A/N: When even your girlfriend tells you: "Moses (this is my RL name) you should really update your fanfics you know, it's been months and I'm one of your readers! You can't keep us waiting so long! *then she laughs in the most adorable way possible, further burning my conscience*…", you know that I've done horrible by keeping you all waiting so I apologize profusely. As an apology, here's the new chapter and it's fairly long like I promised! Okay Roxanne, stop burning my conscience further…
P.S. I checked my Doc Manager, all my previous chapters for all my fanfics are gone?! Well good thing my PC and external hard drive has backup copies…. BUT THE ONES IN MY DOC MANAGER WERE THE GRAMMAR-CORRECTED VERSIONS! D:
P.S.S. Okay so for those who didn't understand something in my A/N, Roxanne is the RL name of my lovely GF who I wouldn't trade for any other in the world ;)
P.S.S.S. I updated my bio page with more stuff for you to read about me XD And I might work on my Guilty Crown fic's next chappy too soon… And the sequel of Steins;Gate known as "Committee of Antimatter" was cancelled ugh!
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: After a multi-million deal with 5pb, Nitroplus, MAGES, and the animation studio White Fox, I now own all the rights to the Steins;Gate franchise. Expect a 9001-episode season 2 based on a sequel game for the original VN, and expect 10 new movies and a manga series. And my fanfic is totally canon. Yep.
STEINS;FATE
Chapter 10 – Engurishu Desu, Act 7. Tanjoubi Omedetou Kurisu! Part 3
Previously on Steins;Fate
"Well then uncle Okabe, we better get started before we're too late to stop this."
"Yes, yes we should Suzuha."
~~~~~Steins Fate~~~~~
In a certain café, 3 days before the Puzzle Convention, July 25, 2012, 5:00 PM, Normal POV
"We meet once again… ^AMERICAN CAAAAFFFEEEEE!^" was the boisterous and overly dramatic half-Japanese, half-English exclamation by our favourite mad scientist as the group settled down in the café known as Fragrance, the very same café where the shenanigans with Itaru and Yuki happened, for a break after the festivities that had occurred so far in celebration of the birthday of our favourite "assistant" along with the "lab members" and "Miss Hacka."
Along with some sightseeing and fun activities along with a couple of fuzzy moments you wouldn't have thought possible for Okabe and Kurisu had this been a couple of months ago, all in all it had been a pretty fun day for everyone. All the while that the group had their activities, they failed to notice two unrelated and distinct parties following them around for different reasons. The first party was the same girl who had the undying desire to "meet her precious Rumiho-chan". The second party consisted of the part-time warrior from the future, Suzuha Amane, and an older, wiser, yet still as wacky Rintarou Okabe.
Back at the café though…
"Geez Okabe, what did Fragrance ever do to you?" Kurisu remarked with a giggle at her crazy boyfriend's antics. The rest said their own chastises even though this was proving futile as Okabe went on to ramble and discuss "his plans to expand the Future Gadget Lab with the help of this seemingly innocent institution of the art of ripping people off from their money wads" much to the amusement of the group and the annoyance of a few surrounding customers who did not expect to encounter a deranged lunatic in a café.
"Keep it down will you!"
"We'll call the police and have you dragged down to court for public disturbance!"
"You better shut the hell up or else I'm gonna jam this knife in your mouth!"
"What a fashion faux pas! You have the audacity to wear a laboratory outfit in a café?! I have never seen such a dumb choice for outdoor wardrobe before in my whole life!"
"I bet I could deliver your same speech with more emotion than you could pffft."
"F*** off you freaking f*ggot!"
These were some of the threats Okabe was rapidly gaining due to his attention-grabbing shtick. A lot more were coming till the current store manager approached Kurisu.
"Ma'am, may we kindly ask you to try and control your boyfriend's behaviour or else we are going to have to ask you and your company to leave the premises, thank you and good day." And with that, the group effectively made an effort to shut Okabe up, who also took the hint and stopped being Hououin Kyouma… for now of course.
The group then ordered some refreshments and went on chatting about a lot of things. A notable topic amongst those was the growing romantic tension between Yuki and Itaru. Okabe and Kurisu were heading the teasing session while Mayuri chimed in her own input on the hot topic once in a while as well. Faris also had her own witty verses of emotional assault. Poor Yuki and Daru were bombarded with loads of inquiries and theories that made the table at the time appear to be a holding room for criminals who were being interrogated by a police officer and the head of a criminal case's investigation.
"We're just friends!/It's not like that!" were the squeals that Daru and Yuki gave out at the same time although what was actually going through both of their minds at the time was along the lines of 'Not yet at least, but yeah I like him/her so much!'. Their denial though only egged on the rest of the group further to consider their so-called shipping known to them as HackaShipping* of the cosplayer and otaku pair. To them, it was clear as day that they truly were "Super Hacka and Miss Hacka".
~~~~~Steins Fate~~~~~
One of the outside tables, Fragrance Café, 5:10 PM, Suzuha POV
'They seem fine for now. I see no anomalies so far.'
