Chapter 16: Stagnant Innocence
Note: I don't not own Steins;Gate. Only this fanfiction story.
This story follows the events that happened after the following Steins;Gate titles. Steins;Gate, Steins;Gate OVA, and Steins;Gate 0. Also, there are situations from other Steins;Gate titles that inspired multiple events in this story.
Check out my profile for upcoming dates for new chapters on Steins Gate: Epsilon.
The day slowly becomes night. The sky turning dark, as it also becomes to slightly rain. Okabe had talked with the future Suzuha who made a sudden appearance with the time machine he never thought he would ever see again. However, even with all of that said and what he talked about with her, he refuses to accept that is the true outcome of the current worldline he is in. However, he will keep in mind to at least fix the divergence meter when he gets the chance.
Okabe arrives at his home while knowing about what Suzuha said before he left. He is curious about who the girl who came with Suzuha could be. He enters and walks in the main room. There, he sees Mayuri, Faris, and Luka together, taking care of their new friend. Moeka has already left for the day.
"Hello, everyone."
"Okarin! Tuturu!" says Mayuri.
Okabe then turns to see the girl. "So, this is the girl you guys were with today?"
"Yes." says Luka. "This girl had lost her family and her big sister never came home. So we took her in for now to see if you can help us."
Okabe thinks for a moment. The story about what Mayuri and the others know about is somewhat different from what he spoke with the future Suzuha. However, this is probably so the lab members can't find out that the girl is from the future. "I see." Okabe walks up to the girl with a hint of his persona. "Hello, I am the mad scientist, Hououin Kyouma. What is your name?"
"K-Kagari..." she says with a shy voice.
Okabe becomes a bit confused. "Huh...just Kagari?"
"She can't remember much at all-nyan." says Faris. "She says her head hurts when she tries to remember-nyan. However, she only remembers she had a big sister who always kept telling her name-nyan."
"So, she can't remember much of who she is or where she came from. She might have amnesia based on her current situation." Okabe is shocked as he quickly realizes the future Suzuha left out that part about her. This makes him suspious of her current goal. Why would she only remind Kagari of her first name and not her full name?
"Then what do we do, Okarin." Mayuri asks.
Okabe comes back to realize what Mayuri said. "Well, since she can't remember much, it would be best to not force her to remember a whole lot. We need to approach her with ease, and ask her some simple questions to hopefully help her remind of anything that can relate to where she is from. After all, judging how she only remembers her name, she can't really remember anything. This must be a severe case of amnesia."
Mayuri turns to Kagari. "See? Okarin has thought of a good plan to already help you remember."
"Mmm." She says as she feels a bit better already. She then looks up to Okabe as she already becomes curious as to who he is.
"Then, what if her parents come looking for her-nyan?" Faris asks
Okabe thinks. He knows that Kagari is from the future with Suzuha, but now she has managed to find the lab members and can't just leave since she is involved with the lab members now. Suzuha also said to him to watch over Kagari for her since she will be currently better off with them to help her mental state. He wonders why, but he rather not worry about future Suzuha's intentions at this time. Then he needs to hide from the lab members that Kagari is from the future. So, he decides to suggests something. "Well, we can't report to the police as they won't be able to help her if her parents are out of the country. So we should have Kagari stay at Rukako's place so she can have company until she regains her memories. If anyone then tries to look for her in anyway, we will provide them with the information needed about her. Is that alright?"
Luka responds. "Sure. I will let my family know about Kagari-san's current situation. They should be able to understand."
"Then, we will head over to the shrine!" says Mayuri.
At Urushibara Shrine, Luka has explained the situation to his family and they have agreed to let her say as long as needed. Faris has already gone home but Mayuri decided to stay over at Luka's place to help take care of Kagari.
They enjoy dinner together and have fun playing some games to help Kagari stay busy. Although Kagari is a bit shy, she plays along. This allows time to pass by as Kagari gets tired and she wants to sleep as it is now getting very late.
Before Kagari can however, Mayuri wants to give her something. "Hey Kagari-chan, I want to give you this." Mayuri hands her an upa as a little gift. "It's a small gift from me to you"
Kagari takes the gift which is a purple upa. It looks like the other upas Mayuri has for a collection. "T-Thank you."
"Mhm! Keep it so you know there will be someone here for you if you need them."
Kagari smiles to hear such words as everyone prepares to sleep. She takes a moment to try and remember anything with the upa, but unfortunately, nothing comes to mind.
