A/N: Steins;Gate is owned by 5pb and Chiyomaru Studios.
Date: November 14, 2036
Divergence: 1.048596* (Steins Gate)
*Worldline shift in 2020 - Not the exact same worldline as it was before the shift.
Time until Overwrite: ERROR - NEGATIVE VALUE - CANNOT COMPUTE
Okabe didn't dream that night, the first time he hadn't ever since World War III started on the Beta worldline.
He felt the sun hitting his face as it poked through the curtains and he groggily opened his eyes. He was about to rub his eyes with his arms, but he noticed that something was keeping his right arm from moving. He looked over to his right and realized that Kurisu had pinned his arm down with her head.
Wait. Kurisu. Him. Same bed. She's insanely close. Last night actually happened? He thought he was hallucinating from spending so much time in that cramped time machine that he thought this worldline was an insanely realistic hallucination that his mind had thought up. But Kurisu was actually here with him in the worldline that he tried so hard to bring for everyone.
The faint lemony scent could be smelled from her lips as she exhaled softly into his chest. Okabe was used to being tightly squeezed in a small space with a couple girls so they couldn't help being almost on top of them, but the fact that this wasn't forced made this completely alien to him. He couldn't help but feel the heat rise to his face, he was in his 40s yet he felt so juvenile thinking this way.
"K-Kurisu," he whispered in a slightly panicked tone. "What are you doing?"
Kurisu shifted in her sleep, but stayed practically ontop of Okabe.
Okabe then remembered everything that happened the night before. In this worldline, he actually married Kurisu so this kind of behavior should have been expected out of a married couple. Even with knowing this, Okabe still felt awkward, he hasn't talked to Kurisu ever since his last interaction with Amadeus almost three decades ago, but that still wasn't the Kurisu that was with him now.
He slightly shook his head and looked at the ceiling to clear his thoughts. This wasn't the time to feel awkward about anything, the fact that he was here now and the fact that everyone he cares about is still alive means that he succeeded in bringing the promised worldline, it meant everything to him. But he can't fail to recognize that he's the stranger once more, that he stole the spot of the man who took action to bring about the change to the Steins Gate worldline. He knew there was no way to make up those lost memories, Reading Steiner just wouldn't allow it, but he just hoped he could remember for her sake.
Even though she may have opened up to him once he explained himself to her, he knew she was still hurt. He wanted to take that pain away, but he didn't know how. He's lived in pain for the past 3 decades, and he knew that he never wanted anyone to go through any sort of discomfort as long as he was there to help out.
Okabe looked over at Kurisu once more who still pinned his arm to the bed.
In the middle of Kurisu's shuffling, a stray strand of hair had fallen across her face, Okabe chose to make the move to put it back in its rightful place. Unluckily for him, Kurisu's nose was particularly sensitive in the mornings and as soon as the hair had skimmed across the tip, she sneezed all over him waking her up in the process.
"That's just gross," Okabe said as he wiped away the snot and spit from his nightshirt with his free arm. "Do cover your mouth when you sneeze if you please."
That one moment, it was enough to knock Okabe out of his train of thought and into his usual self.
"I don't recall ever giving you permission to touch me," Kurisu said as she literally still pinned his arm down as she looked at him.
Looks like she woke up with perfect memory of what happened the night before.
"You say that as you're practically all over me," Okabe had to point out to her. "And plus, that strand of hair really bothered me."
Kurisu paused for a second, looked down at where she was laying and looked back up at Okabe's face.
She scooted away quicker than he thought she was capable of, for the first time since he woke up his arm was free.
"Force of habit," she mumbled. "I don't know what you expect out of me considering you're supposed to be my husband."
Okabe let out a small sigh. "You don't have to change anything, Kurisu. I promise I'll get used to this just give me some more time."
She didn't seem to be listening to him and promptly rose out of bed. "I'll make us breakfast."
