04/20/2036; Valkyrie; 9:17a.m.
Stirring from the shadows of dreamworld inside her mind, Suzuha's eyes opened one by one to the dark room, wrapped up in the fantastic comfort of clean sheets with her head sunk into a pillow.
Haven't... Slept this hard for a while.
Shifting with a stretch of limbs and an expected yawn, she paused when the warmth against her back moved in response, blinking in slow realization that she was sharing a bed with somebody.
Whoa, what?
Lifting herself upwards with her arm in a twist, her vision was greeted with the slender body and messy dark hair of Kamiko next to herself.
Oh. Right.
Watching the girl's head turn upwards, one eye peeking towards her, a breath parted her lips.
"Hey Suzu."
"Hey. Didn't mean to wake you."
"I've been awake. Its fine."
"What time is it?"
Reaching out and turning a small digital clock into view, Suzuha read the presented numbers with mild confusion.
"Its morning, right?"
"Says a.m. on it."
Looking around the room at the small night lights along the concrete walls, her eyebrows furrowed.
"You can't even tell."
"The sun doesn't rise underground."
Flopping back down onto the bed with mild embarrassment, she faced upwards towards the dark ceiling, noticing several LED lights inset into the otherwise featureless concrete roof.
"Eheh, yeah... Didn't think of that."
"You sure slept in for a survivor."
Putting her arms back above her head, she held her fingers together with a smile.
"Its not every day you're in a warm bed in a bunker."
"Did you ever sleep in out there?"
"Not too often. If you have a good hiding spot and something to lay on, maybe."
"Sounds rough."
"A bit. Waking up was always the fun part. You have to reassess your surroundings and make sure you still have everything. I tie my backpack to my leg, so if somebody tries to make off with it while I'm out, they'll wake me up real fast."
"Has that ever happened?"
"Thankfully no. I don't know how that following fight would turn out."
Letting her words linger in the still air, Kamiko lay still, eyes drifting around in imagination.
"You're one tough lady, Suzu."
"Gotta be one out there. Yokohama is a concrete jungle."
"Our surface, Kawasaki, used to be like that. But everybody's down here now."
"Probably better off that way."
"We like to think so. Nobody's left yet."
"I wouldn't, unless I was forced out."
Heads turning, teen eyes met lazily in the dark.
"You've only been here for an evening."
"I know. But even a few hours made me feel normal again."
Fussing with a pot of reheated coffee, Kamiko poured equal amounts into two different mugs, observed by Suzuha as she sat at the kitchen table, head resting on her arms. Like her, her hair was messy and light clothing wrinkled, reflecting their lazy morning.
Kinda funny seeing her being like this. When she was out there on the tanks as commander... She seemed way more serious than she actually is. All part of the job I guess.
Head turning towards the opposite bedroom just down the hall, her eyebrows furrowed from the realized absence of occupants, with the normally closed door sitting ajar.
Huh. "Did your parents go somewhere?"
"They have an intel conference every morning... Keeping up to date with the facility and operations."
"Aren't you part of that?"
Stirring creamer into the cup, she nodded.
"I only attend if there are pressing matters. If something important was going on, we'd already be awake and in there with them."
Turning around Suzuha and raising the mug to her lips, she took several sips.
"How much creamer do you want?"
"I dunno. What do you do?"
"My coffee is tame. Dad drinks it pretty dark, but mom and I can't handle that."
"Alright. Whatever you think is best then."
With a nod, several packets of creamer were opened and mixed in with a spoon, and after a minute, Kamiko stepped over to the table, sliding the porcelain mug across the polished steel surface.
"Thanks."
Pulling a chair out and turning it to the side, she sat down across from Suzuha, resting her free arm onto the table and drinking from her mug, looking down the hall with a tired glaze. Eying the young commander as both of her hands lifted the drink to her lips, the mug tilted upwards, and a mixture of sweet and strong liquid splashed across Suzuha's tongue.
Ooh wow. This is really good.
Looking over as she steadily swallowed the contents of the mug, Kamiko's eyebrow rose as the empty cup descended onto the table.
"Was that your first coffee?"
"I think so. Not sure I had any growing up."
Pressing her lips together, Kamiko restrained a laugh.
"Looks like you enjoyed it."
"Is there more?"
"A little bit. You can have it."
Watching as the girl rose to her feet, ejecting the chair backwards along the floor, she followed Suzuha's amble over to the counter.
"How many of these did you use?"
"Three."
Listening to the pouring of liquid and clatter of a mixing spoon, Kamiko took another sip from her mug, savoring the caffeine.
Yep. Suzu's gonna be bouncing off the walls here in a little while.
Picturing her friend in a spree of energy, she looked towards her bedroom door again.
Should be an entertaining morning.
