Temporal Closure

by Dieuwtjin

Immediately following the true ending of Steins Gate, Kurisu and Okabe try to help each other cope with the trauma surrounding the events and aftermath of operation Skuld. It isn't easy, considering she barely remembers anything about him. Can they still succeed, and can anything more come of it? (Okarisu, Romance/humor/hurt/comfort)

3. Chapter 3

Chapter introduction:

Hey everyone, and thanks for the Kudo's and comments on the last chapter! I Hope you'll all enjoy this one, too. Detailed author's notes are at the bottom, again.

Just as a heads up, I think I'm going to remove these introductionary sections sometime in the future and move them to the bottom, so that it's easier to stick to the action when switching chapters.

Secondly, I've renamed the fic to the Archive Of Our Own counterpart and updated the description, both to better fit the content.

Disclaimer: I don't own Steins Gate. Obviously.

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The streets of Akihabara were fairly quiet.

It was well past the evening rush, and also past the time where most workers did their evening shopping on the way back from work. Some pedestrians crossed the street either on their end or the other, each of them well-lit under Tokyo's excellent nighttime lighting. The restaurants that had tables outside their buildings still saw them occupied by a colorful mix of Japanese natives and tourists. Traffic passed at a lazy pace, most of it holding to the rules with typical Japanese discipline.

At a first glance, everything seemed normal, even peaceful.

Yet Okabe Rintaro tried his very best not to let his guard down for even a second.

He knew he had to, when she was there with him, out in the open.

But at the same time, her very presence also made it hard for him to do that.

His personal feelings were getting in the way of his ability to concentrate, perhaps even dangerously so, and there would be no immediately available do-overs if things went bad anymore.

He still couldn't help it. The fact that she was here now, alive, and didn't blame him for what had happened was in itself enough of a miracle. It was something he'd have signed for on any day of the week, more than he'd had any right to hope for.

But that she was also seriously considering returning his feelings for her...

That was something beyond a miracle. It was the single best present that the Steins Gate worldline could have possibly given him for getting out of the hospital.

When was the last time he'd felt so happy? He honestly couldn't remember. He felt a certain spring to his step that hadn't been there in forever and had to constantly suppress the urge to grin the most goofy grin imaginable. It felt so, so good that things were finally, for once, going his way.

He was in such a good mood that he'd almost smiled directly at the SERN assassin selling newspapers across the street. The man was a Rounder, one who worked at a kiosk as a cover. He wasn't one of the five who had attacked the lab with Moeka, but one he had still met often during his attempts to save Mayuri. By all accounts, the man looked like your average Japanese adult male, nothing really remarkable about him. Okabe supposed that only made him more dangerous, since there was then even less chance of early detection. The guy was probably armed even now. If he wanted to attack them from there, then there wasn't much Okabe could do about it except shielding Kurisu, pray the Rounder would miss and then run for it, if he still could.

But the man didn't give them any special attention, nor did Okabe give him any reason to.

He sometimes couldn't help but wonder if the Rounders didn't also retain part of their memories, and if they'd remember something upon seeing him. But they were also professionals, he reasoned, who'd probably only act on direct orders. And he wanted to believe that SERN wouldn't risk public kidnapping or assassination for nothing but a 'strange feeling of deja-vu' one of their operatives might have.

Of course, he could be wrong, and that it only took one of them to voice his or her doubts to have SERN investigate, on the off chance of it being related to time travel. He had countermeasures for that possibility. If they did decide to look into it, they'd find an amateur lab making fairly useless toy gadgets, ran by a couple of teenagers, who were in turn led by a chuunibyou idiot, portrayed by him.

That was also part of the reason he'd invited Moeka as a permanent lab member, despite her likely being a Rounder; it would give SERN an easy, quick and risk-free method (for all those involved) to determine that there was nothing of value for them to be gained for attacking them. That was, of course, assuming Moeka had joined the Rounders in this worldline, which he wasn't sure of. If that wasn't the case then there was no harm in doing so, but if she were still a Rounder, then he'd use that as a tool of misdirection. He supposed there was something to be said about keeping your enemies close.

And if those countermeasures also weren't enough… well, for that possibility, he always kept up his guard.

He'd once entertained the thought that SERN might not exist at all in this timeline, but there was no way he could be sure of that without the risk of drawing suspicion to him. Plus, it seemed much too optimistic to just assume an organization powerful enough to take over the world in one of the worldlines would simply disappear entirely, especially when the divergence of this worldline compared to that one was roughly only half a percent, even though that was a fairly significant number when the entire state of the world was concerned.

It was better to be safe than sorry.

Yet, for now, he allowed himself a very small reprieve to indulge in the smug feeling of victory for having won an incredibly long and elaborate cat-and-mouse game with an internationally funded research institute. One that had its own private army, no less.

And the prize for it all was…

He glanced to his side, just to make sure, AGAIN, that this was really happening.

Kurisu was still there.

Alive.

Striding forward confidently, radiating determination.

Long, chestnut hair.

Beautiful blue eyes, shining with intelligence.

Her hands, seemingly small and tender yet capable of delivering a very rough punch that still hurt like hell.

...Okay, that one he could probably do without. But it still fit her fiery temper, which was definitely enticing.

A somewhat petite, slender figure that he'd once described as scrawny in one of their many arguments in the Alpha worldline. But he knew better now... MUCH better.

Part of his thoughts involuntary dwindled to the memory he'd used to try and trigger her Reading Steiner in their discussion fifteen or so minutes ago, of the time when he'd ran into the shower in a blind panic, fearing SERN had got to Mayuri and her while he'd been absent. It had seemed a good idea then, an improvisation to go with the flow of the conversation.

Unfortunately, the image was now stuck in his head.

That day, he'd seen more than he'd ever earned. He knew that. But he still couldn't help but recall all the details.

Kurisu was incredibly beautiful, and even that was probably understating it. If she hadn't been a researcher, he figured that she could have easily made a career out of modelling.

Yet she never really dressed it up, always wore that modest, student-inspired outfit that covered everything. He liked it better that way – it made her beauty more natural and real, a more modest one presented perfectly by a sense of style he couldn't hope to match. It befitted her as both an intellectual and a fashionable teenager. She was infinitely more attractive than Daru's legion of 2D waifu's, who all seemed to avoid clothes like they were infested with termites.

His rogue thoughts lingered on the image of Kurisu without any outfit, though, more than content with just her birthday suit.

He tried not to give in, to not notice what it did to his body, if only out of decency.

Kurisu's worth was defined as an incredibly talented scientist and a caring, loveable person, and not as a lust object, obviously. She'd never have these kind of base thoughts herself. Any attraction for him was probably based on his intellectual prowess; it had to be, since compared to her, he wasn't even remotely in the same tier of attractiveness to the other sex. She was a goddess, while he was just a skinny, pale-ish guy in a lab coat. The least he could do was to offer her the same courtesy and be on the same wavelength.

Although… couldn't he do both? Kurisu was extremely smart, yes, and he admired her for it. However, it just so happened that she was highly physically attractive as well. So, would it be more of an insult to acknowledge the latter, or to not acknowledge it? What was the more appropriate and gentlemanly to do? Should he discuss this issue with her, or not? Was it weird to talk about… er… the potential physical aspects of their potential relationship so soon?

…Was he seriously questioning that? Now was definitely too soon. He was getting waaaay ahead of himself. He knew that, but he still couldn't help but be excited about even the potential prospect of the two of them being an item, of what they could do together, without things like impending death and the potential doom of mankind looming over it.

He would just have to keep reminding himself that the her from this worldline had only known him for a few hours, while he had technically spent months with her, if not a full year – he honestly didn't know. Thus, he knew much more of her than she did of him, and he was probably much more comfortable with her presence than the other way around. And if her memories didn't come back, that wouldn't change any time soon. He'd have to find a way to deal with that chronological imbalance that hung between them, which was probably a problem unique to their relationship.

…Unfortunately, that also meant he was really on his own. There was no one he could turn to for advice.

A more insane part of him, probably the part Kyouma had sprouted from, was tempted to post this issue on the 4channel boards, just for laughs. His alter ego's status as a Troll poster would be secured forever. Of course, there were many reasons why he couldn't, the most prevalent ones being 'but SERN' and that Kurisu would definitely find out and kill him, or worse, break up with him.

Not that they were an item yet, he reminded himself AGAIN, since a tentative 'yes' wasn't a definitive one, and there were many, many ways in which he could still screw up. Perversion probably ranked very high among those.

Okay, so this more… er… 'primal' line of thought could never see the light of day. Or, in a more hopeful case, not yet.

…Hold on, but wouldn't hiding it be like admitting he was ashamed for being attracted to her physical form, as if there was something wrong with that?

Some part of him could already imagine her indignation at that insinuation, and the abuse that was sure to follow. If he even got that far, that was, since it was even more likely that she'd blush madly and just verbally or physically attack him before he could elaborate any further. Seeing that would just as cute as it always was, but definitely not worth risking the relationship on. So silence it was.

