Water flowed with a gushing sound, Mayuri was washing the lunch dishes, and Hashida Itaru returned to his computer, typing on the keyboard.
Sitting in a chair, Makise Kurisu, having listened to Okabe Rintaro's narration, nodded:
"I see. Assuming I believe this is true, Okabe has found the IBN5100."
"Yes, I brought it here with you," Okabe Rintaro added.
"But no one remembers this except Okabe," Makise Kurisu deduced, "I'm afraid the D-mail caused a change in the past."
"...?" Okabe Rintaro frowned, "A change in the past?"
"But the content sent was all trivial matters."
"This is called the butterfly effect," Makise Kurisu said softly.
As she spoke, the narrator's music played, and an animation, similar to when John Titor explained the worldline theory, replaced their faces.
"Send a text message to the past, and the worldline forks there."
Mysterious butterflies fluttered their wings, flying along with the movement of the lines.
"From a world where lotto 6 was never bought, to a worldline where it was."
"Therefore, what should have happened and what actually happened gradually changed."
"A single hair can move the whole body," Makise Kurisu said, "It's like playing billiards; the changes are gradually amplified."
"This is one of the risks of changing the past that was often talked about before," she spread her hands.
Okabe Rintaro asked in a deep voice, "Then, where did the IBN5100 go?"
"To ask in reverse, where did you find it?" she asked.
[NTR! This is NTR! Titor's animation and music have been NTR'd!]
[It's not the same. If you listen carefully, you can still hear the difference, right? Although the style is indeed similar, it shouldn't be the same song, or perhaps not the same segment.]
[But the animation is indeed the same (cough)]
[Sure enough, when it comes to time, you can't get around the butterfly effect.]
[After all, this theory is too famous. I'd be a little surprised if Brooch didn't know.]
[Even if you go to Yanagibayashi Shrine now, you won't find it, right? After all, Moeka should have taken it long ago.]
[You can still go to look for clues.]
...
The chirping of birds drifted over. Standing in the shade of a tree, Urushibara Ruka received a call from Okabe Rintaro.
"Yes, yes, I asked Dad, and it was indeed enshrined in our home," Rukako, wearing her school uniform, sighed, "But now... it's gone."
...
"Is that so." Okabe Rintaro nodded and hung up the phone.
"How is it?"
Okabe Rintaro said, "Indeed, the IBN5100 was once kept at Yanagibayashi Shrine."
"But now, it's gone."
"No one knows who took it or when."
"A dead end, then..." Makise Kurisu sighed.
"But it's so strange to enshrine a computer in a shrine," Mayuri said, continuing to knit the clothes in her hands, "Who on earth did it?"
Hearing Mayuri's words, Okabe Rintaro suddenly remembered someone... the stairwell.
Felis, dressed as a maid, leaned against the wall, took a sip of her drink, and let out a soft sigh.
From behind the wall came the sound of singing and dancing, with fans' cheers intertwined with the songs.
Suddenly, a nearby door opened, and a black-haired maid poked her head out:
"Felis-chan."
"Meow meow?"
"For the next maid meet-and-greet event's 10 questions and 10 answers, I want to use this. Is that okay?" She walked up the steps and handed a piece of paper to Felis.
"Let me see~" Felis said, taking the paper and then reading the question on it:
"If you could only go back to the past to do one thing, what would you want to do?"
...
Her eyes changed slightly, just a little.
"What would Felis-chan want to do?" the maid asked casually.
"Eh." Startled by the voice, Felis turned her head.
But soon, she returned to her usual demeanor, smiling and saying, "That's right, meow."
"Felis, meow, doesn't look back at the past, meow."
Handing the paper back to the maid, she extended the arm holding her drink to the side, pointing straight ahead.
"Moving forward is the mission of a cat-eared maid who brings happiness to everyone, meow!" As she spoke, she accidentally squeezed the carton of juice in her hand too hard.
"Splat..." And so, the squeezed juice sprayed out, spilling onto the ground.
Before she could remedy the situation, her phone rang.
It was a call.
"Phone, phone..." She quickly answered the call, "It's me, Felis, meow."
...Kyouma?
"It's the IBN5100." On the other end of the phone, Okabe Rintaro walked back and forth in the Laboratory, asking, "Do you remember enshrining it at Yanagibayashi Shrine?"
"Meow, I don't quite remember," was the response he received.
Not a denial, but vague.
"Dad used to have a lot of old computers, meow," Felis said, then fell silent for a moment, turning around.
After a moment of hesitation, she spoke.
"Kyouma, does this have anything to do with the Time Machine you mentioned, meow?"
[Laughs, Felis is going to start manipulating Brooch again.]
[That's why they say she's a woman full of lies.]
[I think it's still Brooch's problem. He really doesn't have any sincerity, does he? Always just calls to ask things.]
[What else?]
[Of course, it's to meet up and then talk about things. Otherwise, asking things is too cheap, and the relationship won't get close.]
[I can't understand. I just think it's fine to ask things directly over the phone. Why bother meeting up?]
[Oh right, Felis mentioned when she gave the clue that it was enshrined by her family.]
[So, Felis still has something she wants to recover, but she won't easily say it because of her persona.]
[People like Tonz, who are easily tricked into revealing their true feelings with a few words, are actually a minority.]
[Are you still scolding?]
[So Felis was originally the owner? The owner personally went to be a maid?]
[You just figured that out?]
A train passed by, making a loud sound.
Below the train tracks, on the bustling street, besides the flowing pedestrians, there were many maid sisters handing out various flyers.
"Ah, look, look, upa, metal upa!" Mayuri exclaimed with great joy, looking at the upa in the glass case.
...
Okabe Rintaro turned around, looked at his childhood friend, and asked, "Sure enough, you still want a metal upa?"
"...'Still'?" Mayuri blinked, meeting Okabe Rintaro's gaze.
...
Their gazes met. Okabe Rintaro did not answer the question, and Mayuri did not continue to press for anything.
...
Okabe Rintaro was the first to give in. He turned around and asked, "How much longer do you want to stay here?"
"Let's go, okay?"