Walking together down numerous concrete hallways, passing dozens of individuals, Okabe and Ruka kept by each others sides, hands held in a gentle sway, and minds in heavy contemplation over their guest's unexpected arrival, and subsequent significance.
"Rukako... What do you remember of Suzuha in our past?"
Eyes meeting, she retrieved several faded memories, having been previously unearthed by the teen girl's arrival less than a day before.
"A fair amount. We had my chicken curry on purpose."
"Right. She loved it long ago... You and I remember Suzuha from our past, that's known. But now she doesn't remember us from her youth at all, and in a sense, hasn't really known who we are until yesterday."
"Back in twenty-nineteen, right?"
"Yes. We just had Kamiko when Itaru and Yuki conceived Suzuha."
"That was almost twenty years ago. We went into hiding not long after that."
"At that point Daru and I continued work on the time machine, but Yuki and Suzuha moved to another home to stay safe and protect his alias."
"She was unaware of the project?"
"Absolutely oblivious, even beyond its completion. She had no idea of her father's work in our world line, unlike the events in twenty-ten where she was already aware of the time machine and its functionalities."
"Sounds as if the circumstances of the future may have been different on that world line."
"Correct. She had implied that her future world in twenty-thirty-six was at a point of no return, surrendering completely to SERN after their own time travel technology made them unstoppable. We know personally that is untrue in our state of being, since SERN was unable to achieve time travel before their headquarters were destroyed with the onset of the war. Her previous future that I learned of in the past, is different from our own."
"So there was a world line shift?"
"A significant one. Possibly several. But the strange part is that we failed to skew the future, ours, away from the third war and our situation now."
"Did the meter not reach the one percent boundary?"
"I assumed it did, but I didn't have the divergence meter until I created it again. That's what has troubled me for years. I never knew what the number was back then."
"Was Suzuha not successful with her mission? She disappeared only days after meeting all of us."
"Indeed, she traveled back to nineteen-seventy-five for an IBN fifty-one-hundred computer, and succeeded in passing it down to Rumiho's father, your father Eisuke, and then to me, allowing us to disconnect ourselves from SERN's network and allow Mayuri's survival. But now Suzuha remembers nothing about our time machine, even though she's already utilized it in our past... I think whatever series of events that have taken place in the past, have brought her to a state where she has yet to travel back to twenty-ten, where she met us in the first place."
"Have we not reached that point yet?"
"Seems like it. Though we may on the verge of reaching it, or creating a new one."
Ruka looked to Okabe, watching him patiently as his lips pressed together.
"You're going to tell her about the time machine?"
"And give her Itaru's will. He explicitly instructed me to do so, if and when she arrived in our presence."
Gripping Ruka's hand tighter, his heart beat with anticipation after years of waiting.
"My love, Suzuha's arrival is possibly the most important event in Valkyrie's fight. If we can get her to the time machine and ensure she travels into the past... She may be able to change our future."
Ruka's mouth opened in a breath.
"Do you mean... Preventing the war?"
"Yes. Cancelling the reasons for the conflict that led us here. Doing so may also be the single biggest blow we can strike against SERN."
"Oh my god."
"Tantalizing, isn't it. Imagine what our world could be like by this date. Peacefully intact, and technologically advanced."
"Okabe."
Halting their footfall, her arms curled around him, returned quickly in an embrace.
"Do you think she could be successful?"
A confident breath left his nose in a smile.
"She has been once before. And if she has the same determination as her father... I have no doubt that she will be."
Opening the door into their bunker abode, Okabe traded a look with Ruka as laughter from both teenage girls rang through the interior, bringing unexpected smiles to their faces.
"They're up and at it."
"At half past eleven. Took long enough."
Stepping silently inside, Ruka diverted towards their bedroom, dropping off a bag, and then returning to the kitchen as Okabe peered into the refrigerator with curiosity.
"Should we prepare lunch before or after the meeting?"
"Afterwards. This is of great importance."
Pausing as another burst of mirth echoed from the ajar door down the hall, Okabe moved over beside Ruka, peering down the hallway.
"I almost don't want to put an end to that."
"Up to you. We can talk to them whenever."
Listening with curiosity, both adults traded an expression of interest, quietly stepping down the hallway together. Peering in through the door one after the other, echoes of metallic destruction ensued among grunts and quick bouts of laughter as Suzuha swiped at approaching robotic enemies on the touchscreen, illuminating the room with resulting flashes of explosions, with Kamiko standing just beside her, looking between her friend and the screen with distracted fascination.
Moving close to Okabe, Ruka's arms went around his stomach, her chin settling on his shoulder from the heartwarming scene.
"They're getting along."
"She's literally having a blast."
Both girls inhaled with a start from the voice, turning to Okabe and Ruka standing together in the dim doorway, but Suzuha's attention rapidly went back to the screen as the character took damage from incoming enemies.
