"Finally, the daily-life segments are over."
Another week had passed, and Daniel returned home with his copy of Picca Comics.
In the previous week's storyline, he had witnessed Yuli's death.
It was this shocking event that made Daniel and many other readers realize that the "Warrior of Love" Porter was back.
Despite having created several comedic series, the Porter hadn't lost his knack for writing dark, tragic stories.
"I can't wait for what comes next…" Daniel said as he sat down on his couch. "But I think today is also Claire's new release day, right?"
Daniel had originally planned to dive straight into Steins;Gate, but after remembering Claire's new series, he decided to check it out first.
After all, her previous work, Your Lie in April, had left a profound emotional impact on him.
Since that series ended, Claire had all but disappeared from the scene, with no new works on the horizon. If it weren't for the occasional updates on her social media, Daniel might have thought something had happened to her.
"Inuyasha?"
When Daniel saw the title of Claire's new series, he tilted his head in confusion—it was a name that didn't give much away.
As he skimmed through the pages, Daniel quickly understood the gist of the story.
The comic was set in an alternate version of ancient China. It followed a middle school girl named Kagome, who accidentally traveled through time by falling into an ancient well at her family's shrine. She ended up in the past, where she met a half-human, half-demon hybrid named Inuyasha. Together, they embarked on a quest to recover the scattered shards of the Shikon Jewel.
A story about demons and time travel? This reminded Daniel of Steins;Gate.
It seemed like the teacher-student connection was clear. The Porter had just created a time machine, and now Claire was using a magic well to handle time travel.
How are Rintarou and Kurisu supposed to compete with this? Those two worked so hard to build a time machine in Steins;Gate, and even lost Yuli in the process, while Claire's characters can just jump into a well and be transported across time!
"These demon stories aren't scientific at all," Daniel joked to himself.
Still, he was impressed with Claire's growth as an artist. Her drawing style had clearly improved since Your Lie in April.
With that thought, Daniel wasted no time flipping past the earlier chapters to get to Steins;Gate.
He was eager to see how the story would unfold after the heavy foreshadowing and unexplained events in the previous chapters.
After reading Chapter 12 and processing the clues, Daniel noticed that Steins;Gate had finally started ramping up its plot, moving at a breakneck pace and delivering the high-stakes thrills that had been building for so long. It felt like the comic had been slowly winding up a spring, and now everything was snapping into place at once.
For example, after the events of Chapter 12, the story shifted into overdrive.
Suzuha activated the TV on the first floor, which powered up the D-mail system, and she quickly returned, easily defeating the armed intruders. While Suzuha confronted Moeka, Kurisu and Rintarou took the opportunity to activate the time leap machine.
Rintarou's mind was flooded with memories as he realized that he had indeed traveled back to that same afternoon.
But despite his best efforts, he was unable to save Yuli. Every time he returned to that fateful afternoon and tried different methods, Yuli would still end up dead in a different way.
From that moment on, Rintarou became trapped in an endless loop of time leaps and failed attempts to save Yuli. It was an unbreakable cycle of despair and helplessness.
Both Rintarou and the readers began to realize something dreadful: Yuli's death seemed inevitable. It was as though fate had locked her into an endless loop of demise, with no way out.
"Why does Yuli have to die every time?" Daniel found himself asking, reflecting on the many loops and resets where nothing changed.
The mounting sense of mystery drew Daniel further into the story, deepening his curiosity about what was really going on. He couldn't help but read on, eager for answers.
Feeling utterly defeated after repeatedly failing to save Yuli, Rintarou sought Kurisu's help once more. He returned to the moment when the time leap machine was first completed and managed to convince Kurisu of his time travel by explaining everything that had happened. Together, they started investigating the cause of Yuli's inevitable death. During this process, Suzuha joined them.
"To save the world, we must break through the 1% divergence threshold and reach… the Beta world line!"
"Beta world line? Does that mean what Rintarou experienced was the Alpha world line? Is this connected to parallel universe theory?"
Seeing the term "Beta" triggered a connection in Daniel's mind, leading him to think about the Alpha world line. However...
What exactly is this divergence threshold?
As if the Porter had anticipated readers' confusion at this point, Suzuha explained it within the story. "The divergence threshold represents a number that indicates which world line we're on."
Even though the explanation was dense and complex, Daniel couldn't help but feel impressed by the Porter's ability to weave intricate scientific theories into the narrative.
It reminded him of the old manga Cooking Master Boy, where even the most exaggerated and unrealistic cooking methods somehow felt plausible when explained in the story.
He chuckled as he thought back to some of the bizarre dishes in that series. In fact, he remembered that the Picca theme park had a section dedicated to recreating some of those crazy recipes. Despite their notorious taste, people still lined up to try them.
Reflecting on the overpriced and awful-tasting "Jumping Turtle Soup" he had tried, Daniel felt a wave of nausea rise in his throat. He quickly suppressed it.
Wait… wasn't I one of the people who willingly paid for that awful experience?
Back in the comic, the plot continued to unfold.
Suzuha didn't just explain world lines—she also revealed a device for measuring the divergence number and explained how to shift to a different world line. All of this left Daniel feeling deeply intrigued.
Who exactly is Suzuha?
Why does she know so much about this?
Daniel wasn't the only one wondering. Both Kurisu and Rintarou asked Suzuha directly.
"I'm from the year 2036. I'm a time traveler, and my real name is John Titor."
"What the—?!" Daniel was stunned.
He hadn't seen this coming at all. Taking a sip of soda to calm himself down, he continued reading, eager to see what other surprises awaited.
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