Part 194: The β World Line reveals an unexpected complication

Mayuri and Daru look at me and nod. Today's the last day of ComiMa, which Daru was originally looking forward to attending, but he prioritized this, once I begged him.

I take a look around the lab. Before I noticed, our lab mem count had returned to three. In these past 20 days of turmoil, that number had at one point increased to eight.

All the memories of those days.

All the people we met those days.

I, for the sake of saving Mayuri, will make them never happen. It is kind of lonely. I do feel a little guilty. I will engrave everything deep within my chest. I will never forget. I must not forget about these long yet short summer days. Even still, I chose to return things to the start by erasing those memories. It has nothing to do with the future Suzuha told us about. As long as Mayuri will live, it's fine by me.

"Daru, please start."

"...this is okay, right?"

"...Yeah."

"Okey dokey."



This retromachine we had finally gotten back is already connected to Daru's favorite cutting-edge PC. If we use this, we can access SERN. We will trespass upon the database at the heart of SERN, only accessible with an IBN 5100. Then we will locate the data of the first D-mail I sent to Daru on 7/28, and erase it from Echelon's accumulated log. With this, I can access the β World Line. There lies the world where Mayuri doesn't die.

Spying on Mayuri's condition, I see her sitting down on the couch, tightly straightening her spine, with her grandma's memento pocketwatch, "Pocketty", to her ear. She's staying quiet with her eyes closed. Whenever Mayuri wants to calm down, she always listens to the sound of that pocketwatch.

Ever since she parted ways with Kurisu, Mayuri has said nothing about my choice. It seems like she's prepared herself. I've been leaving the cracking to Daru, so there's no problem there. I walk into the development room, having a little left to attend to.



Squatting down, I gently brush the face of the microwave with my fingertip. Cool to the touch. Ever since I had this, I've met irreplaceable partners, and I've hurt irreplaceable partners, but I don't want to blame the tool. Everything depends on how you use the tool. It's also true that I've been saved by this thing.

But still...



So that I never make the same mistakes again.

"Okarin, I found it! It's seriously in there!"

"It's in there? The D-mail I sent?!"

"It's in there good."

Daru points at a string of characters. There I could clearly see my name and the text I wrote about Kurisu's death. Three lines total. Each only six characters of Japanese.

SERN found out about us because this data was there. At FB's instruction, the Rounders, including Moeka, attacked. If what Suzuha said was true, then if we erased this data, we can escape from the α World Line where SERN dominates the future.

Attractor Field β. The β World Line that converges to that range. There, the future where Mayuri dies in August 2010 doesn't come.



Her hand firmly grasps mine.

"Okarin..."

"It's okay."

Since she's making an anxious face, I pat her head with a pomf to calm her down.

"I set it up so that pressing the enter key will erase the data."

Daru stands up, opening the seat up for me.

"I leave that ceremonial act to Okarin."

I sit in the seat when he tells me that. I gulp down my breath in front of the keyboard.



This time for sure will bring an end to everything.



I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

Goodbye, Kurisu.

I slowly raise my right hand. I tightly extend my index finger.



Upon my cry, Daru, standing next to me, is taken by surprise.

"I, myself, without giving in to any conspiracy, have adhered to my own believe, fighting Ragnarok to the bitter end! I give gratitude to my comrades, who fought alongside me, as my hands and feet, for the sake of this triumph!"

If I press this key.

Kurisu will die.

I firmly grasp at the shoulder of my coat.

It's mended with a pink thread, with bumpy stitches.

"The world we arrive at is the world I wished for!"

Mayuri's life. And also, Kurisu's death. That is what I wished for.

I will never forget this truth. I must never forget.

This is...

"Everything is Steins;Gate's choice!"

This is the choice I wished for.

"El Psy Congroo. The world... shall be remade!"

I vigorously swing down my extended finger, striking the Enter key...

...and at the same time, hear the sound of the lab door opening. I cast but a fleeting glance in that direction.



Her face is flushed; was she running? Why could she be here? She should've gone to Narita. She even said she was going back to America. Kurisu was looking at me. With a face about to cry. With a smile.

Did she come back for me? Since we didn't say goodbye.

It feels like Kurisu whispers something.



The world starts to bend.

The world is being reconfigured.

My consciousness is slowly being compressed into the time warp.

Reading Steiner activates.

The Divergence is changing.



And Daru and Mayuri.

And the insides of the lab.

The distortion of everything speeds up.

The color of everything fades away.

My consciousness separates from this world line.



Waving my hand a little, I turn towards her...













The rotation gradually slows. Color returns to the world. The lab entrance.



My assistant... Cristina, Makise Kurisu. Her figure disappeared like a phantom. Nobody's there now.

I look around the room. Daru is standing next to me. Behind me is Mayuri. I don't see anything especially different throughout the room. Rather, it looks like nothing has changed. I gently touch the shoulder of my coat. There, Kurisu had sewn up the torn seam.

It's gone.



The bumpy stitches sewn in the dark have disappeared. There's no trace of the clearly mismatched pink thread, either.

I stand up, and head to the development room. The Time Leap Machine, placed under the table...

No...

I notice, what's there isn't the Time Leap Machine.



Only Kurisu's improved parts have disappeared. Only the traces of the 20 days Makise Kurisu spent in the lab...
Every trace she had left behind...
Disappeared from the earth.
Has disappeared.
They are nowhere to be found.
Nowhere, except in my memories.

Mayuri and Daru are looking at me.