All things considered, the safest way forward was probably to take things really slowly, and to try not to get his hopes up too much, just in case it still didn't turn out as he hoped.

…Right?

…He was overanalyzing, wasn't he?

Sigh. Romance was complicated.

He should have just left it at that, to go back to observing the environment with his full, undivided attention.

But the rebellious part of him couldn't help but wonder if some of his assumptions were really correct.

Kurisu HAD kissed him in the past, after all, plus, he was actually fairly sure they'd almost kissed AGAIN, if not for that strange thing where she'd suddenly pushed him back. Hm… actually… what could have caused her to suddenly change her mind like that? Was it about his personal hygiene? Probably not… right? He was fairly sure he'd brushed his teeth that morning, that he was wearing fresh clothes and that he'd shaved no worse than usual…

Anyway, the fact that they'd probably almost kissed was in itself a significant finding, since in this timeline, they'd had very limited contact, in addition to her apparently only having a fraction of her memories. That made it seem more likely that a physical attraction of her to him did play some part in her decision… right?

Plus, whether or not she'd been guilt-tripped into it by Mayuri, she'd ultimately taken that shower even if the risk of detection by him was high, so who was to say she hadn't planned to be walked in on, and that Mayuri was just a convenient excuse? Had she wanted him to see her?

He knew that last bit of reasoning was more wishful thinking on his part than anything else, but his treacherous thoughts pushed ever forward regardless, filtering out the steam that had been in the room. And then they went even further, simulating the feeling of her body touching his… followed by the faint scent of citrus and sensation of their lips touching one another's.

He gulped.

His more base anatomy couldn't help but respond vigorously, and he let out a shuddering breath.

He could feel Kurisu's curious gaze upon him from the side, making him feel like he'd been caught red-handed doing something extremely embarrassing, such as, you know, mentally undressing his potential girlfriend and then making out with her, when the real her was right next to him. It was definitely not his proudest moment.

Okay, enough was enough! Time for drastic countermeasures!

He forcefully took hold of his thoughts and replaced the naked forms of Mayuri and Kurisu with those of Daru and Mister Braun.

Yuck!

He was instantly back in the here and now, trying his very best not to puke.

Okay, that might have been a little too much – it was hard to get over his revulsion. Hopefully his hippocampus would be merciful and was not horrified enough to store that particular monstrosity into his long-term memory.

'Hah, I'm even starting to think like her…'

As he thought it, a warm breeze paradoxically cooled him down, since his shirt hadn't entirely dried yet and the remnant of Kurisu's tears was pressed against his skin as it passed.

Her tears.

He stiffened, slowing his pace, and looked down.

She had obviously suffered a lot, even in this timeline. In the end, he still believed it was because of him. But she'd forgiven him, and he'd lost the argument. So he just acknowledged it, nodded and moved on. He'd just have to find ways to make her happy, so happy that these darker days would eventually be nothing but a trace of moisture on his otherwise completely dry and purely white shirt. It was the promise he'd made to himself in return for accepting her forgiveness.

Huh, there was a certain degree of poetry in that. Those skills would surely serve him well if he ever had to write her an actual poem.

…Hm. Was Kurisu the kind of girl who'd like something like that, along with like a box of chocolates, or something? And was that expected of him, a guy in modern times, or was that just a chivalrous remnant of the past? And if it WAS expected, then how fast and how often should he do stuff like that? Maybe he should rebuy that dating manual they'd once gone through to prepare him for the, admittedly disastrous, date with Lukako back in the Alpha wordline. That obviously hadn't worked out, but that hadn't really been the book's fault, and at least he'd have more of an idea of what the baseline expectations of him were?

Okay, suppose the manual did say he'd have to write her a poem, then what would be a good one for Kurisu? Let's see…

Roses are red, violins are-

No.

That was way too plain, way too unoriginal – even he knew that. Instead, it would have to be something that suited their unique circumstances and captured their essence as a couple.

So… something like…

'Dear Assistant,

Though you used to be dead,

And my cheek is now blue,

It doesn't have to be said,

That I still love you.

-Hououin Kyouma'

…Maybe he should settle for just the chocolates, at least until he got to practice more.

Okay, enough distractions: it was time to focus.

He had an important task to complete, and that task was getting them safely to the lab. Everything else could wait for later.

He went over his mental map of the area. It showed the current street they were on, Kuramae-hashi Dori, and the two major adjacent ones, Fukuicho street to the south and Kuramaesho-gakko to the north. Between them were a multitude of smaller, unnamed alleys and numerous small passageways between them, some of which weren't even on the official maps. Those all combined to form a large number of small yet legitimately confusing urban mazes. And that was discounting the odd walkways and subterranean crossings that allowed a skilled user to jump between those in very unpredictable patterns.

He knew them all. He'd used them all. He knew exactly how to shake of pursuers, since he'd been forced to learn it. The only reason he'd been able to avoid professional hitmen throughout all the time timelines was because he knew the area better than them. Much, much better.

Well, that, and maybe the workings of the attractor fields had also worked in his favor here, guaranteeing his personal survival in the Alpha worldline. But if he'd been captured there, surviving by itself would have been meaningless, since he'd have been cut off from the ability to redo things. There had been no reason to get lazy and risk that, so he'd prepared. And with an amount of time limited only by his own sanity, he'd had gotten REALLY proficient at it. After all, he had always made it back to the time leap machine, every single time they'd attacked.

In the end, if it came down to it, no matter where they'd come from, no matter when they'd come for them, he'd be ready.

As they walked, he constantly updated the best route of escape with each street they passed.

His hand tightly gripped his phone, an additional insurance policy. He had flawless muscle memory for opening the address menu, and knew in which position from the top every name was. Thus, If needed he could he could swiftly call anyone, any important service, while running without looking or slowing slow.

Hopefully he wouldn't need any of that.

Theoretically, if they just kept going west, they should be fine. A long ways in that direction lay the Lab, just off of the main road. This was the major road of the district, and along their direct path were both a police station, the Ginza metro station – one of the many in the area, a bank and an endless amount of restaurants. The first three of those were very well-guarded while the latter of those would probably cause a mass exodus of panicked civilians at the first sounds of gunfire. Both would present a major pain for someone trying to orchestrate a public assault on them. Of course, that didn't mean it was impossible, since SERN had managed to do it in the past, or rather, in the alternative-universe's past.

'The Ginza metro station…'

He could feel the remainder of his good mood slipping away. That was just one stop away from the station where he'd said goodbye to Kurisu at the end of the Alpha worldline, before he'd-

No. She was here now.

And he'd keep her safe.

He focused even more, taking in everything, searching for the most minor things that were out of the ordinary.

If the worst still happened, he'd try to reach Yanabayashi shrine in the south-southwest, and seek out Lukako. That was the backup plan. And if that was somehow infeasible, then Faris' tower was just southeast of the Ginza station. If that were also impossible, he'd improvise. With his extensive knowledge of the area, pinning them down like that would only be possible if there was an entire army of Rounders hunting for them. The only time he'd seen that…

He immediately shook his head - he wouldn't think of it again. Mayuri had died often enough, and that was hopefully a thing of the past now. As were, equally hopefully, the nearby attractor fields, so that divergence was a thing again and his actions would actually be able to affect the outcomes of a potential attack, the most important one being able to save Kurisu. According to his future self, that should be the case in this worldline.

His job now was just to account for every possibility. And just because he was bad at planning didn't mean he was completely incapable of doing it, especially if it was something he'd been naturally doing for this long.

He did another quick surveillance of the area, very quickly shifting between the points of interest in their immediate surroundings.

Of course, it had been only a matter of time before she noticed.

"Okabe? What are you doing?" Kurisu asked.

"Just checking the area," he replied.

"For what?"

"Things like organization operatives. People who are pretending to eat but who are really just watching us, or trying to follow us on either side of the road. Drivers who might keep disrupting the flow of traffic intentionally to stay close to us. Hidden cars or vans in alleyways that could easily intercept us or run us over. Gunmen in the streets or the windows, sometimes masked, sometimes in plain clothes. Those kinds of things. That's how they tend to operate," he clarified, completely serious, after making sure no one else was within hearing distance.

"A-ah, I see…" she trailed off, suddenly seeming a lot less sure.

"Stay calm and just keep going. We're fine so far."

It didn't seem to work too well, since she was still fidgeting, glancing around nervously.

And then he inwardly slapped himself.

He was doing it again, losing sight of that she wasn't as inured to stuff like this as he was. To him, this was just basic protocol, another Saturday in paradise. He did it everywhere, every day - nothing unusual about it. It was just part of his routine of guarding the Steins Gate worldline, since some part of him still believed that this was only a temporary vacation, that conflict with SERN was an inevitability and that he'd just need to be ready for it. If his sanity could take another fight like that, he didn't know, but he still wouldn't allow it to catch him by surprise.

Yet how alarming would that remark have sounded to the average person? They'd think they were being hunted right now, and that they'd just temporarily avoided detection. Even someone who was relatively strong civilian, like Kurisu, would freak out or at least be on edge. Unless, of course, they thought he was crazy. Unfortunately, in this case she would probably trust him enough to take his word for it.