Okabe could only watch as Kurisu quickly strode out of the room, her face being a hard read, but he knew she was still upset about what had happened to him. He stretched out his right arm, feeling the blood flow back into his hand in an almost tingly sensation.
For the first time he was able to get a good look at the room. It was actually really weirdly planned now that he looked at it, not what you'd usually expect. The bed sat at the wall parallel to the door, the wall to the right of the bed held the window which allowed a crazy amount of sunlight in even though the curtains were covering up outside. There were two nightstands, probably one for Okabe and his stuff and one for Kurisu's things, the room also seemed to be painted in a silly way. The walls on side that had Kurisu's half of the bed was painted in red while Okabe's half was painted in an almost dull gray. Seemed like there were issues on what to paint the room so concessions were highly suspected to have been involved. On the wall that the door occupied sat a small flatscreen TV, it just hung there supported by two small beams portruding from the wall itself and faced slightly downward.
Okabe's gaze shifted to Kurisu's nightstand once more. He didn't notice them the first time because it was a quick glance, but he saw glasses sitting there on the edge. Then it got him slightly worried, she stormed out of the room without her glasses and now she planned to cook for him? This shocking observation was enough to get him out of the bed in an instant and run out of the room with her glasses in hand. He knew that whatever ingredients Kurisu touched, it wouldn't bode well for him, thousands of jumps in the Alpha worldline taught him that.
He sprinted down the hallway and burst into the kitchen to try and stop Kurisu, but he stopped in his tracks when he saw her stooped over the stove with her shoulders shaking. A good smell emanated from the stove that Kurisu inhabited, but Okabe didn't care about the state of his breakfast anymore, seeing Kurisu the way she was right now hurt him more than he thought.
What was he supposed to do?
Kurisu had never felt more stupid in her life. "Okarin's not gone"? She swore she was so naive. She was way too accepting of the Okabe that was with her now. Why couldn't the previous night have been a dream, why did she kiss him? Why did she allow herself to treat him the way she did her husband when this man doesn't even remember their wedding?
Stupid, she felt so stupid. She wanted to go on as if it was no big deal, to serve him breakfast with a smile on her face and to tell him that it was okay. But it wasn't okay, he wasn't the man that she had made all those memories with. This wasn't the man that closed the distance between them by moving to America to work at Victor Chondria with her. This wasn't the man that founded the Resistance against the Committee of 300 and was responsible for saving so many lives. This wasn't the man that had proposed to her 13 years ago. This wasn't the man that saved her 5 years ago. So why did she treat him like he was the same person the night before!? She was so stupid.
A single tear flowed down her cheek and fell onto the pan that held the omelette she had prepared for Okabe, it instantly boiled away as soon as it touched the hot metal. Why couldn't it all be a dream? She bet that Okabe was still laying in bed, with that stupid emptiness that sat in his head, and that stupid ignorance of his that wouldn't allow him to understand that he had basically killed her husband. She swore she hated him now more than the night before when he had first arrived. Him and his silver tongue, they were all just words meant to woo her. He probably never meant any of them, he comes from a worldline where he let her die after all.
Kurisu didn't care if she was being emotional over rational anymore, it was her right to be. No one should ever have to go through an experience like that so what did she have to do to deserve this.
Crap, if she didn't do anything the omelette was going to burn. She grabbed the spatula to take it out, but she just couldn't stop shaking. She just gripped the spatula tightly, unmoving. All she could do was shake, tears flowing freely down her face, she just wanted it all to end.
Kurisu then felt a familiar warmth grab the hand that held the spatula. She felt this warmth guide her hand over the pan, get the omelette and place it on the plate she had prepared. She turned to see the same long-haired man she saw every morning, but he had a different aura to him. More tears flowed freely down her face as he grabbed her and held her close to him.
This was the best idea Okabe could think of, but he wasn't sure if it was enough. He held Kurisu to his chest as she sobbed freely into his nightshirt almost reminiscent to the way Mayuri had when they were able to return safely to 2036.
