Chapter 24: Horizon Of Recitation

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. That is where you can expect the release dates for new chapters to this story. I plan to commit to this story to the very end.

December 21st, 2021

Another day rises in Akihabara. It is snowing and cold outside as the ground turns white. Today marks the first day of the winter season, but that doesn't really mean much, expect for Christmas that is nearing, so all the lab members must work hard as today is the last day before the upcoming party plans. However, before they head to work, most of the lab members decide to head over to the old lab.

Inside, all the female lab members have really taken a liking to Kagari, that they make sure she stays happy.

"Good morning." says Maho as she enters the old lab.

"Hello, Big Sis Maho." The person who says that is revealed to be Future Suzuha.

"I heard everyone wanted to hang out this morning before work, so I came over. But, what are you doing here?"

"I came to check on Kagari's current condition, and since Mama and my younger self are currently not here, I decided this could be the chance to visit."

"I see." There is a pause. "I also wanted to check on Kagari-san's situation. So, how is she?"

"Well….." Suzuha turns to the direction of Kagari, and we see she is really happy currently, with all of the lab members who she calls family.

"Sorry for the wait. Juicy Chicken Tenders Number 1 is ready." says Mayuri.

"It looks delicious!" says Kagari

"Here you go. The drink is ready-nyan. Faris's homemade cream soda-nyan." says Faris

"Thank you, Big Sis Faris!"

"And, I bought pudding for dessert," says Kurisu.

"Thank you too, umm….. Big Sis Kurisu!"

Suzuha sighs. "It's been like this ever since she regained a good portion of her memories. Now she is enjoying being around the lab members so much."

"It's like she's immersing herself in a world of affection." says Maho.

"Right?" says Daru. "Most of the lab members forget about work thanks to all of this."

Suzuha gives a weird look. "But, the one who changed the most surprisingly, is him."

Over next to Kagari, is Okabe, sitting and acting like a father. "Hey Papa? Read me a story."

Okabe turns away. "If you want someone to read to you, you could ask anyone else here to do it."

"I want Papa to read to me."

Okabe turns to look at her with his playful persona. "Hmm? Is that so? You want Papa to read? Hehe, Kagari is such a spoiled child."

Kagari smiles. "It's because Kagari loves Papa sooo much!"

"Papa loves Kagari too!" Okabe and Kagari smile at each other as Kagari also giggles. "Well, then, Papa will read you a story that is written by me." Okabe gets up to get a book he had in a book shield by the couch, and then sits back down next to. The book Okabes brings to read is the same book given by young Suzuha months ago, when he was back using a wheel after his unusual injuries. "A long, long time ago, in a farm away place, there lived an insane mad scientist..."

"Only Uncle Okarin would read a story like that…" says Suzuha.

Maho agrees. "You're right. But…...the others are…"

Suzuha looks at everyone else in the room, and all the other lab members other than Daru and Maho are charmed by the scene they are seeing. The relationship of father and daughter.

"It's so wonderful." says one half of the lab members.

"Amazing!" says the other half of the lab members.

"Huh….." says Suzuha as she is shocked to see everyone charmed.

Everyone then realizes what is happening and all look away. "N-Nothing!"

Daru laughs. "It seems Okarin is getting more attention with his future daughter."

"You can't blame him though. You never expected Okabe-san to have a daughter in the future with his behavior." says Maho.

Okabe continues his read through the "Mad Scientist Adventures" book. Kagari enjoys the tales of everything that the Mad Scientist in the story does to make the world fall into chaos. However, as Okabe begins to read about time traveling, Kagari freezes for a moment, as she has heard about this tale before. "Wait, Papa? Can I see that book?"

"Sure." he says. He hands Kagari the book."

