Episode 03: Parallel Process Paranoia

Parallel Process Paranoia (並列過程のパラノイア, Heiretsu Katei no Paranoia) is the third episode of the anime adaptation of the visual novel Steins;Gate.

 Makise pays an unexpected visit to the lab, much to Okabe's dismay; however, her intrusion leads to further experimentation with the phone microwave, a device Okabe now believes to be a time machine.

Synopsis
July 29, 2010.

Kurisu's sudden appearance at Rintarou's "secret headquarters" starts yet another confrontation between the two. However, what's different is that Itaru appears to have cooperated with Kurisu to locate his "laboratory", causing Rintarou to accuse his friend of having exposed their location to the Agency. On the other hand, neither Itaru nor Kurisu take heed to his seemingly unusual behavior. Kurisu then introduces herself once again and reaches out her hand to Rintarou, who reluctantly refuses the handshake, upon his thoughts of Kurisu's killing intent.

She then proceeds to sit in front of the table, where the "gel banana" rests alongside normal bananas in a bunch. According to her, her original purpose for coming is to confirm Rintarou's allegations of her having been killed as true, but the gel banana she saw has shifted her focus.

As Suzuha flips through channels on the TV shop she works in, Kurisu begins her careful observation of the gel banana on the table. Peculiarly, she finds out that the banana appears to be naturally attached to the bunch, but is now an inedible soft mass.

Itaru soon finds Kurisu's phrase "Who would eat a pervert's banana anyway?!" interesting, and requests Kurisu to repeat that statement. Unlike Mayuri, whose airheadedness makes her an effective target for Itaru's perverse thoughts, Kurisu blushes to the request. Rintarou then plays along with Itaru and teases Kurisu, much to the girl's embarrassment.

Kurisu soon shifts back the topic to the gel banana; she points at the microwave behind the two and suspects that it has a connection with the gel banana. Rintarou instantly covers the appliance and tells her that it is top secret and talks to Itaru about their next move. Itaru admits that they might need the help of someone like Kurisu to the development of the microwave, but Rintarou still has doubts on Kurisu's intentions.

Rintarou then decides to allow Kurisu to know more about that Phone Microwave on a few conditions: that she will join the Future Gadget Lab; and she will forget any sexual harrassment that he might have done to her. Kurisu still suspects that the agreement is too advantageous for Rintarou, but the mad scientist tries to tease her into accepting the offer. His initial throwing of unusual nicknames for Kurisu has turned into an exchange, and eventually, Kurisu has decided to accept the offer, after getting tired of a seemingly childish argument with him.

Minutes later, Mayuri appears with a bag of goods and she discovers that they have a guest inside. Upon entering, she discovers that it is a girl who is the newest addition to the Future Gadget Lab Team, and is instantly elated by the news.

However, Kurisu is dragged back into work when Itaru reports something unusual from yesterday at noontime: a bolt of lightning came out from the microwave. Rintarou recalls it as the moment when he sent the message about Kurisu's death, and Itaru remembers linking up his phone into the microwave as well. Itaru also adds that he was performing a systems test at that time.

Kurisu then decides that they should recreate the incident and see if they can manage to replicate the results.

Mayuri hands over a box of microwaveable karaage and uses Rintarou's phone as a receiver. Since Kurisu doesn't want to cooperate, Itaru decides to use his phone instead and tries to send a message to Rintarou's phone. Mayuri then does the unexpected: opening the microwave. It creates a bolt of electricity that momentarily arcs out from the microwave, ending in an explosion that covers the entire room in a cloud of smoke. Luckily, no one was hurt, but the desk where the microwave stood is now split in two.

After Itaru uses an exhaust fan to divert the smoke, Rintarou checks up on his phone and discovers a surprising development: Itaru's message was received by Rintarou's phone, and the date of the message received is exactly one day in the past.

Itaru's message returned to the past.