"I hate you," she sobbed into his chest. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you..."
She kept saying it over and over, but it was okay. Okabe didn't know who he replaced, but he knew that Kurisu was suffering because of it.
He just gently rocked with her, whispering the tune he had heard long ago in one of the Beta worldlines. The tune to make someone smile when they were sad. He remembered it clearly.
(A/N: This is the song from the Recursive Mother Goose ED in Steins;Gate 0. It sounds beautiful in Japanese, but for the sake of understanding it's in English)
"I'm searching only for one thing," he started singing, "the laughing voice of the star I love, her light flickering in the wind, if I just reach out I can get through to her."
It was a simple tune that he had memorized (and slightly altered for the situation), he couldn't help it since everyone around him was busy singing it all the time. He sat there singing it anyway, in hopes that he could calm Kurisu down.
Kurisu's sobbing slowed down and her shaking was less intense, she even stopped with the whole "I hate you" thing, but he kept singing anyway.
"If you close your eyes you will definitely find it," he continued. "The light that will guide you when you are lost, if you listen close you can definitely hear it, the song that plays for you in your sleep."
He chose to end it there, and rock with her. Her sobbing was getting more and more under control, but he could still feel her shaking in her arms.
"Why are you still here?" he could hear her voice muffled against his chest. "Why can't you just give me my husband back?"
"You seem to be forgetting what we talked about last night my precious assistant," he swore he was going to mess things up worse if he played as Hououin Kyouma but he didn't know what else to do. "I-"
She freed herself from his grasp and yelled while pointing an accusatory finger at him. "No, I can't forget last night! I wish last night never happened! I wish you would have died so that my Okarin could live!"
Okabe was no stranger to outbursts, but it still hurt to be the reason for anger and sadness. He just stood there and let her have her way, it was only right.
"Why are you smiling!?" she called him out. "Do you take that much pleasure in making other people suffer!? Why do you want to make me suffer!? I thought you said you loved me, or was that a lie just so that you could have your way with me!?"
She could question a lot of things, but his love for her was unquestionable.
"Christina!" he interrupted her. "That's no way an assistant should address their boss now is it?!"
He swore he was going to make things worse. He took a quick glance around the room to catch his bearings and found what he wanted.
"I'm not your assistant you bastard!" she yelled back. "You-"
"Alright then," he cut in. "Would you do me a favor and tell me the time please?"
"You can do that yourself, the clock is right there!"
She pointed at the digital clock in the living room that he had eyed previously.
"Do tell me the time, Christina," he went on. "And don't even think about moving from your spot when you do."
She humphed and unconsciously brought her hand up to her face, as if she were trying to adjust something then she realized that her face had nothing on it. She squinted in the direction of the clock, but not a word came out of her mouth. That was enough for Okabe and he took the glasses he had placed in his pocket out.
"You forgot these when you stormed out of our room," he smiled slyly. "What kind of mad scientist would I be if I didn't tend to my assistant's clumsiness?"
He held his palm out and watched as Kurisu tried snatch her glasses out of his hand with a quickness he expected. He closed his hand quicker than she could reach them and held them behind his back. He swore she was about to punch him, but he tried to get a few words in.
"Believe me, Kurisu," he wanted to admit to her now. "I know I was selfish to come to this worldline when I had previously given up all hope for it."
She paused and looked at him, still tear-stricken.
"To tell you the truth, I don't know what I expected when I came to this worldline. I worked so hard on trying to escape the Beta Attractor Field that I never considered the consequences for jumping into this worldline that we're in now. That's just how short-sighted I am, I suppose."
She clenched her fist and raised it at him as if she were going to hit him, but he kept going.
"But I never would have thought that my love for you would come into question," she stopped in her tracks. "Kurisu, I don't know how many other ways I can put this, I love you. Alpha, Beta, Steins Gate, I love you no matter the worldline and I always will, one could say it's the choice of fate, but I say that my love for you was my choice to begin with."
