I will prove it. With science

Kurisu Makise | 31 | Researcher and Lecturer for Quantum Physics and Theoretical Physics | Closed RP account | Associated with Twilight Town University | Warning: This blog contains adult content. Viewer discretion is advised.

[i-see-dead-people-on-camera-blog]

Leaving TTU

Hey everyone! I’m making a sad announcement - because of being very busy in real life (from Octobre on, I’ll be having a job in a different city far away from home!), I’m leaving TTU. This goes for my three muses, Miku (i-see-dead-people-on-camera), Kurisu ( @notkurisutina ) and Franziska ( @msgeniusprosecutorprincess ). Thanks to everyone for rping with me, and I wish you all a good time!!

[notkurisutina]

Novikov’s principle (Rintaro & Kurisu)

[notkurisutina]

itskyoumahououin:

“Yeah”, Rintarou said. “I guess I’ll stay. I have two more weeks of unused vacation.” He felt like he couldn’t leave Japan now with Mayuri here, barely able to focus or to talk. He’d just feel the need to go back the whole time. “Maybe she’ll get better in a week or two, who knows.”

They reached the lab, and Rintarou stopped walking, standing in front of Braun’s TV store. “Kurisu…”, he said and averted his gaze, looking at one of the old TVs in the window. “Without you, Mayuri would still be in that coma. You don’t even know her, yet you brought me here and put so much effort into helping me out…” He shrugged and shifted his gaze to the side to look at her out of the corner of his eyes. “Thank you. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

Kurisu nodded when Okabe agreed that he’d probably stay a bit longer, and they walked on to the lab in silence. It was late already, so Kurisu wasn’t going to come inside, but move on to her hotel. They stopped in front of the TV store. Kurisu wanted to say good-bye and move on, but before she could say something, Okabe started talking. Kurisu’s attention peaked when he started by calling her her real name, and she looked up at him questioningly.

Okabe averted his gaze while talking, and Kurisu could see that he was struggling with what he was saying, which made her smile.

“It’s okay”, she said. “Can’t leave a good riddle unsolved, right?”

[notkurisutina]

Novikov’s principle (Rintaro & Kurisu)

[itskyoumahououin]

notkurisutina:

Kurisu just let Okabe continue, not saying any words to try and comfort him, because thete really wasn’t anything to say. She just stayed in his hug, brushing over his back while he let out his tears.

Kurisu had no idea how long they had been standing like this, when suddenly, the door to Mayuri’s room opened. Faeris stepped outside; for a second, she seemed surprised to see them standing like that. Kurisu wiggled her shoulder a little to let Okabe know that Faeries was there, then she cautiously freed herself from his embrace.

“You know… It’s really hard to see Mayuri like this”, the pink haired lady said and looked down to the floor sadly.

Even though he slowly, but surely calmed down enough to at least stop sobbing, he didn’t let go just yes, since tears were still flowing. He heard the door open, and he felt conscious of it for about a millisecond before his tired mind decided that it wasn’t worth the bother. He looked up when Kurisu wiggled her shoulder, and he let go of her when Kurisu let go of him first.

Rintarou wiped over his face with the back of his sweater and then, after he got rid of the worst of snot and tears, he nodded. The doctor left the room shortly after Faeris. “She fell asleep again”, he reported. “I can give you a short overview over her condition.”

The doctor told them what they needed to know right there in the hallway. The news were mixed. Her confusion and speech inability might be something that was just passing - they most likely were - but they couldn’t predict how long it would take her to get better, and there was not much they could do except for ergotherapy and logotherapy to aid her in regaining her mental capabilities.

Mayuri didn’t wake up that evening anymore, and shortly after Faeris finally left, Kurisu walked Rintarou back to the lab. Rintarou’s tears had stopped some time ago, and it had left him with an empty feeling. He tried to look at it from a positive angle. Mayuri was awake, and the only way now was the way up.

“Our plane back will go in two days”, he said quietly.

