A/N: All characters and ideas belong to Chiyomaru Studio. I'm grateful to you all who have stuck with this project for as long as it's been going. Here's to chapter 9.
Date: December 7, 2029
Divergence: 1.048596* (Steins Gate)
*Worldline shift in 2020 - Not the exact same worldline as it was before the shift.
Time until Overwrite: 6 years, 10 months, 29 days.
"And that will conclude lecture for today," Okabe said in English. "I hope you all enjoy your Christmas break. There will be no homework posted."
Kurisu watched as Okabe made his way back to his desk and began packing while the lecture hall cleared out around her. She got a couple passing glances from the students who were exiting, of course recognizing the renowned neuroscientist who inhabited the same room as them.
The lecture hall was mostly empty except for a pair of girls who walked up to Okabe's desk, one taking the lead and the other just sitting back while she watched her friend. The girl got Okabe's attention and they began talking. It only took a short amount of time before an uncomfortable look flashed upon Okabe's face and his eyes darted toward Kurisu then back to the girls. This reaction prompted Kurisu to stand up. She could tell Okabe didn't want her anywhere near these girls, but she started walking as he was frantically trying to explain something without alerting her to Kurisu's presence.
Kurisu got behind the girl in the back, a brunette, and listened intently.
"But Professor Okabe," the girl talking to her husband said in an attempt at a seductive tone. "No one has ever said no to me, and I really want to know what's in those pants of yours. Otherwise, I might tell daddy that you sexually harassed me and I could have him revoke your position here."
Okabe's face went from a soft lightheartedness to a cold stare.
"If you want to blackmail me, you should try harder than that," he said. "I'm not scared of you or your dad. But if I were you right about now, I'd be afraid of her."
Okabe looked over at Kurisu who had her arms crossed, trying so hard not to yell at either girl.
Both girls turned around and gasped.
"Dr. Okabe," the brunette she stood next to said. "This isn't what it looks like."
Kurisu ignored what she said.
"Get off the stage before I drag you off," she told the girl next to Okabe before turning to the brunette. "I could have you both expelled from this university for sexual harassment and for trying to blackmail a professor."
"B-but I didn't do anything! It was her idea!" the brunette pointed at her friend.
"Get out!" she yelled at both of them. "If I hear any word of any kind of harassment from you two from Professor Okabe again, I will personally ensure you have no future here. Understand me!?"
"Yes, Dr. Okabe!" the girl who was on the stage said before running out of the hall with her friend.
"Why do you get to be called Dr. while I'm left with the measly Professor title? Don't they know I completed my PhD too?"
Kurisu turned back toward Okabe, her arms still crossed. "How often does that happen?"
"Would you believe me if I said that this was the first time that has ever happened?"
"I'd have trouble doing so, but I'll put my trust in you."
"Good," he said contentedly. "How'd you like the lecture?"
Kurisu got up to the stage to help Okabe pack up his briefcase. "It was a bit simple for my tastes, but then again, I don't need these concepts dumbed down for me to understand."
Okabe chuckled. "It's the only way to keep people interested in the work we do. But then there's the occasion of any genius in the crowd coming up to me after the lecture for a better explanation using concepts we know fully well. To be honest, I thought those girls were going to do the same thing. It's a good thing you were observing today's lecture."
"Yeah, and I may have to observe more just in case," Kurisu said coyly. "I don't think you'd be able to handle yourself against a couple horny teenagers."
"Weren't we a couple horny teenagers back then?"
Kurisu's face went instantly red. She wanted to bury herself in something to hide her embarassment.
"Don't say that, idiot! That was back then! We have more self-control now, don't we?"
Okabe laughed at her embarassment. "The point remains. I know what it's like, so I can handle myself just fine, Assistant."
Kurisu's hand instinctively went up and squeezed Okabe's cheeks together in a force that brought discomfort for the mad scientist.
