Maho Hiyajo

Maho Hiyajo (比屋定 真帆) is one of the main characters of Steins;Gate 0. She is a member of the Brain Science Institute at Viktor Chondria University, one of the lead minds behind project Amadeus alongside Alexis Leskinen and Kurisu Makise's senior and friend.

Appearance
Due to her extremely short stature, she is often mistaken for a child despite being in her twenties. Despite this, Okabe note that she still possesses the curves developed through puberty. She has long, messy, black hair with a dark green tint and green eyes. She typically wears baggy clothing along with mismatched shoes.

Personality
Maho is an analytical, wary, sharp-minded and, sometimes, feisty young woman. Even though she is aware that she looks like a child, she still becomes annoyed every time other people, who are unaware of her true age and occupation, mistake her for one. Maho is also a very messy person. Within a day, any room she is staying in ends up as a disaster area.

Despite being a genius and Dr. Leskinen's right hand, Maho started developing self-confidence issues after Kurisu Makise appeared at the university, often considering herself the "Salieri" to Kurisu's "Amadeus". However, despite this, she highly values Kurisu as both a researcher and a friend and was devastated when she died. After Kurisu's death in Japan, Maho started to talk to Amadeus Kurisu more often, forming a solid and hurting relationship until she met Okabe and had to stop interacting with her.

After meeting Okabe, the two quickly bond over Kurisu's death, with both Dr. Leskinen and Amadeus teasing her by implying that she has developed feelings for Okabe. Over the course of the story, she does end up gaining genuine romantic feeling for Okabe, but comes to terms with the fact that he is in love with Kurisu. She eventually gets over her self-doubt issues with encouragement from Okabe.

Throughout the Twin Automata route, Maho develops a deep friendship with Moeka, with both of them having similar (bad) cleaning habits and insecurities. Maho believes that even if there is someone better than you, then that is not a reason give up your place.

Background
After Kurisu joined the Brain Science Institute, Maho considered herself as Kurisu's rival. This feeling of rivalry lasted until Maho both of them shared Kurisu's @channel secret and when they promised to test their own hypothesis on Amadeus together.

Absolute Zero
Maho is an assistant of Alexis Leskinen and visited Japan to work on a lab with Neuroscientists from around the world. Leskinen lectured a seminar at the Akihabara Techno Forum-convention (ATF) to showcase their research and Amadeus while Maho helped to interpret Leskinen's speech from English to Japanese. After the seminar, Maho was alone in the reception until she met Okabe again. Maho was surprised to hear from Okabe that he was taught by Kurisu about her theories on neuroscience when she came to Japan alone. Maho under Leskinen's proposal, introduced and made Okabe a tester for Amadeus.

A couple of days later Okabe meets with Maho at the Brain Science Comprehensive Reseach Organization lab in Wako. Maho explains what his job as a tester entails and shows him to the back room where he is introduced to Amadeus [Kurisu].

Stray Sheep
Okabe meets with Maho and Leskinen with Maho noting how much closer Okabe has gotten to [Kurisu].

Later, Maho decides to visit Okabe at the Future Gadget Lab, but notices that she is being followed and calls Okabe, she is suddenly grabbed from behind by a person who turns out to be Judy Reyes. Okabe then arrives, and attempt to help Maho, but Maho explains who Judy is. Okabe then takes Maho back to the Lab where he introduces her to everyone and she tells him that Amadeus was upset because Okabe had been ignoring its calls.

Orbital Eclipse
On his way to the lab, he runs into Maho and helps her deal with a police officer who thinks she is a lost child. Maho explains that she was taking Kurisu's laptop to someone in Akihabara and once again asks if he knows the password, which he denies. She then calls him out for running away from Amadeus and being a cold person, both of which he agrees to. Okabe then invites her to the New Years party at the lab.

