Chapter 19: Paradoxical Recollection Part 1

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.

December 14th, 2021

It is now early morning over the city of Akihabara. There is no chance of snow today, but the clouds don't disappear, as another snowfall will mostly likely occur tonight. Today is also a very important day. It is the birthday of the founder of the Future Gadget Laboratory, Rintaro Okabe. So today, it will be a important party that will be set in the evening, or so that was the plan.

Inside the old lab, Okabe is sitting on the couch eating some breakfast to prepare for another day at the Future Gadget Laboratory. Kagari is also with him, who currently also eats a small breakfast. As they both eat, someone bursts through the door of the place. This startles Okabe and Kagari, but then they see who came through. It was Faris Nyanyan.

Faris comes in with a worried face. "O-Oh Faris?! What's wrong with you?" Okabe asks.

"Kyouma! Have you seen Mayu-nyan or Ruka-nyan?!"

"No I haven't. Why?"

Faris calms down a bit to explain better. "We were suppose to do something today as a group, but they are not responding when I call them-nyan."

"Well, maybe there are already at work."

Faris nods in disagreement. "No, that is not it. I even receive a call from Ruka's Papa about them-nyan. They haven't been home at all seen since they left work last night-nyan."

Okabe is shocked to hear the news. "Huh? Are you sure?"

"Yea. I am worried as to where they could have gone too-nyan."

Okabe begins to think it is rather strange. Mayuri and Luka never have suddenly left before and never said anything. "Well, let me try to call them." Okabe dials Mayuri's phone number. Unfortunately, the phone only rings, and she never answers. He then tries to call Luka instead, but he also doesn't answer too. This situation is getting worrisome. Okabe now wonders where Mayuri and Luka are. "Where did they go? And why did they suddenly disappear?" There is a pause, as Okabe puts on his persona. "Don't tell me, did they get captured by the enemy organization?!"

Faris follows along puts on a role playing situation. "D-Don't tell, the Seven Sages of Seiryuzan are the one behind this-nyan?!"

"Hmmmm, perhaps it must be the case. Well them, the insane mmmaaaddd scientist will have to stop them and have them return my hostage and lab member. If they don't, they will feel the wrath of Hououin Kyouma!" He takes out his phone. "It's me! It seems the enemy organization has captured our ally and hostage! Yea, this is to be expected. Don't worry, if this is the choice of Steins Gate, El Psy Kongroo." He then puts away his phone.

"Then, what should we do-nyan?"

Okabe smiles, "Well, they haven't arrived at the shrine since last night, and if they weren't in your apartment, then we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. So, I say we should head over to the first place they would be at, which is Daru's place!"

Okabe and Faris head over to Daru's place. They also bring Kagari with them since she cannot stay home alone.

They knock on the front door, and who responds is Yuki Amane. "Oh, Okabe-san and Faris. Hello."

"Hello Yuki." Okabe responds. "I wanted to know if Mayuri and Rukako are here with you?"

Yuki nods in disagreement. "No, they are not."

Okabe and Faris are surprised. "Huh, really?"

"Yeah."

Faris then speaks. "Then, do you know where they are-nyan?"

"No, I haven't seen them since yesterday evening."

"I see." Okabe responds. "Well then, let us know please if you see them sometime today. They are not responding to our calls and they haven't been home since last night." Okabe, Faris, and Kagari leave.

Yuki is shocked by the news, but she responds. "Ok, I will let you know." She then remembers since they wanted to do something as a surprise for Okabe's birthday. She believes they are hiding from the others to make it more interesting.

Then, they all decide to head over to "Mayqueen Nyanyan" to see if they both arrived there today. Okabe and Faris enter inside, and to be surprised yet again, Mayuri and Luka were not there.

"That is strange, where could they have gone too…" Okabe comments.

Suddenly an employee approaches them. "Manager! We are down two people today and we need additional help!"

"Did Mayuri or Ruka call about not coming to work today-nyan?"

"No, they have not."

This makes Faris worried, but unfortunately, she can't have time to think now as less employees with a busy café, which means she is needed for the shift. "Sorry, Kyouma. Looks like I need to work today."

"Don't worry Faris. You do what you must do, and I, Hououin Kyouma, will continue the search of our precious lab members!" says Okabe with his persona.

Faris nods. "I know you will-nyan. Well, I will see you later-nyan!"

