Trapped in a Strange New World
Steins;Gate
Chapter Seventeen

1999.09.16 - 10:20 PM JST
Friday

I nodded when Hibiki told me this. I guess that made sense. We headed up to the roof and jumped back to the evening September 16th 1999. It was the day before the lottery number dmail. Asuka and I left our landing site and explored the streets of Akihabara. Hibiki and Violet prepared the time machine to launch again.

"Asuka, how are we going to prevent this dmail?"

"We're going to send Grandpa a few dozen emails with fake lottery numbers. Hopeful this will convince him that this is a scam and he won't buy a ticket."

"Makes sense." I commented. "But how are we going to send those emails? Neither of our phones will work here."

Asuka gave me a look of realization. She clearly hadn't thought this through. She then turned to a stranger who was just walking by.

"Excuse me, do you have a cell phone that I can borrow?"

"Oh... sure." The boy reached into his pocket and handed Asuka his cell phone. That was easy.

"Let's get to work." She said, turning back to me. Spent the next few minutes composing emails to Okabe's Dad. We would make up a random number send it to him, delete the message from this person's outbox, and then do it again. We stopped on the thirtieth email. We were satisfied that the worldline had changed. Asuka and I handed the boy his cell phone back and walked back to the time machine.

"Oh, that was quick." Hibiki noted. "Are we ready to go back to 1992?"

"Yes, we are." I confirmed this with a nod. I then remembered something. "That dmail was sent through the post, right? How do we know when to go?"

"The truth is, we don't." Asuka told me. "The letter was sent from America though. A letter from the US to Japan would usually take about a week back in the 1990s. We'll use that as a benchmark."

"So, we're gonna travel back to the week after you sent this message?" Violet asked her. "And then we keep jumping until we arrive on the day that the letter came in? How are we going to interrupt it?"

"The answer to that question is in your wallet, Aunt Violet."

Violet and I both gave Asuka a questioning look. She smacked her forehead.

"I'm talking about your driver's licence." Asuka explained. "You will walk into the post office and take the role of Grandpa's niece."

"W... why me?" Violet reacted poorly. "Why not one of you?" Hibiki and Asuka shook their heads.

"First off, our family name is Okabe." Hibiki told us. "And we didn't bring any ID either."

"I see..." Violet and I replied. Well, that was that. There was nothing left to do here. We hopped back into the time machine and jumped to January of 1992. We were seven months before I was even born. It felt really weird. I stepped out and took a breath in. It was now winter in Tokyo. The air was suddenly so cold, and it was even snowing. Violet and I branched off and head to the post office.

"Hello. How can I help you?" The postal clerk greeted us.

"Hi." Violet said back. "We're here to pick up the mail for Mr. Makise."

"Huh... I haven't seen you two before. Do you live with him?"

"N-no." I entered the conversation. "We live in America, we're only visiting at the moment."

"Are you family?" The clerk asked us. We nodded.

"Yes, we're both his nieces." Violet told him. The clerk bit his lip.

"Listen. This is against procedure, but I might be able to make an exception here. Can you show me anything that proves a blood connection to Mr. Makise?"

"We share the same family name." Violet explained further. "Here's my driver's licence as ID."

Violet presented her driver's licence, careful to cover the expiry date. The clerk tiled his head a bit.

"English... you don't have any Japanese ID, do you?"

"N-no." Violet mumbled nervously. "My passport is also in English."

"Well, I'm sorry. I just don't know the correct English spelling of Makise."

"Why don't you Goodle it then?" Violet asked this and immediately covered her mouth. She had forgotten that we were in 1992 right now. Goodle wouldn't become a thing until 1998. To be fair though, I would probably would've made the same mistake if I had spoken there.

"What's Goodleing?" The clerk asked us. I panicked a bit.

"It's an Amercian thing." I quickly explained it away. I really hoped he would buy it. The clerk sighed and got up from his chair.

"I'll be right back."

He headed into a back room and came back with a handful of five letters. Violet and I accepted them and thanked the guy for breaking the rules a bit. We miraculously found the dmail within this batch of letters. We then returned to the time machine.

"Boy are the 1990s weird." Asuka softly remarked. "It's like just the 2000s, minus all the technology." She then spotted Violet and I approaching her.

"Oh. Hi, Mom. Did you get it?"

I nodded and held up the dmail in confirmation. Asuka smiled.

