Midnight Snack
 
By Minako Tomoka
 
A Steins;Gate Short Story
 
 
 
  Gusts of warm summer wind blew through the open windows of the Future Gadget Labratory, fluttering past the lacy curtains. The constant, steamy air made the labratory, or second-floor apartment, as it could be better called, feel like a sauna on fire. There was no air conditioning up there, so that only made it even more stuffy. The entire lab was empty- save for two people- Okabe Rintarou and Kurisu Makise.
 
  The two of them were sprawled out on the couch together, watching reruns of some crappy 20 year-old anime. The room was filled with a strange silence. "Tell me again why I have to stay the night with you," Kurisu spat. "Don`t tell me you`re a grown man who`s afraid to sleep alone at night." Her long red hair draped over her shoulders like wisps of flame. Her narrow purple eyes showed frustration. It was hotter than the Devil`s kitchen in here, and being all alone with the self-proclaimed mad scientist Okabe Rintarou, or Hououin Kyouma, as he liked to be called, was somewhat unnerving.
 
  Okabe yawned. "I brought you here for a reason," he said. "I`m waiting for something." His golden eyes flashed with a suspicious gleam. Kurisu didn`t look convinced. "Waiting for what, exactly? Is this your lame excuse of flirting with me? Because if it is, it`s not working. I`m sweating to death and it`s nearly one in the morning. Not to mention the TV over there looks like it`s about to explode."
 
  Rintarou grinned. "Oh, you`ll see. You may be bored now, but not for long, dear Assistant Christina." Kurisu raised an eyebrow. "What`s that supposed to mean? You`re acting creepy. And for the last time, my name is not Christina, and I am not your assistant." She crossed her arms, while Okabe continued to sneer. A layer of static filled the television, and the picture soon cut out to nothing but a blank, silent blue screen.
 
  Kurisu flopped over and grumbled. "Ugh, seriously? Just get a new TV already. Pick up an AC while you`re at it, too." Okabe sat upright and stumbled over to the television. "Well, whenever you feel like contributing some of your funds to the Future Gadget Labratory, perhaps we shall get these new luxuries." He fiddled around with the knobs and tried adjusting the cables. Nothing was happening. After a few minutes, he flicked off the TV and stood up to his full height. "Well, it looks as though we will have to get this repaired again," he said. "But until then, what do you suggest we do now?"
 
  "Go home and go to bed," Kurisu yawned. Okabe scratched his chin. "I have a better idea. Why don`t we do something...fun?"
 
  "I don`t like where this is going," Kurisu growled. "If you try anything on me, I swear to God, I will punch you in the face." Rintarou sighed. "Why must you always be so perverted, Christina? Just how many dirty thoughts is your mind filled with?" He strolled over to the computer desk and pulled open one of the drawers. He rustled around inside for a bit until he whipped out a strange little device that resembled a blue pistol with a shiny chrome finish and a knobbed tip. It looked like it came straight out of a bad sci-fi movie. "Behold!" he boomed. "Future Gadget Number 9, the Shrink Ray!"
 
  Kurisu didn`t look impressed. "Please tell me this is a joke. What does it do, anyway?"
 
  "It does exactly what the title implies," Okabe replied. "It emits a special variety of gamma wave that shrinks any object down to approximately three inches tall."
 
  "And how does that work?" Kurisu asked. "A device with the power to grow or shrink objects is scientifically impossible. It would require separating and compacting the molecules of an object, then putting it back together in one piece. It defies the very laws of physics. All this thing will do is probably give me mild radiation poisoning." Okabe smiled oddly. "Oh, is that what you think? I thought you`d never doubt any kind of fringe science after learning that our microwave is a time machine. If you`re so certain that this device won`t affect you at all, then why don`t you just stand in front of me? I`ll test it out on you."
 
  Kurisu curled her fists. "No way!" she snapped. "What do you think I am, your guniea pig?!"
 
