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Chapter 4

Homeostasis / Dreams
夢幻のホメオスタシス

Date: 8/3/2010
Current Divergence: 0.571015

Rintarou shrugs off the idea that he'd be anyone's savior or messiah, and asks Kurisu and Itaru to think about how to change the past. Kurisu refuses and decides to head back to her hotel. She also tells Rintarou to give her a report of the results later. He stops her short though, and explains to them how he changed the past in regards to the Loto 6. He wants to find out why he's the only one who still remembers, so the next experiment's hypothesis is that the person who receives the mail is the only one who maintains their memories.

Itaru sends a mail to himself, but Rintarou still remembers the event. Kurisu and Itaru also remember, and the D-Mail was indeed sent, but the past hadn't changed. Rintarou then says that the divergence needs to change, so a D-Mail that's much easier to understand has to be sent, or else there would be no meaning in the experiments. Itaru wants to send another mail, but as they've already passed the time limit, they decide to hold off until tomorrow.

Date: 8/4/2010
Current Divergence: 0.571015

The next morning Rintarou is taking a break and meets up with Mayuri, Yuugo, and Nae. Suzuha also comes and asks if he talked with John Titor, but he says that he's not too sure whether what Titor is saying is correct. She asks in what way, and Rintarou thinks she's a John Titor otaku. Kurisu and Itaru also come, but not before Kurisu and Suzuha share menacing glances towards one another.

Itaru tries sending a D-Mail again, but it still doesn't work. Mayuri tries sending a mail, but it's too late to cause the same phenomena with the microwave. Rintarou goes out in the afternoon, when Moeka sends him mails saying she wants to try sending D-Mails herself. He decides to let her try, though she initially wants to keep the D-Mail a secret. He objects, to which she says she simply wants to change her cellphone model. She sends the mail...

New Divergence: 0.523299 (-0.047716)

Rintarou finds himself on the ground, and when he gets up he notices Moeka has gone missing. He asks the other lab members where she's gone, but they have no idea who she is in the first place. He fears he might have erased her existence, though he confirms that his memories do not change when the world line does due to the Reading Steiner, and it has nothing to do with who receives the mail in the first place. He sends a mail to Moeka hoping for a response, and asks everyone if they were conducting an experiment just now, which they don't recall. He then worries that a time paradox has occurred, where Moeka received the mail and her existence was erased.

He does receive a mail from her though, confirming that she is still alive. He explains the situation to everyone else, and Kurisu describes it as a situation where Moeka didn't need to come to the laboratory in the first place. However, she doubts the existence of the Reading Steiner and thinks that Rintarou is simply having delusions. Rintarou wonders if having such a power is dangerous.

Date: 8/5/2010
Current Divergence: 0.523299

Ruka happens to come by the next day, though Mayuri has him try out a pink cosplay outfit worn by Kirari from Thunder Net Access Battlers. Rintarou asks what Ruka's wish is, and he says he wants to become a girl. Kurisu is confused, but when Rintarou reveals to her that Ruka's a guy, she cannot believe it. However, Kurisu mentions that there's something that claims mothers that eat a lot of meat give birth to boys and those that eat vegetables give birth to girls. They decide to try sending a mail in the past to Ruka's mother that says to eat vegetables. However, Rintarou realizes Ruka was born in 1993, which makes contacting a cellphone impossible. However, in the case of a pager, Rintarou thinks it might be a different story.

Date: 8/6/2010
Current Divergence: 0.523299

Ruka comes back and finds out that his mother had a pager, so they write a message using the pager format for Japanese messages, hoping it will reach. They send the message to his mother...

New Divergence: 0.456903 (-0.066396)

After Rintarou notices his Reading Steiner had kicked in, he looks at Ruka. At first, he doesn't seem to notice anything has changed. However, everyone else has forgotten that the experiment even happened in the first place. For the time being, he decides to shrug off trying to explain. He's about to ask Kurisu whether Ruka is a girl or a guy, but after Kurisu gives him a scolding, he decides to stop short of actually asking.

Itaru and Rintarou go to MayQueen+Nyan2 to discuss D-Mails and the microwave, but Feiris happens to hear the discussion and is quite interested. Itaru leaks that they can send mails to the past, and they briefly discuss who the "observer" of time might be, and if they might live in the fourth dimension (4D), etc.

Rintarou's heading back to the laboratory in the evening, and doing so, he catches Kurisu talking desperately to someone on the phone, almost in tears. The person she's talking to hangs up on her. After she raises her head, she realizes Rintarou was watching, and runs off. He wonders who it was she was talking to as he heads up to the laboratory. While he checks for more information posted by Titor on @ch, Kurisu abruptly opens the door and startles him.

The look on her face does seem she like she was crying a while ago, but Rintarou wonders why she came back. She denies that she was crying, and there's an uncomfortable silence that follows. Rintarou tells her that if she needs any kind of help or advice, then he'd gladly assist. When she asks why, he says it's because she's a trusted lab member of theirs. She apologizes for startling him in the first place.

Date: 8/7/2010
Current Divergence: 0.456903

Rintarou mails everyone to come at 1 PM to the laboratory. He's noticed that there are too many unknown factors in terms of D-Mails, and that the results can't be guaranteed. However, they consider that being able to send D-Mails puts them in the lead compared to SERN, and although they think about trying to expand it to actual time travel, it reminds them of the Jellyman's Reports. Rintarou suggests that they start approaching SERN more aggressively, but after some discussion he notices that his knowledge doesn't match up with theirs. It turns out that the IBN 5100 is now missing. To the others, they had never obtained it in the first place.

