Improbable Rendezvous

"Yes, Mother, I saw Father on the news." Makise Kurisu brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. "No, I'm not going to talk to the Russian ambassador. Why not—Mom, what would be the point? They're going to turn him away anyway, and without my thesis, it's not like..." Kurisu stopped on the street corner, listening to her cell phone. "What? Oh. Yes, it was mine. Of course it was. Well, I was going to, but now it seems..." Kurisu sighed and looked up at the sky. "...pointless. No, I didn't just sigh. Yes. Yes I know. I know, mom, I just..." Kurisu closed her eyes and bit her lip. "No, you're right. I know. It's his own fault."

"Right. Bye then." She paused just as she was taking the phone away. "What? Oh..." Kurisu blinked. "Oh wow. I... you're right. I had completely forgotten the flight was tomorrow already. Do... do you think..." She cast a nervous glance around the street, as if seeking for help from there. "Would it be all right if I stayed a little longer? I... can't leave just yet... just another week or..." The reply seemed to irritate her and her face took on a sour look. "I know, Mom! I know, but it's not like they found a body, and it just seems wrong to leave without finding out who that..." The answer rather deflated her. "Yes, I know. It's been over a month. I just..." She shook her head. "...I don't know how he managed to disappear like that."

She paused, listening. "Yes, mother. But he did save my life." A faint look of exasperation. "Yes, yes, and leave me stunned in a pool of blood. No... No, no, listen mother. Nothing like that... mother? I'm sure he didn't do anything like that. Well, no, I don't KNOW, but he didn't LOOK like a Hentai." She huffed a short breath.

"No, I haven't found anything new." Kurisu sighed. "No, I suppose not. Well, they haven't officially closed their investigation, but they haven't sent many updates recently. Yeah..." Kurisu lifted her head from the phone and stared about the street, seeing the thousands of people milling about. "...yeah, you're probably right. Okay. Tomorrow, then. Right. Love you too, mom."

She clicked off her phone and squinted up at the sky. Brilliantly clear. The last few days here in Akihabara had been very bright. Very hot, too, but then Kurisu had spent enough time in Texas for that to mean much less to her.

The last day. It'd sped by so fast. She'd delayed her trip twice already, but she really hadn't thought... Kurisu shook her head. No, her mother was right. She couldn't spend the rest of her life in a Japanese manga town trying to pay off some kind of life debt. It was time to move on and get back to her life.

Sighing, Kurisu started to walk, without any particular direction in mind. She could go back to the hotel, she supposed. She probably should—there was a lot to pack up and get ready. She wasn't even completely sure where her passport was anymore.

Ah, she could do that tonight. Right now, she could... what? What was she doing, now, exactly?

It wasn't usual for her to be purposeless like this. Makise Kurisu always had a plan, always had a purpose. Right now, the simplest plan was: go back to the hotel, pack, get a good night's sleep, and be sure to show up to the airport an hour or so early.

But there was an air of finality to that plan that Kurisu couldn't quite bring herself to adopt. She didn't want to give up on her quest. Not quite yet.

But what was she going to do now? She'd checked the hospitals, the dive hotels, even the morgue. No Hounin Kyouma. Even a google search brought up only the name of some crazy channeler who was posting as regularly as ever. Kurisu had searched every possible angle and she'd come no closer to finding her rescuer. Walking the streets was simply futile, she couldn't expect to just bump into the man among all the thousands here. Really, she should go to the hotel.

But for some reason, she couldn't. It was more than just a feeling of obligation, Kurisu felt a strange and strong NEED to find the man who saved her life, find out what he'd been doing there, how he'd managed to save her, WHY he'd risked his life to save her.

And why the hell did he look so damn familiar? Why was that face—pale, skinny, narrow cheekbones with deep-sunken eyes and tousled black hair—sticking in her head and in dreams and in memories where it had no damn place being to the point where she was practically seeing it on people passing on the street...!

Kurisu froze.

The face. She had seen it. Or had she? It was just a moment, but... that man, who'd just passed her... he...

Slowly, hesitatingly, Kurisu turned around, dreading the inevitable disappointment. The man was probably long out of sight already.

But he wasn't. He was standing, stock still, a few paces from where he'd passed her, and he was staring right back at her with an equally shocked expression.

Relief, exhiliration, and something she couldn't quite explain flooded Kurisu's veins. "I... I finally met you." She smiled, blinking back unexpected tears.

A/N: A quick little drabble. I just thought that it would be interesting to examine this scene from Kurisu's perspective. I had planned a multi-chapter fic which detailed more fully Kurisu having to meet and get acquainted with everyone all over again, but I got distracted and I'm pretty sure I'll never finish writing the other chapters, so I'll just stick this up now and call it good.