A/N: Here's Chapter 5 of Steins;Fate. So yeah, Yuki Amane(Suzuha's mom) finally appears in this chapter! With the limited info on her that we have, I tried to improvise a bit on her attitude lol. On to the chappie! I'm also gonna try another symbol to denote English dialogue in this chap. Also for some reason, I specified the current date of events in this chapter, you'll soon learn why as you read. This is the currently longest chapter of Steins;Fate yet, enjoy. P.S. I failed to cram this with Engrish like I promised, sigh.
Notes:
" " – a term in-universe, also used when a character is talking
' ' – character is thinking
* - has an explanation for the term at the bottom of the fanfic chapter.
^ ^- Okabe or any character is speaking English/Engrish XD
(Example of the above note:
"I am Mad Scientist" – Japanese, what he's saying if we had audio is "Boku ga Mad Kagaku-sha"
"^I am Mad Scientist^" – English, or in Okabe's case, Engrish.)
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Steins;Gate and its characters, If I did, it will have a Guilty Crown crossover and the Future Gadget Lab will help Shu save Inori via time-leap XD
STEINS;FATE
Chapter 5 – Engurishu Desu, Act 2.
Previously on Steins;Fate
As we headed to our rooms, Mayuri and Kurisu sharing one while my and Daru in the other, we all did the first thing logical to do after a crazed jet-lag induced arrival, sleep like no tomorrow. As my vision faded to black, one last though crept into my mind, '5 days before that damned Puzzle event.'
4 days before the Puzzle Convention, July 24 2012, 8:49 AM Okabe POV
I woke up to another day of being in the US. I was alone in the hotel room. Apparently, Daru had woken up before me since his bed was empty. There were two beds in this room, Daru's on the left near the window with a view of the city, and mine on the right which was near the door. I glanced at the digital clock which rested on the side table in the middle of the two beds. It displayed the current time as 8:49 AM, still pretty early to do much. Not really in the mood to mull over where Daru had gone off, I grab my copy of the room key and go outside to check on Kurisu and Mayuri.
I knocked on the door of their room and I heard Kurisu shout from inside, "just a minute Okabe". After a wait of about 30 seconds, I was let into the room.
"^Good morning^" I say to Kurisu in English.
"Good morning too Okabe"
"Where's Mayuri?"
"She left at around 7 AM, said she was going somewhere with Hashida-san"
"Oh." Where had those two gone off to, I didn't mind much when I thought only Daru had left the hotel but Mayuri too? 'Interesting...' I think to myself while smirking.
"What are you standing there for Okabe, come in" Kurisu tells me. We both then enter her hotel room. I sat down on the couch and helped myself to a bottle of Dr Pepper that Kurisu offered me. Dr Pepper wasn't the kind of drink you would intake early in the morning, what with it being a carbonated drink, but Kurisu and myself could care less as she herself was drinking from a "Diet Dr Pepper" can while in front of her laptop looking while putting a visibly awful amount of effort in typing something.
"What are you doing Christina?" I ask her.
"I have told you a million times there's no –tina. When we have a daughter, we can name her that." was Kurisu's snappy reply. Surprisingly, she wasn't blushing too much at her remark about us having a daughter, though that may because we were openly a couple now.
"You didn't answer my question Kurisu"
"I'm on At-cha*- I-I m-m-mean I'm working on my speech for a s-seminar... Y-yeah, that's it, I w-wasn't getting in a debate on a textboard forum or anything...hehehe" an oddly sounding Kurisu replied to me. She's obviously on At-channel again.
"Oh really, Christina? My girlfriend's an efficient worker."
"What? Oh, y-yeah Okabe I'm putting the finishing to-touches on the speech..." Now it was confirmed, she didn't even say "there's no –tina!" Yep, she's on At-channel. Now to bait her...
"^ALL UR BASE R^"
"^BELONG TO US.^" Kurisu finishes the meme in English.
A moment of silence then ensues. I try to hold in my laughter by covering my mouth, but I fail miserable and start roaring in laughter (A/N: normal laughter, not his sarcastic "Kyouma" laugh...).
