AN: (Parentheses and underline): ("Stock reader's comments", but it's actually me being a goof)
Underline: Actual author's speech
Italics: English in both dialogue and exposition
Normal text: Japanese and exposition
Also, I do use the kanji for one 一 -Ichi, courtesy of Google Translate- to show the passage of time. If you see 2 of these then the time passed a lot. -I tried other methods, but seemingly this website, which also doesn't allow me to write its own name, doesn't want me to express my artistic freedom...-
Note: On the holy day of 16/02/2021, I decided to 'fix' my mostly terrible writing in earlier chapters of my two longfics. This is fix number: 1. The number of chapters I redid for this story is: 1 If you're reading this message, that means that you're reading the better version. Which is good. But... Enough from me there.
CHAPTER REVISED.
Chapter 1: The Schrödinger-Kerr collision
? ?th , ?, ?:?
It was a wonderful starry night outside in Academy City. People were mostly absent from the streets, except for a few couples (of lovers obviously) that could be seen stargazing here and there. Everything was quiet and peace-
*Boom*
An explosion could be heard coming from the Geomagnetic Anomaly Research Laboratory, a place handling the affairs of a particularly gruesome experiment called "the Level 6 Shift" (though this was obviously kept away from the public, no doubt about that). Lots of smoke poured out from a hole in the wall of said place. Anyone close enough to it could probably swear that "they'd heard yelling and calls for help coming from the inside of it". However, if they listened in closer, they'd be very surprised. Those were the calls for help from someone getting killed and begging for mercy after all. There weren't even any terrorists in sight. One could only see two young people bickering amongst themselves. One of them was a young girl, who looked to be around 14. She had chestnut coloured hair and brown eyes. Many Academy City inhabitants would immediately recognize her (unless they were ignorant of such things, which almost half of them were). After all, that was the Railgun herself! But who was the man in front of her?
"I am the great mad scientist… Hou~~ouin~~ Kyoma!" The scruffy-looking man, who had black hair, brown eyes, and a lab coat on baffled the girl with his antics. She looked completely dumbstruck by such a display. She'd be less surprised if she suddenly met her "sparring partner/spiky and annoying Level 0".
As expected of him, he immediately continued "Introduce yourself properly! Are you an Agent of the Organization!?"
Before Mikoto had time to restate her identity again, he brought out a phone, which simply wasn't turned on "Yes, it's me… Understood… Judging from the sparks you emit, girl, from this now on I shall call you by your code name." (Hmm… what's a good one… Oh, I know! Electricity kiddo!) (Hey, hold on! At least she won't get mad at him! Though girls do hate being called something weird, right?) "Biri-Biri!" (Yep, probably a worse choice than the other one in hindsight, sir) He paused and as he did sparks started appearing all around him
"Any questions!?" he exclaimed the question, completely oblivious to the situation he really shouldn't have put himself in.
He looked over to the girl. Needless to say that the look on the melodramatic, 177cm tall man changed instantly.
"Like I said… My name is not Biri-Biri… It's Misaka Mikoto!" shouted Misaka Mikoto, sending a big wave of electricity at the poor soul in front of her.
"Sorry! Terribly sorry! Please forgive me!" 'Hououin Kyoma' shouted back at Misaka, while doing a Japanese 90-degree bow.
He then started stating his real identity seemingly faster than the speed of light in the hopes that he'd finish his speech before the electricity would him to a crisp "My name is Okabe Rintaro! Born December 14th, 1991! Male! Student of Tokyo Denki University! Never have I wished to inflict any verbal or physical harm to a wonderful lady such as yourself! And please forgive this Okabe Rintaro for this improper display of manhood!"
Thankfully for our 'more than Houoin Kyoma', she stopped right before Okabe's worst fears become reality.
"*Hmph* Given your chuunibyou antics, I should have figured you're not one of the people working here. Though I have to admit, calling yourself a mad scientist and wearing a lab coat did not help me, OKA-BE RIN-TA-RO-SAN." she made sure to voice her displeasure at the stranger and sighed.
Misaka slightly chuckled afterwards, reminding herself of "the true mad scientists" who ruined her life with a certain despicable project that she came to stop in the exact place she was at right now, not paying attention to what the guy was doing.