She stopped, just before she was about to swing at him. Her face of pure anger changed to one of mixed emotions.
"Stop," she whispered. "Stop trying to be him. You can't be him."
"It's pretty hard to not be myself you know," he chuckled in response.
She didn't laugh with him, she just stood there shaking uncontrollably once more.
"Here," he held out the glasses once more. "It's only fair that you have a clear view of me."
Kurisu hesitantly reached out for her glasses once more, this time Okabe didn't play keep-away. He didn't expect her to walk into him and ignore the glasses though. She rammed into him, held his collar in her hands and broke down into his chest, immediately letting go of his shirt.
"Why!?" she sobbed loudly into this chest, but that was all she said.
It was obvious she was struggling internally. He was sure he accidentally reminded her of the version of himself that he had overwritten, but he couldn't help it. He was just being himself.
"So, when did you get good at cooking?" he asked trying to liven up the mood. "I expected some sort of monstrosity, but that omelette sure does look delicious."
She stopped shaking and sobbing at once.
"Oh right," she stated plainly. "Your breakfast is ready."
She didn't even fight him. Looked like he pushed the wrong button this time.
Okabe let go of her and gave her the glasses. "Go straighten yourself out in the bathroom, I'll make your breakfast."
Recognition flashed across Kurisu's face once more and she almost broke down into tears again, but she nodded. She grasped the glasses firmly and strode back down the hall to reach the bathroom and closed the door.
Okabe faced the stove and went to work.
Kurisu sat in the bathroom facing herself in the sink mirror. Her eyes were red and puffy from all the crying she had just gone through.
She surprised herself with that outburst she just had a moment ago. She never thought she was capable of it, but it must have been her love for her Okarin that caused it. She took a deep breath.
That man offered to make her breakfast, a tradition that was set up between herself and her husband ever since they got married. She'd make his breakfast and he returned the favor, there was no way that man was able to figure it out without even a hint. What was his problem?
Better yet, what was her problem?
Not a minute ago she swore she hated that man who stood in the kitchen, but now whenever she thinks back on him she can't feel the same as she did. She said so many terrible things to him, but he never wavered and stuck with her. Was he actually telling the truth?
She swore she wanted to punch, kick, bite, do anything to hurt him so that he could feel her pain physically, but now she just wanted him to hold her. She shouldn't have said all those mean things to him, but she did anyway. She was sure that under those coated words of "love" he probably hated her guts, he just didn't want to make her feel bad. She could tell in his voice when he made a jab at her cooking, he must have really wanted to insult her and that was the best he could do. She deserved the hate anyway, she was the one that decided to open up her mouth.
Kurisu wiped the remaining tears off her face, put on her glasses, and took another deep breath. She was going to apologize to him. That's what she decided.
She opened the door and strode back out into the hallway.
Okabe seriously messed up. He just wanted to kick himself for volunteering to make Kurisu's breakfast. Breakfast should have been an easy thing to do compared to his research, but he was so busy on time machine research on the Beta worldline that he never paused to learn any cooking tips.
Now, what was before him was a sickly sight. Burnt eggs and cheese were stuck to the pan looking nothing like the neat omelette that Kurisu had made for him.
He heard the bathroom door open and close. Crap.
He grabbed the spatula and tossed the burnt excuse for an omelette onto a plate and grabbed the other one before Kurisu could come back. He promptly ran to the dining room with the two plates in hand, placed them on the table and grabbed the utensils from their respective drawers.
He sat down at the table and was about to shovel his burnt omelette into his mouth to not make Kurisu suspicious until the woman in question appeared at the door.
"Not even an 'itadakimasu'?" she looked dissapointedly at him. "Didn't think you'd be so rude."
She found her seat at the table and eyed the omelette she had cooked.
"Hey, Oka-"
"I'm sorry!" he couldn't contain it as he stood up and bowed deeply. "I don't know how to cook and I burnt the omelette I was supposed to make you, so just have yours! I can eat the burnt one!"