Kagari skims through the pages to see the cartoonish drawings and small words to tell a quick few sentences about the mad scientist in the story. However, Kagari becomes more shocked as seeing these images makes her remember something similar. Then when she turns to the final page, her eyes widen. The page contains a few words that say "In Memory of Hououin Kyouma." Seeing everything about this book then begins to trigger memories of her, reading the same book in the future. She remembers how she went around each lab member trying to hear an opinion of the person mentioned in the book. Then, she remembers Kurisu in one scene when she gave her the book for the first time.

Suddenly Kagari snaps out of her memories after Okabe shakes her. "Kagari?! Are you ok?" he asks with worry.

"O-Oh…. Yea, I am ok." she says with a bit of confusion.

"Are you sure? You looked like you suddenly were not in reality for a moment."

Kagari thinks about it for a moment, and then responds. "Papa, where did you get this book?"

"Young Suzuha gave it to me back months ago. Why?"

"Because, I have seen and read this book in the future."

Everyone in the old lab is shocked by Kagari's response. She then shows every lab member the page with his mad scientist name on it and he quickly becomes shocked to the core. "W-What….is this?"

"It says, Hououin…...Kyouma." says Kurisu.

Okabe then thinks this was created by a lab member and puts on his persona. "Hmm, did any of you here create this book about my glorious achievements?"

Everyone nods in disagreement. This then shocks him and gets him curious as he turns to Kagari. "Then, Kagari? Do you remember who gave you this book in the future."

There is a pause, before she responds. "I don't know."

Okabe then turns to Future Suzuha for an answer. "Suzuha? Do you remember as a child where you got the book?"

She nods in disagreement. "To be honest, I don't remember having that book at all when I was a child. " There is a pause. "However, that may be because I don't remember a whole lot when I was 3 years old. I might have repressed the memories of that book as I got older."

"True, that can be the case." says Okabe. Fortunately though, with the Future Suzuha saying her possible reason, that raises a solution. "Then, we should call Yuki to ask her where she got that book. She bought it for your younger self after all."

Okabe dials Yuki's phone number. It takes a few seconds before she answers the call. "Oh? Okabe-san? Hello."

"Yuki, Hello. I have a question for you. Do you remember getting the book called "Mad Scientist Adventures" for Suzuha?"

"Yes. I do. Why?"

"Do you remember where exactly?"

Yuki thinks for a moment where she got the book. "Umm, I remember getting it at a small conference with a friend who wanted to check out the science events they were having at the Radio Building."

Okabe's eyes widened. "Then, can you tell me who gave you the book?"

"Sorry. I don't remember who it was." There is a pause. "Oh?! I can call my friend to ask her where she got the book if you can wait long enough?"

"If you can do that then please do so. I can wait until then."

Yuki smiles. "Okay! Then, I'll call you back soon. See ya." Yuki hangs up the phone.

Okabe shuts his phone and turns to the lab members. "Well, Yuki will hopefully find out who gave her the book very soon. For now, we will have to wait for her to message her friend."

There is a pause. Until Yuki gives news from her friend about the book, everything is at hold. It is really strange how there is a book about Okabe and his mad scientist character, and it really begins to question everyone if there is someone out there who loves his character other than the lab members.

However, then the clock in the room reaches 12 midday, meaning most of the lab members must head to work. "OH?!" Mayushii is late for work!" says Mayuri.

"I have to be at the cafe-nyan!" says Faris.

"Sorry, Okarin! But we have to go, see you later!" says Mayuri as she and Faris leave together in a hurry.

Then, Moeka and Luka decide to head out together. "Well, me and Moeka-san need to head out to go shopping for items. See ya." says Luka, as Moeka then just nods and leaves.

"Then, me and Hashida-san will head to the lab to open up. Since we are opening late today, we will have to close later as well."

Okabe then becomes curious. "Wait, just you and Daru?"

"Well of course. Kurisu will stay with Kagari today to help watch over her." says Maho

Okabe is shocked and turns to Kurisu. "W-Well of course! K-Kagari needs a woman….to watch over her! That's right! Besides, I-I can't guarantee that you will be able to take care of her yourself!"