"pffffft...aHAhahahAHAhaHaHahaHaAh!"
"Fine! I admit it! I'm on At-channel okay!" was what an embarrassed Kurisu shouted while she begrudgingly confesses that she was indeed, not working on her speech but was on At-channel.
"Wanna find out what Daru and Mayuri are doing?" I suggest while trying to change the subject, yes teasing Kurisu was very amusing but if I continue to push her buttons I might go home to Akihabara a single guy again, and that would make me fall into depression. Besides, Kurisu's birthday is tomorrow so I have to stay on her good side.
"Maybe we shouldn't do that, Okabe"
"But aren't you the least bit curious?"
"Well, I recall Mayuri mentioning a certain girl who Hashida-san met online... Yuki Amane was it? I remember berating him last year for supposedly tricking the girl to be friends with him"
"Yuki Amane... hmmm, that name did come up a few times this past year whenever Daru would talk with Mayuri and I about Comiket*. He referred to her as "one who caught his eye". They haven't met yet personally to my knowledge though." I inform Kurisu. Both of us then reached the same conclusion...
"Hey Okabe, you don't suppose..."
"You were thinking the same thing?"
"DARU WITH MAYURI AS SUPPORT, IS MEETING UP WITH YUKI AMANE!/"HASHIDA-SAN HAS A DATE WITH YUKI AMANE!" Kurisu and I exclaimed at the same time. We then laughed a bit together and decided to try and spy on our favorite "Super Hacka*" and Mayuri. We calmed down a bit and both of us sat on the couch. I then break the ice.
"You're not off the hook yet channeler*"
"Hey!" Kurisu snaps at me while becoming red with embarrassment as she was a while ago before we talked about Daru.
"You know you look cute when you blush Christina, though you were always very beautiful in my eyes" I compliment her while sporting a blush on my cheeks. I mentally berate myself for making my big mouth run off again. While I was becoming more and more red-faced at the moment, Kurisu was already a deep crimson shade of adorable.
"^You're not fair you know, making me fall deeper for you like that^" the still red Kurisu says something to me in English which I didn't quite understand.
"What did you say Christina?"
"N-nothing! And there's no –tina!" spouts Kurisu who then leans forward to give me a passionate kiss on the lips, I return the gesture with passion of equal amount as our lips continued to mesh with each other.
9:12 AM Daru POV
"Mayushii, Mayushii. Did you hear that?" while turning my head to look behind, I ask Mayuri who was walking besides me in her usual cheery attitude; I heard a pair of footsteps and some rustling a bit of meters behind were I was.
"No Daru-kun. Why did you ask?"
"No reason Mayushii." I quickly dismiss it as the wind playing tricks on my ears. I was going to Yuki Amane in person today for the first time. Although I already saw her at Comiket last year from afar and became friends online while exchanging pictures (with my own showing only my face up to my nose while being photoshopped to make me look like I was slim), we had yet to meet each other in person. I was really nervous so I invited Mayuri if she wanted to tag along. Mayuri said she wanted to join me as she was also curious about Yuki-san. 'Good thing I'm not alone when I meet up with her, this is nervewracking.' I thought to myself while silently thanking Mayuri on the inside because had I not thought of bringing her along, I would not have the courage to meet with Yuki-san. Currently we were headed at "Fragrance", a Cafe near the hotel since she was also here in LA.
Apparently, aside from being a cosplayer she also had the same skills that Okarin had with puzzles so she also planned on joining the "Puzzle Convention" 4 days from now. Yuki-san and I earlier texted each other that the three of us should meet up in Fragrance at 9:30, so I went a bit early so that Yuki-san wouldn't have to wait for me and Mayuri.
9:14 AM Kurisu POV
"Are we really gonna do this Okabe? I think we should quit now while we can." I ask. We were both trailing Hashida-san and Mayuri. Hashida-san seem to have detected our presence so we quickly hid in a nearby bush.
