A/N: Long time no see. I don't know how much I can consistently put chapters out given just how much things have changed since I last updated you all, but I promised I wouldn't let this story go unfinished. Here's the next chapter - granted another flashback - but it was in the plan to begin with so I couldn't just ignore it. I've been super out of practice, but I hope it's not too evident in the writing.
All characters are owned by MAGES. and this is merely my interpretation of how they wished to present said characters. While I may not agree with certain representations, I tried my best to warp it into something more palatable for me to write about.
Date: October 29, 2016
Divergence: 1.048596 (Steins Gate)
Time until Overwrite: 20 years, 15 days
The autumn winds blew softly, announcing to the residents of Akihabara that the arduously long summer had drawn to a close. The leaves had tinted orange and began to litter the streets, adding a crunch to each footstep that was taken throughout the day. Despite there being very little cloud cover in the sky, the sun shined with a coolness that was missed by Tokyo's inhabitants, especially by Urushibara Luka.
Luka made the trip into Akiba for a couple of much-needed electronics that his father had tasked him to collect for the shrine — something about modernizing some aspects of it for its visitors. Apparently, Hashida-san was supposed to stop by and help set up whatever Luka's father had planned, a project that he knew nothing of not because of secrecy, but just the fact that he knew very little about technology besides navigating his way around a phone.
The shrinemaiden wore a black leather jacket over a white t-shirt with blue skinny jeans and a pair of black boots. His hair, which he had let grow for a year without any sort of trim was clipped to the sides, letting his unblemished face be exposed to the elements. Despite the fact that Luka was more confident in how he felt in his own body, the 23-year-old still feared traveling to Akihabara alone, always being reminded of the time that he was chased across town for having feminine looks— the day that he met Kyouma. Prior to going deeper into Akiba, he stopped by the Future Gadget Lab to see if anyone would be willing to accompany him on his trip. Thankfully, he found not one, but two volunteers: Mayuri, who he could always rely on to be with him, and Nae, who needed to make the trip into Akiba anyways, but thought it would be more fun to go with a couple of partners.
Nae had grown into a fine young woman in Luka's eyes. The once-timid daughter of the frightening building manager had grown to be very outgoing and friendly with anyone who would reciprocate her feelings. The 18-year-old, inspired by Kyouma-san and Hashida-san's foray into electrical engineering during their time in college, decided to pursue aerospace engineering, as she wished to take part in helping humanity reach the stars — her dream being to work at JAXA once her studies were complete. She had grown quite tall, standing just below Luka's nose if he were to try and get close to compare. For the occasion, she wore a long, a simple, white button-down top, and a navy blue skirt with black stockings.
Flanking Luka on his left side was the ever-so-youthful Mayuri. Despite the fact that they were the same age, Mayuri did not look like she aged a single day. The only hint to the fact that her body wasn't trapped in 2010 was the fact that she had grown a couple centimeters taller — though still stood shorter than Luka and Nae — and let her hair grow a little bit past her shoulders. Leaning into her more maternal instincts, Mayuri chose to pursue a position as a kindergarten teacher, quickly becoming her students' absolute favorite person to be around. She wore a white, long dress, with a colorful floral design and a blue cardigan, topped with her usual sky-blue hat that she wore to fight off the sun.
Nae and Mayuri were hyperactive in their discussion as they usually were, while Luka did sat back and listened on their conversation with his usual smile on his face.
"You know, I'm kinda gonna miss hearing Uncle Okarin's funny laugh from inside the shop," Nae remarked as the topic landed on Kyouma-san's move to America to attend Victor Chondria University. "It made the place a little more lively, you know?"
Now that Nae was much older, Tennouji-san tasked his daughter to take care of the store every now and again whenever he and Kiryuu-san were absent due to whatever work they were doing together.
"There'll be a lot to miss about Okarin," Mayuri said. "The lab was always so fun to be at whenever he was around. But, you know? Mayushii thinks it's good that he's pursuing all that science stuff in America — it might even help his and Chris-chan's relationship a bit."
Luka couldn't help blushing a little at the mention of Kyouma-san's and Makise-san's relationship. Ever since Kyouma-san saved him back then, he couldn't help but loving him, as it was only through Kyouma-san that he felt empowered about his own gender. Though despite that empowerment, there were times that he wished he could become a girl — a woman for Kyouma-san to see and desire as much as Luka desired him. It was a paradoxical existence for Luka — empowered by the man he loved to not question his own gender, yet desiring to become a woman just so that the man he loved could see him the way that Luka saw him. Luka wouldn't exactly classify himself as a homosexual, nor explicitly transgender when he went through these tumultuous feelings at the time, he was just madly in love with Kyouma-san, and was wishing that he could do anything to gain his favor in a way that wasn't taboo like a man loving a man.