  "Scared, are we?" Rintarou smirked. "If this Shrink Ray doesn`t do anything, why can`t you volunteer as a test subject? You are my assistant, you know. You have to be useful for something." Kurisu`s cheeks grew a bright red. "Fine!" she hissed. "I`ll do it!" She got up and stood downrange. For some reason, her palms felt sweaty, and she shook a little. She shouldn`t be scared about anything. Okabe wouldn`t intentionally do anything to hurt her...right?
 
  Okabe aimed his brand-new invention at his assistant. His mouth watered at the thought of what fun he would have with her. "Well then, let the experiment begin," he said. He squeezed the trigger, and the tip of the pistol-like device emitted a steady stream of lurid greenish light. It struck Kurisu in the chest, giving her a sharp pain in her heart. She clenched up and hunched over, grabbing at her jacket. The sensation she was going through was indescribable. She felt as if she was being compressed or pushed down by an unseen force. What was it doing to her? Was she really shrinking? She swallowed the rising lump in her throat and banished the thought from her mind.
 
  But after the green light faded, that thought quickly returned. She found herself sitting on the carpet. For the first time, she could feel all of the individual fibers beneath her body. But that wasn`t all. The size of her surroundings had been increased dramatically. The coffee table that she used to see as only a couple of feet high now towered above her like a redwood tree. Not to mention everything else loomed over her in comparison.
 
  A massive shadow hovered over her, like a sheet of darkness. Reluctantly, she looked up, then quickly found herself wishing she hadn`t. The creature towering over her wasn`t any monster. It was Okabe. He had now grown to a height that could only be described as utterly colossal. His labcoat resembled a fall of snow cascading over his body. From where Kurisu sat, he looked like he was 100 feet tall. Had he always been so huge? she thought. Even at her normal size, Okabe was always bigger than her, but now, he seemed completely monstrous. "Yes!" Okabe cackled. "The experiment was a success! It seems the Shrink Ray does work after all! Now do you doubt me, Christina?"
 
  Kurisu`s jaw dropped. She didn`t know what to think. She was stunned, as well as terrified. Pure fear filled her heart. "Okabe...what have you done to me?!" she shrieked. "Why did you do this?"
 
  "To have fun, of course," the gigantic scientist replied. "After all, I am the mad scientist, Hououin Kyouma! It was only a matter of time before I accomplished such a scientific feat! I`m incredible beyond words!" Okabe had a manic look in his eyes. Kurisu knew that whatever he planned to do with her, it wasn`t going to be good. She forced herself to pry her eyes away from the massive scientist. She crawled to her feet and took off running. She didn`t know where she would run or what she would do, she just wanted one thing- to be away from Kyouma. Her heart beat hard against her ribcage. Red-hot adrenaline flowed through her tiny body.
 
  She continued to run, until her face collided with a pane of glass. She fell over on her back. Okabe had caught her beneath a glass jar. "Did you think you could escape me?" he chuckled.
"I didn`t go through all of this just to let you run away." Before Kurisu could even move, Okabe snatched her up, his fingers wrapped around her like a vice. He held her up to his eye level, intently staring and grinning at her. Kurisu could even see the reflection of her own terrified face in his enormous golden eyes. "Wha...what are you going to do to me!?" she shouted breathlessly.
 
  "Whatever I want," Okabe replied. "I have to say, you`re much cuter in this form, except for that upset face of yours. Wipe those tears, this will be fun!" He poked and prodded at the red-haired girl as she laid in his palm, shivering uncontrollably. He gently stroked her tiny body with his fingertips. Was this meant to calm her down? Whatever the case, she didn`t feel calm at all. She was in constant fear that if he made just one mistake, he would end up crushing her. She decided she just had to trust him. He wouldn`t really harm her, would he?
 
  Okabe plopped down on the couch and lowered the miniature Kurisu down on the coffee table. He looked delighted to have her there. He had planned all of this out for quite a while, and now she was all his. When Kurisu finally regained her sanity, she put her hands on her hips and shouted, "Look, you may think this is fun, but the fun is clearly one-sided! I don`t want to be like this anymore! Change me back now, Okabe!"
 