"Oh crap!"
Watching her resume her swipes at the screen again, Kamiko stepped back and sat on the foot of her bed.
"She had most of your leftover coffee."
"I see. Operating on mental nitro-methane?"
Kamiko nodded in response.
"I don't think she's had coffee before."
"Clearly. Once you finish your round there, I want both of you girls in the kitchen. We have important matters to discuss."
Repeatedly smashing at one last large robot, several clusters of points accumulated as the machine took steady damage, finally exploding in a fireball that filled the screen. Having completed the level, Suzuha then rotated toward Okabe.
"What kind of matters?"
"Your first assignment with Valkyrie, miss Amane."
Trading a look with Kamiko, who rose to her feet again and took the lead as her parents turned towards the kitchen, Suzuha craned up and around the teen girl of similar height.
"Awesome. Where will I be going?"
"Several places, actually. Let me fill you in with some information first. Take a seat, both of you."
Pulling all four chairs around the table outwards, all individuals descended, arms settling onto the smooth steel surface of the table. Putting his hands together with rubbing palms, Okabe took in a preparative breath.
"Alright. I'm going to be direct, and it will probably confuse you right away, so bear with me."
Brimming with excitement from caffeine and anticipation, Suzuha fidgeted.
"Okay. Hit me."
"Your father Itaru and I... Several years ago we completed a time machine."
Both teens immediately eyed her parent's unwavering expressions with similar apprehension.
"Cool. Does it work?"
"We've tested it several times, and it operates as intended... So yes. It works."
"Alright. What's this have to do with my mission?"
Rubbing his thumbs together repeatedly, Okabe eyed her calmly.
"Before your father was taken, he wrote his will. In it, he assigned your as the inheritor of our time machine, and left operating instructions on its usage."
"Wait, he gave me the time machine?"
"Yes. And he intends for you to pilot it into the past. Far back enough for you to prevent this war we've been fighting."
Hands dropping flat into her lap, Suzuha stared at Okabe.
"What... How would I do that?"
"In the year two-thousand-twelve, before the third war began, a group of communist and extremist nations came together and formed the Greater Communist Federation, or G-C-F for short. In three short years, operating with direct opposition to NATO, a second Cold War went hot, and resulted in the obliterated mess we've inherited, occupied by SERN after the collapse of nearly all national governments across the globe."
Hit with a concise blast of recent history, she sat still.
"So you want me to stop this federation somehow?"
"With any means necessary."
"In your time machine?"
"Yes. We need you to travel back to the year twenty-twelve, and disrupt the formation of the G-C-F held in Beijing, China."
Looking between all three members of the Urushibara family seated around her, Suzuha was momentarily bereft of words.
"...It is your father's wish, and your destiny. You must realize the importance of this."
"My destiny?"
"Itaru intended for you to be the sole operator of the time machine when the time came."
"Why only me?"
"He felt you to be the only person that could carry out his wishes and truly succeed. He's always believed in your abilities, Suzuha."
Closing her eyes, her heart beat heavily, infused with the earlier caffeine.
"So my dad wanted me to go back in time and change the past, to change our future. Am I supposed to find him in the past as well?"
"If you wish. You can find me as well. Whatever you think will help you succeed at the objective... And if you do happen to find me, make sure to give me this device."
Standing to his feet, he moved to the kitchen counter and lifted a foot-long rectangular object into his hands, bringing it back to the table. Noticing several glass bulbs were actively illuminated along the top of the electronic circuit board, Suzuha eyed the object, perplexed.
"What is that thing?"
"Its a divergence meter. It measures the current point of divergence from our world line to the next. Once it crosses the one percent barrier or more, we've achieved a divergence from a prior world line."
Watching as he pushed it closer to her, she hesitantly accepted it, looking it over and dragging her index finger along the top of the small illuminated nixie tubes.
"One percent?"
"Yes."
"Its at... Zero point zero fourteen."
"We're a long ways away from diverging, as you can tell."
"Who made this thing?"
"I did. And I want you to give it to my past self so I am aware of the world's divergence number at that point in time."
Tilting aside amid inspection, her lips pursed beneath a furrow of consideration.
"...Okay. So if I've met you now, and meet you again in the past... Is something funky going to happen?"
"I'm not sure. We haven't attempted to meet people in our pasts, so I couldn't tell you."
"Awesome, uhh... How exactly do I give you this meter thing then?"
"You'll figure it out. Just keep in mind that whatever actions you take will actively change the number on the meter, and as a result, the future you are heading towards. Act wisely, and try to get it above one percent if you can."
Eyes descending to the device, the dim glow of numbers met her eyes again, and a heavy breath left her nose.
One percent. Starting from 0.014527. How difficult is it to change this thing?
