One-way traffic

"It's getting late, isn't it? You look to be around sixteen years old. In a few days, you'll basically be able to get married, right? Well, even though you're an idol, you still need to think carefully about your other half. Good luck, cute lady."

"Eh—this, this…"

Hatsune Miku's pretty face turned bright red in an instant.

While stammering, she kept glancing at the person in the first seat to her side.

"...Stop saying these weird things to other people."

"Oh dear? Could someone be bothered by what I said to that cute girl?"

"Speaking of which, this person should indeed be a world-famous idol, right? Hmm, because of my right hand, I have absolutely no memory of that. Rather, I can only barely get information through my cell phone..."

"...Is it true?"

Unlike everyone else, Hamazura Shiage reacted differently.

He immediately widened his eyes and pulled something out of his pocket without hesitation.

"That, that thing—!!"

"Eh?"

"Miss Hatsune Miku!! Please be sure to sign this!!!"

…Well, that was his wallet.

He also had his phone, credit cards, keychains… he even planned to take off his shoes.

Under Hatsune Miku's astonished gaze, Hamazura Shiage suddenly shouted loudly.

"I've always been a big fan of yours!! I'm so sorry! I didn't recognize you when we met before, I was so stupid back then!!"

Hatsune Miku had met Hamazura Shiage during the Dark Side Wars, and it seems that this memory was also affected by the distortion caused by the fusion of the world.

However, what truly astonished Hatsune Miku was the phenomenon before her eyes.

"Wait, wait a minute! Why do we have to take off our shirts too?!"

"If I could, I'd even like to have you sign my pants, but that would easily be seen as perverted, so this is all I can do for now!"

"No, no, even just taking off your shirt in front of a girl is a completely perverted act!"

"If you ask me, we should just strip naked."

……

Accelerator sat at the table, staring at the group of guys messing around with Hatsune Miku.

I think I should call the police.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Hatsune Miku then left the room.

Of course, with her kind nature, even after such a thing happened, she still signed her name for Hamazura Shiage.

…Of course, signing my name on my underwear is still out of the question.

"You're really slow. We've been sitting here for a full half hour waiting for you to finish singing."

"But I also watched the live stream on my phone, and I didn't expect you to sing so well!"

Kamijou Touma gave Accelerator a thumbs-up as if in praise.

"I had no idea you had this talent. You truly deserve to be number one."

"Hmph... It doesn't matter. Anyway, the only idol I care about is Ms. Miku!"

Let's ignore Hamazura Shigehisa, who's still going crazy, for now.

"I don't need to mention your names. I already researched them before I came. In fact, with Touma Kamijou explaining things to me, I already know everything about you."

"Then let's leave it at that. Let me introduce myself first."

The girl, who appeared to be rather short, got up from the chair.

She placed her hands on her flat chest and said with a soft laugh.

"Revinia Badwe, the leader of the magical society 'Dawn of Light'... Well, even if I say it like this, you two probably still wouldn't understand, right?"

"Magic is...?"

Having no prior experience in this field, Hamazura Shige naturally became puzzled. In fact, even in the scientific field, he was only a novice with a superficial understanding.

But One-Way Street is different.

The strongest ability user, who was sitting in place, narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Badwell thoughtfully.

"A so-called society, is it the same kind of group as 'God's Right Seat' or Amakusa-style guys?"

"Huh…?"

"Oh?"

Those who reacted to this were Touma Kamijou and Budweiser himself.

"Huh? Accelerator...you, you actually know about magic?"

"Although you also experienced World War III, and should have come into contact with magic there, to understand this much... it seems I underestimated you."

"I'll leave the boring formalities aside; I'm just curious what brings you to Academy City."

Rather, it would be more accurate to say that suddenly appearing in Accelerator's room was the truly bizarre thing.

Levinia Baderwei.

Although Accelerator was unaware of the other party's status in the magical realm, since the other party was the leader of a magical society and even knew about events on the scale of World War III, he must be no ordinary person.

What is her purpose in coming here?

Although Accelerator can hack into the memory domain of others by manipulating the vectors of consciousness to obtain information, he has never used this method against people related to the magic side, and he does not plan to do so immediately.

"No need to rush, this is the reason I came here today."

From this moment on, we will begin the formal lecture hall.

Budwei looked at the three people in front of him, at these three completely different "heroes".

"Soon, an enemy powerful enough to change the world will emerge."

"And those who need to confront them are 'heroes' like you."

Chapter 309 Science and Magic, and—

Closer to home.

The reason why Badvi, a member of a magic society, came here is mainly to resolve a series of incidents.

That's right.

