Rintarō Okabe crafts the flamboyant “Hououin Kyouma” persona to emotionally sustain Mayuri Shiina during her grief, a façade later discarded in *Steins;Gate 0* after witnessing Kurisu Makise’s death in the Beta Attractor Field timeline. Haunted by survivor’s guilt, he adopts a muted demeanor and practical attire befitting his university life, battling panic attacks and relying on medication to stabilize his fractured psyche. Initially rejecting time travel as an affront to Kurisu’s sacrifice and a futile endeavor, he withdraws from the Future Gadget Lab, severing ties to his former identity and unsettling his companions. The looming specter of World War III forces him to confront stagnation’s consequences, driving him to employ a time leap machine over 3,000 iterations from 2036 to strategize conflict prevention. This resurgence of purpose reignites his dedication to shielding loved ones, though his psyche fractures further: once theatrical and chuunibyou-driven tendencies erode into cynicism, risking reckless decisions in non-canonical contexts. Yet his ingenuity persists, materializing in creations like the Divergence Meter and meticulous plans to steer timelines toward the Steins Gate worldline—a reality evading both Kurisu’s demise and global ruin. Expanded narratives like *Load Region of Déjà Vu* solidify his wariness of temporal meddling, prioritizing self-sacrifice over Kurisu’s timeline alterations to mitigate causal risks. Mayuri’s steadfast empathy and Kurisu’s intellectual kinship remain pivotal, grounding him through despair. Childhood experiences—a fever hinting at latent Reading Steiner abilities and the genesis of his Kyouma persona amid Mayuri’s loss—underscore his oscillation between identity and duty, tracing an arc from theatrical defiance to burdened resolve.