One-way traffic

"Could you please tell me your name first?"

Miyamizu Yotsuba and Miyamizu Mitsuba looked at each other with some curiosity.

"One-way passage".

"Accelerator?"

"Excuse me, is this... your name? Sir... or... Miss?"

"Yotsuba, you can't be so rude."

Miyamizu Ichiyo seemed to sense that Yotsuba was about to say something and interrupted her directly.

Yotsuba quickly covered her mouth, picked up her bowl and chopsticks, and began to eat silently.

That's it.

Despite being stared at by such a strange person, the family still managed to finish their meal with great interest.

It has to be said that each member of the Miyamizu family is quite remarkable.

————————————————————————————

"Grandma! Sister! I'm going to school now!"

Be careful on the road.

"Ah... well, I'll be going there later too, okay?"

"Hurry up, sister! You're going to be late!"

After breakfast, Miyamizu Yotsuba slung her backpack over her shoulder and left, running towards the school.

Now, let's talk about it.

Only Miyamizu Ichiyo and Miyamizu Mitsuha remained in the room.

And the passageway leaning against the door frame.

'This guy… he has such an arrogant vibe! He seems a bit like a model, but—he doesn't have that reassuring aura at all!!'

"Mitsuha, you should go and pack your bag and hair tie first. Like Yotsuba said, you'd better get ready quickly."

"Huh…?"

"You're going to be late for school!"

Miyamizu Mitsuha blinked, still somewhat confused, but she returned to her second-floor apartment and began tidying up as her grandmother had instructed.

under these circumstances.

Only Miyamizu Ichiyo and Accelerator remained in the room.

"...You're not here to ask about the shrine, are you, young man?"

Only after confirming that her granddaughters had left did the old woman speak again.

"You suddenly appeared in our backyard. I only told you that to avoid scaring my granddaughters."

It has been confirmed that the other party is an uninvited guest.

Nevertheless, Miyamizu Ichiyo still picked up the brewed teapot and poured the fragrant tea into the empty teacup opposite her on the table.

"Have a glass of water, you must be thirsty too."

Accelerator paused for a moment, then finally sat down at the table.

"You're right."

As the number one in Academy City, he took a sip of tea and then looked directly at Miyamizu Ichiyo.

"If I had to describe my status, I'd say I'm here for sightseeing."

"Oh? Are you a tourist visiting Itomori Town? If so, why are you...?"

"I should say I got lost. This is my first time in this town. In fact, I only just found out what the town is called from you."

"Oh dear... is that really how it is?"

This is quite an unusual situation...

Miyamizu Ichiyo adjusted her glasses with some surprise. She had considered that Accelerator might be a traveler, but she never expected that he could come here without even knowing the name of the town.

"But if you know nothing about this town, why did you suddenly appear at our house?"

"..."

"It seems like you have something difficult to say."

Of course, are you really going to say something like, "I actually came from another world to your world, and because of some kind of time-space distortion, I found myself in your backyard when I came to my senses"?

In that case, being considered mentally ill would probably be a good outcome.

Accelerator entered this place simply because he was attracted by the noise from the second floor outside the door. After approaching the edge of the house, he was spotted by Miyamizu Ichiyo, who was watering flowers in the backyard.

Now that things have come to this, leaving immediately will only arouse greater suspicion from the other party, and may even lead to the police being dispatched. After discovering that he is an undocumented immigrant, it will definitely cause even greater trouble.

"But that's alright, you don't seem to be hostile towards our family."

"...Trusted me based solely on your feelings?"

"There's nothing we can do about that, isn't there? If a young person like you wants to do something in this family, there's nothing an old person like me and my granddaughter can do."

That's a really guilty way to put someone's head...

Accelerator curled his lip and stopped trying to cover it up.

"Since you say you're lost, then you've come here to find out how to leave this town."

Miyamizu Ichiyo got up again, picked up a small pair of scissors, and walked towards the flowers, plants, and trees in the backyard.

"If you take the tram, you can leave very quickly, but if you want to wait for the tram, you'll probably have to wait for about two hours."

"No, besides that, I also want to find out a little bit about the situation in this town."

We can't just leave like this.

Although gathering intelligence would be incredibly easy for Accelerator later on, now was the time to openly listen to others talk about this town.

At the very least, you need to figure out what kind of place you're in.

"Oh dear... you really are a complete outsider."

Miyamizu Ichiyo shook her head in even greater confusion, but still sat down at the table.

"I've never seen anyone like you come to our town before. Your arrival is so inexplicable, and even the aura around you feels a bit... cold."

breath.

I almost forgot, I'm not actually a living person right now, just a simple spirit.

However… Accelerator glanced at the teapot on the table, which was still steaming.

Even though it's my soul, I can still drink water.

"However, never mind. If this will help you leave faster later, then it's fine."

Normally, in such a suspicious situation, a normal person would probably just call the police to resolve the issue.

But it seems that Miyamizu Ichiyo has no intention of doing such a thing.

Subsequently.

Miyamizu Ichiyo then started rummaging through the table and pulling out some other things.

It is a thick book.

This book looks quite old, and it mainly records things about this small town.

And about them... about the Miyamizu family.

and so.

Accelerator, too, had only seen some information briefly recorded in that book.

For example.

The word recorded at the top is 'Musubi'.

'What is this...?!'

The moment he saw it, Accelerator instantly recalled the words that the mysterious woman had said to him back then.

Please remember the word "Musubi" and its meaning...

"—What's wrong?"

Come back to your senses.

Before him, Miyamizu Ichiyo's gaze seemed to have become somewhat surprised.

"Your expression changed to one of utter surprise just now, like you were startled... Are you alright?"

"...It's nothing."

Accelerator narrowed his eyes, but did not become flustered after seeing the information he was looking at.

After confirming that everything was alright, Miyamizu Ichiyo began to briefly tell him about the town.

————————————————————————

"What's going on? That person..."

I sat on the edge of the stairs, secretly listening to the conversation between the two people below.

She is a girl named Miyamizu Mitsuha.

She was sitting there, looking extremely nervous, and in a posture completely out of character for a young girl, she was eavesdropping.

"Accelerator... that doesn't sound like a normal person's name at all, and this dream was way too long...?"

Miyamizu Mitsuha... the soul within her is a boy named Tachibana Taki.

I couldn't help but pinch myself with two fingers.

"pain--!"

It's not a dream; no matter how many times I pinch him, he still won't wake up…!!

But she didn't seem to notice one thing.

That is, after pinching herself, she, who was eavesdropping on the two people's conversation, suddenly let out a sound of pain.

then.

Miyamizu Ichiyo and Accelerator each looked at him with strange expressions.

"Um, that... Ahahaha!"

Miyamizu Mitsuha scratched her head and laughed awkwardly.

Chapter 711 A Complicated Day for Miyamizu Mitsuha

"Oh, I see..."

After Ichiyo Miyamizu's explanation, Mitsuha Miyamizu finally understood.

She wore an expression of sudden realization.

"So this town is called Itomori Town, and our Miyamizu family holds a very important position in this town, having always worshipped the Miyamizu Shrine passed down through generations... I see, I completely understand now!!"

then.

Grandma, Miyamizu Ichiyo, sat at the table, looking at her with a somewhat helpless expression.

"Three leaves."

"Eh?"

"You are the shrine maiden of this generation."

“…Huh?”

"So, as a shrine maiden, shouldn't these things be as familiar to you as everyday life? Why are you surprised to know these things?"

"Eh?! Eh?! Eh?!?!"

This, this…