[notkurisutina]

"You're right", Kurisu said, putting her hands in the pockets of her jacket as they walked back to the lab. Leaving Mayuri alone in Japan had been hard on Okabe, but leaving her now, after she had woken up and needed all of their support, had to be even worse.

"Maybe you can cancel the flight, and stay some more days", she suggested. "You didn't take your vacation last Christmas, right?"

[notkurisutina]

Novikov’s principle (Rintaro & Kurisu)

[itskyoumahououin]

notkurisutina:

From all the things she had expected, this was probably the very last one. The sudden weight of Okabe’s embrace took her by surprise, as well as the warmth, especially where Okabe burried his face in her shoulder.

“Okabe…”

She stood there for a second awkwardly, her heart skipping a few beats, before she put her hands on his back and tried to comfort him by stroking it.

“It’ll be alright”, she said reassuringly.

He couldn’t say anything. If he opened his mouth to explain himself now, the held back quiet sobs would turn into real ones, and who knew where that’d lead. So he kept quiet when Kurisu embraced him and started to brush his back, trying to comfort him. 

He had had a couple of breakdowns like this alone in the past few weeks. If asked, he’d have said that he never would have wanted to cry in front of anyone, especially not Kurisu. But in spite of that, he felt a rush of gratitude that she was here.

He wasn’t alone in this. Kurisu had brought him to Japan, and she spent the past two weeks researching. Mayuri woke up because of her.

He wasn’t alone, because Kurisu was there to help him out.

[notkurisutina]

Kurisu just let Okabe continue, not saying any words to try and comfort him, because thete really wasn't anything to say. She just stayed in his hug, brushing over his back while he let out his tears.

Kurisu had no idea how long they had been standing like this, when suddenly, the door to Mayuri's room opened. Faeris stepped outside; for a second, she seemed surprised to see them standing like that. Kurisu wiggled her shoulder a little to let Okabe know that Faeries was there, then she cautiously freed herself from his embrace.

"You know... It's really hard to see Mayuri like this", the pink haired lady said and looked down to the floor sadly.

[notkurisutina]

Novikov’s principle (Rintaro & Kurisu)

[notkurisutina]

itskyoumahououin:

When Kurisu started to brush his arm, it felt like this little gesture of genuine compassion scraped over a only provisorily kept together container, and all his penned up feelings suddenly overflew and spilled out of him right in front of Kurisu. He tried badly to stop it, but once again, he was helpless to do anything about it. He stepped closer to her, closing the distance between them and embraced her, pressing his face into her shoulder while he started to sob quietly.

From all the things she had expected, this was probably the very last one. The sudden weight of Okabe’s embrace took her by surprise, as well as the warmth, especially where Okabe burried his face in her shoulder.

“Okabe...”

She stood there for a second awkwardly, her heart skipping a few beats, before she put her hands on his back and tried to comfort him by stroking it.

“It’ll be alright”, she said reassuringly.

[notkurisutina]

Novikov’s principle (Rintaro & Kurisu)

[notkurisutina]

itskyoumahououin:

Rintarou let Kurisu drag him out of the room without even putting up a fight, which surprised himself, since he didn’t want to leave Mayuri even for a second.

He felt empty. When Kurisu told him this was a huge succes, he nodded bravely, but tears he couldn’t stop kept pooling up in the corners of his eyes and trailed down his cheeks, the mix of relief about Mayuri waking up, sleep deprivation and horror about Mayuri’s condition too much to handle for him.

Kurisu was not surprised by Okabe starting to cry, but still, it hit her pretty hard. She could see that he was trying to keep himself together, but it just wasn’t working. Kurisu suddenly felt at a loss of words and ideas of how to comfort him. So she just extended her hand and stroked his arm, letting him cry.

[notkurisutina]

Novikov’s principle (Rintaro & Kurisu)

[notkurisutina]

itskyoumahououin:

Their work paid off in the end. The doctor tried new medication, applied directly to Mayuri’s temporal lobe in a scary operation, but afterwards, it only took a day for Mayuri to wake up. The two weeks they had in Japan were almost over, so Rintarou was more than relieved when Mayuri finally opened her eyes again.