Okabe gets upset and puts on his persona. "How dare you! I am a mad scientist who can take on any challenge I get thrown at! Never put me down in the low of the spectrum!"

"Being a scientist is a whole different thing than taking care of another human being!"

Okabe and Kurisu are at it again with their arguments to hide each other's reasons for being together. However, Kagari's memory begins to bring forth a small scene similar to the one she is seeing. This then makes her curious and makes her decide. "Well, I want Kurisu to stay."

Okabe and Kurisu suddenly turn to her. "I want to get to know Kurisu more." She then smiles. "After all, I don't remember her yet, and you look like you can get along with Papa."

Both Kurisu and Okabe blushes and turn away as they are after all a couple.

Maho and Daru smile as it looks like it is definitely decided. "Seems you can't deny it anymore." says Daru. "Well, me and Maho-tan need to head out. So, we will talk again about our daily report later tonight. See ya, Okarin." Maho and Daru leave the old lab.

The place is now nearly empty of people, but at the same time, it is not. The eyes are now on Okabe with his girlfriend, Kurisu Makise, and his future daughter, Kagari Okabe. They are now alone, trying to find a way to stay busy. However that is no problem.

"So, will you keep Kagari busy?" Okabes asks Kurisu.

"Of course. She needs a woman to look after her, like a mother. I don't feel confident in you being a parent the way you currently are."

This makes Okabe upset and puts on his persona. "H-How dare you! I am a mad scientist who came to do anything to ensure the safety of every ally of the Future Gadget Laboratory! That especially includes my future daughter!"

Kurisu sighs. "Like is said earlier, being a scientist and taking care of a human being are two completely different things."

"Oh? And you believe you can do the job?" he says with a teasing tone. "Do you already have experience on what it is to be a mother? Hmmmm?"

This gets Kurisu blushings. "N-N-No! I am still a virgin!"

Kurisu then gets very embarrassed because she just suddenly yelled that out, and realized she said it to Okabe. This makes him smile but continues to tease. "See? You have no right to tell me about being a parent at all. Besides, I have made Kagari feel at home and have given her lots of love like any caring father would. Is that right, Kagari?"

"Yep! Kagari loves papa so much!" she says with a happy tone.

Kurisu takes a moment to remember that since the day Kagari first stayed with Okabe, she has indeed gotten better in mood and memory. She has been showing how much she does care for Okabe, meaning he is doing an amazing job making sure she gets the love she deserves.

Then, Okabe interrupts her thoughts. "Don't worry in the end, Kurisu. I already knew you don't have an experience as a mother, and I am the same as you right now. After all, Kagari is my daughter in the future. I can only take care of her to make sure she recovers all her memories. And….." Okabe turns around embarrassed to say something else, but he couldn't. "N-Never mind! Let's just put that topic aside and work on the divergence meter! Hououin Kyouma is not able to concentrate like this!"

Kurisu is shocked about Okabe's sudden switch in the topic, but she decides to also set it aside and move on.

He takes out the divergence meter that was put away, and takes out all the parts already taken apart and all the tools needed to take it further apart and put it together. Inside of it, there are so many small components surrounding a huge box of the motherboard.

Seeing this makes Kurisu shocked. "Wow. I would have never thought you would make such a machine. This thing looks very well designed and complicated."

Okabe smiles with his persona. "Right? This machine is the prime representation of what Hououin Kyouma is capable of." There is a pause. "This took me many years to make and create. I spent nights trying to create a theory to create a machine that can detect divergences, and without trying to cause a huge problem for the world. After almost 9 years, this is the end result."

"Future Gadget Number 100: The Divergence Meter." says Kurisu. She really is shocked to see a piece of machinery that has the influence of a time machine to some degree. However, she is aware this is not a real time machine in the end. It is a meter that detects only divergences based on Okabe's research. It cannot detect time changes.