Looking towards Kamiko, her expression remained similarly perplexed, trying to make sense of her father's information. With a nod, she tilted the device upward with her fingers, and then looked at Okabe, watching her with utmost patience.
"If this is what dad wanted... I'll do it."
"Excellent. Even if you decided not to, I would have made it an order."
Blinking from the sudden authority, Suzuha watched him carefully as he crossed his arms.
"You're fighting for Valkyrie, are you not?"
"I am."
"Then I assume Kamiko has already told you the conditions of living here."
"I told her she will inevitably have responsibilities."
"Good, although vague. You are an important individual, Suzuha. This mission was only to be carried out upon your arrival. Nobody else will have access to the time machine at any other point."
Sitting back in the kitchen chair, her eyes drifted over to Ruka's face, feeling a small bubble of reassurance grow from the gentle confidence emanating from the woman's expression.
Man. I guess you could call this a special assignment. I expected to go out and help the revolution on the front lines... Instead my first mission with Valkyrie, is to find my way to a time machine I've never seen before... And then use it. Exciting, and a bit freaky. I have no idea what I'm about to get into, and apparently this was destined to happen as my father's wish.
"...So, where is this time machine exactly?"
"It stands in a park northeast of here, on the Tokyo dockyards. Minatogaoka Futo, to be exact. You'll find it between a railway yard and the dockside warehouses."
"Does SERN not know its there?"
"It would already be gone or destroyed if they did."
"How do you know its still there?"
Slowly grinning, Okabe put his hands together.
"It has a beacon built into it. It's been transmitting directly to a receiver in our possession. Itaru created the signal and locked both devices into a closed communication loop. It can't be read from the outside, and cannot be broken unless one end is destroyed."
"What if it loses power?"
"The time machine has an array of solar panels mounted onto it. That's why it has continued communicating back to us for several years. Every day the sun shines, the accumulator batteries within are charged through photo-voltaic energy."
"You guys have left a time machine sitting out in the open?"
"It is curious yes, but even more so that it has yet to be discovered. That is why time is now of the essence, dear Suzuha."
Furrowing her eyebrows, her mouth opened, only to close again.
"...I like how you say we need to hurry, after you've been waiting for me to appear for years."
"This whole scheme is dependent on you. It has been for almost a decade."
"What if I hadn't shown up yesterday?"
"Then the mission would not be taking place."
"And you'd continue fighting SERN like this, when you have time travel at your disposal?"
"Its not that easy, miss Amane."
"Why not?"
Expression hardening, a sigh left Okabe's lungs as his face lowered.
"I'm bound to this future. To my family, and to Valkyrie. I could never leave behind everything I've fought so hard to protect... And I've already done enough time travel in my own past. This is the future I tried to prevent through my own means, and since I failed to alter it, I'm seeing it through instead as the chaotic fruits of my efforts."
Looking around the table at the three dearest women in his life, all sitting silent, he continued.
"Everything that comprises Valkyrie began as the efforts of your father Itaru, your mother Yuki, and Ruka and I. We're the reason there's a glimmer of hope and any revolution in Japan at all. We're all central to this world line we live in, and I cannot, no, I refuse to leave any part of it behind, even to potentially change the past."
"Then why me? I'm part of this world too, right?"
"Yes. You're also the outlier... The unexpected variable in all this mess. We've been waiting, wondering if you would show up. And just as your father predicted, you've finally arrived to fulfill your objective."
"He knew I would show up in Valkyrie?"
"He knew that you loved him dearly, and that you would do anything to honor him. Including joining his cause."
Swallowing from both heartache and a wave of realization, her hands grew clammy around the divergence meter.
Oh dad. You knew I would seek Valkyrie all along... "You're right. I'll do anything to make him proud. This is what he wanted."
"Its what we want as well. Your objective is now of highest priority, Suzuha."
"Yeah?"
"I'll be handpicking a team to assist your travels to the machine. You will be supplied with everything necessary to ensure survival, but once you are within the machine, you are on your own from that point forward."
Nodding with steadily increasing resolve, she swallowed.
Yes. This is my purpose. Finally.
"I understand."
"Father, I want to be part of the team on this assignment."
All eyes turned to Kamiko as she looked between her parents and her friend repeatedly, heart aching.
"Are you sure?"
Eyes closing from her mother's hesitant question, she exhaled.
"As sure as I can be. Suzuha is my friend, and I wish to be by her side in this."
Looking to Okabe with worry, Ruka watched as he slowly nodded after hesitant consideration.
"As you wish, my child. I am sure your skill will benefit the team greatly."
"Thank you father. I will not fail you or mother."
A smile slowly lifted his features from his daughter's dutiful resolve.
"I am confident both of you will achieve success together. That said, I will commence preparations at once."
Sliding his chair back and rising to his feet, Okabe's hands settled onto the polished steel table with finality.