Damn it, he shouldn't have told her the truth at all, should have lied to make her feel at ease! Just as there was no reason to inform her there was a man right across the street who strongly resembled another Rounder, if he wasn't the real thing, working as a cook in a noodle restaurant that he now never visited anymore. All of that gained them nothing and would just needlessly worry her.

He tried to put up a smile to correct the damage. "Ah, I'm sorry. I just… it's a habit I picked up during our troubles with the organization, the name of which I obviously can't share out here in the open. Even if there's nothing wrong, I just automatically keep looking for it, as if I'm expecting to be attacked. I… can't seem to turn it off. So don't mind me; I'm just overly cautious."

As he said it, he was very aware of the irony that he'd used to joke about things like this, to be someone of importance who was being hunted by nefarious organization. It was a lot less cool and funny in reality, and even more so when they wouldn't be after him, but rather those close to him.

Especially her.

And if was perhaps even more grating that he didn't know if and when they'd strike.

"Oh… you too, then?" Kurisu replied in a sad tone, looking away.

He froze.

You, too?

Hearing her say that was like a punch to the gut. Was she really the same as him? Just how traumatic had these last two months really been for her? Was 'having suffered a lot' understating it, then?

He didn't really know.

And what could he say to something like that? Should he ask her for details? Gloss over that and skip right to trying to comfort her? If so, how should he do that?

He didn't know that, either.

An uncomfortable silence fell between them.

He glanced to his side, and saw her looking down. The earlier confidence was gone. That… was just wrong. It didn't suit her – it just wasn't Kurisu.

And it was effectively his fault.

A flash of a similarly sad female Lukako went through his mind, and he froze.

No. No way, not again!

Sure, this wasn't a date, but he was still obligated to fix it. Plus, it really wouldn't help his chances if the him she got to know was some depressed, traumatized killjoy, and he'd already given her dangerously much of that in the previous two hours!

Okay, deep breath, calm down. What had been the problem in Lukako's case?

Right, that they had almost nothing in common.

Fortunately that wasn't the case here; he and Kurisu had plenty of that, ranging from things like science in general to a love for experimentation, anime series, the 4channel boards and…

Wait…

He blinked, wondering if that was really a good idea.

It would probably draw them a lot of attention.

It was somewhat ridiculous.

It could remind Kurisu of the attack on her, effectively making the situation even worse.

But…

Why was he so afraid of drawing attention, anyway? Maybe it was he, himself, who was the problem; maybe his thinking was just inherently flawed? What were the two of them really doing at the moment? They were walking down a normal street, on a normal summer evening. Nothing unusual was going on. As far as he knew, there were no attractor fields working against him, no world nor universal will he still had to deceive. Sure, Kurisu was with him, and there was at least one Rounder nearby, but he'd done absolutely nothing to provoke SERN in this worldline. Consequently, SERN had no idea that Kurisu knew, or could learn, how to make a time machine. So why was he so stressed out?

Was it really necessary to be so hyper-alert of their surroundings?

What were the actual chances of a sudden attack?

In other words, was he wrong to be afraid?

A montage of Mayuri's deaths involuntarily flashed by, and his resolve wavered. No, he couldn't underestimate them. There was always a possibility that they would still attack and for that he needed to be ready. Even the smallest chance of being wrong about SERN, of it still happening, warranted countermeasures. He'd have to-

…No.

He couldn't think like that. When it came down to it, that was his fear outweighing his common sense; a fear reinforced by more fear of potentially still losing, now that he was this close to the actual goal, of actually having saved everyone and having everyone together. And if he kept doing what he was doing, kept acting according to his fear, wasn't that the same as continuing to accept it as a legitimate concern? If he continued to live his life like that, didn't that mean that SERN had still won in the end? That he'd be accepting he'd never be rid of its negative influence on him, even if they never even became aware of his existence? And if that same fear could cost him Kurisu…

Plus, using 'him' was another shot at trying to restore her memories, since surely some of those associated with his alter ego would be high on the emotional side. True, higher on the negative side, probably, but there was a good chance it would trigger something, at least, and right now he'd prefer an argument over seeing her like that. He'd just have to give this conversation a more positive spin, so that it became more playful banter and less serious argument.

…Yeah, that was a bit of a problem. How to positively remind her of her time with someone who'd been mostly an asshole to her? By roleplaying said asshole without actually being an asshole? That sounded convoluted at best. And he was hoping it would go down well?

Unfortunately, it was still the best he could immediately think of. And Kurisu had probably fallen for him in the Alpha worldline too, where he'd been doing this constantly.

But most importantly, perhaps, was that this basically came down to breaking out of fear. And between Okabe Rintaro and Hououin Kyouma, who was better at dealing with fear? Who had he turned to when he'd engaged a gang of bandits by himself to protect Faris, or when he'd allowed himself to be stabbed to save Kurisu?

The choice was obvious.

It was time to re-introduce them.

He took a deep breath, forced himself to relax, and very slowly let go of his phone.

He let the mental map fade into nothingness.

He stopped observing every little thing.

And he laughed.

"MUAHAHAHAHA!"

He continued even as she stumbled from the sudden outburst.

"W-what the…?" Kurisu stammered, stepping back.

He deliberately ignored the people at the restaurant on his right, who were also giving him very strange looks. "Why are you looking so gloomy, assistant?" he asked. "This pitiful figure doesn't suit you, Christina!"

She stared at him for a second, then sighed, deflating. "That's not my name, and I'm not your assistant. I'm not in the mood for games, Okabe… I know this isn't the real you."

She sounded tired, worn-out. It was a half-hearted response at best. In other words, truly unlike her.

"Oh? And what is on your mind, pray tell, that could possibly be more important than a discussion with me, the great Hououin Kyouma, the greatest insane mad scientist of this age, with an IQ to rival the likes of Newton and Einstein?" he asked, still playing the part.

"If you're going to be like that, I don't think I want to tell you."

An opportunity.

"Humor me. After all, it is my solemn duty as lab member number 001 to look after the well-being of the other lab mems, including you, dear Christina."

She looked up sharply, as if to give an angry retort…

But it didn't come.

Her face went through a variety of emotions. She frowned, staring into nothing, her lips parting ever slightly and then closing. It was a look of intense concentration.

It was her Reading Steiner.

He'd seen it before; the last time, she'd come out of it looking as if she were about to have a nervous breakdown. But this one shouldn't have that result… he hoped. It related to a turning point in their relationship, the very first time she'd opened up to him. Thus, it should be a positive one for her.

Just in case, he placed himself a little closer so that she was easily in arms reach, meaning he could stop her from potentially running into the traffic in a blind panic, if needed. There were also a number of quiet and secluded spots nearby he could take her to if she needed to recover.

He waited patiently.

"…Aomori…?" she finally asked, snapping out of her daze. "Did I… Did I ask you to visit dad with me, back in the Alph- er, back then?"

He nodded. "Indeed, and if you could trust me with something that important to you, surely whatever is ailing you now pales in comparison!"

For now, he'd just gloss over the fact that he hadn't been able keep that promise. And quickly steering the conversation away from anything involving her father seemed like another smart thing to do.

She didn't reply immediately, altering her gaze between him and the street and muttering a few words as if in some sort of internal debate. "Well… I guess…" she finally began. "Can it be anything, without judging me for it?"

"There's nothing I'd deny my assistant."

Kurisu glanced around, making sure no one else could overhear before continuing in a quieter voice. "It's just… what you said about those masked men with guns. I had visions of them, too, of being kidnapped by them. And, if I'm really honest, hearing you say that those men are actually out there somewhere… just scares me. Back then, I stopped feeling safe. I still don't, I guess. The only time that really changed was when…"

She looked away.

He watched her curiously. When…? When what? And that aside, that was another strike - Kurisu would normally never admit she was afraid.

She turned back.

And then it happened.

She took hold of his arm and linked hers around it, then slid up to right next to him.

Suddenly, they were walking side by side, very close, as an actual couple would.

He almost stumbled in disbelief.

He was so surprised that he involuntarily broke character and said the first thing on his mind. "Um, Kurisu? That's my arm."

Inwardly he punched himself, then kicked himself in the balls. That response was so cringe-worthy that it probably ranked somewhere at a minus twenty on the manliness scale!

But… she looked so sad...

That instantly sobered him up. This was no time for charm or even remotely worrying about those kinds of things.

"…Ah, sorry," she apologized. "I-It's not like I'm afraid or anything, but it's just that, back then, when I was outside, I'd sometimes see you too. They were just images of you, flashes of memories. I know that now. But at the time, I always tried to follow those, just in case it was actually you. And they'd always disappear. I guess… some part of me has this irrational belief that it will happen again, that If I look away too long or let go, you'll be gone, and that I imagined all of this," she explained, facing forward, her expression unreadable.

He stiffened: that was all too familiar.

