One-way traffic

Indeed, a figure crashed directly down from the sky.

thump.

A blonde girl rose from the chaos of countless things.

She swayed as she patted her black and white outfit aside, then put the enormous witch's hat on her head.

"It really hurts... but thankfully Reimu's body acted as a buffer, so I managed to escape being smashed into a pulp."

"Mari...sa—!!!"

A voice filled with extreme anger rang out instantly.

A few seconds later, a barrage of colorful bullets shot out from inside the shrine like raindrops.

The two, one blonde and one white-haired, stood outside and each sighed.

"Oh dear, aren't you going in to check on them? Maybe that human will be killed by the shrine maiden."

"I don't want my IQ to be lowered like that."

Chapter 419 The Girls' Interview

A year has four seasons, and each season changes with the passage of time.

This is basic, common-sense knowledge that people should be familiar with.

However, at this moment, this so-called "common sense" has been completely transformed into "uncommon sense" in this Gensokyo.

"Although it's been quite cold these days, I never expected it to snow so suddenly!"

"How interesting. As a mage, you can actually feel cold?"

"Huh? You're a mage too, right? Why can't mages feel cold? We're all human DaZe!"

"In terms of identity, they are indeed all magicians."

Alice, sitting to the side, elegantly sipped her steaming tea.

"However, I'm completely different from you."

"Ah...that's true. After all, in terms of the nature of magic, you should be a control mage who controls puppets, right?"

"That's not what I meant, you idiot..."

They seemed to have reached their limit.

Reimu Hakurei, sitting on the other side, had just placed the freshly brewed teapot on the table and sighed helplessly.

"She's not human at all. She's been completely different from you from the very beginning, understand?"

"Oh?! Not a human mage! ...Come to think of it, I seem to have seen something similar before, right? Let me think... Hmm... I think I saw it in a castle?"

"The Scarlet Devil Mansion, huh? You've already forgotten about something you just resolved not long ago?"

"I've heard a bit about the castle that suddenly appeared inside Gensokyo recently."

"Right, right? Listen to me, although I'm not very familiar with you, I saw a mage in that castle who wasn't human, just like you, and he was even purple-haired!"

"…so what?"

"Huh? What do you mean 'so'? Since neither of you are human, I figured you could at least have some conversations together, right?"

"Forget it, I don't have your thick skin, and I certainly don't have your silly ability to be so friendly with everyone."

"Careless and oblivious is such an exaggeration. Besides, that's the kind of description that should be used to describe Reimu."

"You better stop this already, you damn guy!!"

A continuous stream of noise came from near the small table.

Three girls sat around the table. Before they knew it, the shrine maiden had closed the sliding doors and windows tightly, and even brought out a heating device similar to a heater.

The three people inside the room had been arguing about each other for nearly ten minutes.

For Accelerator, that was already the ultimate nightmare.

At this moment, the first man, with his arms crossed and his cane placed aside, was leaning against a corner of the room, not even wanting to look at the people in front of him.

"Huh? That guy over there... I guess he's a guy? Anyway, why isn't that person over there coming over to chat with us?"

Do you think he's the kind of human being who would do that?

"What's wrong with that? Come to think of it, he's actually human...? With such a strange appearance, I thought he was actually some kind of monster incarnate."

"Stop changing the subject, Marisa! You've been causing me trouble since yesterday, and you've even dirtied my shrine maiden outfit twice... If you don't give me an explanation, you won't be leaving my shrine alive today."

"Huh?! That's scary. But then again, it's just a piece of clothing, it shouldn't be that scary...?"

The girls' conversation continues even now.

Ever since that blonde girl fell from the sky, everything has become much more chaotic. Not only has the topic of conversation become incredibly strange, but even Alice, who is usually indifferent to others, has been drawn into chatting about a bunch of boring things.

For Accelerator, the matter had completely devolved from intelligence gathering into watching kids play house.

"Ugh... I knew it wouldn't work. It's just too much to leave others like this!"

"I think if you go over and talk to them, you'll actually be bothering them, won't you?"

"That's not true at all. Hey, white-haired guy, let's just call you that for now."

The blonde girl wearing a witch's hat stood up abruptly from the floor.

Compared to the bland or indifferent personalities of Reimu Hakurei and Alice, her personality seems much better.

It's not just pure enthusiasm; his actions so far have also seemed very familiar. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been chatting so warmly with Alice, whom he was almost meeting for the first time.

And that's how she intends to face Accelerator.

Since it's the first time meeting someone you've never met before, it's necessary to greet them properly and introduce yourself.