"I guess I'll trust that," Kurisu smiled before planting a peck on Okabe's puckered lips. "Remember that you're mine, and I'm yours."
She released him and started walking off the stage and out the hall, satisfied with how much she helped Okabe pack.
"However," she turned around and pointed at her husband. "I'm not your assistant!"
Kurisu snuck into the lecture hall. She still needed time to get ready so she sent Okabe on his way to the university and guided him through the campus while she was changing into her proper clothing. At this point, the hall was close to packed so she just sat by the door. The students around her noticed her and flinched a bit at the presence of such a renowned scientist in a course such as Neurophysics 101. However, as the good students they were, the focused their attention to the front, at the stage where her husband was standing.
She watched as he unpacked the same briefcase he always had on hand, almost as if he knew what he was doing. She could only wonder at what was going on in his mind at that very moment.
Okabe's internal alarm was blaring. He cursed at himself for volunteering himself to lecture today, but there was no backing out now. He never expected that a course with the name Neurophysics would have as packed a room as it did currently. He loosened his tie a bit and wiped sweat from his brow using the handkerchief he stashed in his lab coat. He had no papers prepared, in fact, he just unpacked his suitcase to see where he had left off. He hoped that the past version of him had not ventured upon the topic he had planned to talk about and by the looks of the papers he was going through, he could only consider himself very lucky as it turned out his other version planned to lecture on that very same topic today. He thanked every god he could think of at the fact that he was moving on as if nothing happened. The coincidence was rare enough that he felt that if he entered the lottery, he'd win it all. He also came across quite a couple notes scribbled by his past self that were obviously addressed to him. These notes informed him on the politics of the Neuroscience Institute as well as what exactly the team achieved and planned to achieve.
He smiled, but didn't overdo it as he felt people began to watch intently. He looked up and waited for everyone to find their seat and take out what they needed in order to record what he was saying. He made sure to take off his lab coat as the room felt warm from all the bodies and the nerves he was experiencing.
He closed his eyes, took a breath, and steeled himself.
"Welcome to today's lecture," he said in English. "I'll give everyone a couple more seconds to get to their seat and take out their notes before I dive right into today's topic."
He waited a couple seconds before starting again.
"Memories," he said. "And what makes us, us."
"Now, this will be slightly more informal than all the other lectures that I've done because there's no proper numbers involved when it comes to memories. Memories are intangible, meaning that they cannot be touched, but everyone has them. You, your friends, your family, your pets, everyone's brain is capable of making and storing memories. My colleagues and I have tried making a crack at it and we're making progress in applying statistics and numbers and a proper science behind this process. As you already know, we here at Victor Chondria developed Amadeus, a personal AI of sorts with proper human emotions and memories, as well as the technique to recover lost memories using memory conversion. But that's beside the case."
He surfed through his brain, recalling the encounters he had with religious zealots who were against the use of memory conversion and Amadeus as it seemed to put the human race closer toward acting like God. He assumed that was the case on this world line as well.
"As you know, there's been controversy with memory conversion because of the fact that we're 'playing God' and ignoring our natural bounds as a species. There's also the argument that you are no longer yourself if you have to have your memories converted. The whole science behind memory conversion is that it takes the data in your brain and stores it as a bunch of 1s and 0s in some sort of server before being re-implanted into your mind as proper brain data again. Some claim that when your memories become 1s and 0s, those memories are no longer 'human'. They no longer make you, you. I'm here to tell you, that is not the case."
There was a little bit of murmuring in the hall, almost as if the students couldn't believe what Okabe had just said. It seemed like no amount of scientific curiosity could beat the doubt that people had in actually applying the science to real life.
