1

Okarin looked at Makise in disbelief. "Huh?" Makise gave a sigh, and walked towards the microwave. "It's simple, I'm going to use the phone microwave's ability to send messages into the past and implement it onto your long term memory." She explained. Okarin looked at the microwave and then back at her. "Huh?" Daru looked up at Okarin. "We discussed this last night, Makise is going to use the LHC from Sern and connect it to the microwave which will then be connected to you." Okarin place a hand on his forehead. "You're going to connect the microwave to me?" He asked, still in disbelief. "Is it really that hard to understand? Yes, that's what I'm going to do."

Makise confirmed, walking back towards them. "So these... Drawings on the board are the design?" Okarin asked, pointing at the whiteboard. Makise and Daru nodded their heads. Okarin looked at the time on his phone. 12:23 p.m, the beginning of the afternoon. "How long will it take for you to assemble the parts and connect it to me?" He asked, still looking at his phone. "If I have no problems hacking into Sern like last time, then maybe 3 hours?" Daru speculated, sitting back done on his computer. "But what if I leap before that?" Okarin continued asking questions. Meanwhile, Mayuri is teaching Moeka how to sew a dress properly since she has no experience with anything household related. "If you leap before we are done, then all we can do is wait for you to come back." Makise simply stated, putting all the parts on the table next to the microwave.

Okarin put his phone back and looked closer at the designs on the board and then thought of something. "Wait a minute, I know you're a scientist. But coming up with designs like these for the phone microwave in such a short amount of time is beyond even me." Implied Okarin, turning around to look at Makise. "Care to explain, Christina?" Said Okarin, giving a sly smile. "Well um, I guess after the previous incident, I was sort of curious about the microwave's potential and in my free time... Came up with the designs... Not that I would have actually tried them though!" Stammered Makise, caught off guard by the question. "So, in other words, the mad scientist in you could not refrain from testing the microwave and in your madness, drew these designs to try and satiate your burning desire to experiment." Taunted Okarin, still smiling. "Don't twist my words to back up your mad theories, I wasn't going to use these designs at all!" She spluttered, her cheeks turning red. "Face it Christina!" Okarin pointed a finger at her "Only a mad scientist could have done something like this!" Okarin continued to tease her. "If only your tsundere-ness could accept the truth but alas, tsunderes are tsunderes." Turning his back towards her, a smile formed on his face. It has been a long time since they argued like this.

Two hours later, Daru manages to hack into Sern earlier than he predicted, much to his surprise. "You'd think that maybe they'll tighten their security after a whole 10 months." Remarked Daru, taking a sip of water. Makise also managed to finished assembling the parts at record breaking speed. Meanwhile, Okarin not noticing his members accomplishments, was walking back and forth around the lab, paranoid that he's going to change world lines at anytime. "Okarin, I can't sew the dress properly..." Said Mayuri, noticing Okarin's distress state. "Okarin, if you sit on the couch, I can help you to relax..." Implied Moeka, standing up and pushing Okarin onto the couch. "Wait, wha- Shining finger? Wa- s-stop!"

Moeka brought her face closer towards Okarin until they were within kissing distance. Staring into her eyes, Okarin begins to recall the last time they were this close to each other. "W-wait, Moeka stop!" Stammered Okarin, backing up on the couch until he could no more. "I remember, you know... What you did to me." Said Moeka softly, putting her hands on his chest. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Shouted Makise, grabbing hold of Moeka's collar and pulling her back. Moeka pointed at Makise. "Jealous?" She asked with her monotone voice. Letting go of her collar, Makise begins walking back towards the microwave. "I'm not jealous..." She said, shaking her head, clearly flustered. "Is this what you call a love triangle?" Mayuri asked, turning towards Daru. "I believe so, Mayuri." Confirmed Daru, Folding his arms and nodding. Moeka stared at Makise's back before looking at Okarin, she proceeds to give him a wink and sat back down beside Mayuri. "How can you act like that with that emotionless face of yours?" Okarin thought to himself, uncertain about Moeka's feelings towards him. She's probably just teasing him, although you can never tell with that girl.

A little while after that little incident, Makise begins the task of applying the parts to the microwave which proved difficult since the parts weren't at all supposed to be installed on a microwave and if she messes it up someway, there goes her chance of helping him. Okarin stared at Makise, her mind set on helping him, with no other goals in between. It made him feel special in a way, if the roles were reversed, he would have probably done the same thing and maybe even more. "Okay, I believe I got it." Proclaimed Makise, wiping the sweat off her forehead and stepping back. "Oh? Did my useless assistant actually managed to-." "If you finish that sentence, I will smash the microwave with my bare hands." Warned Makise, sitting down on the couch. "Please, as if you'll ever defy me." Scoffed Okarin.

"..."

"What, you realize my words ring true and that keeping silent was the only way to answer me?"

"..."

"What's wrong? Did my assistant finally submit her will over to me?"

"..."

"..."

"I'm sorry, please don't smash my future gadgets."

"That's what I thought..."