  Rintarou growled. He didn`t exactly like being called by that name. He was a mad scientist, and he would be addressed properly. He grabbed a fork off the table and stabbed it just inches away from Kurisu`s feet. "What are you doing?!" she screamed. "I will inform you one last time, Christina, my name is Hououin Kyouma!" Rintarou snapped. "I implore you to remember it! Not only that...but the frightened look on your face isn`t bad either. Let`s see how good your reflexes are, assistant!"
 
  He lifted the fork and stabbed it down at her once again. Luckily, Kurisu was fast enough to roll out of the way. But he wasn`t done yet. He jabbed at her over and over again, attempting to skewer her. She dodged helplessly, skittering about like a cockroach. "Why are you doing this!?" she shrieked. "Are you trying to kill me?!" Kyouma`s only response was a fit of maniacal laughter. His cackling sounded like the rumble of thunder to her. Every time he slammed the fork down, Kurisu was forced to run off in the opposite direction. She couldn`t believe it. He was going to kill her. But why? She quickly regretted all of the things she had yelled at him about in the past. Perhaps he was striking back in this way.
 
  A few minutes later, the fork`s prongs bent, and Okabe finally gave up on skewering his tiny assistant. He laid back and took a deep breath, exhausted. Kurisu fell over on the table and let out a sigh of relief. Her tiny heart felt ready to burst. Maybe he`s done, she thought. But it turned out that Kyouma wasn`t as tired out as he seemed. He sat up and gazed at Kurisu, sighing.
"My, you`re so cute. I suppose I made a good choice using the Shrink Ray on you. I thought about trying it out on Mayuri, but she`d be too scared."
 
  Kurisu frowned. "What about me?! You almost stabbed me with a fork! Don`t you think I`m scared too!?" Rintarou ran his fingers through his messy, jet-black hair. "Oh, dear. You`re a noisy one, aren`t you? Even at three inches tall, you`re still incredibly loud. It does please me to see you in such a hysterical state, though." He swooped down and clutched Kurisu in his hand again. He got up and began carrying her over to the kitchen. She didn`t like where this was headed.
 
  To her horror, he placed her into the frying pan on the stove. She came to a horrible realization. "Are you going to...cook me!?" she screeched. Okabe grinned. "Maybe. Maybe not. I will say, I am quite hungry." He opened the refridgerator and pulled out a bottle of Dr. Pepper. This can`t be, Kurisu thought. He`s going to fry me in his favorite soda. Never in a million years did she think this would be how she would die. Rintarou opened up the Dr. Pepper bottle and took a huge gulp. His stomach gurgled. "Mmm, that`s right. I haven`t eaten anything since this morning."
 
  Kurisu clenched up like a turtle withdrawing into its shell. "Oka- I mean Kyouma, please stop! I don`t want to be fried!" Okabe`s lips curled into a sadistic sneer. "Is that it? Well, why didn`t you say so? I didn`t want to wait that long anyway." He plucked Kurisu out of the frying pan, holding her up by the back of the neck. He didn`t seem eager to put her down. Even if he did, she would still have no way of escaping. She couldn`t jump off the counter. She`d break a leg. Poor Kurisu was nothing more than a victim of the mad scientist`s whims. She couldn`t help herself, so she just left everything to him. That probably wasn`t the best idea, she thought.
 
  Rintarou took another gulp of Dr. Pepper, and his stomach protested once again. He was hungry, no doubt, but he was tired of bananas, chicken tenders, and soda. He craved something...different. "Please let me go," Kurisu begged. "I don`t want to die! Just change me back, and I`ll do whatever you want! I promise I won`t shout at you anymore! I`ll help you with the experiments! I`ll accept all your theories as truth! Please, just don`t kill me!" Okabe snickered, showing his teeth. "It`s too late for that."
 
  He rubbed the tiny Kurisu up against his face. To her, his razor stubble felt like the spines of a cactus. He then began to lick Kurisu, dragging his wet, warm tongue across her body. Her clothes were soaked in his saliva. She knew what this meant. He had to be tasting her. What else did it mean? "You...you`re going to eat me?!" she squealed. "But you can`t! I`m your assistant, remember! What will you do without me!?"
 
