Interlude 1:

Translocation of causality

August 2024

A girl with two braids ran behind the trees, where a six-year-old boy was hiding.

"Hey, why did you stay here?" she said. "We need to cross the bridge, let's go!"

She pulled the boy by his arm a couple of times to direct him to follow her, but he didn't move from his spot. She continued pulling insistently until he finally turned towards her.

"What's up? Why are you crying?" she asked when noticing his sorrowful expression.

"I got injured and it hurts a lot."

The braided girl observed where the boy indicated with his finger. On the ankle of the fallen warrior, a small cut that had produced a string of blood. Nevertheless, the injury was of restricted dimensions, and it didn't seem to pose any big risks.

"That's nothing," the girl said. "Look, I'll show you what a real wound is."

She stretched her legs on the ground and showed him her knees. Each one had a big brown-grayish scab, which she carried with a lot of pride.

"I got these when climbing a very tall tree. Way more blood came out and it hurt a whole lot, but they healed by themselves later. So stop crying and let's play."

"But if I got out now and dirt gets on it, it can become full of bacteria". He insisted, refusing to leave.

"Bacteria?" she repeated, confused with the unknown word.

"Yeah, I learned about them in a video. They're small bugs that love blood. They're on the ground and enter wounds making you sick."

"But being sick is the best!"

The girl with the braids didn't understand the problem: her mother would let her play video games all day when she got sick, plus she also got seconds for dessert. But the boy sniffled a few tears again when he remembered what it meant to be sick.

"Every time I feel sick they take me to the hospital and the doctors don't want me to go back home. I don't want that, I don't like sleeping in that place, it scares me a lot!"

She had never been hospitalized, so she couldn't understand her friend's affliction. Even so, wanting to continue having fun, she thought a quick way to help him with his fear.

"I've got an idea!"

She ran her tongue through her hand leaving a big amount of saliva. She wanted to use it to clean the blood and make sure the strange bugs couldn't find the wound.

"Don't do that!" he yelled stopping her hand. "Your spit can also have bacteria!"

"My spit has nothing strange! Mom forces me to brush my teeth every day, see?"

She opened her mouth showing that some baby teeth had fallen off, but that the rest were free of any invader. The boy didn't seem convinced with her argument.

"Bacteria can live inside people as well," he explained. "What we need is that bottle that my mom carries in her purse, but I'm afraid to leave this place, I don't want any bacteria to get into me on the way!"

"You're a big crying baby!"

She felt disappointed with her friend's cowardice and got up from the ground. "Wait here, I'll get it for you."

The girl with the braids ran through the park. Her objective was to get to where the three women that took care of them were staying.

Trying not to be seen, she hid behind the big purse of one of them, like in a spy game. She examined with her hand the inside and got some boxes out. She looked at the labels and although she didn't know how to read the kanjis on them, she recognized them through their form, colors and pictures; she then put them in her pockets.

A few meters away, there was another girl, much younger than her, with black hair. She played with a Upa robot up until a moment ago, but the latter was now spinning around on the floor with an alarm going off:

"Error, error, error, terror, terror, terror" that was repeated over and over again by the apparatus, while nobody gave it any attention.

When she got bored with the robot, the small girl decided to search for her stuffed Gumba, which was put away with her mom's belongings. But when she noticed that the braided girl was going through the purse, the smaller girl went towards one of the adult women, pulling on the clothes of one of them.

"What's wrong Shizuka?" the red-haired woman asked. "Do you need to use the bathroom?"

The girl shook her head back and forth, negating the question. She didn't seem to be hungry or cold either. She continued pulling on the clothes over and over, while pointing towards the spot where the purse was. Due to her insistence, the mother got up to find out what was happening.

She walked to the spot where the small girl was pointing and she found the Upa spinning around. It looked like her adventure's robotic partner had broken down, so she turned it off to make that annoying noise stop. That should've been more than enough, but the little black-haired girl didn't stop pulling on her clothes still, unhappy with the results.