"Kurisu… Kurisu!" Okabe desperately called out to something all of a sudden, stunning Mikoto.
"Wha- What!?" Misaka screams, while very surprised, at the man, who suddenly started charging at her after he saw seemingly an illusion of someone named Kurisu. He charged in to hug 'Kurisu' only to find out that 'the person who presumed to be Kurisu' stepped out of the way.
"Oops…" Misaka said as she tried to grab the gigantic (by Japanese standards) man "Hey, you're not as heavy as I thought you'd be".
"Kurisu…" Okabe stared at the floor, with Misaka is holding him around his stomach area.
...Okabe realized that Kurisu was not there with him, it was just a simple mirage.
A damned mirage of someone who was more dead even his other fellow Lab Members.
Tears start to form, but he quickly brushed them off only to push Misaka's hands away as he stood up, taking his sweet time to recollect how he got into his predicament.
"Lintalo!" said a 'man with a very American accent' as he entered the cell.
He was around 60 years of age. Though... He was probably not in need of any introduction.
"You were trying to get to the past using your time leap machine. You failed. Your comrades are dead, and we have secured your hideout. Special thanks to Amadeus-" he sounded very confident, even slightly smug that he won against Okabe.
"Kurisu!? Leskinen, you bastard! What have you done to her!?" Okabe interrupted Leskinen with a shout.
"Relax, Okabe-kun, she has already joined your other friends." was the only reply he got from him, prompting Okabe to gasp in shock and horror, his fists slowly clenching. And yet... Okabe somehow maintained his cool.
"You will now show me how to use the Time Machine, so your friends won't have to die… in that time..." Leskinen explained the order that Okabe would not refuse.
Though... Okabe rightfully didn't believe a single word from the accursed mouth of Leskinen.
Someone as bad as 'that American' would save his comrades?
Okabe considered his own chuunibuyou antics funnier, despite them not being intended to be funny.
But...
That was the only shot he had at it.
That prompted Okabe to start wondering if he should actually help him come back to the past and actually see his friends once more, future be damned.
It was damned whether he'd help Leskinen or he'd stay his prisoner forever by refusing 'the gracious offer'.
Okabe knew...what the only way to proceed was.
"Yes…" Okabe replied reluctantly, though with enough affirmation in his voice to let Leskinen know that this wasn't a ploy.
Still, the news... were horrible. Okabe felt like his life was cleanly swept under the rug by convergence. By the accursed world he lived in.
He needed a plan.
He desperately needed one.
Leskinen, Okabe, and some security goons wasted no time as they started walking away from Okabe's holding cell to the place that was his home for 1320 time leaps to the past, which were cut short by the predicament he found himself in, the main hideout for Valkyrie.
His home.
一
The walk was long.
Desperate.
Purposeless.
But he needed a plan.
And so, Okabe thought it up.
Bit by bit.
Possibility by possibility.
Enemy's reaction by enemy's reaction.
This was a plan-
No...
THE PLAN.
In the meantime, he readied himself to enact it.
"Like hell, I'm going to give Professor Leskinen the Time Machine." He thought.
On the way, the two goons decided to have a little meaningless chat amongst themselves. Sounding very dumb and rather cowardly throughout, as was the norm in a post-WW3 world.
"Hey, what do you think will happen to us?" a tall, evidently muscle-headed goon mooed to his colleague as if he was dumber than a corrida bull.
"Who knows!? As long as we're getting paid, we'll survive this mess and live the rich life!" the slightly less muscle-headed and smarter goon spoke up. Though... in actuality, he said something dumber than his colleague. If Leskinen and Okabe were to travel to the past and alter things, chances were: they'd be lying dead in some horrible rat-infested ditch.
Soon enough, they reached the hideout of Valkyrie, the door to which has been pried open.
Okabe already knew what that meant, his eyes widening as he realized that he wasn't lied to.
Thankfully, all of the bodies that Okabe assumed might have been there before had already been cleaned out by the time he, Leskinen, and the goons entered, leaving only the bullet holes and a couple of craters in the floor, which were likely a result of grenade explosions, as the evidence of the terrible occurrence that Okabe had yet to wrap his head around.
Professor Leskinen played all his cards right. Maybe.