"Okabe? Does it bother you, walking like this?' she asked, obviously noticing his discomfort. "I thought it would make discussing… 'SERNtain' topics easier. If we're this close and talk quietly, no one should be able to overhear us. But if you'd rather-"

"N-no, of course I don't mind!' he immediately replied, after which he promptly adjusted his pace to match hers. "It's just that what you said is pretty much exactly what I thought of Mayuri, years ago."

"Huh? Mayuri? How so?"

"Back then, her grandmother had died, and she was so depressed that nothing seemed to get her out of it," he explained. "She had and still has this habit of reaching for the stars, or the sky. At that time, I thought that if I didn't do something, she'd float away and vanish. I guess what I really was afraid of was that she'd commit suicide, but I was too young then to fully understand that concept."

"Really? Are we talking about the same, overly cheerful Mayuri you told me all about?" she asked, frowning.

"Yeah. I know it might be hard to believe, but that's how it was."

"Then, what did you do about it?"

"I made her my hostage."

"You WHAT!?" she cried, immediately edging away from him and almost letting go completely.

Oops.

Yeah, maybe he should have thought that through more. He had intentionally not mentioned this before since Kurisu's initial response to it in the Alpha worldline had been to almost call the police on him, which was completely fair, all things considered.

"I-it's not what you think!" he immediately went on, holding on to her. "it's just that we were kids back then, and we had this habit of watching this cartoon show together. It featured this stereotypical evil scientist as the villain, who had this habit of sometimes taking hostages. He always lost, of course, but I still kind of admired him for all the ridiculous, reality-defying stuff he managed to do. So, I tried to play on that bond I had with her, hugged her and told her she was my hostage from then on. And… it worked. She still says that now, even though it's more of a running joke between us than anything else."

She sighed in obvious relief, relaxing back into his side as they continued moving forward. "Oh, so that's it. Well, that's kind of sweet then, I guess. But... I wonder if she…" she mumbled, looking away. Then she suddenly stopped moving, forcing him to do the same. "Wait. Wait a minute," she went on, and he was surprised to find her face slowly sliding into her characteristic smirk.

Normally he'd have considered that a clear win, considering the previous happenings.

Yet he suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.

"W-What?"

"Did you just accidentally reveal the origin of Hououin Kyouma to me?"

Double oops.

"Er… Well… No…?" he tried.

It was obviously in vain.

"What? Were you actually serious? Is that REALLY it?"

He didn't reply, not wanting to give her the satisfaction.

She waited for all of two seconds before she started chuckling, hesitantly at first and then embracing it into full-blown laughter. "Hah. Haha, Pfahahahaha! Oh, this is so so rich," she said in between chuckles.

Her laugh was an alien, yet pleasing kind of sound that did much to lessen the blow. As far as he immediately remembered, he'd only heard her actually doing that twice before, which, considering how long the two of them had spent together across the Alpha worldline, was kind of sad in a way. He decided he'd have to savor this while it lasted and get her to do it more often.

"So the great and mighty 'Hououin Kyouma', greatest mad scientist of his age, lord of space and time and arch nemesis of the established order, is, in fact, a cartoon character from a kids television show?" Kurisu went on, obviously enjoying the moment. "Pfahahaha, oh, I'm sorry, can we just stand here for a moment while I finish processing this juicy bit of blackmailing material into my long term memory?"

…Wait, had that been an influence of the Alpha worldline memories, influencing her emotions? Had it really been that funny? He had put Alpha-worldline Kurisu through so much crap that she'd have probably thought so, but this one? Hm…

Regardless, he couldn't just let that stand completely unchallenged, of course!

He channeled all of his alter ego into his characteristic features: hands in lab-coat pockets, eyes closed, faked confident walk, overly self-pleased, cocky smirk. Any sane person who saw him would immediately dismiss him as a man-child and assume his every word to be total bullshit.

Just as planned.

…it did seem less cool when he put it like that, didn't it?

Regardless, he knew that no matter what he said now, she'd find some way to counter it. Without something to pin her on, this particular battle was already over. She was just too sharp.

But if it made her laugh throughout all the things they'd been through, it was worth it. For that, he could prolong this loss with a clear conscience.

"Such ungratefulness, Assistant! You forget that this worldline only exists by the grace of my boundless wisdom. Now show me some appropriate respect."

"Ah, so the same 'boundless wisdom' that told you the best way to console a depressed young girl and alleviate your fears was to take her hostage, right?" she asked.

There probably was a trap in there, somewhere. He deliberately didn't care. "Of course! I believe we already established that the method is obviously effective, Christina."

"So by that same logic, the most appropriate thing for me to do in my situation would be to kidnap you, isn't it?" she questioned, playfully nudging his side.

He blinked, not having quite expected the physical response that came with the answer. "Um…"

"I can see the appeal, I suppose, Hououin Kyouma-san. There are some practical issues with it, though," she continued, maintaining unflinching eye-contact. "For starters, the only space I can store you nearby would be in my hotel room. So after I lock you up in there, what should I do with you?"

He was probably blushing, but he couldn't bring himself to look away from those mischievous blue eyes, backed up by a daring smirk. That, along the feeling of her body next to his switched off most of his higher cognitive functions.

The remaining ones scrambled to retain some semblance of coherence.

Was this… flirting? ACTUAL flirting?

Was he reading too much into this? Had there been a suggestive undertone in what she'd just said? Would Kurisu really say or do something that suggestive?

Probably not, sadly. Then, was all of this a dream, after all?

He quickly pinched himself with one of his pocketed hands.

It hurt.

And kept hurting.

Oh.

Well then.

…WHAT THE HELL WAS HE SUPPOSED TO DO NOW!?

"Ah, well…" he began anyway, having absolutely no clue how he was going to finish that sentence.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, he didn't have to.

"Oh, I know!" she continued, snapping her fingers. "Maybe I'll just have to do so many unspeakable things to you that you will forever refrain from calling me an assistant or 'Christina' ever again. What would you say to that?"

That she could well be flirting, and that his body definitely wasn't ready for it?

He did a very quick mental check.

…Actually, his body was MORE than ready; it was his mind that was the problem.

Okay, so suppose she WAS flirting, and that she was aware of the double meanings. Well, he might a complete noob at this, but he could always try to bullshit his way out, right? He did have plenty of expertise in being a chuunibyou, otherwise known as 'WWHKD', or 'What Would Hououin Kyouma Do'?

The obvious answer was misdirection.

"Then I'd say you were losing sight of your tasks, and our ultimate objective, assistant," he replied, trying to regain his composure.

"Which are?"

"Bringing chaos to the world, of course!" he boldly declared.

"But that sounds much more boring than-"

She broke off mid-sentence.

He could literally see what cheerfulness there had been slide off her face, the temporarily regained confidence evaporating into thin air.

Then she turned away, followed by a deafening silence.

Part of him panicked, wondering if it was somehow his fault, if he'd said something wrong or failed some kind of test. "Kurisu? What's wrong?" he asked anyway.

"Ah… well… all this talk about kidnapping, even in jokes, takes my thoughts back to SERN. And then I just… get scared again, I guess, " she replied.

He nodded, partly in relief, partly worried. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She hesitated for a moment. "I'm… not sure what to do with this feeling of unsafety. Telling myself I never actually got abducted doesn't make it go away, not to mention that it'd technically be a lie. Having those visions at all means they're actual memories of any number of alternate versions of me. And that, in turn, means those versions of me couldn't escape from SERN. So what guarantee do I have that it won't happen to me, too?"

So it was true; they did share at least one major problem. Both of them were too afraid of what SERN could potentially do to them. 'You too' had been a very apt description.

But… guarantees? There were no guarantees. That was what this worldline was all about; a future that was malleable, freed from a set fate. At least, until another attractor field came into it somewhere in the future. But until then, anything could happen. And that was the beauty of it.

But that wouldn't help her right now.

Maybe-

"And… it's not just that, either," she went on, further lowering her voice to barely above whisper volume. Even from this close, he had to strain himself to hear her. "What I'm most worried about, is…"

She paused, and the grip on his arm tightened ever so slightly. Actually, now that he thought about it, that grip had been fairly tight to begin with. "I'm afraid that it'd be the same in America. I can't run from them, can I? Viktor Chondria has good security and might keep them away while I'm inside, but after that, they could come for me whenever. How much can I still publish before someone at SERN starts wondering if I wouldn't be a good asset to them anyway, even if I never publish anything regarding time travel? You know, just to make sure they'd have the best personnel to research every possible angle, or even if someone else there just thinks of part of the basic theory first, and then decides having a neuroscientist is just what they need to help?"

She glanced around them again, not quite managing to hide her nerves. "If they're everywhere, if they're as powerful as you say and capable of taking over the world… then they can get away with something like that without a problem. So… does that mean I can never be sure I'm safe again?"

Valid concerns.

…Were they?

No, not entirely. That made it sound like they were invincible. And SERN had at least one weakness he could immediately think of.

"Maybe there's no reason to be afraid; maybe they simply don't exist in this worldline," he first tried.

She sighed. "Really, Okabe? I mean, thanks for trying, but going by your own behavior, even you don't seem to buy that."

True, and he knew that, of course, but it had been worth a shot.

