One-way traffic

"Look at you, deep in thought. Could it be that even you can't help that child?"

"No, quite the opposite."

One-way didn't say anything more.

After realizing the situation, Hatsune Miku stopped asking questions.

He turned around abruptly, and with this series of actions, the girl lying on the hospital bed suddenly reacted.

“…Ugh.”

Himeno Mikoto, lying on her hospital bed, slowly opened her eyes.

"Mi, Mikoto...?"

“Me…wait, Yuka—”

In that instant, Yuka Kamishiro hugged Mikoto Himeno, who had just sat up.

"Are you alright now?!"

"Probably, at least... it seems like we're finally out of the nightmare."

Seeing the genuine joy on Himeno Mikoto's face, Yuka Kamishiro felt a lump in her throat.

“That’s great… It’s really great…”

"Yuka..."

"I was so worried... I was so afraid that you, Mikoto, would meet with something bad like those people in the previous incidents... Thank goodness!"

The girls embraced each other tightly.

Yuka Kamishiro and Mikoto Himeno both began to sob softly.

"It's okay, Yuka, I'm fine... Even if it was a nightmare, I've already woken up from it!"

"I know...that's precisely why I'm so happy...!!"

No matter how special their identities are, no matter how many supernatural events they have encountered, these two girls are just two ordinary girls.

Having endured so many bizarre phenomena so far, their ability to persevere until now may have already exceeded their own limits.

However, they were still able to pull through.

Whether it's Mikoto Himeno or Yuka Kamishiro, both possess a strong will that rivals that of the supernatural. Even if they encounter some desperate misfortune, it is believed that they will still be able to return to this normal world unharmed.

Having witnessed all of this, Accelerator turned around completely.

"Um! Wait, wait a minute—!"

"I've already told you everything I needed to say in your dream, haven't I?"

"not like this…"

Himeno Mikoto quickly called out to the departing figure.

And so, the girl gripped her hands tightly and smiled from the bottom of her heart, her eyes glistening with tears.

"Thank you... thank you so much, whether it's rescuing me from that nightmare or what you said to me, thank you so much..."

The first one remained silent.

Then he simply opened the door and left.

"Oh dear... He's more likely to leave during times like these; he's really not good at communicating."

The Soul Chaser of the Underworld shook his head helplessly.

"They are clearly kind-hearted, but they just lack the ability to express it. Why can't they take that extra step?"

"...No, that's not it."

Hatsune Miku offered a different perspective on the idea of ​​souls being pursued in the underworld.

The girl smiled gently as she spoke.

"It is precisely this kind of kind and gentle way of expressing himself that best proves Accelerator's most unique characteristic."

The night in Academy City continues.

In any case, the nightmare has passed.

In the end, only those who sang and wept for peace remained in this city.

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

In the time that followed, nothing supernatural happened to the two of them.

The next morning was the day the two girls went to school, but afterwards they had to give statements to the security guards, so they would probably be very busy for a while.

If anything goes wrong again, Accelerator will at least keep an eye on their situation.

However, he always sensed something strange about it.

"...How exactly did they attract those strange creatures?"

This is Academy City, the most technologically advanced place in the world. Logically speaking, it should be difficult for such a series of supernatural events to occur here.

To this day, there are countless urban legends, but most of them are the effects of various ability users or scientists, rather than true supernatural phenomena. Accelerator is well aware of this, because he understands that the true nature of some urban legends is actually many people he knows, and even he himself is equivalent to one of the urban legends.

That's why he was puzzled by the many strange phenomena that had gotten the two girls, Mikoto Himeno and Yuka Kamishiro, into.

If the problem is not in the environment.

Could it be that there's something wrong with the identities of those two girls?

"You have to think about so many things first thing in the morning?"

Ta-da. A steaming hot breakfast was placed on my desk.

Looking up, a twin-tailed idol-style beauty wearing an apron was standing in front of her.

"You look so thoughtful, are you thinking about those two children?"

"It was just a random thought."

Accelerator tapped the table with one hand.

"Hey~ Is this really just a random thought? Or is it for the safety of those two girls?"

"...It's been a while since I've seen you, and you seem to be getting more and more troublesome."

"Hehehe." Hatsune Miku smiled cutely, then sat down next to him.

The two stood close together, with no one else in the living room. Last Order was taken away by Kikyo Yoshikawa to handle some formalities, while Aiho Yomikawa still had her job as a security guard. The extra individual had nowhere to be found.

It's been such a long time since we've had time for just the two of us.

"Is there something you want to say?"

"No la."

"Then why are you staring at me like that?"

"Nothing~"

Hatsune Miku turned her head with a grin, which made Accelerator even more helpless.

He took a bite of breakfast while glancing at his phone.

"It seems like the idol management has assigned a bunch of pointless tasks again."

"These projects must be quite troublesome on a normal day, right?"

No, not at all.

Accelerator simply turned off his phone and took a bite of his bread.

"Because I don't care about these things at all."

Pfft—At that moment, Hatsune Miku probably really spat out the drink she had just drunk.

"That's really a very Accelerator-esque performance..."

During this rare and cozy free time, the two of them finally got some rest and relaxation.

"Hmm... Next, we need to prepare to go to the next world."

"We have plenty of time, probably a few more days."

"The events of the last world haven't ended yet... Ah... I wonder what happened to the people in those previous worlds? I really care!"

"I'll have a chance to go back sooner or later, but not now."

Accelerator felt the bread was a bit dry and reached out to grab the lid of the jam.

However, the original spot was empty.

Then, even his own bread disappeared.

"You're looking for this?"

Turning around, I saw the girl in front of me smiling broadly as she held a loaf of bread she had forked.

The bread was covered in jam and torn into bite-sized pieces.

What are you planning to do?

"Yeah, what are you planning to do?"

Hatsune Miku smiled and extended the bread towards Accelerator.

"Well... ah~"

"what?"

Before he could even react, and as he uttered a confused "Huh?", she had already gently put the bread into her mouth.

*Thud*—He was caught off guard and swayed backward, only to fall directly to the ground.

"What... are you doing?"

"Pfft... You actually fell down... Are you alright...?"

Seeing the girl in front of him who was barely able to contain her laughter, Accelerator curled his lip in displeasure.

What a boring guy.

"On another note, how has your idol career fared since you integrated with this side?"

"Hmm... there's not much change compared to before, ah...!"

Upon hearing this, Hatsune Miku seemed to realize something.

"But there is something I do have to say... and it's related to you."

"Huh? How did this get me involved again?"

Accelerator didn't really care much about idols. He just made sure to go to the concerts they were supposed to attend, and occasionally did some interviews, introductions, or collect photos of related items and do magazine shoots.

As for variety shows, they'll mostly be about a series of things, and he has absolutely no interest in wasting his time on them.

but.

Just then, his phone suddenly rang.

When he opened the flip cover and saw what was inside, he couldn't help but squint.

"...What's wrong?"

Hatsune Miku also approached in confusion, but it didn't seem to be anyone's phone number on it...

Instead, it's a program that functions like an alarm.

"What...is this?"

"Listening program".

The first person calmly opened the program and looked at the content above.

"The listening device I installed on Tsuchimikado's equipment can transmit any important intelligence directly to me."

As the former leader of the Dark Side who was active in Academy City, now that the Dark Side has dissipated and he has lost a large amount of intelligence network, he needs all kinds of covert intelligence networks even more.

Tsuchimikado Motoharu, an intelligence expert who was outstanding at all times, became one of his choices.

"In the 13th school district."