It was highly likely that if our time-traveling protagonist were to see the state of his comrades' bodies, he would have thrown up and fainted right there, prompting Leskinen to lose precious time and incite questions from those who might have called him out for leaving them and going back in time.
Even if most of his men were as dumb as a rock, Leskinen was not someone who'd risk his fortune like that.
That's not why he sent Kagari into the past.
As for Okabe though...
...Had he still remained his Alpha world line self, he would have fainted right there and then.
Just the implication of his friends being irreversibly dead and seeing the place where fighting took place would have been enough.
Yet...
This time was different.
He was different.
He had a plan.
THE PLAN.
"Hurry up." Leskinen instructed him to open and start up the prototype time machine with his signature phrase.
Okabe did as he was told.
He climbed inside and started up all the things necessary for time travel.
He was lucky he got some knowledge about it from Daru and Hiyajo-san. Otherwise, he'd now be dead and the world would have been even more doomed with Leskinen going to the past alone and not with Okabe.
"All done!" exclaimed a tired Okabe after a while. Setting up the time machine was no easy task.
"*Hehe*" Okabe internally chuckled and smirked evilly until it was time to stop.
Letting Leskinen know he had a plan was equivalent to shouting "I'll kill you!" and running towards a soldier wielding an M134 Minigun.
Leskinen made a swift entrance into the time machine and was delighted to see Okabe somewhat sad (though this was deliberate) and the Time Machine in working order.
"Start it up." Leskinen ordered as he pulled out a pistol and pointed it Okabe's way just to make sure.
"Yes." Okabe said in an obedient if somewhat annoyed tone before pressing a couple of buttons (all of it being part of the act).
The hatch closed and the Time Machine started doing its thing as the inside of it started to fill with white particles.
The unusual 'comrades in time travel' that were Okabe and Leskinen were, in fact, very much 'doing its charging-up before going back into the past'.
Okabe slowly made his way to a white glowing sphere on the side of the time machine which was starting to glow.
Fortunately, Leskinen noticed nothing out of place, despite the fact that the glowing sphere was supposed to be stored away at the bottom and that it was in the 'emergency repair mode' in its current position.
Leskinen was so relaxed that he even put his gun onto the seat next to him. But...
That was until he heard Okabe perform his signature mad scientist laugh and saw Okabe affirm the pose where he outstretches his arms and looks up above him. The time machine was already leaping through time and making its distinct noise as it happened.
"Mu-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" laughed our hero "Professor Alexis Leskinen! We are mad scientists first and foremost! We strive to control the world! We hold hostages! We fight Organizations! We try to achieve our ambitions! But! We are different! You fight for yourself! I fight for my comrades! Let us fight no more! For no one at all!" While this was happening, Alexis Leskinen was trying to figure out if Okabe has gone mad from loss, is doing something friendly or is, in fact, betraying him.
That was until Okabe gave-
No, he showed him what he meant.
Okabe grabbed one of the time machine's seats that he previously unscrewed (as he was starting up the Time Machine) and smashed the white glowing orb with it. It was the power generator for the whole thing. What would happen after that was self-evident, given that Okabe and Leskinen were traveling back in time.
Leskinen was dumbstruck, but still pulled out his pistol and did his best to swiftly bring fire it at Okabe, falsely hoping that this was all a joke on Okabe's part and that he didn't just send them to their immediate death. Leskinen hoped he'd at least get Okabe killed before they both die or he'd kill Okabe before arriving into the past, which was also a plus since he'd have to not worry about him whatsoever. The question was: convergence. But Leskinen had high hopes that convergence would not forsake him that day.
Even still, that hope of Leskinen was futile and misplaced.
The entire swift series of events all happened in under about a second.
"The universe has no end or beginning – Infinite! But people have – Finite! We are no universe, we are people! Sayonara! Leskinen!" shouted Okabe at the top of his lungs, while maintaining an evil grin aimed at his co-passenger.
The Time Machine exploded.
Or rather, the reactor of it did.
Enveloping the Time Machine and its two occupants in endless...
...white...
一
Soon enough, Okabe found himself in some sort of void with Leskinen nowhere to be seen despite him being less than 2 meters away just a second ago. "He might end up in the same place as me if me and Leskinen are going somewhere. We were not very far apart in the physical world of the time machine." Okabe figured.
He wasn't sure if he said it loud or not. But he doubted it would matter.
