One-way traffic

In her excitement, she completely forgot that she wasn't herself at all, and suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, unsure how to explain herself.

"Alright... I've covered the basics, is that enough?"

Miyamizu Ichiyo sighed. This content was mainly meant for the young man named Accelerator, and judging from the expression on his face, he seemed to have understood everything.

Judging from this, this child has a very strong ability to listen to lectures, hmm... maybe he has the brains of an excellent student.

"Then, what kind of deity does our shrine enshrine? It must be a very powerful deity, right?"

According to the conversation just now, the Miyamizu Shrine, which is managed by the Miyamizu family, actually has a history of at least several hundred years.

Moreover, this is only the history of this shrine. If we involve the town, it can be traced back to a period of about a thousand years.

Such a small town, such a shrine, the gods they worship must be quite extraordinary gods, right?

hum-

It was at this very moment.

Mitsuha's cell phone, which had always been on the table, rang again.

"Why does it show the word 'Emergency' above?"

"Take a good look at the time...it's almost eight o'clock already!"

"Eight o'clock... does that mean—?!"

Although it was just a guess, Miyamizu Mitsuha felt a sense of unease instantly.

Even if one changes their body, they cannot escape the calamity.

"I...I'm not going to be late, Grandma?"

"...You're not going to be late."

With a sigh, Miyamizu Ichiyo checked the time again.

It's exactly eight o'clock.

It just so happens to be the time when Itomori High School's morning self-study session begins.

"But they're already late."

"Eh... Eh, whoa?!"

Miyamizu Mitsuha felt a chill run down her spine and quickly grabbed her phone and her backpack.

"I'm sorry! I have to go now, Grandma! And also—Mr. Fang!!"

Mr. Fang...that's quite an interesting title, isn't it?

And so, Accelerator watched as Mitsuha Miyamizu ran out of the living room in a disheveled state and left the house.

"But it's really strange."

Miyamizu Ichiyo gazed in the direction she had left.

He spoke slowly.

"The feeling I get from that child is completely different from the usual Mitsuha; it's like she's become a completely different person."

"So, now that Mitsuha's matter is over..."

She then looked at the person beside her again.

"What are you planning to do? Are you going to leave now, or stay a little longer?"

"There's no point in staying any longer."

“That’s true. After all, you don’t seem like you’re here to worship at our shrine, nor do you seem like you know Mitsuha or Yotsuha.”

but.

As Miyamizu Ichiyo stared at Accelerator, a strange expression remained on her face.

"But, young man."

She spoke softly, her tone somewhat cautious, enunciating each word carefully.

"You seemed to really resonate with the word 'knot' just now, didn't you?"

"..."

"Let's leave it at that this time, but if you plan to come to Itomori again next time..."

*Snap*—She gently tapped the old book on the table.

"You're very welcome to come to my house to refer to these related materials."

"You're really going to say something like that to someone you've just met?"

Even Accelerator stared at her strangely.

"I've already said it myself. Given your situation, if I wanted to do something more dangerous, you wouldn't be able to stop me, would you? Inviting a stranger into your own home is not a wise idea."

"Maybe so."

Miyamizu Ichiyo said this with a hint of a laugh.

"Speaking of a dangerous aura, you certainly exuded a frightening presence from beginning to end that was almost inhuman, but..."

"Although your aura is dangerous, I can't detect any reason in you to do such a dangerous thing."

"...So you want me to come to your house again in the future? Are you kidding me? What kind of logic is that?"

"Because you seem to have a unique obsession with things from Miyamizu Shrine."

*Glug.* After finishing the last of her tea, Miyamizu Ichiyo uttered her final words.

"So, if you want to come here again to seek knowledge about the shrine next time, I'd be happy to help you."

"Accelerator...is that the name? It's such a charming name."

Tsk.

The first person's lips twitched slightly, but he didn't say anything more.

He turned around and left without hesitation.

————————————————————————————

Itomori Town.

As Miyamizu Ichiyo just introduced, this is an ancient town with a history of several thousand years.

Even now, this town seems to have very little contact with the outside world.

You can only ride the tram once every two hours.

Convenience stores close at 9 p.m.

There are neither bookstores nor dental clinics... but there seem to be two retro-style pubs.

That's enough.

"What I need to care about isn't these trivial, pointless things at all, is it?"

One-way communication to oneself.

This behavior alone was enough to make people walking on the street stare at him in astonishment.

This is quite natural; his appearance alone is already very eye-catching, not to mention the dangerous aura he constantly exudes.

no way.

Accelerator stopped in its tracks, and then—

It's as if something intangible has been changed.

Those who had been watching him from the sidelines seemed to snap out of their daze and went about their own business.

Accelerator, like a tiny grain of sand in a crowd, was simply ignored by everyone.

"Spirit, time, space... Ha, the vector level of these two aspects is basically at the level of proficiency where you can reverse them even with your eyes closed, right?"

Even without relying on the "Doomsday Destroyer," he was still able to distract everyone around him by manipulating mental vectors.

Even without his original weapon, Accelerator's abilities can still interfere from these multiple angles.

This solves the problem of visibility, but then a new problem arises.

What should I do in this world?

"First, we need to figure out one thing."

I glanced around and saw what looked like a vending machine in the distance.

It's pretty good; it seems like most of the shops there sell coffee.

This is exactly what Accelerator likes.

"What exactly is this so-called 'Musubi'?"

The words that the woman I met before, in what was probably a dimensional tunnel of time or space, had said to me.

The other party made me remember the word "knot" and the meaning it contains.

But what's the reason? And who exactly is that woman? And what was that dragon that suddenly attacked me from outer space...?

And why did I come into this world in the first place?

"No matter how you look at it, it's just an ordinary, unremarkable world."

Accelerator tried to buy coffee with the money in his wallet, but he soon realized a problem.

Although he had the wallet from his time in Academy City on him.

However, all the currencies inside are exclusive to Academy City.

…He couldn’t even afford a can of coffee.

All sorts of troubles began to gradually envelop him.

"...This is really troublesome."

Bang! !

Without any mercy, he kicked the machine in front of him, causing sparks to fly from the vending machine.

click-

A can of untouched black coffee popped out of it.

That kick just now wasn't enough to completely destroy it, but fortunately, the people around it were basically completely oblivious to its condition.

After pulling the tab on the coffee can, Accelerator sat down on a bench and took a few sips.

"Indeed... there are records of these things in that place called Gongshui."

Miyamizu Shrine, Itomori Town.

There is definitely a reason why I am here.

Everything about the knot should be in that shrine, and this time I only got some basic information; the more specific details seem to be in that shrine.

I need to find an opportunity to deal with this person named Gongshui.

But what should you do after that?

Once you get information about the knot, then... what can you do next?

This is certainly not an ordinary world, but what exactly are the singularities? And how can I return to my original world? These are all unknowns.

…No.

"There are indeed some unusual aspects."

He finally remembered.

Just now, that woman named Miyamizu Mitsuha... no, that's not right.

If I guess correctly.

"That guy's body shouldn't belong to the original owner of this body at all... that should be it."

Click.

He crushed the empty coffee can into a ball and casually tossed it into a trash can some distance away.