Chapter Text
It had been a year.
A year since she, Makise Kurisu, had met Okabe Rintarou for the first time.
But, had it really been just a year?
No matter how many times she tried to recreate that moment in her mind, Kurisu couldn't find a logical explanation about what she felt that day. This man, virtually a stranger at that point, had miraculously sacrificed himself and got stabbed in her place when her own father set his sights on killing her. She never remembers holding a full conversation with him before that point, nor had she had any contact with him aside from those few seconds on the stairs. They why, she asked herself countless times, was he so set on saving her? She must have pondered this question a thousand times in her room, pacing back and forth as her mother listened to an American drama down the hall.
She had felt an overwhelming amount of emotion, she recalls. By simply westernizing her name and calling her "Cristina" in such a joking tone, Kurisu had spoken words to him that she did not know the meaning of.
"No, how many times do I have to tell you, I'm not Cristina or your assistant or—"
Okabe's eyes had widened the second she had snapped at him, so she quickly had apologized. Truth be told, she wasn't sure where those words had come from. It felt so natural, yet so foreign. It felt as if she had said them to him at another time, but as hard as she tried she couldn't remember ever meeting him before a month prior, when she was almost killed.
He had picked up his phone from his pocket and was speaking into it in hushed tones, and after a few minutes of seemingly ignoring her he had invited her over to his lab. Kurisu had been hesitant at first but ultimately agreed, and she befriended quite a few people as a result. These "lab mems" as Okabe called them, were just ordinary people who didn't really do much in terms of inventing. Still, Kurisu found enjoyment in their company, and she ended up going to the lab nearly every day that she was in Japan. It had become a second home to her to the point that she ended up sleeping there on a few occasions, when she had stayed too long and it was too late to return to her hotel.
Even though Okabe was nearly always hanging around her, Kurisu always had this odd feeling whenever he was around. She couldn't quite put the emotion she felt into words, at best she would describe it as a mix between longing and disappointment. Those emotions confused her even further, and when it came time to return home she felt this unbearable sadness pool deep inside her chest. A few minutes prior to her check-in time at the airport, Kurisu had confronted him and tried to conspicuously tell him what she was feeling. Before she could fully explain what she was experiencing, however, the time had come for her to go and she left, her words unspoken. That scene, too, gave her this strange sensation that that scene had occurred before.
Kurisu still kept in contact with a few of the lab members. Daru occasionally sent her updates on how everyone was doing. Mayuri sent her photos of her cosplay, usually worn by Ruka or the young part-timer who worked below the lab, Moeka. Ruka himself sent blessings here and then, usually adding a quick "someone asked me to do this" at the end of his texts. To be honest, she missed them. A year had past, yet the memories of their summer together burned in her mind and left her with this feeling of incompleteness and question.
The feelings weren't the only things that confused her. A week or so after returning to her home, Kurisu started having dreams. In these dreams Kurisu was in Japan, and it was still summer. These dreams were by far the most realistic she had ever had, and she even ended up buying a book in an effort to decode their meaning. Each dream she experienced seem to take place one after the other, just like episodes of a show. Then suddenly they would change direction and start from the beginning, now the story changing but the "plot" still ending up the same. Some dreams she would have over and over on consecutive nights, and then they'd change and then repeat after a few days. She tried nearly everything in an effort to stop them from happening, but her efforts were ultimately futile and she just couldn't seem to shake the feeling that these dreams had a hidden meaning behind them.
The one thing she noticed after the dreams began repeating was Okabe. The Okabe in her dreams would always change. While everyone else acted the same and did the same things in the consecutive dreams, something about Okabe would change. He would say something differently, or he would ask her different questions. He never really remained the same, nor did he ever really change when everyone else did. She remembers, in those dreams, that he and she had a seemingly endless amount of talks with one another. When Kurisu tried to remember what the conversations were about, the details of the dream would escape her and she would vaguely remember it after a few minutes.
Honestly, just what was happening to her? Kurisu quickly immersed herself in books before her trip, and she was determined to find the answer.
At the present, Kurisu is packing. She folds shirt upon shirt and puts them all in her suitcase, occasionally stopping to wipe the beads of sweat as they begin to form on her forehead. After finishing with her clothes she begins to pack the other essential items she predicts she'll need on the other side of the world. Before she closes the suitcase, she throws in a small bag containing various gifts for her friends. Even though she only told Mayuri and Daru she was returning, she still felt the urge to surprise everyone with little souvenirs from the "western region", as Okabe called it.
She triple checks her travel ticket and makes quick note of the time. She circles around her room as she tries to remember anything she might have forgotten to pack, but eventually decides enough is enough. As she begins to move the heavy suitcase, she accidentally bumps into her dresser and one of the drawers in her jewelry box opens. When she goes over to close it she finds a small pin inside and can't suppress the grin that stretches across her face.
Now she truly hopes she'll find all the answers she's been searching for.