"No matter what, standing alone in a corner is already quite lonely! What's this compared to that? There are almost three people here, and you can have a good chat with anyone!"

"..."

"It's okay if you're shy. Although that mage over there is a youkai, Reimu and I are both human! Speaking of which, are you really human too? I've seen some white-haired humans, but your unique aura and eye color are probably the first I've ever seen among humans..."

"..."

"...Hey, what's going on? This guy didn't even hear what I said!"

No matter how much Marisa nagged at Accelerator, he just kept his head down, looking at a book he had casually taken from the bookshelf next to him.

However, she was indeed right about that.

Because these guys are so annoying, Accelerator set all sounds to reflective from the beginning, so even if a nuclear bomb explodes nearby, it won't affect him at all.

Of course, to the magical girl named Marisa, this seemed like the other party was completely ignoring her.

"Damn it! What's wrong with this person? They seem so weird. They're definitely not human!"

"What are you planning to do now, you rascal?"

"Get out of my way, Reimu! Since this guy won't pay attention to me, I'll just make him look at me properly!"

As she spoke, the girl, full of enthusiasm and energy, took out something that could be held in one hand from her bosom.

The overall shape is somewhat like a disc, and the front is engraved with yin-yang and eight trigram patterns.

Reimu was completely dumbfounded when she saw that thing.

"That's settled then, let me fire a magic cannon first!"

"Wait, wait! You better stop right now!!!"

Just like what the girl did.

The other party condensed something into their hand, and then a seven-colored light flashed.

The entire shrine trembled violently as a result.

A terrifying beam of light, seemingly poised to engulf the entire area in the next second, flickered slightly, just as it was about to be unleashed—

"I've really had enough."

The sight of the blonde doll sitting still made the girl sigh in displeasure.

The next instant, she raised her hand without hesitation.

"Shanghai, Penglai".

Two petite figures then appeared.

They locked onto their target in an instant: the immense magical power that Marisa had gathered in her hands.

"Whoa—?! Wait, what are you two going to do?!"

"If we don't stop you, the entire shrine will be reduced to ashes."

Under Marisa's astonished gaze, the two petite dolls spun around her several times at an extremely fast speed.

In an instant, the magic power she had gathered in her hands vanished.

"How amazing... the magic cannon that was about to be fired was interrupted like this?"

"This is just the simplest principle: magic can interfere with each other. All I'm doing is using the puppet's actions to interfere with the magic around you, thereby interrupting your magic output."

"Wow, that's an amazing skill! It seems you're actually quite impressive!"

"No, this is just basic knowledge."

Alice spoke to him in a mocking tone.

"The reason you think it's impressive is simply because you're just a half-baked mage."

"What? No way! If you don't believe me, let's play a bullet hell game!"

"His mind is full of thoughts about fighting others... It seems he's even acting recklessly."

Ignoring Marisa, who was still being chased by Reimu while she was dissatisfied, Alice slowly walked up to Accelerator.

The other person remained engrossed in reading.

"Stop pretending, I know you can hear me."

"Tsk."

"Your expression has been unpleasant since just now, so you must have already turned off the power that prevents you from hearing anything."

After all, although Accelerator was annoyed by the guys in front of him, he still needed to confirm some of the existing information.

However, just as he expected, the girls had no intention of discussing any intelligence or anything like that.

"They're just focusing on useless details."

"It's not that it's useless. By the way, what are you planning to do next?"

"Haven't I already said that? I have my own plans for this matter, and you don't need to worry about it."

However, the girl in front of him was also the owner of his lodging, so it would be too inappropriate to say nothing.

Thinking of this, Accelerator clicked his tongue in amazement once again.

"I will go and find that guy called the Monster Sage."

"...Is it purple?"

"It doesn't matter what he's called, anyway, I'll find that guy no matter what."

Upon hearing Accelerator's words, the three girls all turned to look at him.

Reimu's expression, however, appeared rather serious.

Are you really planning to go find Zi?

"There shouldn't be any problem, right? Since I can discuss things with someone like you, it's not impossible for me to discuss things with others, is it?"

“It’s not that kind of problem… Murasaki and I are not the same. In the end, I am just a shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine.”

But Zi's words were different.

The identity of the sage of monsters is completely different from that of the contemporary Hakurei Shrine Maiden.

But Reimu couldn't continue speaking after saying that.

Seeing the girl's somewhat hesitant expression, the first person didn't intend to say anything.

"Are you really going to find that sage? I remember she's very secretive about her whereabouts. Is it really possible to do it?"