Those were the thoughts that circulated my head as I observed the jovial group inside the establishment with uncle Okabe. His younger self was making so much ruckus that he got told off! Even when he was younger, looks like uncle was already cuckoo in the head because of the commotion that was brewing over him in that café. To be able to rile up this much people, I didn't know whether to applaud or to facepalm at the present spectacle before my line of vision.
My train of thought came to a halt when I saw uncle Okabe's pained expression. It made me sad too that the reason we even came back to the past was so great that we just had to ensure it doesn't happen. And the fact this was going to occur on Aunt Christina's birthday was all the more heart-wrenching.
"Do you think it'll be okay Suzuha? What if we don't make it in time? What if the convergence point of Steins;Gate makes it so that whatever we do, we can't change it even with our time machine? What if we… I'm so scared…" and with that I heard uncle Okabe's voice trail off very uncharacteristically by such a proud and prideful man like my uncle was most of the time. Gone was the mighty and all-knowing Hououin Kyouma and the person in front of me right now was the normal and humane Rintarou Okabe.
I wanted to reassure him that everything will be okay and that we would be able to stop the coming event but who was I kidding? Not even I and uncle Okabe knew all the info regarding what we needed to stop, and that made the wait even more terrifying because we had no anchor for our success rate. So choosing my words carefully, I told him.
"We must make it in time; Aunt Christina would never let you live it down if we fail after all." I said with a pained smile, at that, uncle Okabe held the same expression as me. As if smiling would take away all the anxiety we were feeling at the moment.
'We won't fail. We will stop this. We just have to for everyone's sake.' I nodded silently to myself and continued observing the group.
Another outside table, Normal POV
As Suzuha and the future Okabe had their misgivings about the current situation, another individual was also observing the group, specifically the one wearing the maid outfit cosplay. A smile crept up to her face as she thought of a lot of things. Things she'd do when she finally was able to have Rumiho Akiha to herself as she'd like to think.
"Just you wait. I'll be with you soon hihihi… Oh who am I kidding? I'm dying to meet you right now!" and as she said that. She stood up and walked over to the café's inside where she then made her way to the group. Before she could enter however two figures tapped both her shoulders and led her to their table.
"Hey wait a minute! Where are you two tak-" the sound was cut off when the taller individual, one who wore a lab coat, put a hand on her mouth to muffle out her screams. He released his hand and seated her on their table.
"Tell us, how were you going to go about this dastardly plan of yours! Tell me now!" The one in the lab coat bellowed.
"But uncle we don't even know if this girl is the one we're looking for…" the other individual, a fellow girl like the one they took pleaded to the one in the coat.
"Then how do you explain her tailing them around hmm Suzuha?"
"Maybe she had another agenda but it doesn't mean she's the trigger!"
"Are you saying I'm stupid and that I'm acting on rage part-time warrior?!"
"I'm not saying that at all uncle!"
"Well it seems like it!"
"Can I say someth-" she began before she was cut off by a "We didn't say you could talk!" from both individuals. Nodding with fear, she remained quiet for the remainder of the exchange because she was clearly outnumbered and if she wanted to live, silence would be her best bet.
The arguing went on until the two reached a standstill and they turned to face the silenced girl.
Suzuha POV
After what seemed like an endless argument between me and uncle Okabe, we finally agreed to let the girl talk because I was quite sure that if she indeed wasn't our target, like I was trying to point out to my stubborn uncle, then we would've been scaring the daylights out of an innocent girl.
"Hmph, I still don't see why the part-time warrior needs to waste time gallivanting and taking your input on this crucial matter, maybe the organization finally caught up to her and brainwashed her pitifully inadequate excuse for a brai-"
"AHEM!" I interrupted my uncle both in annoyance at his implied insult and his Kyouma tendencies that prevented him from getting on with the main point.
"As I was saying before the part-time warrior's small attention span prompted her to interrupt my glorious monologue-" I shot a glare at uncle Okabe again.
"-I cannot see why we really need to interrogate you when clearly, you've been following those people in the café for some evil plot right? You're in league with SERN right?! Or something worse than SERN right?! Answer me!"
"I…. I was ju-"
"Cut the unnecessary info girl, give me what I want to know now! Or so help me I will do things the hard way!" The girl was now in tears. I decided to step in by placing my hand on uncle's shoulder and gesturing him to lay off the interrogation for now. Clearly uncle Okabe was letting anger cloud his judgment despite both of us not even proving yet that the girl indeed is the trigger to the event.
"Sorry for my uncle's behaviour-" he scoffed at that.
"-but you're going to have to tell us why you've been following the same group that uncle and I need to observe right now. You see something really bad is going to happen and we need to monitor any suspicious activity or individual nearby. Unfortunately you were the one that raised suspicions due to the tailing we've seen you do. So I apologize if we've been rough on you." I honestly told the girl who was still shaky in fear.
"I, I just wanted to meet my friend, Rumiho-chan… I-it's been s-so long since I saw her and when I learned she was going here in Los Angeles t-to take a vacation from her work in her food joint, I-I took the chance to surprise her here by showing up, th-that was why I was following them in secret." the girl told me and uncle. Uncle Okabe's features softened more at the girl who was sniffing up her remaining tears. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, as if he was being enlightened on something important.
