One-way traffic

"That bastard Silver Cross hasn't been in contact since earlier. Could he have been tripped up by one of those small fry?"

She is a member of an organization called "Newcomer," which is the same organization as Silver Cross Alpha, who attacked the blonde girl Fremia.

Rather, it would be more accurate to say that the Black Night Seabird itself is the leader of this dark branch called "Newcomer".

Even after someone who returned from World War III negotiated with the higher-ups of Academy City and dismantled the Dark Side, which represented the dark side, a considerable number of people still did not intend to leave the darkness.

The black seabird represents these people.

Rather than enjoying a meaningless peace, she preferred to wreak havoc in this city.

This is the thought process that belongs to her, that of the "first one".

"Tsk, there's no time to wait for that guy. It doesn't matter whether he's dead or alive."

With just a single sentence, he threw his companion's life away, the Black Seabird said nonchalantly, clicking its tongue.

The girl, dressed in a white robe, jumped and plummeted several meters to the ground floor.

No, she didn't fall to the ground.

Two invisible streams of air shot out from the sides of the girl's palms.

It's nitrogen.

Supported by a vortex-like structure, the Black Seabird landed smoothly and easily.

Emerging from a side street alley, she completely ignored the astonished passersby around her due to her bizarre attire and went straight to a coffee shop.

Under the open-air café, she ordered some desserts and English tea from the staff, but when they were served, they made her feel uncomfortable.

"...What is this thing?"

Although it was advertised as a recommended black tea, the taste was really too strange.

The sweetness and the flavor of black tea cannot be neutralized at all, and it even creates a new bitter taste. If other creamer-like substances are poured in, it will become even more greasy.

The seabird suppressed the urge to use its abilities to flip the table over and looked around at the roadside again.

About half an hour had passed since she sent the Silver Cross to hunt down Fremia.

Of course, for her, this was not the real goal. What she actually wanted to do was to get the top leader of Academy City to take action and then join forces with Hamazura Shiage. In this way, the higher-ups of Academy City would be wary of these "graduates" who had already escaped the darkness.

That way, we can eliminate them openly and legitimately.

"You little brats, your skills are so rudimentary and lack maturity, I've been waiting for you all along."

Despite the tone of a twelve-year-old girl, the Black Seabird's cold and cruel curses made passersby afraid to approach.

After taking a bite of the waffle that was served, his cold expression became even more unpleasant.

"...How can this store still stay open when they keep selling this kind of stuff to customers?"

Feeling the unparalleled discomfort in its mouth, the black seabird completely gave up eating.

"It's hopeless... That bastard Silver Cross hasn't given me any news either. At least he should give me some entertainment, right?"

"Oh, is that so?"

—Then the voice echoed in her mind.

"In that case, I'll find you some fun."

"…ah?"

She instinctively frowned.

Afterwards, she tried to find the person who had spoken to her, but she couldn't see them at all. No... it was as if the voice had come directly from her brain.

Then there was some movement on the street in the distance.

A super luxurious sports car pulled up to the side of the street under everyone's watchful eyes, and two figures stepped out from the inside, making no attempt to conceal their identities.

Hatsune Miku wearing her official idol outfit, and...

The figure, dressed in the same white, gold, and black official uniform, was incredibly familiar to the Black Night Seabird.

"…ha."

Now that you mention it, Black Night Seabird should have thought of it. There were rumors today that the Seventh School District would be holding an idol opening ceremony.

Given this, it's not hard to guess who among the seven hasn't become an idol yet.

She smiled generously at the person who came.

"Welcome, welcome... Ah, if you want to order something, feel free, but I advise you not to."

"I know very well that the drinks and desserts at this shop are terrible."

"Hey! What's so special about that? Does the first person usually like to browse these tasteless dessert shops?"

"of course not."

The other person pointed to their head and laughed.

"However, I got that information from your head."

"...!"

"Black Night Seabird, and you're the leader of the 'Newcomers,' right...? Turns out you're just some nobody? You're being too kind."

Just as she said, Accelerator sat down in the chair opposite the Black Seagull.

Meanwhile, Hatsune Miku stood beside him.

"...I remember this person should be someone of considerable importance, right?"

The seabird stared at Hatsune Miku behind her. Even someone like her who didn't care about idols knew very well just how famous that person was in this city—no, in this world.

Hatsune Miku is a world-class idol.

However, the other party appeared here without any hesitation, making no attempt to conceal their identity.

Isn't she afraid of being chased by paparazzi and the like?

