One-way traffic

Standing before the group of young people was a very thin figure.

He was wearing a black and white striped suit, had white hair, and red eyes.

Although he looked very thin.

—But the aura emanating from him was enough to make one feel uneasy just by looking at him.

"Pfft... What's this? Where did you come from, you freak?"

"White hair and red eyes, could it be cosplay?"

"You think you can talk nonsense with us when you're so skinny you're practically boneless? Enough talk, do you want to get beaten up too?!"

Oh no... oh no, oh no, oh no!

Taki Tachibana sensed that someone was approaching from the opposite direction. Although she couldn't see clearly from her angle, the person seemed to be planning to spar with these people...

No way! How can we possibly defeat such burly guys? Besides... could it be that we dragged them into this mess?

No... The thought that he might have really implicated innocent people made Taki Tachibana break out in a cold sweat, and his fear was dozens of times greater than usual.

then.

While he was thinking this, he was suddenly thrown to the ground.

"pain--"

After falling to the ground and hurting his buttocks, he rubbed his back and then raised his head again.

It was just a fleeting moment.

The direction of the top of your head.

Several figures flew out directly.

“…Huh?”

Thump! The thugs who were knocked away landed in the trash cans in the distance, and some were even knocked onto the second-floor balcony.

And that burly man.

He was then grabbed by the neck and pulled up by the white-haired, red-eyed man who had been relentlessly pursuing him.

“Ehhhhhhhhhh——?!”

He was so shocked that his eyes widened.

The burly man was no longer able to speak.

The person directly opposite him just yawned indifferently, as if this kind of thing had happened to him countless times before.

"If I ever see you doing this kind of boring and tasteless thing again, I'll take your legs off, crush the bones one by one, and use them as building blocks to play with."

boom.

The person pulled the other's head towards them, their eyes met, and the person spoke in the most innocent tone.

"Get as far away as you can, you piece of trash."

The next instant, the man was launched out like a missile.

Boom! A series of loud noises followed, probably the sound of the other person's body hitting the trash can and tumbling around.

He was not dead yet. After standing up, he and the others screamed and ran at lightning speed towards the other end of the alley.

Only Taki Tachibana and the person who had scared everyone away remained.

"Aaaaaah...! You, what were you just doing—?!"

"You're going to school, right?"

Accelerator leaned closer and casually glanced at Taki Tachibana's phone lying on the ground.

Nine o'clock.

"No matter what you do, you're probably already late."

"...Really..."

"Fine, it's good for me anyway, so I'll just give you a free ride."

Eh?

What does this mean?

Before Taki Tachibana could understand the meaning of these words...

Accelerator grabbed his arm and made him hold onto the backpack that had just fallen.

—Dimensions have shattered.

The first one used his left hand to tear open the space in front of him, and then—he dragged Tachibana Taki's body and flew in.

They flew into a space tunnel filled with colorful light and shadow, where countless dimensions intersected.

"Whoa ...

He had never seen such a bizarre scene before, and was so frightened that he burst into tears.

However, Accelerator completely ignored his reaction.

About three seconds later, the two of them burst out of the spatial tunnel and arrived at a school rooftop.

That's the location of the school where Taki Tachibana is located.

When Taki Tachibana looked around again, the person from just moments ago... had vanished.

"Hahaha?"

Is... what happened?

The boy quickly rubbed his eyes, staring wide-eyed, and even couldn't help but let out a series of wry smiles.

Could it be that I'm hallucinating due to mental confusion...?

No, that's not right—this is my dream, that's right…because it's a dream! So it's perfectly normal for all the things I fantasize about in my dream to come true!

"It must be...it's just a dream, yes, that's right!"

Taki Tachibana's lips trembled as she quickly packed her things and headed towards the rooftop entrance.

But he failed to notice one thing.

That is, a very inconspicuous little device was installed on his schoolbag.

Something like a surveillance camera.

————————————————————

Click.

Standing atop a distant building, Accelerator turned on his monitor, took out the mountain of canned coffee he had just gotten for free, and started drinking it.

Let's make this rooftop of the hundred-meter-tall building, where no one will ever come, our base for now.

On the phone screen... a scene from Tachibana Taki School appeared.

The surveillance camera that appeared on his backpack was installed by Accelerator.

Regardless, he had confirmed that the boy's body contained the soul of the girl named Miyamizu Mitsuha from before.

"From this perspective, those two people did indeed exchange souls... and for a period of three years."

How can he possibly leave this world? Unable to solve even this most basic question, Accelerator must first focus on the message that woman left him.

That is, the word "Musubi".

So far, the only strange phenomenon related to this word that can be found is that of the two people whose bodies were forcibly replaced.

Since that's the case, we can only focus all our attention on these two.

But, having said that.

"You can't spend an entire day watching this idiot's daily life."

The Taki Tachibana in the phone—no, Mitsuha Miyamizu—is still in a state of confusion and disorientation because she can't adapt to her new body and school.

But that's not something Accelerator needs to worry about.

He then took out another phone, a spare phone that he had found at Taki Tachibana's house before. It was a phone that hardly anyone used, so he borrowed it.

then.

Accelerator turned on his phone and started searching.

—About what happened in Itomori Town three years ago.

"..."

And this series of searches.

This allowed Accelerator to learn about some unimaginable situations.

"...No way?"

Chapter 714 Itomori Town Three Years Later

A scene of harmony between all things.

It was probably in the afternoon, around one o'clock.

In the tranquil sunlight, in a place untouched by anyone, located in the suburbs, no… even more remote, like a mountainous area.

Light and shadow fell down.

pat.

He landed with the wind, appearing directly on the ground in front of him.

And the scenery presented to this person.

…yet it was a scene that evoked a profound sense of desolation.

The area in front of the fence and no-entry banners.

It was a large area completely submerged in the pool.

The only place he could stand was a school playground, and right in front of that playground, two huge, pit-like areas were completely filled with a lake reflecting the sunlight.

Yes.

Although I only saw that lake once, I remember it perfectly clearly—what kind of lake it was.

Itomori Lake.

And what will appear on the other side of Lake Itomori is a completely new, even larger lake…

It is the land that was once called Itomori Town.

"So, that place was completely destroyed by the comet, is that right...?"

three years ago.

On the evening of October 4th, 2013, around 8 PM…

Tiamat, a comet that visits Earth every 1,200 years, has no idea what will happen when it gets close to Earth.

That's right.

Even the calculations of a group of astronomers could not have predicted that a comet would actually disintegrate from within.

The specific reasons are completely incomprehensible. Although there are various speculations, in the end, everyone agrees that the possibility of such comet debris falling into human settlements is extremely low.

However, the accident happened on that day.

One of the largest fragments, a meteorite seemingly nearly the size of the comet itself, fell directly into a very obscure town.

The name of that small town.

It was called Itomori Town.

"According to reports, Comet Tiamat approached Earth approximately 1,200 to 2,400 years ago, and both of these approaches are believed to have left traces of meteorite fragments falling in Itomori Town."

"On the day of the accident, the dozen or so survivors apparently claimed to have seen a blue, dragon-like light appear inside the comet..."

Comet Tiamat.

Three years ago, this comet approached Earth's location, and its debris instantly destroyed the entire town of Itomori.