"...Who was Lab Member 004 again?"

I can't help but ask. Even though I know it's pointless. But as I expected, both of them were confused.



"Or could it be an unrevealed, hidden member? I'm okay as long as it's a little girl."

"...No."

Even though I knew it would be like this, the fact that they forgot her existence is very saddening. Very frightening. In this world, the only person who knows Lab Member 004, Makise Kurisu, is me. So, I won't forget.

I alone will live with the memory of Makise Kurisu ever engraved upon my heart.



Even though I can't make the final checks yet.

Even though I had to make many sacrifices.

Even so, I won this fight. Because I was able to save Mayuri.

"Heh, heheh, fuuuuuhahahahaha!"

Mayuri and Daru stare in wonder at my abrupt maniacal laughter.

"Here and now, the outcome of Ragnarok has been decided! I myself, the insane mad scientist, Hououin Kyouma, having an IQ of 170, rivaling that of Einstein, have opposed every attack by The Organization, as well as by SERN, and have manipulated space-time itself for a complete triumph! I surely am an existence equal to god! And thus, this great horizon upon which we have arrived is the world in which our ambitions are made manifest! The structure of the world's control has been reset, and a future of chaos awaits!
This, too, is Steins--"

"Okarin."



Without knowing why, I freeze. Daru is also looking blankly. Mayuri looks up at my face. A gentle, calming smile.

"It's okay now."

"Wha... What are you saying? I was magnificently proclaiming our triumph--"

"But... Okarin, your face looks like you're about to cry..."

"...!"

"Don't overdo it, okay? I said it before, right? Mayushii doesn't want to be a burden for Okarin. You don't have to use that tone any more, okay? If you're in pain, you can go back to normal, and let Okarin say what's on his mind, okay?"

"I... am..."

"You don't have to worry about Mayushii anymore. Because Mayushii is fine. It's okay for Okarin to cry if Okarin wants to, okay? I don't know what happened, but... It's okay to cry, okay?"

Rattling.

The mask I was frantically wearing until then cracks and crumbles.

To me, Mayuri is the person I need to protect. The person, like a little sister, that I need to save no matter what. In order to save Mayuri, I steeled my mind until this point. I kept plunging forward single-mindedly. I even sacrificed the woman I loved.

But now, with Mayuri's words, I finally realized that I was now free from the pressure.

When I think that Mayuri won't die any more, Kurisu's face floats through my mind again.

The warmth of Kurisu's body.

The softness of Kurisu's lips.

The weight of Kurisu's words.

One by one, I recall each of them. I can't bear it anymore.



My field of vision blurs. My tears start overflowing.

"I... I..."

Various feelings puddle inside my head and get out of control. The sadness of no longer being able to meet Kurisu pains my heart. I can't hold back my sobs. I can't stop my tears.

The world where Mayuri doesn't die. This world I kept searching for...



This is too much... This is too cruel... Why Kurisu, of all things... Why did I have to choose between the two... Why did you give me that choice... Why did Kurisu show me that smile...

Why...!

I cling to Mayuri. While she gently brushes through my hair, I cry out loud.





Moeka and the Roundners didn't attack, and the Braun Tube Workshop manager was only leisurely showing no signs of movement. With the lab at peace, Daru would come and go to MayQueen as usual, and Mayuri would come up with plans for her costumes for next ComiMa.

I was the only one left powerless with a gaping hole in my heart, spending my days absent-mindedly.

"Phew. This is the end, huh."

The dumpster next to the lab. We throw out the garbage there, and take a breather. Yesterday,



That's why I decided to dismantle the Microwave Ophone (Temp) and the IBN 5100 at the start of the day.



"More importantly, now the lab doesn't have a microwave... Now Mayushii can't eat any more Juicy Karaage Number One..."

"If it's just a microwave you want, we can get another one."

As for the Microwave Ophone (Temp), it's no longer needed. The miraculous time machine made from coincidence upon coincidence. It was by this machine that I met Kurisu, but it was also by this machine that I hurt many people. So, I won't use this machine again. I don't think I should use it. The insane mad scientist, Hououin Kyouma, ruler of time and space, can die. He needs to die along with the Microwave Ophone (Temp).

Kurisu also said it once.



I gaze upon Future Gadget No. 8, which has been turned to scrap. We can no longer bring it back to its original form. We shouldn't be able to turn this back into the Microwave Ophone (Temp). D-mails and Time Leaps are powers too great for human hands. I can't rely on this machine any more.

Though nothing in the future is guaranteed.

Though I may die tomorrow.



This is fine.

Hey, wouldn't you say so, Kurisu--



Maybe it's Venus. Then, I suddenly remember.

"You even go into the past right now. Peek at the sky at night with a telescope. You can see light from tens of thousands of years ago, can't you?"

While we were casually spending our time, we came close to time travel. Kurisu said so.

I slowly engrave each word into my mind. So that, while I still live...



Video: The End?

(Required viewing. Yes, all of it. I'll wait.)































































"Eh? Who is?
I'm a father?
Your father?
What are you talking about?
Eh?
Change with Okabe Rintarou?
Hey, Okarin. a mysterious woman wants to talk to you."

"Who is it?"

"Please, come to the Radio Center's rooftop right now."

"So who ARE you?"



"And there, I'm Hashida Itaru's daughter. My name: Amane Suzuha."

"Wait a minute... Suzuha... Why are you here?!"


(Anime episode 22 clear.)