He was sitting next to her bed, clutching her hand, Kurisu, the doctor, a nurse and Mayuri’s coworker and lab member Faeris waiting, standing behind the bed.

Rintarou was so relieved when he saw Mayuri’s eyes lazily working their way to his face that tears started to drop down from his eyes. They did it. Mayuri was back.

Mayuri opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out; only a long, drawled mesh of syllables. The doctor immediately came over and gently shooed Rintarou away, taking his place and starting to do some basic check ups on Mayuri’s mental state.

It didn’t look good. Mayuri was awake, but confused, and she couldn’t string syllables together to words. Rintarou pressed his lips together while watching.

Kurisu couldn’t believe they actually had some success. When they were trying the new medication and waited for it to kick in, she found herself being anxious all day, her heart beating faster every time she thought about it.

They got a call by the clinic, and were told that there was a change in Mayuri’s condition, so they drove over quickly to meet up with Faeris, Mayuri’s co-worker, who happened to be visiting Mayuri that day. The doctor and the nurse lead them to the room. They waited nervously for - for anything, really, just some sort of sign to show that something was happening.

Then, Mayuri opened her eyes. Kurisu felt a very strange mix of fear and relief - as if her mind was not ready to see some actual change. Mayuri opened her mouth, but all that came out was some confused gibberish. Kurisu’s agitation grew stronger as she watched the Doctor taking over, checking on Mayuri’s condition. Finally, she grabbed Okabe’s arm and pulled him out of the room. Without even looking at him, she knew that the sight of this was too cruel for him to endure for any longer.

Right beyond the door, she stopped.

“This is a huge success”, she said. “We couldn’t have hoped for some progress this soon.”

[notkurisutina]

Novikov’s principle (Rintaro & Kurisu)

[notkurisutina]

itskyoumahououin:

“Let’s visit Mayuri first”, Rintarou said without having to think twice about it. He wanted to see her, and on the plus side, if they went now, Kurisu would go with him, which would make it much easier.

When they visited Mayuri, Kurisu started to talk to the neurologist again (who seemed to have weirdly much time to come and check Mayuri when Kurisu was there, too - Rintarou guessed he’d do the same in the situation - you didn’t get the opportunity to talk to a genius in your field every day, after all).

This time, Rintarou wasn’t as upset as yesterday, so he actually went over to both of them and started to listen to their theories, trying to understand what they were saying. Luckily, he had been reading so much of Kurisu’s stuff on the temporal lobe that he could understand maybe 70% of what they were talking about, enough to ask questions for clarifcation that made them stop and think from time to time. It actually felt quite good. He felt like he was contributing, somehow, in finding out what was wrong with his best friend.

When they went to the University library next, he started to look up all the words and concepts he hadn’t understood earlier when they had been talking.

The next week they got into a kind of rhythm. Kurisu went to her conference while Rintarou used the time to visit all of his friends as well as reading up on the basics of neurology pertaining to the temporal lobe, to be able to help Kurisu and the doctors better. When it was over late afternoon, they’d stop by to check on Mayuri for half an hour and talk to the doctor, before they went back to university to research the questions that emerged from the visit. Kurisu, being a famous researcher in her field, also managed to get to talk to the neurology researches at Tokyo University. 

Rintarou, who had felt utterly helpless and lost all his energy in the process for the past weeks, was starting to get really wrapped up in working this out. He almost seemed desperate in a different way now, talking less, reading until his eyes fell shut in the middle of the night and grimly determined to find a solution.

The next days, Kurisu found a hotel room for herself and moved out of the lab, but she still spend a lot of time there. She would visit the conference and afterwards go and accompany Okabe to Mayuri, before they visited the university’s library. Without even noticing it, Kurisu had already burried herself deep in the topic of Mayuri’s illness, reading up on any research she could find, talking to fellow professors and the neurologists at the clinic, keeping notes and revising them, trying to connect the dots.