This is no longer simply related to either science or magic.

Rather than being completely separated, it's more accurate to say they're all interconnected.

"So... those kinds of magic, like those things in fairy tales, really do exist in this world?"

Hamazura Shige showed an instinctive look of confusion.

"To be precise, fairy tales are just one of the sources of magic. Orthodox magic can rely on all kinds of myths, folklore, historical events, fairy tales... but most commonly, it is actually religious content that serves as its source."

Sitting in front of the three of them like a teacher, Budwei casually raised one hand.

"I'm not entirely sure how well you understand magic, but I'll explain it to you anyway. If you want to ask questions, that's your own business."

"Then let me ask the question."

"And so it is," Accelerator said simply and decisively.

"What are the principles behind the magic used by so-called magicians? What is the difference between magic and ability? And why... as a science-based ability user, do I suffer unimaginable damage to my body when I interfere with your magic's energy?"

"What…?"

"Oh my, to ask questions to this extent, it seems you have already experienced magic firsthand."

The first one in Academy City possesses the strongest superpower in the entire Academy City—no, or rather, the world.

This power would allow him to stand at the ultimate level. The strongest power could easily wipe out human civilization and also allow him to survive the cataclysm of the apocalypse. If the second Big Bang in the human hypothesis were to occur, he alone would probably be able to survive it.

Even Accelerator, who possesses such power, still has aspects that he cannot understand.

“The magic used by magicians is refined through life force, and then the magic power is extracted for use... Magic itself is like controlling magic power ‘in the way one desires’.”

"After controlling the flow of blood and breath to a certain stable standard and pattern, and then refining life force into magic power, one can use this power to accomplish what one wants to do. Of course, the necessary principles are also indispensable. Everything in the world has its prototype and principle structure, and magic itself is no exception."

"And once you are able to do things of this standard and put them into practice, we call them magicians."

"Wow! That sounds impressive... but I still don't understand."

Hamazura Shiage still looked extremely troubled.

"What's the real difference between magic and superpowers? Even people from Academy City can shoot fireballs, water balloons, create lightning, fly, and teleport, right..."

"Yes, that's why you can be considered 'talented' people."

Budwei had anticipated this and sneered.

“But we magicians are different. Those who can use magic normally are all ‘untalented’, meaning they don’t have the abilities like you.”

“But in a sense, what we ‘untalented’ people do is more convenient than what you ‘talented’ people do.”

After that, flames, water droplets, and then ice spikes.

Three different things appeared at Baderwei's fingertips, yet Hamazura Shiage still couldn't understand them.

How is this different from ability?

"I see."

But it was Accelerator who truly had an epiphany.

"You magicians can wield more than one type of power, can't you?"

"…What?"

That's how it is.

Budweiser nodded, because Accelerator fully understood what she was saying.

"Superpowered individuals... no matter how much destructive power you can create with your abilities, it is still just a single ability. Even if you can use your ability to 'control electricity to create flames' or 'control temperature to create ice,' it is still just an ability."

"With magic, you can use it without any restrictions. Whether it's fire, ice, or anything else, it's not a derivative effect of a basic ability, but a completely new ability constructed from scratch."

for example.

It's like a huge skill chart in an online game. At the beginning, the "ability user" column only has one type of power that can be used, but then countless other skills can be derived from it.

However, in the category of magicians, there were already countless choices from the very beginning.

"Moreover, you ability users have to go through Academy City's development experiments before you can use your abilities, right? The chances of gaining power are extremely low, and if you're unlucky, you might become a Level 0 powerless user."

"That's right, I'm one of them."

“This is what I mean by ‘talented’ and ‘untalented’. We magicians don’t have this limitation… just like you asked in the beginning.”

Budwei then looked at Accelerator again.

"Those with abilities cannot use magic, and magicians cannot use abilities either; this is a rule we have with each other."

"Well--?"

"Because magic is a power created so that 'the incompetent can catch up with the talented,' it is not a power system prepared for talented people like you. Humans cannot breathe in water like fish, and fish cannot survive on land like humans, right?"

"Well, in that case..."

"That's right. As things stand, it's almost impossible for a power user to use magic... Of course, it's not entirely impossible, but as that guy said, once a power user uses magic, they will suffer both mental and physical effects and damage."

That's something I can consider to some extent.

Accelerator recalled that the man known as Tsuchimikado Motoharu had used a similar power in front of them, but ended up coughing up blood and being seriously injured.

At first, Accelerator thought it was some kind of side effect of his ability, but now he understands.

…only.

"The damage that ability users suffer when using magic comes from both mental and physical aspects, right?"

"Yes, what's the problem?"