Foreword: Yay, new chapter! Sorry for the mess-up on chapters; this is the real Chapter 1, whereas the last one was a Prologue. Fixed it. Oops. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1
New Home and Chance Encounters
「一方通行」.

Part 1

Obviously, despite my intentions, things were easier said than done. If I just up and quit my job at Heaven Canceler's hospital, I'd end up homeless and out on the streets.

I'd been bumming off of Heaven Canceler's generosity and sleeping in one of the hospital's on-call rooms up to this point. That meant that I would need to find not only a job, but also an apartment that would be relatively affordable with the pay from whatever new job I'd be working in.

Working at the hospital had allowed me to save up a little bit of money, but it wouldn't last forever. I wasn't an esper and I didn't have a stipend, so if I wanted to continue living properly, I'd have to find another place to work at that could sustain me.

Unfortunately, to say that my options were limited was a severe understatement.

Cleaning jobs apparently weren't in high demand, ostensibly due to the fact that cleaner robots existed and therefore eliminated much of the need for janitors or such services entirely.

Working somewhere like Anti-Skill was out of the question. In that vein, working as security of any sort wasn't feasible, not if I wanted to continue avoiding any interactions with Academy City's dark side. For that same reason, jobs of any kind at research institutions, even as a paper-pusher or an accountant, were similarly out.

I wasn't skilled enough in the right ways to find a job in more specialized fields like construction or manufacturing. There was no way I was touching education, not with my lack of credentials or knowledge.

Eventually, after a few days of searching, I ended up finding something. Working the graveyard shift at a konbini wasn't exactly the sort of job I'd expected when I started looking, but at the end of the day it was one of the few options left to me, so I wasn't going to complain. It paid less than being a receptionist at the hospital, obviously, but it paid well enough to cover the rent and living costs on a few of the cheaper apartments I'd been looking into, so I'd take it.

With my decision made, I put in my 2 weeks' notice with the hospital HR department, and went to tell Heaven Canceler about my plans.

"I'm going to move out into the city." The man listened to my words without any reactions aside from a slow blink. I couldn't tell if that was good or bad. "I found myself an apartment nearby and a new job already, but I thought I'd let you know in-person, sir."

"I see." Heaven Canceler tilted his head thoughtfully. "What's your reasoning for looking elsewhere?"

"I…" I hadn't expected that question. "I just don't think this hospital has the answers I'm looking for. If I don't go out into the city and look… I don't know. You've been incredibly kind to me, sir, I won't deny that at all. It's just that… I think I need to go out into the city and look for some answers myself, I guess."

"I see." The doctor released a heavy breath. "Alright, then. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors."

In response, I bent at the waist in as deep a bow as I could muster to him. "Thanks for everything you've done for me, sir."

"I only did what I was supposed to do. I'm a doctor, after all." He waved off my thanks as if he hadn't really done anything at all, but that was just the kind of person Heaven Canceler was. The man's whole modus operandi in canon boiled down to: show up, save lives, refuse to elaborate, leave. He was just built different.

"Even still, sir. Thank you anyways." But as someone who had been saved by him, I wanted to thank him personally anyways.

It wasn't a farewell, not really. I'd still probably be coming to the hospital to see him for checkups or if I got sick or hurt; he was still my doctor, after all, and I trusted him more than anyone else in the city.

But it still was the end of something.

That was how the next part of my new life started.

Part 2

My new apartment was a lot bigger than an on-call room (and of course, by default, a lot more expensive, since I was actually renting something now). It was a small studio apartment, complete with a desk and chair, kitchenette, and bathroom.

Honestly, the size and its narrow shape reminded me of my college dorms, more than anything else. The only difference was that it was cheaper, and that I wasn't sharing it with someone else.

After moving in and getting situated, I sank into the chair. Whew. That sure was a lot of work. I'm beat.

…

… Yeah, who am I kidding. I'm not fooling anyone.

It had taken about 3 minutes. Probably less.

This was because "getting situated" consisted of unpacking my clothes, dumping them into the cabinet that had also been provided, and plugging in my phone charger into the wall. That was it.

I wasn't finished with moving yet, unfortunately. The main problem specifically was that there wasn't a bed. That was kind of expected, given how cheaply I'd come by the apartment, but that also meant that I'd been forced to bite the bullet and spend more money for something new to sleep on.

Thankfully, because Academy City was the city of the future, something like Amazon already existed. I'd placed an order for a futon that was scheduled to arrive later in the day.