"Does she want to tell us something?" one of the other women asked.

"Tuturu!" the last one of them said, holding her phone in the air. "Say hi to the camera Shizu-chan!"

The three women observed the girl in silence, waiting for her to do something cute children do. But the little girl didn't understand why they weren't capable of realizing what was happening.

Tired of being the center of attention and of the lack of comprehension from the women, the small girl decided to go searching for the stuffed Gumba again, and when she found it, she laid down face up on the ground, with the intention of taking her afternoon nap. Although it was summer, her mother covered her with a light blanket and put a pillow under her head to be comfortable.

Her two friends were disappointed about not hearing the small girl with the black hair speak, but her mother wasn't worried about it: if her daughter didn't talk, it was because she just didn't feel like it. When people asked her about the reason why she spoke so little for her age, she could cite that old and perhaps false anecdote about Albert Einstein not talking until he was 3 years old. However, at home, her daughter only repeated the silly things her husband said, like "Hououin Kyouma" and "The Organization."

That day in the park, the father of the small girl had been designated for a "special mission," but he hadn't arrived at the park yet.

"It's been more than an hour, aren't the boys taking too long?"

"Kurisu-chan is right, Okarin and Daru-kun should be here already. What if something happened to them?" her worried friend answered back.

"Don't worry, my husband sent me a message a moment ago," the mother of the girl with the braids didn't sound worried. "But if they don't show up on time, it means there's more cake for us."

The women laughed together while the braided girl was hiding behind some benches, waiting for the danger to be over. Right before being caught on her illicit actions, she threw herself on the ground and rolled away. When the women got distracted, she went back running towards the trees, carrying with her the medical supplies.

When she got reunited the wounded boy again, she opened the antiseptic box and took out the bottle. She pressed the button to spray the colorless liquid on the wound and then she covered it with a bandage with animal pictures that she took out of the box.

"Done, that'll be good enough!" she declared, very proud of her nursing job.

The boy saw how his wound was now protected from the bacteria and stopped complaining.

"Thank you so much, I feel better now!"

Once the problem was overcome, both kids got up from the ground, willing to go back to their games. Their children's spirits were renovated and felt full of energy.

"Listen to me well: I will give the instructions of our next mission."

With an air of authority, the girl with the braids began to describe with detail how they would border the pond while running to do a surprise attack against the enemy that was at the other side of the bridge. There were drones flying around and many people strolling with their pets, so they had to be careful not to be caught by the enemy. She'd go first because she was the leader, while he had to support her from behind and make sure nobody followed them.

The safety of many people (much more than what she could count to) depended on them doing well their job, so it was very important they didn't fail.

"Did you understand the plan, warrior?" she asked after finalizing her speech, with a serious and demanding tone.

"Of course, General Suzuha!"

He responded imitating a gesture with his hand which he remembered from a war movie, but she didn't seem very convinced of his actions. Instead, she turned her head to the side and looked at him in a way that made him feel a little uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?" He asked her.

"Keitarou, did you just call me 'Suzuha'?"

He got nervous, thinking that perhaps he had made a mistake.

"Isn't that your name?"

He believed to remember that her friend with the braid's name was Hashida Suzuha.

"Yes, that's my name, but you can't use it."

"Eh, why?"

Suzuha thought a little and remembered that his friend, Okabe Keitarou, had come to visit with his parents from a foreign country where they spoke another language and therefore, he wasn't familiarized with the same customs she had.

"You are in Japan now. Here, you can't call people by their first name or they could get mad at you, did you know that?"

He still didn't understand, why did the people in Japan get mad if you call them by their first name? That sounded a little strange. Plus, his father must call his mother by her first name or she got really mad at him. If that made his parents get along, using first names couldn't be that bad.

"You called me Keitarou and I didn't get mad at you."

Suzuha was also doing it so her argument made little sense.

"That is because I am allowed to do it," she responded. "but you aren't. Look, I'll show you how it works."

Suzuha got closer to Keitarou and put her back against his. She then compare their heights with her hand.