  "There are plenty of other assistants out there," Rintarou replied. "You`ve outlived your purpose. Still, you taste so sweet...like your entire body is made of candy." Even as his tongue continued to smother Kurisu, she gasped. What other assistants? Had he been hanging out with other women? How did she outlive her purpose? Before she could ponder that thought more, Okabe`s tongue wrapped itself around her miniscule form. With a long, drawn-out slurp, she was sucked into his mouth.
 
  The inside of his mouth was a dark, damp, humid prison. Kurisu floundered helplessly, trying to stand. Saliva pooled up beneath her, submerging her up to chest level. At the same time, she felt herself being dragged backward. That was not a good direction to be dragged in here. She struggled to crawl foward, but Okabe`s throat muscles had grabbed hold of her feet and were now pulling her downward. Kurisu flailed about in a panic. How could he be so cruel to do something like this to her? Within seconds, Kurisu had been consumed up to her neck. She was now drowning in saliva. Despite her desperate thrashing, she was no match for the sheer force of Rintarou`s body.
 
  After one last, hard gulp, Kurisu`s grip slipped, and she was swallowed whole. The red-haired girl tried her best to scrabble upward, but it was no use. The chamber of muscles surrounding her squeezed and pushed back harder, shoving her down his throat. She then tumbled into a pool of noxious fluid. It didn`t take her long to realize that she had ended up in Okabe`s stomach. He really did eat her. And he was about to digest her, too, as indicated by the insidious rumbling above her. His stomach was filled with the remnants of the scientist`s past meals, including bananas, chicken tenders, beef strips, ramen, and a sickening slurry of Dr. Pepper.
 
  Tears streaked down Kurisu`s face. She couldn`t accept that she had now become little more than a snack to satisfy her partner`s colossal appetite. She clawed at the walls of his belly, trying to do something to stay alive. It wasn`t working particularly well. The acid started to burn her skin with a sensation like being stabbed by hot needles. "Okabe, let me out of here!" she screamed.
 
  Back in the lab, Okabe sighed contentedly. He laid on the couch, oblivious to the horror Kurisu Makise was experiencing inside of him. He could neither feel her panicked struggling, nor hear her horrified screams. He stroked his belly and said, "Have no fear, Christina. You`ve served me quite well as a labratory assistant. Your sacrifice will not be in vain, as you have given your life in the name of science. You`ve also made a tasty late-night snack as well." He was about to close his eyes, but then reopened them and added, "I am still hungry. I should probably find something else to eat."
 
  Meanwhile, deep within Rintarou`s stomach, Kurisu had expended all of her remaining energy in her feeble attempt at escape. The sting of acid became even more intense. She fluttered her arms, trying to keep her head above the rapidly rising pool of liquid. She helplessly bobbed up and down. Her screaming and crying eventually ended, and she was soon submerged beneath Okabe`s gastric fluids.
 
  Kurisu then woke up from sleep, shooting upright like a bullet. She nearly rolled off the couch when she found herself lying in the mad scientist`s lap. She had returned to her normal size, and Okabe no longer looked so monstrous or menacing, but she was drenched in sweat and could hardly catch her breath.
 
  Okabe looked puzzled. "Are you okay?" he asked. "That must have been some nightmare." Kurisu threw herself off the sofa and jabbed a threatening finger at him. "You!" she snapped. "You`re the one who did it! You used that God-forsaken Shrink Ray on me, shrunk me down to three inches tall, tortured me, and ate me alive! Do I look tasty to you?!" Rintarou seemed bewildered. "What Shrink Ray? We`ve never invented anything like that. We don`t have that much money. You just had a bad dream. Plus, why would I want to eat you? I don`t think you would taste very good, and you`d probably give me a stomach ache."
 
  His question was met by a pillow to the face. "Shut up!" Kurisu hissed. "I`m leaving!" And with that, she stomped out the door and slammed it shut behind her. Okabe Rintarou tilted his head in confusion. "Well, if we`ve invented a microwave that can send text messages back in time, I don`t see why a Shrink Ray isn`t possible. Perhaps it was another world line?"
 
 
The End...