posted on 2022-07-09 by Kait.

operation skuld #

suzuha: Listen, a video file should’ve turned up in your inbox on July 28th. It should be viewable now. You had to fail saving her once before it would unlock, so to speak.

okabe: What the hell are you talking about?

suzuha: I apologise. I know it was a lot to put you through but things had to be this way. The whole point was for you to see that file.

[static and buzzing from phone]

[video appears]

okabe: Is that—

video: Hail and well met… old friend.

That you’re able to open this means you’ve seen first-hand what became of Makise and failed to prevent it. I feel for you, I really do.

That said, the pain you’re going through right now is necessary. I daren’t deny you—us—the bitter inspiration it represents. Without it, you cannot hope to carve out your destiny. Now we can marshal our resources properly.

I hereby charge you with the task of reaching Steins;Gate. To do so, two conditions are absolutely essential: one, you must destroy Nakabachi’s ill-gotten time travel thesis before it crosses into Russia’s borders; second, you must rescue our beloved Kurisu.

okabe: But how? I’ve tried.

video: I’m fully aware that the grisly nature of her death appears to be set in stone due to its position within the so-called α attractor field.

However—I’ll just come right out with it—it is possible to save her. You’re simply going about it the wrong way.

Listen carefully. You must not, I repeat, not alter any details surrounding her death as witnessed by you—that is, the version of you prior to the botched rescue attempt that allowed you to view this video file. To do so would alter the past too drastically.

Think of your experiences immediately following the first D-mail. The three weeks you spent jumping through time were instigated by that text. It’s what gave you a history with her.

Your desperate, bitterly ineffective bids to save Mayuri, the countless sacrifices, the terrible rubicons crossed. All of that has to stay in your head.

The period spent adrift in time constitutes your unique reality; it must not be distorted. To do so would be tantamount to a betrayal of who you are. I know that to label Kurisu’s death as traumatic is the epitome of understatement—believe me, I do. The memory of seeing her life ebb away as I held her in my arms haunts me still.

But the pain it wrought can be wrought in turn to greater ends. It’s what brings you to yourself.

So trick yourself.

Save her without changing the apparent fact of her death. Convince your past self that she’s well and truly dead even though she lives. Keep the past to all intents and purposes where it is. That’s what will get us to Steins;Gate.

okabe: Of course!

mayuri: I don’t think I get it.

daru: That goes for both of us.

video: I have every faith that you understand. Incidentally, the time machine’s model is type C-204. I doubt I need to tell you what the C stands for.

okabe: It’s for Christina.

video: The target worldline’s charmy little nickname comes care of me as well—which is to say it comes from you. Care to guess its significance?

okabe: … There’s none.

video: Bingo. There’s none.

And to further please our whimsy, Operation Skuld will be the name we assign to this mission.

Forge of yesterday whatever you must to save the future, without detectably altering the past as you understood it. Okabe Rintarou sees Makise lying dead on the ground in a pool of her own blood. Keep the past for all intents and purposes where it is.

Deceive yourself in every last detail—deceive the world! Do this, and victory is assured.

Best of luck to you, old friend.

El. Psy. Congroo.

[video cuts]

daru: Okay… trippy. Do you have any idea what your future self was telling you?

mayuri: Oh wow, you’re really suave!

okabe: [chuckling] … Operation Skuld? El Psy Congroo? Do I never grow out of the cloak and dagger act? … I’ll be as barking mad then as I am now.

mayuri: Yeah but is that so bad?

okabe: Ah, to hell with it. If Steins;Gate so decrees, then so am I compelled to behave.

Hououin Kyouma accepts the challenge—with gusto!

Deception is my forte, let the world beware.

[okabe laughs]

okabe: Hear me, privileged companions, time is ours…

Hououin Kyouma’s mind recognises no limits, neither does his reach.

Heave anchor! This ship of fools is about to embark!