"Memories are what make us human. Our brains are more complex than you could possibly imagine, and we're trying to simplify it for us to better understand ourselves. That being said, these complex processes of recollection we call our memories are being studied and are being made into something that everyone can understand. We were able to simplify the process of regaining lost memories, we've made the greatest breakthrough as a race to combat diseases such as Alzheimer's and any sort of degenerative disease with the help of memory conversion. I'll get back to the 1s and 0s now. Simple enough, it's a way to be able to codify and allow for such a massive amount of data to be stored on computer servers just because of the mere size of the brain itself. If left without proper conversion, there'd be no one server to fit even the memories of a single person. Nothing else is touched, no synapses are left unchecked, no memories changed to fit some sort of agenda. You are still you even if you have to have your memories converted. Down to the last atom."
He looked around the room and watched as students became more entranced with what he had to say instead of writing down in their notes. Just as he intended.
"Let me bring up a hypothetical."
Kurisu watched as her husband danced around the stage, spewing philosophical idea after philosophical idea. He had everyone in a trance, including her, and she couldn't help feel a sense of pride in being his wife.
"Another hypothetical," he continued. "One that isn't as realistic as the last, but I'm sure the laws of the universe can help apply to this as well."
"Let's say you are tortured to the point of brain-death. Now, this hypothetical victim was able to get his memories converted, but the last backup he had was 14 years prior to the point of brain death."
He began drawing a timeline on the chalkboard behind him.
"He's recovered," he said. "And his memories are reimplanted, giving his brain life once more. However, is the subject still themselves even if they have a whole 14 years missing from their life?"
Kurisu observed as everyone remained listening, waiting for an answer to be given by the professor.
"It wasn't a rhetorical question," he said. "I want someone to show me they understand what I'm trying to say."
Four hands were raised in the front of the classroom. Okabe pointed at a thin, glasses-wearing boy and waited for his answer.
"Well, they're his memories, so wouldn't they still make him the same person?"
Okabe sighed. It was apparent, that the young man gave out the wrong answer.
"Anyone else?"
It took a couple seconds before one hand went up. It belonged to a girl who seemed of smaller stature who sat just a row in front of Kurisu. Okabe pointed at her.
"Well no," she said and paused.
Kurisu recognized the voice.
Okabe signaled for her to keep explaining. "It's not the right answer if you can't explain it properly."
"That's a whole 14 years of memory that the subject loses permanently because of the fact that their memories were never backed up. They're the same person they were 14 years prior, but all the experiences that shaped them up to be the person they were just before brain-death are completely lost. This is a person that hasn't gone through the 14 years of life prior to memory conversion so they'd end up changing due to new experiences later in life that would replace the ones they're missing."
"Very good, Dr. Hiyajo," Okabe smiled.
Kurisu was taken aback. Senpai?!
"I do find it kind of unfair that I let you answer, but I guess I had to make do," Okabe addressed his attention to the rest of the class who were facing the tiny woman. "I'm sure I don't need to explain to you guys who Dr. Hiyajo is, right?"
Everyone was as taken aback as Kurisu. It seemed like no one expected Maho to be so small. She couldn't believe that Maho even sat in on Okabe's lectures because of the fact that these concepts were really easy to grasp.
Okabe put a giant squiggly line in between the 14 years to signify the loss in memories and drew a dotted line connecting the two fractured lines.
Okabe's lecture was seamless. He continued bouncing each idea he brought up, catching a flow that he never expected to get, but everything he learned from the Beta Attractor Field was able to apply perfectly to what he was trying to teach.
"I know this is seems more philosophical than it is scientific, but this is the dilemma that we neuroscientists face when it comes to cracking open the brain and understanding everything there is to it. It's been proven that memories can be affected by the laws of the universe and that we are able to come up with ways to ensure that we can study these things. Don't get me wrong, there's more to this field than just memories. At least, I hope you can understand that from previous lectures. However, this isn't to downplay what it means to study memories either. Even with the inventions we've created, there's still more to learn and I'm hoping that many of you will mature into excellent neuroscientists that help me, Dr. Okabe, and Dr. Hiyajo, as we crack the secrets of the mind."