"Serves you right, Professor!" exclaimed Okabe to no one in particular as the void did not appear to have anyone or anything else present. It wasn't black or white or any colour or lack thereof for that matter.
一
一
It
一
一
was
一
一
a
一
一
literal
一
一
void.
一
一
He didn't know how much time had spent there; his watch broke amidst it all somehow. Perhaps it was the time machine exploding, perhaps he broke it while fixing it. It was extremely trivial and didn't matter whatsoever.
一
一
On second thought, he might have been replaced by a different worldline version of himself back in 'existence' for all he knew.
一
一
He just floated there, 'somewhere there'.
一
一
Staring
一
一
into
一
一
the
一
一
nothingness.
一
一
The next thing he knew was that some sort of ground was approaching.
Was he falling this entire time before that?
He had no idea.
He thought he would die from the rough landing, but he didn't. The speed of his fall was greatly exaggerated.
But...
...upon 'hitting' whatever appeared to be 'the ground'...
...He blacked out.
After that, he had dreams of his old life.
Very vivid ones.
It was like he was 'actually living', but since they repeated and cycled themselves, Okabe assumed that they can't be real.
They were mostly filled with pain and suffering from what Okabe assumed were 'other worldlines'.
Even his time when he was trying to save Mayuri didn't seem as bad in comparison.
However, he never once felt any pain physical pain in them. It was a similar thing to the dreams where someone is falling and wakes before they hit the ground.
It was all a blur.
Strange.
Weird.
Okabe couldn't put two and two together as to how he ended up 'hitting the ground' somewhere, only to find himself having multiple extremely long dreams of all sorts afterwards.
There was one 'dream' in particular though.
In that dream, he appeared in a dark room (appearing somewhere was quite common, 'the void', which Okabe assumed controlled his dreams, always spat him at random times in random worldlines, always as himself.) with desks all around him. It was an office of some sort.
The desk, where he was seated, was halfway from the window and next to the exit from the small office space.
There was a wall next to him.
For some reason, Okabe started to think about explosions.
He theorized that if someone would blow something up, the wall next to him would be their first target.
Not for any particular reason, just a gut feeling.
He checked the clock and calendar that were hung up on the wall.
He saw that the time and date August 17th, 2005, 20:00.
There was a note next to the clock. It read: "Remember to not let Pila-chan out after 20:30, they have curfew at Tokiwadai even before that time and she will be taken in by the authorities otherwise." Okabe chuckled at the thought of this woman's (the handwriting made it obvious) situation with her kid, whatever their relation (guardian, parent, or otherwise) to each other might have been. He also thought that this Tokiwadai place was too strict. Well, unless it was a kindergarten.
He went to check outside the window and found an unfamiliar city outside. It looked too futuristic for Tokyo. He appeared to be on the second floor of the building he found himself in.
Maybe it was a dream, in which this world had a bright future ahead of it, but then he remembered the date and understood his mistake. He didn't like this dream. He liked being with his friends.
Even if the world was doing 'perfectly fine', he'd lose all meaning in life if he found out that none of his friends could ever come back.
Okabe knew himself pretty well and he understood that this dream will give him the view of a bright future where neither he, nor Mayuri, nor Kurisu, nor anyone else exists and remind him of his failure to save his own future, despite this place being the 'past' probably.
Though despite the fact that Okabe hated having 'his friends and comrades remain dead'...
...he promised himself that if he finds himself back in reality, he will save it whatever it might hold.
Though at the time the world didn't seem real to him.
It was some made-up story world or something probably.
As such, he went back to his desk where 'the void has spawned him' and went to sleep.
He knew full well that by doing that, he'd be transported to another dream.
He wanted that.
He did the whole 'falling asleep at the start point thing' so many times that it'd probably not make sense for him to come back to reality.
To any reality.
Ever.
一
"Too
一
many
一
times
一
to
一
count."
一
He thought he fell asleep on that desk.
一
*Boom*
He jolted and sat up straight as a nearby explosion caused ringing in his ears. He caught a glimpse of the time on the clock. It was 20:34.
The explosion could be heard very clearly. It was the wall next to him. "What a surprise." He internally chuckled at his own sarcasm.
At first, he thought the wall was blown up by terrorists or something. They were rather prevalent in those dreams of his.
