Part 23: Okabe Rintarou and Makise Kurisu have trouble seeing eye to eye

I tried looking for information at an internet cafe for about an hour, but to no result. I indulge in thoughts while drinking mango juice with tapioca. It's Saturday, so the front of the station's starting to get crowded. Some maids hand out leaflets to the people coming out of the station.

Is there anybody well-acquainted with retro PCs other than Daru? That reminds me, that Shining Finger was devoted to the IBN 5100, wasn't she?



I don't know Masseuse's phone number, so I decide to mail her for the time being.


I finish drinking the mango juice with tapioca, and aimlessly head towards Chuo Dori.




Then a mail comes. The sender is Shining Finger. Such a quick response, but I asked her to call, so why did she reply with a mail?


It's such a complicated talk, so why do I have to use such a tedious method? I need to find out her phone number.




Like always, a lot of people are in front of Radio Kaikan, huh... The mass media hasn't died down since the crash day, either. Radio Kaikan is still closed today.






The reply comes after not even 30 seconds.

Right as I'm about to look down at my mail, I catch sight of a familiar face.





"Assistant? What are you doing here?"

"Hey. When did I become your assistant?"

She looks like she'll snap at me, so to dampen her spirit, I go back to checking my mail.



I told her to tell me her phone number and she just ignored me! And she doesn't even have any information! There are limits to uselessness!

"Why are you glaring at me!"

"Don't mind it. You're not the cause of my frustration."

"An outburst of anger? Don't glare.

"You've glared at me several times too, haven't you?"

"That's because you're a pervert... ah, no, I'm not saying anything."






What do you mean, "Tell me♪"?! You making fun of me with that "♪"? More importantly, why does she send me two short consecutive mails like that? I mean, she might as well just send them as one.

"Are the mails you're getting that unpleasant?"

"They're more unconventional than unpleasant."

I'm not satisfied by calling it one word.


After sending that mail, I'm a little satisfied. I turn to Kurisu again.



"I'd like you to at least call me something consistently, but it doesn't really matter what I'm here for, does it?"

"What? Why are you pouting?"

"I'm not pouting. I don't want to get involved with you any more than what's necessary."

"What nonsense. You're already a lab mem, you know. You need to work for the benefit of the lab, or we'll be in big trouble."

Though, she's only a provisional member. No, it's because she's a provisional member that we need her to invest as much of her knowledge in the lab.

"I hate myself for losing to curiosity back then."

Kurisu sighs while looking up to the satellite above. Not just us, but several other people are standing here, looking up. It’s become a new tourist spot in Akiba.

"Did you come to see the satellite?"

"I guess."



And that's even despite the huge hole it opened up in the building... I wonder if satellites are really that strong. If I had to say, I'd say they seem more brittle than strong.

"Where's this satellite from in the first place?"

"We still don't know. There are rumors it's something from the former Soviet Union, but Russia denies it. Thanks to that, it looks like they can’t remove it."

Three days have passed and it’s still unknown. How interesting. I smell a conspiracy!

"I see, so this is the work of The Organization, too...! To erase me, who was at Radio Kaikan at that time!"

"'Organization'? What's that?"

"The Organization is The Organization. Its formal name is something else, but all those who know of its existence call it The Organization out of fear." Manipulating the world from the shadows, they are a secret organization transcending national borders, with politics, economics, religion, and everything else in their grasp."

"Thanks for the conspiracy theory. Now cat hiss at--"



"What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing's wrong. Really, nothing, okay? No more questioning."

Strange woman.

"M-More importantly, how was the Microwave Ophone?!"

"Why are you that interested? By the way, it's not the Microwave Ophone, it's the Microwave Ophone (Temp)--"

"Just answer me. How was it?"

"...No progress. We tried repeating the experiment, but at present, we haven't reproduced that discharge phenomenon, nor returned a mail to the past."

"I see..."







Looks like she's rethinking things. Hopefully I don't have to worry about any more mail attacks.



"Don't say that. I'm reforming the mail demon, so you should acknowledge my efforts."

"Why are you so pompous?"

"I'd like to ask you the same thing, Cristina."

With that said, let's reply to Masseuse.


"Are you done with your mail exchange, Hououin?"

"Hoh, so you remember my true name, huh? Indeed, my name is Hououin Kyouma."

"I said it sarcastically."



"Okabe, you're crazy, you know that?"

"I am not Okabe!"

"I'm tired of talking to you."

"So, about the Microwave Ophone (Temp). After the experiment, you screamed something like 'Time machines are a lie!'. Did you recall some past trauma?"



"Hey, you. Don’t just give me traumas like that."

"I see. That was back when you were 5 years old. Cristina was in the Arkansas plains when lightning--"

"I wasn't hit by lightning! And I was still living in Japan when I was five. Why Arkansas?"

"When I was trying to imagine tranquil scenery, the first state name to come to mind was Arkansas, and the next one was Oregon."

"Not Utah? Relatively speaking, isn't Utah more suitable?"

"Then answer me, Cristina! Why did you say 'lie' back then?!"

"...It's not like I said it with any particular conviction. My logic was simply that I didn't want to believe. There's enough fringe science in novels and movies."

"Fringe science? What nonsense. You should've seen it clearly, too. The phenomenon of the mail flying into the past! The instant the banana teleported!"

"...I saw, but something must be wrong. Or possibly, we're just making convenient explanations. Didn't I say so at ATF? Time machines are just a pipe dream with today's technology. And that's to say nothing of a playtime club like you guys, who made junk by connecting a phone to a microwave and expect time travel to occur."

"But it actually occurred. How can you deny what you saw with your own eyes? Are you saying theories are more correct than reality? Then just live out your whole life using sophistry and word play!"

"What do you mean by word play?"

"Quantum theory and the likes seem like nothing but word play to me."



"Phenomena are straightforward. What happens is everything; what doesn’t happen, what isn't observed is nothing but hypothesis!"

"When hypotheses pile up, and theories are verified, they become real. That's how modern physics comes to understand the truth of the universe."

"But there are also cases where hypotheses are mistaken. Even Einstein was wrong about some things."

"So just because they could be mistaken, you're going to do nothing? Then just live out your whole life playing king locked up in that dirty building of yours. You'll never reach the truth that way. Failure teaches success."

"I see. Nice rebuttal."

"You're never getting off your high horse, are you?"

"By the way, Cristina, I've always felt this. That physicists are contradictory."

"Contradictory?"

"There certainly are phenomena that everyone knows occur in reality, yet physicists haven't begun work on elucidating. What do you think about that?"

"I don't know unless you can cite examples."



"The occult..."

"You’re going to give up thinking because it's the occult? That contradicts what you just said! You'll never reach the truth that way. People who have seen ghosts certainly exist. Photographic evidence also exists. However, why doesn't anyone continue turning over new hypotheses?"

"...It's a different field of study."

"The study of unelucidated phenomena be damned. With that said, we should accurately inspect the phenomenon of sending mail into the past. Assistant, lend me your power."

"No."

She glares as she usually does. So this genius girl really does hate me, huh.