Chapter 7

I went to the health insurance early in the morning and signed a contract. When i handed the papers over, my hands were trembling slightly, still unsure if the forgeries would work, but Kaito apparently did a good job. The officer took the documents without blinking an eye and submitted two forms, which i promptly filled out.

When i got back, Suzuha was ready to leave. Instead of a bandage, she only had a small adhesive plastered on her head now, which was to be removed in a week's time.

"Good morning, Rintarou!" She greeted me warmly. "Did you sleep well?"

"Hush, you shouldn't call me that in public!" I whispered. "My name is H-Hououin Kyouma!"

"Yeah, that's good," said the girl, we took the elevator down to the lobby where i showed her our new insurance plans.

"I wish you a speedy recovery, Miss Hashida and Mr. Hououin," said the the nurse enthusiastically, she was the nurse who looked after us on the first day. "Please drop by again if you experience any health problems."

We said our goodbyes happy to finally be able to "legally" leave the hospital and took the Hibiya line to our new living quarters. We rang the doorbell at Gouro-san who handed us the key with all the paperwork and wished us the best for the future. We thanked him and wished him and proceeded to our room. After we unlock our apartment for the first time, we looked around extensively and inspected every corner of our new home. there was even a small balcony that was aimed at a street with little traffic and would certainly make a nice place to stay in the summer.

"Okabe Rintarou there is only one futon here. I think we need to do some shopping." said Suzuha.

I agreed and found a furniture store nearby. After we had dragged the mattress and fresh bedding into our apartment, we went outside again to buy the necessary household items. A few hundred meters away there is a small supermarket that provided us with all our needed food. While my companion was looking around the detergent area, i was looking through the food and refrigerated shelves with a plastic basket on hand, i got six packs of instant noodles, spaghetti, packaged salad for something healthy, two large bottles of Dr. Pepper, I also took some vegetables, A few carton of milk, cereals for Suzuha, A ready made pizza for me, and some canned goods.

Suzuha had found all the things she was looking for and lined up behind me at the cash register. After we paid we dragged the bags into our apartment and put the perishable goods in the fridge. Then we moved the two futons and placed them in the bedroom at a distance. We wanted to use the second room as living and dining room, since the small kitchen was located in there and there was already a table with three chairs. Furthermore, there was a wooden shelf and a man sized wardrobe in which i wanted to stow the bag with the dirty laundry and the part from the time machine.

Since Gouro-san had told us about a utility room in the basement during our tour, suzuha quickly grabbed her clothes and whistled into the lower floors. "What a hard-working girl." i thought to myself and looked at the hard drive of the FG204 in my hands which smelled slightly burnt. I pushed the component into the far corner of the cupboard and started to cook something for the both of us, i have to do my part too.

In high school i had learned how to cook a simple pasta dish, i searched the kitchen cupboards for the appropriate cooking utensils until i found a large pot and a mixing spoon. I let in a liter of water, added some salt and turned the stove to the highest setting. When the water started to boil i put half of the contents of the spaghetti pack in the pot and waited. At the same time, i opened the canned tomatoes and heated them in a smaller saucepan. I leaned back against the fridge and looked out of the balcony window, then i saw my red cell phone lying on the table. As a precaution, Suzuha must have searched the pockets of my dirty lab coat and apparently put it there.

I had completely forgotten the existence of my cell phone since it was of little use to me in the year 1975. Comprehensive mobile communication would according to my knowledge only become available around mid to late 1980s. Still, i had grabbed the little red object that started it all and looked at it moodily. Had i not texted Daru about Makise Kurisu's death on that auspicious july 28th, I would never have landed on the Alpha world line, SERN'S dystopia would not have occurred, and Mayuri would still be alive. Still everything had come as it had to. We had continued to experiment with the phone microwave and randomly sent emails into the past until we finally found ourselves in this mess that couldn't be further from the one percent divergence range.

Nothing helped, now we had to deal with this fate and just make the most of it. Maybe we would be able to reach Steins;Gate or find a completely new path, the existence of which we had not thought possible before. I tried turning on the phone, but it seemed to have run out of power and instead of the usual buzz at startup i heard a loud hiss behind me!

I turned around in a flash. The pasta boiled over and the whitish foaming salt water poured onto the hot stove where it promptly evaporated. I swore pulling the pot off the stove, reducing the temperature to a minimum, and covering the pot with a lid. Such a shock, just because of some pasta i almost had a heart attack ... I need to pay more attention around my surroundings.

Now i turned my full attention to the pots and after another five minutes i drained the water and poured the spaghetti into a large bowl. I laid the table with the necessary utensils which are available in our apartment, added two glasses of water and removed the saucepan from the stove, finally i cleaned the stove with a pink cloth before Suzuha returned to the apartment to hide my small mishap.

Just as i was done she came in the door and took a deep breath.

"Hmmm, what is that smell? did you cook something, Rintarou?" she asked me with a slight smile.

"Um... yeah, i cooked some pasta, let's eat part-time soldier."

We sat at the small wooden table and loaded large portions of the pasta on our plates, then we covered them with tomato sauce, because we were both hungry we immediately began eating, at first bite i noticed that the spaghetti is a bit hard, but i didn't care because it tastes fine.

We didn't talk much, but both of us enjoyed our first meal in the new apartment. Suzuha practically inhaled her portion and took a second serving.

"Hmm, you did a good job." she said with her mouth full and I can't stop smiling at the funny sight.

An hour later Suzuha picked up the laundry and hung our clothes in the balcony, where they are left to dry. In the meantime i sat at the table and scribbled world lines in a writing pad to observe and analyse the course of events so far and the changes that every dmail had bought about.

There were a total of six dmails that led us to this world line, Starting with me sending the message of Kurisu's death, which was intercepted by SERN's echelon system promptly alerting the organization of our activities, then there is the loto six email that has no apparent effect, Moeka's mail to her past to not change phone model's, but caused the dissappearance of the IBN 5100 from the Yanabayashi shrine. A message to Rukako's mother that turned him into a girl, after that there is Faris mail that showed the largest change so far by turning all of Akihabara into an electronics district instead of the capital of Moe culture. And finally my message to myself to follow Suzuha before she can travel back to 1975, which managed to fuck up the time machine because of the strong downpour of rain, luckily we both travelled to the past this time and i managed to keep my memories.

Knowing the inevitable fate that awaits our future gadget laboratory, i had wanted to spend as much time as possible with my friends in the remaining two days till Mayuri's death and with the help of Kurisu's time leap machine managed to repeat the same two days full of fun and leisure activities again and again, hoping that the inevitable may not occur.

My self created time loop had torn my soul into such a terrible degree that after countless repetitions i had thought about doing bad things to my friends just to counter my own boredom. After all as an observer of the world lines, I was the god who could judge good and evil and influence events as i pleased why bother with morals if you can just time leap to the past to undo all your wrongdoings.

When i was on the verge of completely losing it Suzuha noticed the changes in me and managed to save me from my growing dark impulses by offering me the chance to accompany her on her journey through time thus saving me from myself.

I was brooding over the notepad when two arms came around me from behind and Suzuha whispered in my ear, "Hey, Rintarou don't be sad. let's go outside and ask around for available jobs to lighten your mood, okay?"

Her braids touched my face and i blushed from the sudden intimate contact.

"Part time soldier, a scientist does what he has to do, of course that includes analysing problems and making crazy plans... However... I won't refuse your offer this time."

With these words i rose from the chair and freed myself from Suzuha's embrace. Since when did she actually call me by my first name? Nevermind, I put on my brown leather jacket and left the house with my cheerful companion.