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Chapter 8

Androgynous / Self-Similarity
自己相似のアンドロギュノス

Date: 8/14/2010
Current Divergence: 0.456914

Rintarou comes to back in the laboratory, where Feiris is asking him for her cellphone. After returning it, he embraces her and apologizes. She had apparently come to see Mayuri's cosplay outfits, and went back to work straight after. Rintarou decides to head to the Yanabayashi shrine, and notices that the anime and game shops have all returned. Upon arriving at the shrine, he asks Ruka (who is now a girl) about the IBN 5100. It seems as if she knows, and she brings her father out. Her father believes the IBN 5100 is in the shrine and searches.

Ruka appears afraid and Rintarou thinks it's because of what happened some time ago, when he touched her where he wasn't supposed to. However, she denies being afraid of him. When he asks her about the IBN 5100, she quickly denies it in a startling manner. He changes the topic and thinks Ruka hasn't worn Mayuri's cosplay outfit because it's embarrassing. Her father comes out not having found the IBN 5100, and thinks it's been taken away somewhere. Ruka's father asks her if she might know as she cleans the place every year, but she reluctantly replies that she knows nothing about it.

He returns to Yuugo's place and checks the divergence meter, as it reads "0.456914%". Of course, this is now the "first" time he's gone there, so Yuugo goes through the same discussion about Suzu. He returns back to the laboratory to confirm that things are back to the way they were before Feiris sent her D-Mail, and wonders whether Mayuri will die on the 15th. [1]

Leap: 8/14/2010, 18:19 -> 8/13/2010, 10:19

Rintarou tries to think of how to deal with Ruka's situation, but can't think of anything other than making her cry. He consults Kurisu, and notes that he should never have let people use D-Mails in the first place. He also doesn't have Ruka's pager number, which makes things more complicated. Kurisu says he should just explain the entire situation to Ruka, and he does but things go the way he expected, with Ruka running off.

He goes to see Kurisu, who thinks that he's set off a potential romance with Ruka, or rather that it had already been in place. However, she is more worried about how Ruka being a girl had affected where the IBN 5100 was, and thinks that Rintarou is getting closer to getting the IBN 5100 in comparison to the divergences. In terms of Ruka, Kurisu asks if Rintarou has a girlfriend, which he doesn't. He asks why, and she says he should go out with Ruka, though she reluctantly says this. She says in the worst case scenario, he could be an asshole and just take the number from Ruka, but Rintarou says he'd prefer not to do so, even if Ruka should forget the event ever happened due to the world line changing.

Date: 8/14/2010
Current Divergence: 0.456914

Mayuri comes to the laboratory and is angry at Rintarou, saying that he had pissed off Ruka. Though Mayuri wants to know the reason, Rintarou shrugs it off with his childish acts. He eventually gets a mail from Ruka saying she has something important to discuss, and immediately heads to the shrine. There, Ruka says she hadn't told Mayuri she was going to die, but believes what Rintarou told her. In return for changing her back to a guy, she wants him to be her boyfriend for today and tomorrow. She confesses that she likes him, which shocks Rintarou. He rushes back to the laboratory with his mind in a daze, and decides to time leap as far back as possible to give himself some breathing room.

Leap: 8/14/2010, 10:35 -> 8/11/2010, 14:35

He leaps back right in front of Kurisu, and asks her to come with him to the Yanabayashi shrine, though she's of absolutely no help. Rintarou explains the situation to Ruka again, and the same thing happens.

Date: 8/12/2010
Current Divergence: 0.456914

Again Mayuri comes early in the morning to get angry at Rintarou, but he already knows this will happen and tells her he's on his way to meet Ruka. He believes he should be receiving a mail, and indeed it does come at just the right moment. He calls Kurisu to come with him again, and when he gets there the same events happen, except she wants him to be her boyfriend from the 12th to the 15th. He calls Kurisu, who's in hiding, but she's still of no help. He decides to be her boyfriend, and the two plan a date for tomorrow.

On the way back, he talks with Kurisu about how he should approach Ruka, though Kurisu is very annoyed at first with this. They decide to go to MayQueen+Nyan2 to discuss how the date will go, and Kurisu lectures him using a guide on dating.