"See? Since I'm taller than you, it's okay that I call you by your first name," she commented, showing him with two finger the little difference between them. "And since you're younger, you can't use mine, do you understand now?"

Keitarou couldn't argue with the fact and the explanation seemed very logical: Suzuha was taller and plus, almost a year older since she'd turn seven soon.

"What should I call you then?"

"You must refer to me as 'Hashida-san,'" she indicated. "'Hashida' is my last name and people prefer to use that in here, and 'san' means you respect me a lot because I'm older than you."

"I understand now! Thank you for explaining it to me, you know a lot of things."

It wouldn't be hard. They boy had heard the 'san' before, but nobody had ever explained to him the detail of such behavior.

"Of course, because I'm also smarter than you." Suzuha smiled. "So don't ever forget, warrior Keitarou!"

"I won't, Hashida-san!" he said, imitating the military gesture again.

They continued with their game, but they got tired soon of the war theme. When they had to debate what their next entertainment would be, a yell got their attention:

"Suzu-chan! Kei-chan!"

Their mothers' friend was calling for them. When they turned towards that direction, Suzuha's eyes got very excited when seeing that the women had prepared two pieces of cake for them to eat.

"The first one to get there takes the bigger piece!" she yelled before beginning to run.

Both kids ran with all their might, but besides being older and taller, Suzuha was also faster, leaving behind the small Keitarou with ease.

When Hashida Suzuha got to the cake, she took the plate with the bigger portion and began to enjoy it with without any impediments. When she finished it, she thought about grabbing the plate with the smaller piece, when an uncomfortable feeling took over her: didn't this belong to another person? She turned around but there was nobody else other than a little girl sleeping and the two adult women with whom she had gone to the park that day.

"What's wrong Suzuha? Didn't you like the cake?" Hashida Yuki asked, who had baked it with love for her daughter.

"It's delicious mom," Suzuha responded with a lot of joy, since it was her favorite kind "but, wasn't there a boy here?"

"A boy?" Okabe Mayuri asked, her mother's friend that was hanging out with her family. "Suzu-chan made a friend?"

"Yes, we were playing together for a while. We then ran to see who got the biggest piece of cake and... Poof! He disappeared."

Mayuri asked Yuki who Suzuha was talking about: from what she had noticed, the girl with the braids had been playing alone all that time, running around the park and talking to herself.

"That's her imaginary friend, it was for him that we set the other piece of cake," Yuki commented smiling.

Hashida Yuki knew that when her daughter felt alone and bored, she opted for "creating" a friend with whom she could share her favorite games. Since professionals said that having imaginary friends was something common among children and wasn't hurtful, everyone decided to go along with her.

But that day, Suzuha didn't agree with her mother's comment. She knew that her friend wasn't an "imaginary" one, but a "real" boy.

"No mom, he was here. He got hurt playing and I helped him, he wanted a bottle that his mother brought, she had her purse there…"

The spot she pointed at was empty. She searched in her pockets for the medical supplies she had taken, but they weren't there either. Had she really imagine it all? No, she knew well that boy with red hair existed. But although Suzuha tried, she couldn't remember his name. She looked for it in her memory over and over, but it had completely vanished.

The small girl with the black hair woke up from her nap, which had lasted less than usual. She felt very dizzy, so much that she had to help herself with her little hands in order to get up. Once she accomplished it, she looked around a few times, looking for something:

"Mom?"

Mayuri and Yuki watched the little girl move in circles, and when she gave up, she went to them.

"Mom, where?"

"I'm here Shizu-chan," Mayuri responded, waiting for her to go into her arms.

But the small girl didn't move from her spot. She hugged her Gumba with force and continued looking around searching for a person that wasn't there.

"So strange," Yuki commented. "It looks like she doesn't recognize you."

Mayuri didn't know what was happening either, because it was the first time that her daughter acted in such a strange way. She looked for signals showing she was sick, but when she got closer to the girl, she didn't let her grab her. She got away while continuing asking over and over for her mom.