Rintarou is overjoyed with the result, and there, in front of the same person who knew that time machines are impossible, he declares that the Phone Microwave is in fact, a time machine.

July 30 2010.

The next day, while Suzuha Amane performs maintenance checks on her bike, Rintarou wakes up to the vibrating alert of his cellphone. He discovers that he received thirteen messages from a certain "Shining Finger" person, who wants to meet up with him.

He decides to invite Itaru to come along, but he is still busy assessing the damage sustained by the Phone Microwave. Itaru finds out that the Phone Microwave is no longer creating gel bananas like before, and what's worse is that Kurisu ran away after Rintarou declared about the existence of a working time machine.

Itaru soon shows Rintarou a picture of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) by SERN. The term SERN appears to be familiar to Rintarou, who stumbles upon SERN when he was researching about John Titor. Rintarou demands some information on SERN from Itaru, who has known about John Titor's fame on @chan.

Itaru tells him that SERN stands for the European Organization for Nuclear Research and Particle Physics. It is a Europe-based organization who focuses on gathering and researching information on particle physics; they also have facilities like the Low Energy Antiproton Ring, the Proton Synchrotron Booster, the Large Electron-Positron Collider and the Large Hadron Collider.

Rintarou and Itaru later go to a nearby food stand and there, Itaru continues his explanation about SERN. According to Itaru, the LHC has the capability of creating a small black hole, and this causes Rintarou to think that time machines are indeed possible, considering that one theory on time machines involved a black hole. However, Itaru points out that both Kurisu and SERN itself denies the possibility of the creation of a black hole.

However, Rintarou does not believe in the public denial of SERN on the presence of artificial black holes. He asks Itaru a very pressuring request: to hack into the systems of SERN. Rintarou then leaves, leaving the fate of the Phone Microwave... and the bill for the food... in Itaru's hands.

Upon his return to the Future Gadget Lab, Rintarou stumbles upon Suzuha Amane, who is still in the middle of maintaining her bike. To the shock of the mad scientist, Suzuha has vital information regarding Future Gadget Lab (mainly because she overheard their conversation due to boredom). Also, Suzuha also has information on the IBN 5100, which she acquired from the Internet.

What he discovered from Suzuha causes him to return to his computer and research more on @chan on John Titor.

It turns out that John Titor also exposes yet another theory: the theory in which certain world lines of a person can cease to exist when it is changed by another person's world line. Discussions later shift to SERN and its involvement in the formation of the dystopia John Titor has been warning everyone. He still points out that he never went to the year 2000, and might have seen the John Titor in an alternate timeline. Also, he tells everyone to help him in tracing the IBN 5100 to aid him in his quest to alter the future.

July 31 2010.

The night soon follow, and while Itaru is immersed with the task of hacking into SERN, Mayuri visits them to bring some snacks for Rintarou, Itaru and Kurisu. Itaru soon exposes a more frustrated side, and Rintarou and Mayuri decide to leave him alone for the meantime.

After Rintarou explains to Mayuri what Itaru is doing, she is worried about Itaru snooping around other persons' secrets; however, Rintarou assures him that it is for the good of many. The two then proceed on eating oden in a can under the shade of an umbrella.

Later, the truimphant shout of victory is heard from Itaru's apartment. He has finally hacked into SERN.

Rintarou is guided by Itaru into the system of SERN, in which Itaru only manages to sneak into the mailboxes of the employees there. Itaru manages to translate the English emails, and discovers that the employees have been talking about a certain "Z-program"... which they found out to involve creating a mini-black hole.

Another report is soon opened, and the shocking truth is exposed to Rintarou and Itaru...

'''Human is dead. Mismatch.'''

Characters

 * Rintarō Okabe
 * Kurisu Makise
 * Itaru Hashida
 * Suzuha Amane
 * Mayuri Shiina

Cultural References

 * The link between SERN and the Large Hadron Collider confirms that SERN is in fact the real-life organization CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research).