Part 198: A happy reunion fails to occur

Parent and child. The father Kurisu was always worrying about. Who should be living in Aomori without talking to her for seven years. That father is... Nakabachi...

Kurisu did say her father was a physicist, and Nakabachi certainly is a physicist, though he's been shunned from the scientific society.

...wait a sec.



He, the father, killed his own daughter? Or is someone else lying in wait?

Doubt. If I were fully convinced that Nakabachi is the culprit, then I'd jump out right now. Maybe I should just wait and see for a bit...



"Papa, I heard you were going to hold a time machine presentation. So, I thought about it, too. About whether or not a time machine could be made."

A time machine thesis... by Kurisu?! Even though she was so against time machines in her ATF lecture!

No, wait, she was more against the Microwave Ophone (Temp)...



"Papa, I want you to read it and tell me your opinion. Then, we can adjust it based on that and turn it in to the scientific society. I don't know if they'll listen, but I do have acquaintances at 'Science' magazine."

Nakabachi takes the document and starts reading with a sour look. So that's what it was. I'm relieved the contents weren't something dangerous, like narcotics, or a gun. But at the same time, I start thinking several questions.



The cause of World War III. The document explaining the time machine. The document that caused the deaths of 5.7 billion people.

Is that why? Is that why saving Kurisu will cause a great change in divergence? I get it now... Everything wasn't a coincidence, but an inevitability.

Nakabachi has been restlessly turning the pages of the document. He silently keeps reading without trying to hide his frustration. It looks like he's skimming over it really quickly, but...



"...nobody told me to, but... Papa, you contacted me after seven years, and told me to come to your presentation, right? That was my opportunity. I thought that maybe if I tried to put together a thesis, I could somehow make it. And then, maybe if the thesis gets recognized, we can have our revenge on the scientific society that exiled papa--"

"I wasn't exiled!"

Kurisu cowers when Nakabachi suddenly shrieks with an angry voice.

"Those incompetent colleagues of mine were just jealous of my superiority. They were disgusted with me, and gave up on me!

"Please don't yell..."

Acting like a spoiled child as if to provoke the ashamed Kurisu, Nakabachi goes back to reading the thesis.

"You read really fast, huh, papa. Just like the old days."

Nakabachi ignores even Kurisu's embracing words.

"...The contents aren't bad."

"Really? If you want, papa, we can put a joint signature on this thesis--"



"...What do you mean?"

"'What do you mean', you say? You don't get it?! I mean, you shouldn't get so cocky just because you got a low-level thesis published in Science Magazine!"

"..."

"What's that? How dare you show that face to your own father!"

"I'm sorry..."

Awkward silence. I don't feel the friendliness between parent and child from these two. What I feel is distance. Kurisu looks especially frantic.

"Hey. It's been so long since we last met, so there's a lot I want to talk about, but papa, you're living in Aomori now, aren't you?"

She tries hard to speak cheerfully, but Kurisu's facial expression is already stiff. I remember that she said her relationship with her father was poor.



She muttered lonesomely.



"Eh..."

"Just go back to America already. I don't want to see your face again."

"But--"

"What do you mean, you want to hear my opinion?! What do you mean, joint signatures?! THat isn't what you think in the slightest, is it?!"

That was an inferiority complex on the level of a child.

"Are you pitying me?! Do you despise me?! Even though you're my daughter!"

"Wh-What are you talking about? Calm down--"

"I'm perfectly calm! Don't tell me what to do!"

Things are getting strange. It's just about time for Kurisu to get killed. So Nakabachi's the culprit after all, huh... Even though he's really her father...?



"I was going to show you just how despairingly far apart we are! And yet, everything was in vain because of that damned punk! I know you saw me and laughed at me! Just how far will you go to ridicule your own father?!"

"I didn't laugh at--"

"Do you want my opinion on this thesis? I'll tell you right now."

Nakabachi keeps talking without listening to a word of Kurisu's objections.





"...Papa, don't tell me... you're stealing it?"

"...What did you say?"

"You're stealing... my thesis? That was the last thing I thought you'd do--"

Nakabachi raises his hand, and strikes Kurisu's cheek. Wh-What do I... What do I do...

"Who do you think you're talking to?!



He grabs hold of her slender neck with both hands. Strangled, Kurisu's face warps in pain.

"Ah, uhh...!"



"Nobody in this world is superior to me! Understand?! It's a disgrace! There's no reason for a daughter to be superior to her father! So I stayed away from you! I couldn't stand the thought of you being my daughter! Because of you... because of you...!"

His reasoning's all a mess! That's nothing but scapegoating, isn't it?!

There's no point to keep watching and waiting. I know who the culprit is for sure. I rush out from my covering.

"Stop!"



Nakabachi's hand is separated from Kurisu's neck.

"Guh, gah hoh gah hoh..."

"Wh-What's with you?!"

"I won't let you kill Kurisu...!"

I'm saving Kurisu. If I save her now, the future will change. Even a weakling like me can pin down an old man like this. And then, if Suzuha calls the police...



No. It won't turn out like that...!

Nakabachi pushes himself up from the wall, meeting my eyes. His eyes fill with rage upon seeing my face.