Okabe decides to be on his way to the Future Gadget Laboratory, but before he does so, he decides to stop by at Urushibara Shrine to check up on Luka's parents, and see if they have any news about them since this morning.

Okabe knocks on the door, and moments later, who opens the door is Luka's father. "Oh, Mr. Okabe."

"Hello, Mr. Urushibara. I came to ask about Mayuri and Rukako. Have they arrived back home yet?"

There is a pause. "They haven't arrived yet. They normally would be here by now, but..."

Mr. Urushibara is not in a great mood right now, since his son has not messaged back more than anything. Okabe notices his face so he decides to talk to him. "Are you worried for them?"

He nods. "Yes. Luka hasn't arrived home since yesterday, and he has never done that unless it is at a sleepover with his friends. Not only that, but I do worry for your friend, Ms. Shiina. I wonder if something happened to her too."

Okabe understands his concern, so he gives him hope by putting on his persona. "Don't worry, Mr. Urushibara. I will look everywhere for both of them. The insane mad scientist has connections to being able to find out where they have gone too. No one will fool Hououin Kyouma! After all, I, who I remind has an IQ of 170, and bear in mind is the same IQ as Einstein, will always find a way to outsmart his opponents!"

Mr. Urushibara gets weirded out by Okabe's persona, but he smiles, as he know what Okabe said is mostly true. "Thank you, Mr. Okabe. I hope to hear good news from you very soon."

At the Future Gadget Laboratory. Okabe and Kagari arrive while greeting some of the Interns who are working in groups together. They arrive at the office to settle in. Due to the situation, Okabe has already ordered Mr. Braun to send a few soldiers on a search mission to look for Mayuri and Luka. Even if the possibility that they are purposely hiding is high, Okabe is concerned for what can happen. Especially, this is due to his memories of the past, when Mayuri would die in the Alpha Worldline. Even though that should not happen in the Steins Gate Worldline, Okabe PTSD still lingers to remind him of this.

With that done for now, all he has do for now, is wait for any news. So, over the course of an hour, Okabe and Kagari sit around, trying to fix the divergence meter. They take out the parts that hold the meter together, and begin messing around with the wiring that are part of the circuits to light up the number. However, the strangest thing about it, is they are perfectly fine, so they move on.

As they continue to work, Okabe begins to drift away, and he doesn't feel ok. The reason is for the situation with Mayuri and Luka is concerning. Since no one so far has seen them today, he begins to fear that maybe something bad happened to them. This begins to trigger his PTSD as he breathes heavily as he remembers the bad situations he got in which then caused the death of Mayuri.

Fortunately, Kagari calls for Okabe that makes him snap out of his memories.

"Kyouma-san, What are you remembering about?"

He get startled by the sudden question as he turns to her. "N-Nothing! Nothing."

Kagari knows he is lying, because the strangest thing is that while Okabe was experiencing his PTSD, Kagari sensed Okabe was remembering something from another worldline and her Reading Steiner sensed it, so she peered into his brain to see what it was. "No, something is wrong with you. You were thinking about something from the past right? About Mayuri's death?"

Kagari's question shocked Okabe to the core. How did she know about what Okabe was thinking about, when that memory was from another worldline. "W-Wait, h-how do you know about that?!"

She then begins to question herself. How did she know about that? How did she manage to peer into Okabe's mind? This is the first time she ever experienced being able to do something like that. This then makes her head hurt again as she tries to remember anything about what may have caused it. This also makes Okabe's head hurt since his Reading Steiner is picking up on her's. Then once again, this pain in their heads makes both of them collapse, as they lose consciousness.

Suddenly, the scene changes to the same foggy area that Okabe has been experiencing in his dreams. The place doesn't look much different at first, but then there is one usually gear looking object revealed far out in the background. He begins to regain consciousness and he regains focus to look around. He questions why he is back in the place once again and why has it been occurring more often. Then, he turns to the direction with the gears. Okabe is shocked to what he sees. Although it is not clear, it is visible that the object does look like gears

Then, he turns around again, and inside the fog, he sees someone lying on the invisible floor. He runs quickly over there, and he hopes this time again, he will be able to reach kagari. Fortunately, he can. He lifts her head up and taps her should to try and see if she awake.

For the first time though, as he is trying to wake her up, he also begins to gain the sense of feeling and touch in the foggy place. This begins to surprise him, as this place was supposed to be a dream, and a dream never allows a person to actually feel something, because that goes against what dreams are thought they're suppose to be. It's like Okabe's dream is becoming more of a reality, but a reality that so far doesn't seem to exist in the real world.