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. My phone chimed with a notification, informing me that I had received a package. I got out of my chair, walked over to the door, and opened it.

There wasn't a person there. Instead, there was a 4-wheeled robot, which chirped at me happily next to a small mound of boxes, which had been neatly stacked up to my stomach. "Your delivery is here!" Wow. They've even managed to get rid of delivery jobs? No wonder I couldn't find anything related to that.

Wait, no, forget that. I stared at the robot. It went up maybe to my upper thigh, and was maybe the size of a minifridge. How did it even get all of that up here in the first place? By itself? It probably had some compartments built into its chassis, but definitely not enough to fit all of those packages into its body. Did it carry them, then? It didn't look like it had any robotic arms, though.

In the end, I gave up on figuring out how it had managed to get all of its packages to my door. The power of technology, I guess.

As I continued to stare at it, the robot rolled up to me, revealing a screen on the top of its head that displayed an electronic form. "Please sign here to indicate that you have received your package!" Putting my finger to the screen, I did my best to scrawl out an approximation of 「寛正 歩紀」as best as I could. It was messy work, jagged and uneven, but it was legible enough, so I shrugged and hit the confirm button.

There was a pleasant ding! as the form was replaced by a big green checkmark, which quickly transformed into a smiley face. Aww. That's cute. "Thank you for using DeliveRobot! Have a nice day!" The robot said before turning around and rolling away.

If something about Aleister's master plan for Academy City had gone gloriously right, this was definitely it. Those cute little robots were amazing.

Dragging in the cardboard boxes, on the other hand, was a lot less so. I sighed as I finally managed to get the largest one, a flat box that went up to my waist, into the apartment. The packaging had been designed without any handles, for some reason, so it was really hard to pick up to begin with. It wasn't heavy by any means, just awkwardly bulky.

But what was inside was actually kind of exciting. I grinned as I retrieved some scissors to cut open the packaging tape before turning the box upside down, and simply shaking it as I pulled it up.

What came out was a thick mat woven out of straw, which had been neatly folded into 3 parts and placed inside of another plastic bag. A tatami mat. I grinned as I got to work spreading it out before moving onto the next box.

It had taken a bit of deliberation, but I'd made the conscious choice to buy a futon, along with a tatami mat underneath. It had cost me a fair amount of money–about 40,000 yen total, all told, which was about 260 dollars–but I was going to be using it for a long, long while, so I had settled on getting something higher-quality.

And since the apartment hadn't been listed as providing a bed, I'd decided to do what the Romans do, and buy bedding that was more befitting the Japanese style.

It definitely didn't look as impressive as a bed, though. Maybe it was something to do with the fact that a bed stood off from the ground and was easier to kind of just fall into, or maybe it was the fact that, for all intents and purposes, I'd be sleeping on the ground.

But it was mine, and that was enough.

I surveyed my new living space. Walking out the door, I took out my keycard and swiped through the lock. It beeped before unlocking, and I took my first proper steps into my new home.

I sucked in a deep breath.

"Tadaima~~" No one answered me, but that was alright. It would've been strange if anyone had.

That was how the next part of my life in this new world began.

Part 3

Night shifts were an interesting experience, to put it mildly. As a college student (former), I'd had my fair share of late nights, but working the graveyard shift was a whole other level of 'late night'. It was different from what I usually did staying up late, which was either writing or playing games.

In and of itself, the work was simple. Swipe people through when they bought stuff. Restock shelves when they became empty. Help to unload for any late-night shipments and pack them into storage. Cleanup on Aisle 4–okay, that last one was a lie, the konbini had a cleanup robot for that.

Once my shift finished, I'd drag myself back to the apartment, shower, and then pass out until late in the afternoon. Then I'd wake up, eat something light as a "breakfast", and the cycle would start all over again.

It was simple, which was good. Simple was nice. Things were uncomplicated, and compared to when I had been a hospital receptionist, I didn't have to spend more brainpower than necessary thinking on the job. I just had to move stuff around, and even if I got a little sleepy or hungry, well, I worked at a konbini. I could just buy some snacks or brew up some coffee for myself.

But at the same time, it was a lot more demanding. Staying up late from 12 to 6 in the morning and then sleeping after that was pretty rough. I hadn't done something so intensive for years, not since the time my family had flown back to Hong Kong during an emergency and I'd been forced to attend my high school classes through Zoom during the nighttime. Two weeks of that, and I'd been about to collapse at the end when winter break finally came in.