Maho joins the group as they go to Yanagibayashi Shrine for the New Years festival. On the way there, Okabe encourages Fubuki and Kaede to talk to Maho in order to help her open up. Upon reaching the shrine, the group meets up with Luka, Faris, Mayuri, Kagari and Suzuha, all of whom are working as shrine maidens. Maho questions if Mayuri is Okabe's girlfriend, which he denies. That afternoon, when the group is preparing to leave, Professors Leskinin and Reyes show up, but they leave after doing the purification ritual.

Back at the lab, the group throws their new years party. Maho gets a call from Amadeus and asks Okabe if it okay to answer it in front of everyone. Okabe agrees as long as the camera stays off of him. Maho introduces Amadeus to everyone, but Amadeus suddenly disappears. Maho request using Okabe's phone but the turns her down. At that same time, Kagari suddenly drops a glass on the floor. Before it can be cleaned up, several masked men invade the lab and point guns at the group. A woman in a black motorcycle outfit then walks in and grabs Kagari. Luckily Yugo Tennouji arrives and takes out the men while Suzuha then manages to free Kagari, forcing the assailants to retreat. Maho later walks with the group back to the train station.

After learning the "K6205" (what the man had been calling Kagari) was a Kochel number, Okabe called Moha to see if Amadeus was still down, but Maho reveals that someone else had managed to take it over.

Twin Automata
After Reading Steiner activated, Okabe finds that Maho and Moeka are in the lab. It is revealed that Maho was informed of a gas leak in the Wako office which forced her and Leskinen to relocate their lab to Toki Denki. Later, after meeting up with Moeka for an interview, Maho had retuned to her hotel room to find that it had been ransacked. Okabe suggests that they might have been after Kurisu's laptop and hardrive, but Maho assures him that they were still in her bag. Maho suddenly gets a call from [Kurisu], who asks if she is okay. After Maho explains what happened to her, [Kurisu] suggests that they might have been after her control codes, the code to access her secret logs that only Maho knows. Okabe then takes Maho to Faris' apartment. When Faris suggests that Moeka stay there too, Okabe objects but is overruled.

After working with Leskinen one day, Maho joins Moeka who was taking pictures of a flower and the two talk for a while.

That night, Faris pushes Maho and Moeka to join her for a slumber party. During the party, Moeka voices her fears that she is unimportant and replaceable, and Maho calms her fears by voicing her belief that even if there is someone or something out there that can do a better job than her, that that is no reason to give up.

A few days later, Okabe heads to Faris' apartment to make sure Moeka has not caused any problems and discovers that Maho and Moeka have turned their shared room into a giant mess. Maho and Moeka begin their interview, but after it fails to progress, due to Moeka's quiet nature, they suggest that Okabe interview her instead. Okabe agrees and during the interview, Maho explains some of the complications with AI and how Amadeus seeks to surpass them.

A few days later, after being forced to clean the room by Sergeant Clean, the group throws a party at Faris' apartment to celebrate. When Kaede starts playing "The Turkish March" on the piano, Maho becomes uncomfortable and heads to the guest room. Okabe follows her and she reveals that the piece reminded her of Kurisu. Moeka then arrives and expresses concern for Maho. Maho assures both of them that she is okay.

Okabe and Mayuri take Nae back to the workshop, with Maho tagging along. On the way, Okabe almost tells Maho the truth about Kurisu's death, but before he can, Nae is nearly hit by a car. The group is then surrounded by masked and armed individuals including the woman in the biker suit. Realizing that the attackers were after Maho, Okabe convinces her to run and attempts to slow them down.

Maho makes her way bakc to Tokyo Denki in order to check on the lab and on the way there, she runs into Pr. Leskinen. He explains that he was also attacked and Maho suggests that they are after her control keys for Amadeus, leading the professor to advise them to delete the access program for Amadeus so it could not longer be accessed from Japan. The two make their way back to Tokyo Denki and reach the lab. Maho realizes that they were able to reach the lab far too easily, but brings up Amadeus anyway. She becomes hesitant to delete the access program and Leskinen assures her, revealing to her that Kurisu considered herself inferior to Maho. This gives Maho a boost of confidence as she prepares to follow through, but right as she logs in, Leskinin is shot and killed by Dr. Reyes.

