Part 16: Hashida Itaru is presented with a challenge

(In accordance with the poll, Rintarou's ringtones and wallpaper have been updated.)














It's already noon. The midsummer sun is dazzling after an all-nighter. I don't even want to go outside, but I'm fed up with the humidity in the lab. I pour Dr Pepper down my throat. Because I haven't slept, my grip around the bottle faintly twitches, and my eyes are hazing. It feels like my consciousness will fly away if I'm not careful.

I probably should've at least taken a shower to blow away my drowsiness. This building has a simple shower room. It doesn't have a tub, but the difference between having it and not having it is like heaven and hell.



The only sounds in the room are the fan's rotation and Daru's mouse clicks. Daru doesn't look this way, nor does he try to talk.

I'm the same. We don't have the energy. By all rights, it's a calm summer afternoon outside, but inside drifts an air of bloodthirst.

Yesterday, that shocking experiment gave me the conviction that the Microwave Ophone (Temp) can function as a time machine. Kurisu, not willing to accept the experimental results, nor my conclusion, yelled...



And then she flew out of the lab. She never showed her face here again. As for Mayuri, she was downhearted about her karaage and bananas, so she skipped her daily routine of making costumes and went home. She might be holding a grudge over food.

So, Daru and I are left in the lab. Our enthusiasm shot through the roof once we learned that the Microwave Ophone (Temp) was hiding tremendous possibilities, and once we witnessed first-hand a mail sent back into the past. So, we've been staying up all night doing all sorts of experiments to check if the Microwave Ophone (Temp) is a time machine or not.

But the results...



After the experiment where the discharge phenomenon occurred, everything warmed up normally without gelification. The reason is unknown. And about the ability to send mail into the past... on top of repeating experiments for now, our current issues are as follows.

Problem 1:



But that's still not a fundamental solution. We'll have to observe things in the future, but if things get dangerous, we should consider changing the location of the experiments.

Problem 2:



To deal with the issue, we placed the microwave on the floor, spreading cushions and blankets under it. It hides the hole in the floor, so it kills two birds with one stone. It's only a temporary fix, but if we make any more holes in the floor, Mister Braun is quite capable of raising my rent. That's to say nothing of what disasters it will bring if it falls through the floor.

By the way, we need to examine why the mass increases. The question is if a group of amateurs like us can do that.

So, with that said, the above two problems are trivial. There's a more serious problem at hand. If we don't solve it, we won't be able to send mail into the past. It's that critical.

Problem 3:



No matter how many times we tried, we couldn't specify those conditions. We stayed up all night repeating trial and error more than 40 times, but not once did the discharge phenomenon reoccur. There might be some sort of conditions, but for now, we're at a stalemate.

At first, we were in high spirits, but as time progressed, we got more and more frustrated at the experimental failures. And that brings us to the present. I honestly gave up, so I spent the entire morning exhausted like this.






Since yesterday, they've been sent at random. They're all from Shining Finger - the woman named Kiryuu Moeka. I don't normally use mail that often. Unlike high school girls nowadays, like Mayuri, I only send about one a day.

With that said, this frequency is a little irritating. Since Shining Finger is a mail demon, I should've expected this. I was careless.








I chug the Dr Pepper and my stomach starts gurgling. I haven't eaten anything since yesterday. I'm so hungry, I couldn't gather the energy to take a shower. I call out to Daru, clattering on the keyboard.



"Too much trouble..."

"Aren't you hungry?"

"I am, but--"

"Hmph... you indecisive man."

Anyway, what's he been doing on the computer? Interested, I casually peek from behind his shoulder.



Countless, richly colored cords crawl about a gigantic octagonal tunnel, like a mandala or a giant space ship from a sci-fi movie. It looks more than 10 meters tall. The people in the picture don't look Japanese.

"The Large Hadron Collider sure is soothing, huh..."

"Y-You...! What did you just say?!"

Large Hadron Collider? Is that an incantation? Or a special move?!

"Large Hadron Collider. You don't know about it?"

I grab the relaxed Daru's shoulders and wring them out.

"Owowowowowow, what are you doing?!"

"Are you half asleep?"

"No, I'm not."

"What is that Large Hadron Collider thing?"

"It's SERN's. An experimental device, LHC for short. It's seriously moe."



"No. But there's something about it that gets me excited, you know? It makes me smile. Don't you feel that?"

"Now that you mention it, just a little earlier, you said that factories and the undersides of highways were irresistible or something."

"Yeah, those too."

"You lack constancy."

2D, 3D, and even inanimate objects...

"Isn't it more wasteful to narrow your interests by dividing them into genres?"