"Chris-Chan is scary." Mayuri remarked looking at Makise and Okarin staring at each other. "She sure is." Replied Daru, typing away on his keyboard. Walking towards the contraption Makise made, Okarin began looking at it from all angles, wondering which part is supposed to go on his head. "So umm, what happens now?" He asks, not entirely sure what's going to happen next. "Now..." Began Makise, standing back up. "We must manually transfer you to another world line."

2

Finally registering what Makise said, Okarin stood on the spot frozen with shock. This wasn't a solution to the problem, this was just adding more fuel into the fire. "D-do you know what you're saying?" Stuttered Okarin, struggling to get his words out. "That means we'll have to-.." "Send a d-mail, yes." Confirmed Makise, staring at Okarin's shocked expression.

"No..no I can't.." Said Okarin, taking a step back, shaking his head repeatedly. "Okarin, please..." Pleaded Makise, taking a step towards him. "I can't, I refuse to do this." He continued to protest. "I'm not going to let all our hard work be in vain, reaching the steins;gate wordline... I'm not going to leave it." Clenching his fist, Okarin averted his eyes towards the floor. "It's going to be fine, once you send the d-mail I'll know that-"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW IT'S GOING TO BE FINE?!" Okarin shouted with all his might. The lab members caught unaware by his sudden outburst, kept silent. "Do you know what I've been through, trying to reach this worldline? I've spent so many time repeating the same days over and over." Okarin said silently. Makise slowly walked towards Okarin, after gaining back her composure did she continue talking. "Okarin, I'm not asking you to go through that struggle again, sending one mail back to the past isn't going to hurt anybody, I know it." She said softly, trying to reassure him. "And how do you know that? Because you theorized it? You know what it's like traveling through time... Surely you know the pain... You brought me back here... And now, you're asking me to leave." Turning his gaze towards her, Okarin stares into her eyes. "Of course I know the pain, Okarin, I'm not asking you to leave. I can't help you unless we send that D-mail."

Okarin continues to stare into her eyes. "How does she not get it?" He thought to himself, the butterfly effect is sure to increase the risk of transferring to another world line, or worse, another attractor field. And if that happens, how will he get back here again? He had barely managed to do it once already, but doing it a second time is madness. The risk is too big, and now with his Reading Steiner running rampant, he is sure to just keep changing world lines, forever stuck in an infinite loop of trying to get back. "The only way to know what world line you'll end up in is to send that d-mail and have you change once." Makise explained. "Why can't you just connect it to me and wait for me to change world lines instead of doing that?" He asks, his patience wearing thin. "That's not how it works, Okarin please, I can't explain how it works right now, I just need you to trust me."

"That's just it with you isn't it?"

"Huh?"

"Experiment after experiment, not caring about the risk, just as long as your curiosity is satisfied right?"

"Okarin what are you-"

"I'm not changing world lines, that's what I'm saying."

"You're changing world lines already! It doesn't matter if you do it manually or not, it'll just be one time!"

"ONE TIME!" Slamming his fists on the table where the phone microwave sat, Okarin continued shouting. "THAT ONE TIME SENT ME TO A WHOLE OTHER CLUSTER OF WORLD LINES!"

"And now you're telling me to use it again, the very last thing I ever want to do..."

"Okarin..."

"Leave..."

"Huh?"

"I said leave. I want to be alone for awhile."

"We don't have time, you'll transfer to another world line at anyti-"

"LEAVE!"

Okarin shouted once again, taking very deep breaths, he begins to calm. He knew he wasn't being fair... Makise didn't deserve this kind of treatment, he knew she only wants to help him. But if she only understood the dangers of playing with the phone microwave, then she'll understand Okarin's absolutely refusal to use it.

"Okabe-kun, something wrong?" Opening his eyes, he discovers that his lab was nowhere in sight, instead of Makise staring back at him, what's in front of him now, is the puzzled face of Feyris, wearing a dress instead of her usual maid outfit. Keeping silent, Okarin looks around at his surroundings and to his astonishment, he discovers that his back at Feyris's apartment, sitting down on the couch across from Feyris who was sitting down on the carpet. He must have changed world lines as soon as he shouted, what other explanation could their be? All he can do now is wait for his Reading Steiner to return him back to his world line, but for now, he should try to at least learn what world line he has stumble onto. Staring at Feyris, he decides to question her first. "Feyris" he began. "Nya?" "Where's Mayuri?" Upon hearing this words, Feyris pouted her lips and standing up, jumped onto Okarin's lap. "Wha?" Let out Okarin caught unaware by Feyris's action and her weight on his lap. "Why are you asking about other girls right nyow? Don't nya know it's rude to ask about other girls? Especially when the one you're questioning is your gi-rl-fri-end~!." She said, burying her face into Okarin's black t-shirt. Okarin didn't respond, he was too shocked to do anything. "What messed up world line is this?" He thought to himself, looking at Feyris snuggling onto his chest.

Author's note: Hello, sorry for the long delay between chapters, my internet was down for 5 days and i was busy writing another story. I'll try to release the next one in a shorter time span, other than that, thanks for reading!