The You in the Mirror

After all that arguing, the terror the Haunted House and Misdreavus had built up vanished completely.

"It's over."

Dian delivered his verdict.

After that, nothing Misdreavus did could scare the two of them. She flew around in a frantic fluster.

Finally, she seemed to make up her mind and stopped in midair.

An eerie purplish-red glow began flickering through the passage. At the same time, a child's sobbing began to echo.

Without realizing it, Kuya and Yage stopped arguing and looked around.

"That light..."

Yage hesitated. He wanted to reach out and investigate, but he couldn't quite bring himself to do it.

"Hmph! Cheap tricks."

Kuya seemed to redirect her remaining anger toward the crying. "Come out if you've got the guts! I'll beat you to a pulp!"

Tap, tap, tap...

Light footsteps came from the darkness beside them. A little girl in a blood-red dress slowly emerged, blood dripping steadily from both her hands. She sobbed with her head bowed, her face hidden.

"Big brother, big sister, I can't find my mommy. Can you help me find her?"

A clear, childish voice rang out.

"That's got to be a real person in costume, right?"

Yage hesitated and involuntarily swallowed.

He reached out to grab her. "Nothing there?!"

Yage staggered back several steps, his face filled with horror.

The little girl silently raised her head. "Can you help me find my mommy?!"

Her voice turned into a man's at the end, and she revealed a completely blank face.

Thud!

Yage dropped straight onto his backside in fright, his face pale and his hands trembling uncontrollably.

But...

Beside him, Kuya snorted and walked straight ahead, leaving him with a single remark. "I've seen holograms like this more times than I can count. Who are you trying to fool? Boring!"

"Mis!"

Misdreavus froze as she watched Kuya walk right past, then began to panic. The little girl abruptly vanished as a result.

"So it really was a hologram..."

Embarrassed, Yage coughed a few times, got up, and followed her.

Dian clenched his fists, thanking Kuya fervently in his heart.

Even he had been startled when the little girl appeared. He had only taught Misdreavus that trick once last time, yet she had remembered it so clearly and pulled it off so well.

An Egg Move, plus such incredible talent for illusions and perception.

Dian took a deep breath as he thought.

"Mis..."

Misdreavus floated over, dejected.

"It's okay. You did really well."

Dian hurriedly praised Misdreavus with a warm smile, then whispered a few more things to her.

"Got it? Just do that, and I guarantee you'll scare them!"

Dian finished with a solemn promise.

"Mis."

Misdreavus nodded and gave Dian a long look, then waved her little fists a few times as she gradually disappeared.

Dian put on a white mourning robe, picked up a flashlight, and followed them.

Kuya strode toward the exit, with Yage trailing behind her.

Suddenly, Kuya slowed down and stared ahead in confusion. "Mirrors?"

"It's a Mirror Gallery. Haunted houses use this trick all the time."

Visibly relieved to see something familiar, Yage walked up and knocked on one. "There are mirrors all around us. Just keep going straight."

The lights ahead suddenly went out, and whispers drifted toward them.

"Did you know? You aren't actually you. The you in the mirror is the real you."

"The you in the mirror is always trying to take over your body and come to life. Then you'll be trapped in the mirror forever."

"That's right. Whatever you do, don't touch the mirrors."

The voices suddenly drew closer and closer.

Then they spoke right beside their ears. They could even feel the speakers' breath.

"Welcome to the real world."

"Who's there?!"

Yage jumped, goosebumps rising all over him.

Kuya was getting creeped out too. That had genuinely sounded like a stranger speaking right into her ear.

Even someone as oblivious as her now realized that Yage probably wasn't behind everything that had happened. As for who was...

Kuya didn't really want to think about that.

Click.

With a sharp click, every light in the passage came on. All the surrounding sounds vanished, leaving a silence so absolute that they could hear themselves swallow.

Mirrors surrounded them, with a reflection of each of them on either side.

Yage lowered his head, barely daring to look at the mirrors around him.

Kuya studied her reflection and felt something was off. After all these years, looking in a mirror should have been second nature, yet today it felt especially unsettling. It was as though her reflection were someone else entirely, someone whose eyes brimmed with malice.

Suddenly, she thought she saw her reflection give a strange smile. When she focused on it again, however, nothing had changed.

"Hey! Hurry up. All these mirrors are creeping me out."

Kuya instinctively hugged herself and quickened her pace.

Tap tap tap tap tap tap...

Countless footsteps rang out, as though the people in the mirrors had started walking along with her.

Of course reflections move.

Kuya reassured herself, but she still unconsciously walked faster.

The faster she went, the louder the footsteps grew.

"Hey, why are you..."

Kuya had been about to ask Yage why he was so slow, but she froze when she turned around. There was no one behind her, only pitch-black darkness. With every step she took, another light behind her had gone out.

"Hehehehe..."

Suddenly, a familiar laugh rang out. Kuya instinctively looked toward the mirrors on either side and saw something that made her scalp prickle.

At some point, her reflection had begun laughing behind her hand, and that hand seemed to have already touched the edge of the mirror.

The hairs on Kuya's arms stood on end. She immediately turned, ready to run ahead.

But a figure in white stood right in front of her, dressed in mourning robes and grinning hideously.

Kuya's mind went blank.

"Aah!!!!!"

She screamed and charged straight ahead.

Bang!

The white figure and the red one collided head-on, then fell to the floor, each clutching their head. They were none other than Yage and Kuya.

Dian then stepped out from the side and switched on the main lights, illuminating the entire Haunted House.

As it turned out, the entire Mirror Gallery consisted of two rings of mirrors made from a special material, with the three of them standing between the rings.

"All right, you two, smile! Pika~chu!"

Holding a phone, Dian addressed the pair on the floor.

"Pika~chu."

Still looking dazed, Kuya and Yage instinctively raised their hands and struck a pose at the sound.

"Wait a second!"

Kuya sprang to her feet and reached out to grab Dian.

Pivoting on his right foot, Dian nimbly sidestepped her. "Remember our agreement, you two. Admission for eight."

"Eight? Wasn't it four?!"

Yage brushed off his backside, stood up, and snapped at him.

Smack!

His left cheek quickly swelled up as well.

Kuya said calmly, "We'll pay you ten times the price, but you have to delete all the photos, videos, and everything else!"

Dian silently did the math. Twenty League Dollars per person meant eighty for four. Ten times that was eight hundred, almost half a month's wages!

"Deal!"

As he looked at that red mohawk, it suddenly seemed to shine like gold!