He'd wait a minute to hear them rumbling below only to confront them and look at them from above through the hole in the wall.
Then he would exclaim something cool. Something like: "Gotcha, sonuvabitch!".
After all, he fell asleep and this was a new dream, right?
Then it hit him.
He was still there.
"THIS IS THE SAME SPOT!" Okabe's thought was full of shock.
Evidently, it wasn't a dream if he remained in place, despite the 'usual procedure' being followed.
It was certain.
He was going to get killed by terrorists of this unknown Japanese city.
THIS WAS REAL!
After a couple of seconds, a girl, who appeared to be a middle schooler, wearing some shorts, a black t-shirt, and a cap, jumped into the hole and landed near another desk. She had electricity going in arcs around her body throughout the whole process.
Okabe no longer thought this was real.
Some kind of ability?
Electricity being generated out of nowhere?
Time Travel would sound more feasible to a version of him before he'd discovered D-Mails.
He chuckled again internally. He guessed that he should play along with the whole charade. He couldn't die after all. "You can't die in the void, right? You're already dead." Okabe thought.
She looked around and noticed him sitting at the desk. "Oh great… This time it's not empty." She said without much life in her voice, though hostility was present.
"Why do you keep doing these experiments, you sick scientists!?" She suddenly shouted at Okabe, sounding enraged for some reason.
"No! Science is infinite! Like the universe!" He exclaimed, trying to diffuse the situation.
"There's also the fact that it's fun." He muttered under his breath.
"And You?! Are you the Agent of the Organization, Denki-shoujo!?" Okabe shouted back with extreme bravado as he jumped up from his seat and pointed a finger at her, almost enough to hit her eye with it.
"The name's Misaka Mikoto!" She yelled back with an annoyed tone, but quickly covered her mouth post-factum. It could be assumed that she was not supposed to say that, but couldn't help herself.
Did she hate being called weird nicknames?
She definitely hated being called weird nicknames.
"And who are you!?" she exclaimed, maintaining a deadly glare. It seemed like calling her 'Denki-shoujo' agitated her even further.
As Okabe wasn't bothered by any 'weirdness' present in his dreams (powers included), he chose to completely disregard the glare placed on him. As well as the namecalling.
He didn't have anyone to tease in a long while and 'Denki-shoujo' seemed like someone fun to interact with. Even if she was fake.
"Unless she threatens me for real, I'm not caving!" he thought to himself, prepared to push her until he'd get properly threatened. Because that's the only thing he'd ever done lately in those dreams of his.
He started to introduce himself in his usual fashion. "I am the great mad scientist… Hou~~ouin~~...
And thus, Okabe completely recollected the events that lead him to his strange predicament.
Okabe stood up straight, looking very dejected for some reason.
Misaka is wondering what's going on through her eccentric senpai's head. At least, he didn't seem like a terrible person even if he did somehow work on this hellish project. Though she'd have to make him forget her name and-
"Hey, is this real?" he interrupted her train of thought in a tone she immediately recognized. That's the same tone in which she spoke to Shinobu about it all a couple of days prior. This 'Okabe guy' must have learned the truth and stayed at work, feeling like a bad person after he'd accidentally helped the soulless researchers. He probably came to regret his decision to help the project. It was highly likely that this was just an unfortunate internship for him as he did say that he was a university student.
"Yes, the clones… My clones… They are getting killed left and right…" Mikoto felt tears starting to form. She'd finally found someone sane. Maybe meeting him will help her shut the whole thing down for good.
"Is that what you mean, Okabe-senpai?" she asked him through her tears, completely believeing his 'university story'. "Wait... Senpai...?" she thought to herself "He's not my senpai, he was born the same year I was. What is go-"
"CLONES?!" he shouted, completely stunning Mikoto "I'm not talking about clones!
Is?!
this?!
world?!
real!?" he emphasized each word he spoke.
"HUH?! Of course, it is!" She shouted back, unsure how to take it.
"Does it feel real to you?!" In a fit of anger (mostly at her misplaced trust in this guy), Mikoto proceeded to slap him on the cheek to make sure he feels he is in reality.
Okabe was mildly sent flying by the slap and felt the sensation. What was it called? Uh, yes. Pain!