Though dream upon dream that he had for a period of time throughout 2010 seemed to beat back on his paradoxical existence. For a time, in those dreams, he was a girl, no longer feeling any sort of gender dysmorphia and was confident in his own looks as a female. He even went on a date with Kyouma-san, though he always seemed distracted by something else. Then, at the end of the dream, Kyouma-san would visit the shrine in the evening and they would train together until it was time for him to leave. Details of the dream would always escape him, but he explicitly remembered the feelings he felt as he held onto Kyouma-san at the end of the dream. The pain of knowing that such a night would not last — the feeling of Kyouma's body as he embraced him in his feminine form. Yet, there were always words that would continue to resonate within him whenever he thought about feeling like he was born in the wrong body.
"You'll always be Lukako to me, even as a boy! Nothing will change. None of that matters!"
There was still a part of Luka that loved Kyouma-san, and he's come to accept those feelings despite being a man. However, try as he might, he could never measure up to the chemistry that Kyouma-san had with Makise-san. As such, he was content with remaining by his side as Labmem 006 and nothing more.
"How has school been for you, Nae-chan?" Mayuri asked as Luka emerged from his own thoughts. "Have you made any new friends? Is it tough?"
"Very tough. I know that aerospace engineering is different from electrical engineering, but Uncle Hashida made it seem so easy."
Mayuri laughed. "That's Daru-kun for you. Whenever he puts his mind to something, he'll always find a way to come out on top. What about friends? Have you made any?"
"To be honest, with just how difficult studies are, it's kinda hard to get close to people, you know? Everyone's so busy trying to figure out how things work, and those that choose to go out a lot will just fall behind. Besides, people in my study aren't exactly all that friendly — they really wanna be the top of the class."
Head nods were prompted by both Mayuri and Luka. Mayuri studied to get by in high school and when graduation came, her secondary education was sought through teaching programs and the like yet she always remarked Luka about how some people were very unfriendly in her seminars. As for Luka, he pursued a secondary education in cultural studies — influenced by how his father always tended to the shrine and expected a lot out of the shrinemaiden.
"Do you get to do any hands-on work?" Luka asked, breaking his silence to contribute his share of the conversation.
"Not yet," Nae said. "That stuff's all for my senpais."
Luka hummed in understanding. The further he progressed in college, the more hands-on his studies became - though in his case, he did field work.
The remaining walk through Akiba was pregnant with idle conversation that allowed the trio to distract and immerse themselves in each others' lives. Luka opened up about what he learned through his studies, Mayuri spoke of the children who she got to teach - of which she had no favorites as they were all her favorite - and Nae elaborated further on what was expected of her for her remaining time in university.
"Okay, this is my stop," Nae said as she stopped in front of a gift shop that Hashida-san would frequent - a gift shop that seemed like it could provide for every otaku need. "You two can go on ahead and get the things you need Big Bro Luka."
Luka nodded. "Shall we meet back here when we're done?"
"Sure!"
"Hope you find what you need, Nae-chan!"
Given the go-ahead, Luka and Mayuri made their way a couple store fronts down to where Luka needed to go.
On their walk, Luka began picking up things that seemed out of place for a supposedly bustling urban center like Akiba. As they proceeded and he began to slowly shift is attention around himself, he noticed the streets began to clear out rather quickly. Those who remained seemed stiff, as if the slightest breeze could have them fall occasional glances were thrown out in just about every direction as if they were trying to ensure they weren't being watched just standing around.
There didn't seem to be a sense of coordination among those that remained within the area around the pair. There were very different dress styles, some people were walking as couples, others were walking as individuals. The only common thing that they all shared, which Luka felt like a stretch to try and connect into anything weird was the fact that he could not feasibly make out anyone's faces. They were either wearing face masks, sunglasses, or were generally concealed in a way that Luka could not properly make out their features. Not trusting his own judgement, his only other recourse was to see if Mayuri's intuition sensed anything out of order
He bent down to whisper to her, but before he could say anything, Mayuri cut him off.