The girl doesn't wake up and still lies in Okabe's arms. She is still breathing fortunately, so this reassures him that she is ok. He doesn't know what to do now. He hasn't been suddenly pushed out of this reality already, and it seems he is currently stuck in the place.

Then, he remembers how Kagari told him on there previous encounter in this place, to not reject it as a dream. Instead, he need to try to acknowledge this place as a real thing. This makes Okabe very confused. He begins wonder if this place is in reality just a dream, or something more. If this place is real, why is it only happening to him and Kagari only? To figure out her claim of this place, he decides to switch mind sets. He takes a couple large deep breathes to get the feeling around him. Then, he turns to look at the sky. "Alright! You have gotten my attention! Whoever controls this place, please, tell me where we are!"

Nothing happens. Okabe begins scratching him head, wondering if that really worked. Maybe, it would seem acknowledging the place isn't enough, or the feeling of think the place is real is not yet enough. He decides to add in other thoughts and trying again. "Please, tell me where we are! What is it that you want from us?! Especially with me and Kagari?!

Nothing happens again. However, it would seem this time, something new occurs. He can begin to hear far in the background if he focuses on that specific noise. The noise, sounds like gears turning. He wonders if the gears are the same one he can barley see far in the background. Okabe is a bit glad he can hear now, so this mean Kagari's claim is more of a possibility. Then he thinks about how why Kagari and he are the only one who have gone through this place. But, the theory quickly comes to realization. The time he has encountered Kagari in this place, the amount of things he has learned about her since her first appearance. It became more clear than ever. Was it due to both of them being connected by Reading Steiner?

This gives Okabe a new thought to acknowledge this place as. He looks up to the sky again, and speaks loudly. "Are we hear because of Reading Steiner?! Is this place suppose to be a place for those with Reading Steiner?! Are you like some Steins God?!"

Suddenly, winds come through the place, as most of the fog in the entire place blows away into nothing, except for the fog below his feet, revealing everything that it was hiding. Okabe eyes widening in disbelief as what he sees around the place. It is surrounded by clock gears that are moving and working together. "W-Where am I really?!" he asks, as his voice now echo's through the place.

Then, not far from him and Kagari, he sees a glowing white orb, floating in the middle of nowhere. He gets curious. So he decides to put Kagari down for a bit and heads over to the glowing orb. When he arrives at it, he doesn't feel anything from it, other than it feels like a mass of compressed air, glowing warmly on his hand.

He takes a moment to view the orb, and he notices something interesting. The orb is displaying memories of something that are not his. He can't make out what they are trying to show, but he can clearly make out that one of the people inside the memories is Mayuri. Okabe wonders who these memories belong to as he has never seen them before. This also hints however, that the only other person with him currently is Kagari.

He has a feeling these memories belong to her but he is not too sure. So, he walks back with the glowing orb to Kagari. He then sits her up and decides to place the orb on Kagari's lap. He then takes her hand, and puts it on the orb.

Nothing happens for a moment, think it is just something random. But then, the orb reacts. It begins to glow very significantly, and it gradually disperses into particles of light. Okabe watches in amazement to see such an event happening. The particles then all gradually disappear into Kagari's mind. After another short moment, Kagari begins to regain consciousness.

Okabe sighs in relief to see kagari awake. "Kagari?! Are you ok?"

Kagari regains focus to see Okabe who is in front of her. "Y-Yea." she then looks around, and she instantly recognizes the place, as her eyes turn yellow. "W-Why am I here? And how did the fog disappear?!" Then she begins to realize that Okabe is right next to her, and he is not doing anything to deny anything about the place they are in. "Don't tell, you finally recognize this place as reality?"

Okabe nods as he recognizes her eyes being yellow. "Y-Yea, I did. This place began to feel real, as if it was coming to reality. However, I don't know what this place is. This feels like out of a fantasy." There is a pause.

"Seems you finally do realize." Kagari implies.

"So, you do know where we are?"

Kagari nods. "Yea. We are in a realm that only exists in a place outside of the real world. However, it's still part of the same universal structure. The Realm Of Steiner.

Since Kagari managed to remember the name of the place they are in, this implies Okabe that more of her members have returned. "T-The Realm Of Steiner?"

"Mhm. However, I am not the one who named this place that."

Okabe becomes curious. "Then who?"

