One-way traffic

"...?"

Even Kotori Itsuka couldn't help but frown.

"No matter where you start, I don't think you should come to this conclusion."

"What…?"

In fact... he did not possess any of the characteristics of an elf, and even spiritual energy monitoring devices could not detect the slightest spiritual energy reaction.

but.

That speculation is merely a possibility.

Kotori Itsuki had also considered the possibility of such a thing.

But... is it really possible for something like this to happen?

If the other party's identity is... not an elf at all.

"If you are not an elf, then what is your true identity...?"

"…ah?"

But this time it was the other side's turn to be moved.

Upon seeing Kotori Itsuka's current posture, Accelerator's expression immediately became extremely bored.

"I'm telling you guys, the facts are right in front of you, don't just jump on your own assumptions."

What…?

What did he mean by that? Could it be...?!

"It's exactly what you think, exactly what you saw."

The meaning of "one-way passage" is already quite clear.

"My appearance determines my identity."

At this point, it wasn't just Kotori Itsuka anymore.

The rest of the people in Fraxinus were also shaken.

The other party's meaning is already very clear.

but.

—That was a joke that just couldn't be funny.

"...You mean to say that you are not actually an elf, but just a simple human?"

The person who answered was someone else on the other side.

Accelerator turned to look at her, but this action made him notice something strange.

The person he was talking to was a rather mature woman.

She looked to be in her mid-twenties, or even younger, but her clothes and appearance didn't seem to be deliberately made up.

A slightly worn teddy bear was hanging in the pocket on the chest of a simple white coat.

The blue-eyed woman with her long silver hair combed up looked over with eyes that seemed utterly weary.

At that moment, Accelerator sensed it.

A strange sense of déjà vu slowly rose within me.

'This guy...gives me a really strange feeling.'

She clearly looks like just an ordinary woman.

However, Accelerator could always sense it.

There was a strange sense of déjà vu about this woman who looked so listless.

It felt like we'd met somewhere by chance.

"Is such a thing really possible, Reine?"

Although I had considered this possibility, I still felt somewhat incredulous when faced with the actual situation.

Kotori Itsuka asked the woman in the same astonished tone as before.

"We all know the true strength of the elves. For the past thirty years, humanity has been forced to act due to their immense power. And now, someone claims that a human possesses power comparable to theirs..."

“That may indeed be surprising, Commander.”

The woman, known as Reine, interrupted Kotori Itsuka in one breath.

She spoke softly, her voice sounding weak and listless.

"But the most reasonable explanation we have now is only this one."

Kotori Itsuka came to a complete stop in her tracks.

What the other party said was exactly the same.

Whether it's the equipment, or other phenomena and personnel involved in the investigation.

If we were to summarize all the results, we might conclude that the other party possesses extraordinary power, but we would never conclude that the other party is an elf.

Whether it's the results of the spirit energy monitoring or the effects of the spatial tremors, all the information related to the spirits is basically completely unrelated to the other party.

All of this seemed to confirm that the white figure standing in front of him was just an ordinary human being.

Of course, Kotori Itsuka simply couldn't believe any of this.

even so.

'Contact with the other party is still necessary. Even if they have no connection to elves, an existence possessing such terrifying power cannot be allowed to roam freely.'

Just think about it.

This feeling is akin to someone holding the detonation button for a nuclear weapon while claiming to be an ordinary citizen. No matter how harmonious the situation may appear on the surface, the possibility of detonating a nuclear bomb remains undeniable.

For Kotori Itsuka, this was exactly the feeling she got from the person with pure white hair standing before her.

Even if the other party isn't an elf, we must do everything we can to keep them here... at the very least, we need to ensure smooth communication!

The series of disputes described above had already unfolded in Kotori Itsuka's mind.

However, there was still something the girl hadn't noticed at all.

As she was thinking this.

The white figure standing in front of her had already slightly raised its eyes.

"You have already told me all the specific information."

Accelerator, who spoke first before the others, got straight to the point.

"However, there is another thing that I still care about."

"Feeling concerned...?"

"It's the one I was just talking about."

The first person casually pointed a finger at the front of their forehead.

"You guys should know that guy I was talking about earlier, the one named Itsuka Shido, right?"

"—!!"

"Stop pretending to be stupid, and stop trying to cover for them."

In a short time, the expressions of the people in the driver's cab, including Kotori Itsuka, changed drastically.

But Accelerator completely ignored all these changes.

"What's so special about that kid that an organization like yours would pay attention to him? Or have you all been working around him from the very beginning?"

Otherwise, they wouldn't have shown such a shocked expression.

The scene at this moment resembled a lie detector test. For the number one person who had completely grasped the direction of the mental realm, he only needed to glance at them to judge the mental changes of everyone present, and their shock was written all over their faces.

"Don't worry."

Upon seeing the ominous expression on Kotori Itsuka's face, Accelerator simply curled his lip in boredom.

"You don't need to worry about such trivial things as whether I'll poison that kid."

"If I really had that thought, do you think he would still be alive today?"

Kotori Itsuka and the woman named Reine exchanged a glance; they only had this one path before them.

The opponent possesses terrifying power far exceeding that of ordinary elves; if we are not careful, the entire Fraxinus will face serious danger.

In any case, there is no other choice.

"...The goal is actually very simple."

Kotori Itsuka took a deep breath.

Accelerator also realized the crux of the matter.

We're finally getting to the real point.

The boy who even has system notifications on his person must possess some enormous secret, otherwise such a large organization wouldn't be paying such close attention to him.

And so Accelerator listened attentively.

"The person you're talking about is a high school student named Itsuka Shido."

"And our goal is actually very simple."

"The point is to let him interact with those elves who are actually young girls, and make them blush."

"Then, date her and win her over."

Kotori Itsuka spoke each word carefully.

The entire command center fell into complete silence.

In the first instance.

The white figure standing before her immediately responded appropriately to this top-level intelligence.

That was just one very simple sentence.

Are you fucking kidding me?

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

The AST team members, who have already returned, are all undergoing a short period of recuperation in this secluded base.

The battles involving the Pokémon are now considered over.

When reporting to her superiors, Ryoko Kusakabe used the phrase "repel the spirits" in her documents.

But all the team members understood that this was just a show for their superiors.

In reality, everyone knew that they simply did not have the strength to fight against the elves.

The reason those elves disappeared was simply because they got tired of playing with them.

Sitting in her room, Ryoko Kusakabe tightly gripped the document she was about to submit to her superiors.

"...Repel the spirits, huh?"

The fingers gripping the document trembled slightly.

In that instant, Ryoko Kusakabe's expression turned bitter.

"Ha... If we could really do something at that level, that would be wonderful. Maybe we could even get a lot more bonus this month."

impossible things.

To date, almost all the Pokémon that AST has pursued have simply disappeared on their own, and AST itself has almost never successfully suppressed a Pokémon.

This is not just a matter of personnel's technical skills, but more so a matter of equipment.

The manifestation device they possessed, called CR-UNIT, was indeed an armament for elves, but it was like a machine gun hitting the deck of a tank—its firepower was utterly negligible.

Here's what it's like to face that fairy called "Princess".

However, this is actually a pretty good result.

Using weapons called CR-UNIT to fight against the "Princess," they can at least put up a fight. If Origami Tobiichi, the most skilled among them, were to control it, they could even engage in a fierce battle for a short period of time.