Part 108: Amane Suzuha's secret is revealed

Did she overhear us just now?!

I rush to the window and look to the street below.





She's hastily picking up her fallen bicycle. Our eyes meet.

"...her?"

Why is she so pale? Her lips faintly move. She seemed to whisper something, but I couldn't catch what she said from here.

"Hey!"



She's acting strange... I smell a conspiracy.

Moeka was SERN's spy. She approached me by feigning a chance encounter. In that case, could Suzuha possibly be the same?

I should doubt everything. In the first place, Suzuha's words also had some suspicious points like Moeka's. She doesn't hide her hostility towards Kurisu, and she single-handedly knocked down all of SERN's assassins. I wonder if her father really exists.



What's the meaning of the name Barrel Titor? Something might be happening... My intuition whispers so.

That's why I rush out of the lab immediately.

"Wait, where are you going?!"



But I've got a hunch. This development hasn't happened yet. I explained the situation to Kurisu, and Suzuha rushed off somewhere when she overheard it.

Properly speaking, Suzuha should've stayed at the Braun Workshop until 6:30 today. So, I've got a feeling that something's happening.





But she certainly went towards Chuo Dori.





"Suzuha! I want to ask you something!"

"...I'm sorry. It's probably my fault."

"...What?"

"It's because I depended on you guys... So I'm going, this time for sure. Bye."



Once again. Once again, Suzuha's going somewhere. Last time I chased her like this, I lost sight of her near the station.

I try going to Chuo Dori, but can't find Suzuha after all. I think the Rounders might be loitering closely already, so I can't make any careless actions. Slipping into the sea of people, I keep randomly searching to see if that bike is parked somewhere.



But I can't find the bike. Since I lost sight of her here before, I thought she might be close by, but...

Should I time leap and ask her directly instead of slowly searching?

Anyway, let's go back to the lab. I start to leave with that thought in mind, when...



Everyone's looking up to the sky.

No, not to the sky. To Radio Kaikan's satellite.

Why now? It's been left there for two weeks, so it's already become a familiar part of the Akiba scenery. And yet, all of the surrounding faces are wide eyed with gaping mouths. I look up right away.

"Wha...!"





...revolving, and lit.

Is someone moving it? Wait, can it even move? If it can move, then by whom?



In all my time leaps so far, that satellite hasn't moved. Suzuha overheard my conversation with Kurisu and rushed out. That's an unprecedented development. And then, the satellite which abruptly began to move.

Before, I lost sight of her at the station - or in other words, at Radio Kaikan. Suzuha's there...?!

Everyone's standing still, looking up at the satellite. Now's my chance to sneak in without getting noticed. Radio Kaikan's shutters are half open, just like before when I called Moeka. I prepare for the worst and crawl into the crevice. Suzuha's bike is tossed down inside.

"So it was her...!"

Just what is she trying to do?! Just what is that satellite?! Is it related to John Titor?!

Is that thing a satellite? Nobody's admitted it. I looked online before, but no discarded satellites broke into the atmosphere that day. When a satellite is discarded, it normally enters the atmosphere at a steep angle and burns out. It's impossible for it to call in such perfect condition.

Then what is it?

Suddenly, a shock runs through my body.



I'll know if I go. I need to get there before Suzuha does something!



I get to the eighth floor almost in a state of hypoxia. The satellite, lodged into Radio Kaikan's wall. A wire's stretched around it so it doesn't fall. The police probably did that.

A flap on the main body is gaping open. Is that... a hatch?

I find a silhouette moving inside.

"Suzuha!!"

When I shout, the silhouette stops moving. I rush over to the satellite.



Suzuha looks back with a tearful face. The satellite's interior is relatively simple. There are surprisingly few switches. It's completely different from the pictures of satellites I saw when I was young.



Suzuha tries reaching out to that black box...

"Augh!!"

Sparks fly from the box and she withdraws her hand. When I take a good look, her fingertips are swollen red.

"What are you doing?!"

"...It won't move."

"Do you know how to move it?"

Inside the satellite, Suzuha droops her shoulders and hangs her head, heartbroken.

It won't move..."

Sparks from the black box. Obviously a short. The smell of something burning hurts my eyes.

"Answer me, Amane Suzuha."

I gulp and timidly ask a question.



"Are you a time traveler?"

Still hanging her head... Suzuha faintly nods.

"I am..."



(With that shocking revelation that I'm sure absolutely nobody in the thread saw coming miles away, anime episode 14 clear.)