"Okay, let's assume they still exist. In that case, you're still wrong about them. They're not all-powerful, and they can't get away with anything. They're more fragile than you might think," he claimed.

"What makes you say that?"

"For one, we have some really dangerous information on them," he answered. "They're dependent on funding by certain countries, and their powerbase isn't so absolute that it can compare with actual nations. Remember what I told you about the Jellyman reports we found in the Alpha worldline, when we first tried to hack SERN?"

"Weren't those…"' she began hesitantly, before realization struck. "Oh, right! The files on lethal human experimentation, which also proved they'd repeatedly lied to the rest of the world about their technology and accomplishments," she went on, her voice regaining a bit of her fire. "Do you mean you still have them, that you hacked them again?"

"No, I don't. But that's not the point; the point is that they exist and are easy to find. Daru was able to hack SERN and get that data fairly easily, and that's just what he found at a first glance. Who knows what else is out there? A list of assassinations by the Rounders, perhaps?"

She slowed her pace. "Then… why haven't you? SERN is basically a terrorist group with aspirations of destroying society itself," she questioned. "If you have that power over them, why do you keep letting them exist? Don't tell me you're seriously thinking of letting them win to fulfill Kyouma's goal of 'bringing chaos to the world'?"

The part of him that was Kyouma scoffed. "As if any self-respecting mad scientist would want to work with them. Their goal of destroying society itself is something other than bringing chaos to it."

"So you're saying that you go through life expecting to be attacked at any moment by an organization that is basically one of the greatest enemies of mankind, and you claim you could end them whenever, but you don't?" she asked in obvious disbelief.

"It's simple: The reason I don't is because that would definitively put those close to me at risk - most notably, you. And that's not worth it," he answered. "If the price for that is just keeping myself overly aware against a potential pre-emptive strike on me, that is one I'll pay."

She looked at him directly, their eyes meeting. He could see the doubt in hers as she seemed to search his for something. Overt doubt wasn't like her. It reminded him again that even though she much better than when he'd ran into her on the streets earlier that day, she also wasn't quite the old her he knew. Even if she might have seemed fine on the outside and could temporarily suppress it or be distracted long enough for it not to be directly noticeable, deep down, she was still hurting.

He'd have to find a way to do something about it.

"But… is that really the right thing to do?" she finally asked in a soft tone, looking away. "Who knows what they're doing in the meantime? They're probably consolidating their power even now. Deliberately looking away from this doesn't feel ethical to me."

"Ethical? I am an insane mad scientist, Christina, just as you are the assistant of one. Ethics do not figure into our business!"

And that's where he failed.

He'd said it reflexively in an effort to lighten the mood, to try and trigger their playful banter when she was looking down.

But even as he finished, he knew it was out of line.

Kurisu immediately grabbed his other arm and him around so they were face to face. Even a glance at hers told him she was furious. "No, you WILL take this seriously, Okabe!" she hissed. "People are going to get traumatized or even lose their lives over letting SERN be, and I really don't want to go living my life constantly having to worry about watching my back, either! If you can really end them, then you NEED to do it, or at least put the authorities onto them!"

Deliberately get involved with SERN again?

No way.

Never.

But looking at her now, he knew she simply wouldn't accept that answer.

That left only one thing to do.

He let go of Kyouma and hardened his resolve.

"Come with me," he said, as he immediately led them away into one of the adjacent alleyways. He knew one of the buildings further down and around another corner there had just been demolished, replaced as yet with only the framework for a new one. This late, there was no construction crew present, and the rest of the alley seemed similarly deserted. If he stood right in front of it, that was as close to privacy as he was going to get here, the least possible chance of being overheard.

He looked her straight in the eyes. "You want me to start another fight with SERN. Are you serious, Kurisu? You DO realize what's at stake, right?"

She didn't back down, either. "Of course I do. And that's exactly why we can't just turn away from this!"

He shook his head. "This isn't like you. The normal you would be way too analytical to make this kind of rash decision. So tell me, is this personal for you? Is it about revenge? Do you want to get back at them for what they did to you, Mayuri and the rest of us in the other worldlines? For how they made you suffer? For how they make you feel afraid?"

She froze, obviously caught off-guard. "I… well…"

"If so, I can understand," he continued, softening his tone. He placed his hands on her shoulders, trying to console her. "I wanted it too, on SERN, on Moeka for shooting Mayuri. I wanted to hurt her, to make her suffer too, or maybe even something worse. But… we can't let that drive us, now. We need to be stronger than that and look at this objectively, instead. You know that by being in this worldline, the world technically owes us seven billion lives and a prevented apocalypse. Do you want to risk all of those by getting us directly involved again?"

She didn't respond nor meet his eyes.

He sighed, letting go of her. "Look, less than an hour ago, you told me that knowing something could happen and having a chance to stop it didn't make me sorely responsible for it still happening. Isn't this the exact same thing?"

"…Not sorely responsible no, but still partly. Being guilty towards each other is something the two of us can forgive the other for, but this will harm people other than ourselves. And it's not the same situation either, because this worldline is the one uninfluenced by attractor fields. That means that your actions would have an actual chance of working here," she reasoned quietly.

"Then ask yourself," he went on, "haven't we already done enough? We kept and are still keeping their most valuable weapon, your brain, out of their hands. So long as you are out of harm's way, so long as they have no possible reason to believe you could make 'that', then the world is relatively safe. And in the end, the two of us are just civilians. Is this really our business? Back then, things started going wrong when we crossed that line. I don't want to make the same mistake twice."

She began to falter, obviously conflicted - again, the same doubt that didn't suit her. "But… what if they're still going to win if you don't interfere? Wouldn't that make everything we've done so far pointless? And if you don't do anything, those other people… they're going to go through what I did. It feels wrong to just leave them to their fate."

"That's mostly emotion over reasoning. In other words, not you."

"…"

He could clearly see it in the way she stood, hear it in the way she spoke; the remainder of trauma and associated fear disrupting who she really was.

So far, he probably wasn't helping much, he realized, as his argument up until now had basically been: 'Don't worry about them holding a very dangerous gun that could well be aimed at you someday, since we have a dangerous gun we could aim at them as well. I'm not inclined to do so though, probably only if they attack first'. That wasn't exactly the most comforting of thoughts, and didn't really lessen the actual threat to her.

He knew he couldn't leave it at that. He'd have to go further. And he preferably needed to switch tactics, as continuing like this when she looked like that felt like browbeating her into submission while she was down. Even if he won, that could well damage their relationship, given how important this issue was. Or even worse, it could make her decide to take action on her own later.

So what to do?

No plan spontaneously presented itself to him.

Okay, then maybe he should approach this like the engineering student he was, and try a more systematic approach.

First, what was the actual goal? That was rebuilding Kurisu's safety bubble, and preferably his own, too. Those were intangible objects, so he was already waaaay out of his depth. But hey, what else was new?

Right, so what would he need to do to accomplish that?

First, he'd have to thoroughly convince her that she was safe, obviously, and that she'd stay that way. Kurisu was a woman of logic and reason, and for her to regain a genuine feeling of safety, he'd have to perfectly play into that same logic, so much so that her only possible conclusion would be that she wasn't in danger. He couldn't just tell her, either; for her to better accept it, she'd have to come to those conclusions by herself. The most he could do was provide information and steer her in the right direction.

Second, aside from the whole safety thing, he'd have to also make her feel less guilty about letting SERN be.

So… what kind of argument could he make that would accomplish both these goals?

Only one thing came to mind; he'd have to make SERN itself seem like they weren't a threat at all, that there was no real risk to letting them be. That was a step further than acknowledging that they were a threat but that they, personally, didn't have a particular reason to be afraid of them, since they weren't on their radar. It also went much further than just arguing that they had an exploitable weakness that potentially made them less dangerous.

Was that doable? This was the same SERN that had killed Mayuri on any number of occasions and who could summon a large enough mass of personal hitmen to make escaping from even an entire city district difficult. It was the same SERN that possessed secret black hole technology for years now, implying their technology level overall was in at least some aspects beyond that of the rest of the world, and was able to filter ALL radio wave communication going on in Japan to pick up his one text message that he'd sent to the past. And they HAD eventually managed to take over the entire world in a different worldline. All things considered, those feats by themselves were impressive, especially for a research institute.

Yet to make this work, to really defeat them once and for all, he'd have to make them look so weak, so incredibly incompetent, that both he and Kurisu would forever dismiss them as a serious threat. In short, he'd have to make both of them realize their fear of them was ridiculous.

Could he actually do that, without lying to her, or himself? Kurisu knew all of the above too, and if even she was this afraid of them, then-

Wait.

Was it fair to say that? Could he even remotely blame her for feeling that way?

No - he was again overlooking that she only had fragmentary knowledge of the Alpha worldline. He'd only been able to give her a rough rundown of all the major events that had happened; there had been only so much of months upon months of happenings that he could cram into an hour's worth of talking to her, before the conversation had shifted to operation Skuld. Thus, she was missing too much information to be able to evaluate SERN correctly. Between the two of them, only he could do that.

That meant it fell to him to convince the both of them that their previous evaluation of SERN was off.