"You two are dismissed. Go about your day as you wish. Tomorrow however, I expect both of you to be ready for action."
Hand rising to her head in a salute, Suzuha stood to her feet, ejecting the chair backwards again.
"Yes sir."
Looking towards his daughter next, she rose to her feet, bowing her head in a nod.
"Of course."
Watching both girls reconvene together, aligning towards Kamiko's room down the hall, Okabe then looked to Ruka, who sat in silent contemplation. Moving his hand over, opening his palm, her hands separated from her lap, and her fingers descended onto the folds of his skin.
"What troubles you, my love?"
"I knew she would ask to assist Suzuha."
"As did I. Do you fear her being out in Tokyo?"
"I always worry about her being out there. It's motherly instinct."
"As do I, but she continues to return safe and sound."
"True. She's been fortunate."
"Indeed. I have greatest confidence in our prodigal child. Her and Suzuha will make a great team. Frankly its a shame she is already destined to disappear. She could be more than useful for our efforts..."
Looking up to Okabe as he rubbed the bristles of his goatee with his fingers, she squeezed his hand in response.
"I think its more of a shame she has to vanish just as our daughter has found herself a friend."
Blinking, Okabe shrugged after a moment of consideration.
"I suppose."
Looking down the same hallway, she gently sighed.
Oh Kamiko. I heard that desperation in your voice earlier... I know how your heart feels right now. Held back from the door finally opened for you. Be strong, my child. And don't hold back your feelings.
04/20/2036; Valkyrie; 1:47p.m.
Digesting a recent standard-portion lunch, and having showered again not long afterwards, both Suzuha and Kamiko wandered through numerous tunnels, contemplating the strange assignment awaiting them as they ventured far into the depths of Valkyrie's industrial facilities. Keeping just beside the young commander, Suzuha simply followed her friend wherever she turned, having no idea how far away from their underground home they actually were.
Passing one large observation window, a massive electrical turbine spun in a mysteriously silent blur behind the quadruple-pane glass, holding their attention for several seconds.
"There's so much more going on than we know about."
"Right?"
"...I mean, a lot of that was new to me too. I had no idea dad traveled through time in the past. He just said there were curious circumstances going on when he was younger. He never told me that he tried to prevent this future, only to fail. And then for him and your dad Itaru to build another functional time machine later on..."
"Pretty wild stuff. Mom never clued me in on any of it, and that was on purpose apparently."
"Makes me wonder what else they worked on... And why, if they had that kind of technology, were they unable to change the future themselves?"
"Maybe the time machine wasn't complete until it was too late?"
"I know why dad hasn't gone back to twenty-twelve himself. He said the reasons why. It just seems odd that everyone was banking on you hopefully arriving here in Valkyrie... Like you're the chosen one for this task."
Rubbing the back of her neck, Suzuha shrugged.
"Yeah. Seems like it."
"There must be some motive. Something all of our parents are aware of... For the life of me, I can't figure out what it would be though."
"Do you think they'd tell us?"
"I'm not sure. My dad's secretive, but he and mom always tell me important things when they feel I can understand them."
"Do you think that's always the case?"
"I like to think so. They've always been willing to explain a lot of things. I don't think I need to pry more out of them."
"This whole time machine thing though... They never told you about that, and it was related to the whole war."
"It didn't cause it. Dad just tried to prevent it with time travel somehow. But that makes one wonder how he knew a war was coming."
Kamiko looked to Suzuha as her friend's eyebrows furrowed.
"How would he know beforehand?"
"I doubt he did, unless he had a keen sense on the upcoming future. I'm sure it was already happening, and he jumped back in time to try and change the upcoming events."
"Crazy."
Turning and continuing onward down the concrete passageway, both girls remained momentarily quiet, allowing several people to pass in both directions without eavesdropping.
"...Pretty brave, really. Taking up responsibility for attempting to save the world."
"Yeah. Too bad it didn't work out."
"I can't imagine the logistics of it. Where would you even start? There's so many things that add up into every single day."
"Changing one thing would alter the rest though, right?"
"I don't know. You'd have to ask him about that. He helped build both time machines, so I'm sure he knows how all that stuff works."
Suzuha's mouth opened, only to close again.
"He told me he didn't know what would happen if I met him in the past... That didn't sound too reassuring."
"I think he was talking about the time machine he wants you to use. Whatever he used in the past probably wasn't the same... Which makes me wonder how they even made something work twenty six years ago. Technology wasn't the same then as it was fifteen years later."
"If he's telling the truth, then whatever they built had to have worked well enough to make them want to build another one."
"Or the first one wasn't capable enough."
"Don't they all work the same?"
Kamiko slowly shrugged.
"I wouldn't know. Ask my dad."
"I guess I will, if he's not busy later."
"You'll find time, trust me. He's always up for talking about things that make him think."