With that in mind, she believes Okabe would make sure the meter would not have any problem for at least a few decades, so this becomes a mystery. What is the current issue to cause the meter to suddenly disrupt. She begins going through some questions. "Well then, to start off, is the electrical wiring ok?"

"Yes." Okabe responds. "Me and Kagari tested it too and it had no problems."

"Then, how about the power box that powers the whole thing?"

Okabe pulls out the power box. "In great condition. No errors there."

Kurisu goes through the research papers of the meter. "Then, how about the secondary power compartment that helps push stronger power?"

Okabe realizes he hasn't checked that yet. He begins dismantling it and exposing another part of the meter. Kagari then switches to her beta personality as her eye color changes to yellow, and helps by unscrewing the last things holding the compartment and pulls out the part. She then prepares the test, and it usually comes out great. "Well, it looks to be in good condition."

Kurisu is surprised about Kagari's sudden personality shift and eye color, but she remembers that is what Kagari can do and moves on. "Then that rules out all the electrical parts inside this device. Let's move onto other possible problems."

Okabe, Kurisu, and Kagari work for hours to try and figure out what problems the meter may have. Unfortunately, they can still find nothing. This meter is becoming an annoyance to them, and it is really a problem now that they can't find anything that is preventing the meter from working. So to calm down the heat of working, they decide to stop for now.

Late afternoon arrives, and it's already past lunch time. Okabe and kagari set down all the tools and decide to take a break for now. Kurisu is checking around the kitchen area to see if there are any ingredients to cook up something. Unfortunately, due to Okabe's eating habits, he rarely has anything since he eats outside in other places. "I'm disappointed in you Okabe. You don't have much ingredients to cook up anything, let alone help even take care of yourself."

Okabe puts in his persona. "That is because Hououin Kyouma can only fully re-energize the glorious foods from the restaurants from this city! Anything else will infect me instead!"

"Oh? Then does that mean the times I have cooked for you don't fully re-energize you, and it instead infects you?"

Okabe's face turns to fear as he realizes his girlfriend has already cooked for him before. He didn't want to make her feel bad, so he tried to make it up. "N-No! Y-Your food…..is an expectation…...in fact, even greater than anything…..in this city."

Kurisu's face turns red as she didn't expect Okabe to respond just like that. This however, makes her smile to hear such words from him in the end.

The silence is then interrupted. "A-Anyways! I will go buy more ingredients then. Can you watch over Kagari for now while I'm gone?"

"Sure, that won't be a problem."

"Well, I will see you both in about half an hour. Behave, Kagari."

"Yes, Papa! Bye bye!" Kagari waves to Okabe as he takes his leave from the old lab.

There is a moment of silence, as it is now just Kagari and Kurisu in the old lab. Okabe usually keeps the place lively, but now that he is gone, making the place already feel different. However, Kurisu thinks this is the chance to get to know Kagari more through her perspective and her own questions. "So, Kagari, I want to get to know you more. Is that alright with you?"

She nods. "Sure."

They both decide to take a seat on the couch, side by side. "So, tell me who you are exactly, and in honesty."

"Well, my name is Kagari Okabe, daughter of Rintaro Okabe."

"You're definitely sure he is your father?"

Kagari nods in agreement.

There is a pause, as Kurisu believes this seems to be the current answer. "How old are you, and when is your birthday?"

"I am 13 years old, and my birthday is December 14th."

Kurisu is shocked to hear her response. "Huh? December 14th? That is the same as Okabe!"

"Yep" Kagari responds with happiness.

With that in mind, and considering her current age, Kurisu comes to the conclusion that Kagari was born on December 14th, 2022. "Is it true that you are from the future?"

"Mhm. Kagari came from the future with Big Sis Suzu. We arrived in a time machine built by our family from the future."

"And, who is this family?"

Kagari thinks for a second before responding. "All of the members that belong to this lab."

Kurisu is wowed to hear Kagari calling every lab member's family. "Then, do you remember anything about me from the future?"