"You're... the one rom before...! Because of you... my presentation was a failure!"

Before...?

Oh right, back then - I picked a fight during the presentation - since I'm the same person, it wouldn't be weird if Nakabachi got the wrong idea.

"How dare you show your face to me again...! You... all of you are just getting in my way...! You're in cahoots with Kurisu, aren't you?! That's it, that's it, isn't it?!"

This guy... really has an obsessive persecution complex, doesn't he?

"I won't... let you brats... have your way...!"

Nakabachi glares at me with bloodshot eyes, taking something out of his pocket. At first, I couldn't tell what it is. It gleams in the dim light.



Its blade is about 20cm long. I can't help but wince at its cold radiance. Why is he even carrying something like that? Has this old man gone senile?! Does he plan to stab Kurisu to death with that knife?! I won't let him...

Dammit! Why is my brain so fixated on that scene?!

"Don't you ridicule me!"



He raises his knife hand up high... I instinctively dodge back. I barely dodge that swing, but Nakabachi draws even closer. I'm so scared of the sight of the old man, full of rage, hair disheveled, that I want to scream. I'll be killed...

No, no need to fear! I won't die. The past should've already been decided!

Though, if I think about it, that's really self-contradictory. If that past is already decided, then I can't save Kurisu.

I shake off that thought. Anyway, for now, just think about saving Kurisu!

"Apologiiiize!"

"Gh--"

I close my fearful eyes and reluctantly stop backstepping. Instead, I take one step forward--



Easier than expected, the knife falls out of Nakabachi's hand onto the floor. I jump to it at once and pick it up.

"Stop it, papa!"

"Don't tell me what to do!"

I look up in surprise. Nakabachi has taken a screwdriver out of the toolbox left in the passage. Kurisu tries to stop her father, but is defenselessly stepping up to him.

Stop, don't go any closer! The one he was going to kill wasn't me, but you, Kurisu! Even though I took away his knife, it was meaningless...!

A screwdriver can become a murder weapon if you pierce with all your might.

"Kurisu, run away!"

Kurisu glances at the sound of my voice, but she doesn't move from there. Why... Why won't you run away...?!

"Papa... stop this foolishness!"

"What do you understand... what do you understand... what...?!"

Nakabachi has lost us. There's nothing more we can say. Our words won't reach him.

"If only you... if only you were gone!"



Kurisu still does not run away.

"Tch...!"



It's useless. I can't save her at this rate. I firmly grasp the knife in my hands. Kurisu won't die if I kill Nakabachi.

Don't get in my way...! I won't be tied to that past!

I need to do this. To save Kurisu, to change the future--

"Nakabachi!"



"No!"





The resistance of gouging flesh all the way to the bone.

It's unexpectedly hard.

But it's pulsating.

The blade piercing my living opposite doesn't stay still.

Matching my opposite's breathing, it faintly sways.







The one I stabbed...

"wh...y..."

I can't believe it.

What happened?

I went to stab Nakabachi.

The blade should've reached his back any second now.

And yet--



"Why..."

Kurisu's body loses strength, and leans on my shoulder.



Raising an insane laugh, Nakabachi picks up the thesis he dropped a while ago, and run s to the elevator deep inside the passage. I can't chase him. Even though I understand what happened, I can't move one step.



What killed her.

What killed Makise Kurisu was...

"I'm... sorry..."

Kurisu whispers with a fading voice. Bodily fluids run from the knife onto my hands.
Warm.
Red blood.
Kurisu's red blood.
Gushing out from her wound.
It feels warm, but is by no means hot.
And yet, it feels hot enough to burn my hands.

I try to pull out the knife. If I pull it out, and treat it, then maybe I can still save her. But... my own hands feel as if they've become petrified like a statue. They won't move. No matter how much strength I put into them. Not my arms. Not my fingers. Not even a twitch. My muscles won't accept the orders from my brain.

"Haah... haah... ooh... ooh..."

Kurisu's breath gradually grows rough. Kurisu is suffering.



It wasn't supposed to be like this.

Why won't my hands move? Even though I want to pull the knife out and ease her pain. My own body doesn't even feel like it's mine.

Kurisu's leaning body starts shaking, as if going into convulsions. That shaking makes me imagine Kurisu's pain.

I want to cry.

"Why..."

In the end, all I can do is mutter that.



"I always... wanted him... to accept me... I wanted... papa... to accept me... so I always studied... but... now, I understand... papa... didn't want... to accept me... I'm such... an idiot... but why... did I... protect... papa... I wonder... I'm sorry... to get a stranger... like you... involved... uuhh... it hurts...
Hey... am... I going... to die...? I don't want... to die... I don't want... it to end... like this..."

That voice becomes more and more delicate.

Don't die. Please, don't die on me...

No matter how much I pray.



"Sa...ve..."

All strength... leaves that body.

I no longer hear any breathing.

And even still, her blood flowing from her wound is hot.

Killed her...



The one who killed Kurisu...

Is me...

"Ah... ah..."



While I scream, another me looks down from above.

While hearing my own voice resounding, ahh, so that's it, my heart mutters.