"Hope so. He said a lot of pretty wild stuff in a short period of time... I'm barely wrapping my head around it all."
"Try after supper. I doubt he'll have any meetings, and him and mom can communicate by the secure phone line if they need to."
"You have phones here?"
"Always have. Its a closed wire network throughout the facility. There's a direct connection to our quarters too."
"I'm starting to wonder what you don't have in this place."
"Lots of things, but they're mostly trivial. Valkyrie only needs the main basic utilities to function. Everything else is supplemental."
Eyes rising to the curved concrete roof above their heads, Suzuha slowly exhaled.
"Kamiko."
"Yes?"
"If you had the choice, and didn't have to live here underground, would you still be here?"
Keeping her attention to the dark haired commander, listening to their footsteps in the meantime, her expression grew pensive.
"Probably. I've spent most of my life here. This place is my home."
"You don't care that its underground?"
"Compared to the alternative on the surface... Not at all. Down here everything is clean and quiet. And intact."
"True. I haven't heard a single gunshot, explosion, or helicopter."
"Peace is a precious feeling, isn't it?"
"Especially when you close your eyes."
Yeah. You looked pretty relaxed in bed last night... "Must have been nice to sleep in a safe, silent room."
"You have no idea."
Peeking at Suzuha, she admired the gentle shifting flow of her brunette hair as they walked, but a sigh filtered out of her lungs from a heavy heart.
"Its a shame, you know... Having to leave right after you finally ended up here."
Looking to Kamiko, her throat hummed from her friend's pained expression.
"You're telling me. I found a safe refuge, and now I'm going right back out there, to find some crazy invention and fly back to the past in it."
"I meant with us being friends. I know its barely been a week but..."
Her eyes lowered to her hands as they came together in front of herself.
"...You're probably my first real friend around here, Suzu. I know it sounds funny but... Being the daughter of Valkyrie's leadership doesn't really do much for stuff like that."
Chin rising, Suzuha eyed her with interest.
"Why's that?"
"Everybody looks up to me because of my status as a commander, so nobody feels equal. Its like I'm intimidating somehow."
"Hey, at least you have respect."
"Maybe. But you're the first person to look past my title and see who I really am."
"You take your position seriously though, right?"
"I have to. Especially out on the surface."
"What about down here?"
"Most of the time. Its not until I'm at home that I can be myself."
"So other than in your quarters, you're never really yourself around this place."
"Its difficult. I'm required to be professional when I'm among soldiers and staff."
Putting her hands into the pocket of her pants, Suzuha slowly smiled.
"Being an authoritative badass has its requirements, huh?"
An unexpected mirth-laden grin broke through Kamiko's downcast expression.
"You could put it that way."
04/20/2036; Valkyrie; 4:26p.m.
Sitting atop a large diameter pipeline, a muffled roar remained constant as thousands of gallons of water flowed unseen beneath both teens. Leaning back against the adjacent concrete wall, their hands lay atop the cool steel surface, feeling a hint of vibration from the constant motion of liquid inside.
"They recycle water here, right?"
Kamiko's head turned, eyes following the pipe along the side of the tunnel into the distance.
"Yes. Purification, desalinization, and radiological decontamination."
Blinking from the mouthful of terminology, Suzuha's hand balled up, and her knuckles rapped against the curved steel several times.
"Sounds like you guys keep it clean."
"We have to. Aside from having safe drinking water for the living spaces and agricultural watering, the machinery in our industrial facilities need water to be clean too. Keeps everything running smoothly when things aren't all gummed up with sludge."
"Wait... Did you say you can remove radiation?"
"Yes. Part of the facility has technology the Japanese government was working on during its post-NATO neutrality. With the country's nuclear power being at risk, and everybody else bombing each other anyway, they figured out how to isolate and capture heavy elements from water. Lately our own work has involved depleting the isolated material, and shaping it into plated tips for our weaponry."
"Depleted uranium bullets?"
"And shells. Our turrets and tanks use them too. Why do you think they were so effective out there in Yokohama?"
Picturing several witnessed scenes of individual buildings collapsing in cascades of destruction, Suzuha's mouth opened.
"So lemme get this straight... You take the radioactive material out of water, use it for electricity generation, and then use the depleted byproduct for ammunition."
"Exactly."
"That's awesome, and totally resourceful."
"Yeah. That ought to be Valkyrie's motto, honestly."
"I think I can see why you like being here. There's all kinds of cool stuff going on behind the scenes."
"Kinda. It's more to do with being deep enough that big bombs can't even scratch the roof above our heads."
"Have you ever been bombed here?"
"That would mean SERN is aware of our location... So, no."
"Right. Should've guessed."
