One-way traffic

"Lianlian, you...?"

"Hehe, big sister~"

Komeiji Ren, facing her own older sister directly, spoke with obvious delight.

"Today, Lianlian had a really happy day!"

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

It was already night.

Time flowed on, and a day in Gensokyo came to an end.

Cherry blossoms drifted down slowly, and then the silence and cold of the night sky gradually enveloped the land of Gensokyo.

then.

—In a place unnoticed by anyone, a figure appeared without warning.

hum-

It was a twisted, blurry black and red shadow.

Even if the exact appearance of the figure cannot be discerned, it is still possible to see that it has a human-like form and a pair of dark red eyes.

The extent of the body's contortions had completely exceeded the limits of human imagination.

Even so, it remained unmoved and slowly arrived at a corner of Gensokyo at an extreme speed.

It seemed to speak something.

However, in any case, that language was no longer something that any living being could understand.

It slowly raised its hand.

Within that indistinct palm, pale purple and emerald green light shimmered slowly.

This also includes the death light of the Saigyu Ayakashi.

But none of that posed a threat to it; it absorbed all that power into its body, and then—

The blurry figure raised its hand and pointed it directly at the moon itself.

No.

What it is targeting is the timeline of this entire world.

Squeak——!!

Then, the world itself underwent a massive distortion, and the continuity of time was subjected to forceful interference at a level beyond the dimensional level.

This situation did not lead to any major consequences.

However, in any case, the moon in the sky gradually began to become rounder.

Full moon.

If things continue like this, tonight will surely be a full moon night.

Such an enormous amount of power, capable of distorting time itself, was used just to make a mere full moon appear.

What, then, is all of this for?

Regardless of its exact purpose in doing all this, it certainly accomplished it within Gensokyo.

Next.

The red and black shadow merely stared in one direction before vanishing into the darkness.

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

"...?"

Meanwhile, at the same time, in a bamboo forest...

The woman, who was preparing some kind of medicine, suddenly looked up in astonishment.

"how…?"

"What's wrong, Eirin?"

The black-haired girl sitting opposite her, dressed in a Japanese kimono, couldn't help but look up.

But the woman dressed in what appeared to be a red and blue nurse's uniform frowned.

"Full moon... tonight it's actually a full moon?"

"Varied--?"

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, this may be... my mistake."

The woman quickly got up and walked out of the house with a solemn expression.

She looked up at the sky.

That was indeed a sign of a full moon.

And tonight.

"...It seems we have to move our plans forward."

In the bamboo forest, a place so dense it could easily lead anyone astray, the woman began to murmur silently.

And this also means one thing.

Tonight will surely be an extraordinary night, full of waves.

Chapter 469 The False Full Moon and the Anomaly

"Hmm... let's leave it like this for now, then we'll head over here..."

It is now past dusk and we are about to enter night.

As for Alice, she actually spent the whole afternoon making these dolls.

Rather, this is something she does every day without fail.

"Phew... Done, but some key components are still missing. I guess it won't be finished today."

She placed a basic doll shell on the table, but it was clear that this was not the final product of the doll.

Even so, to be able to create such a lifelike doll model in just one afternoon, I believe only someone with Alice's skills could accomplish this in the entire Gensokyo.

The seven-colored puppet master was not something she made up.

"I feel a little sleepy."

Alice used to be able to make dolls for days on end without any problems, but today, she vaguely felt a little tired.

I'm not quite sure what the reason is.

In short, she does not intend to continue the doll-making project. If she cannot maintain a good mental state to force herself to make them, the final product will not be dazzling.

And so, the girl made a simple decision with ease.

"...Why do I have to go too?"

She picked up a bamboo basket and walked out of the mansion's gate in search of some edible mushrooms from the Magic Forest.

Meanwhile, she was forced to follow behind that displeased white figure.

"I'm incredibly busy here. If you want to play the role of a little girl picking mushrooms, you can go by yourself."

"Nonsense! Sending a delicate girl out into the dark forest alone? Please, have some gentlemanly manners."

"Ha, a delicate girl? How can you even utter such a word!"

"...What did you just say?"

As soon as he said that, Alice glared at him unhappily, and Accelerator turned his head away without replying.

For the next few days, the two maintained this relationship.

"My food supplies at home are running low, so I plan to pick some mushrooms with special effects to boost my energy."

"Don't you have any meat products?"

"There are no devices here that can keep meat fresh anytime, anywhere. Magic might work, but it's too much work... If we want to eat meat, why not just catch some prey ourselves?"

As Alice said this, she also scanned the forest with her sharp eyes. During this time, an innocent rabbit that she saw was immediately frightened and fled in panic, and even the flock of birds not far away were startled and took flight.

Recalling Alice's self-description as a 'weak girl', Accelerator felt increasingly that the joke was becoming less and less funny.

There's no way around it; a place like this, where the uncommon becomes common sense, is what makes Gensokyo what it is.

"Alright, stop dawdling. Let's pick some mushrooms and head home. If we see any wild boars along the way, we can catch them and cook them."

"That's a really primitive way of life."

"This is Gensokyo, of course it won't be like the outside world where you live. And it should be very easy for you, right? Just use your ability to stir up a gust of wind, and most of the animals in the forest will be at your disposal."

"...Compared to wolves, jackals, tigers, and leopards, I now only feel that you, woman, are more like a threat to the forest...huh?"

While the two were arguing, Accelerator suddenly stopped on his own.

Alice also noticed this unusual thing.

"...What did you feel?"

The girl blinked and followed Accelerator's gaze—

The surroundings had become completely dark.

Unbeknownst to them, the moonlight gradually shone on their faces, and the familiar night sky graced this magical forest.

But something feels off.

That was the most obvious, and the most significant, sense of unease that they could immediately perceive.

"moon…"

Alice murmured to herself, unable to resist gazing at the enormous full moon in the sky.

Today is a full moon, the moment when the moon's brilliance is most magnificent.

But the moon had a flaw that was hard to describe.

Although it looks perfectly normal, and to the naked eye it is just the moon, and a genuine full moon at that, tonight should be a night that humans can enjoy for a long time.

But for monsters and humans with unusual powers, it's a completely different story.

"Hey—! Alice! And the white-haired guy!"

A familiar voice called out from afar.

The voice carried a hint of passion and restlessness, and the two people were quite familiar with the owner of the voice.

"Marisa?"

A magical girl flying in on a broomstick, and a black-and-white magical girl wearing a black witch's hat.

Kirisame Marisa.

Using unconventional power, she flew at high speed through the air and landed safely beside the two of them.

"Huh? You guys are... picking mushrooms?"

"It's nothing, just strolling around."

"Yeah, we're picking mushrooms, and this guy is even helping me with it."

"...You're the one who dragged me out of this mess, aren't you?"

I really didn't want to discuss something that would lower my own standards, so Accelerator simply skipped over the topic.

He looked directly at Marisa beside him.

"You've noticed that too, haven't you?"

"Huh? You mean...the sky?"

"Oh dear? It seems everyone has noticed."

"Except for the ordinary people in the villages, to them, today's moon is no different from any other night, and it is even a full moon night worth commemorating."

"That's true. After all, ordinary people don't have the ability to distinguish between illusion and reality."

Although Marisa is human, she possesses the powerful abilities expected of a mage, so she can easily detect even such anomalies.