So… could he?

He tried to look at them objectively, putting aside all the personal grievances they'd ever put him through, all the trauma and all the shows of force he'd endured. He pulled up everything he knew of their workings, everything Moeka and her boss had ever told him, all of his observations from all different wordlines.

And an idea began to form.

He'd been on the right track earlier, when he'd discussed the Jellyman files, but he hadn't managed to go far enough before the conversation had derailed. If he just kept going among those lines…

And inspiration struck.

It made him feel like a stand-up comedian, about to perform the single most important act of his career to a very tough crowd, one of which was the girl he liked, going through a rough time. He'd have to make them laugh, and SERN, an internationally funded, malevolent organisation with agents supposedly everywhere in the world, would have to be the punchline of every joke.

He sighed, wondering how that would actually go down.

"Hello dear audience, I am your host, Okabe Rintaro, and tonight's main act is for a very special girl among you. It's one I like to call THE ROASTING OF SERN. I hope you'll enjoy!"

On the surface, that seemed hard, if not impossible, to accomplish successfully.

He also had no real proof to back up anything that he was about to say.

But he'd faced worse challenges in the past AND future.

"Okabe?"

Her voice roused him from his thoughts.

He took a deep breath and began. "All right, listen. I think the problem the two of us have is that our view on SERN is highly skewed in favor of them."

She watched him with curiosity, waiting for him to go on.

"And I have an idea to correct it," he continued. "But I'll need your help for it. And I should say it might be a bit crazy."

She considered it for a second, then nodded. "As long as it isn't dangerous or inappropriate, I guess that doesn't sound any worse than usual."

…'Inappropriate'? Huh? What did she expect he'd suggest?

And worse 'than usual'? Was that just a coincidental word choice or was she starting to remember more? In this worldline, she'd never been involved with any of his plans other than operation Skuld.

…Actually, fair enough, that one had been crazy enough on its own to make it a habit.

"I also have to preface this by saying I have no direct proof for all the information I'm about to give you," he replied, putting those thoughts aside. "All I can do is promise you, on my honor as a scientist, that all of it will be completely true or my best guess of the truth based on my knowledge. So, for there to be any point to this, I need to know if you trust me enough to believe me on my word."

"So long as what you're telling me is within certain limits of reason."

He let out a small chuckle. "Normally, that would be fine. But for this particular thing, that's not enough. Now, please, do you trust me, Kurisu?"

"…Yes."

It came out slightly more hesitantly than he'd have liked, but it was enough.

"Okay, then let's begin! We're going to do a bit of role-playing. And for the remainder of it, you are now the evil overlord of SERN; their director, assuming they have one," he declared, doing his best to sound more energetic and light-hearted.

She blinked, then blinked again. "What," she stated.

Not that he could blame her.

"Go along with it anyway, you'll see," he promised. "Now, how this will work is: I will present you with a situation, after which you will give your honest opinion on how to run SERN. After that, I will tell you how it's actually ran. Now then, any questions?"

"Er… no?"

"Great! So, first order of business. Your plan is to take over the world and turn it into a dystopia. Why? No clue whatsoever, but we're SERN and that's how we roll. You obviously need a lot of personnel to virtually destroy mankind. So how are you going to recruit them?"

"Well-"

"You can stop thinking," he immediately cut in, "because I'm sure that whatever you came up with in those two seconds is far better than what they ACTUALLY do."

"…Which is?" she questioned, crossing her arms.

"They freely send out texts to civilians whom they 'think' are susceptible to them. And those are basically recruitment texts to eventually turn them in ASSASSINS. We'll call those the Rounders. And we're going to need A LOT of those, since we want to make things harder on ourselves by wanting to cause the deaths of six out of every seven humans somewhere along the next 26 years, which probably doesn't make us many friends. Thus, I can only assume that we have to apply our recruitment method on a very large scale. Do you see the slight problem when we miscalculate even ONCE and someone decides to report this to the authorities? When any government agency decides to investigate those texts?"

Kurisu frowned, and justly so. "Is that really true? That does sound a bit ridiculous."

"You wound me, assistant! Do you really think I would up with something that silly?

She gave him the flattest of flat stares. "This, coming from 'Hououin Kyouma'?"

He only smiled. "Okay, I kind of walked into that one. But let's continue with this exercise. So maybe your recruitment methods are shaky at best and your ranks are probably loaded with spies and people having second thoughts, but eh, what can you do? You'll just have to make due with what you have. Now, you give them instructions. You give them two: to find IBN5100's for reasons we'll get to later, and to collect people you suspect are involved with time travel research. Other than the odd assassination or miscellaneous task, of course. Now, say someone finds one of those super rare IBN5100's to safeguard your organization. How do you reward them for a job well done?"

"With money? Vacation? Promotion?" she guessed.

"You kill them."

"Wait, what?"

"It would be a waste to keep around good talent, after all."

"O…kay…?"

"So, how do you enforce this ingenious, worker-friendly tactic?" he went on.

"Er… regional supervision…?"

She sounded less and less sure with every passing moment.

Good.

"Right! And those would obviously have to be in on this," he reasoned. "So how do you reward them for the grizzly task of having to murder their own personnel, their direct underlings with whom they have at least professional bonds?"

"I'd-"

"You kill them, too."

"I do?"

"OBVIOUSLY!"

He let it hang for a moment, somewhat enjoying the sight of her incredulous look.

"We do, of course, have a separate team of Rounders tasked with killing those who find them," he continued. "But as SERN, that alone is just not how we roll. No, we're going to be gentlemen about this and inform the regional coordinators themselves that we are going to be killing them AND their personnel if they succeed at the very task we've given them."

Kurisu's puzzlement increased even further. If he had to guess, the logic apocalypse was starting to take place somewhere in her mind, and the debris was already falling all over her assumptions of SERN. "What? But- why- I just-" she finally sputtered. "But how does that even work, then!? Why would any of them actively search out something if they know finding it is going to get them killed?"

"Very good question, assistant! I believe you're starting to see some issues with their structure and potential problems concerning the loyalty of their workers. For instance, how long before one of those regional coordinators decides to turn on them for not wanting to commit murder or suicide?" he questioned, pretending to ponder the issue. "Oh wait, we actually already saw this exact thing happen in the Alpha worldline. And since that's the only regional coordinator we know of, that means the occurrence rate of treason among those, to the best of our knowledge, is technically an impressive one hundred percent. So how long before one of them seeks out the authorities?"

"Hmmm… I think we might need to revise A LOT of our policies…" she mumbled.

"Right, next topic! So your organization is the birthplace of the modern internet, meaning you actually built the thing. Therefore, hacking into you is probably the ultimate achievement for any thrill-seeking hacker. Additionally, your servers host all your dark secrets that would completely destroy you if anyone ever found them. Now remember - you may or may not be aware that you've already messed up somewhere in your policies concerning your own personnel. So, how much would you invest in internet and IT security?"

"A lot, obviousl- Wait. Didn't we…?" she trailed off.

"Indeed! We obviously don't really care, since we've somehow managed to get ourselves hacked by a TEENAGER without ANY special equipment, and not only that, but we never pick up on it!"

To be fair, he wasn't completely sure of that last bit, but it was at least plausible. Daru had never oncelet them down, and it had seemed like Moeka had been the primary reason they'd been found out. For this, he'd choose to trust his friend and take his word on it as a world-class hacker. Plus, Daru was also the guy able to repair a broken time machine made of future technology in just two days, enough for it to actually make the jump further back. His all-around credentials were extremely good.

Kurisu slowly shook her head, and he could see the beginnings of a grin. "Okay, this is starting to get a bit sad. I think I might be a bit too good to be leading this mess."

"Oh, we're not even remotely there yet!" he replied, nodding happily at the first clear sign of actual success. "But for now, let's note that this doesn't bode well for us, considering we've already established that we're pretty much inevitably going to be found out by the authorities at some point. If a teenager, no matter how skilled, can hack you by himself, then they, or any other organization with some kind of serious backing can do it too."

He took a moment to collect his thoughts. "But okay, we're not completely stupid… actually, we are, but who says idiots can't be cunning in their own way?"

"Certainly not me," she answered immediately, almost back to her normal smirk. "I seem to recall being saved by one, after all."

"I'll take that as a compliment," he replied, gracefully taking that verbal sledgehammer to the face.

"Now, so we account for the possibility of being hacked by having a secret database that you need those IBN5100's to read. So where should we put the documents that confirm we've been doing lethal experiments on humans, in addition to having bluntly lied to everyone about the technology we used for those? Mind you, the jellified leftovers of those people have been found all over the world across time, and we've had to directly lie about them at least once. Yeah, on that topic – it probably also wasn't such a good idea to brand those people or their clothes with our personal logo before sending them to their through time. But eh, we're SERN and that's just how we roll, right?"

"So, director?" he finished, clapping his hands. "What's it going to be? Put those secret files in the encrypted zone where no one can read them or out in the open so that every day is just that much more exciting!? Hmmm. Decisions, decisions…"

"Oh god… I can literally hear my brain cells going into apoptosis from just listening to this," she said, facepalming. "Hang on, Frontal Lobe, just hang on. I'm sure this will be over soon."

