Chapter 4: Into the Mirror

The old wing loomed ahead, more menacing than ever under the gray afternoon sky.

Kaito stood in front of the boarded-up entrance, the silver pendant burning cold against his chest.

For a long moment, he simply stared at it, feeling the weight of what he was about to do.

Once he stepped through, there might be no coming back.

But the memory of Airi's smile, Riku's laughter, Daichi's stubborn loyalty — they pushed him forward.

He couldn't abandon them.

He pulled aside the loose boards and slipped inside.

The forbidden wing was even darker than he remembered. The air was thick, heavy with silence.

Each step echoed like a drumbeat, a countdown he couldn't ignore.

At last, he reached the hall of broken mirrors.

There it stood — the mirror that had started it all.

Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface, but it still reflected the room with eerie clarity.

Kaito took a deep breath and pulled the pendant from around his neck.

It pulsed faintly in his hand, as if alive.

"Here goes nothing," he whispered.

He touched the pendant to the mirror.

Instantly, the glass shimmered, rippling like water.

A sudden wind blasted through the hall, papers and debris swirling around him.

Kaito gritted his teeth and stepped forward —

— and was pulled through.

The sensation was like falling and flying at once.

Colors twisted around him — deep blues, burning golds, bloody reds.

He tried to scream but no sound came out.

Then, just as suddenly, it ended.

Kaito stumbled onto cold, black stone.

He looked around, his breath catching in his throat.

The world inside the mirror was... wrong.

The sky overhead was a swirling void, neither day nor night.

Shattered pieces of glass floated through the air like leaves on the wind.

The ground beneath him was made of broken reflections, and everywhere he turned, he saw distorted versions of himself staring back.

"Welcome," a voice whispered.

Kaito spun around.

No one was there.

The pendant around his neck glowed brighter, pulling him toward a narrow path winding into the distance.

He started walking, the shards crunching under his boots.

As he moved deeper into the mirror realm, strange things began to happen.

He saw flickers in the corner of his vision — figures darting between the cracks in the ground.

He heard laughter — soft, mocking — that seemed to come from everywhere at once.

And sometimes, he caught glimpses of his friends.

Airi, her pink hair streaming behind her as she ran down a corridor of mirrors.

Riku, trapped behind a wall of glass, pounding against it silently.

Daichi, standing perfectly still, his eyes blank and hollow.

Kaito's heart twisted painfully at each sight.

But when he tried to reach them, the images shattered like fragile dreams.

"This place plays tricks on you," Miss Sato had warned.

"Trust your heart, not your eyes."

He pressed forward, forcing himself to ignore the illusions.

His hands were shaking, but he didn't stop.

After what felt like hours, he reached a wide clearing.

In the center stood a massive mirror, far grander than the one back at the school.

It was flawless, smooth as a frozen lake, and it hummed with dark energy.

At its base lay three figures — Airi, Riku, and Daichi.

Kaito's heart leapt into his throat.

He rushed forward — and slammed into something invisible.

A wall.

He staggered back, dazed.

The mirror pulsed once, and from its surface stepped a figure.

It was him.

But not quite.

The other Kaito was twisted — his reflection warped like melted glass.

His eyes gleamed with malice.

His smile was a cruel parody of his own.

"Give up," the reflection said, its voice a chilling mockery.

"They're gone. You're too weak to save them."

Kaito clenched his fists.

"No," he growled. "I won't leave them behind."

The reflection laughed, a sound like cracking ice.

"Then come and try."

It lunged.

Kaito dodged, barely avoiding a swipe from a blade that looked eerily like his own.

He stumbled, then drew deep from the well of strength inside him — the strength he had built from years of friendship, loyalty, and love.

He dodged again, waiting for an opening.

The reflection moved with brutal speed, but it had one weakness: it underestimated him.

When it struck again, Kaito sidestepped and slammed his pendant into the reflection's chest.

There was a burst of light — blinding and pure.

The reflection screamed, shattering like glass under a hammer.

When the light faded, the invisible wall was gone.

Kaito rushed to his friends' sides.

They were pale, almost translucent, but alive.

He placed the pendant over each of them in turn, whispering their names.

"Airi... Riku... Daichi..."

Their forms grew more solid with each touch.

Airi's fingers twitched.

Riku groaned softly.

Daichi opened his eyes, confusion and fear flickering across his face.

"Kaito?" Airi whispered weakly.

"I'm here," Kaito said, tears burning in his eyes. "I'm getting you out."

The mirror behind them began to crack, deep fissures running through its surface.

The ground trembled.

"Hold on!" Kaito shouted, gathering his friends close.

The pendant blazed brighter than ever before.

The world collapsed into light —

— and they were falling again, spinning through endless space —

— until they slammed onto the dusty floor of the abandoned hall.

The forbidden wing.

They were back.

Airi coughed weakly.

Riku sat up, dazed.

Daichi looked around in confusion, then grinned.

"We made it," Kaito gasped, barely able to believe it. "We made it!"

For a moment, none of them spoke.

Then they laughed — shaky, broken, but real.

They had survived the mirror's realm.

They were together again.

But deep inside Kaito, a quiet unease stirred.

He knew this wasn't the end.

Something had awakened inside the mirror.

Something that was not finished with him yet.

And the real fight... was only beginning.