"I feel like we should visit Feris-chan at her MayQueen, don't you think? Let's go back and grab Nae-chan so that we can all go together." She told Luka this without a change in her demeanor or tone of voice. Luka concluded that Mayuri grasped the weird atmosphere just as much as he did, but did not want to raise any alarms if either of the pair was correct. He was also glad that Mayuri thought of retreating to MayQueen as he was sure that everything there was normal.
The pair turned back towards the direction of the shop they left Nae at. Much to Luka's chagrin, it was the only one that maintained a seemingly normal population while every surrounding area was virtually clear of people. They hurriedly walked to the store, hoping that Nae would be able to turn at some point so that they could call her attention.
As they approached, Luka saw a glint of light in his periphery. When he turned he saw someone pointing a camera in the direction of the shop that they were rushing towards. It was a very subtle set-up, but after years of being the subject of unwanted, inconspicuous pictures taken by others, he had a knack for spotting cameras in the crowd. As he looked around, he saw more and more angles being set up.
What's going on? he thought to himself.
They were closing in on the shop entrance when they finally spotted Nae emerging from the crowd. Mayuri immediately waved her down, getting her attention. Nae waved back, a smile on her face with her arm hooked under a half-full shopping basket.
"Let me just pay for this and we can head out!" she told the pair, unaware of the fear that seemed to be gripping them.
Mayuri did her best to quickly shake her head and motion towards the young Tennouji to drop her things and join them immediately. Luka watched as Nae studied their expressions and seemed to deduce what was going on as fast as they would have hoped. Nae placed her basket on one of the nearby shelves and joined the two as quickly and as subtly as she could.
"What happened?" she whispered as she joined the two on their walk to MayQueen.
"Let's get to MayQueen to talk about it," Mayuri said in her usual airy voice, though Luka observed that her smile seemed more forced than it was natural.
Nae, still confused, seemed like she was going to ignore what Mayuri and Luka were asking her to do and return to her shopping. Before she could, Luka leaned into her ear.
"Don't move your head, but look around. This entire street is totally empty except for your store."
Nae followed Luka's directions, analyzing her surroundings without drawing attention to the fact that she was eyeing everything with suspicion. Luka joined in these observations, trying to see if he could find anything that he didn't find previously. However, his efforts did not yield anything new, just the continued dreaded feeling that something was very off in the street that they were in.
Luka felt a gaze piercing him from every angle, sending a chill through his body that made all his hairs stand on end. The discomfort rapidly grew to genuine fear that something was bound to happen. Mayuri and Nae felt the exact same way as the pace they were walking at significantly hastened.
Before the trio could reach the end of the street, someone turned the corner, cutting them off from advancing any further. This person wore the same items that blocked Luka from getting any good look at his face: a cap, sunglasses, and a facemask. In his hands, the one thing that was capable of making them all freeze at once, was a rifle which was pointed at Nae, who was in between both Mayuri and Luka. Luka's breathing hitched at the sight of the gun, immediately put his hands up, and backed away from the gun-wielder alongside the two girls.
"We can't have you leave when the fun's just about to get started," the man said with a sly tone. "Why don't you walk back the way you came?"
"Why are you doing this?" Nae spoke up, finding her voice much faster than Luka could steady his breathing.
"Why do you need to know?" the man fired a mocking question back at Nae. "You either go back there so that you can take part in the festival that's about to happen or I put you down right here right now."
The man got closer, cocking the gun and pointing the barrel straight at Nae's head. As he got closer, a burly figure totally clad in black turned the corner and made its way behind the gunman. The gunman continued approaching Nae until the barrel was practically touching her head, yet Nae remained steadfast without a trace of fear in her eyes. Mayuri steeled her resolve as well, gripping Nae's hand tighter to try and provide that extra mental fortitude through her touch alone. The duo left Luka stunned, yet he tried his best to match their resolve despite the fear that clung onto every part of his body.
"Do you not understand what I'm saying?" the man was incredulous. "Get back!"
"I refuse," Nae caught sight of the figure that was making its way to the man and seemingly recognized it. "But thanks for the heads-up."
Before the man could process what was said, Nae, still holding onto Mayuri, kicked upwards, knocking the gun's barrel away from her head and making the man lose his balance in surprise. At this, Nae followed up with a kick to the man's midsection, knocking him into the figure clad in black. The figure took advantage of this shortened distance to clap his hands on the man's ears and wrap his massive arm around the man's throat, choking him into unconsciousness.