After trying a couple of times more, Mayuri realized it didn't make sense to continue and meditated for a moment.

"Yuki-chan, I… am Shizu-chan's mom?" she asked confused.

"What are you asking Mayuri-chan?" Hashida Yuki said surprised. "Of course you are her mother, are you feeling sick as well?"

If she tried, Mayuri could remember her wedding with Okabe Rintarou in 2021 and around December of the same year, her only daughter was born, Okabe Shizumi. They should've been the happiest days of all her life, therefore, she would never forget them. But the longer she thought about it, the more she felt that her memories were wrong. That Shizumi wanted to meet someone else: her real mother. She couldn't understand what that meant or what that strange feeling came from.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a near greeting:

"Mission complete!" a middle aged man yelled. "We did everything you asked for, we now want our reward, hehe."

The small girl got distracted by Hashida Itaru's voice, and next to him she saw another man of around the same age, but taller and with black hair like hers. She then went running with her little legs towards where he was.

"But look at whom we have here…" the man said when he saw her. "It's no other than the all the agents' biggest nightmare."

"El Sai Kongrii," the little one responded.

It wasn't bad for her short age, but they'd work more to improve her pronunciation.

"Tell me my little destructive angel, do you also feel dizzy?"

She moved her head affirmatively. "Mom, where?"

That was a good question, but Okabe Rintarou couldn't answer it.

He looked around the park: Kurisu wasn't anywhere around. That likely meant she wasn't present in Japan and it wouldn't make any sense trying to call her or search for her.

"She's gone for now, but don't worry," he said rubbing her head, "as long as Hououin Kyouma is here, the Organization won't hurt you."

The little one felt a little sad when hearing that she couldn't see her mother. He didn't know how to explain that she hadn't abandon them on purpose, but rather she had been displaced momentarily to occupy another place in the space-time.

But if Kurisu wasn't with Shizuka: who was now her mother? Besides Yuki, there only was another woman present.

"Okarin, welcome! Shizu-chan and I were waiting for you."

When he saw the ring on her finger, he understood: out of all the possibilities, this time it was his old childhood friend.

Okabe Rintarou felt a deep feeling of discomfort every time he had to explain what was happening. Every time the change occurred, whoever it was the person that took his Kurisu's place, without a doubt it was difficult adapting to the new world line. However, he didn't want to rush into explaining everything if it wasn't necessary: he could wait until everything ended in just some minutes. If it was one of the short events, one of those that come and go in less than half an hour, the Reading Steiner would activate soon and his real wife would come back to yell at him for taking so long to get back.

In the meantime, he sat down to get the piece of cake that Yuki was offering to him, and he ate it pretending nothing strange was happening. Shizuka didn't move from his side, although she didn't want to sleep again and she just hugged her stuffed animal in silence. The other adults also ate cake while enjoying the blessings the park provided.

It was the height of Summer in Tokyo. Although the humidity from the environment was unbearable, the shade from the trees gave them some refuge, and a wind breeze caressed them, making the day and the outdoors feel very nice.

"This kind of reminds me of the last lab," Mayuri said.

Of course it was a different feeling, but due to work and the responsibilities of a grown up's life, they hadn't had a time together in a while. That day at the park were present members 001, 002, 003 and the previously mysterious members 008, whom had been incorporated almost seven years ago. It was a shame not having the presence of the remaining members.

"I talked to Makise-shi some days ago," Hashida Itaru commented. "I asked her to come visit us, but she said she couldn't leave her experiments."

Makise Kurisu was a little obsessive with her research work and very rarely she wanted to come back to Japan after that incident with Okabe Rintarou many years back, but she still kept in touch with the remaining members.

"She said that she'll perhaps come in Winter to help me with the assembly of the 'K version 2.04'"

"You still working on that project, Daru-kun?" Mayuri asked.

"I thought you had decided to stop creating anymore future gadgets," Yuki said.

