บท 168: The Tale of Insane Scientist Hououin Kyouma! (I)
2010, Akihabara
Tokyo
The timeline of Steins;Gate had a normal setting.
There was no magic, no supernatural phenomenon, and no Gods and Demons. It was just a world of ordinary men, women, and science. Thus, when Kai's eyes adjusted, blinking away the flash of the teleportation, he wasn't surprised to see the black Abnormality Limiter flashing more menacing than ever.
One. Just one wrong step and you would be obliterated Red, it seemed to warn.
Kai was in a dark alley, huge dustbins smelling foul all around him.
Suddenly, he felt a tightness about him. Kai looked down and found himself clad in a tight-margin-fitting black suit and pants, his polished black shoes reflecting silver sunlight like two convex mirrors. And black sunglasses were hanging from his chest pocket.
He turned his head and noticed that even Meg was prepped in the same clothing.
Somehow, the same tightness, that was making him feel odd, made her look extremely hot.
Kai's eyes went down her face and lingered over her breasts, the buttons of her white shirt under the black suit threatening to burst out. Even lower, down her back, he saw the state of her pants.
What the fuck is wrong with Chaos? Kai thought as Meg shied finding him observing her so deeply. Why didn't it change my clothing when I arrived at the Pokemon World from the Harry Potter World?
The notification answered.
…
[
In the Switched World, Steins;Gate, the sensitivity of the Abnormality Limiter is 200% higher than the Random World of your Main Mission.
For this entire Side Mission, the Contestant and his Party member are forbidden to take off the garments assigned to them.
You have access to Switch World Timer as per your privilege. Once the limit of an hour is crossed, Chaos will start deducting your Mission Credits. Once all Mission Credits run out, you will be thrown out of the Switched World.
…
Switch World Timer: 01:00:00
]
…
The moment Kai saw the timer, the numbers changed to 00:59:59.
Fuck! he cursed. I don't have a second to waste gawking at peach-like asses.
Kai hurriedly shared the notification's details with Meg, and her face lost all shyness in a matter of seconds. The lives Contestants lived in the Primordial World did teach them to get ready to face unwanted scenarios and possibilities like soldiers trained to get ready to fight anytime in a battle.
"Let me find out how far we are from the lab, master," she said, wearing her sunglasses. "Chaos couldn't have teleported us too distant from the main storyline Character given the Side Mission is about him."
Kai saw her scamper off and soon found himself standing alone, surrounded by walls on either side and a maze of rusty pipes. Meg's mission was just to assist him in delivering the eggs, and if he wanted to, he could have sent her on her way to the White Room before coming here. But there was a reason that she knew about this world despite it being notoriously infamous among the Contestants for giving no Skills or Abilities other than a chance to attend free lectures from the young scientists.
Meg had once completed a mission to guard one of the main storyline Characters from this Random World. With her mind, and logical reasoning skills, she had imprinted the name of the main character, Rintaro Okabe, in her heart as an unparalleled genius.
Kai recalled the things she had told him about this world.
Rintaro Okabe was an 18-year-old, first-year student at Tokyo Denki University, according to what Meg had told her. He was a self-claimed mad scientist, who ran the Future Gadget Laboratory together with Mayuri Shiina, his childhood friend, and Itaru Hashida, a close friend, who was also an experienced hacker and an otaku.
These three later found out that the cell phone-operated microwave oven in their laboratory could send text messages back in time. These text messages were later named D-mails, and only the main character could remember the changed past, an ability that he called Reading Steiner.
The entire plot revolved around Okabe and his lab members figuring out the workings of this time travel and then later facing the dire consequences of messing with time.
But Kai wasn't interested in anything other than the character Rintaro Okabe himself.
Meg had told him that the main character was a melodramatic, eccentric, and tsundere individual. He liked to assume his true name was Hououin Kyouma, using it to introduce himself to others.
Okabe was socially inept with extremely poor social skills, and yet, he never hesitated to lend a helping hand to people he'd never met. He was also easily deceived, despite his intelligence. He liked to pose as an agent working against a certain Organization which he suggested was always after him. Though, in reality, he only did it, thinking this kind of image gave him a cool and mysterious aura. However, it all disappeared as the story progressed, once the bad things started to happen because of reckless tampering with time.