Okabe walked back to his desk and ruffled through a couple more papers to make sure he covered everything. He was glad he knew what he did about the worldline he just entered and he was glad that his past self left a couple notes about their position on things in order to help guide him as he talked about the worldline.
He looked up once more to see the room still paying heavy attention to him.
He smiled. "That is all for today. For the foreseeable future, Dr. Okabe will be taking over my lectures for reasons that I'm not at liberty to disclose. If anyone has any questions, feel free to approach the front. If not, you are dismissed."
Okabe began packing his suitcase as he could hear the room begin to clear out. There was a lot of conversation going on, and he could tell that a lot of it was on the lecture that just took place. He could only breathe a sigh of relief at the fact that he didn't make a fool out of himself.
"Nice philosophical lecture you had there, Professor."
It was in Japanese.
Okabe looked up once more. He knew who the voice belonged to.
There, sitting at the front of the stage was a girl who looked no more than 9, but Okabe knew better by then. A good indicator that she wasn't in fact 9 years old was the fact that she had a gray streak splitting the back of her head full of black hair.
"I'm glad you liked it, Doctor," Okabe smiled. "I didn't expect to see you in today's lecture."
"I had some free time so I decided to stop by for a little bit," the grown woman said. "You certainly have a knack for presentation."
All Okabe could do without drawing attention to himself was laugh. He didn't know just how crucial of a role Maho played on his personal life so he couldn't exactly let her in on the fact that he lost his memories as easily as he did Daru and Kurisu.
"So, we're friends aren't we?" Maho said. "Why can't you continue lecturing? You seem in excellent health and I haven't heard of you encountering any legal trouble. You taking a vacation? Or are you finally going to help me with the Valkyrie project you had planned with me way-back-when?"
She's in Valkyrie? Okabe couldn't help asking himself.
"Project...?" he couldn't play along considering she never named the project.
"The one with developing a means to counter the Committee's EM waves in their attempt to control the minds affected by these wave blasts," she said. "I know you're a busy man being the leader of Valkyrie and all, but it's hard to develop this technology without you since you have a lot of know-how in these things."
Okabe internally quivered. He couldn't believe the types of things that the evil organization of this world was trying to do in gaining power.
He looked just a little past Maho and saw Kurisu coming down the steps of the lecture hall at a brisk pace. The lecture hall itself was empty, which surprised Okabe because he could have sworn he was going to get at least a couple questions.
Kurisu walked up to Maho, "Senpai! I didn't expect to see you here!"
"Well neither did your husband," Maho said to Kurisu. "We were just talking about why you were supposed to be taking over for him."
Kurisu froze and looked at Okabe. He knew he wasn't going to get away with much nor gain anything out of lying to someone whom he assumed to be a high-ranking member of his former self's resistance. He nodded.
"Senpai..." Kurisu said. "I-I don't exactly know how to word this properly..."
Kurisu looked at Okabe for help. Okabe sighed, allowing Maho to turn to him.
"What's going on?"
"Maho," Okabe started. "I had a rather extreme episode of Reading Steiner. I hope my past self was able to disclose just what that is?"
Maho slowly nodded.
"I'm not the same man who worked with you all these years," he remained blunt. "I come from a world line that endured 20 years of World War III."
"What...?"
A/N: Well, that's another character introduction done. I hope you guys were able to enjoy the lecture. I know, it's a lot of boring scientific crap, but I hope you realize just how important of a step it was for Okabe to talk about what he did. I'm sorry that the wait between chapters is long, but I can't help it with all the other responsibilities I have to juggle. Thank you to everyone who is sticking through this whole ordeal with me. I hope that I don't disappoint any of you in the end. I appreciate any review you can give, any favorite you award, anything. As long as I have people who I know read the kind of stuff I produce will mean that I won't stop until I get the ending you guys deserve. Of course, Chapter 10 will be quite a long wait, but I know you guys can handle it. I hope you found the wait for this chapter worth it in the end.
Cheers~ Quil