The "future gadget lab" had stopped its production and the building where it was located had been demolished to allow the construction of more modern apartments, and due to that, Kurisu and Daru kept the institution alive in a symbolic manner.

"This a little different than a future gadget. Makes-shi is sure that the time machine is safe and functional. As soon as I saw the blueprint, I couldn't stop being interested, it was like seeing a doujinshi triple X of spacial engineering."

Hashida Itaru thought that he could make money with the invention and with that, buy a mansion for his family. His dream was exaggerated, specially considering that Kurisu warned him about the dangers that the existence of such apparatus in the market posed, therefore, they wouldn't make it public or they would sell it. Either way, they decided to build it.

"What do you think Okarin? Won't you want to help us? You really liked those things when we were in the university."

But Okabe Rintarou wasn't paying attention to the chat at all. Instead, he constantly observed the chronometer of his Orange Smartwatch: it indicated that more than 27 minutes had gone by from the moment he programmed it, which was a bad signal. If the world line hadn't changed in that period of time, they'd spend several hours or even whole days before it did.

The grown ups continued with their trivial chat up until a childish voice distracted them:

"I remember now!"

Everyone watched Suzuha, waiting for her to say whatever she was going to say.

"Keitarou, that's the boy's name."

"Who is she talking about?" Hashida Itaru asked his wife.

"About her imaginary friend. He came to visit today."

"Eh, again?" her father lamented. "I wish it was at least a loli little friend with two pigtails."

That'd make it more fun to go along with her, because when Suzuha turned to her strange imaginary friend, everyone had to pretend he really existed.

"He's not an imaginary friend!" Suzuha insisted. "Keitarou is a real boy."

She was a "big girl" that could distinguish between fantasy and reality. Therefore, if she said that he was real, then he was real.

But the grown ups only responded in a condescending way, saying that they also believed it, despite using the work 'imaginary' over and over again referring to him. Suzuha could understand that they weren't taking her seriously and a little annoyed with her parents' attitude, she took her portable game system and went to play alone somewhere else.

"It looks like Suzu-chan got mad," Mayuri commented.

Okabe Rintarou didn't say anything, despite being the only person that could understand the girl's feelings. He knew that Suzuha hadn't imagined it, she simply remembered a person that, in theory, shouldn't.

He remembered a Kurisu's hypothesis that stated that the Reading Steiner was a phenomenon present in humans' neural development. Everyone was born with it, but its effects were progressively lost with the maturation process of the brain during childhood, until it disappeared almost completely at puberty. Every once in a while it could reactivate in dreams or under certain special situations, but only those that possessed a strange mutation could hold onto its unaltered effects throughout their life.

Okabe Shizuka had become quiet, perhaps fighting with her own confusing feelings. His younger daughter had inherited that mutation, so she will be conscious of the world line changes all her life, although she still wasn't old enough to interpret what her sudden change of identity consisted of.

Up until a certain point it was normal that she was quiet, but watching her more, Okabe noticed that the girl had a lifeless gaze. He had paid so much attention to the passing of time, that he had been careless when it came to paying attention to his daughter: whether the change lasted some minutes, hours or days, safeguarding her health should be his priority —like her real mother had requested—. Shizuka was still very young and the Reading Steiner could cause her secondary effects different to those of a grown up man that was used to the coming and going of world lines.

He took the girl into his arms; with the months she was becoming taller and heavier, but it wasn't something he couldn't do. As soon as he held her, he immediately knew she had a fever.

"It'll be best if Mayuri and I leave now," he commented. "Shizuka doesn't feel well and she needs to rest."

The Hashidas looked at Okabe Rintarou confused.

"Okarin, have you just mispronounced your daughter's name?"

But Okabe ignored Daru's question: he would never mispronounce her name, it didn't matter what the others called her. He didn't care if the attractor field wanted to name her Shizuna, Shizuku or Shizuyo, her second kanji had been chosen by Kurisu and that's an elections that he'll always respect. At least in that it could differ with Steins;Gate.

He waited until Mayuri picked up her belongings, said goodbye to the them and got ready to walk together to the train station.