Date: 8/13/2010
Current Divergence: 0.456914

The next day, Rintarou goes on the date with Ruka as planned, and along the way Ruka remembers the first time they met. Rintarou remembers as well, though to him it's likely his memory is different than Ruka's. While Ruka was still a guy, he had been bothered by otaku who wanted to take a picture of him in his hakama, and Rintarou chased them away. Regardless, what happened after he had chased them away remains the same in both world lines. The date goes well, and Ruka asks to go on a date the next day.

He heads back to the laboratory, where Itaru is annoyed with him going out with someone. Mayuri thinks they should go as a cosplay couple to Comic Market on the 15th, which he refuses because Mayuri will die on that day. Besides that, Mayuri says that a girl is happy just being with the guy she likes, though she wonders if it's different for guys, and feels lonely.

Mayuri wonders what it was that made Ruka fall in love with him, and when Rintarou recalls what Ruka said during the date, he wonders if there's a possibility she remembers what happened before she sent the D-Mail. He feels that he needs to confirm this.

Date: 8/14/2010
Current Divergence: 0.456914

The next day, Rintarou asks Ruka whether or not she remembers the time before the D-Mail was sent, and this puts her in a mood not suitable for the date for today. She decides to put it off until tomorrow, while Rintarou walks around Akihabara. He considers the possibility that Ruka wanted to become a girl because of him, and doesn't want to bring her sadness.

Date: 8/15/2010
Current Divergence: 0.456914

The next day, they go to the Comic Market and end up meeting with Mayuri, but Ruka seeing her makes her sad. Eventually at the end of the day, she gives up her mother's pager number, and leaves in tears. Rintarou doesn't want to accept this kind of ending, and time leaps.

Leap: 8/15/2010, 17:11 -> 8/15/2010, 12:11

When he comes to, Rintarou takes Ruka to the shrine and decides to put on the same childish acts he usually does, which Ruka happily decides to tag along with. At the end of the day, Ruka confesses that she remembers when she was still a guy, and knows where the IBN 5100. Rintaoru thinks that he can get it without turning Ruka back into a guy, but she reveals that as a girl she had broken the machine while cleaning the shrine warehouse. She had placed it in a coin locker for at least a year and a half, and it costs 200 yen per 24 hours. Sadly, the key has changed, which means the computer is gone now.

Ruka gives Rintarou her mother's pager number, and he calls Kurisu to set up a D-Mail. Though before he sends the D-Mail, Ruka gives him a final farewell. He sends the D-Mail...

New Divergence: 0.523307 (+0.066393)

Ruka Scenario

Rintarou cannot bring himself to send the D-Mail, denying Ruka's memories and feelings. He ends up seeing Mayuri to her death at the Comic Market that night, as she abruptly dies from an unknown cause. He ends up secluding himself from everyone else for three days in a row, and Kurisu tries to bring him to his senses.

She says there's no way she could get angry at someone who's time leaped so many times when she hasn't time leaped once at all, but he has to take responsibility for it, especially since he's let Ruka continue on living as a girl. Thanks to what's happened, Kurisu asserts Ruka has essentially become an "accomplice" to Mayuri's death, and likely is suffering just as much as Rintarou is.

Date: 8/20/2010
Current Divergence: 0.456914

Rintarou visits Ruka again, who is in tears inside the shrine. She still wants to save Mayuri, but Rintarou doesn't want to do anything that would hurt Ruka. Ruka eventually decides to time leap herself to before Mayuri dies. Rintarou's Reading Steiner doesn't kick in, but he feels as if he's time leaped when he actually hasn't. When Ruka talks to him, she has a picture of him, herself, and Mayuri. Ruka is wearing the cosplay outfit that Mayuri made for her.

Sometime in the future, Rintarou has a child with Ruka.

Notes

  1. In one alternate route, Rintarou decides to wait until the 15th. Itaru and Mayuri are out shopping that evening, and Rounder attacks them, taking away Mayuri. It becomes clear to him what becomes of this, and decides to time leap from 8/15/2010, 19:44 -> 8/13/2010, 10:44.

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