As he rolled a couple of times on the ground, the series made it sound like a truck hit him as Mikoto started to wonder if this guy was actually less athletic than Mental Out. She still remained unconviced that he was hurt. She didn't slap him that hard.
"Nah, no way. She'd be hospitalized after that." she brushed off that trail of thought. But Shokuhou was indeed a 'special case' when it came to athletics.
Without further ado, Okabe stood up from the slap, feeling quite reinvigorated about the newfound information.
"Mu-ha-ha-ha-ha!" he stood up doing his signature laugh and pose.
His 'mad scientist laugh' was mixed in with a silent tear or two coming out of his eye sockets at the same time.
He was out of the void.
And he was in a world which had no global conflicts. No wars. No death. No suffering. This place was 'somewhere in Japan', where it was peaceful, secure, and without any strange. (He obviously didn't hear Misaka...)
"Yes… it's me… I've escaped Leskinen and the Organization... The Time Machine no longer threatens the world, World War 3 has been prevented, and I've traveled back from 2036 and I've met a girl who seemingly has electricity powers… I've escaped both Beta and Alpha Attractor Fields… Yes… Steins;Gate version 2.32 has been reached…
EL
PSY
KONGROO~~"
he finished his all-too-iconic chuunibyou speech.
"HUH?! Which time machine are you talking about!? Have you lost your mind?!" she shouted at him… Again...
"The Time Machine!" he shouted back at her "The one and only! If someone's lost their mind, it's you!".
"No, our problem are the Clones!" she shouted back too.
"Time Machine!" he shouted back, back.
"Clones!" she shouted back, back too.
" C_L_O_N_E_S" she spelled her word out for him.
" T_I_M_E_M_A_C_H_I_N_E" he spelled his one out too.
"CLONES!" she shouted again.
"TIME MACHINE!" he shouted again.
"CLONES!" she shouted again.
"TIME MACHINE!" he shouted again.
"CLONES!" she shouted again.
"TIME MACHINE!" he shouted again.
"CLONES!" she shouted again.
"TIME MACHINE!" he shouted again.
"CLONES!" she shouted again.
"TIME MACHINE!" he shouted again.
"CLONES!" she shouted again.
"TIME MACHINE!" he shouted again.
They continued this for a decent amount of time actually.
About a minute or so.
They only stopped when they ran out of breath.
""Wait!"" both of them exclaim, huffing and puffing due to the 'shout-fiesta', their posture completely crooked as they bent over.
"CLONES!" he shouted for once.
"TIME MACHINE!" she shouted for once back.
""What the hell have you been dealing with, huh!?"" they collectively shouted at each other.
*BVREEEEE*
The facility's sirens started ringing.
Misaka knew where to go to finish what she came to do in the first place.
She had studied the facilities' blueprints beforehand. So much so that she quickly blasted a hole in the wall that had all the server hardware in it, the hardware she came to destroy.
The hardware housing all the data for Level 6 Shift.
Luckily, that wall on the other side of the small office room, so she merely had to send a big wave of electricity at it to destroy it.
Also, despite the shouting exchange, she wasn't tired. She'd easily be able to make a run for it without letting anyone know who she was.
Mikoto was pretty athletic and no amount of shouting would make her run any slower. Every time she'd have one of those with Kuroko, she'd be very much on the teleporter's 'tail' if she'd have to give chase.
But...
...one problem remained.
Thus, she picked up 'the man-sized problem', placing him lack a sack over her shoulder and swiftly made her way out of the hole she'd made earlier in order to get in. Even though Mikoto was 'no Shokuhou', she still had to carry the university student as she didn't think he'd be anything other than a Level 0, but they both knew he practically had no muscle, making him rather light for his size, so Mikoto assumed she'd be all right.
Okabe was still out of breath from the shouting exchange as he was being carried away, but he realized something...
His dreams were 'the experience of other parallel Okabes' from the other worldlines.
"Wait... how the hell do I know that?! Did I live through lives of myself from every possible worldline?! This... Does this all mean I am allowed to designate myself 'Void Okabe' if I meet my 'alternate version' or something?!" somehow his stunned mind moved from scary thoughts to a joke. A joke that caused to move about as he tried to contain his laughter.
"Stop wobbling about!" Misaka lightly punched him in the stomach, winding him.