"^Nonsense, Christina^(only this part is in Engrish/English)! I, Hououin Kyouma, the man who will reset this world's ruling structure, shall not allow any secrets from my laboratory members. I must know everything concerning my team... EVERYTHING! hehehe. HAH HAH HAH. FuuuuuuAHAHA-" I quickly cover Okabe's mouth.
"You should keep you ^CRAZY(only this part is in Engrish/English)^ laughter in check then if you don't want to be seen." I scold Okabe who seemed to take the hint and settled down as we moved nearer to Daru and Mayuri while keeping our presence hidden.
9:14 AM Normal POV
A very faint trace of a distinct laugh was heard by Itaru from afar. 'Was that Okarin? nah.' was what Itaru was thinking. Mayuri continued to cheerfully trot along eager to meet Yuki Amane.
"Daru-kun, I can see Fragrance from here, it's only 8 blocks away!" Mayuri quickly tells Itaru.
"You're right Mayushii. And it's only 9:14 so I wasn't late at all." was Itaru's response.
9:20 AM Daru POV
Mayuri and I enter the cafe "Fragrance". I immediately saw her from the entrance seated at one of the tables while reading a book that appeared to be a manga tankobon*. She wore a casual light blue blouse with an unbuttoned white coat for her top and denim jeans. She was cute. 'Damn! You let the girl get here before yourself Itaru, if this were a galge you would have missed trigger flags already!' I mentally berate myself. Despite showing up 10 minutes before the set time, Yuki-san managed to arrive first. Mayuri went on to Yuki-san's table. I remained frozen at the entrance while earning curious stares from the nearby tables. Thankfully, Yuki-san was unaware of what was happening as she was greeted by Mayuri. I chose then to listen on to their conversation from afar.
"Hello Yuki-san tutturu! I'm Mayuri Shiina! It's nice to finally meet you. Daru-kun told me a lot about you. You can call me Mayushii by the way." Mayuri introduced herself to Yuki.
"Hello to you too Mayushii" responds Yuki while inserting her RaiNet bookmark in her manga tankobon and putting it on the table before she continued.
"I'm Yuki Amane, nice to meet you too Mayushii. Hashida-san also talks about you along with Okabe-san and Makise-san. You can call me by my first name. Yuki's fine."
"Yuki-san we should order now, did you wait for me and Daru-kun too long?"
"You're right Mayushii we should order, but speaking of Hashida-san, where is he?"
"What do you mean Yuki-san? He's right he-" Mayuri then noticed that I still wasn't joining them at the table. Before I could be called over, I turned around and slowly walked away towards the entrance hoping I won't be spotted by them. That failed however...
"Daru-kun! Come over here, Yuki-san's looking for you."
I was spotted by Mayuri just as I was about to escape. 'Crap!, maybe I shouldn't have gone over here after all.' I nervously turned around and approached Yuki-san and Mayuri at the table as they were waving their hands at me, a gesture for me to come over. What was odd though, was that Yuki-san looked like she wasn't repulsed by my obese appearance at all. In fact, she had that sparkle in her eyes that made it look like she her expectations of me were met and that she was happy with what was before her eyes. Upon reaching the table Yuki-san stood up and offered her right hand while beaming an honest smile at me.
"Hello Hashida-san, we finally meet in person. I'm Yuki Amane. You can call me Yuki."
I faintly trembled a little in an awkward manner as a reached out for her right hand with my own and shook hands while nervously introducing myself.
"H-hello Yuki-san, I'm Itaru Ha-Hashida. D-Daru's fine." I managed to nervously stammer out while stuttering.
Both of us then returned to the table. I awkwardly sat down beside Mayuri which was face to face with Yuki-san.
"Hashida-san you have no idea how long I wanted to see you in person! I've met with Mayushii by the way." Yuki-san says to me while gesturing at Mayushii who was intently staring at the cover of Yuki-san's manga.
"T-thanks. You too Yuki-san. I'm delighted to meet you." 'Maybe this wouldn't be too bad after' I thought to myself in relief as nothing self-incriminating in front of Yuki-san had happened so far .
"So shall we order than Hashida-san? Mayushii, the title is "Love Hina". It's a love comedy, I can lend you the first volume if you want" Yuki-san suggests while gesturing at the waitress so that we could order.