"Besides whatever missile strikes and battles that happened when Tokyo was invaded two years ago, nothing has ever really blown up above us. We do get seismic tremors now and then, but this place is so ridiculously reinforced... Being below ground, there's not very much that would be affected besides piping. These things have flexible joints too, so honestly..."
"Valkyrie is nearly indestructible?"
"Besides our entrance. But we operate on our own anyway, so even if we got sealed in, things would just function like normal until we dig our way out."
"Do you think SERN would try to trap everyone inside here?"
"They'd lose access to a lot of people and resources. Tactically, if they want any chance of capturing what we have in here, they'd avoid destroying the only entrance, and likely try to force their way in."
"Then they get wrecked by the anthill inside."
"Precisely."
Looking to Kamiko, sitting against the wall in confident contemplation, Suzuha scratched a momentary itch on her head.
"I like how there's a plan for every scenario."
"Contingency actions allow us to survive. If we analyze every potential problem, nothing will surprise us. Then we can use whatever solution is needed to achieve success."
"Have you had to carry out any of the plans here?"
"Not so far. We do practice drills, but we're waiting for the day SERN decides to knock on our door."
"Then it'll put everything to the test."
"All at once. Defense, and then the counteroffensive that follows once they figure out we're in here."
"Which everyone hopes won't happen for at least a year. Got it."
"The longer we can prepare, the better off we will be towards taking back the mainland."
Suzuha shivered with excitement, tempered by a feeling of regret.
"I almost wish I wasn't leaving. I'd love to be part of that big decisive battle."
"I'm sure you're not alone in that feeling. But you might change everything before it even happens."
"You think so?"
"I don't know what will happen when you go back in time... But I doubt that you'll be able to come back here once you leave."
Looking at Kamiko as her head lowered, she exhaled at weight of her words.
Even if I don't personally change anything... Just arriving back in a previous year could change things enough. This whole thing is about to become a one-way trip, and I think my friend here just became aware of it.
04/20/2036; Valkyrie; 6:13p.m.
Sitting next to each other, with both Okabe and Ruka together on the opposite side of the kitchen table, Suzuha and Kamiko steadily consumed a pleasantly filling supper of beef and vegetable stew, with small lengths of lightly seasoned bakery bread sitting on a separate platter.
Man. You'd never assume a factory farm could crank out goodness like this. Try a diet of old canned food, wild animals and other unmentionables, and this is like eating at a restaurant.
After several swallows of soup and bites out of the bread, Suzuha gently set the spoon into the bowl, watching it slide further in, and then looked up to Okabe, who was slowly eating, but staring at the wall behind, his mind visibly at work.
"Hey Okabe... Kyouma, I mean."
Drawing his attention to herself, she hesitated as he focused on her face, eyebrows rising.
Right. Master Kyouma of Valkyrie. He sure can be intense...
"Go on."
"Earlier, Kamiko and I were talking about the whole time travel thing... If you don't mind, I'd kinda like to know a little more about it."
"The mission?"
"Not quite. Was thinking more of the stuff in the past."
Sitting back in his chair, he slowly smiled, hand rising to his chin.
"Ah yes, the Phone-Wave. I remember the calamity and chaos as if it were yesterday."
Trading a look with Kamiko, both teens listened with intrigue, and Ruka slowly smiled nearby, continuing to eat her meal.
"Let's see... Back in the yesteryear of twenty-ten, Daru and I completed the initial work on the Phone-Wave, real name TBA. At first glance it was a modified microwave, but in truth, it became a technological marvel we unleashed upon the world."
"What did it do?"
"The first version was capable of sending text messages into the past. And transforming bananas into green gelatin."
Blinking from the bizarre matter-of-fact statement, Suzuha's head tilted.
"Wait, what?"
"Upon testing, we were joined by a new assistant I had awkwardly met in a conference room earlier, and the three of us discovered the machine was also capable of teleportation, though the gelatin transformation was an unavoidable side effect of shuttling physical entities through the extreme forces contained within an event horizon."
Okay. This story is getting weird.
"...Coincidentally, our newest acquaintance, by the name of Ku-ristina, was a published and well regarded neuroscientist and physicist, traveling from the far-away wind-swept plains of Arkansas. She quickly got a handle of the functionalities of the machine, and ended up defining operational guidelines, expanding our understanding of the Phone-Wave much further than we had previously expected to. Instead of moving physical objects though time and space, we deduced that electrical information, in the limited form of thirty-six bytes of data, could be sent back in time to our cell phones as text messages, giving us the potential to alter the course of upcoming events with instructions sent from our past selves."
Consuming several more scoops of the stew, both girls remained silent as he continued.
"...Naturally, we put our curiosity of its effectiveness to the test, resulting in varying outcomes and changes to the local environment, event continuity, and other more subtle details."
Head turning towards Ruka, Okabe watched as his lifelong love calmly looked to him, and he gently sighed.