Reyes reveals that she is a DURPA agent and threatens Maho for the control keys. Maho then hums a Mozart melody which transfers control [Kurisu]'s secret diary and restarts it with a 15 minute countdown timer. Reyes then attempts to kill her, but Moeka comes in and uses Future Gadget #4 to create a smokescreen for them to escape. The two attempt to flee the building with Moeka explaining that Amadeus contacted her through Okabe. Maho compares her and Kurisu's relationship to Amadeus and Salieri to which Moeka explains that Salieri was not actually jealous of Amadeus and that the two actually respected each other. This gives Maho the confidence to go back and confront Dr. Reyes. They arrive back in the room just in time for [Kurisu] to reveal that the whole thing had been a ploy and that control was not actually transferred. Maho then holds Dr. Reyes at gunpoint and demands that she tells the forces downstairs to surrender; however, Reyes manages to trick Maho, taking the gun and shooting Moeka. Maho then agrees to transfer control, but actually ends up deleting Amadeus all together, revealing that there never was a way to transfer control. Enraged, Reyes attempt to kill Maho, but is shot by a still alive Moeka. Maho then hold Moeka, who reminds her of her words at the slumber party. Maho has Amadeus call an ambulance before it is completely deleted. [Kurisu] tells Maho to wipe her tears before realizing that it cannot touch Maho before undestanding that it is Amadeus, not Kurisu. [Kurisu] then calls an ambulance and says that the men downstairs have already left. It is then reveals that Sonata No.11 was the password for Kurisu's computer and tells Maho that they need to reach a new world and asks her to take care of Kyouma Houoin for her, much to Maho's confusion. Amadeus is then fully deleted and Maho breaks down in tears. Over the next month Okabe explained everything to her and even showed her the time machine. Maho had accessed the Time Travel thesis on Kurisu's computer and given a copy to Daru. The route ends with Maho taking a flight back to the states and pondering over the events that transpired.

Antinomic Dual
After Okabe returns from the Alpha worldline, meets Maho and brings up Amadeus. However, Maho is confused about how he even knows about it as, in this wordline, the project was put on hold after Kurisu's death. When pressed on how he knows about it, Okabe lies and says Kurisu told him about it. Maho then reveals that an outside group had complained about the project's moral implications. Through conversing with Maho, Okabe learns that the two had met when she went to Radio Kaikan.

The next day, after learning that Kagari recognized Viktor Chondira, Okabe invites Maho to help him ask her some questions. While Kagari does not seem to know anything, she calls Maho "senpai", and states that she has her own spoon despite not actually having one. After asking her several more questions, Okabe concludes that Kurisu's memories have somehow been transferred into Kagari. Maho believes the idea to be ridiculous and leaves.

The next day, Maho and Okabe ask Kagari more questions with Okabe concluding that despite if having Kurisu's memories, she cannot freely recall them. Though, Maho is still hesitant to admit the possibility. After asking some more questions, Maho leaves.

After Kagari's panic attack, Okabe meets Suzuha and Maho back at the lab. He explains the truth about Kagari's situation and time travel to Maho. He also expresses his belief that Kagari somehow ended up at Viktor Chondria and that the person who implanted Kurisu's memories into Kagari knew that Kurisu had the basic theory for time travel. Maho suggest that they could possibly fix Kagari's memory by overwriting her current memories with her last ones and that she could make the equipment to do so.

Several days later, at the lab, Kagari, integrating more with Kurisu's memories, is helping Maho build the machine while Daru hacks into SERN's LHC. After Kagari expresses her fears of her memories becoming completely overwritten by Kurisu's, Okabe takes her out for a while while Maho continues to work. Okabe reaches the lab just as Daru and Maho complete their projects and Maho reveals that someone raided her hotel room and suggests that they were after Kurisu's laptop, which she had given to Daru. Okabe suggests that they might be able to use that to their advantage.

