Part 176: Okabe and Nae have a heart to heart

Kurisu glances at Moeka, then whispers into my ear.

"Isn't she the enemy?"

"...It's 7AM now, right?"

"Huh? Yeah, but why do you ask so suddenly?"

After time leaping four hours from the lap development room, I'm in front of the station. I remember hearing what Kurisu just said. After returning to Akiba from Narita Airport, we joined up with Kurisu. After this, the three of us go to Tennouji's house.

We're standing a bit away from Moeka. Without holding her phone, she's tiptoeing and kicking the dirt in boredom. Moeka, who was dead and bloody just a while ago, is perfectly calm.

That doesn't really feel mysterious at all. Rather than getting paralyzed over it, I should have gotten used to this, since I've already experienced Mayuri's death and rebirth several times. And so I know: After this, Moeka dies, and Manager dies, and there's nothing we can do to prevent that. Even though I came back, it's cruelly not to save these two. I can't do anything about it, and I'm not obligated to save them, anyway.

The bigger problem is Nae.



This time, I wait outside with Kurisu. Moeka, ever expressionless, enters alone. While waiting, I tell Kurisu what's going to happen after this, and to wait a little after hearing the gunshot before going inside and taking Manager's phone.

The time before hearing that sound feels absurdly long. Finally...





"A gunshot actually..."

I immediately check my surroundings. Just as Kurisu has said, I see a girl come out of the window. Her gait is firm. That's not the way an elementary schoolgirl walks after witnessing her father's death.

I quickly run in a way that hides the sound of my footsteps.

"Wait."



Those eyes full of hatred focus straight at me. That alone is enough to make me shiver. It's pitiful, but I'm nervous, even though my opponent's such a small girl. Something's not right with that girl. Something's wrong.

This Nae is a different existence that seems like Nae... I want to know her true identity. That's why I postponed changing the world line to time leap here.

Though I told her to stop, Nae keeps running away without stopping. I put all my strength into chasing that small back. I'm bad at physical movement, but my opponent's an elementary student. The distance between us quickly shortens. Nae keeps glancing at me, but keeps running away, silently grinding her teeth. That gesture doesn't seem childlike. When a normal kid gets chased by a big man, they'd cry and scream "Don't come any closer!" or "Save me!". But this girl isn't saying anything. She just keeps running wordlessly.

"Stop!"

I call out to her once more when I'm close enough that I can touch her if I stretch out my hand. Unexpectedly, Nae's running speed drops, and she eventually stops, catching her breath.



Looks like she gave up when she realized she couldn't get away. Judging by her rough breathing, I guess she's reached her physical limit.

Kurisu and Moeka don't chase after us. Since everyone's off on Obon vacation, there aren't that many people on the residential streets. This is perfect, since I'm afraid the police would label me as a pedophile rapist if they saw all that.

Now I'll have this girl tell me everything. While catching my breath, I call out to her.

"You, are you really Tennouji Nae?"

Nae glares at me as she catches her breath.

"You plan to kill Kiryuu Moeka after this, don't you?"

"That's right."

She says so nonchalantly with a cruel smile on her face. Her expression isn't something a child could pull off.

"Revenge for your father?"

"You and Kiryuu Moeka killed daddy."

"Manager killed himself. He blew his own brains out. Even if I don't go, he kills himself, right? You're scapegoating."



She doesn't give a shit...?

"When daddy died, Kiryuu Moeka was there, but she didn't stop him. So, I won't forgive her. Nor you, Okabe Rintarou. You weren't there, but if you didn't butt in, daddy wouldn't have died."

So she means it would've been better if I didn't find the IBN 5100? That's a good place to scapegoat.

"But I won't kill you now, 'cause I can't."

This little girl, who is so much shorter than I am, looks up at me with a cruel smile on her face.

"I'll kill you in fifteen years. Stay scared until then."

I go on my knees and grab Nae by the shoulders. I hold back my fear and glare back at her at eye level, and yet this girl doesn't show any sign of faltering.

"Who... are you?"

She isn't Tennouji Nae.

"What do you mean you'll kill me in fifteen years."

"Exactly what it sounds like. Fifteen years from now, I killed you."

Killed? Why is she using past tense when talking about the future?

Nae laughs even more provocatively. She draws her face near, muttering.

"Aha, you don't get it? Just now, didn't you say it? 'Who are you?' I am Tennouji Nae. No doubt about that."



I'm aghast. Don't tell me, she...

"Time... leap..."

Suddenly, Nae brandishes her knife. Completely caught off guard, I can't avoid it.

"Guh, aah..."

My right arm, which was grabbing Nae's shoulder, got cut near the elbow. A lot of blood spurts onto Nae's body. However, the girl before my eyes, holding the knife...



Laughs. Laughs, just like the laughed when she killed Moeka.



I fall because of all the pain. I panic for a moment, but somehow manage to convince myself that I'm fine. I'm fine. I won't die here. The world hasn't recognized that. It's just like Nae said herself. It's not that the brat won't kill me. She can't kill me. I wouldn't die, even if she tried to kill me.



"You're the founder of some resistance, and struck back against SERN, though. I abducted and confined you, and performed every way of torture I could think of. You cried and screamed and shat and pissed yourself in pain while begging me for your life...!"
"It was really unsightly, Okabe Rintarou. I couldn't do anything else, so after slitting your throat with my own hands, I stabbed you over and over to my heart's content. I don't even know how many times I stabbed you!"
And those are the last moments of your life. The fate waiting for you, who murdered daddy...!""

Nae pries open the wound in my arm with her tiny little fingers.

"Ugwahhhh!"

My nerves burn, not just in my arm, but throughout my entire body. Pierced by that much pain, I can't hold back my screaming. I can't shake off Nae's hand. I can't move a single finger due to the pain.

"Aha... SERN commandeered your Time Leap Machine, and kept custody of it for fifteen years. I had my eyes on it. Fifteen years from now, I, as a Rounder, killed you and then used it to come back. It's a piece of shit that can't go back more than 48 hours in one go, though, so it was tough. To go back fifteen years with 48-hour time leaps, that takes, uh, let's see..."

I can't calculate with all this pain.

"With a simple calculation, 2738 times."



Finally, I understand. When I came to this world line, right after I learned Moeka committed suicide. When I came back to the lab, there was evidence that somebody had used the Time Leap Machine. So, basically, that was Nae's final leap...!

Nae focuses on my eyes, and inserts her fingers even deeper into my wound. I bite my lip, frantically holding back the pain. The blood won't stop. The dripping blood stains the asphalt dark red.

"I lived just for the sake of this revenge. I won't let anyone get in my way. I will absolutely kill Moeka. With my own hands. I won't let her kill herself. I won't let her take the easy way out."

"You came all the way back fifteen years... just for that...?"

She's become obsessed with revenge... and the ones who originally changed this obedient little girl into this - that is, the ones she resents - are me and Moeka... In other words, Moeka and I stole fifteen years of this girl's life.

Fifteen years. I can't truly grasp the significance of such an absurd amount of time.

"Just for that, you say?"



"Gah, gwaaaah...!"

"It might be 'just for that' to you guys, but for me, killing you and Kiryuu Moeka means everything...!"

"So, you'll kill Moeka, and then... what next?"

"Next...?"

"You're going to redo these 15 years you've come back...?"

"Hmph, what does that matter... It doesn't matter at all..."

Without tears. Without jeers.



At last, Nae lets go of my arm. She takes a look at my blood on her hand as if it were cow manure.

"You don't have to do anything now. Just fear, and repent, Okabe Rintarou. Until we meet again fifteen years from now."