"Wahahaha. Excellent. Now time finish this." Asuka's laugh was very similar to Okabe's. It actually startled me a bit. Asuka reached out her hand and I gave her the dmail.

She proceeded to rip it up into little tiny pieces and place it on a snowbank right beside her. Hibiki then pulled out a match and lit the dmail on fire. It burned for a solid two minutes. During this time couldn't help but look at Violet. Her entire existence was going up in smoke. I know I asked before, but was she really okay with this? I didn't have the courage to ask this time. Once it finished burning, we buried the remaining letters in the snow and hopped back in the time machine.

When we jumped, a beautiful rainbow light entered the cabin. We all looked at each other in awe.

"What's this?" I asked Hibiki and Asuka. They shrugged.

"Not sure." Hibiki answered me. "I guess it could be time rewriting itself."

I looked over at Violet again. She returned my gaze with a smile.

"This is where we say goodbye." Violet whispered to me. "Asuka and Hibiki are really wonderful kids, you know. You should be proud."

At this point, the light started engulfing my version. I could feel that something was about to happen.

"Bye, sis. Hope you have a fun and happy life."

"Same." Asuka and Hibiki added. "See you in 2037."

I felt three pairs of hands hug me, just to fade away a few seconds later. I snapped back to reality and found myself on a train. What was I doing here? I checked the date and time and my phone. It was July 25th 2012 at 8:56 AM. Based on this information, I was likely on my way to the lab. I got off at Akihabara Station and headed straight there. When I entered the lab, the lights were turned off and all the curtains were closed. This was strange. Did all the lab members go out or something? I was out of the loop thanks to Reading Steiner.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" I called out to the empty room. The response I got back was unexpected.

"Surprise!"

I jumped when I heard the five voices that screamed this at me. The lights flipped on to reveal the six other lab members equipped with birthday hats and noise makers. The was also a cake on the kitchen counter. This was a surprise party... for me? I should've been happy, but I wasn't. I needed to figure out if this was the correct worldline. I grabbed Okabe by the arm and dragged him to the roof again.

"What... what's this about, Christina? What's wrong with you?"

"Who is Violet Makise?"

"Huh?" Okabe gave me a questioning look. I repeated my question.

"You heard me. Who is Violet Makise?"

"I-I don't know. Is she your cousin or something?"

My heart sank. This seemed to be the correct worldline, but I still felt sad. Violet was gone now. Okabe studied me more. His face went pale.

"R-reading Steiner?" He asked me. I nodded.

"Yeah. I think this is my original worldline though."

"I see..." Okabe trailed off. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not... really." I told him. "Not right now."

"Got it." Okabe replied. "Let me know when you're ready."

Okabe made his exit via the staircase. I looked up at the sky. I hoped Violet was happy, where ever she was. It was about this time when I received an email. I opened it up and was appalled at what I saw.

Date: 2012/07/25 - 10:05 AM
From: hououin_kyouma_ii
To: Kurisu
Subject: (no subject)
Attachments: voice_file, photo_file

Fresh off the presses of 1973.

Hououin Kyouma II? Asuka sent this? Why? I guess there was only one way to find out. I opened the first file, which was a mp3. What I heard shocked me.

"Hi, sis." Violet's voice greeted me. "If everything goes well, you should be hearing a few hours after you arrive home. I hope you're handling the transition well. There isn't much left to say, I guess. Just know that I love you and want you to be happy. That's why I agreed to be erased like this. Don't beat yourself up over it, okay?This was my choice. If I objected to it, I would've told you a long time ago. Anyway, good luck having Okabe as a husband. Bye bye."

The audio file ended there. I felt a mixture of emotions. Violet really was a good sister, wasn't she? I move the cursor over the select the image file. What came up filled me with joy. It was a group photo with Violet, Asuka, Hibiki, and myself. The version of me was probably from before Reading Steiner. They seemed to be having fun on a tropical island. I was sure there a story behind this, but I didn't care. I was going to treasure this photo forever. I put my phone away and headed back downstairs. It was about time I had some cake.

~The End~

******
Author's Note:

That's a rap. Addition details will be filled in if you read The Next Generation, but that's not required. I would love for you leave a review with your thoughts if you haven't already. Thank you for reading this to the end and have a good day.

-SGxElPsyKongroo-0-PWxObjection