"It must be because very large things can't send too much," Mayuri said, then suddenly remembered something: "Ah, could it be because of that kerr black hole…"
"It's a kerr black hole," Makise Kurisu corrected her.
"Is the opening of that black hole too tight?" Mayuri raised her index finger.
Hearing this, Hashida Itaru gently pushed up his glasses: "Mayushii, say what you just said again."
"From the opening…"
"Shut up, pervert!" Makise Kurisu immediately snapped.
Okabe Rintaro sighed: "In any case, the detailed verification will be done after tomorrow."
"However, I must declare this one thing!"
"August 2nd, 2010, will be recorded in human history as an eternal monument!"
"Because on this day, our Future Gadget Laboratory successfully developed the first Time Machine in human history!" He raised his hands high.
"…"
"…"
"…"
After a brief silence, Hashida Itaru finally couldn't help but complain:
"It's not the first one, is it? SERN has already developed one."
"And ultimately, it can't be considered a successful development; it just happened to work," Makise Kurisu added, twisting the knife.
Okabe Rintaro's raised hands began to tremble. He abruptly lowered them, then glared unceremoniously at Makise Kurisu:
"Every single one of you is like this, showing no respect for my grand declaration!"
"But Okabe," Mayuri suddenly showed a gentle smile: "It's really great that the experiment went smoothly."
"Summarized a lot of rules, but when asked about the principle, I don't know."
"Honestly, Okabe is pretty good at giving these speeches, even though there are many points to criticize, at least he has the momentum."
"The opening is too tight~"
"Hashida Itaru, step forward!"
"Shut up, pervert!"
"Brooch is constantly being stabbed."
"Who told him to say such impractical things? Be realistic and stick to the facts. Just tell me, wasn't SERN's Time Machine made first?"
"Mr. Hououin is always getting the short end of the stick."
Looking at Mayuri's smiling face, Okabe Rintaro's face couldn't help but break into a smile as well.
However, this smile only lasted a few seconds before transforming into an unexplainable expression.
Then, a piano piece with a changing rhythm began to play.
The scene shifted to an endless galaxy, then to a shirtless Okabe Rintaro.
"Where is this?" He looked around blankly.
Then, he saw a 'black hole' constantly rotating in the void beneath his feet, seemingly devouring everything.
"Ah ah ah?!" The next moment, he was swallowed by the black hole.
"You haven't moved," a very pleasant female voice echoed in his ear.
Immediately after, the world before Okabe Rintaro's eyes became only black and white.
"Here, space and time convert into each other," she continued to say softly.
Okabe Rintaro couldn't help but murmur:
"Event Horizon?"
"You cannot move in space; only time is infinitely extended." The slightly blurry voice gradually became clear, and it seemed vaguely discernible that the person speaking these words was Makise Kurisu:
"Your one second, to me, is eternity."
A buzzing sound rang out, and the black hole continued to expand.
"The end of the universe is escaping," Okabe Rintaro murmured again: "No, that's wrong, it's being infinitely extended."
"What is it? The universe? Or me?"
"You cannot turn back," Makise Kurisu continued to say softly: "Eternity is not infinite. Even if time is stretched to eternity, an end still exists."
Okabe Rintaro instinctively reached out his hand.
Then, suddenly, his arm gained color.
But it was a gel-like green.
The green gel arm spread outwards in an uncontrolled manner, and Okabe Rintaro's breathing stopped.
He couldn't help but think.
"When will one second later arrive?"
"Towards the front."
"Reaching the end."
"You cannot turn back."
Makise Kurisu's voice faded, and with it, the piano music stopped.
"So stream of consciousness."
"Huh? What happened? How did Brooch get swallowed by a black hole?"
"Oh no, I completely don't understand."
"But the music is so beautiful."
"There's a strange sadness, like it's time for NetEase Cloud Music depression."
"Event Horizon is a boundary in spacetime. No event within the horizon can affect an observer outside the horizon. The boundary around a black hole is the Event Horizon — excerpt from Baidu Baike."
"Alright, you can stop now. We know you can use Baidu."
"So why was it Assistant's voice?"
"Isn't this a sci-fi animation???"
The bullet comments quickly scrolled past, and then, a string of flowing time flashed across the screen again.
2010.08.03 09:14:00
Laboratory.
"Beep, beep beep, beep beep—" The vibrating sound and Okabe Rintaro's groan sounded together. Okabe Rintaro, who had taken off his white coat and was lying on the sofa, picked up his phone and sighed: "Is it the text message maniac again? Still as annoying as ever."
Saying this, he continued to scroll down through the text messages.
As expected, they were all from 'Shining Shiatsu Master'.
'Are you there?'
'So dark'
'Get up'
'Asleep?'
He casually opened the first text message and read its contents aloud one by one:
"Sorry about yesterday."
"How about I come to your place now?"
'At least reply'
'Or are you not home?'
But halfway through, Okabe Rintaro didn't want to read anymore.
"Don't you ever think that I'm still sleeping?" He couldn't help but complain.
Scrolling up again, he quickly found the text message 'Asleep?'
'Are you still sleeping?' As if realizing it belatedly, Moeka sent this message.
"No need to add 'still', I am sleeping." With a sigh, Okabe Rintaro turned over.
However, as soon as he got up, he saw a new text message.
'I'm going up the stairs now'
"Hmm?" He was stunned for a moment, then suddenly got up and jogged to the door of the Laboratory.
Just as he was about to open the door, another text message beeped.
'I'm at the door'
'I'm going to knock, so if you're there, say something'
So, at the moment Moeka's hand was about to knock on the door, Okabe Rintaro opened it.
"…Hm." She was startled but quickly regained her composure. She didn't speak but instead raised her phone again and began typing rapidly.
"Beep—"
Okabe Rintaro quickly received a text message.
'You said I could come and see, right?'