Home | Back to Chapter 10-B | Epilogue
Date: 8/21/2010
Current Divergence: 1.130205
Itaru gets a phone call from a mysterious girl, who claims that he is her father. She asks to talk with Rintarou, and reveals herself to be Amane Suzuha, from the year 2036, asking to meet everyone at the Akihabara Radio Hall. The three immediately go to see her, and find a satellite parked on top of the roofotp. Rintarou quickly realizes it's the same one that appeared at Dr. Nakabachi's meeting on August 28. The hatch opens, and Suzuha reveals herself in a military outfit. She says she's a time traveller from the year 2036 who's come for "Gramps Okarin's" help, and that in this world line, World War 3 will happen.
Rintarou confirms that the satellite is a time machine made by Itaru, and that it can move towards the future and the past. She also went to 1975 and 2000, and he concludes she's not the same Amane Suzuha that existed in the Alpha World Line. Also, the war results in the deaths of approximately 5.7 billion people due to nuclear weapons, and the trigger was the development of time machines. A time machine race start between EU and Russia, and that America even interfered and the situation worsened. The war ended in 2036, but the planet is in shambles, and not a place for anyone to live in anymore.
Rintarou refuses to help, angered that changing to the Beta World Line only resulted in more trouble than it was supposed to have brought, especially after he had sacrificed the woman he loved in order to save others. Suzuha reveals that saving Makise Kurisu from her death on August 28 is needed to prevent World War 3, and he realizes that he can use the time machine Suzuha had brought. Suzuha also says she's not aiming for the Alpha World Line, but the gap in the Attractor Field; only one world line has this, and that line is called Steins;Gate. In order to pass into this world line, the divergence needs to be adjusted by -0.081609%, and Kurisu needs to be saved in order to enter it.
Rintarou asks if Kurisu is responsible for saving 5.7 billion people, but she doesn't know. He thinks it's irresponsible to just try and save Kurisu without knowing what will happen, but Suzuha says she's just following what was planned. The plan was developed by Rintarou himself, so she says if it's wrong then she has no meaning in coming to this time. He asks why his future self didn't come to explain to him, and she says it's because he dies in 2025, the same as the Alpha World Line. Though she says that she has no idea what the new future would be, she hopes that it won't be the dystopia from the Alpha World Line, nor the world war from the Beta World Line. Mayuri and Itaru convince Rintarou to travel back to July 28.
Suzuha asks Rintarou for his cellphone, and she promptly throws it out, as it could cause problems if they bring it into the past. They close the hatch, and she reminds him again that the mission is to prevent Kurisu's death. She also says that the Attractor Field's chance of having Kurisu killed is 50%. She also says to watch out for Dr. Nakabachi, as he is the one responsible for coming out with a paper on time machines. The machine is capable of travelling to 7/28 twice, so they only have two chances to save Kurisu. Suzuha finally activates the time machine, and particles start flying all around, with intense Gs pulling down on Rintarou.
Date: 7/28/2010
Current Divergence: 1.130205
They finally arrive some time before the announcement is about to start, so Rintarou makes for the meeting place while Suzuha distracts whoever might come and see the time machine. She warns him not to encounter himself, as the chances of causing a time paradox are high. He manages to slip down to the fourth floor without his past self seeing him. However, he is abruptly called by a woman, and he realizes it's Kurisu. He can't bring himself to say any words and runs away, but she still comes after him, wondering what the satellite on top of the building is. He gets past her, and manages to slip into the meeting unnoticed, when his past self is causing a commotion.
He gets into the back room and hides, waiting for the moment when Kurisu is going to be killed. After some time, Kurisu finally comes to the back room carrying an A4-sized envelope, and soon after Dr. Nakabachi appears. Rintarou is surprised he is there, and more importantly, that she calls him "Papa". He fears that Nakabachi will be the one to kill her, but decides to wait and see what happens. Kurisu hands over the envelope to Nakabachi, wanting to get his opinion on her paper. Rintarou realizes that the paper is the one that covers how to build time machines, and that everything wasn't a coincidence, but merely inevitability.
Listening further, he discovers that Nakabachi plans to take the paper as his own, and as the argument worsens Nakabachi starts gripping her by the neck, going into a rage over how she's better than him. Rintarou finally makes his appearance and attacks Nakabachi, getting him to let go of Kurisu. However, Nakabachi pulls out a knife thinking everyone is out to ruin him and attacks Rintarou, wanting him to apologize. As the two struggle, Kurisu begs her father to stop, and the same death scene keeps flashing in his head. Rintarou knocks the knife away from him, but Nakabachi instead grabs a scrwedriver.
Kurisu still tries to keep stopping Nakabachi, but Rintarou doesn't want her to come. Nakabachi stabs her in the arm, so Rintarou makes a reach for the knife and tries to stop him. Just as he makes a last swing at Nakabachi, Kurisu gets in the way and is stabbed in the chest. Nakabachi laughs at their foolishness and runs off. Kurisu mutters that she wanted her father to approve of her, which was why she studied so hard, but realizes too late that, in the end he never would. However, she still covered for her father, and apologizes before she finally dies in his arms...
Rintarou lets out a scream in horror, and Suzuha comes to pick him up, saddened that things ended up this way. She says they still have one more chance, and asks him to pull himself together. However, he won't budge an inch, so she forcefully brings him back to the present.
Date: 8/21/2010
Current Divergence: 1.130205
Rintarou has totally snapped, thinking that the past had been decided and there's nothing he can do. Mayuri slaps him, bringing him to his senses, not wanting him to give up. He still thinks it's useless, and suddenly his cellphone rings. He receives a mail:
"Watch the TV."