Hours pass as everyone is deep asleep. Maho is deep asleep, Daru Yuki and Suzuha are the same as always. Faris and Moeka sleep in the same rooms since years ago in the fancy apartment, and Mayuri and Luka sleep beside Kagari at the shrine. However, Kagari is awake as she looks out the window of the rainy night sky. She sits there trying to remember anything, but nothing comes to mind.
Then, she decides to pick up her purple upa that Mayuri gave her and look at it since to her, she thinks it's adorable and cool. However, as she looks at it, she notices the item resembling something, and she begins to remember. She remembers an upa that looks the same from the future as the one she is holding now. When this happens, slight memories begin to rush through her brain, but they are unclear. This makes her head hurt as she is in pain, trying to remember what she is seeing.
While this occurs, over at the old lab, Okabe, who was asleep, is suddenly experiencing a sudden pain in his head but yet, he is not fully awake. Inside what he is thinking, the image is hazy and a bit glitchy, but we can see the same foggy area he has been dreaming. As he tries to focus though, a new thing occurs. Far out in the distance of the strange and unknown place, some fog finally vanishes, and what is revealed is some unclear metal gears that rotate both clockwise and counterclockwise, but that is all Okabe can see. Before he is forced out of this dream, he manages to hears a voice that only says, "Help me." He gets scared by this voice as he is forced to wake up, and having a headache that quickly vanishes.
At the same time Okabe wakes up, Kagari's headache stops too and they both try to catch their breath from feeling such pain. They both sit there, wondering what just happened.
However, the ominous thing is that they also are not the only ones who were having an unusual dream. Over at the luxurious apartment, Kurisu is asleep in her bed, hugging her Okabe plushie tightly. But, we then peer her thoughts on the current dream she is having. Kurisu currently is walking through a hallway, but for some reason, feeling angry. Then, she enters a big room, where there is a man, sitting all tied up in a strap chair, like the one used for death sentences by electrocution He is wearing a suit like he is an agent, but he also is struggling to resist. Moments later, Kurisu walks to him, with an emotionless face.
"W-What do you want?!" the man says as he tries to struggles.
"Do you know why were here?" Kurisu asks.
"B-Because you forced me to come here and tied me up!"
There is a pause. "Good, you are well alert. Then, this will be the perfect time to experiment." Kurisu heads over to a counter, where she pulls a huge head device, and puts it on the scared man. "Thanks to your cooperation with the enemy organization, you have been selected to be a test subject for mind control. I will open up your skull and put an electrode in your hippocampus to see what results will occur in your brain. If this succeeds, this will lead to the next step of mind control." Kurisu slightly giggles.
The mans faces becomes in terror and begins to yell. "W-WHY?! I didn't do anything to you! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!"
Kurisu becomes extremely upset for what he said. She quickly turns to the man, pulls out a gun, and shoots his left leg with a bullet. The man screams in pain as his leg bleeds. Then, Kurisu quickly heads to the man, forces him to look up into her eyes. "You know damn well why I did this." There is a pause as she lefts go of the man's face. "You are part of the enemy organization. The organization responsible for the death of someone very important to me. I will seek revenge on those who I find involved with his death, and make them pay." There is another pause, as Kurisu turns back and heads to a monitor. "Thanks to the Super Hacka that works under me, I can track down those who were involved with destroying my world, like you." There is a pause. "Don't worry, I won't kill you guys easily...after all, I will make sure his mad scientist legacy never dies, so it can terrorize his enemies."
Kurisu shows a smiles of a true mad scientist, as she begins to turn on a machine. The man becomes terrorized, as he knows he is good as dead.
Fortunately thought, this whole situation then forcefully wakes up Kurisu from the strange dream. She begins taking deep breathes, as she sits there, thinking she just had a nightmare, but in reverse.
October 29th, 2021
Night turns to morning as the day becomes partly cloudy but no signs of rain today. At the old lab, Okabe is already awake after what happened last night. The headache he would get from that one dream definitely hurts a lot less than when it first started, but it still prevented him from sleeping anymore.
He eats a quick breakfast, while wondering what he saw last night in the dream he had. It kept getting more real, and the surroundings of the place were changing slightly. He gets frustrated as to why this is happening, but moves on. He gets ready to leave for another day at the Future Gadget Laboratory as he packs up his belongings he brings to work everyday. Suddenly, the door to the old lab opens, and who enters is Mayuri with Kagari.
"Oh, Mayuri and Kagari. Hello."
"Tuturu, Okarin! Sorry for this sudden situation, but Okarin, can you stay at the old lab today."
"Huh?" Okabe is confused. This is the first time Mayuri is asking something like this.