According to his temporary spouse, they lived with his parents in Ikebukuro, which made things for Okabe easier: they didn't have to spend too much time alone with Mayuri. He didn't doubt himself by having to live with a woman that wasn't Kurisu, but he felt uncomfortable knowing that the Okabe Rintarou that Mayuri had in her mind was a very different person from the one she had in front of her now. Even though they both shared the same past and up until a certain point the same destiny, it had been years since the two 'Okabe Rintarou' had separated to choose different paths.

Mayuri followed him in silence, but when they were a certain distance away from the Hashidas, she pulled on Okabe's clothes making him stop.

"Okarin, I have a question. You and I, never got married?" she said surprising Okabe. "My memories, aren't real?"

He was speechless, did Mayuri also show signs of Reading Steiner? Something unusual must be happening in that world line for her to be able to sense that something was wrong.

"I'm sorry. It must be strange for you Mayuri," he responded, "but if this lasts too long, I promise I'll explain everything."

She shook her head, a little more calm knowing that she wasn't going crazy. "That's fine, I trust that Okarin will do the right thing."

He thought for a moment what 'doing the right thing' meant. Should he explain Mayuri that he remembered getting engaged and married to Makise Kurisu instead of her? That it was with Kurisu with whom he created a family and that they now lived together and happily in the United States? That he was in Japan for summer vacation, until a sudden world line change had completely ruined the day in the park? Everything would seem like an abrupt change for a person that wasn't guilty of having married him in another world line different from the one he had chosen.

The disparities between a line and the other seemed vast, but thinking about the bigger picture, there weren't big changes in the world. Only the life of Okabe Rintarou seemed affected within that attractor field, what made the shifts really bothersome for him. When it came to everything else, it all was the way it was supposed to be: Daru was married to Yuki and Suzuha was being raised by her parents, while the other lab members were each living their life. Mayuri and Kurisu were alive, and the threat from SERN was a thing of the past.

Lastly, his daughter will always be born. It was one of those 'convergences' that happened obligatory, even defying what humans understood as logic. This fact didn't bother him, since he was sure he could always find her, but he couldn't say that another important boy in his life had the same luck,

He saw from the distance that Hashida Suzuha was seated looking into the pond. She had quit the portable game system and seemed very disappointed. Perhaps 'the correct thing' to do would be let her know that her memories weren't a hallucination.

He asked Mayuri to take care of Shizuka, whom didn't resist anymore. He asked both to go ahead to the train station, while he went to talk to the girl with the braids:

"Suzuha."

She looked up.

"What's wrong, uncle Okarin?"

"The boy you were talking about, I know him as well. He's real."

The face of the girl brightened up, happy to know that she wasn't alone.

"I knew it! Uncle Okarin also remembers Keitarou?"

He assented with his head. He couldn't forget him.

"Tell me, do you know where he went? I hope he didn't get mad because I bit him racing."

Okabe Rintarou didn't know how to explain it. The truth was as ridiculous as perturbing: his son didn't exist at all now.

Since he didn't have an origin in that world line, and neither in many others, the world erased his trail. Although he wanted to find proof that Okabe Keitarou had existed, it was like chasing a fantasy; an illusion that didn't exist outside of his father's mind —and his sister's—. Kurisu herself warned that when he was in a different world line he shouldn't think too much about it or this could affect his mental health without her being able to help him, since she herself couldn't remember having had a son.

Luckily for everyone, the problem wasn't permanent. Sooner or later the displacement would end and things would go back to normal. Keitarou would be a physical person again, and Suzuha could interact with him again.

"He'll come back. I'll make sure that you guys meet when that happens."

The response didn't completely convinced the girl that wished Keitarou came back as soon as possible to continue playing together, but Okabe couldn't do anything about it either. Although he wanted to change the world line to bring him back, that was out of his possibilities.

Being patient wasn't fun, but they couldn't do anything else other than waiting.

"Nothing?" Suzuha asked intrigued. "You don't remember anything, absolutely anything, at all?"