She looked at him then back down at the omelette. She laughed.
"I knew it looked similar to the one I made," she said. "I probably wouldn't have noticed until you pointed it out though."
Okabe straightened up. What did she mean she wouldn't have noticed? Wasn't she just about to ask him about it?
"Anyway, you shouldn't be the one apologizing," she interrupted his train of thought. "It was wrong of me to say all those mean things to you earlier. I'm sorry... Okarin... I'm sure you probably hate me now."
That last bit was surely surprising to hear. How could she assume that?
"Don't apologize," he put his hands to his hips. "And plus, I could never hate my assistant."
"I'm not your-"
"I could never hate the woman I chose to devote my life to."
Her eyes told the whole story. She looked at him in a mix of shock and happiness. He swore she was about to cry again.
"Now," he said. "Stop acting like a 12 year old who cries at anything and let's eat."
She closed her mouth and any sort of happiness was removed from her face. Looks like he chose to push the wrong buttons again. Damn World War III and its lack of social interaction.
"I'm joking," he sighed. "You still miss him, don't you? It's not right of me to ask you to stop crying."
"No," she replied. "It's okay. I shouldn't be crying."
She said it like she didn't mean it. As if she only said it to please him or something.
"Do you honestly think you're telling me what I want to hear?" he told her. "Is this what he made you do each time you got into an argument?"
"No-"
"Then why do you insist on conceding to me only to take it back!?" he slammed his fist into the table and stood up. "How many times do I have to drill it into you that he and I are the same person!? How many times are you going to get angry at me!? How many times do I have to prove myself to you!? Huh!? Please do tell me so that I know how long I have to go through this!"
Kurisu's breathing caught, but Okabe didn't let up.
"You insist that I can't be him! You insist that I killed him! But here I am standing right before you, Kurisu! I'm him!"
Okabe felt tears welling up in his eyes.
"You insist that I wanted to make you suffer! Do you realize how much it hurts!? I've suffered countless times jumping through countless worldlines where the people I loved died! Nightmares of the Alpha worldline and the day I killed you haunt me to this day and I've suffered because of it! Do you honestly think that I'd want to pass that on to someone else!? Do you honestly believe that I'm willing to do something like that!?"
A tear rolled down Kurisu's cheek as she tried opening her mouth, but Okabe didn't let her speak.
"I don't know what you want from me," he looked down in despair as a tear made its way down his face. "Had I known this was going to happen I would have killed myself in that time machine with Suzuha and Mayuri. If I knew you were going to suffer because of my will to live I would have just ended it 11 years ago."
"Don't say that!" Kurisu screamed forcing him to look back up.
She was covering her mouth with her hands as she started sobbing uncontrollably. Okabe then realized that he went too far.
"Oh my god, Kurisu," he put his hand up in an attempt to reach out to her. "I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry..."
He didn't know what else to say. He just lost it, plain and simple and there was no way to justify himself.
"Kurisu..."
His hand was about to reach her before she cowered away. Now she seemed infinitely farther away than before.
"I know I've been nothing but cruel to you ever since you jumped into this worldline," she softly spoke. "I recognize that now. Please don't hurt me."
That was enough to break even him, the mad scientist from World War III. He chuckled, then laughed, but it stopped there. He crumpled to the floor and leaned on the wall next to him.
"Hurt you?" he laughed. "You think I'd hurt you. Now that's insanity at its finest."
He looked over at her, flashes of the day she died went through his head. Even though it was almost 30 years later, he still remembered killing Kurisu vividly.
"Hurt you..." he whispered. "I've hurt you before...I've hurt you the worst of anyone that knows me..."
He looked back down at the floor and grasped his head trying to make the memories stop.
"I killed you. I stabbed you and left you to die. I wonder how this version of me did it. Did he do the exact same thing?"
He was rocking back and forth into the wall. The memories were about to overtake him, he started hyperventilating.
"This isn't real, I didn't do anything to deserve you. This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real..."