Now that the figure was right in front of him, Luka felt a sense of familiarity with their mysterious savior. Their large body shape, the way they carried themselves, they all reminded Luka of someone, but he couldn't exactly figure out who it was.
"Papa!" Nae ran to hug the figure as he placed the now-unconscious gunman to the floor.
Luka was finally able to piece together just why the figure reminded him so much of someone he knew. Removing part of the cloth that covered his face, the building manager Tennouji-san bent down to hug his daughter.
"I'm glad I made it in time," he said. "Are any of you hurt?"
Tennouji-san looked at Luka and Mayuri who shook their heads in response.
"I'm super happy that you were able to find us Braun-san," Mayuri said. "But how did you know this would happen?"
"I heard whispers of something called a 'festival' around here. It was so close to the shop that I had to make sure everything was okay."
As they were talking, Luka found himself in his own head. He couldn't help wondering just where in the world Nae learned how to do what she did, nor did he understand why Tennouji-san was even with them dressed the way he was. He thought he had an idea as to who these people were, but their actions spoke to a totally different life than what they claimed to lead. Was Tennouji-san actually a part of this "festival" and backed out the moment he found out that his daughter would be caught in the crosshair? How in the world did Nae even manage such a fluid motion dressed the way she was? Just how did Nae manage to learn self-defense of that caliber to be able to overpower someone with a rifle? His mind was racing everywhere, yet it still continued to get tripped up on how such an innocent-seeming teenage girl knew how to fight like that.
The commotion drew the attention of the others who were getting themselves set up for the "festival" that the gunman was talking about. As Luka looked around trying to grasp his surroundings, he saw handguns and rifles being pulled out and being pointed in their direction. As for those in the busy shop that Nae came out of, they began quickly dispersing as more and more people realized what was going on and wished to escape.
Tennouji-san pushed the trio down behind a car parked on the side of the street and picked up the rifle that was dropped on the floor, opening fire on the gunmen. The gunshots were so loud they were practically bursting Luka's eardrums with each time Tennouji-san pulled the trigger. At these gunshots, Luka observed the streets empty out in a panic from both the innocent people in the shop as well as the gunmen who were now getting shot at by the newly masked Tennouji-san.
"Try to get out of here," Tennouji-san said in between gunshots. "I'll be right behind you."
At his instruction, the trio got out of their cover and made a break for the end of the street once more. As they were about to turn the corner, a yell was heard from behind them. Luka turned around to find the source, and it was none other than Tennouji-san who seemed to have gotten injured by the gunmen who returned their fire at him. He fell behind the car, clutching his shoulder.
"Papa!" Nae yelled and began running back to tend to her father despite his protests for her to keep on running away.
Mayuri turned around with Nae as Luka froze in place behind cover of his own. Every instinct in his body was telling him to run away, but he couldn't bring himself to leave his friends behind to leave for safety. He stood there watching as the remaining gunmen who fired back a Tennouji-san began closing in on the cover that the girls and the building manager hid behind. There were only three left who were brave enough to continue the firefight. However, Luka's group was heavily outmatched due to the sheer fact that all three still had their weapons whereas Tennouji-san was the only one who could return fire. However, his ability to do so was greatly hindered by the sheer fact that his shoulder was very heavily wounded. Nae was doing her best to administer first aid to her father with the assistance of Mayuri, but the gunshots that were flying around them were more than distracting.
Before the group of gunmen could continue further, Luka heard a shot that didn't come from any of them. Not even a moment later, one of the three crumpled to the ground without so much as a noise. Luka looked around and saw another figure clothed in black with a biker helmet making their way from the opposite end of the street - where the shop full of people was located - with a handgun of their own. One of the two remaining gunmen spotted the biker-helmeted figure and began shooting in their direction, prompting their potential savior to take cover of their own.
The other gunman continued advancing towards Nae, Mayuri, and Tennouji-san, committed to dealing with the people that ruined whatever plan was set in place. While he only had a handgun, the gunman was beginning to threaten the trio. It wasn't until the gunman was able to get a clear line of sight of his targets and cocked his pistol at them that Luka finally acted.