Even though it did not really surprise her, she hadn’t expected Okabe to come along and read up on the topic as much as she did, joining the discussions and getting really invested in the subject himself. Of course, this was about Mayuri, after all. But Kurisu was actually a little bit surprised - maybe even a little impressed - how much time and effort he devoted to delve into a topic that was not related with his studies at all. And he did catch up quickly; after all, even though lunatic or delusional at times, he wasn’t stupid.

That’s why Kurisu found herself spending the late evenings at the lab, the couch table having become her working space, while she and Okabe both heeded their own studies, only interrupting now and then when there was a need for discussion, or if they ran out of Dr. Pepper.

It was the same this night, and when Kurisu looked up from the book she was brooding over to the clock, she realized it was already way past 12 am. She yawned and turned around to Okabe, as she wanted to tell him she was calling it a night, just to see that he had fallen asleep over his paper. Kurisu sighed, before a little smile crossed her lips. He was really giving it his all.

She stood up from her spot on a pillow next to the couch table, and went over to get a blanket that she tucked over Okabe, who was on the couch, at the same time removing the paper from his hands. Then she left, without tidying up the table, as she knew they were just going to pick up their work where they left it today tomorrow.

[notkurisutina]

Novikov’s principle (Rintaro & Kurisu)

[notkurisutina]

itskyoumahououin:

“Tokyo University?”, Rintarou asked. It was where he had worked before he came to TTU - the university he got his PhD in. “I could come along and check in on some of my former coworkers.”

“Um, sure”, Kurisu answered. She had been to Tokyo University a few times before, but having someone who knew his way around would probably be a good thing. 

They finished their simple breakfast quickly, then Kurisu occupied the bathroom first to get ready for the day. After that, she waited for Okabe. When they both were ready, she grabbed her jacket.

“Should we visit the hospital first, or go to the university and look for Mayuri later?”, she asked.

[notkurisutina]

Novikov’s principle (Rintaro & Kurisu)

[notkurisutina]

itskyoumahououin:

Rintarou toasted some slices of bread and even found butter and jam in the fridge. The butter was expired - thanks Daru - but the jam was still good. There was probably so much chemistry in it to make it sweet that it would survive a nuclear fallout. He started to put jam on the bread.

“Yeah”, Rintarou said when Kurisu asked about the hospital. “But probably not the whole day like yesterday.” He handed her a plate with a few slices of bread with jam. “It’s not like there is anything I can do by sitting next to her…” It made him feel rather helpless.

Kurisu received the plate of jam sandwhiches and started chewing on one pensively before she continued the conversation.

“Yeah”, she said finally. “You know, I think I’ll visit the university today. There’s some stuff I want to look up at the library.” She reached for her coffee and took a sip.

[notkurisutina]

Novikov’s principle (Rintaro & Kurisu)

[itskyoumahououin]

notkurisutina:

Kurisu was awakened by a ringing sound. At first, she thought it was an alarm, but then she could hear Okabe talking to someone, and guessed that it had been a phone. She turned around, eyes still closed, and gave a little groaning sound to show her contempt of being woken up so suddenly.

When she finally opened her eyes, she could see that the sun was already shining through the space between the curtains. It didn’t surprise her; with the jetlag they had from the journey, it was understandable that they would oversleep.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes, then yawned and stretched.

“You said you had coffee”, she said, crawling out of her futon and going over to the small kitchen area, opening various doors and cupboards without asking for permission, in search of the supplies she needed.

“Yes”, Rintarou said and was about to stand up from the couch when Kurisu already took it unto herself to rummage through the cupboards. He got up regardless and walked over to her to get out two mugs while she was trying to find the coffee powder. 

He tried to overlook the strangeness of the feeling of having slept in a room with a girl who wasn’t Mayuri; a girl who was now rummaging through his cupboards in her night clothes in the morning for coffee. It was like a scene out of one of Daru’s dating sims. Kurisu being the hotheaded tsundere.

