Mayuri Shiina

Mayuri Shiina (椎名 まゆり, Shīna Mayuri), also known as Mayushii☆, is Rintaro Okabe's childhood friend, a part-time worker at May Queen Nyan-nyan and a member of the Future Gadget Lab. She is also an avid cosplay maker and friend of Luka Urushibara and Akiha Rumiho.

During the year 2036 in the Beta Attractor Field, Mayuri becomes Kagari Shiina's adoptive mother.

Mayuri is one of the main characters of Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0.

Appearance
Mayuri is a short girl with short black hair and lightly blue iris. Her hair forms fringes that sweep from either side. Mayuri's eyebrows are noticeably thick.

Mayuri's outfit is simple and comfortable, consisting of a light blue one-piece dress and a hat of the same color. She also wears leggings underneath her clothing.

When she attends to her work at May Queen Nyan-nyan, she wears a blonde wig tied into a long ponytail.

Personality
Mayuri possesses an extremely childish and naïve attitude for her age. While this may have something to do with her inability to accept the death of her grandmother when she was young, Okabe states at one point that she's always been a little bit different, though he never goes into any detail beyond this. Mayuri has a great fondness for cute things like Upa cushions, and likes to give cute nicknames to familiar people, like Okarin for Okabe, being a portmanteau of his last and first names Okabe Rintaro, even referring to herself as Mayushii, being a portmanteau of Mayuri Shiina.

Though appearing as one of the less intelligent members of the lab, according to Rintaro Mayuri is very perceptive, often being surprisingly quick to catch things no other notices, and being good at understanding how others feel. Mayuri also does not question Daru's perverted comments and mannerisms, or is not in any way offended by them.

Despite being socially inept, she is also responsible for Rintaro's well-being, usually tending to his needs most of the time.

Background
As a child, Mayuri was close friends with Rintaro Okabe, and they could often be seen together. However, after the death of her grandmother, she entered a state of PTSD that caused her to be unable to talk to others, and could be seen near her grandmother's grave in the cemetery.

Out of fear that something could happen to her, Rintaro tried to call out to her while when she was in the cemetery. One day, as Mayuri raised her hand towards the sky after it stopped raining, Rintaro's fear reached its limit, and he rushed to hug her, proclaiming to be a "mad scientist" and that Mayuri was his "hostage", and that, therefore, she was not allowed to go away. After that, Mayuri went back to normal.

Plot
Shortly after Rintaro creates the Future Gadget Lab in 2010, Mayuri is the first one to join it. For a few months, they both are the only ones to attend the lab, where they spent their time doing nothing of particular relevance.

On July 28, 2010, Mayuri attends alongside Rintaro Dr. Nakabachi's time machine seminar. Shortly before the seminar, the manages to win a rare metal Upa out of a slot machine, but loses it afterwards.

As the Future Gadget Lab's experiments with the PhoneWave and the D-Mails proceed, Mayuri grows exponentially worried that they may be doing something wrong, but never attempts to stop Rintaro. As the number of members of the lab increases, and, in particular, due to the appearance of Kurisu Makise, Mayuri starts to think that Rintaro does not need her anymore, and starts worrying about her future.

In August 13, 2010, as the Future Gadget Lab is celebrating the completion of the Time-Leap Machine, Mayuri is killed by Moeka Kiryu during the Rounder raid to the lab. This event leads Rintaro to travel back to the past to try and save her.

Stardust Sky
Okabe must choose between saving Mayuri or Kurisu. Realizing that he harbors romantic feelings for Kurisu, Okabe and Kurisu decide to return to the Beta world line in which Kurisu's murder continues as planned, but Mayuri noticed that something strange was going on between Kurisu and Okabe so she decided to ask Okabe. After knowing about Okabe's journey to save her, about all people's happiness he sacrificed, and about Okabe's decisions, Mayuri cries and blame herself, running to see Kurisu. When Mayuri encountered her, Kurisu was packing her things to go back to America. She runs and hugs her, saying she doesn't want Kurisu to disappear, only to hear that this was Kurisu's decision from the beginning and that she wants Mayuri to be happy; saying that Okabe loves her, she parts. After hacking into SERN's database with the IBN computer, 1% divergence is achieved. Okabe vows to remember his memories of Kurisu,and spends his time with Mayuri as lovers. On a date with Mayuri, she says she had a very important friend that she doesn't remember who and that sometimes, she hears a voice, a voice that tells her to 'find happiness'. Mayuri holds Okabe's hand (Doing 'Stardust Handshake') and wondering if that important friend is the reason she is with Okabe right now, saying she wants to say thanks.

Isolated Jamais Vu
After attempting to find a way to save Mayuri without sacrificing the life of Yukitaka Akiha, Rintaro ends up in an unknown worldline. After exploring Akihabara and trying to contact his friends, Rintaro finds out that only Faris remembers him.

