[188] "Steins;Gate" Premieres! (6)

Chapter 188: "Steins;Gate" Premieres! (6)

"It seems our speculation has been confirmed; it is indeed reality that has the issue."

At the top of the Mage's Tower, the Archmages displayed complex expressions, clearly surprised that the truth of the story was as astonishing as they had imagined.

However, even so, the myriad of chaotic clues still obscured their understanding of the actual situation.

"If it really is that the world has undergone some sort of change, what could have caused this? Why is the protagonist the only one aware of the shifts in reality? Furthermore, what connection could there be to the sudden disappearance of a well-known figure from several years ago after this world alteration?"

Upon hearing Dean Hohenheim's remarks, the attending Archmages similarly showed expressions of confusion.

Although they had formed hypotheses about the reasons behind the world's changes, they remained baffled about the triggers and the outcomes.

Even though many Archmages had a vague sense that it all seemed connected to the element of time, they still could not grasp how time influenced this world.

Thus, at that moment, they could only keep silent, patiently watching the film before them, waiting for the content to provide them with answers.

....

In the movie, the plot of "Steins;Gate" continued to unfold.

The protagonist, Rintarou Okabe, first encountered a girl named Moeka Kiryu, who seemed to be searching for a very old machine known as the IBN5100. After negotiating with her, Okabe decided to help her in the search.

However, upon asking Itaru Hashida, Okabe realized that such a machine seemingly did not exist in reality.

Upon this realization, the two went to a maid café, where Mayuri appeared to be working.

After talking with Mayuri and her friend, a middle school girl named Faris, the two eventually returned to the lab and resumed their investigation of the microwave.

"In the university's research room, I analyzed it, and the results show that the internal elements of the banana have been completely destroyed after being microwaved."

"Oh? So the banana has turned into something else?"

"Based on the current situation, it seems to be influenced by this microwave."

"On what basis?"

"By the intuition of a research madman!"

"That's completely unfounded."

"Anyway, let's conduct another experiment."

With that, Rintarou Okabe grabbed one of the bananas that Mayuri had bought, disregarding any potential complaints that might follow, and prepared to use it for the questionable experiment.

However, Itaru Hashida did not let him go through with it entirely and only took out one banana for the experiment.

Soon, the experiment began, and the removed banana started spinning inside the microwave.

Before long, with a 'ding' sound, the heating process ended.

"Alright, the experiment is complete."

Hashida opened the microwave, but to their astonishment, the banana was missing.

"How is that possible?"

"It's really gone?"

"Could this microwave have the ability to teleport?"

"Is that for real?"

"It should be… fake, right?"

"Hahaha…"

"But how do we explain the banana that just disappeared…?"

As Okabe pointed to the banana on the table, he suddenly froze.

Because there, on the table, lay the banana that had been removed, and incredibly, it looked just like the one that had been heated in the microwave!

"Banana?!"

"Look, it's back to being whole again!"

"We clearly took that one out earlier!"

"Maybe…."

"Could it really be… teleportation?"

"Is that possible?"

Just as Okabe and Hashida were utterly stunned, a girl's voice suddenly echoed from a distance.

"You're conducting some interesting experiments, Rintarou Okabe—no, I should say, Hououin Kyouma!"

With that, the red-haired girl, Kurisu Makise, appeared at the entrance of the lab.

...

"What… what is this?"

"Teleportation magic?"

"I'm dumbfounded; what on earth is this?"

"I'm getting increasingly confused about what this film is trying to convey."

"Who exactly is Kurisu Makise? She seems very mysterious."

"Is there really no magic in this world?"

"…"

In the cinema, the audience's mindset underwent a significant shift once again.

The plot of "Steins;Gate," with its twists and seemingly unrelated elements, left all viewers shrouded in a fog, unable to see the truth.

At this moment, the audience could only remain patient and wait for the unfolding plot to provide them with answers.

...

Similarly, the mages at the Imperial Mage Academy were completely bewildered, unable to comprehend why the movie's plot was designed this way.

"That microwave—is it really a microwave? Could it possibly contain some sort of teleportation magic?"

"No way, how would the energy issues of teleportation magic be resolved?"

"Rather, let's say that this worldview doesn't even have any mages; where would teleportation magic come from?"

"Seriously, I don't get it."

"By the way, what is the connection between this machine and the strange events that happened to the protagonist?"

"Why did Kurisu Makise show up? Could she really be part of some mysterious organization?"

"To be honest, this film is even more incomprehensible than 'Kara no Kyoukai' for me."

"I second that."

"…"

Evidently, even the mages could not grasp this portion of the movie's plot, all displaying expressions of utter confusion.

...

As the audience grew increasingly bewildered by the plot, the story of "Steins;Gate" continued to unfold without a hitch.

The sudden appearance of Kurisu Makise was not as mysterious as the viewers had speculated. She was simply curious about Rintarou Okabe's earlier comments and came to check the situation, unwittingly stumbling upon this bizarre experiment.

As such, she immediately joined in the investigation of the banana.

Naturally, to maintain secrecy, Okabe insisted she become a part of the lab team. Kurisu stated she would be leaving the city in August but agreed to join the lab temporarily before then.

After this, the three of them quickly examined the details of the microwave experiment and discovered that the microwave had seemingly exhibited an electrical discharge at some point in the past.

"When did this happen?"