"You see, Luka and his family had to run some errands, and I was suddenly called to work at the cafe. So no one will be able to watch over Kagari-chan. However, since you are still here, I was wondering if you could."
Okabe puts in his persona. "Mayuri, do you know how important my presence is at the Future Gadget Laboratory?! If I'm not there, the lab may fall into chaos!"
"It's ok. Just ask Daru, Maho-san, or Kuris-chan to take the lead while you're here."
Okabe thinks for a moment and sighs, as there is probably no way out of this. "Ok. I will watch over her."
Mayuri smiles. "Thank you Okarin!" She then turns to Kagari. "Now, Kagari-chan, Okarin will take care of you while I'm gone."
Kagari is a bit scared. "B-But…"
"Don't worry, Okarin is a very kind person. He can be crazy, but he is caring overall. Ok?"
Kagari takes a moment, before deciding to trust her words and nods. "Ok."
"Well then, I will stop by later in the evening. See ya." Mayuri leaves.
Okabe and Kagari wave at her. There is then a temporary silence in the air as they both are now alone, not knowing what to do. Okabe also doesn't know a whole lot about taking care of children. Unlike little Suzuha who is easy going, Kagari is unpredictable at this time. However, he then notices Kagari holding an upa. "Oh? You have a purple upa?"
Kagari nods. "Mhm. Mayu gave it to me as a gift."
"I see." There is a pause. Okabe then thinks of an opportunity for Kagari to stay busy by showing her Mayuri's collection of upas. He goes to a huge shelf with items, and pulls out a special case that has all the neatly organized upas inside it. He puts it in front of Kagari. "This box is a collection of upas that Mayuri owns. You can take a look at them if you want. She probably wouldn't mind."
Kagari opens the box, and she is wowed to see all colors of upas neatly organized. She takes a good look at each of them as she distracts herself with them. Okabe smiles as she seems to be curious about the upas, and he can now also get busy with a future gadget he can work on while in the old lab.
Inside the Future Gadget Laboratory, Kurisu and Maho work in their groups to continue research and experimenting with future gadgets. They are planning about working on more upgraded version of old gadgets, but that has yet to be determined. For now, they were also told about the teleportation research they were going today, and were deciding to prepare the papers needed to start. However, Kurisu gets distracted for half of the day. First she wonders about the strange nightmare she had, but also will let it go since it is just a dream. Then, Okabe hasn't arrived at the lab at all. This concerns her as to where he is.
Late midday arrives, and it is time for lunch. Over at the conference room specifically for supervisors, Kurisu and Maho are together and take out their lunches. But Kurisu also has a question. "Hey, Senpai. Have you seen Okabe today?"
"No I have not." Maho responds. "It's weird for him to not be around, especially since he told us were going to start teleportation research today as well."
Kurisu's face only grows more concerned as there is no news of him. But soon that changes as Daru walks through the door. "Hello."
"Hello, Hashida-san." says Maho, as there is a quick pause before Kurisu speaks up. "Hey, Hashida? Have you seen Okabe today?"
"I thought Okarin told you, he wouldn't be arriving today." He responds.
"Why?" Maho asks.
"Well, apparently yesterday, Mayushii and the other lab members had made a new friend. Then apparently today, they all had to go to work, and they needed Okarin to take care of her since he is the only one who was at the old lab."
Kurisu faces begin to heat up. "Her?"
"Yep. The person is a girl."
Kurisu gets more worked up as she is jealous to hear Okabe is with another girl. "I'm going to the old lab!"
"W-Wait, Kurisu!" Maho grabs Kurisu by the arm. "You can't just leave now! You have work to do!"
"I-I-I know! It's just! Um…..."
Daru then analyzes the situation. "Oh I see what is happening here. Makise-shi is jealous that Okarin may be with another girl."
Kurisu blushes and becomes very embarrassed. "O-O-Of course I'm not!"
"You really cannot hide it at all." Maho implies. But, seeing Kurisu this way makes Maho suggest something. "How about we call him?"
It takes a minute for Maho to find her phone, and dial Okabe's number and calls him. A few seconds later after ringing, the phone picks up and she puts the call on speaker. "Hello?"
"Hello Okabe-san."
"Oh Hiyajo-Safina! What's up? Did something go wrong at the lab that you need the insane mad scientists to come over?"
Maho is a bit annoyed but responds. "No. I am calling you to ask why didn't you arrive today."
"Ah. Well please also tell Kurisutina this too when you see her since I forgot to tell her. Mayuri and the other lab members found a little girl yesterday who was lost and couldn't find her family, and she also currently has amnesia. So they decided to take her in until her memories returned. However, every lab member is busy today, so she wanted me to stay and watch over her until she came back."