"I'm trying to keep my magnetic field intact so that we actually get away, don't fall to our death and so that our theoretical possible pursuers won't kill us! Don't distract me!" she exclaimed, sounding pretty annoyed at the literal burden of a person she was carrying with her.
Okabe complied as he stopped moving but started talking.
"You know girls are not supposed to carry older men? I would prefer princess-style carry though." he chuckled as he joked a bit.
Misaka's face was pricelessly reddened by that.
"Shut up!" she yelled at him again, while blushing profusely.
He complied.
Both of them landed almost next to the exit, which Misaka was about to make in the fence of the facility. She put him down, grabbed his hand (not really realizing or worrying about the implications when they could be properly targeted by someone), and started sprinting away.
Somehow, Okabe is able to somewhat keep up (probably because being pulled helped him run faster).
It was truly 'great luck' that the Facility had no fence around the main gate, not since around 5 minutes before the explosion thanks to a certain girl with electromagnetic powers who broke it and went inside using the old-fashioned way.
Probably she was upset about not beating the boss at the arcade earlier or something.
While running, Misaka realized that this 'Okabe' would probably put a halt to her activities as this would probably be her first and last facility tonight.
She needed answers from him.
She needed answers a lot.
It'd probably be even wiser not to go to the dorm that night. Yeah, she'd call Kuroko and ask her to cover for her again.
This Time Travel business she overheard from Okabe seemed pretty damn important.
Okabe's thoughts paralleled what 'the Biri-Biri Misaka girl' was thinking.
He figured they'd need to stick together and collectively figure out where 'this' was and what to do with these clones…
Clones?
This girl's clones?!
"Oh no! Not good! If Leskinen is also in this world… and is working with the person who created 'clone Biri-Biris', they'll have an unstoppable and unbeatable army of Electropeople!" Okabe gasped internally. Whenever they'd stop, he would need answers from Misaka immediately. He didn't have time to be exhausted by 'his first run in god knows how long'. He would need answers immediately after they'd stop at a safe spot of some kind.
Okabe was pretty sure that Misaka would ask him similar questions regarding time travel too.
Meanwhile, Misaka silently praised herself for paying upfront for 5 more consecutive days and nights in the hotel beforehand in case something happened.
Which it obviously did.
She somehow wasn't bothered by the handholding though. It probably wasn't the time nor place to be bothered by it.
They wouldn't really look like a couple from the onlookers' point of view (if those were out on the street, which they mostly weren't).
The two were more like a young girl dragging her uncle or older friend somewhere. Luckily, despite the nearby explosions, Okabe's and Misaka's clothes were in good enough shape to not arouse any sort of suspicion about them being part of some weird scheme, not that Academy City residents paid much attention to that anyways. It was mostly just Okabe being overly paranoid and applying too much of his own experience.
They made swift way towards the hotel, only using up a couple of minutes for that.
"Wait. *haah* *haah*" Misaka huffed and puffed as they reached the entrance to the hotel.
"Hold on, a hotel?! I thought you'd at least be a resident he-!" Okabe protested.
"*Shhhh*" only to be 'shushed silent' by Mikoto.
"I rented a room up in there. Let's go in normally." Mikoto whispered to him.
"Normally?!" Okabe half-whispered.
"You know that I'm not even supposed to be in this city, right?!" Okabe gave away a very important card straight-away. He had a nagging feeling that he could trust her.
Mikoto looked him up and down. She deduced that he was around 18 since he claimed to be a university student. First-year of university probably, since his looks would probably be less messy if he was a second-year or above. All the older university students Mikoto met looked at least decently presentable in some business meeting they might have had in their plans.
"So you need to be completely stealthily, right? Who the hell are you even?" she questioned.
"Not now. Just tell me how to best get in. Do I pretend to be a friend or relative or something?" Okabe whispered.
"No, they keep records of all residents who come and go. I'll distract them, you go inside the room first. Here's the key." Mikoto gave him the key and motioned to go after 'she'd start it' with her eyes.
Okabe nodded.
She leisurely headed inside the hotel and sprung up a little chit-chat with the receptionist.
"I'm sorry for asking for directions this late. But you see I can't find the map for district 19 anywhere and-" Okabe heard Misaka start talking to the receptionist but stopped listening part-way.