A few days later, Okabe, implements his plan and they are able to confirm that Statfor is the one targeting Kagari. Maho is present when Kagari's memories are overwritten.

Promised Rinascimento
When Okabe wakes up in 2036 and meets Daru, Daru explains that Maho saved Okabe's memory data near the end of in January of 2011 for their Amadeus research. After Luka's death, Maho contacts the base through the radio and points out the time leap machine in the room, explaining that it would take about 3,000 leaps to make it back to January 2011.

When Okabe time leaps back to January 31st, 2011, Maho notes that he is acting odd and asks him if it is because they just copied his memories over. After everyone else leaves, Okabe explains the truth to her, even showing her the time machine. After Okabe reawakens his Houoin Kyouma persona, he designates Maho and Kagari as Lab Mems 009 and 010 respectively.

The next day, Okabe decides that the best way to prevent WWIII is to destroy Kurisu’s laptop and erase her memory data from Amadeus. Maho is initially against it, but Okabe manages to convince her. Maho tries to access Amadeus, but finds that her credentials are no longer recognized and Okabe has Daru hack into Viktor Chondria and Stratfor. Neither one contains Kurisu's memory data, but they find a new folder protected by higher security. Maho notes that Stratfor was doing human experiments with memory data. Okabe then tells Daru to hack into the locked folder on the Viktor Chondria site while he and tells Maho to complete the time leap machine.

A day later, Okabe and Maho complete the Time Leap Machine while Daru is still hacking the folder. Okabe explains his plan including having Moeka spread information about Okabe and Maho having Kurisu's laptop. Five hours into he operation, Maho gives Okabe a printed copy of Stratfor's report, including a list of test subjects which includes Kagari.

Several days after completing the operation and rescuing Kagari, the group wonders why Kurisu's memories did not upload into Kagari. Kagari explains that she heard a voice yell, "No!" at the moment of the transfer, causing Maho to speculate that Amadeus rejected the transfer.

10 months later, Maho visits the lab and Okabe declares Operation Helheim to have officially begun.

X-Day Protocol
At his meeting with Maho and Leskinen, Okabe requests to leave the test. While Leskinen is understanding, Maho feels annoyed. After Leskinen leaves, Okabe and Maho both apologize and continue to talk. Okabe mentions that he heard Leskinen talk about Kurisu's mother a the party before and Maho reveals that her house had burned down. Not only that, but the FBI took over the investigation and the arsonists seemed to be speaking Russian, and some men posing as police had come to the Viktor Chondria to search the lab after Kurisu's death. Maho voices her thoughts of an conspiracy to Okabe and asks him if he knows anything, but Lekinen returns before he can answer her. The group heads to the garage to meet with Pr. Izaki, who had offered to take them all to dinner.

Before they can get in Izaki's car, someone begins firing shots at them, forcing Okabe and Maho to hide behind it. Okabe can see a man with a pistol speaking religious phrases. Izaki is killed and Okabe used the opportunity to get himself, Leskinen and Maho in the car. Okabe tries to drive away, but does not know how to drive, leading Maho to take the wheel. They manage to get past the attacker at the cost of some damage to the vehicle, but, noticing the man approaching them in his own car, Okabe orders everyone to get out. While the passenger side door is jammed, Okabe managed to pull Maho out the driver's side and all three get out right before the attacker rams into their car at full speed, seemingly killing himself.

Building security comes down and Okabe tells them to call the police before falling on his knees from both physical and mental exhaustion. Maho points out the the man who attacked them was the man from the seminar who had criticized Amadeus. The presumed dead attacker suddenly crawls out of the wreckage despite his injuries. He continues speaking religious phrases and points his gun at Leskinen. Before he can pull the trigger, he is shot in the head nu someone and dies. Shocked, Okabe looks around, but cannot identify the shooter.

After the incident, they are taken into police custody and questioned late into the night. Maho and Leskinen have the police escort them back to their hotel while Okabe separated from them at the train station.