Mayuri, who in this worldline still works at May Queen, does not have any recollection of Rintaro. However, since the first D-Mail has never been sent, her death has been avoided. Rintaro, although depressed over having lost his friends, recognizes that as a necessary exchange for Mayuri's life.

Link of Corruption and Rebirth
As Rintaro refuses to sacrifice Luka Urushibara's feelings and going back to the worldline where she was born as a man, they both are left with no other option but accept Mayuri's inevitable death.

Several days after her funeral, Luka uses the Time-Leap Machine to go back to the day Mayuri died, with the intention of making her wish of seeing her wearing a cosplay a reality.

Recursive Mother Goose
After Kagari Shiina successfully recovers her memories after almost being hit by a truck while searching for the origin of a song she remembered, Mayuri discovers that she is her daughter from the future, and they proceed to live the several following months happily together.

However, as the time limit for the Time Machine's fuel approaches, Mayuri decides to go back to the past herself to convince Rintaro to save Kurisu. Kagari, not wanting to be separated from her mother, opposes, but as she discovers Mayuri's reasoning to do so, decides to go herself alongside Suzuha Amane. Their fate after going back to the past, however, is unknown.

Gehenna's Stigma
After being brain-washed by Alexis Leskinen and capturing Rintaro Okabe against her will, Maho Hiyajo roams Akihabara, with no clear goal in mind. She then finds Mayuri Shiina, who is looking for Rintaro, and, out of her own frustration and desperation, tells her the truth about the death of Kurisu Makise and her own life. Mayuri then runs away.

As Rintaro wakes up after being rescued, he is informed by Itaru Hashida that both Mayuri and Suzuha have disappeared, and that the Time Machine has been destroyed.

Deaths
Before Reintaro reaches the Alpha Attractor Field, Mayuri dies in multiple ways during Rintaro's various attempts to save her, due to the events of the world lines in this same attractor field always converges into the event of her demise, though with different results each time:


 * Shot in the head by Moeka Kiryu
 * Hit by the Rounders' car
 * Hit by a metro train
 * Hit by a policeman's stray bullet
 * Spontaneous cardiac arrest
 * Gel-ified (VN, in the anime appears as a flashing image when Okabe described him repeating his time-leaping to save Mayuri)
 * Shot by a Rounder whilst in a taxi with Okabe (Anime) / Stabbed by a Rounder whilst in a taxi with Okabe (Visual Novel)
 * Gunned down by the Rounders

Quotes

 * "But isn't doing this bad? Mayushii doesn't want you to do bad things..." -Mayuri to Okabe.
 * "We should work towards world peace. Like giving everyone an Upa cushion..." -Mayuri D-Mail wish.
 * "Just look, we've made so many friends... There's Daru-kun, Chris-chan, Luka-chan, Suzu-san, Moeka-san, Feris-chan, Braun-san, Nae-chan and more! In the spring you seemed so lonely... But now you're fine. You don't need Mayushii to be your hostage anymore."
 * "Finally... Mayushii was... useful... to Okarin." -Mayuri after protecting Okabe from being hit by a Rounder's car.
 * "The whole time you and Chris-chan were hurting... While Mayushii was making costumes... like nothing was wrong... I feel so stupid! I didn't know anything! I need to see Chris-chan!" -Mayuri to Okabe after knowing what Okabe and Kurisu have been through.
 * "Hum, I don't know who it was but Mayushii feels like she had a very important friend. And whenever I think about that important friend, my heart hurts, like hnng, you know? And sometimes, I hear a voice. That voice tells me to 'find happiness'. I wonder if that person is the reason of why Mayushii is with Okarin now... If I ever meet this person again, I want to tell them thanks." -Mayuri talking about Kurisu in her ending.
 * "Tutturu~!"

Trivia

 * Mayuri's voice was used as a user guide for the Phone Microwave. According to Rintaro, it made the Microwave sound silly.
 * She was the first person to discover the Microwave's "irregular" abilities when she accidentally froze her chicken while trying to thaw it. She also gave the gelified bananas the name "gelnana".
 * So far, the only ending of the visual novel in which Mayuri's death is definite is Luka's ending, as she survived in Faris's ending, Kurisu's ending (same thing applies to the True end), her own ending and Suzuha's ending (implied to have been saved through the combined efforts of Rintaro and Suzuha).
 * Also, Mayuri dies of natural causes if Luka's ending was achieved. This is the one of two instances in the plot where the cause of Mayuri's death was not an accident/murder, the other being when she goes to ComiMa on the 16th after Luka's mail is reversed.
 * Mayuri, like all other characters, has blurry memories of what happened to her in the other world lines, though unlike them she only thinks of the memories as "bad dreams".
 * According to Okabe, his first kiss was with Mayuri in elementary school, though they were "just messing around".
 * Lab Member 002. Second to the founder, already joined at the start of the main story. She joined because she saw that Okabe was lonely and she wanted to be with him (under the gimmick of being his hostage).
 * Mayuri is so innocent and honest, Kurisu once thought that Mayuri was kidnapped by Okabe.

Mayuri Shiina