"I don't know." Kagari responds. " Thanks to your efforts to restore a portion of my memories, I can remember this place, but there are still gaps in my memory about what I know. I know I heard The Realm Of Steiner from somewhere in the future, but I don't know from who."

Okabe is shocked to hear Kagari's words. To think there is a realm that exists outside of the real world, but it is still a part of the same universal structure, which is why it exists. It is very interesting for him as wants to find out more about it. This then raises another question. "So, then if this place exists, how can someone like you and I manage to enter here, and how come the other lab members not access this place?"

"The reason is in the name of this place. The Realm Of Steiner. This place has a similar name for one thing. Reading Steiner."

Okabe is shocked about Kagari's response. "So, we can see this place because of our Reading Steiner? Wait, if I can see this place now, why couldn't I in the past?"

Kagari begins to try and remember her reason, but doing so begins to make her head hurt, and Okabe' senses her Reading Steiner. This then forces both of them out of The Realm Of Steiner, and back to reality.

They both manage to wake up quickly as they both were lying on couches inside a conference room. As they regain consciousness, Kurisu, Daru, and Maho were all getting up to rush over them.

"You both are awake! Are you alright?!" Maho asks.

"Yea..." Okabe responds. "Where are we?"

"In the conference room." Daru says.

"We found you both collapsed on the floor in your office, so we took you to a room where you can lie down, and just hope you would eventually wake up." says Kurisu.

"Did you both really not sleep at all when you just fell asleep on the floor?" Maho asks.

Okabe then realizes that they don't know about what really happened, that he and Kagari were inside a new place out of some fantasy. However, since this is new and yet unknown information, he decides to keep it hidden for now. "Y-Yea. Me and Kagari were working on the divergence meter all night, and we just forgot about sleep."

"Idiot! You promised you would do that, and yet you did!" says Kurisu. "You guys need to get more sleep! Especially Kagari who is still a girl growing up! This is a bad habit!"

"I-I'm sorry, Kurisutina, it won't happen again."

Kagari then regains full focus. She looks around to see she is in a different place, and her eyes are back to blue. She then turns to everyone. "Hello...everyone."

"Are you feeling ok, Kagari?" Kurisu asks.

"Mhm." However, she turns to see Daru, and suddenly, she begins to act differently. "N-No way, Y-You are…."

Daru is confused about why she is looking at him that way, but then, Kagari rushes from the couch to Daru and hugs him. "Uncle Daru!"

There is silence in the room for a moment, as everyone is shocked to the core as to what they just heard Kagari say. Then, all of them at once say the same thing. "HUH?!"

"W-What?! Uncle?!" says Daru with absolute shock."

"H-Hashida-san? This girl is related to your family?!" Maho asks.

"N-No! I don't know her at all. I never met her until Okarin introduced her to us!"

"Hey Kagari, I don't think Hashida is your Uncle." says Kurisu.

"No. This person is my Uncle. Uncle Daru!"

Everyone is shocked again to hear her claim it twice now. Okabe then thinks since he knows Kagari is from the future, it is possible the girl is related to a family member from Daru. "If that is true, then that must mean she is born from Daru's brother! But wait!" Okabe then remembers something. "Hey Daru! You never mentioned you had a brother!"

"That's right!" Maho says. "You were lying that you had an older brother?!"

"I have an older brother?!" Daru questions with shock.

"How did you not know you had an older brother?!"

"I-I telling you the truth! I do not have an older brother! I was an only child!" This situation is getting much more confusing than it is helping.

Kurisu then turns to Kagari. "Hey Kagari? Are you sure Hashida is your Uncle? Are you not confusing him with another person."

"No. He is my Uncle. There is also….." Kagari tries to remember. She struggles to figure out who else she knows, but for the first time, she manages to remember more without causing her head to hurt so much. "There is also Big Sis Mayu and Big Bro Ruka!"

Everyone is shocked once again. "HUH?!"

Before anyone could speak however, mentioning Mayuri and Luka's name then made Kagari remember something that happened to them today. "W-Wait! What year am I in?!"

"December 14th, 2021." says Okabe.

After hearing the date, Kagari puts the pieces together mentioning Mayuri and Luka with the date. This makes her then remember an important problem. "O-Okarin-san?! You must find Big Sis Mayu and Big Bro Ruka!"

"W-Why?!" Okabe asks with huge amounts of confusion.

"Because, today is the day they get captured!"

