“Parallel Process Paranoia -Parallel World Paranoia-” (並列過程のパラノイア -Parallel World Paranoia-, Heiretsu Katei no Paranoia -Parallel World Paranoia-) is the third episode of the anime adaptation of the Steins;Gate visual novel.
Synopsis[]
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.
Plot[]
July 29, 2010.

"Killing intent"
Kurisu's sudden appearance at Rintaro'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 Rintaro 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 Rintaro, 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 Rintaro's allegations of her having been killed as true, but the gel banana she saw has shifted her focus.

Doesn't taste anything either
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. Rintaro 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. Rintaro 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 Rintaro still has doubts on Kurisu's intentions.

(a)roundtable negociation
Rintaro 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 Rintaro, 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.

Welcome aboard!
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. Rintaro 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.

Explosion!
Mayuri hands over a box of microwaveable karaage and uses Rintaro'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 Rintaro'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, Rintaro checks up on his phone and discovers a surprising development: Itaru's message was received by Rintaro's phone, and the date of the message received is exactly one day in the past.
Itaru's message returned to the past.
Rintaro 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.

Bike maintenance
The next day, while Suzuha Amane performs maintenance checks on her bike, Rintaro 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 Rintaro declared about the existence of a working time machine.

LHC-tan
Itaru soon shows Rintaro a picture of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) by SERN. The term SERN appears to be familiar to Rintaro, who stumbles upon SERN when he was researching about John Titor. Rintaro 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.

Dining reunion
Rintaro 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 Rintaro 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, Rintaro 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. Rintaro then leaves, leaving the fate of the Phone Microwave... and the bill for the food... in Itaru's hands.

I heard everything
Upon his return to the Future Gadget Lab, Rintaro 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.

Don't stop the super-hacka on his task
The night soon follow, and while Itaru is immersed with the task of hacking into SERN, Mayuri visits them to bring some snacks for Rintaro, Itaru and Kurisu. Itaru soon exposes a more frustrated side, and Rintaro and Mayuri decide to leave him alone for the meantime.
After Rintaro explains to Mayuri what Itaru is doing, she is worried about Itaru snooping around other persons' secrets; however, Rintaro 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.

Victory!
Later, the truimphant shout of victory is heard from Itaru's apartment. He has finally hacked into SERN.
Rintaro 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 Rintaro and Itaru...
Human is dead. Mismatch.

Appearances[]
Characters[]
By order of appearance:
Locations[]
Musics[]
Important Terms[]
- Term 1: HENTAI
- In Japanese, means 'pervert.' Kurisu uses this quite often for Daru. He insists that he is not a pervert, but a perverted gentleman. Pervert gentleman is a @channel meme for a harmless, mannerly pervert.
- Term 2: Christina (Kurisu-tina)
- Another name given to Kurisu by Okabe. He teases her with this name because it is slightly awkward—it is a continent-neutral name of American and Japanese origin. This is because she has been studying in America, and thought that it would be more suited for his 'international conspiracy' delusions. Other conspiracy-related women include Sara, Claudia, and Simone.
- Term 3: Lab Mems (Laboratory Members)
- The members of the Future Gadget Laboratory; Okabe formally inducts each one personally.
- Term 4: The Zombie
- One of the many names given to Kurisu by Okabe, due to seeing her dip her finger into a gelbana and taste its contents for analysis. One could suggest that he enjoys teasing her. From Okabe's perspective, this name is retroactively fitting as she was, in a sense, "resurrected" after being stabbed.
- Term 5: Time Machine
- Unlike traditional time machines, the PhoneWave (name subject to change) is only capable of sending a small amount of data as text back into the past; any larger object sent back would become torn apart at the molecular level (hence the gelbanas).
- Term 6: Shining Finger
- In reference to the Kung Fu skill from the protagonist of the Mobile Fighter G Gundam series (which is also voiced by Itaru Hashida's Japanese voice actor Tomokazu Seki), this is the nickname given to Moeka by Okabe because of her high-speed cell phone-typing skill.
- Term 7: Sanbo
- Name of a beef bowl (gyuudon) stand in Akihabara. Being known as Akihabara geeks' favorite, it even has its own Japanese Wikipedia entry. No cell phones, no headphones, and no questions are the rules of the shop.
- Term 8: LHC (Large Hadron Collider)
- This is a device used by both real-world CERN and fictional SERN to collide atoms in an attempt to create extreme forces of energy for scientific research. It's the scientific way of "knocking things together until something interesting happens," including generation of a micro-black hole. It runs underground in a ring. In Steins;Gate, the black holes it generates are used to send people and information back through time.
- Term 9: Canned Oden
- In Japan, there are vending machines nearly everywhere for convenience. This does not only include drinks, but quick soup as well; canned oden is a local specialty of Akihabara.
- Term 10: RaiNet Sausage
- Merchandise of the fictional anime series RaiNet Kakeru.
- Term 11: “Human is dead, mismatch”
- During Daru's investigation, a search on missing persons in SERN's database shows articles involving particular test subjects being transported back in time and torn apart at the molecular level; each subject this happens to has their file branded with this phrase.
Adapted Chapter[]
Trivia[]
- The link between SERN and the Large Hadron Collider confirms that SERN is in fact the real-life organization CERN.