One-way traffic

In any case, Reimu in front of her clearly had no intention of continuing the fight.

In fact, Accelerator does not believe that the reason the other party fought him was because they identified him as the source of those anomalies.

As a shrine maiden, she should be able to see these things to some extent.

In this way, the reason for the fight becomes something else entirely.

...Probably to confirm the exact nature of the power he possessed.

"Compared to what happened earlier, after this battle, I have indeed confirmed that you are not a youkai from Gensokyo. In terms of your identity alone, you are just a human... I guess?"

Even so, in Reimu's memory, she rarely saw a human as powerful as the other.

Do humans in the outside world possess such immense and elusive power?

"Although I don't know exactly what you're thinking, the outcome will definitely have nothing to do with what you're thinking."

"I think so too."

"So, since you two can talk things out, what was the point of you fighting in the first place?!"

Despite Alice's words, Reimu Hakurei merely yawned without making a sound.

"Ha... Come to think of it, it's still the middle of the night."

"Day or night, it makes no difference to me at all."

"There are actually humans who can say such things so calmly...? You rascal, you'll die young if you don't get some rest!"

"That's none of your business."

The farce has come to an end, at least for now.

Although Accelerator still has many questions to ask, there shouldn't be any trouble regarding his stance.

However, Reimu said the same thing again.

"Although I still have a lot of questions I want to ask you, it's just too late now... Well, I don't want to meet my end prematurely, so..."

"In short, let's just postpone it until tomorrow during the day."

"Given her exhausted expression, this was the only way."

They didn't say much to each other.

After explaining these things, the Hakurei priestess slowly floated into the air.

"Ah... If you want to come see me tomorrow, just come to my shrine."

"Since you've already decided that I don't belong in this kind of place, do you think I could possibly know where you are?"

"Ah...that's true, tsk tsk, this is getting really troublesome..."

The priestess looked helpless.

"Hakurei Shrine."

As she spoke, the shrine maiden pointed a finger in a direction not far away.

"Just follow the animal trails near the Magic Forest and you'll find it."

After that, even if you wanted to ask more questions, the other party had already left.

Only a faint trace of spiritual energy remained in the spot.

Accelerator sighed silently; he was surprisingly tired, something he hadn't felt in a long time.

Even now, I still don't really know what to say.

There are just too many things and problems to deal with today.

But even if I continue to stand here and daydream, I still won't get the answer to the question.

"Let's go back."

"...Your doll seems to still be repairing the damage to that mansion, right?"

"Even so, it doesn't affect your living situation. It's clear that what you need most right now isn't to solve the problem, but to get some rest."

I'm really easy for others to see through these days.

The first person, feeling distressed, couldn't say anything more.

that's it.

The two remaining people in the forest slowly walked back the way they came.

———————————————————————————————————

then.

In a space on the other side, crimson mist drifted by.

It seems to have taken advantage of the moment when the two were fighting and thus arrived at this deserted place.

Not far away is a village called Human Village.

Realizing this, its speed seemed to increase instantly.

The red mist rushed eagerly toward the village.

—Puga.

A very fair hand easily grasped it.

No matter how much the red mist struggles, it will never be able to escape.

Then, the power came from the inside.

The mist, which was like life itself, was completely and utterly eliminated.

The outstretched hand emerged from a rift that opened directly into the spatial dimension, resembling a death rift opened within the abyss.

And within that.

Countless eyes were directly probing a certain place.

I looked toward the spot where the white figure had left.

Chapter 417 The Sage Who Relies on Monsters?

After a busy night, I finally managed to fall asleep around 3 a.m.

I got back to the shrine around 2:30. In addition, because my shrine maiden clothes were dirty, I had to wash them again, so I probably didn't fall asleep until around 3:30.

This is probably the first time Reimu Hakurei has encountered such a frustrating situation.

I couldn't even get a good night's sleep. When I came to my senses, the outside of the shrine was filled with the sound of birds chirping, proving that morning was just around the corner.

I finally managed to get a few hours of sleep, and when I woke up again, it was already daytime.

A faint ray of dawn peeked through the cracks in the wooden sliding door.

The light shone on the face of the girl who was still lying on the floor, causing her to move.

"Woo..."

She trembled a few times, seemingly reluctantly.

This is to be expected, since she has only slept for a few hours since last night, which is much less than her usual routine.

Nevertheless, the girl, who was a shrine maiden, still woke up.

"So sleepy... I wish I could find something that could easily help me fall asleep..."

I don’t know if I have insomnia or what. Originally, Reimu planned to sleep until the afternoon, or even until the sun went down.

But around this time, she vaguely sensed something was amiss.

Due to the influence of this abnormal nature, even if she wanted to sleep peacefully, it became extremely difficult for her.

So she wanted to figure out exactly what was going on.

What kind of things are disturbing one's rest in one's own shrine?

First, the possibility of hostility was ruled out, because after getting up, no murderous intent or malice was detected. As a battle-hardened priestess, it wouldn't be too difficult for her to detect this.

"...It doesn't look like there's anyone there."

Pulling her pajamas tighter, Reimu used the blanket to cover her slightly exposed body parts as she cautiously surveyed the room.

She couldn't find anyone around her.

That makes sense; this should have been the inevitable outcome.

Who would be so idle as to suddenly come to her shrine in this place?

I'm such an overly anxious idiot for even having this thought.

"Hmm... I guess I'm just being too paranoid..."

"Oh dear, are you jumping to conclusions so soon? I think you've become more oblivious."

What was that sound?

Reimu blinked, and only when she realized that the female voice was coming from behind her did she realize the most important thing.

Although he looked around the entire room, he didn't check a single spot.

That is, behind you.

With a somewhat stiff posture.

Reimu slowly turned around and faced away.

"Hi~"

I don’t know when it started.

A blonde girl dressed in gorgeous clothes stood behind her, surrounded by many dolls.

She gave herself a somewhat eerie smile.

"Although you probably don't remember me, the sight of seeing an old friend at this moment is truly touching and something I haven't felt in a long time."

The two stared at each other for several seconds.

then.

It was exactly as I had imagined.

"Aaaaaaahh ...

"They really forgot... We clearly agreed on this yesterday."

"W-what did we agree on? Ah...! Oh no! I completely forgot about this agreement—wait a minute!"

"Ouch... you hit your head, are you okay?"

"Ouch, that hurts... Ugh, seriously... Why have I been so unlucky these past few days?!"

I felt like I heard some familiar words.

Standing outside, Accelerator, who was leaning on his silver cane, naturally heard all of these sounds.

A series of chaotic noises came from inside the shrine.

Faced with this situation, which resembled a child's squabble, he could only respond with displeasure and a dismissive attitude.

Then, after a whole day of experiences, he finally confirmed the simplest and most basic thing.

"...This Gensokyo is definitely not short of guys who run wild everywhere."

The first person's tone was very lazy.

Even if what needs to be discussed next is about his own personal matters.

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

Nearly ten minutes later, it finally came to an end.

The shrine's sliding door opened, and the girl, now dressed in her red and white shrine maiden attire, reappeared before him.

Her pure white shrine maiden attire was strikingly conspicuous.

Looking at the impeccably clean-cut girl in front of him, Accelerator couldn't help but show a somewhat surprised expression.

"Wow, you actually managed to wash those dirty clothes so clean they were wearable in just one night!"