Chapter 2: The Silence Between Mirrors

Kazuki stood motionless, eyes locked on the mirror. But the reflection… it blinked.

Not him.

The reflection.

His body remained still—yet the mirrored version of him blinked, exhaled, and shifted its weight subtly, as if bored of waiting. Kazuki took a slow step back, heart pounding so loudly it drowned out the distant hum of the hospital lights.

This isn't just an illusion. This is... something else.

He fumbled with his phone, raising it to take a photo of the mirror. The screen glitched—distorted with vertical lines like a corrupted video file. His fingers trembled as he lowered the device.

"You saw it too?" a voice murmured behind him.

Kazuki spun around.

A girl stood in the doorway of the corridor, wearing the same hospital visitor band he wore. Her eyes were wide, not in fear—but recognition.

"You've seen it, haven't you?" she asked, stepping closer. "The asynchronous reflection. They show up when reality starts to bend. You're marked now."

Kazuki's voice cracked.

"Marked? By what?"

She leaned in, whispering:

"Not what. Where."

Suddenly, the lights flickered again. But this time, Kazuki saw it—only in the mirrors, not in the hallway itself. Shapes. Human outlines. Watching. Waiting. Standing perfectly still behind mirrored glass, but absent from reality.

He turned back toward the girl.

She was gone.

---

The next morning, Kazuki's world had changed.

His phone no longer reflected him. Every glass surface seemed to delay his movements, as if his reflection had to think before copying him. The mirror in his bedroom was covered now, hastily draped with a blanket.

He turned on the TV, hoping for normalcy.

Static.

Then, a voice—not from the TV, but from the room.

"Vision lies. Truth distorts. What you see is not what is."

Kazuki froze.

The voice had come from the mirror—the one he had covered.

---

He ripped the blanket down.

His reflection was smiling.

And he wasn't.