THE MIRROR’S DOMAIN

The late night, Lily was sleeping soundly inside the plain room.

The gentle moonlight filtered through the translucent paper of the sliding door and shone upon the girl who was lightly covered in a blanket. Perhaps Lily had already forgotten, but last night, she stuffed the old copper mirror into her yukata out of habit before going to sleep.

And that moonlight filtered right through the thin blanket and yukata that one would use in summer. It shone upon the mirror and triggered an unimaginable power, which made Lily half-awake. Her consciousness was clear, yet she was unable to budge her body. This power pulled Lily's consciousness into the mirror…

"This is, where?"

Lily found that she was lying on top of a magic circle that was carved into the stone. The surface of the stone was carved with eight illustrations of ancient totems and markings that she was unable to make sense of. The entire room was octagon-shaped, and more or less around ten meters square.

How did she get here? Wasn't she just sleeping in the room provided by the Matsuda clan earlier?

"Eh?"

Lily seemed to have felt something a little different about herself.

She lowered her head to take a look.

"What?!"

She was as surprised as the time when she found herself becoming a girl!

He only saw himself wearing a white kimono, however, that was a male costume!

No! Not only that, even his figure had turned back to how it was when he was a boy!

Wh-What is going on?!?! I have turned back into a boy?

Lily was truly glad in his heart, but for some reason, there was also a slight disappointment.

However, he still couldn't remember the name of her male self.

First, let's take a look and see if I have really changed back into myself!

Lily wanted to retrieve the mirror from the sash, but not only did the male kimono didn't have a sash, his hand actually passed through the body!

"What?!?!"

Lily suddenly realized that his hands and legs could pass through physical objects without obstruction. He tried to stretch his hand underground, and his hand actually sunk into the rock for half an inch. After that, he was obstructed by an invisible force.

This… What is going on?!

Am I existing as an incorporeal soul at the moment?

No, could it be that my soul is in this mysterious stony room?

In the center of the wall ahead, a square-shaped purple crystal was embedded in it.

Lily walked over to the crystal and looked at his appearance that was reflected in the crystal.

"Ooooh…"

He let out an "ooooh" because though the one reflected in the crystal was indeed a boy, but he was prettier than the overwhelming majority of the girls. His short hair that almost reached the shoulders and the neatly combed bangs, just one look and you could say he was a short-haired girl without any problem. And this boy was not at all what you'd consider tall. His height was about 1.6 meters, just a few centimeters short from his previous self.

However, this face was pretty similar to the one he had in the past. Just that, it seemed to be more angelic and prettier than his original face. He was starting to look more like a girl.

However, when looking down, it was flat. There were no bulging breasts below the white kimono.

Seriously though, why did he even care about these kinds of things? He was already a spiritual lifeform, was it really that important to confirm if he was a boy?

However, it was just that important to Lily!

But how do I take off my clothes in soul form?

Just when he thought of that, the pure white kimono he was wearing suddenly disappeared. Lily's white, frail, and immature male body was exposed just like this. Only the pure white loincloth was left hanging at his waist.

Lily couldn't help but blush involuntarily.

"Wh-What kind of vulgar clothing is this!"

"Eh? Wait a minute… how embarrassing!" Lily hit her own head, but he couldn't really hit himself, "What do I mean by vulgar! I am a man for god's sake! What is so vulgar about a big boy wearing loincloth! What am I blushing for! How can a man blush because of this!"

Could it be that he had already become used to a girl's lifestyle?

However, whatever the case, he was indeed a boy now.

"Just where is this place?" Lily looked all around as his doubts increased.

There was a very unusual feeling which caused Lily to shiver.

It was nostalgic yet sorrowful…

He turned his face around to look at the other side of the stony room. It seemed like a door made of rock was there.

Lily decided to approach the stone door. As he got closer, the stone door slowly opened by itself.

On the other side was a smaller room surrounded by rock walls.

The room was dimly lit by candlelight. The decorative items were simple and unadorned. There was a desk at one side of the room, and a broken lantern was placed atop the desk with seemingly inextinguishable flame.

He looked towards the other side of the room, on top of an old wooden bed…

Senior sister Rin —with pure white yukata covering her whole body— was quietly lying down there.

"Senior sister?!?!"

This time, Lily was dumbfounded.

Lily charged into the room and ran to the bedside as he yelled recklessly, "Senior sister?!?! Senior sister Rin!!"

However, senior sister only lied there quietly, with both hands placed in front of her body. Her eyes were tightly closed, as though she was sleeping.

Her expression was very gentle, beautiful, and tranquil.

"Senior sister! So you are also here!" Lily was really delighted, "Senior sister! Wake up, please wake up…"

But no matter how much Lily yelled, senior sister never woke up.

"Senior sister! Please excuse me!"

Lily clapped his hands as he apologized, then he tried to shake the senior sister's shoulder.

And yet, his hands passed right through senior sister's body without any obstruction.

At this very moment, Lily's eyes had become vacant.

The hope and joy that was sparked for that one moment vanished in a flash.

He suddenly realized, the one lying here was not really senior sister herself, but only her soul.

She was currently in the same state as him. Perhaps this was some kind of strange place where only the souls could enter.

Later, no matter what Lily tried, she couldn't awaken senior sister's soul.

That beautiful girl was just lying there quietly.

Lily took a step back powerlessly and flopped onto the ground.

"I originally thought that senior sister's soul was somewhere out there in the world, I thought that I would never be able to see senior sister again, but I didn't expect she is just quietly lying here. She's so close yet so far!"

Lily recalled the last words of senior sister.

"Keep on living."