Not for the first time, Rintarou felt flustered about his own thoughts when he noticed where his mind was wandering off to, again. Mayuri was in a coma, and he was thinking about Daru’s old dating simulators? And why was he thinking about that in regards to Kurisu? That was ludicrous.

Deciding to just overlook his thoughts, he looked for toast bread he always stocked here somewhere for a fast snack. Not the greatest breakfast, but they didn’t end up buying groceries yesterday. “Hope you like toasted bread for breakfast”, he said.

[notkurisutina]

Kurisu finally found the coffee, which was of the instant kind, which meant she had to boil some water. She was sure she had seen a coffee machine somewhere, but thinking about it now, it was probably some kind of failed future gadget with some ridiculous function other than making coffee.

She did find a kettle, though, and proceeded to heat up water from the sink.

While waiting for it to get hot, she leaned against the counter and sighed.

"Toast will be fine", she replied, thinking about the breakfast banquet the hotel offered. She would have to call the secretary at TTU later to ask about what she was supposed to do, but because of the time difference, she would have to wait some time before they opened.

"Are you going to the hospital again today?", she asked, looking up at Okabe.

[notkurisutina]

Novikov’s principle (Rintaro & Kurisu)

[notkurisutina]

itskyoumahououin:

When Rintarou came back into the room and turned off the light, he had calmed down somewhat. Kurisu was either already asleep or pretended she was, which was okay to him. He was just happy that he didn’t have to sleep in the lab alone. Mayuri’s fingerprints were everywhere. Rintarou could see the shape of her Upa plushie on the floor next to the couch.

It didn’t take him long to fall asleep this time - it was weird that it was so much easier to sleep when he was not alone. He wouldn’t ever admit it to Kurisu, but her presence was very soothing to him. He was a bit less afraid about Mayuri when he was not alone with his worries, even if she was sleeping.

He woke up the next morning from his phone ringing. It was Suzuha, of all people. Rintarou picked up the phone and sat up on the couch. Dim light came in through the curtains of the window, so the room wasn’t entirely dark, and the sun was already up.

“Good morning!”, Suzuha piped through the phone. “Daddy said I should call you or else you’d sleep forever!”

Rintarou smiled. It was obvious that Daru had ordered Suzuha to make a call to check up on how he was feeling.

“Thanks for waking me up”, he said, and after Suzuha had told him what she had for breakfast, he hung up and looked over to Kurisu to see if she had been woken up as well.

Kurisu was awakened by a ringing sound. At first, she thought it was an alarm, but then she could hear Okabe talking to someone, and guessed that it had been a phone. She turned around, eyes still closed, and gave a little groaning sound to show her contempt of being woken up so suddenly.

When she finally opened her eyes, she could see that the sun was already shining through the space between the curtains. It didn’t surprise her; with the jetlag they had from the journey, it was understandable that they would oversleep.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes, then yawned and stretched.

“You said you had coffee”, she said, crawling out of her futon and going over to the small kitchen area, opening various doors and cupboards without asking for permission, in search of the supplies she needed.

[notkurisutina]

Novikov’s principle (Rintaro & Kurisu)

[notkurisutina]

itskyoumahououin:

When Kurisu’s smile suddenly faded and she seemed to be a bit tight-lipped all of a sudden, Rintarou realized that he probably had not been the only one thinking about Kurisu’s father right now. Had it been insensitive of him to mention how proud he was of Sandro? Surely not, right..? Still, he felt bad about it.

“I’m tired, as well”, he said. “I’ll turn off the lights after I took a quick shower.” He watched her when she climbed back into the blankets on the futon on the floor. He picked up one of his bags with his own stuff to take it with him into the bathroom; before he closed the door behind him, he stopped and looked back at the corner Kurisu was buried in.

“You’re even smarter than Scheletro, though”, he said. It weren’t just words to soothe her because he had a bad conscience or something. It was a fact. Even though Sandro was certainly a genius, Kurisu was… The one who published in Science with merely 18, and the one who Rintarou had admired for a really long time. 

She was out of their league. Her work inspired him every day. He averted his gaze.