"H-Huh?!" Then, Okabe remembers that Kagari is from the future, and that Mayuri and Luka went missing last night. This makes him begin to fear the worst already. "W-Wait, Kagari….. Don't...tell me, that…"

Kagari quickly responds. "Today, they are supposed to be taken hostage by an American Organization!"

Although Okabe's PTSD begins to kick in because of fearing Mayuri's death due to the Alpha Worldline, he quickly remembers that she was captured by the Rounders, who are now part of the Future Gadget Laboratory. There is also the group called SERN who were under orders of them, but that was a European Organization. This organization she mentions is an American Organization. This means this situation is different.

He manages to calm down and try to move forth a plan. "Are you sure that is what happened?" Okabe asks.

"Mhm." Kagari responds with worry.

"Ok." Okabe then looks up to his supervisors. "We will worry about this family thing later. For now, we have a mission that only the Future Gadget Laboratory can do! We must commence Operation Atlas!"

Everyone heads over to the Amadeus room. There, everyone and including Amadeus begin trying to track any unusual whereabouts of Mayuri and Luka. Daru goes through video cameras he has around the city using a special program he created for him, and Amadeus goes through government security cameras across the city to double the search. Unfortunately, nothing could be found.

"I can't find anything." says Daru.

"Nothing on my end either." says [Kurisu]

This makes Okabe frustrated as they are getting nowhere with the whereabouts of Mayuri and Luka. Not only that, but the fear of the events from the Alpha Worldline are on his mind. This makes him fear that a similar situation will happen and he doesn't want to go through the same thing all over again. "Dammit it, they are not picking up the phone either."

"Is there anyone else who has witnessed their last known locations?" Maho asks.

The ideas are very slim. They don't know anyone who can possibly have seen where they last were. Not only that, but Faris was unfortunately did not paying attention to where they headed off to last night either.

"Hey Kagari? How do you even know that Mayuri and Luka were captured by an American Organization?" Kurisu asks.

Before she could respond however, Okabe then realized something. Kagari claimed they were captured since she is from the future. Then there is also how she calls Mayuri Big Sis, and Luka Big Bro. Then there is Daru who she calls Uncle. This begins to tie everything together. Kagari knows the story in the future because Mayuri and Luka must have told them and she must be very involved with them. That also means the only other person who would know about that is the person who was with kagari from the future. Suzuha Amane.

"That's it!" Okabe yells as everything turns to him instantly. He then pulls out his phone and dials the number Suzuha from the future uses to contact him with.

A few seconds later, she picks up. "Hello?"

"Suz-!" Okabe stops as he realizes his supervisors does not know that a Future Suzuha is also in this timeline currently. "Hey! I need to ask you something! Were Mayuri and Rukako captured by an American Organization?!"

She sighs. "So, you finally found out?"

"So it is true?!" Okabe asks.

"Yea. Today is the day they are captured. However, I cannot interfere without you finding out first."

"Then, do you know where they are?!"

"Yea, they are-" Suddenly, The call between Future Suzuha and Okabe is interrupted by another call.

"Hello?!" Okabe views his phone screen, and he is shocked to his core. The number that is calling him is Mayuri's phone number. He takes a glup as he is worried for who is calling them, since he now knows they were already captured. Everyone watches him as they don't know yet what is happening. Okabe puts the phone on speaker. "H-Hello?" he says.

Suddenly, an unknown deep voice comes through. "You really have caused us some major trouble, Kyouma."

Everyone is shocked. "W-Who are you?! Why did you capture Mayuri and Rukako?!" Okabe asked with an angry tone.

"Strange, I wonder how you already know about that, but whatever. Then you must know they are currently our hostages. Don't worry, we won't do anything to them if you give us what we are looking for." There is a pause. "Give up your teleportation research and they will be set free."

Okabe is stunned. How does the unknown organization know about them with the teleportation research? And how does the person speaking to them know about Okabe who is named Hououin Kyouma? However he cannot be curious as he is still on the call with the unknown person. "F-Fine. Just tell me the place to meet up."

"Good. You know what is much more important. I will send you the location of the place, and you must bring the research, and alone. Not following what I just said will result in the death of your precious friends. Be wise and follow with it to the end." The person hangs up.

Okabe's phone shuts off as everyone is still for what they heard. "O-Okabe….." says Kurisu as she is already concerned for everything occurring right now.

Okabe faces shows nothing but fear and anger as this situation is already becoming very, very problematic.