She tries to remember, but unfortunately, this makes her head hurt. So she stops. "No... I can't remember anything about you."

"I-I see….." says Kurisu, as she is sad about her response.

Kagari notices Kurisu's sadness and now feels a bit bad. "Sorry….."

"I-It's ok. Your memories haven't fully returned yet, so I am not too concerned right now." There is a pause. "Anyways, tell me Kagari. What do you like to do?"

"I like to play and create future gadgets with Papa!" she says with excitement. "I also like the toy upas Big Sis Mayu collects. They look so nice. Ummm….." As she thinks, this begins to jog another new memory. Kagari begins to remember a time, where she would love to read books. Her most favorite one was of course "Mad Scientist Adventure." However, she also remembers liking to read research papers that were written by her parents. Currently she can only remember Okabe's name as one of the people who did. These memories make her head hurt, but she quickly recovers. "I also like to read a lot of books and research papers. Well, more like my Beta Version loves to read research papers."

"Eh? So, do you love science?"

Kagari thinks for a moment before responding. "Yep! I remember Mama and Papa arguing over the smallest possibility in theories. This then always gets me curious about science and wanting to know more."

This response gets Kurisu's hopes up more. She knows that herself and Okabe would mostly fit the description. However, she realizes she is being too selfish on the idea, and going in depth if she is really the mother of Kagari. She blushes and shakes her head to stop herself from think much more.

Time goes by, and Okabe has bought food to cook, and returns home. Kurisu cooks for Kagari and Okabe, and Okabe takes out his favorite Dr. Pepper for everyone to drink. They all sit at the couch, thank for the food, and eat for the next 20 minutes. Afterwards, it leaves everyone a relaxing feeling in their stomachs.

As they finish cleaning up everything and prepare to continue working on the Divergence Meter, Kagari notices a giant pink upa that sits above the shelf on the computer. She gets really curious as it does indeed look like an upa. "Hey hey, what is that giant pink upa?"

Okabe looks to see what Kagari is referring to, and he sees the giant pink upa. "Oh that. That is a special computerized upa."

"Eh?"

Yes, it is." says Kurisu. "It was a device given to us by Nae Tennouji after me and Mayuri wanted to cook some Chicken Karaage. However, we ended up making Chocolate Burritos in the end."

Kagari then becomes curious about another thing. "So, can that upa help you with directions and many other things?!"

"Yes. For example, I was asked by Okabe and Hashida to help find suitable clothes to fix their hygiene, because they used to never change their clothes, and just thinking about that was disgusting."

Okabe gets upset, but he then puts on his persona. "That's right. Back then, I, the insane mmmaaaddd scientist, never prioritized personal hygiene. This is because the road to plunge this world into chaos has always been number 1! One second of distraction of any sort, and the world will fall into hell!"

"That is just his excuse for hiding the truth of not changing clothes."

Okabe gets upset again. "H-How dare say such lowly things to the great mad scientist, a-channeler!"

"a-channeler?" Kagari asks.

Kurisu gets upset. "O-Okabe?! Don't give Kagari and strange ideas! Say any more of this, and I will put an electrode in your hippocampus!"

"Nullpo-!"

"-Ga!"

Kurisu suddenly blushes intensely as she realizes what she said. Okabe laughs. "Ffffwwwwaaaaaaahahahahahah! Look at this Kagari! Kurisutina has proven her body reacts instantly to the phrase of a a-channeler!"

"Damn it…" says Kurisu with frustration, as she cannot win this argument.

Kagari however, ignores the a-channeler name and begins to giggle in a very happy tone. "To be honest, this situation makes me feel happy. I don't know why but I like this."

Okabe and Kurisu take a moment to realize what is happening and what Kagari just said. Since she enjoys their random argument, they decide to not go any further, and they both smile at each other and blush, as this was rather sudden.

What Kagari doesn't tell them which is revealed in her unclear memory, is this makes her happy due to it having a very, nostalgic feeling.