He wonders what the message is, and then realizes the mail is timestamped 8/21/2025, and that it's a D-Mail. He quickly turns on the TV on his cellphone, and sees a news report about how a plane coming from Japan to Moscow caught fire along the way, but no one had died. Dr. Nakabachi (Makise Shouichi) appears on the screen, as he was on the plane. He happened to keep the A4 envelope safe, in it being Kurisu's time travel theory. In fact, Nakabachi goes on to talk about how it's related to time travel, and plans to reveal it to Russia. Nakabachi also has the Metal Uupa that Mayuri had dropped in the meeting, and Rintarou realizes it's the Butterfly Effect in motion; the Uupa had been responsible for detecting the fire as it was in the envelope, and allowed him to safely recover the envelope before it had been burned.
Suzuha apologizes, saying that she knew how everything would happen and was told as part of the plan to have Rintarou fail on the first attempt. He demands an explanation, but she tells him to play the movie mail that he had received from himself, as everything would be explained there. He realizes this is the same movie mail he received on August 28. Though the movie initially only has noise, Suzuha tells him that after he had failed in saving Kurisu, he should now be able to see it.
At first when he plays it, he doesn't see anything, but then sees a silhouette appear. His future self introduces himself, and says that despite him trashing the microwave, he will end up working on time travel theory one year from now. He was capable of creating D-Mails that could send more than 36 bytes thanks to his research, and says that if he can watch this movie mail, then he's failed in saving Kurisu. He knows how painful it is, because he's experienced the same thing. However, it was necessary in order to allow the future where he sent the movie mail, and normally time travel by itself cannot save Kurisu.
The time machine itself was constructed by SERN despite it being researched by him and Itaru, and its model number is C204; C for "Christina". The name "Steins;Gate" was made up by Rintarou himself, in that it "particularly has no meaning", but he chose the name anyway. He explains to reach Steins;Gate, Kurisu has to be saved, and the paper itself must be destroyed. Changing that past is impossible, as the world would converge and come to the same conclusion. However, only the method of changing the past was wrong. He says that the "first Rintarou" that came not knowing anything to the meeting cannot be allowed to be erased, and must continue to exist.
The future Rintarou says "deception" is possible; he must deceive himself, and the world. His past self has to see Kurisu collapsed on the floor, and he has to have sent the D-Mail and entered the Alpha World Line, or else a time paradox will happen. He explains the plan, "Operation Skuld" (after the same childish naming Rintarou gives):
He signs off on the movie mail, calling the present Rintarou the Crazy Mad Scientist, with the signature "Eru Psi Congruu" line he always says. The present Rintarou laughs at how childish he still is in the future, having re-energized himself. Itaru and Mayuri have no idea what his future self means by deceiving, but Rintarou explains it's because the only thing confirmed is that "he saw Kurisu stained in blood", and nothing more or less. He hadn't "observed" whether she had died or was still alive. What he decides to do is change it, so that it's not "Kurisu stained in blood, dead", but "Kurisu stained in red paint, unconscious."
Itaru is worried though, because Kurisu's death is already all over the news, but Suzuha says the problem is not about what is being "observed" now, but what was "observed" on that day. Rintarou takes 30 minutes to prepare everything, and carries one of the Future Gadgets with him designed to re-create the same bloodied scene. Suzuha warns him this is their last chance, and he accepts the risk. They jump back...
Date: 7/28/2010
Current Divergence: 1.130205
Rintarou runs the same simulation over what he's going to do in his head again, and begins the mission. Rintarou comes to the seventh floor, and gets the Metal Uupa from the machine just before Mayuri comes. He says to himself that he hadn't really cared much about the Uupa, thinking it should be fine. He heads to the fourth floor and bumps into Kurisu, telling her he'll save her. He says this to her, because in the past she asks his past self what it was he was trying to say. He immediately disappears and returns to the seventh floor. Mayuri gets an Uupa from Rintarou like always, but it's not a Metal Uupa. This confirms that he didn't care what was being "observed" at this time, so things go according to plan.
Mayuri drops the Uupa, and wonders how Nakabachi comes by it in the first place. Kurisu happens to pass by, and he realizes that Kurisu will pick up the Uupa and put it in the envelope. He returns to the eighth floor and hides in the back room as planned. He focuses and calms himself, believing that he'll carry out this plan successfully. Indeed, the same events transpire, and he notices that Nakabachi is ticked off likely due to his past self causing a commotion. Unfortunately, the Future Gadget he brought with him is leaking, and as he has no more time to fix it, he decides to change the plan.
The event finally starts, and he makes his appearance. He gets Nakabachi away from Kurisu like before, but this time he decides to piss off Nakabachi. Rintarou puts on his childish antics, saying that he desires chaos and does not accept the ambitions Nakabachi has. Kurisu tells him to run away, but he refuses. He taunts Nakabachi into trying to kill him, and Rintarou gets stabbed. Nakabachi thinks he's won, but Rintarou brings out a stun gun and threatens to kill everyone. Kurisu runs over to him saying she'll call an ambulance, but he stuns her instead and knocks her out cold. He scares Nakabachi with the stun gun, causing him to run off. He spills the blood from his wound over where Kurisu is supposed to have fallen, and when he realizes there isn't enough blood, he lets out a scream to cause more blood to spill.
Suzuha comes for him and thinks he failed in his mission, but he corrects her. Rintarou tells her to set Kurisu up so she looks like she died. He apologizes to her, and even though they might not return to those same three weeks, he wanted her to live. Afterwards, Suzuha carries him over to the time machine. She scolds him for being very reckless, as this could get him killed. Before they jump, she tells him that they will likely enter Steins;Gate after this, and that she will disappear. She asks him not to die, and continue living on.
New Divergence: 1.048596 (-0.081616)