"I see." Maho responds. "I understand. Well, that's all I wanted to know. See ya." Maho hangs up the phone, and then turns to Kurisu. "See? Nothing to worry about."
Kurisu sighs in relief as Okabe is not with another adult female.
Daru then teases. "So, you were jealous all along."
"If you say anything about this to Okabe, I'm going to jam an electrode into your hippocampus!"
Daru becomes terrorized as he hears Kurisu threatening him, and he decides to rush out of the room.
Maho sighs and then suggests something. "Look, how about after work, we head over to the old lab to visit Okabe-san and this mysterious girl."
Kurisu nods. "Alright."
At the old lab, Kagari finishes up putting away all of the upas she took out from Mayuri's collection and sets the box on the table. She decides she wants to do something else, but she doesn't know what. She looks around to see what this place has, and unfortunately, she doesn't find anything interesting. Then, she looks at Okabe's direction. He is sitting at the table and working on a gadget that looks like it was meant to be some sort of arm component.
She decides to go up to see what he is doing. "Umm, what are you doing?"
Okabe notices Kagari and responds. "Oh? I'm creating a new future gadget."
"Eh? What is it?"
Okabe is surprised about what she is asking, so he decides to put on his persona and respond. "Curious, are we little one? Well, this future gadget (No Name) is a machine that will be able to unlock the seal on my right arm to unleash it's hidden powers!"
Kagari becomes curious. "But why would you do that?"
"This is so I can further plunge this world into chaos!"
Kagari takes a good look at the device to see how it can do such things that Okabe claims. However, as she continues to look at it, she remembers something. The future gadget looks and shape were very similar to the one wrist gadget she remembers her older sister uses, which is the future Suzuha. However, she decides to ignore it as maybe it just looks similar out of coincidence.
After a moment passes, Kagari's stomach begins to grumble. Okabe hears her stomach and realizes the time. It was already past lunchtime. Since of course, he is not good at cooking himself, he would have to think of something different for lunch. "Looks like someone is hungry."
Kagari nods in agreement.
Okabe smiles. "Well then, let me take you somewhere to eat. Have you tried any of the foods around here?"
"No, I never have." Kagari responds.
"Well then, this is a great chance to show you around."
As time passes, Okabe decides to show Kagari around Akihabara so she can get familiar with the place. She is always curious about each place as she looks like she is some sort of tourist being amazed by new things in another country. Then, they arrive at their destination, "Yamano," a small meat restaurant in Akihabara. Okabe and Kagari are greeted and seated by one of the employees that work there, and they begin to order. Okabe only orders some Wagyu beef with traditional BBQ. This however, also gets Kagari interested in what he ordered, so she decides to order the same thing and give the food a shot.
After sometime, they receive their meal. Okabe then asks for 2 glasses from the employee and orders a bottle of Dr. Pepper with the extra change left over. He pours in his drink and asks Kagari if she wants some. She nods to yes and he pours her some.
After saying their thanks for the meal, they start eating. Kagari takes a slow bite, hoping the taste is not bad. Fortunately, the bite she takes, burst with nice juicy flavor of a well done beef with careful seasoning. This shocks her taste buds to the core. "Mmmmmmm! This is so good!"
"Right?" says Okabe. "This meal is what a great mad scientist would eat to fuel his need to enter the next phase of plunging the world into chaos. Along with that, we also have the intellectual drink of the chosen ones!
Kagari is confused. "Eh? Intellectual drink?"
"That's right. This drink has the powers of providing those who are selected by the world to receive its beneficial effects!" There is a pause. "If you are going to be with me, you must understand the way Hououin Kyouma takes care of himself with what he eats, drinks, and what he does!"
Kagari then suddenly stops when she hears the name Hououin Kyouma. She stays frozen for a moment as the name to her is very familiar, and it reveals a small bit of her memory when she heard that name before. However, when this happens, Kagari's head begins to hurt, and makes her drop her fork. The more unusual thing is that, when her head starts hurting, Okabe's head also suddenly starts to hurt as he drops his fork. They both experience a huge headache for a moment before it gradually stops.
Okabe regains his focus as he questions what just happened. However, what he doesn't realize is that Kagari experienced the same thing and is unaware she also had a headache. After a moment to regain there focus and thoughts, they both decided to finish their meal and head home.
As time passes by again, Okabe shows Kagari around Akihabara. They both get distracted with some small events happening around Akihabara and play several games to pass time. They both laugh and enjoy a good time together without realizing it. As this time-lapse occurs, Okabe has a conversation with her. "So, Kagari, do you remember anything about who you are or where you are from?"