Though comparatively, you'd be troubled more with things you're not interested in.

"SERN, huh..."





You see it everywhere recently. Where was it again?

"John Titor!"

"Oh, John Titor? You mean that guy who's being worshipped on @chan now, right?"

"That may or may not be an impostor. The John Titor I'm talking about is the one who appeared 10 years ago."

"He appeared 10 years ago? The same person?"

My expectations of Daru remembering were crushed.

"Anyway, John Titor touched upon the topic of SERN. Titor left the prediction that, before the year 2034, SERN will complete a time machine...!"

"Oh, a time machine. That's a timely topic. Methinks the current Titor said the same thing."

"10 years ago or now, it doesn't matter. This strange sign is very likely to be Steins;Gate's choice!"

"Can we trust this Titor guy?"

"It doesn't matter if we trust him or not! We are connected to him now by means of the keyword: time machine. There should be no disadvantage to investigating Titor's reference to SERN!"



Anyway, things are boiling down now, so it doesn't matter if I go out of my way for this.

"Daru, explain SERN to me in detail."

"OK. My SERN folder breathes fire."

Suddenly triumphant, Daru lightly taps the keyboard.



"SERN is the world's largest particle physics research institution. It's popularly called the 'European laboratory for particle physics', or 'European Organization for Nuclear Research'. It's close to the border of Switzerland and France, at the outskirts of Geneva. It's famous for being the birthplace of HTML, HTTP and the World Wide Web. They're the first guys to have a URL."

SERN's the one who invented those thing? I knew a little about that since I read Titor's book, but for it to be that amazing...

"Japan's not too familiar with it, but Japan's research time is still participating in it."

"What sort of research does SERN do?"

"Fundamentally, particle physics, I guess. SERN has super huge experimental devices that nobody else in the world does. Their so-called particle accelerators. The Low Energy Antiproton Ring, the Proton Synchrotron Booster, the Large Electron-Positron Collider. And the last boss is the world's largest, LCH... Large Hadron Collider-tan."

Wait.



Not noticing my amazement, Daru brings the next image up on the monitor.

"Beneath SERN is the LHC, a 27km long circular tunnel established for particle acceleration. Protons are accelerated and collided in that tunnel, causing unknown elementary particle reactions to occur. They've started these experiments last year. Before they began to experiment, though, there were rumors that those experiments could create mini-black holes. Those mini-black holes will swallow the earth! Oh noes! Space is in danger! Etc."

Black holes... according to posts 10 years ago, Titor's time machine used mini-black holes. Did his prediction concerning SERN come true?



"100% that it won't. SERN officially denies it. Let's say mini-black holes were formed. Since the amount of energy would be miniscule, they would disappear the moment they formed. It's completely impossible for them to swallow the world."

"But there's no smoke without fire."

Titor certainly did say this:



Right now, it's 2010. If they actually started that research, it would've been 9 years ago. According to their official announcement, they began experimenting in 2008. That's suspicious.

Of course, that's assuming the prediction to be true. Some of Titor's predictions were correct, but several weren't. I'm also caught in the strangeness of how everyone around me seems to have forgotten about Titor's appearance in 2000. There's something about Titor's tale... I want there to be something.



"It's me. Heheheh, don't be surprised. I sniffed out the scent of an evil conspiracy.
...John Titor, and SERN. From those, you should understand what I'm trying to say... Yeah, that's right. Those guys are very likely related to The Organization.
Hmph, a coincidence? Hey, come on now, don't disappoint me like that.
...What? Basis? That's right, if I dare say... it's whispers. My intuition as a mad scientist. Those guys are bringing the world to ruin.
...Yeah, through mini-black holes. But, if we were to usurp that technology, what do you think would happen?
...Heheheh, naturally. Who the hell do you think I am?
Everything is Steins;Gate's choice. El Psy Congroo."

When I put away my phone, Daru looks at my face, astonished.

"Just who are you fighting with?"

"Daru, there's only one thing we should do."

"One thing? Whuzzat?"



I wanted him to say something like "whatthefuckever. The reward?" And then something like the following joke would continue:

Me: "A week's worth of potato chips!"
Daru: "Make it 10 days."
Me: "Hmph, you sure are a glutton, huh."
Daru: "Invading people's hearts makes you a hungry man, after all."
Me: "The deal is done. Begin at once."
Daru: "OK, boss."



But Daru just tapers his lips.

"Okarin, you never fully explain things. Talk so that you can be understood, rather than to sound cool."

Dammit, read the atmosphere!





"You are a Supah Hakah."

"Don't be stupid. At least say hacker."

"Do you understand the rest?"

"No, not at all."