I was more used to it now–or maybe it was just the fact that as a college student, I was better at dealing with stress than I was before–so it wasn't as bad, but there were still some days when I was more "miserable heap of flesh" crawling out of the konbini after clocking out than fully human.

But working at the konbini was quiet. Solitary, even–the customers that appeared were few and far between. So far, I'd seen mostly tired-looking researchers in lab coats, a few people who wore nice business suits, and some late-night office workers. There had been a few people from Anti-Skill who had come in to buy some stuff, but I hadn't recognized any of them (though, to be entirely fair, my knowledge of who was in Anti-Skill was limited to Yomikawa and her cohort).

The most noteworthy encounter so far had been with this tired-looking kid in a puffer jacket, who had bags under his eyes so bad that they looked like they'd been painted on. The guy had staggered into the store, looking like he was about to pass out on his feet, before I told him to sit down and take a nap in the store's dining area. While he had initially refused, I was able to make him see reason, mostly by glaring him down and politely insisting until he eventually agreed. He'd woken up 10 minutes later, looking much better than he had coming in before buying some coffee, thanking me, and heading out.

The lack of encounters made sense, though. The store was located in the middle of a more research-oriented area, with offices and labs here and there and the closest apartment complex–mine–being a good 3 blocks away. There wouldn't be a lot of reasons to come here at night, not unless you worked in the area or happened to be passing by.

It also explained why there hadn't been any Skill-Outs coming into the store; they probably didn't operate in the areas with a lot of research labs, because it probably wasn't very safe for them given the level of security I assumed every research place had. I already had Anti-Skill's number on speed-dial, but there hadn't been any need for it so far. Maybe I'd just been getting lucky so far, but nobody remotely resembling a delinquent had walked into the konbini yet, and I was happy to let that continue.

All in all, it was pretty boring. Mundane and ordinary, just the way I wanted it.

Part 4

So that was a fucking lie. I wanted to slap myself, but settled for a slow, drawn-out sigh as I watched the figure depart the konbini's the doors and disappear into the night.

Stupid past me and his big mouth. You win this time, Murphy. You win this time.

It had started out as an ordinary shift at first. I clocked in, restocked some shelves, and swiped a few tired-looking researchers through their purchases before getting somewhat sleepy, wandering over to the freezer and grabbing some canned coffee for myself to stave it off. It was the simplest of the selection–black, no sugar–and at 90 yen, also the cheapest.

Usually, I got coffee from the konbini's machine, but I was in the mood for something else tonight. Maybe it was the konbini being cheap, or maybe it was because good coffee was hard to come by, but the konbini coffee was… meh. Like, maybe a 3.6/5. Not great, not terrible.

It wasn't bad, per se, but it was rather one-note; it only made drip coffee, and hadn't been designed to do anything else. It was a shame, since I would've killed for something like a cappuccino or a mocha, but there wasn't much I could do about it.

As a result, I'd decided to try out some of the canned coffees that the store offered, starting from the cheapest stuff and working my way up towards the more expensive (and surely higher-quality) products.

That had been the right call, because this… I took another sip from the can, and saying went something like "you get what you pay for", but this wasn't even worth half the yen I'd shelled out for it.

I'd been expecting something that was black as tar and bitter as sin, but what I got instead was something that tasted like infused water. It was so aggressively bland that I just couldn't taste anything aside from the faintest hints of "coffee flavor". There wasn't even any bitterness to it; the only thing it left behind in my mouth was a faintly metallic aftertaste, and I could only shake my head. Ugh. Definitely not buying this one again. Makes me kinda scared of what this brand's other flavors might taste like, to be honest.

I sighed as I took out my phone. I couldn't really call it a waste of money–coffee was coffee, after all–but there really was a feeling of buyer's remorse here. Coffee from the konbini's machine sold at 120 yen a cup, and tasted so much better in comparison that this felt like a scam.

There was a pleasant "ding-dong!" sound in the background as the automatic doors opened, letting someone in as I lined up a shot with my phone's camera of the can. "Welcome!" I added; there wasn't a response from the customer, only the sounds of footsteps as they walked towards the back, where the drinks were. Alright, and now a quick note to self: avoid 'Black Zero' in the future.

It wasn't long before I was done, looking up just in time to see my newest customer walk up to the register and plonk down the 6 cans he was carrying in his arms. He was a new face I hadn't seen around here before: a scrawny teenager with a dark-gray hoodie that sagged loosely around his figure and a mop of white hair that had definitely seen better days, a bored expression on his face as he casually pushed his purchases towards me.