"No. I can't remember where I came from, or I can't remember who I am really."
"Then, does AKihabara ever help you remember something about you?"
There is a pause, before Kagari responds. "I try to remember this place, but evetime I do, my head begins to hurt, so I stop remembering instead to not feel the pain."
Okabe couldn't not believe Kagari's amnesia is this severe. This makes him curious as to what the future Suzuha knows about this, but then, he remembers Suzuha saying to not message her for a few days since she will be busy. This just makes him wondering what is she trying to do by returning to the past, but with bringing along Kagari. However, he puts it aside for now because he doesn't want to deal with the situation with time again.
Suddenly Kagari speaks up. "Oh?! I remember something strange. I can't remember clearly, but there are times where I have a sudden mood swing. It's like one second, I am the way I am currently, but then I am suddenly someone else."
He is shocked about her comment. "You have a sudden mood swing?" Okabe thinks for a moment. "Then, you must have some sort of mental condition."
"I don't know... I feel like it is something more than that. I remember my mood swing is because of something I was born with, another ability."
He is now quite curious of Kagari's possible ability, but since she can't remember much more than that, he decides to move on.
Then, as they begin to walk home, Kagari notices a small store that has small accessories. Out of all of them, Kagari gets curious about an upa that looks like a small component. She takes a look at the label for the name of it and it is called "Future Gadget Number 42: Upa Locator." This gadget is different from what it's name may mean. It's an accessory that you can equip on your phone or other device that looks just like an upa. If you ever lose that device, you can use an app on another device to track its location to find where you lost it using the accessory on it. It's inspiration came originally from "Future Gadget Number 9: The Return Of The Drenched Goddess." using the locator part. This gadget also did not have Okabe's mad scientist name on it. Instead, it had Mayuri's name on it, suggesting the gadget was originally thought and created by Mayuri.
Okabe can only smile as Kagari really looks like she wants it. So he decides to buy her it. Kagari is in a very good mood throughout the day as she is glad to have the upa gadget. She also already grows attached to Okabe over today. Even though he has shown his mad scientist persona, Kagari actually likes it.
The day begins to turn night. Everyone has headed home for today. Okabe is with Kagari in the old, waiting for Mayuri to arrive and pick her up. While they wait, they decide to work together with the new future gadget Okabe has been working on recently. Then, the door to the old lab opens, and who enters is Maho and Kurisu.
"Oh, hello." says Okabe.
"Hello, Okabe." says Kurisu. She then turns to Kagari. "So, this is the girl you were taking care of today?"
"Yea." he responds. "Hiyajo-Safina and Kurisutina, meet Kagari."
Kurisu and Maho walk up to Kagari. "Hello, Kagari. My name is Kurisu Makise." says Kurisu.
"And I am Hiyajo Maho." says Maho. But then, Maho is curious about her name. "What is her surname?"
Okabe scratches his head. "Well, you see, that is part of the problem. Kagari has amnesia, and unfortunately, she can't remember much at all. She only knows she has a big sister and she kept reminding her first name." After mentioning this, Okabe is suddenly curious again since he knows the truth. Suzuha from the future said her name is Kagari. But the problem is why didn't she also remind Kagari of her surname? It like she either didn't care to reminding Kagari her last name, or it is something more "Well, for now until she can remember again, Mayuri has been taking care of her at Rukako's place."
"I see." Maho responds. "Well Kagari, I hope you enjoy your time with us until then."
Kagari nods. "Yep."
Moments later, Mayuri enters through the old lab door. "Tututru! I came to pick up Kagari."
Kagari gets her stuff and runs to Mayuri. "Hello, Mayu!"
"How was your day, Kagari-chan?"
"Great! I did lots of things with Okarin-san!"
Okabe gets upset and puts on his persona. "Hey! What did I tell you? It's Hououin Kyouma! Rintaro Okabe is just a mere cover up of my identity!"
"Sorry. I will try to remember" Kagari smiles. "Thank you for today, Kyouma-san! I hope I can come over again tomorrow!."
Okabe smiles to see Kagari this way. "Yea. You are welcomed here as long as you plan to be an ally to the Future Gadget Laboratory!"
Kagari giggles. "Yay! Well then, bye bye!"
"See ya, Kagari."
As the day comes to an end. Kagari and Mayuri walk home together, while holding hands. Kagari smiles throughout the way, as she is becoming already quite attached to Okabe, and wants to be with him more. Mayuri looks at her, and she smiles to see Kagari this way, knowing Okabe did a good job taking care of her.