“I’m looking forward to how you’ll change the world one day. I hope when the day comes you’ll still bother to waste your time on m-… the lab sometimes.” He closed the door behind him.

Kurisu felt her cheeks flushing deep red. Where was that suddenly coming from?! Seemed like seeing Mayuri had shaken Okabe more than expected - otherwise, Kurisu couldn’t think of a reason why he would say such a nice thing to her all of a sudden.

That didn’t mean it wasn’t making her feel flattered. Actually, she felt her heart beating a little faster, while a warm feeling rose into her chest, and she could do nothing but stare at Okabe’s back. He closed the door behind him, so she didn’t give an answer - not that she would have known what to say, anyway.

She slipped under the blanket on her futon and turned to the wall. After a short while, she could hear the water in the bathroom running. A lot had happened that day, and even though she was extremely tired, thoughts kept rushing through her head, but her mind was too foggy to pursue any of them. When the door was opened and closed again, she was still awake, but she pretended to be sleeping, and after a while, she finally doze off.

[notkurisutina]

Novikov’s principle (Rintaro & Kurisu)

[itskyoumahououin]

notkurisutina:

Kurisu looked at Okabe thoughtfully for a few seconds.

“You’re right”, she said finally, a smile appearing on her lips. “That is what a true scientist does.”

She yawned, as her comment about being tired had not been an exaggeration.

“Still, I will be very surprised if you ever actually produce some results”, she said. “All scientific data speaks against it. Obviously, if you have some genius epiphany of the likes of Newton or Einstein, things might change”, she added mockingly.

“Just you wait”, Rintarou said. “I’m not the first brilliant mind whose genius has been overlooked by contemporaries, mocked by his peers. My time to shine will come.”

He tilted his head and glanced over to Kurisu. “Real talk, though. If I can’t do it, I’m pretty sure Scheletro will. I will be the first to admit that he is more brilliant than I am. If only he had a bit more ambition.” 

“From teacher to teacher? I wouldn’t have thought it’d be as satisfying to find a pupil who you just know will do something remarkable one day, completely overshadowing anything you have ever achieved. And you’ll be the one who helped them to reach their true potential.”

He closed his eyes. He almost felt a bit sorry for Kurisu’s dad for never having the opportunity to value that.

[notkurisutina]

Kurisu kept silent for a second.

"Yeah, that sounds great", she said finally. She knew Scheledro was a very intelligent student, and even she was curious to what he might come up one day. The fact that Okabe cherished his student so dearly made her feel sad all of a sudden, and she didn't even know why.

"You know, I think I'll go to bed now", she said, all of a sudden feeling even more tired than before. "I don't mind if you want to stay awake longer, but can we dim the lights a little?"

[notkurisutina]

Novikov’s principle (Rintaro & Kurisu)

[itskyoumahououin]

notkurisutina:

Kurisu received the magazine, a little perplexed.

“Yeah, but the article is not on time travel”, she said. She thought back to that conference, that had been held such a long time ago. Still, now that she knew it had been him, she remembered parts of their discussion vividly.

“Why do you want to build a time machine so badly, anyway?”, she asked.

“I subscribed to Science when I started studying and I didn’t unsubscribe yet”, Rintarou explained why he owned that magazine, even though that actually didn’t explain why he had held unto this particular issue for over a decade, but he hoped Kurisu would simply gloss over that.

When she asked him why he wanted to build a time machine, he crossed his arms. “Because I’m a mad scientist, obviously”, he said as if it was stupid for her to even ask. He followed up with a question he had wanted to ask her for quite some time now: “Why are you researching memory?”

Rintarou looked at the pile of magazines scattered all over the coffee table in front of them. “Time travel is possible. I’m sure of it. And like any respectable scientist, when I think something as scientifically groundbreaking as time travel is possible, I strive to achieve and uncover it. Don’t we all want to first and foremost learn what makes the universe tick?”

[notkurisutina]

Kurisu looked at Okabe thoughtfully for a few seconds.