Some, not so subtle... But nothing regrettable in the slightest.
"What kinds of changes?"
"Certain objects changed places or disappeared, the progression of some days were completely altered... We even changed an entire section of the city once."
"All from texting a microwave?"
"All with the Phone-Wave, yes. Christina, real name Makise Kirisu, ended up modifying the machine further, allowing me to send my own memories into the past with a temporal-tapping headset. Much more effective and lacking in outside variables than sending texts."
"See? I told you Suzu, even back then they had some crazy technology going."
Nodding distractedly from Kamiko's statement, Suzuha lowered her utensil to the bowl.
"So you sent your memory back, and it worked?"
"I must have done it a hundred times."
"Did it hurt?"
"A little sickness right from the get-go, but nothing serious otherwise."
"What made you want to do it so many times?"
Okabe's expression hardened unexpectedly.
"I tried to save my friend's life. Over and over."
Hearts grew heavy in the distinct silence that followed.
"Did it work?"
Trading saddened expressions, Okabe and Ruka's hands came together, allowing a moment of memory between them.
"It did, thankfully. Shiina Mayuri lived on beyond that troubling point in time, and now her memory lives on as our much-loved and long-missed childhood friend."
Swallowing, Suzuha's eyes lowered to their held hands resting on the table, and part of a conversation from the night before returned to her mind.
Mayuri... Yes. That's their mutual friend. The reason why Ruka fell in love with Okabe, and why they're here today. Okabe traveled back in time to save his friend's life over and over, because she was their best friend that brought them together. I guess they say people do crazy things for love...
"So... What happened after you saved her life?"
"Experimentation with the Phone-Wave went by the wayside. Playing with life and death in the realms of time and space got a little too serious to continue at the time... We had other projects going on in the lab anyway. The Phone-Wave wasn't the only device created by the members of the Future Gadget Laboratory."
"Wait, you worked in a lab?"
"More of an apartment, really."
Heads turned from Ruka chiming in on the matter.
"Yeah?"
"Could have called it a workshop too, but it was more of a party room, crammed full of computers and interesting items. And a couch."
"You remember the lab well, my love. I'm proud of you."
"How could I not? We spent lots of time there... Tinkering with things in the day, and watching movies and cuddling on that big comfy couch at night."
A curious moment began as all four individuals at the table smiled from the picture Ruka painted in their imaginations.
"A party room?"
Attentions turned to Kamiko from her naïve confusion over the term.
"We'd buy a bunch of food and drinks, invite friends over, and play music and games. Sometimes we'd dress up, but we'd always just be together and eat, and laugh, and talk about anything."
"That sounds wonderful."
"It was indeed. We used to have that kind of freedom to act as we wish, when the world wasn't the way it is now. That's why it is imperative you make it back to the past, and stop this war somehow, Suzuha."
Her heart grew heavy from the weight of his words.
Back to the mission again. Alright.
"Even if I do that, you guys won't even be around to see it."
"It doesn't matter. We will still exist on alternate world lines. You will simply be altering the course of universal events, and will discover the results as time goes on. Once one causes enough changes to achieve one percent divergence, the outcome of the future should be greatly altered."
"What if it doesn't turn out like we want it to?"
"As long as it is different than this catastrophe we're surviving in, it shouldn't matter. I can at least assure you that."
"And if it isn't?"
"Go back and alter things further. By this point, any changes for the better are worth striving for."
Suzuha's vision lowered to the remaining contents of her bowl, and her hands became clammy.
"You want this to happen pretty badly, don't you?"
Okabe nodded confidently from the distantly familiar statement.
"For several years now. Launching a strategic counteroffensive against SERN is one thing, but altering the past to deny them rulership of the world in the first place... Is a far greater accomplishment, costing far fewer lives."
Kamiko looked from her father, to her mother Ruka, and both of them shared an equally pensive expression.
The fate of the future, now rests in the hands of Amane Suzuha.
Peeking towards her friend beside her, sitting quietly, a silent sigh exited her lungs.
I want to be excited for her... But she's leaving us behind, and I don't even know if anything will change once she's gone. I'd hate to lose my best friend to a mission that ends up being a big waste of effort.
Looking at Okabe, she chewed her lip for a moment as he continued eating in contemplative silence.
I'm sure dad would hate to lose his time machine too. But he's betting everything on a big hopeful gamble, and he seems to be pretty confident about Suzuha pulling it off. I wonder what makes him so trusting in her? It must be her father Itaru. I bet he sees him in his daughter. Maybe that's why him and mom were so happy to see Suzuha. She embodies two of their old friends they lost years ago.
Her heart beat heavily, and she turned her head away, looking down the hallway to her quarters.
Oh Suzu. I wish you didn't have to do this. Even with the potential for change, everyone would be grateful if you stayed here too.