Okabe nodded again and prepared to 'Operation Intrude N313', hopefully without having to fight any Metal Gears or 'Patriots' after that.
But even if those appeared, Okabe steeled himself to make Solid Snake and Big Boss proud (or die trying).
All jokes aside, when Misaka successfully managed to distract the receptionist by asking random questions about the city (that she probably already knew), Okabe quickly sneaked past the reception and did his best to emulate the evasion strategies he used 'on the day Kurisu died' as well as his 'other worldline dreams'. The world he found himself in might not have necessarily been in danger, but keeping human contacts to a minimum until he'd figure it all out was for the best.
Mikoto, however, did her best to appear a normal person, just having slight difficulties with the city's layout. She wasn't too worried about being seen, but she did try to act especially calm so that nobody would catch her 'time-traveler senpai'. After all, he didn't seem to lie about his age. Mikoto had never seen 14-year olds so thin and tall. (Though that probably stemmed from her never meeting a particular 'Innocentius Magician', but that's a whole other thing).
In the meantime, Okabe managed to successfully reach the 4th floor of the Hotel where Misaka's room was located.
He wasted no time to open the door with the electronic key and successfully sneak in after that.
The 'strongest Electromaster' had already taken care of the cameras by causing them to cycle the footage around for a bit when she and Okabe stood outside the hotel.
Cameras were the last place this Okabe guy's face needed to show up if 'the time travel shenanigan' was real.
"-and thank you too!" Mikoto finished her idle 'distractio chit-chat' as she headed up the stairs to the 4th floor, where her room was located. Hopefully, she wasn't completely duped by this Okabe guy who now had her key.
*knock*
Mikoto knocked once to let him know it was her. Any other person would probably knock at least twice.
The door opened and Okabe sneakily pulled her in, keeping the contact between the hallway and whoever might see his face to a minimum.
"So, what are-?" Mikoto was about to ask.
"The Organization could be listening!" Okabe exclaimed and eyed Mikoto seriously.
Whatever 'The Organization' was, he wasn't joking.
He promptly turned towards the couple of windows and closed them dead-shut without any sign of stopping to ensure the greatest soundproofing.
He took a glance at the time yet again.
It was 20:40.
Misaka silently tapped him on the shoulder and signaled him to go inside the bathroom.
Neither of them had time for such trivial questions, so he swiftly complied.
"Bathrooms have the best sound isolation in hotel rooms, right?" Okabe thought.
The two of them quickly entered, shutting the door. He seated himself on the edge of the bathtub and she seated herself on the toilet with the lid closed.
""Alright!"" both of them exclaim.
""You! Answers!"" the shouting exchange (although at a low enough volume so that no one outside of their room would hear them) continued.
Note from the 15/02/2021 update: Everything down below is a bunch of half-nonsense from when I first posted the chapter. I think so at the very least. Read at your own discretion.
(So did anyone understand the true difference between his speech in the original anime and here? Here he said that the Universe has NO beginning. Maybe he generated an AIM field or something that made true Multiverse theory possible, instead of the parallel worldlines that we have before)
Thanks for noticing. Not gonna spoil.
(1. Can someone who's never been in the void truly understand something without colour or lack of colour? 2. Most voids have one as far as I know)
1. Nope 2. Not this one though
P.S. The best ways to support stories in general is to is participate in reviews, as well as follow the author/story. Personally, I tend to look at the number of reviews any particular story has to see if the story has engaged many. Please consider giving this story a review if you liked it.
(When's the next chapter?)
Hopefully not never. Stories depend on the authors' ability to think them up and have time write them up. It -the next chapter- could be in 6 months or tomorrow. I promise there will be a chapter 2 though.
Preemptive Q&A:
The first chapter did take around 8 hours to write though -along with the commentary, grammar checks and whatnot-
All in one sitting by the way. If anyone's got any tips then please feel free to PM me and share them.
I did write stories before. Kinda. Never published one for the whole world to see though -even if it's a fanfic on this website-
I love writing detailed stories rather than expansive ones. So expect big chapters, maybe comparatively slower updates -depends if you're comparing me to people who write a chapter every 3 days and never stop or the people who write a chapter and drop the story really-
Yes, I'm a fluent English speaker. Or at the very least, I hope I am by your standards.