Kurisu watched as Okabe kept muttering to himself. She was to blame for this, she triggered his panic attack like she always does. She had to mess everything up, everything would have been fine if she just stayed true to her own word and accepted this man as her forgetful Okarin. She had no right to cry because of the words he had said to her, she deserved them. She had no right to assume that he was going to slap her, Okarin wouldn't do that. She just had to open her damned mouth.
"Okarin!" she called out to him to no avail. He still rocked back and forth, hyperventilating and muttering the same thing over and over again.
She realized he needed his medication so she ran into the bedroom, leaving the rocking Okabe in the dining room alone.
Kurisu looked through every drawer she could find on Okabe's side of the room, but she couldn't find any of his medication. She ran into the bathroom and looked through the medicine cabinet in hopes that he kept it out in public view, but they were nowhere to be found there either.
She ran back into the bedroom and started tossing things out of place looking for any sign of his anxiety pills. She looked under the bed, tossed up the covers, and then she finally threw his pillow on the ground.
She found them. They sat underneath his pillow next to an envelope with his name on it. She ignored the envelope and took the pills with her.
When she got back out she realized the Okabe had found his way back into the kitchen. She ran to the entrance only to see him brandishing a knife, but he had the blade pointed at himself. She watched from behind him as he raised the kitchen knife high into the air and pointed it straight at his body.
"Just make it stop!"
"Okarin, no!"
She never thought she'd be able to move so fast at her age. She felt like she flew from her spot right into Okabe. She grabbed his arm and felt him struggle to bring the blade back down.
"Let. Me. Go!"
He tried shaking her off, but she wouldn't budge. She went a step further and grabbed the knife by the blade while kneeing Okabe in the ribs. She didn't know how to fight, but her self-defense classes taught her enough to know where to hit someone.
Okabe let go of the knife and held his ribs in pain. He knelt to the floor as he tried catching his breath. Kurisu quickly switched the knife out of the hand that was bleeding and into her dominant hand. She then threw it as best she could out the kitchen. Okabe watched the knife fly out of the kitchen and into the dining room that they had just inhabited. Kurisu opened the bottle of pills and placed one in her mouth, she knew he wasn't going to be willing to think rationally right now so she would have to appeal to his basest desires in order to get him to take his medicine.
Okabe tried getting up to make a run for the knife, but Kurisu caught him before he could and tackled him to the floor. She positioned herself to get ontop of him while he struggled underneath her.
"Get off of me!"
She remained unmoving and instead locked her lips to his. The action completely stopped his moving for a second, but she knew he wasn't going to remain frozen for long. She tried forcing the pill out of her mouth and into his, but she struggled trying to get his lips to part. She finally broke through with her tongue and planted the pill between his lips and clenched teeth. The pill dissolved quickly so he was either going to swallow the capsule or swallow the actual medicine itself, but she wouldn't let him go. He tried throwing her off of him, but she kept herself locked to him, she wanted to see her Okarin calm again.
Kurisu then felt pressure being placed on her lips. Okabe was trying to return the pill to her, but she steeled herself and tried her best to keep her mouth shut and applied more force into the kiss. She wasn't going to lose him now that she realized what she'd done to him.
..
Kurisu didn't know how long she stayed ontop of Okabe while he struggled under her. He was surely stronger than her in all senses of the word, but she did her best to keep his arms pinned down and remain ontop of him as he tried to roll her off.
Okabe stopped struggling. Kurisu opened her eyes after keeping them shut in intense focus for so long and she saw his eyes for the first time since he first had his attack. She saw him focusing his eyes once more, the trait that meant the medicine had done its job. She finally rolled off of him and sat beside the kitchen sink, she could still feel the warm blood flowing out of the hand she had used to grab the knife blade, but she didn't care. She was able to bring back her Okarin.
Okabe laid there looking at the ceiling of the room he was in. One second he was yelling at Kurisu and the next she was ontop of him with her lips against his. What happened in the time between then? Had he really fazed out?
