Episode 14: Physically Necrosis

Physically Necrosis (形而下のネクローシス, Keijika no Nekurōshisu) is the fourteenth episode of the anime adaptation of the visual novel, Steins;Gate.

Despite his many attempts, Okabe is unable to prevent the death of Mayuri, so he turns to Makise for help solving the riddle of time travel. Later, Suzuha's true identity is revealed.

Synopsis
After Mayuri's unexpected death in the subway, Okabe time-leaps an untold number of times to try and save her from the same fate. Unfortunately, no matter how hard Okabe tries, Mayuri ends up dying, with or without the involvement of Moeka and the gun-totting thugs.

On one of his attempts, Okabe tries to get Mayuri out of Akihabara via taxi; because of the bomb threats, though, the trains have stopped, causing highway traffic to back up. While stuck in traffic, one of Moeka's thugs shots Mayuri in the head through the taxi's window, killing her. Okabe manages to flee the scene, make it back to the Lab, and time-leap again.



August 13th, 2010; 2:32 PM



 Okabe locks Kurisu and Daru out of the lab, frankly telling them to get out of the city. He then texts Moeka, telling her that he has new information about the time machine. They arrange to meet up under a set of train tracks, with Moeka being the first to arrive. Okabe then shows up, tricks her, and takes her gun.

 By forcefully questioning Moeka at gunpoint, he learns that her and the thugs are part of a group called “Rounders,” who have been tasked with getting the IBN 5100. They attack the lab because of what the Lab Members have learned, created a time machine, and tried to go public with it. He also learns that she receives her orders from “FB.”

 Before Okabe can hear anything else, he is knockout.



7:29 PM



 He wakes up in a van parked next to the Lab; he is bound by ropes, being held against his will by Moeka and her thugs. As they prepare to storm the Lab, Okabe pleads with them to stop, but to no avail.

 Okabe manages to break out the van, but when he gets to the lab room, he finds that Mayuri is already dead. He time-leaps once again.



August 13th, 2010; 4:56 PM



<p align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom:0in"> Again in the lab room with Kurisu and Daru, Okabe, frustrated and fed-up, goes to break the Time Leap Machine, but Kurisu stops him, saying they had already decided not to use it. He then leaves the Lab, and, after a brief and fruitless talk with Ruka, a saddened Okabe takes refuge on an overpass, where Kurisu finds him.

<p align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom:0in">Some time passes, and Okabe explains the situation to Kurisu. The two decide to work together to save Mayuri from her seemingly-fated death. To give them more time to figure out a solution, Kurisu sends Okabe back about 5 hours into the past. She also gives him a phrase to tell her past-self to convince her that Okabe is indeed from the future.

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<p align="CENTER" class="western" style="margin-bottom:0in">August 13th, 2010; '1':5'9' PM

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<p align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal">Okabe finds himself in the Lab, mere seconds away from when the Time Leap Machine was completed. Going along with their plan, Okabe declares the lab members that they will not experiment with the Time Leap Machine. Later on, he meets up with Kurisu and reveals that he is from the future.

<p align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal">After convincing Kurisu that he's telling the truth, the two go to the Lab to come up with a way to save Mayuri. They deduce that there is an underlying cause for Mayuri's death, a cause separate from the involvement of Moeka and the Rounders. They just don't know what that cause is.

<p align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal">Suzuha then shows up. She takes them to the Radio Building. There, she shows them something Okabe of the future made: the Divergence Meter. It's a gauge that numerically shows how different the current world line is from the previous one. Their current world line is 0.337187%.

<p align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal">She also explains the concept of world lines, using strands of rope as illustrations; they are like the small threads that make up one rope. As long as those threads are a part of that rope, they all lead to the same destination. Therefore, Okabe and the others reside in a “rope” whose destination is Mayuri's death.

<p align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal">However, according to Suzuha, if they can somehow cross the “1% divergence barrier,” they could move to a different rope—a rope that does not lead to Mayuri's death.

<p align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal">Suzuha takes Okabe and Kurisu to where the satellite crashed into the Radio Building. She there reveals to both of them an astonishing truth. It is revealed that Suzuha is from the year 2036, that she is the time traveler John Titor.

Characters

 * Rintarou Okabe
 * Mayuri Shiina
 * Kurisu Makise
 * Itaru Hashida
 * Suzuha Amane
 * Ruka Urushibara
 * Moeka Kiryū