"Don't take it too seriously, it's just a few tricks."

"what?"

"Just like before, do you think someone invaded your mental realm and transmitted messages into your brain?"

What's the meaning…?

The seabird in the night glanced around and found that no one had noticed Hatsune Miku... no, there were no other passersby nearby besides Hatsune Miku and Accelerator.

It was almost as if the general population had been deliberately evacuated.

"You... you actually went so far as to bring in a mental ability user just to deal with me?"

"Stop trying to make yourself look good, you nobody. What reason do I have to waste my time on you?"

"What exactly is it—?"

The Black Seabirds have a deep understanding of Accelerator.

Because her own abilities, in a sense, are the ultimate connection to Accelerator, she is very clear about the extent to which his abilities can be effective.

With the ability to control the direction of all energy, the strongest esper in Academy City could single-handedly destroy the entire human civilization, and even the Earth.

But mere destructive power shouldn't be able to achieve this level of effectiveness.

That's why I said it.

"what?"

"It is precisely because you are such an insignificant nobody that you have no way of understanding a world of this scale."

He clapped his hands, and the first person just said indifferently.

They were talking about a realm that the seabirds of the night would never understand.

"Relying solely on the abilities developed by the Academy City organization? Naïve. With your kind of trash, you'd never reach my current level in your entire life."

With just one sentence, the atmosphere became extremely tense.

A look of utter malice appeared on the girl's face.

The number one in Academy City stared at her with an equally arrogant expression.

"Although I can extract information from your mind with just a thought, there are some things I still want to obtain directly through human mouths."

"So, I want to ask you a very basic question."

Accelerator slightly rose and looked at the other person.

"What is the purpose of all this?"

Whether it's the matter of the "new students," the matter of the Academy City's higher-ups, or the matter of Kuroya Umi-no-Kaze herself, Accelerator has basically figured it all out.

Just like the methods used against the Silver Cross, by simply manipulating the vectors in the mental field, one can easily obtain the information in the other party's mind. If this power is expanded, ordinary people within several kilometers will also be affected by his vector manipulation ability.

Once the subconscious notion that "this is a dead end" is implanted in people's minds, unrelated people will gradually leave, assuming that this is just a corner that doesn't need any further investigation.

In a sense, this bears a striking resemblance to a magical spell called "dispelling idlers" from the magical realm.

However, even with his level of vector manipulation abilities, Accelerator did not immediately and completely understand the mind of the Night Bird.

He wanted to hear the answer from the other person in person.

then.

"...Does that even need to be said?"

The twelve-year-old dark-skinned girl couldn't help but laugh.

"Of course, it's for the ultimate path of evil!"

"Do you know how unimaginable the joy of standing in this field truly is? Human resources, abilities, methods, disasters… everything is darkness, the darkness that you 'graduates' once abandoned. Now, I'm the only one standing on this path. Do you know what that means?"

"That's right, I stand at the pinnacle of darkness in Academy City... I am the strongest villain, and also the strongest darkness and evil in the world!!"

What the other party did was that simple.

Everything was arranged solely for the purpose of acting in the darkness, and becoming the pinnacle in the darkness.

That's right.

—Just like Accelerator in the past, who called himself the villain.

"Is it hard to understand? This is the path you walked as the number one! As someone who is different from everyone else in Academy City, the strongest villain in the darkness... Ah, do you know how different this is? How fun and exciting it is!"

It's like when you were in junior or senior high school and you bought a pair of limited-edition sneakers and then flaunted them in your class or even the whole school. That feeling of being different and superior can give you a pleasant sense of pleasure and vanity.

As for the Black Night Seabird, she has completely followed the path that Accelerator took in the past.

To become the pinnacle of darkness in Academy City, reign supreme there, and then, to completely evolve into the strongest villain.

This is what is meant by the aesthetics of evil parties.

"…I see."

And so it is.

Accelerator made a move that the Black Seagull could never understand.

He then revealed the most innocent expression possible.

--mercy.

It's like an adult watching a child throwing a tantrum.

"You're such a naive and childish kid."

"You're about time...it's time to grow up, isn't it?"

The Black Seabird's identity is different from that of ordinary people.

A portion of Accelerator's thought process was implanted in her brain... which is why she gained enhanced abilities.

And a brutal, aggressive way of thinking almost identical to Accelerator's.

In other words.

For Accelerator, looking at the Black Seabird is like looking at his past self.

"Someone like you might indeed be the strongest in the darkness."

He was facing the other person.