…He'd just ignore the strange motherly tone in which she said the second part and move on. "I see you've caught on where we're going with this! That same teenager did find them almost immediately, after all. And from that, we can assume it would probably take only ONE hacker or spy to spell certain doom for our nefarious plans. Or should that be 'SERNtain' doom?"

"Please don't turn that into a pun. It's just too horrible, that way. I never want to be held responsible for it, ever."

"Too late! And anyway, we don't have time to discuss this, because right now, you've got an issue on your hands. It seems that a group of teenagers, by some miracle we'll call serendipity, have actually managed to build a working time machine. It's the very thing you've always tried and failed to make yourself, despite your seemingly limitless funding and ability to cherry pick scientists to work for you. But not only that, these same teenagers are also, somehow, on to you. Mind you, the only reason you actually know this in time is because of sheer luck, since one of them was stupid and unfortunate enough to directly invite your nearby spy into their lab, where she was then present when they openly discussed this."

This was somewhat debatable, as SERN had interrupted the D-mail that he'd accidentally sent to the past, which had featured both his and Daru's names. So wouldn't SERN have learned of their existence eventually, on their own merit?

Yet… his meeting and interactions with Moeka had seemed coincidental at first, then followed by a series of blunders on his own part. If they had known, would SERN really have intentionally waited that long, just give them more time to test their equipment, knowing that they could be exposed at any minute? Even if SERN didn't know they had read the Jellyman files, they would still know that a hacker had gained access to their systems, which should have made the possibility at least dangerous enough to warrant intervention.

And that aside, all things considered, SERN's reaction to a lead on time travel that promising, a direct mail from the future, had been incredibly slow and weak.

So he assumed that yes, SERN might have learned of the danger to them eventually, but that would have been too slow to stop them going public, meaning they'd have been finished. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that it had to be the attractor field working in their favor here.

"Now, how soon do you act on this information, director?" he asked, pulling himself from his musings.

"As soon as possible, I guess?" she ventured.

"And how soon would that be?"

"Um… a couple of days, at most? The moment they go public, it's over. And we're supposedly everywhere, right?" she reasoned.

"Actually, you leisurely wait nearly two whole weeks."

"But… why?"

"Why not?"

"Because-"

"That was a serious answer. I can only assume that's actually how it went down."

She chuckled, even though her left eye gave a strange, pained twitch, as if a part of her was deeply amused while the other was in serious agony.

Good…? Well, it seemed he was at least somewhat on the right track? Now all he had to do was push a little more…

He cleared his throat. "Now, so you finally decide to do something after… er… hm… taking a vacation in the midst of all this and going through your mountain of casualty reports concerning your own personnel killing itself as per your orders. You also put aside the memo of Bob the unpaid intern, who's bothering you about why you've still not hired anyone to fill that post of IT security. Why? Because you've reconsidered and now actually believe in the importance of an intervention in the aforementioned situation. So you've come up with an elaborate masterplan to basically sabotage all forms of transport out of Akihabara, which also distracts the police. Of course, that only gets you so far. So what kind of strike team do you then send in to deal with these pesky civilian teenagers?"

"…I'm almost afraid to answer," she began, shaking herself out of it, "but the best we have, obviously. With plenty of concealed firepower, enough to outshoot the odd police officer if needed. Or even better, have them dress up as police and then go in under the pretense of arresting us. Something like that."

"I'm afraid you're still giving our organization way too much credit. That second part is something we'd never come up with, despite that we supposedly have genius scientists working for us. No, we're not even remotely that subtle. What we do instead is sent guys wearing assault rifles out in the open, obviously without any disguises, so that anyone who happens to see us instantly knows that something's wrong. We're gentlemen like that, of course, and we have to give this as much chance as possible of failing on its own. Basically the same as all our other policies, actually."

Kurisu gave a very deep, very tired sounding sigh. "Ok… and then?"

"They fail."

"Yeah, I figured, obviously. But how? Does the police still intervene or something?"

"Ah, we'd wish we could claim that. What actually happens is that an 18-year old, unarmed girl somehow sneaks up on them and then wipes the floor with nearly all of our supposedly elite Rounders. And afterwards, that same girl holds off the final one of our agents long enough for the other targets to get away. In this case, by allowing them to reset time."

"…And that is even remotely possible, how exactly?"

"Indeed! You'd think there's no way six buff dudes with rifles and handguns, whom by all accounts should be the very best men for the most critical mission we could possibly have, could lose a fight like that, right? But we're SERN, remember? That's how we roll. Obviously."

Yeah, regardless of how skilled Suzuha was, looking at that objectively, there really was no excuse for the Rounders to lose that, or at the very least, lose enough for him to reset everything. If even one of them had been watching the door, or even better, the stairway behind the door, they probably wouldn't have lost quite so hard. But such a concept was apparently beyond them, since they'd made the exact same mistake a number of times.

"Right… obviously," she groaned. "Can I resign yet? I hereby appoint Bob the unpaid intern as my successor. He seems to be the most capable other person we have working for us."

"Not yet, since when all hope seems lost for us, it seems you get yet another lucky break. Fate itself smiles upon you and time and space rearrange to remove this problematic girl from the equation. And you now get a redo! What a great time to be us, isn't it?" he sarcastically went on.

"Why do I get the feeling even that won't be enough?" she questioned with at least equal amounts of that.

"Because we're SERN and that's how we roll, obviously. Indeed, those same guys still fail to collect the time machine even now. In some repeats, they get beaten by a toy gadget that forms a fog cloud. In other repeats, no one was even at the lab, meaning it was just sitting there in the open, yet they still failed EVERY SINGLE TIME. Whoops. Maybe we shouldn't have killed so many of our own guys, so we could have invested in the actual quality of our personnel?" he asked, scratching his chin.

Of course, the only realistic explanation for this final bit was-

"Hold on, wouldn't that be because the attractor field was keeping it out of their hands?" she asked. "It seems like that's the only real explanation for it. And… if they had something like a universal will working against them, aren't they a lot stronger and more competent now that that's out of the way?"

Of course, she'd be on to that, too.

However…

He smiled genuinely this time. "You're forgetting that we're talking about the worldline where they eventually rose to global power. Overall, the attractor fields of that line would by definition have to be working IN FAVOR of them."

Seeing her nod slowly was all the encouragement he needed to keep going. It was time to start wrapping this up. "And because of that and considering everything else we're concluded about their organization so far, I think we can safely assume that without that same 'magic' supporting them, they're finished. They just have too many leaks. Without the time machine to compensate for all of those, SERN is just a house of cards waiting to crumble. And that's why I don't see any reason for us to have to risk anything for them to meet their demise."

"But how can you be sure that's really going to happen?"

"I can't be completely sure," he admitted. "However, the Suzuha from the Beta worldline didn't even know who they were. It stands to reason that at least in that worldline, SERN collapsed on itself long before they became anything worth noting."

He paused for a moment, further collecting his thoughts. "The more I think about it, the weaker they seem to me. What we saw of them had to logically be them at the very peak of their capacity, after WEEKS of preparation, repeated over and over in a short timeloop. And that's just it - all we ever saw was that peak. And that's why our views are skewed, our fear irrational. They explicitly knew about how dangerous we were and yet it took them THAT LONG to do something, and even then they just kept stacking failure on top of failure. What are they going to do now? Nothing. They're finished. Their organization is just too fragile to keep existing," he concluded.

That was all he could do. Now he just had to wait and see if she'd accept it.

She was silent for a good thirty seconds, mulling it over.

Then…

"Okay… I guess I can accept that there's no need to intervene, and that they're a lot weaker than I thought," she said. "But what if they still get to me before someone else finds out about them? No matter how small the chances…"

"That would be choosing to live in fear despite the evidence," he reasoned. "I can't, of course, completely promise it won't happen. But then again, there are so many things about the future that we can't be sure of."

"I guess that's true," she admitted, not entirely happy but not unhappy either.

"However, I can promise you something else," he then said, not wanting to leave it at that. "If something bad did were to happen to you, then we always have our trump card. In that case…" he trailed off, then forcefully locked away his nerves. "In that case I'll rebuild the time machine and come for you. No matter how long it takes. No matter where you are. No one takes my assistant away from me. Not SERN, not Nakabachi, or anyone else. I'll never stop trying to find a way to keep you safe."

She briefly froze, and then he saw something beautiful.

He saw the beginning of an actual, earnest smile, one she tried to hide by not entirely meeting his eyes.

"A-ah, but… um… wouldn't that alter divergence and steer us out of the Steins Gate worldline?"

…? Why was she fidgeting, twirling the end of her hair like that? Shouldn't she feel safe instead of nervous, now?

"Not if I went on doing research until I managed to make the real thing myself, as my future self eventually managed to do," he reasoned, trying not to get distracted by how cute she looked. "Or, if you want to risk it, the two of us could share the information needed to make a time leap machine and then promise to keep it to ourselves, which would probably speed up the process."