A few days later, Okabe takes Maho to MayQueen+Nyan² so he can meet up with Daru. After a short conversation with Faris, he leaves Maho with her as he moves to Daru's table. Maho is somewhat thrown off by Faris's behavior.

On Christmas Eve Maho, who overheard Okabe's call with Mayuri says the Christmas party sounds like fun, but politely rejects Okabe's invitation. She then finds out that Okabe came to her for help to apologize to [Kurisu] and asks him why he feels the need to do so. Okabe states that even if he does not end up contacting her again, he does not want their relationship to end on bad terms. Maho suggest saying something nice and he calls [Kurisu]. While [Kurisu] is clearly mad, he nervously tries to apologize. [Kurisu] takes the apology in stride and agrees to forgive Okabe if he takes Maho out to dinner, to both his and Maho's surprise. Okabe explains that he is going to a Christmas party, which makes [Kurisu] urge him to take Maho to that instead. Leskinen then walks in and asks if either of them have Christmas plans and happily invites himself after hearing about the party.

At the party, Okabe introduces Maho and Leskinen to everyone with Mayuri expressing her desire to make Maho a costume.

Pandora's Box
Two days after returning from the other worldline, Okabe takes Maho and Amadeus to a tech shop so that Maho could hang out with [Kurisu]. They later move to an arcade filled with @channel merchandise, much to [Kurisu]'s embarrassment. Maho attempts to win a stuffed animal in a claw machine, but fails until she eventually gives up, opting to play a racing game in stead, which she dominates in. Okabe manages to win the animal Maho was after and gives it to her. Maho then asks him to shut Amadeus off, and after he does so, Maho asks Okabe to go to Radio Kaikan, the place where Kurisu died.

After reaching the building, Okabe is hesitant to go inside, but, not wanting Maho to go in alone, he firms himself and the two enter. When the two reach the eigth floor, where Kurisu died, Maho begins examining the situation with the information at hand: Kurisu attended a press conference by Dr. Nakabachi, she died afterwards, Nakabachi fled to Russia with a time travel thesis, the people who burned Kurisu's mother's house down were Russian, information about Nakachi had been scrubbed from the internet, and Okabe asked [Kurisu] if a time machine was feasible. Okabe asks her to drop it, but she wonders if the earlier attack was targeting her and reveals that she has some of Kurisu's belongings. Putting the pieces together Okabe figures out that Maho was the one who gave Daru's Kurisu's labtop. Realizing Daru could be in danger, Okabe calls him and agrees to meet him at work.

They meet up at Daru's workplace and follow Daru to his secret office in the back. While there, Okabe is contacted by Amadeus.

Gehenna's Stigma
If Okabe answers the call, Amadeus tells him and Maho that someone had raided the office in Wako City and Maho's hotel room. Understanding that the raiders must be after the laptop, Okabe suggests that they leave. At the same time, they see several men surround the building through the security cameras. As the group leaves out the back, they see several non-Japanese men enter the building.

Worried for Maho's safety, Okabe takes her to Faris's apartment. When Maho questions him about what to do with the laptop, he is insistent on destroying it. He warns her that the laptop is at the center of an international power struggle and John Titor's warnings. He also reveals that Nakabachi is Kurisu's father, and that she wrote her own Time Travel thesis. Maho states that she assumed the laptop had data on Amadeus that could be used for military purposes, causing Okabe to remember the other worldline.

Upon returning to America from her trip to Japan, Maho started working on her own on creating a time machine, hoping that it could be the key to preventing Kurisu's death.

One night, she overhears Alexis Leskinen and Judy Reyes talking in the university, but is caught eavesdropping the conversation. She is then captured, brainwashed, and taken to Japan to convince Okabe to tell everything he knows about the time machine against her own will.