I looked down at the cans, and, well. I tried. I really did.

But in the end, I couldn't stop myself from making a face as I picked up the cans and started scanning them. Really? Of all the drinks to buy, you choose this? C'mon, dude. You and I know there are better drinks out there in the aisle.

The reason I was judging the teenager in front of me was because he had made an extremely poor life decision and chosen to get 6 cans of the exact same coffee as the one I had just been drinking. I get you're in your dark and edgy high schooler phase right now, but that doesn't mean you have to drink this kinda crap to 'prove yourself', you know? There's always a better path. Hell, just buy the machine's coffee. It's a bit more expensive but it tastes a lot better, I promise.

My contempt for his taste in coffee must've been obvious, though, because the kid in front of me shifted a little, tensing up. "... What? Got a problem or somethin'?" His voice rasped a little as it came out, and I startled at how familiar it sounded.

Now that I thought about it, he did look familiar. White hair, pale skin, that voice… he could've passed for Accelerator, if I wasn't paying attention.

I stopped.

–Hold on a second. Hold on just a goddamn second.

I looked up from the cans to meet his eyes. His very obviously red eyes.

The can I was still supposed to be scanning clattered to the counter before rolling off and falling towards the floor.

I cursed, making a clumsy swipe that only succeeded at knocking it towards the side before diving downwards, catching the can with my other hand before it could hit the floor.

Unfortunately, just as soon as that happened, I felt my legs buckle, my knees protesting at the sudden change before I found myself rapidly hurtling towards the floor, all balance lost.

I threw out a hand to catch myself on the counter, swiped against the air uselessly, and slammed face-first into the floor. "Oww…"

I wasn't sure what was more humiliating: everything that had just happened, or the fact that I had completely failed to recognize Accelerator until he was literally right in front of me.

Accelerator, who was still waiting for me to finish checking out his purchases.

My eyes widened, and I scrambled to my feet, hauling myself back up using the counter. In front of me, Accelerator startled a little as I got back up, but I ignored that in favor of scanning the can that was still in my hand before placing it into a plastic bag, along with all the others.

"... What the hell was that about?" His face was creased into an expression of… concern? Or maybe it was confusion. Probably the second one.

"Don't worry about it." I waved off his question, and even though I tried, I couldn't stop myself from looking at him a lot more closely now that I knew who he was.

He really was just a kid.

Kiyotaka had drawn him lean and mean, looking older and colder as the series went on, but as he was, standing in front of me right now, I was reminded of the fact that most of the characters in the series really were just kids.

Adolescent teenagers and not toddlers, sure, but they were kids nonetheless. I was easily a good 4 to 5 years older than most of them. Even if they were espers with superpowers or magicians with spells, they were also high schoolers–with all of the immaturity and inexperience that entailed.

I wasn't going to go ahead and say that I had more life experience than them, but… I kind of did, just by virtue of being older than them by a good amount. I'd been in my last year of college when I got isekai'd, so even if someone was in their last year of high school, I still had them beat by a solid 3 years. It wasn't the same kind of life experience that they had, since I'd grown up and studied in a relatively normal environment, but it was still experience.

The Accelerator in front of me couldn't have been more than 14, at most. He barely came up to my chin, and I could still see some of the baby fat in his cheeks. All told, he couldn't have weighed more than 100 pounds soaking wet.

But holy shit, it was Accelerator. Accelerator. This was the guy who could change any and all vectors at a touch and would eventually become one of the people who would go and save the world–and do it multiple times, at that. This was the guy who was the source of so many powerscaling debates and "how to beat him" arguments online, a completely fictional character from a fictional world I'd only ever read about–and he was standing in front of me, right here and right now.

Getting saved by Heaven Canceler was one thing. Meeting Accelerator face-to-face by complete coincidence was another.

As I watched, the slight frown on his face turned into a scowl. "Whaddya starin' at me for?" I winced at his words. I'd been staring for far too long. "Well, what is it?"

I opened my mouth to talk… and promptly realized that I didn't have a good answer for him.

This was pre-canon Accelerator. Pre-getting-punched-by-Touma-and-rethinking-life Accelerator. I had a bit of a frame of reference, given how he'd acted in Volume 5 and onwards, but this Accelerator was young, and felt awkward in a way that was hard to describe.

He was also staring at me, and waiting for an answer. Come on, me. Just say something. Anything. Just gotta hold a normal conversation with him. Opened my mouth, I said the first thing that came to mind. "Can I get your autograph?"