"Oh, and let's be honest with ourselves. It's not like you'd really need my help to get out, anyway," he added light-heartedly. "Knowing you, you'd take over their lab just as you'd taken over ours, then make the time machine yourself only to prevent your own capture in the past."

She chuckled, still looking away. "You… really think so, huh?"

"Oh, I know so," he confidently replied. "These are the same guys who didn't notice that their own secret black hole technology was constantly being used by the same teenager who managed to hack them. Do you really think they'd be able to stop you from breaking out on your own, or at least leaking their critical secrets to the outside world? You'd be running circles around them, assistant."

"Well, I would like to think that I wouldn't make things easy on them," she responded, now smiling fully.

"Now we're talking!" he cried, returning the playful jab from earlier, which she half- parried with an embarrassed chuckle. "And before I forget, there's one final thing we haven't touched on yet."

"Heh. Do I really want to know this?"

"Definitely," he nodded, "because in the end, despite all their money, all their men and all their technology… they got beaten by a cartoon character from a kids television show and his assistant."

"Since it were our actions that took away their time machine and attractor field, in the end?" she guessed, re-meeting his gaze.

"Just so! Now what do you say we beat them again, by just leaving them in the past? I hereby officially refuse to let them bother my life any longer. Are you with me, Christina?"

He extended his hand to her, which was probably the cheesiest gesture he could have possibly given her. But hey, he had to even the score, didn't he?

"Aaaand there you go ruining your entire speech with that very last word," she said, sighing and closing her eyes. "You really are an idiot at times, you know?"

"That seems like a clear step up from being an idiot all the time. Did I get a promotion?"

"Hehe, I suppose you did."

When she opened her eyes after that, he could tell it was the real her, the one he'd began this walk with.

He'd be lying if he claimed that didn't make him feel proud of himself, or that it wasn't immense relieving to see her like that.

"You know what? You're right, Okabe. This isn't me. Sorry for going all damsel in distress on you, there."

"Heh, what are you rambling on about, assistant?" he replied off-handedly. "Are you even remotely implying you wouldn't do the exact same for me? Or that you wouldn't take up the mantle of the insane mad scientist if something happened to me, instead? Sure, they'd have to get extremely lucky and find me tripping over my own shoelaces into unconsciousness, or spontaneously disappearing into an adjacent worldline or something weird like that, but eh, it could happen."

She shrugged and let out an amused sigh. "I'm not saying I'm your assistant… but yes, I would. Probably."

"Then what's the problem?" he asked. "All of this should be obvious: we're a team, after all, aren't we?"

She said something under her breath that he couldn't quite make out.

"Hm? What was that?"

"Oh, it's nothing," she replied, arms crossed and fully back to her trademark smirk. "But… I guess it's nice to know I was right: you did know the way out. And… thanks. That does make me feel a lot better."

There was a certain sincerity to it that made him a bit feel uncomfortable, both for her obvious gratitude and a smudge of guilt somewhere in the back of his mind. He'd just have to pretend all that wasn't something he'd only thought of mere minutes ago and thus wasn't something he'd totally pulled out of his ass at the very last second.

Unfortunately, the moment didn't last.

Her eyes suddenly widened in fear. "Look out behind you!"

A surge of reactive horror as he instantly spun around, already bracing himself for whatever impact was coming.

Had he miscalculated!? Had a Rounder followed them after all!? He'd lost sight of the environment and-

He blinked as he saw an empty street behind him. There was nothing th-?

And then he thought he felt it; something warm, soft and slightly moist brushing his neck from behind.

It had been such a fleeting touch that he wasn't entirely sure if it had actually happened.

He slowly turned back around, catching what he thought was a very faint whiff of citrus as he did.

He found her standing behind him as her usual, devil-may-care smirking self, completely calm.

As the implications of what just might have occurred caught up with him, the entirety of his vocabulary failed on him all at once. "Bluerhg?" he asked, stupefied.

"Ah, I guess it was nothing, after all," she gracefully replied, as if his brabble just now had made even some remote kind of sense. "My bad."

"D-did you just kiss me!?" he then cried, using supreme force of will to pull himself back together. Suddenly, the evening night seemed incredibly warm, not at all helped by the equally sudden mad pacing of his heartrate.

"Kiss you? Hm, that's certainly a bold claim. Well, maybe?" she pondered for a second, only to shrug in fake helplessness. "I'd say this potential event would have to be a Schrödinger's kiss; it's either there or not there until you observe it."

"W-What strange kind of perversion of science is that, assistant!?" he went on, completely unsure what else to say.

"Oh? If I'm the assistant of a mad scientist, do you really think I'd be opposed to something like that?" she said, completely unfazed.

He blinked, processing that. Er… did that mean she was admitting it? And hold on -'until he'd observed it'? Was that an invitation to actually kiss her, right now?

Was that over-analyzation?

…Was he overanalyzing about whether or not he was overanalyzing?

His mouth felt incredibly dry, either way.

"I-"

"Of course, if you'd been paying more attention, then you'd have known for sure," she cut in. "It's not my fault that the great Hououin Kyouma, 'greatest insane mad scientist of this age, with an IQ to rival the likes of Newton and Einstein', was just misled by the oldest and most basic trick in the book."

…

Yeah, it was pretty hard to come back from that.

It would make a good epitaph, probably:

'Here lies Okabe Rintaro.

The burn was too real.'

He'd try anyway.

If that's how they were going to play, he could do that, too.

Revenge would be swift and terrible!

Muahahahaha!

"Well? Don't you have anything to say for yourself? I'd have expected much better from an observer, honestly," she challenged, sliding back up to him.

"Hah! You underestimate me, assistant. Let me tell you all about my finely honed skills of stealth and perception…" he boasted, offering her his arm.

She took it.

Together, they walked further into the night.

---

Author's notes:

If you enjoyed this story, would you consider leaving a comment? I'd love to hear other people's thoughts and it's a significant part of what keeps me motivated!

So, R.I.P. SERN. You were an interesting villain until logic came for you. Did they get burned enough? And Poll time: who got burned harder; SERN or Okabe?

Anyway, long chapters are long. Let's call this a double chapter and give me a few days off, maybe? I'm actually somewhat wondering where the reader would have cut this chapter in half, if they had to. Any suggestions?

The main theme of this chapter was overcoming fear. Originally none of this would have been in the story at all, but I did feel it was important to touch on at least some of these points. And when you're more or less an improvisational writer like me, and my brain keeps feeding me more ideas to put in, you're suddenly at 14 k words and not at the natural cut-off yet. Whoops.

I kind of had to write the chapter from Okabe's perspective, since it required his P.O.V. and knowledge to work. Limbic System and Frontal Lobe will be back in part 2 of the walk, so don't worry! They actually have a couple of cameo's even here if you look carefully. I hope Okabe's theatricality was sufficient to make up for their loss.

Some things earlier in the chapter are based on assumptions from how Okabe would be act in a normal situation following all the trauma he's been through. I don't think it was that far-fetched to have him be overly alert to potential danger, and to assume he'd have become very good at escaping from potential pursuers in Akihabara. Did you, as the reader, feel he was believable and/or felt like himself?

On Okabe, he actually uses a few techniques here from cognitive behavioral therapy, which is based on challenging 'abnormal' thoughts/cognitions regarding themselves or the environment. Of course, he wouldn't know this in-character, but it might be interesting to look into yourself if you're interested. It's a common treatment technique in psychiatry. Of course, his approach is rather unorthodox but it's more fun this way, right?

Regarding the flow of this chapter, I don't like it quite as much as the first two chapters, but it was the best I could come up with for now. It's probably an artefact from an earlier version where Okabe was Kyouma much longer, but he ended up being more of an actual asshole than I'd have liked up to the point where it no longer seemed to fit his growth as a character, even if that did bring a bit more dramatic tension. So then I went back to an earlier point and had him talk to Kurisu about Mayuri, and then things went on from there. I guess it is realistic to some degree, as sometimes things can happen in real life that just throw off your gameplan, in this case Kurisu being afraid and therefore initiating physical contact. Just like Okabe starts on the right path concerning SERN's weaknesses twice but then gets derailed the first time.

Oh, and regarding the route of their walk, I found this map of Akihabara made by an anime fan on Google, which contains waypoints that say where the real life equivalents of Steins Gate actually are:

: / / w. w. w. . c o m. / maps/d/viewer?msa=0&mid=1PpebrIKsZ9cXi-nICFnGKxRxMic&ll=35.70146600000004%2C139.77249099999995&z=18

(It will not allow me to post any reference to google or https, but fill these into the above string at the front)

Apparently, Faris' café is almost right next door to the future gadget lab. That felt a bit strange to me, since I believe it's implied at a number of times during the story that there's a significant distance between the FGL and Mayqueen NyanNyan. I believe Okabe even states somewhere that it's a 30 minute walk… so I had them walk into the center of Akihabara from the east, following what I assumed was the main road.

Well, I could go on and stuff but I'll leave it at this for now :)

I'll try to answer each comment or question as always.

Until next time!