"Probably around noon yesterday, when you were checking out that unidentified object. Before that, I had connected the microwave to my phone."

"You mean… the moment I sent that email? There was an electrical discharge then?"

"Are you talking about the email revealing that Kurisu was stabbed? That was sent last week, right?"

"No, that was sent yesterday at noon! It was an email sent to the past!"

Okabe said this with an increasing sense of desperation.

Seeing this, Kurisu asked, "What happened when the electrical discharge occurred? How was the microwave behaving?"

"Because it was undergoing a functional test, it was spinning in reverse."

"If that's the case, we might just need to recreate the scene from that time."

"Alright!"

In an instant, everyone sprang into action, preparing to conduct the experiment in exactly the same conditions as before.

However, during the experiment, Mayuri suddenly returned and, as was her habit, opened the microwave.

In that instant, an overwhelming amount of energy far exceeding what a microwave could normally release surged from within, causing chaos in the entire lab.

After a while, Okabe finally remembered his phone. Upon looking at it, he froze in place.

"What's wrong?"

After a long moment of silence amidst the group's confusion, Okabe slowly replied, "It was sent! And it really went back to the past! The email was sent a week ago!"

"Are you serious?"

"Could it be…?"

Amid the astonished gazes of everyone, Okabe burst into laughter, and with realization dawning upon him, he exclaimed excitedly, "That's it! Yes, I understand now! This microwave, without a doubt, is… a time machine!"

"Oh wow, so that's it!"

As they watched the scenes unfold in the film, the audience members, who had been relatively calm, suddenly erupted with excitement.

After all, with so many clues presented, some attentive viewers had instinctively connected the dots and let out gasps of realization.

However, even so, a large number of spectators still couldn't grasp what was happening in the movie and couldn't help but ask, "What? What do you mean the email was sent back to the past? What does that have to do with a time machine?"

In response to this confusion, a quick-witted viewer explained, "It's simple! If this microwave is a time machine, then everything strange that happened earlier makes sense."

"How so?"

"For example, if you sent a letter to your past self from a week ago, when your past self suddenly receives a message from the future, that version of you will naturally take actions that are entirely different from before. And because your actions change, the actions of those around you might change too—everything could shift because of that one email sent back in time!"

"This… this…"

Upon hearing this explanation, those who were previously confused were suddenly struck dumb.

Then, a chilling realization crept up their spines, and gradually, they began to understand why the story had developed in this way.

"So, does that mean that everything strange that happened to Rintarou Okabe was because of that email he sent to Hashida? That a single email sent to the past caused Hashida's actions to change, leading to everything else that followed, effectively altering the entire world?"

"But that doesn't make sense. Can an email stating 'Kurisu Makise was stabbed' really have such a huge impact? Isn't the real cause of Okabe's altered actions that strange machine that crashed onto the roof? The email and that machine shouldn't be related at all, right?"

"Yeah, and why does only Okabe retain any memory? It's so bizarre."

"And what about that time traveler from 2000 who suddenly disappeared? How could something from so many years ago be connected to an email sent back just a week ago?"

"…"

With enough audience members observing, many of the perplexing details were gradually unearthed.

Of course, the viewers did not see these as plot holes; they believed that the following scenes would clarify these misunderstandings.

Consequently, several audience members who had felt bored earlier were now reinvigorated, displaying expressions of anticipation.

...

Imperial Mage Academy.

The mages found themselves in a similar situation to ordinary viewers; they too had only just begun to understand the true plot. However, as mages, their level of comprehension was clearly deeper.

"Is this really how one interferes with time? In that case, if the protagonist sends various messages, couldn't he completely reshape the world to his liking?"

"By the way, there's something I can't comprehend. Where does the altered world go? If he sends emails to the past and changes reality, then where is the previous reality that was altered? Does it just disappear into thin air?"

"I'm not sure. Personally, I'm more interested in knowing why Kurisu Makise died before. What really happened at the time when Doctor Maho was presenting his time machine?"

"It's astonishing that there are so many puzzles despite the story having only progressed a little. I can barely keep up with the thoughts!"

"Yeah, yeah, let's not think too much for now. Just keep watching; I believe the next parts will give us the answers."

"Regardless, the concept of a time machine is truly fascinating. If such a thing really existed in this world, wouldn't that be wonderful?"

"Though time is considered one of the elements, no one has yet grasped the rules to control it. Still, one could almost say this is the ultimate mystery of magic. If someone were able to uncover the laws of time, they would surely be considered a god."

"…"

The discussion among the mages came to a halt. With insufficient information, even they, as mages, found it impossible to untangle the complex narrative threads.

However, knowing that a time machine truly existed and was clearly related to the main storyline made most of them completely forget the earlier boredom, revealing expressions of anticipation.

...

At the top of the Mage's Tower, the Archmages also expressed mild surprise.

Although they had guessed the principles of temporal interference, they were astonished that the catalyst for that interference turned out to be a microwave intricately linked to a mobile phone.

Of course, this was clearly a fantastical element of the "Steins;Gate" narrative, and they did not concern themselves with the experiment's validity; they were more focused on contemplating the myriad effects that temporal interference could induce.

In the end, even as Archmages, they struggled to imagine what the vast river of time, continuously flowing through the fabric of space, truly looked like.

Let alone, the kinds of astonishing changes that would arise from interfering with the flow of that river.

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