A continuation of Date Acceleration. Accelerator now serves Deus Ex Machina Industries. Will he find redemption and try to break free from the darkness to return home and reunite with a certain girl, or will he wallow in the darkness again?
Shido Itsuka was having lunch in the cafeteria. Origami and Tohka were eating right beside him, with Shido sitting in the middle.
He held a pair of chopsticks in one hand, eating meat and rice, while his other hand scrolled through social media on his phone.
He treated the Spirits like background noise.
As his fingers slid across the touchscreen, he browsed through X-ter, the world's largest social media platform. He was hoping for a break and some good announcements from his favorite games and anime, maybe some cool fanart, memes, or funny content creator drama. He also hoped Origami wouldn't find out he was looking at hot girls, whether real or 2D. Who was he kidding—she probably already knew.
Then, in the middle of all the entertaining posts, as if the algorithm, the site, or some unknown force was bombarding viewers with distractions, one post broke through and caught Shido's eye.
@WORLD NEWS
BREAKING NEWS: Tensions in Market Square escalate as military forces move in on protesters opposing new Deus Ex Machina Industries land legislation. Reports of injuries. Some witnesses claim the force used was excessive. There are unconfirmed claims of unprovoked attacks and the potential of a false flag operation orchestrated by DEM.
Developing. #marketsquare #world
That was what the post said, followed by an image of Market Square.
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The post was a few days old, buried beneath a flood of entertaining content—creator drama, memes, video game updates, fanart, gacha events offering free pulls, MMO expansions, and teaser trailers from big studios.
Shido scrolled through, noticing that most of the trending posts seemed to be sponsored or boosted by Deus Ex Machina Industries.
Curious, he tapped the post and began reading the comments.
@x1
It was the protesters' fault. A DEM official was the first to die. The people deserved it.
@x2
"Just accept the boot of DEM and everything will be okay."
@x3
Deus Ex Machina Industries did nothing wrong.
@x4
There were gunshots. So many people died.
@x5
I saw an old woman give a flower to a soldier. She got shot down for "passive aggression."
@x5
Then the soldiers started firing into the crowd. Some kind of special forces in cloaks showed up, shielding the soldiers and attacking protestors as they tried to flee.
@x6
I saw it too. But the protesters didn't back down. They fought with whatever they had. Even the unarmed stood in the way, using their bodies to shield others-forcing the aggressors to waste bullets on them.