After Maho and Leskinen meet with Okabe, Okabe visits Maho at her hotel where she asks him to tell her the truth about Kurisu. She then reveals that she had been working on her own time machine to prevent Kurisu's death. When Okabe strongly rejects the idea, Maho concludes that he does know more then he is telling her and gets excited at the prospect of a working time machine, however, Okabe bluntly shuts her down. Realizing that she overstepped, Maho apologizes and begins to cry. Thinking that Maho was more distressed then she had been letting on, Okabe agrees to tell her the truth, but only on the condition where she does not tell anyone else and does not try to save Kurisu. Okabe then reveals the details about the Alpha worldline, the time machine, Reading Steiner, the arms race for the time machine, and World War III, only leaving out details about how Kurisu died.

Maho then begins asking Okabe multiple questions regarding Reading Steiner and Kurisu's time travel research. While Okabe only knows the basics behind her research, he admits that might be able to recreate her thesis with Daru's help. Maho then asks where Suzuha's time machine is and, while hesitant, Okabe tells her its location. Suddenly, Maho tackles Okabe and pins him against a wall, choking him. She apologizes to Okabe before tearily telling him that he should not have told her anything. Okabe manages to turn on [Amadeus] before blacking out.

Not having any use for her anymore, Leskinen frees her from the brainwashing, but she still suffering from the after effects of the brainwashing and depressed baout betraying Okabe, Maho wanders aimlessly around Akihabara.

Upon running into Mayuri Shiina, who had been looking for Okabe, Maho, in her still depressed state tells her everything about Rintaro's story, and how he sacrificed Kurisu for her well being. Mayuri, in shock after hearing the story, runs away, and Maho does not stop her. Maho is then confronted by Kagari for making Mayuri cry, but before she is hurt, helicopters appear, prompting Kagari to go look for Mayuri.

Upon finding Kagari Shiina on the stairs of RadiKan, depressed for being unable to find her mother, they temporarily join forces, and with Amadeus' help, they find the location Okabe had been held in, and manage to rescue him, even at the cost of Kagari's life. While Okabe is still only semi-consious, Maho apologizes to him and promises that he will never see her again before leaving.

Presage or Recognize
Okabe ignores Amadeus's call in favor of talking to Daru. Daru brings out the laptop and hard drive. Maho and Okabe bicker about whether it's right to look for answers or not and Maho points out that Kurisu would agree with her, something Okabe cannot refute. At Daru's urging Okabe agrees to tell Maho the truth. After telling her the truth about the time machine Kurisu, Nakabachi, and WWIII (sans how Kurisu died), Maho states that it was different then what she expected, as she had expected him to talk about Amadeus being used by the military and reveals that Kurisu was often visited by government agents and that she had suspected that the government had taken her out to keep her quiet. Moving on, Okabe suggests destroying the laptop, while Maho wants to see what's on it. Okabe asks if she asked Amadeus for the password. Maho confided that she did but but it didn't know. This lead Okabe to suspect that Kurisu changed the password without alerting Amadeus. Maho reluctantly agreed to get rid of the laptop, but then asks to see the time machine and speak to Suzuha. Before the conversation can progress a beep from the security monitor alerts them to multiple mean surrounding the building.

The group sneaks out through a secret exit Daru had in place, but they get cornered in an alley by a different group and Maho is captured. Okabe agrees to do as they say and the person holding Maho takes off her helmet, revealing Moeka. Okabe the instructs Daru to give him his backpack, which contains Kurisu's laptop. Okabe manages to stall for several minutes, but the assaulters begin to get impatient and Moeka threatens to kill someone.

Before anyone is hurt, a black van pulls up outside the alley and multiple people in military gear step out. Okabe warns everyone to get down before the military agents begin shooting. In the resulting gunfire, several rounders are killed an Kurisu's laptop is destroyed. With the Rounder having already left, the soldiers grab the remains of the laptop and leave. Okabe then realizes that WWIII may have already started.