It seemed like a true exaggeration, but the truth was that Keitarou couldn't remember anything.

"The last thing I remember is playing at the park with Hashida-san and then, bang! I woke up in this hospital."

She looked at him confused; Keitarou certainly was a very strange boy. He and his family had been spending all these days in Tokyo, even Suzuha remembered having invited him home to play.

But the morning of the previous day Okabe Keitarou suddenly collapsed for no apparent reason. He had a very high fever and remained unconscious no matter how hard his parents tried to get him to come to, so they had no choice but to take him to the hospital, where the doctors admitted him to child care. When he finally woke up, the boy couldn't remember anything that had happened during the course of last week. Not even a single detail: his memory had a big empty spot. Suzuha believed she heard that the adults called that 'amnesia.'

Keitarou did not seem to have any after-effects after the strange attack and manifested himself as feeling well once his temperature returned to normal, but instead of letting him go, the doctors kept him all night under observation. His international medical history indicated that the same thing had happened before, without a known cause.

"Couldn't it be the bacteria's fault?" Suzuha asked.

"No. Mom said this is something I was born with," Keitarou responded. "It's called 'Reading Steiner' and my dad also has it."

Although his dad didn't forget things like him, he didn't seem happy about having it.

"And can't you get rid of it?"

He moved his head negatively. Since it was 'genetic,' it'd be difficult to get rid of it and they would have to live with it until a cure was discovered.

A smaller girl with black hair came into the room running. She then got onto the bed with a little help and she hugged him strongly when she was next to him, as if he was one of her favorite stuffed animals.

"Onii-chan."

"It's okay Shizuka, I feel better."

The other children couldn't know that there had passed several days in which Shizuka hadn't seen her older brother and she had missed his presence.

"This is incredible!" a masculine voice exclaimed.

Okabe Rintarou was entering the room, taking one of his hands to his head.

"If I continue leaving my 'dear' wife to take charge, they will veto us from coming into any hospital around the world, and it still doesn't exist any medical insurance in space."

But even if it did exist, it surely wouldn't be cheap.

"And what did you want me to tell them, Rintarou?" Kurisu protested in her defense. "I understand that those practicing medics want to experiment with their medical knowledge, but they better not try it with our son, or don't they have a hospital full of children where to pick from?"

Luckily, Okabe Kurisu (whom preferred being called by her maiden name) didn't make those comments at his work or she'd have big problems with her University's Bioethical Commission.

Moments before, the Okabe marriage was arguing with the Pediatric's Chief. He tried to convince them that Keitarou needed to stay longer in the hospital. Since the professionals didn't understand the causes that provoked the strange syncope that he was admitted for, they wanted to take several biochemical and neurological studies to ensure that he didn't have an underlying pathology.

But the Okabes didn't care about the fact anymore. Once their son came back after the change in the world line, he didn't seem to show other problems than the loss of memory from everything that happened during the interval of time. The latter was understandable, knowing the nature of the situation. Taking neurological studies could cause a commotion in the medical community that was still clueless about how the Reading Steiner phenomenon worked, and they felt more at peace keeping the secret.

That's why they insisted in getting him out of the hospital as soon as possible to take him back home. The chief doctor didn't have another option but to give them the discharge paperwork.

"Young padawan, your mother and I had to rescue you from these agents. We'll be back to our operations base shortly."

They hoped that the fact would make him as happy as them, who wished to end with this nightmare soon. They knew better than anybody else that their son hated being in the hospital, but as parents, they couldn't get rid of the medical help when it was needed.

Okabe Keitarou simply nodded without much energy.

"What's wrong? Aren't you happy to leave the hospital?"

"That's not it mom," the boy said looking out of the window "but, can we stay a little longer?"

Rintarou and Kurisu looked at each other feeling ashamed. They both understood well that their family's vacation had been a total failure, and although they couldn't control the instability of the Steins;Gate, they felt a little guilty that things turned out that way.

