket gates for trains, but we managed of course. Back at the lab, which now resembled a regular apartment save the nixie tube display on the wall, we returned to the couch and went into a sleeping position. Mayuri did the same behind me, and wrapped an arm holding me tight. She could have told herself to buy a bed or something at least, but this would be fine. Me and Mayuri would remain like this for the rest of our days, going on dates during the day, talking about our feelings whenever necessary and sleeping together on this couch during the night. For the true steins gate is not on the beta attractor field. Me and Mayuri are happy to live and die right here, like this. Our steins gate is in fact here in the psi attractor field. Divergence value -1.130238. The value the world would remain at forevermore.