Accelerator blinked. His expression scrunched up a little, and I caught a flicker of confusion across his face before it disappeared

I wanted to kick myself. Anything but that! What the hell was that?! That's not a normal conversation at all!

Unfortunately, it was too late to take back what I said. The only thing left I could do now was commit.

It wouldn't hurt–couldn't hurt. It wasn't like I was blurting out the future or anything about his life to his face. I was just asking for an autograph. Besides, this was just one encounter with one random worker at a random konbini in the middle of Academy City. One encounter by pure chance, before the plot kicked off and I'd be forgotten in the background. This didn't matter. You only lived once, right?

With that in mind, I took a deep breath and chose my next words carefully.

"You're Accelerator, right? Academy City's #1 Level 5?" At my words, Accelerator nodded a little, looking a little uncertain as to where I was going. Despite that, I plowed forward, doing my best to sound upbeat instead of embarrassed. "I'm a huge fan of yours. You're really cool. Can I get your autograph?"

The scrunched-up expression on Accelerator's face was replaced by a look of pure, naked confusion. "What's your game?"

"... ? Oh." I blinked, confused, before I realized what he meant. "Nah, no game. I just want an autograph from you. Like I said, I'm a huge fan. Level 5s are so cool–it's a huge honor to be able to meet one in person. And the #1 at that, you know? An autograph would genuinely be such a cool thing to have." I rummaged around underneath the counter, came up with a pen, and looked for a piece of paper–there was none–before giving up and getting up to grab one from the konbini's printer, offering both to Accelerator. "That's if you don't mind, of course. Please? Pretty please?"

Accelerator hesitantly took the pen and paper from my hands, laying it out flat on the counter before writing out the expected「一方通行」onto the paper.

It was cool, watching him work. I'd expected him to go fast, as befitting his name, but he went slow and steady, neatly drawing out the characters stroke by stroke. I wasn't the best at penmanship myself, but it even looked like Accelerator was making an effort to stylize the characters to some extent, even punctuating off the 行 with a neat little flourish before he set the pen down.

An autograph from Accelerator himself. How many other people could say that they had something like that? Scratch that, how many people from this world could say the same thing?

"Here."
"Thank you so much!"

I gratefully took the autograph and the pen from Accelerator's hands, passing the plastic bag of coffee cans to him in exchange, which he accepted.

"Sorry for springing that on you outta nowhere. I got a little too excited." I held up my hands and smiled apologetically at Accelerator, but while he glared at me for that, he didn't seem to mind too much, given that he didn't say anything else. "Here." I took out my own card and swiped it through the register, marking down the purchase of 6 Black Zeroes as my own. "As repayment, how about you just take all of this on the house?"

There was that expression of confusion again, but I waved it off. "Look, an autograph from you is huge deal, at least to me. Some 500 yen isn't going to change that. Don't worry about it."

"Tch. Like I care." Those were his last words before I watched as Accelerator, Academy City's #1 Level 5 and one of the main characters of this world, turned around and left the konbini, accompanied by a cheerful "ding-dong!" as the doors closed behind him.

As his figure disappeared into the night, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Fumbling for a stool, I managed to grab onto it with suddenly-stiff fingers, sitting down just as the strength seemed to melt out of my legs.

That… I hadn't expected that. Meeting Accelerator had been a real shock. But…

I looked at the piece of paper that was still on the counter, and the「一方通行」that had been written on it.

In the end, it hadn't been as bad as I expected it to be. It was fine. Probably.

Afterword: Ah yes, the classic "I think I'll run away, only to immediately encounter more problems as I do" scenario. Woe is thy name, Kanshou Ibuki. Beware of the butterflies! But it's probably fine (for now).

On the other hand, Accelerator! Aside from Heaven Canceler, he's actually the 3rd named character to show up in this story so far. I actually didn't plan for him to show up this early, but I realized he's actually an excellent place to start as a springboard for things, and hopefully I'll be able to show that soon enough.

Leave a comment! Feedback is super appreciated; I'm writing this directly in a "thought-to-mouth" sorta way, where I'm a lot more directly transcriptive of my thoughts (given that Ibuki's literally me, as opposed to Otherworldly where Hikigaya thinks differently from how I do), but I fear being too wordy or just dragging on and on unnecessarily. If there are problems with how you feel like the story is being handled so far, please let me know and I'll do my best to respond!

I can't promise another update next week, but I'll try. Anyways, see you guys soon!

Sincerely,
Oreo the Cookie