Part 173: FB talks about the Rounders

I have Kurisu stand guard outside. Or so I say, but we don't illegally trespass or anything, just honestly use the doorbell. And Manager appears immediately, bringing us into the living room.

I go look at the Divergence Meter.



"You came at a great time."

Tennouji isn't angry that we came so early, but is welcoming us with a smile instead. He even starts preparing us instant coffee.

"You're up pretty early, huh, Mister Braun."

"I guess. I need to match Nae's school hours, so waking up early is essential. It's summer break now, but it's already become a habit."

"Is your daughter still asleep?"

"Shut up. What are you planning, asking about Nae like that? If you attack her in her sleep, I'll seriously kill you."

"I won't."



We spent time inside the house like this, but we haven't seen her. Is she still sleeping, like Nae? Or maybe she's hiding down in the cellar. I'd like to search the house at full force, but of course that's impossible.

But what concerns me is how Manager talked just now - it sounded like he was a single father.

The person most likely to be FB is Manager's wife, but I might be making a grave assumption. Manager might be a mere courier after all, and not know anything about FB. There's the possibility that FB might not even be here in Akiba in the first place.

I'm stumped. I need to make sure, but how should I say it?



I can't count on this woman. Whether or not Manager's wife is FB, I don't think tricks will work against him. So, I challenge him directly.

"A few hours ago, six men assembled in front of this house, took a certain something and flew to France. Obviously, you know, don't you?"

Instead of his usual cursing, Manager smiles gently.

"And that is?"

"...The IBN 5100. You should know about it."

"The phantom retro PC, right?"

It's so anticlimactic that he admits it so easily. Manager seems like a different person today.

"Just what are you? A courier perhaps, or maybe--"



Manager says no more, but instead shifts his focus to Moeka.

"Did you betray us, M4?"

"...?!"

Moeka's whole body twitches. Moeka's codename is something only FB should know about.

"Don't tell me... F... B...?"

Manager smiles wryly.

"Do you know who Ferdinand Braun is?"

Being asked such an unintelligible question, Moeka and I loko at each other.

"Hey, hey, he's the Physics Nobel Prize laureate who invented the Braun Tube, you know."

I knew this guy liked Braun Tubes since I first met him. But what does this question have to do with...



(Well guessed, thread!)

"...Ah!"

"FB...!"





Tennouji takes out a handgun. He did it so spontaneously that, at first, I didn't recognize it was a handgun. A black luster conveying its coldness, a heavy form. The muzzle is pointing straight at Moeka.

"Uh..."

Suddenly pulling a gun out like that, you can't be...! Moeka and I are unarmed. I should've planned ahead for something like this...!

I mean, I didn't expect that Manager could be FB. I always thought FB was this man's wife.

"Let me ask one thing... Your wife..."



I curse in my mind. That's obvious, since I've never seen her. She wasn't around from the start.

I should've known that FB was a guy.



"What's next after dependence on me? Escapism?"

Shaking the gun, Manager - no, Tennouji Yuugo - sneers. An overwhelming disadvantage. An absolute frontal attack. At this rate, it'll end with both Moeka and me dead.

...No, it won't end. At least, I won't die. The world doesn’t want me dead today. It's guaranteed I won't die. If you take Attractor Field Theory into consideration, I, who have already been to the 16th once and time leaped from there, can't possibly die now, early morning on the 15th. Paradoxically speaking, I certainly live until the 16th.

But its not like that for Moeka. Today, she will die. Whether her means of death is suicide or murder doesn't really matter. Moeka might die here.

I stop thinking about that. Now's not the time to think about that. What's important is to obtain FB's cellphone, and send a D-mail with it. That is my only goal.



Now that I've gotten this far, all I can do is an all-out attack.

"So you were a member of the Rounders. You were SERN's dog."

"A dog, huh. Ya ain't wrong about that."

Today, Tennouji is different from usual. A flexible attitude. Even if I provoke him, he doesn't get angry. On the contrary, he's holding that gun without a shred of tension in his voice. Is this the true face of the main called Tennouji? Was the Manager winding tubes at the Braun Tube Workshop all an act?

"If you shoot, the gunshot will wake your daughter."

"So what?"

"Do you want your daughter to see you do such a dirty act?"

"My daughter isn't an intolerable girl who judges by appearances."

I grind my teeth.

"Of all things, you're a Rounder... Hashida Suzu didn't look after you just so you could be that...!"





But he soon slaps his knee and starts laughing.

"What’s that, you knew about Suzu? You shoulda told me sooner."

In this world line, Manager and I haven't talked about Hashida Suzu.

"But you're talking like you know a lot, aren't ya? Suzu died 10 years ago. Back then, you were just about 8, Okabe, but you knew Suzu?"

"...I know."

I glare at Tennouji. I'm about to explode from frustration.

"In my subjective time, it was just a few weeks since she was here in this era."



"...Please. I want to change the future."

Inside my heads, I can still clearly remember Suzuha's words, though they feel so long ago. In actual time, they happened just a few days ago.

"She was always so close to you...! Hashida Suzu... no, Amane Suzuha, came to this era to fight SERN, as a time traveler...!"

"What... are..."

"You didn't notice, did you, FB? Your benefactor came from the year 2036. She was a member of our lab. Daru's daughter. Suzuha hated SERN. And yet you, who are indebted to that same Suzuha, are nothing but SERN's dog? Youre making Suzuha turn in her grave!"



Tennouji points the gun at me. I almost flinch, but I endure.

"...Why did you become like this."

"Shaddup. Stuff happened."

Stuff... huh.

"Are you really... FB...?"

Moeka looks at the scene, bewildered.



"Yeah, I am."

"The mails..."

"I wrote them all. Why use womanly words? Camouflage. To hide my identity. Aren't there tons of Guys In Real Life online? Seriously, though, it was dreadful, M4. You send too much mail. I responded to each of your boring-ass consultations, so show some gratitude."

"No... way... FB... was like... a mother... to me... I'd do anything... for FB..."

"That was the point. It's so easy to manipulate mental cases like you who form dependencies so quickly."

"...just stop."



"Why... didn't you... contact me...?"

"Contact? Ahh, once you got the IBN 5100, you were no use to us anymore."

"...no use..."

That was obvious. I even said so to Moeka - that she was an abandoned piece. And to prove it, Tennouji keeps talking.

"Rounders are disposable. Recruiting members by direct mail is bad in terms of confidentiality, but that's just how the Rounders roll. Any member who finds an IBN 5100 has done their duty and is silenced. Any member, without exception."

What...? What is he saying?!

"Doing so, SERN and the Committee can cheaply keep their secrets and use misfits like us."

"FB..."

"They see all members of the Rounders as pieces. How sad, huh."

Tennouji, thinking something or other, takes the gun he has pointed to me...

"Doing your duty sets you up for disposal. So, we're more like livestock than dogs."



"If you defy them, you expose your family to danger. I can't let them touch my precious daughter, can I?"

"Hey, stop this!"

"I feel bad for Suzu. Really, I do wonder why things turned out like this."

Without time to stop him--



"Wh... y..."

Blood
Brains
Scatter to the wall.