Despite his childhood friend speaking in her characteristic way, Okabe Rintaro did not smile. Instead, his pupils trembled as he asked in a shaky voice, "You really don't remember?"
Makise Kurisu: "…"
"Knock knock—" Suddenly, there was a knock on the Laboratory door.
"Come in~" Mayuri called out.
So, the door opened, and then a 'girl' with her head bowed slowly walked in.
It was Urushibara Ruka.
"Ah, Ruka-kun, welcome." Mayuri greeted him.
However, Rukako unexpectedly didn't respond. Instead, she turned her head, and the moment she saw Okabe Rintaro, she subtly gritted her teeth.
He quickly jogged closer, then bent down deeply.
"Kyouma-shifu, I'm sorry!"
Mayuri: "Ruka-kun?"
Rukako, still bent at the waist, gently held up a slip of paper with both hands.
"This…"
"—" Okabe Rintaro's eyes fixated on the paper. He snatched it, then quickly read out the numbers on it:
"02 12 18… It's the same."
He abruptly turned his head:
"Rukako, where did you get this from?!"
Startled by his voice, Rukako fidgeted, then replied in a low voice:
"Um, that, Kyouma-shifu told me."
"Me?" Okabe Rintaro was stunned.
"You said, 'These numbers might win, go buy a ticket for me,'" Urushibara Ruka said quietly.
"Eh eh, when?" Hashida Itaru asked.
"A week ago," she said.
Hearing this, Mayuri showed a surprised expression:
"Oh oh, Okabe is a prophet."
"So, Ruka-shi, did the lotto 6 win?" Hashida Itaru pressed.
Everyone's gaze converged on Urushibara Ruka, and he couldn't help but shrink back.
"Um… I got one number wrong." His expression was very dejected.
Hearing him say this, Okabe Rintaro suddenly looked at the lottery ticket in his hand again.
021218… while the D-mail sent was 021219.
"Ah ah, what a pity, such a pity." Hashida Itaru lamented.
While everyone else hadn't reacted, only Makise Kurisu's mind replayed his earlier reaction.
"Okabe, could it be that you used the Phone Microwave…" she said.
Okabe Rintaro: "…"
He didn't answer. Instead, his pupils constricted again.
Because he saw something different clearly placed on the desktop in front of him.
A bottle of dr. pepper.
'Hey! Why isn't there any dr. pepper?'
'Hmm, if there isn't, there isn't. Nothing can be done about it.'
The voices of their earlier argument echoed in his ears.
[Ugh, what a subtle feeling]
[Okabe Rintaro: This eerie feeling of memory and perception being out of sync, it's back]
[So it really didn't win]
[Who would so easily believe a text message that looks like a scam text?]
[So Brooch didn't believe it himself, but threw it to Rukako to buy it, right?]
[Who told Mr. Hououin that he didn't even have enough money to buy a lottery ticket? Even if he knew the winning numbers, he wouldn't pay to buy it]
[Getting the numbers wrong, that's quite a coincidence]
[If it had actually won, would you still be complaining?]
[So why would the lottery not winning change the dr. pepper restock?]
[The answer is because it made Okabe Rintaro drink one less dr. pepper, if he drank one less a few days ago, he can have one more today (not)]
2010.08.03 15:11:09
Rooftop.
Okabe Rintaro gently put down the empty dr. pepper bottle, and opened his phone again.
"I should have indeed sent the D-mail."
"But, there's no record of it being sent."
"Does this mean the past has been rewritten?" Okabe Rintaro fell into thought.
The scene from a short while ago replayed in his mind.
"They completely don't remember the experiment, but we clearly discussed it together, watched it together."
"Only I still remember."
"Only I."
This was the same feeling as when he had sent the D-mail about Makise Kurisu being stabbed.
The street had suddenly become empty, and he was suddenly in the middle of the road.
"This feeling, it's exactly the same as then," he thought.
"…"
Okabe Rintaro couldn't help but murmur to himself:
"What is going on?"
The chirping of birds drifted by.
Immediately after, the camera focused on Amane Suzuha.
She sat on a chair, holding a badge in her hand.
It was the same badge she had looked at once before.
"…"
"What's that?" Suddenly, a curious voice came from beside her.
Snapping out of her thoughts, Suzuha looked up and saw Mr. Braun's daughter.
"Something very important." As she said this, she put the badge away.
"Tap, tap, tap, tap…"
Quite coincidentally, Okabe Rintaro slowly walked down from the Laboratory.
Suzuha turned her head, looked at Okabe Rintaro, and a smile appeared on her face.
Mr. Braun's daughter, however, seeing this guy appear, subconsciously moved closer to Suzuha's side.
But, the smile on Suzuha's face only lasted for a moment.
Because she suddenly realized that Okabe Rintaro's state seemed to be off.
"What's wrong with you?" she asked.
"…" Hearing the voice beside him, he turned his head, his expression very grim.
"You look like you've been brainwashed," Suzuha quipped.
"Brainwashed…" Okabe Rintaro murmured, then suddenly chuckled, looking down: "Maybe it is."
Suzuha: "?!"
"Who exactly is brainwashed, me, or them…"
Before his murmur finished, Suzuha's expression turned stern. She suddenly approached Okabe, grabbed his hand, threw him onto the chair with a reverse grip, then straddled him, sitting on him to restrict his movement, while raising both hands to cup his face.
"What are you doing?!" Okabe Rintaro was bewildered.
But Suzuha just pulled at his eyes, then observed his eyeballs closely at a very near distance.
The sound of their breathing was incredibly clear.
Mr. Braun's daughter beside them completely couldn't understand what they were doing.
"…"
"…" After staring for a while, Suzuha finally let out a sigh of relief and said:
"No control chip implanted."
"…Hmph." Okabe Rintaro made an incomprehensible sound.
"It's okay, you haven't been brainwashed." Suzuha got off him and comforted him.
"…"
Despite this, Okabe Rintaro still maintained the posture of being pinned to the chair, blinking repeatedly, not daring to move much.
His mind in a chaotic state, he began to process what Suzuha had just said.
"Con, control, chip?"