Because Kurisu was dead. Not erased from time. Not overwritten. Dead. He’d seen the blood pool beneath her white lab coat in Radio Kaikan. He’d held her hand as it cooled.
This special episode acts as an alternate version of of the original Steins;Gate anime series ("Solitary Crystal Vasopressin"). Steins-Gate- Kyoukaimenjou no Missing Link - Di...
This episode recontextualizes the entire series. We realize that the "Happy Ending" of the original show wasn't a miracle—it was a debt paid in blood and decades of suffering by the Okabe we see here. This version of Okabe has to live through World War III, lose his mind, and spend fifteen years building a time machine just to send a video message to his past self. He is the "Missing Link"—the bridge between total despair and the Steins Gate worldline. Because Kurisu was dead