He decides to mail Moeka to find out what might have happened. Kurisu theorizes that one of the D-Mails could have caused the IBN 5100 to disappear, but Rintarou is the only one who would be able to know what D-Mail caused it. He does manage to recall that they did have the IBN 5100 on August 3. Rintarou calls Ruka to see if Ruka might know anything, but unfortunately comes up with nothing, as Ruka doesn't recall having lent him the computer in the first place, not knowing much more about it.

Rintarou decides to go meet Feiris to see if she might know anything more about the IBN 5100. Feiris still remembers having told Rintarou where the IBN 5100 was, but she only knows it by name and nothing more. To get more information though, she asks Rintarou to visit her at her home to hear her out, so he, Itaru, and Mayuri go there. Along the way, they visit the shrine and find the IBN 5100 really isn't there anymore.

While on the way to Feiris' home, they bump into Moeka and ask her about the PC. She knows nothing about it, so the three continue on. While they talk, Rintarou is surprised to hear that Mayuri and Itaru remember Moeka, even though he recalls they didn't know of her after her D-Mail. He thinks that Ruka's D-Mail might have been responsible, but cannot imagine how sending a message about eating vegetables could have drastically affected the past.

Before they reach their place, Mayuri tells Rintarou that Feiris' real name is Akiha Rumiho (秋葉 留美穂), though much to the dismay of Itaru (who is covering his ears trying to ignore it). Rintarou notes that the "Akiha" part of the name might have something to do with Akihabara. When they get there, they realize she lives in a high-storey mansion, and when inquiring her he realizes she has a high stake in Akihabara (or rather, that the grounds were once part of her property), and that she also has an influence in city development projects.

Before she can exchange any information, Feiris reveals that she'd like to use the time machine to send a D-Mail. She doesn't want to reveal the contents of the mail however, and this bothers Rintarou. He reluctantly agrees to let her send it...

New Divergence: 0.409420 (-0.04961)

After the change in the world, Rintarou finds the three are playing Thunder Net Access Battlers, so he doesn't notice what might have been affected. However, the discussion the three are having is annoying him, and he feels something is off. However, leaving the mansion he realizes that all the anime and game shops have vanished from the city. MayQueen+Nyan2 has also disappeared, becoming a regular ramen shop.

Date: 8/8/2010
Current Divergence: 0.409420

While walking through the streets of the changed Akihabara, he receives a mail saying, "We see you." Attached to the mail is that of red jelly. He suddenly gets a bad feeling, and wonders if SERN might be watching him right now. He fears that the latest D-Mail might have een responsible, and rushes back to the laboratory to calm down. He finds that Ruka, Mayuri, and Kurisu are there, and during their discussion his statement that Ruka is a guy actually pisses off the trio, as it turns out Ruka is a girl. Though he tries to explain his actions were thanks to the Reading Steiner, no one really believes him.

He heads outside about half an hour later, and meets up with Suzuha. They go out cycling, and Suzuha reveals that she's been looking for her father. She only has one chance to do this tomorrow, and if she misses it she has to leave the city. She has to meet him at a "particular place", but doesn't know his mail address or any way of contacting him. Suzuha still warns Rintarou about being with Kurisu.

Date: 8/9/2010
Current Divergence: 0.409420

The next day, Rintarou reveals he'd like to hold a party for Suzuha for when she does meet her father, so they all go out shopping. That evening, Kurisu is envious that Suzuha appears to have a close relationship with her father, and apologizes for misunderstanding Rintarou's thinking that Ruka was a guy. She also notes that being with Rintarou's group is much more enjoyable than her time in America, where everyone didn't want to talk to her for being the top student there. Rintarou mutters that he actually would like some friends, and Kurisu notes that she thinks of him as an important friend.

They find Itaru's trying to go to an offline meeting, but lure him back to the laboratory by deceiving him into thinking Feiris was cooking food, along with the rest of the girls. He gets pissed off, and notes the meeting was supposed to be with professional science fiction novelists.

The day gets late, and while the group is waiting for Suzuha to come, Rintarou receives a mail saying "Farewell." He quickly rushes out, and after 30 minutes manages to find her. She runs off after realizing he's there, and after a short chase Rintarou loses sight of her. He returns back to the lab to tell everyone that Suzuha had run off, and it seems like she never got to meet her father. He tells everyone to head back home, as he'll send a D-Mail to himself to change what happened. Unfortunately the time frame is not convenient for sending D-Mails, and a massive thunderstorm hits, so he waits until tomorrow to send it.

Date: 8/10/2010
Current Divergence: 0.409420

The next day at 12:00, Rintarou sets up a D-Mail to go to 16:00 on August 9, meant for him to follow Suzuha ignoring Kurisu.

New Divergence: 0.337187 (-0.072233)

After his Reading Steiner takes effect, he heads outside to see Suzuha's mountain bike is parked by the shop like always. She says she was at the Time Machine Offline Meeting, the same one Itaru was going to. She saw that all the lab members were waiting outside, and ended up bringing her to the laboratory. When Rintarou asks for any clues about who it might be, she says that her father uses the nickname "Barrel Titor".

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