Part 5: A deceased person displays unusual livelihood

We are becoming more and more confused about this.

"Daru, did you ever think about eating this? Of course you did! You have my salutations for becoming the sacrifice which will help us advance towards our goals...!"

"It looks like it'd taste like crap, though..."

"The taste doesn't matter. The meaning is behind eating it! So, come on, Daru, show no discretion. I will take care of the consequences, so don't hesitate and dig in!"

"Nope."

"Okay, then... Mayuri, you shall be the one to have this honor."



Wait, she already tried it? This airhead girl sure is something.

"It had no flavor and wasn't tasty at all..."

"Soft and squishy, huh... Daru, what do you think?"

"Squishy banana, eh... A squishy banana..."



"Daru... You have a nosebleed."

"Please, just say it!"

"Your banana is very sq--"

"Don't make her say it, you imbecile!"



"A gelatinous state means that it's half-solid, which implies the possibility that the connections between particles became weaker... I've got it! We were wrong when we thought that this was a freezing function!"

When a material turns into a solid state from a liquid state, it loses volume and its density increases. Freezing is the act of solidification, but the bananas that were experimented on showed the opposite result. If it became gelatinous, it means that its density has decreased.

"Okay, you two! This is the part where you shout 'W-WHAT?!' ...Come on, do it!"



Mayuri probably didn't understand a word I was saying, so I guess it can't be helped.

"I know that this isn't a freezing function. And if it isn't that, then what is it?"

"The opposite of freezing is heating, isn't it?"

"If that's it, then it's exactly the same as a normal microwave oven!"

"Then what is it?"

"We don't know, that's why we're troubled by it."

The reason for the semi-defrosted food becoming frozen... I give up for now.





We have a seminar to check out later at ATF, an industrial-academic co-op link for the Tokyo Electric University that Daru and I go to. We won't get points if we don't write a report on this seminar.

Speaking of which, what was the subject of this symposium, again? I looked into it once before the summer holidays began, but I forgot it.



It looks like there are more people than usual on the overpass today. There are some weird-looking teenagers among them, and they definitely don't seem like people who would normally visit Akiba. Most of them are going towards Central Street, which is still off limits.

"Daru, won't you go to the Radio Center for some sightseeing?"






(Email will arrive from various characters throughout the story. You can check them at your leisure; I usually do so right away.)
(The underlined words are clickable; clicking on one sends a reply related to the subject of that word. In one of the more annoying decisions of the game, you can't see what the actual message will be until you've already selected it, then you can't back out.)
(These also affect gameplay, changing which route you're on and locking or unlocking various scenes. For LP purposes, the bolded one is the option I chose.)




"Ahhh, it's so cool. I'm coming back to life..."

There's air conditioning in here, so it's like an oasis for us poor university students. There's more than one reason for why we're going to ATF to participate in this.

"We might acquire some answers to the problems concerning the Microwave Ophone (Temp)."

"It's annoying, so can you stop using the (Temp) already?"

That will not shake my resolution. Even if no other lab members say it, I will keep using it until I decide on a better name.

"That doesn't matter."

"So, did you come up with some ridiculous theory again?"

"What do you mean, ridiculous? I have already transcended all the things in this world's nature and am constantly thinking about the limitless possibilities... Don't you dare call that ridiculous!"

"By 'transcended all the things in nature', you mean that you’re talking about whatever you want, huh? I wouldn't even call that theorizing."



"That Stein-whatever doesn't even have a proper meaning."

We hear a ringing sound which indicates that we have reached the 5th floor. The sensation of being lifted upwards disappears. The elevator doors slowly open.

At the same time that I get out of the elevator, I bump into a person. I quickly grab her shoulder to support her.

"Ah--?!"

I recognize... this face...



Chills run down my spine. I can't even move my fingers. My gaze is fixed on the person in front of me.

I looked at this graceful face about 3 hours ago.





Makise... Kurisu...!

"Um... is there a problem?"

Kurisu makes a puzzled face and tries to get away from me. However, I don't let go of her shoulder. Instead, I put more strength into my grip.

"Y-You..."



Her clothes are the same she wore that time, and they're completely clean. It doesn't look like she's injured anywhere.

"Unharmed...!"

"W-- it hurts...! Let go!"

Kurisu pushes me away. Then, she glares at me with a vigilant look.

"What?"



"That story, again?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"You sent me a mail like that a week ago."

"A mail? Me? Don't be absurd! I saw that Makise Kurisu was killed just three hours ago!"

"Hey. Please don't just kill me off, okay? I'm perfectly alive."

"Speaking of which, that mail was really weird. The date said that it was sent 'after' 1 week, which implies that it came from the future..."

"From the future?"

"Did you check out some weird website, Daru? It's unusual for you to spout ridiculous theories."

"I'm not! The date definitely said that it came from after 1 week! Um, that's, uh, the 28th...
"Ah, right! The 28th is today!"

Daru hurriedly operates his phone and shows it to me after a few seconds.




(Incidentally, if you're interested in watching the anime (which is quite good), I have now covered everything in episode 1, save for one minor out-of-order scene. You can safely watch it without spoiling yourself for the LP.)