After getting back to the lab, Okabe attempts to comfort a shaken Maho. Noticing Maho is holding something Okabe opens her hand to show that she had picked up a fragment of the laptop which she held so tightly that he hand was bleeding. After seeing it, Maho begins crying and tearfully apologizes to Kurisu. Okabe tells her that Kurisu would be happy that Maho is safe. Maho then gets a text from Leskinin revealing both the office and their hotels were ransacked. Okabe has them relocate during sunset.

Later on, while Maho is bathing at Faris' apartment, the stress from the day's events hits Maho all at once and she collapses to the ground, unable to move. Faris goes to check in her, but ends up screaming upon seeing her collapsed. Okabe, hearing the scream goes to see what wrong, only to see Faris helping a naked Maho up, much to everyone's embarrassment. Because Maho could not stand up Okabe had to help carry her to bed. Later on, in Faris's apartment, Okabe apologizes for what happened.

That night, Moeka breaks into her apartment and threatens her, resulting in Maho screaming. Okabe rushes in, but does not see anything, revealing it to have been a nightmare. He brings her a towel to wipe away her sweat. He turns to leave, but Maho grabs the hem of his shirt and asks him to wait. Still fearful, she asks him to stay with her. Okabe agrees to stay with her until she falls asleep. Later on, before she falls asleep, Okabe attempts to tell her the truth about Kurisu's death, but Maho, realizing how hard it was for him, stopped him short, telling him that she will get her answers form him when the time is right and he should stay quiet until then. Maho then get embarrassed at her state of distress and goes back to bed, but not before telling Okabe not to bring that topic up again. He thanks her. Maho then admits to herself that she had fallen in love with Okabe before falling asleep.

Okabe and Maho stayed at Faris's house for the next several days and before Maho leaves, everyone from the Christmas party throws her a goodbye party. Okabe and Maho meet Leskinen at the airport. Leskinen thanks Okabe for looking after Maho and asks him when he wants to visit the university. Maho also thanks him for his help. The two then return to America after removing Amadeus from Okabe's phone. Maho and Okabe still keep in touch.

Unkbenownst to Okabe, Maho was secretly in contact with Daru and Suzuha as the three worked together to rebuild the time-leap machine. On one call, Maho is half wake and disheveled, leaving her embarrassed when it is pointed out to her.

Over five months later, Okabe, Mayuri, and Faris greet Maho at the airport. He notes how he seems somewhat awkward around him, not knowing that she has developed romantic feelings for him. Maho asks him if he is still talking to Leskinen and Okabe confirms it, admitting that the professor even invites him to dinner, much to her chagrin. Maho then explains that she was going to visit relatives in Okinawa and that Akihabara was on the way. Faris offers to let Maho stay with her for the time being, but under the condition that she works at MayQueen. When Maho refuses, Okabe notes that she would have plenty of fans, flattering her. As the conversation moves forwards Okabe reveals that Daru is on a date, much to Maho's shock. The group later stops at the lab. While Maho pretends to go to Okinawa, she actually stays at the lab to continue working with Daru and Suzuha.

Several days later, Maho is working with Daru on the time-leap machine, but it explodes coving the area in soot and forcing Maho to take a shower. While she is in the shower, Okabe stops by and quickly realizes that Daru was trying to recreate the phonewave. Okabe begins to repimand Daru, but Maho, overhearing the conversation from the bathroom bursts in and cuts Okabe off. After she gets dressed, Okabe realizes that Maho lied about visiting Okinawa and actually came to Japan to help Daru recreate the PhoneWave. Okabe does not understand why she would do that, and questions if Maho is trying to bring back the Alpha worldline, sacrificing Mayuri for Kurisu. This tactless assumption leads Daru to punch Okabe to the ground and yelling at Okabe to apologize while Maho holds him back. After Maho sends Daru to cool off, Okabe apologizes for his comment and acknowledges that he felt like this world is a result of Kurisu's decision and he feels like he needs to protect that. Maho then reveals that while they are working on the PhoneWave, they sealed off the D-Mail function and have been actively looking for a way to bypass Echelon, so SERN would not learn of them. She then explains that they were actually researching the Time Leap machine. When Maho asks him if Kurisu told him anything about the Time Leap machine when she created it, Okabe confirms with her that she still does not intend to try and save Kurisu. She says that she does not, but Okabe can tell that she is lying and decides to leave.

