Steins;Gate WG Story - Chapter 05 (End...for now...) (Patreon)

It was rude not to introduce yourself to someone you just met.

“Tuturu~! I’m Shiina Mayuri! What’s your name?”

There was only one statue of Colonel Sanders in all of Akihabara and it had stood watch outside of the fried chicken shop for decades. It was built in the 1980s and had the same make and model as all the other guardian deities of fattening fast food strewn throughout Japan. The stony visage of a friendly grandpa only persisted in beaming silently at her question as the young girl tilted her head and slipped around to inspect him at different angles.

“My friends call me Mayushii too! You can call me that if you like! Thank you for always giving me and my friends such yummy chicken tenders!”

In her heart of hearts, Mayuri knew that each statue depicted the same person. However, she could not help but conclude that with so many statues at so many different locations they must have seen and experienced so many different things in their long years. This mean that, unless they existed as some sort of hivemind, they could not all be the same ‘Colonel Sanders’ but rather different, time shifted versions of him all existing in different places at the same time. 

That being the case, it was only logical that the statue might not have remembered her and would prefer to have been called something else.

“Ohaaaa~! Don’t you remember me?”

Finally, she had made contact! After so many years of trying, Mayuri was sure they would respond one day! Even if no one believes you, even if everyone says you’re just wasting your time, if you keep trying you’ll get there; it really was just as Okabe had always said!”

Those childlike hopes were dashed as a familiar face, sporting its auburn locks popped out from behind the weathered features of KFC’s mascot. The part-timer who worked underneath Okabe’s lab building stepped out of the shadows of the statue and emerged into the afternoon sunlight.

“I’m Suzuha, Suzuha Amane, remember! It’s not very nice to forget one of your dear lab members.”

Rather than feel or act disappointed, Mayuri’s eyes lit up almost immediately. It was only up until recently that she had been the only female lab member in Okabe’s group but after Makise showed up at their front door, Suzuha had been soon to follow. Lonely memories of simply sitting on the couch and making costumes for her part-time job while Okabe and Daru argued about whatever new theory popped into their minds was finally a thing of the past. In the last week alone, the number of girls in the lab now totally outnumbered the guys and was most certainly a welcome change.

“Suzuha-chan! Tuturu~! Of course, Mayushii remembers! Mayushii always remembers her friends!”

The two girls were among the youngest lab members and that suited them just fine. Mayuri’s petite frame, short black hair and blue sundress complimented her childish nature. Suzuha’s more athletic and slender build, braided brown hair, cyclist jacket and bloomers gave her the appearance of someone more suited to marathon training than hanging out in front of a fast food store. The bag of chicken at Suzuha’s side further betrayed this appearance.

“Ahah~!” Mayuri gleefully exclaimed. “You like chicken tenders too?”

“Of course! The ones at the convenience store are good too but there’s just no going past those 11 herbs and spices.”

Mayuri pulled Suzuha’s hand towards hers and clasped her fingers around the palm which was still looped through the handle of the plastic bag as she began to joyfully jump on the spot. It was silly to watch a young lady of her age act in such a way but there was something so infectious about how carefree she was that Suzuha could not help but instinctively oblige her.

“Yay! That means we’re now officially tendie buddies! Mayushi will now share her ‘good girl points’ with Suzuha any time she wants! Okarin gives them to me whenever I do something good and I tend to spend them on food and Upa themed things! It’s a good system.”

Where such an odd statement would have probably seemed strange to anyone else, Suzuha seemed to be genuinely impressed. Her casual statement about KFC seemed to only run further in contrast with how much her mouth-watered as the prospect of fried chicken on a whim hung at the forefront of her mind.  

“Y-you mean you get to eat this amazing stuff whenever you want just by asking Okabe? T-that’s amazing!”

“They don’t have KFC where you’re from, Suzuha-chan?”

“Ah,” Suzuha paused as she wiped the droplet of drool which threatened to creep over the edge of her mouth. “Well, we did once before, but they’re really a thing of the past. I’m really glad that I came to hang out with you guys and get to taste all this amazing stuff once again.”

“Mhmm! Mayushii was just about to head back to the lab with lunch for everyone. Were you going back to work too?”

“Yeah, the old man is probably waiting for me to get back to work too. He says I take too many lunch breaks.”

“Then that’s perfect timing! You should eat with Mayushii and Okarin and everyone! We’ll make it a chicken tenders party! There’s lots to go around!”

By the time the two of them had finally set off, the sun had already started to set. This did little to stifle the balmy summer evenings as they walked back through the back streets of Akihabara, unaware of the unseasonably cold weather which awaited them just around the corner...