"You're right", she said finally, a smile appearing on her lips. "That is what a true scientist does."

She yawned, as her comment about being tired had not been an exaggeration.

"Still, I will be very surprised if you ever actually produce some results", she said. "All scientific data speaks against it. Obviously, if you have some genius epiphany of the likes of Newton or Einstein, things might change", she added mockingly.

[notkurisutina]

Novikov’s principle (Rintaro & Kurisu)

[itskyoumahououin]

notkurisutina:

“You know, I have just been thinking about that as well…”

Kurisu got up and sat down on the couch next to Okabe.

“You know, about what the doctor said? His assumptions actually made me think of something…”

She went on, thoroughly explaining her thoughts.

“You know, it’s just something that popped into my mind… I wish I had my books with me. I would really like to read up on that now.” She sighed.

Kurisu got up from the futon, and uncharacteristically, Rintarou really hoped that she wouldn’t come over to the couch.

No. No. No. No.

But of course, that was exactely what she did.

Rintarou had no other choice than to lower the magazine now, since it would just be stupid to keep his face glued to it now that Kurisu was striking up a conversation, and an important one, too. He really wanted to know what she thought about Mayuri and her condition. This was really serious for him. He just wished that she’d tell him from across the room so he could actually properly focus on it, and not be occupied with the heat in his face.

Kurisu didn’t really seem to notice it, though, wrapped up in her explanations - bless her focus on science - and Rintarou managed to calm down a little and actually listen. He had only a passing knowledge of neuroscience, since he never studied it, but he read enough of Kurisu’s stuff to gather the basics.

When she was finished, he nodded, looking at the magazine he had rolled up in his hands again. “I guess… all we can do is wait?”, he said displeased, and the worry gnawing at him again had at least the side effect that it washed out his embarassment pretty effectively. 

He frowned and gave the magazine roll over to Kurisu. “Here. I wanted to show you this one. It was published just before you came to Japan for that conference where I first met you.”

[notkurisutina]

Kurisu received the magazine, a little perplexed.

"Yeah, but the article is not on time travel", she said. She thought back to that conference, that had been held such a long time ago. Still, now that she knew it had been him, she remembered parts of their discussion vividly.

"Why do you want to build a time machine so badly, anyway?", she asked.

[notkurisutina]

Novikov’s principle (Rintaro & Kurisu)

[itskyoumahououin]

notkurisutina:

Only after slumping down on the futon, Kurisu looked up to see what Okabe was doing. She was actually startled to see that he was handling a magazine - one that had her face on the cover. She immediately blushed (she always did when she was featured on a cover), and then sat up, actually a bit perplexed as well as curious.

“What’s that?”, she asked. “That issue is a million years old. Why are you reading that?”

A memory popped into her mind, of them both at the university’s carnival, drinking hot chocolate. Okabe had told her back then that he had kept up with all of her research. At that thought, she blushed some more, secretly annoyed that she seemed to be blushing an awful lot lately, but she supressed that thought.

“Are you reading up on the temporal lobe?”

Was he searching for an answer to what happened to Mayuri? Kurisu sat up a bit straighter, actually a little attentive now.

Rintarou actually started to panic a bit when Kurisu asked him about the magazine he was hiding behind. He was reading nothing. He was trying to fight down that blush somehow (of course without success, that was not how blood vessels worked, after all, and he knew that).

He carefully peaked over the magazine with one eye, making sure to hide the rest of his face. Then he noticed that Kurisu was actually blushing as well.

That didn’t help. He raised the magazine fully again.

“…Yes”, he somehow managed to press out when she asked if he was reading up on the temporal lobe, thankful for that excuse. He hadn’t been able to think up his own one that fast.

[notkurisutina]

"You know, I have just been thinking about that as well..."

Kurisu got up and sat down on the couch next to Okabe.

"You know, about what the doctor said? His assumptions actually made me think of something..."

She went on, thoroughly explaining her thoughts.

"You know, it's just something that popped into my mind... I wish I had my books with me. I would really like to read up on that now." She sighed.