Before he exits, Maho asks him if he believes that the Steins Gate worldline is real. He denies it but Maho debates on its existence, claiming that his previous failures do not disprove it. This frustrates Okabe, who attempts to leave again, only for Maho to grab him by the hem of his shirt. She states that he is a terrible liar and explains that Daru told her that a year ago, the time machine and Steins Gate could not even be mention around Okabe, but now he had a look on his face similar to hers whenever she lost to Kurisu. To Maho, this means that even if he feels depressed, he still has hope and a desire to reach Steins Gate. This stuns Okabe and she asks when he plans to return to the lab. Before he can answer, he receives a Rine message from Luka revealing that Mayuri had overheard their conversation and had run off in tears.

Everyone tries to look for Mayuri with no luck. They return to the lab, but disover that not only are all the cellphones in Akihabara jammed, but that someone had cracked the @channel occult board and written the message "Attention Salieri's Neighbor (1000)" repeatedly. Okabe clicks on the thread and sees multiple messages from KuriGohan and Kamehameha, with only the first one being legible. When Maho asked what that meant, Okabe reveals that KuriGohan is actually [Kurisu] and concludes that something must have happened to it and that the messages were its attempt to contact him about someone learning about the time machine. He then asks Maho to contact Amadeus, but they quickly learn that all of Amadeus's data has been completely removed from Viktor Chondria's servers. Daru speculates that it was moved, but Maho points out that Leskinen is the only person who could do that. Okabe then flashes back to [Kurisu]'s message on @channel and realizes that Leskinen might have been responsible. Since they do not have a way to contact Leskinen, Okabe decides to go to the Radio Building to try and protect the time machine, telling Maho and Daru to stay behind and gather information.

When Okabe returns following the time machine's destruction, he finds Daru, Maho, and Faris watching the television. It takes the group two days to complete the Time Leap machine and Okabe immediatly uses it to go two days into the past. Upon returning to the past, he immediately contacts Maho and tells her and Daru to delete all of Amadeus's data, including the backups so Stratfor could not utilize any of it.

Milky-Way Crossing
Maho is present when Okabe records the message for his past self. As Okabe prepares to depart in the time machine, Maho tearfully embraces him and says her goodbyes.

Quotes
"If all things are decided like fate by some god, there's no point in our living, no point in our trying and no point in our choices."

"If you give up on trying, it’s over. And then you’ll never win.”

"It doesn't matter how wonderful a diamond may be in the rough: it has no value until you polish it."

"A scientist should never rule out any possibility, no matter how unlikely ... But we have a tendency to place too much faith in common sense and our own theories."

Trivia

 * While Maho's field of study is neuroscience, she specializes in artificial intelligence.
 * As with other elements of Steins;Gate 0, Maho first appeared in the Epigraph Trilogy.
 * In the Epigraph Trilogy, Maho ends up wearing mismatched clothing after her belongings burn in a car crash in Steins;Gate: Epigraph of the Closed Curve.
 * Maho loves Okinawan dishes as depicted in the Pandemia of Artificial Machinery drama CD.
 * Maho told Rintaro Okabe that her great grandparents were immigrants in Okinawa which explains that her grandparents and parents are Japanese and thus making her DNA fully Japanese. However, Maho was born and raised in America which made Okabe before slightly confused at her appearance.
 * She is very skilled at racing games.
 * She is a fan of Mozart.

Etymology

 * The name Maho means "real, genuine" (真) (ma) and "sail" (帆) (ho), which literally means "full sail" altogether.
 * Maho's surname Hiyajo means "ratio, proportion" (比) (hi), "roof, house, shop, dealer, seller" (屋) (ya) and "determine, fix, establish, decide" (定) (jo).