He wasn't going to stand by and watch his friends get murdered senselessly. He had to do something - anything. With the gunman's attention on the trio in front of him, Luka was able to reposition himself to approach from the gunman's blindside. He charged as fast as he could into the gunman's back, knocking him off-balance just as he fired. Luka could hear a yelp from Nae as the bullet that was fired hit her in her foot - a much better fate than death, but an injury nonetheless. Luka cursed himself at the mere sound of Nae's pain for not moving sooner, but he was doing his best. He wrapped his arms around the gunman's waist, trying to hold him in place, but he was too weak to hold someone who was twice his size. The gunman very easily tossed Luka to the floor with just the use of his hips. When Luka looked up from his point of view, all he saw was the barrel of a pistol pointing down at him. At this sight, he just closed his eyes.
Time seemed to have come to a stop for Luka. He could feel the gentle force of the autumn winds blowing around him. He didn't feel cold, nor did he feel warm, he was just existing in the moment. His mind brought him back to the dreams he used to have about himself and Kyouma-san. He couldn't help regretting the fact that he never got to tell Kyouma-san that he loved him. He couldn't help feeling guilty that he felt happy in those moments despite the suffering that was clearly evident in Kyouma-san's eyes. He loved Kyouma-san, there was no way around it, yet that love will no doubt go unrequited and unsaid. Despite the fact that the young shrinemaiden was about to meet his end, his mind never ventured upon the fear of dying, merely the regret of not doing the things he so desperately wished he could have the bravery to do.
As his regrets flashed before his eyes, Luka heard a muffled voice call for him and felt a weight fall across his body. He opened his eyes just in time for the gunman to fire his gun. The force of the impact from the sudden weight was enough to knock the wind out of Luka. Before the gunman could fire again, he crumpled to the floor, his head splitting open from a bullet fired by the biker-helmeted savior.
However, there was no cause for Luka to cheer or thank his lucky stars that he didn't die. The weight across his body got heavier and heavier, and Luka could feel something wet spreading throughout his chest. He felt no pain, nor would he as the bullet didn't hit its intended target. Luka looked down only to be met face-to-face with none other than Mayuri. Her face was pale, and her breathing was clearly ragged.
"No no no no no," Nae said in a dismayed tone. "Big Sis Mayuri!"
Luka looked past Mayuri's face and down his own body. The scene he was met with was enough to make him cry out in terror. The wet feeling he felt across his chest was blood that was coming out of Mayuri.
"Mayuri-chan," Luka was able to force out between cries. "Why?"
Mayuri gave him a pained smile. "What kind of friend would Mayushii be... if she didn't protect a friend in danger?"
Everyone quickly surrounded Luka and Mayuri: Tennouji-san was doing his best to move Mayuri into a more stable position, Nae was applying pressure to the wound now apparent in Mayuri's chest, and their biker-helmeted savior revealed herself to be none other than Kiryuu-san. She quickly got onto the phone, seemingly trying to get some sort of medical attention for the Tennoujis and Mayuri.
Now that she was off of him, Luka clambered over to Mayuri and held her hand. Her breathing remained ragged and she looked at nothing in particular. He held her hand as tightly as he could, tears flowing down his cheeks.
"Mayushii isn't ready to go yet," she continued speaking. "I don't want to go."
Her breathing hitched as she spoke, forcing her to stop speaking altogether.
"Don't say another word Mayuri-chan," Luka cried out. "Please just save your energy and breathe."
The autumn wind blew gently in the streets of Akihabara, unaware and uncaring of the events that transpired within the streets. The cool air kicked out the dog days of summer, but it was not enough to cool down the heat that was within Luka's body. This was all his fault. If only he acted sooner, or if he was stronger, Mayuri wouldn't be in her current state. He sat there, watching Mayuri fight for every breath, numb to the sounds of the rest of the world around him. He sat there, gripping the hand of his friend as tightly as he could, as if the tighter he held on, the more strength he'd be giving Mayuri to be able to continue breathing. Everything got muffled as he honed in on Mayuri's breathing. He heard every hitch, every shake. He didn't care how labored it was so long as she never stopped. All he wanted to hear from now until the end of time was Mayuri's breathing.
A/N: So there's that chapter. Pretty action-packed after such a long hiatus. I'm sorry it couldn't be longer, but I believe it's better to get something out than nothing at all. As stated before, I don't exactly know how long it will take me to get the next chapter out, but do believe me when I say that it is in the works. The story is very close to wrapping up and I think I was finally able to find a satisfying way to conclude things. The next update for sure will be Chapter 2 though, it's beginning to annoy me that I have a blank chapter sitting there when it's supposed to set up the way 0kabe works. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed and I'm sorry for all the long waits I'm putting you through (that's assuming you really enjoy this story anyway).
~Quil