"Suzuha she isn't lying. She's not the target."
"But just a while ago you were so su-"
"I just thought about it more. It's silly how a genius mind such as mine could look over such an important detail! FuuuuuuuuAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Steins;Gate strikes again!" and with that my uncle was back to his arrogant and braggart self which irked me at times, but I'd pick this uncle Okabe over the one earlier who had lost hope in our objective.
"And what do you mean by that uncle?"
"Yes mister, what convinced you that I'm innocent?" chimed in the girl as well, who was in a much better disposition now compared to her earlier teary state.
"First of all…." we waited in anticipation.
"What's your name young girl? My name is Hououin Kyouma!" and it dawned on me that we never even got to introduce ourselves to each other. I was going to correct my uncle but he winked at me. At first I didn't get why but then I figured it out. Since we were time-travellers from the future, he was going to use his Kyouma name here instead of his real name, Rintarou Okabe in order to avoid any paradoxes he might create due to there being two known Okabes in one time-period. That was good thinking from uncle Okabe but at the same time it seems he'd delight in the fact that he gets to use his Kyouma name all the time now. Sneaky for him, though I suppose there's nothing wrong.
It also helped that my uncle's hair was fairly longer than his younger counterpart and that his lab outfit was a bit different. When you put my uncle and his past self side-by-side, you'd have to take some time to see they were related so my uncle was fairly safe in his current getup. I broke off my thinking and went on with the topic.
"Yes I'd like to know as well, my name is Suzuha Amane and Hououin Kyouma is my uncle. Well not really by blood but my father and uncle are very good friends so I call him uncle."
"My name is Kimiko Shirohana*! Pleased to meet you!" the girl, now known as Kimiko beamed as she held her hand to shake mine and uncle's. At least all traces of fear were gone from her now.
"Wait, Suzuha-san and Kyouma-san, I have an idea! Why don't we all go and meet up with them now!"
"Maybe we should Suzuha-"
"Not yet uncle. Remember, we need to observe for a little bit. Kimiko-chan, you can go meet this Rumiho from the group like you wanted" I told Kimiko who smiled at me.
"Kimiko before you leave, I have something to tell you." Uncle Okabe began in an eerily serious tone. For some reason, I was also very eager to hear what uncle had to say. Seeing my curiosity, he then motioned for me that I can listen in too.
"Now you two, I think it's time for Kimiko to be part of our mission. She'd be of great use in doing the mission in which Steins;Gate needs us to do."
"Sutai… get?" Kimiko tried to say the worldline/uncle's crazy as hell upper lingo's name.
"It's Steins;Gate Kimiko–chan. It's a mix of english and german than uncle came up with to refer to a certain term…" I explained and got a nod from Kimiko and a pat from the back from my uncle.
"Very good, part-time warrior. Now Kimiko, I want you to understand that what I'm about to tell you is classified information. You cannot tell this to anyone. Not even Faris."
"Faris-san? Who's that?" I asked, I believe that was the first time I heard that name.
"Oh sorry, Faris is Rumiho Akiha. Suzuha, it's your aunt Rumiho, she used to go by that name."
"Yeah Suzuha-san I can confirm this. Rumiho-chan uses the alias "Faris NyanNyan" at her work, it's sort of like her moe persona."
"I see." was my response to both explanations in understanding.
"Now back to the matter at hand in which I need to brief you and Kimiko about everything. Yes Suzuha, even you don't know the whole story yet, and frankly, so do I. But I know some more information that hasn't been told to you Suzuha. I believe it's time. Before I begin telling you and Kimiko, I have on thing to say first." uncle Okabe was back in his serious mode.
"What is it?/What do you want to say first Kyouma-san?" me and Kimiko inquired at literally the same time.
"Well since we're now really starting to go in deep, I see it fitting to do this as Steins;Gate dictates! Now then, let's begin…... OPERATION MJOLNIR, START!"
-Chapter 10 END-
A/N 2: And operation mjolnir is launched by future Okabe. It's just not Steins;Gate if I don't have an operation with a norse name after all haha XD I hope you all enjoyed the return of Steins Fate, and things will really start to kick in from here.
And yes Kimiko is my second OC, and she isn't a bad character or an enemy like most people expected from the previous chapters. She's just overly affectionate to Faris hahaha. My GF was the one who told me to make Kimiko part of the bigger things so I did that by adding her to Suzuha and future Okabe's operation. Will Yurina also help out? We'll see.
Thanks for reading guys! Every review is appreciated even the anon ones(which weirdly enough are the most recent ones…) so please review! The good, the bad, the flames, the flattery, I'LL TAKE THEM ALL!
See you all next chapter :D
*HackaShipping – My own fanon term for the shipping of Itaru "Daru" Hashida and Yuki Amane. I came up with this on a whim lol.
*Kimiko Shirohana – an OC of mine. Also, Shirohana means "white flower".