"Really Yuki-san? Thanks in advance!" responded Mayuri to Yuki-san.
"Here, read this volume. It's the third one so it's not that far ahead anyway." offers Yuki-san to which Mayuri happily accepts.
"Good day ma'am and welcome to Fragrance. My name is Yurina. What will your order be?" the waitress asks Yuki-san for her order which surprising wasn't in English. She had a tag that said her name was indeed Yurina, meaning she was Japanese. Apparently, all the staff of Fragrance were Japanese since its owner was also from Japan. So we didn't need to ask in English.
"Yurina, I'll have one Caramel espresso with lots of sugar please"
"And for you sir?" I was asked by Yurina.
"I'll have a Mocha latte. The girl beside me will have the same as Yuki-san." I tell Yurina since Mayushii was too blissfully absorbed in reading the 3rd volume of that manga "Love Hina" that Yuki-san let her read a few moments ago.
"And there you have it Yurina." said Yuki-san while finishing the order.
"Thank you ma'ams and sir. Your two espressos and the latte will be in a few minutes." says Yurina as she turns to leave our table after having taken our order. As we wait for our beverages to be served, Yuki-san and I began to talk about stuff with each other. Mayuri looked like she was enjoying the manga she was reading. I told Yuki-san that besides me and Mayuri, Makise-shi and Okarin were also here in LA. We talked about the nearing "Puzzle Convention" and that Okarin was also gonna compete. Yuki-san giggled at this since she was aware from me that even though Okarin was amazing at puzzles, he hated doing them nonetheless.
After our drinks were served, Mayuri stopped reading and handed the book to Yuki-san while thanking her. We continued the rest of the hour talking while sipping our drinks in between.
Normal POV
While the meet up between Itaru, Mayuri and Yuki was going on, Okabe and Kurisu managed to trail them to Frangrance and they quickly placed themselves at a table within hearing range from Itaru's. Their tables being aligned near the cafe's see-through glass panes,there was only one table between Okabe's table and Itaru's table.
Okabe POV
"^She's sahr-ten-lee puh-ree-tee (she's certainly pretty with an exaggerated accent)^" I note of Yuki Amane in English as to not make Kurisu jealous.
"Yeah she is Okabe." Kurisu agreed but with a hint of annoyance. 'Crap, I forgot that Kurisu lived her in America for many years. Of course she knows English, even better than you do you idiot!' I curse inwardly.
"Y-you're the only girl for me though, Chr-Christina..." I stutter while blushing profusely.
"..." Kurisu became a deep scarlet for the second time today.
"Kurisu?"
"I-Idiot! Saying things like that. Hmph. L-let's focus on eavesd-dropping. Th-that's what we f-followed them f-for anyway." was Kurisu's bashful remark.
"R-R-Right." We were both red as tomatoes. And so, we continued to eavesdrop.
-Chapter 5 END-
A/N 2: I had a hard time making good dialogue for Yuki and Daru. I will try to give them more substantial ones next chapter and write the scenes from after the leave the cafe. Also, Yurina may or no appear in future chapters. Consider her as my first OC. Thanks for reading, reviews good or bad are welcome. Depending on what I come up with, Kurisu's birthday(July 25) will be shown either next chapter(chapter 6) or the chapter after that(chapter 7). See y'all next chapter.
*At-channel – it's actually the "at" sign and the word channel but FFnet eats up my at signs lol. At-channel is Steins;Gates version of the real life 2channel.
*Comiket - Otherwise known as the Comic Market, Comiket is the world's largest doujinshi fair held twice a year in Tokyo, Japan.
*Super Hacka – Okabe's deliberate mockery of Daru's nickname for himself which is "Super Hacker".
*Channeler – A very frequent user of At-channel with borderline posting addiction in most cases. Kurisu gets teased as being one by Okabe A LOT.
*Tankobon – Term most often used in reference to individual volumes of a single manga, as opposed to magazines where only one chapter or two chapters(double-issue) gets released per issue.