"Master!" Meg's shout jolted him out of his reverie. "I found it. Hurry!"
Kai dashed. "Where?" he demanded, coming out of the alley. They were in some kind of market, lined with shops and restaurants on either side of the road.
"Not too far," she said, looking troubled, "but considering the time we have…" Meg trailed off.
"Can't we hire a cab or something?" Kai asked, looking around, and saw no sign of any motorized vehicle.
Meg shook her head. "We are way into the other side of the city," she said.
"Let's go," Kai said, cursing the System under his breath. "Good old running it is, then."
Kai thought they would reach the lab in 15-20 minutes. Surely when she had said not too far, she would have meant only this much time. But he was mistaken. They had mistaken the labyrinth that this city was, and many times Meg had to stop, reconfirming if they were going in the right direction. Not to mention, they could only go as fast as humanely possible, otherwise…
The result was that they didn't reach their destination even after a full 40 minutes had gone by.
By then, Kai was getting anxious.
"We are here," Meg said, fumbling with her tight suit. "Now we just have to wait for him to show up."
Kai looked up and saw a television shop. Braun Tube Workshop was written over the shop in huge letters. This shop belonged to Mr. Yugo Tennouji, the landlord of the main character. Kai lifted his eyes and saw the second floor of this multistory building. That's where the laboratory was, as known to the Contestants.
"Come here, master," Meg said, pulling him to the shade of another shop, the shopkeeper eying them apprehensively. "It's better if Mr. Tennouji doesn't see us."
Kai didn't give a damn who sees him now. Time was ticking, and the timer seemed to run faster than the fucking time to him. He looked at the timer again.
00:17:35
When he took his eyes off it, he found Meg looking at him. She could see the palpable tension on his face.
"Rintaro Okabe usually seems delusional and paranoid, displaying eccentric mannerisms like talking to himself on the phone and engaging in fits of maniacal laughter," Meg said, obviously trying to take Kai's mind off the timer. "He also seemed to have a severe case of Chuunibyou, but there are several occasions I remember where he was quite rational, possessing great situational awareness."
They went quiet, then, as Meg looked away for a while, trying to spy on the Character.
Kai looked at the timer again.
00:14:15
Now Kai truly felt like the timer was skipping time. Surely she hadn't taken 3 minutes, right?
"It is known that this mad scientist persona is largely a facade he wears to make life interesting for his childhood friend Mayuri," she continued, taking her sunglasses off, "and he tends to drop it if the situation becomes serious. And…"
This sentence would never reach the end.
Kai had sighted the man he was looking for.
With two large bags in both hands, wearing a long, white lab coat, and his small hair pushed back, Rintaro Okabe was making headway towards the stairs by the television shop, leading to the upper floors.
Meg followed his stare, and her eyes widened.
They both ran.
Okabe was a lanky young man with a square jaw and bony cheeks. His eyes were brown and there was a light stubble on his chin and cheeks. He saw them running towards him. The young man dropped the two bags and ran in the opposite direction.
"Help!" he shouted. "The Organization has found me in the end!"
A fat head peeked out from the second floor, and from the shop, a small girl came running out.
Kai passed them all, holding back his speed as humanly possible as he could. Meg slowed down, keeping her a few paces behind him in case someone intervened.
"I am…" the main character cried, but couldn't complete his words.
Kai's punch caught him right under his jaw.
The young man fell with a thud, his eyes rolling backward.
Ignoring the Notification about the Side Mission's completion, Kai took the trembling book out of his inventory. Petyr disappeared from within him, and Kai snapped the book open before anyone could come, forcing him away from the target.
He took a moment to calm himself.
The world shook again, and the familiar colorful flashes livened up his surroundings. The Song of History was singing, and he must listen to it patiently. The pages flapped beyond the latest tale, and then words materialized on the new one, like words on a green computer screen.
The yellow, crisp page felt alive. The Book had finally devoured another tale and its title was as insane as Kai's thoughts.
"-The Tale of Insane Scientist Hououin Kyouma-"
*********************
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