He sat up and leaned against the oven facing Kurisu who looked like she went through absolute hell for some reason. His gaze shifted down to her left hand and his breathing got caught in his throat.
"Kurisu," he was able to work out of his throat. "Your hand, did I do that?"
She clenched her bloodied hand and smiled at him. "Welcome back, Okarin."
"What happened?"
She didn't answer him the first time, but why?
"Nothing too bad, I just had a small little accident."
"Bullshit."
He knew exactly when she lied and this was one of those times.
"Did I try to hurt you?"
"No," he could tell she was telling the truth. "You were trying to hurt yourself, but I stopped you."
Vague memories of what happened made their way into his head. First he was rocking back and forth in a really pathetic way and then he remembered he tried stabbing himself. But Kurisu stopped him just before he brought the knife down on himself.
Okabe promptly got up.
"Where do we keep the bandages?" he asked her feeling panicked. That much blood should not be flowing out of her hand right now.
"Medicine cabinet in the bathroom," she weakly stated. With that much blood loss she was bound to feel lightheaded. "Just please don't take me to the hospital, I'm sure we'd be charged an arm and a leg just to cover up this silly old cut."
Okabe wouldn't think that Japan would charge that much for healthcare in a peaceful future.
He took Kurisu's comment to mind and rushed over to the bathroom opening the medicine cabinet to find anything to help cover up the wound. He managed to find gauze and alcohol and promptly returned to the kitchen. He took Kurisu up by the hand and put the bloodied one over the sink to wash away the blood that made its way out of the wound. He applied pressure to the wound as he washed it in an attempt to help it close up at least a little bit. He turned off the faucet and put a couple of drops of alcohol on the wound and applied pressure. He could see Kurisu suck in her breath in pain and he felt her hand twitch at the burning sensation. Satisfied with what he saw, he got the gauze and wrapped her hand as best he could.
"Hold on to me," he said. "Let's get you to the bed."
She mindlessly nodded and fell onto Okabe. When he said to hold on he didn't mean for her to just stop trying to keep herself up. He chose to pick her up bridal style and guide her to the room on his own feet. He felt deja vu in this, but at least the stakes weren't as high as the last time he did this.
"This would be so romantic had you not cut me a couple minutes ago," Kurisu joked. "Hey, I'm sorry for acting up, Okarin."
"I refuse to accept your apology," he quickly responded to her surprise. "Talk to me when you're more coherent."
The stress that appeared on Kurisu's face disappeared as quickly as it had appeared and she just laughed.
He got into the room and was amazed at how much of a mess it was transformed into. Clothes were strewn all across the floor, the covers displaced, and one of the pillows was nowhere to be seen. He placed Kurisu on her side of the bed and let her adjust herself to the only pillow he saw, her pillow.
He crossed over to his side of the bed, the pillow-less side and looked around for his own. He looked underneath the bed and found it, promptly picking it up and was about to place it on the mattress when something caught his eye. An envelope rested in the place his pillow occupied and it had his name on it. He took the envelope and replaced it with the pillow, walking out of the room to let Kurisu recover on her own.
He opened the envelope and investigated its contents. It was a letter. That alone didn't shock him, but seeing who wrote it did.
There, inscribed in the handwriting that he knew so well, the letter started.
"To the Rintaro that will replace me,"
A/N: And that's that! Don't you just love cliffhangers after an action-filled chapter? I sure do! Anyway, I sure surprised myself with how fast I managed to finish everything considering I thought I'd take longer to bring this chapter out but here it is! I hope you enjoyed reading it, I sure got to enjoy the drama in this (seeing as I was the one that created it) and I hope you did too. I feel my creative juices flowing so chapter 5 should come right on time or even earlier depending on how I feel. Please do leave a review! It helps me gauge how well I'm doing in terms of anything regarding the story (especially trying to keep everyone within character in a reasonable sense). See you next chapter!
-Quil