"I'm sorry, I know you would've loved experiencing more of Japan, but we both have to go back to work. Perhaps your dad can bring you back when he comes back in Winter, would you like that?"

Okabe Rintarou would get back in January to work next to Hashida Itaru assembling a certain secret apparatus that the three of them were building. But there were several months before that, and although for a grown up it wasn't a lot of time, for a boy it represented an eternity.

"Aunt Kurisu, uncle Okarin, doesn't Keitarou have a phone yet?" Suzuha asked a question that got the adults' attention.

"Well, not his own, but he tends to use ours." Kurisu responded.

"And can he have one? That way I could call him?"

"Really? would you call me Hashida-san?"

Suzuha assured him that she would. They could make video calls through Internet, plus, she'd send him several images, videos and other files that she had about Japan so he could better know about it. For his part, Keitarou could do the same, but from the United Sates, and he could even teach her some English. There were also some children's games applications that they could share.

They both lived in different sides of the ocean, but for two kids born in the XXI century, distances didn't mean anything. They could always find a way to continue having fun together.

"Can I have my own phone, mom? Please!"

Her son insisted about it, but Kurisu doubted if she should allow it. Even when for the time it was normal that children had access to technology since very little, she considered that if they wanted to interact, it'd be best if they did under supervision. It wasn't good to let them do as they pleased: her maternal instincts didn't trust much what effects that friendship could produce longterm.

However, before she could say something, her husband intervened.

"I will authorize the acquisition of a personal phone as long as you make sure to meet certain conditions."

Okabe Keitarou paid a lot of attention, and his father, with his hands on his back, began to number them one by one:

Rule number one: The use of the apparatus would be restricted to "private communications between Okabe Keitarou and Hashida Suzuha" as its main objective. That meant that it couldn't be used to communicate with strangers, specially if they declared to belong to the "Organization." He could't use it for other purposes without the knowledge and authorization of his parents either. This, without exceptions.

Rule number two: The use of the apparatus would be restricted to the authorized schedule and places. He couldn't use at school, during his bedtime or time to eat, neither take too long during calls. He couldn't allow it to interfere with his other activities and he had to fulfill all of his responsibilities, the present and future ones. The no compliance of this rule qualified as a good enough reason to confiscate the apparatus. This, without excuses.

Rule number three: This didn't exist yet, but in the case that it was needed to formulate it, whether by him or by his mother, Keitarou had to be willing to obey it. This, without reproaches.

"Have I been clear? Will you be able to carry the weight of the responsibility on your shoulders?"

If his son was sure to do it, he had no other impediments.

"Yes! I will behave, I promise!"

"Then it's decided. We'll choose a suitable one when we get home."

The saddened face of the boy had completely transformed, until turning into the vivid image of happiness.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you so much! You are the best dad in the world!"

The recognition was a little exaggerated for a simple phone, but in general, Keitarou tended to be that way when expressing himself, therefore Okabe Rinatrou could feel more than satisfied with his paternal job. However, his wife tried to hide the laugh faced with the unexpected comment from her son.

"Do you have anything to object, Kurisu?"

"No, in fact, I believe I couldn't agree more," she responded, stopping laughing and winking at Okabe. Right after, she talked to her children. "Children, what do you think about before leaving we go to the aquatic park and later to eat dinner? 'The best dad in the world' is paying for all of us."

Rintarou understood that Kurisu pretended using his new acquired title on her benefit.

"Hashida-san too?" Keitarou asked, whom didn't want to leave his friend behind.

"Of course, her parents are down there. They can come too."

The children were very happy with the plan, but Okabe wouldn't allow Kurisu to get away with her intentions: she didn't take into account that if the Hashidas went with them, there would be two fathers present and he didn't care about sharing his denomination as 'the best dad in the world' with Daru, so they both could split the check.

But more important than the expenses, Okabe Rintarou didn't want to put any obstacles to those happy moments. After the events of that week, he just wanted to enjoy a good time with his family.

It was the calm after the storm.

Or perhaps… was it the calm that preceded it?