Rhamn in the mirror remained motionless, simply staring at him.
Soon her smirk widened, and she strolled closer to the mirror. Strangely, the Rhamn standing near him didn't do any of these things.
Are you playing a joke?
Cyril first blankly glanced at her. Rhamn didn't have a physical body and could seemingly change how she looks. It wasn't outside of his understanding that she could clone herself as well.
So his first thought was that Rhamn simply decided to play along with his suspicions.
"No... That's not me." Rhamn mumbled, staring at 'herself' with intrigue.
Silently, the reflection put her palm on the mirror. Then, she passed right through.
She stepped through the mirror's surface, now on their side.
Cyril frowned but didn't move away. He and Rhamn curiously observed what was happening with a similar detachment on their faces.
"Hello, Cyril. Don't worry. I am here now." The second Rhamn put a hand on her hip and struck a pose, highlighting her figure.
Her voice was a seductive whisper, her red eyes staring at him with passion.
She talks like you too...
"What?! I am way more elegant than this embarrassment."
"Oh, but what's there to be embarrassed about? It's only natural," the second Rhamn replied, her eyes narrowing with joy.
"…?"
"She can hear me...?"
The real Rhamn stood face-to-face with the fake and peered into her eyes. The mirror Rhamn's smile widened, staring straight through.
"Hehe, of course I can hear you, silly." The fake chuckled, putting a hand over her mouth in a cute way, as if someone had just told the most hilarious joke in the world.
What?
Ever since she came out of the mirror, her face kept a certain suggestive expression. It was the kind that let one's imagination run wild.
It would've been rather atmospheric if not for the real Rhamn in front of her.
Her red eyes shining brighter, she took a step back, pointed at the copy, and looked at Cyril with excitement.
"Look at that! This is some advanced magic at work here! I don't think she can see me, but she can definitely hear me!"
Are you sure she hears you?
In the meantime the copy went quiet. Her face didn't change, but to him it now almost seemed helpless. Perhaps the illusion didn't anticipate being ignored to such an extent.
Suddenly real Rhamn's face froze. The corners of her mouth rose as a glint appeared in her red eyes.
The next moment, she pointed at Cyril. "Look away for a second!"
"...?"
He really knew he shouldn't, but gnawed by a sense of morbid curiosity, he turned his head away.
After a literal second, he looked back at where she was.
Now, there were two Rhamns standing in a row, holding the same pose and the same expression on their faces. The two held their silence, creating a rather pleasing scene.
Then, the one on the left suddenly brushed her black hair, giving him an alluring, dangerous smile. "Come closer, don't be shy! Let us experience joy."
The one on the right tilted her head, her red eyes narrowing, "Living to the fullest is all anyone should ever care for!"
As the two of them grew quiet, a voice talked right in his head, none of Rhamn's opening their mouths.
"Guess who's the real one?"
Cyril glanced at the two of them, then looked towards the ceiling and sighed. This was truly a challenging test.
Or it would have been, perhaps, to someone else. To him this just seemed tiresome and a little embarrassing. One red-eyed specter was more than enough for him already.
"Well? Come on? Can't tell?"
You know I easily can.
Cyril glared at the Rhamn on the right, his eyes seeming to be asking, 'What are you doing?'
The red-eyed girl from the reflection appeared exactly the same as Rhamn. She had the same perfect eyes, nose, cheeks, lips, and everything as the real one. Even her smile appeared similarly mischievous.
However, he felt nothing when looking at her. Despite possessing the same features, she wasn't as beautiful or as enchanting.
It was obvious. The copy lacked that special something that completed the real one. Even though he himself didn't know what that something was.
Even if there were a hundred Rhamns, all moving in perfect sync, the real one would stick out like a sore thumb among them.
"Hehehe."
...
As time passed, this fake Rhamn continued speaking occasionally. Acting as alluring as possible, she would talk about letting oneself go and tempt him with power, sensual pleasures, and other things.
She would speak about knowing his dark, or 'true' side, as she called it, and how society exists to please the strong, not to accommodate the weak.
She struck various poses and even loosened the collar of her suit in her apparent attempt at seduction.
At first he would wait with intrigue, curious as to what she would say or do next, but he quickly grew bored. The situation didn't change much after a while.
Instead, he began thinking about the technical aspects of this room, while the copy continued talking about nothing in the background.
So the Room of Reflection creates an illusion that tries to seduce you. Judging from how it looks like you, the temptation takes the form of its visitor's ideal partner.
"What a fearsome spell. A regular feeble-minded student won't be able to last a minute in here!" Rhamn nodded, for some reason feeling rather proud.
It's not that specia-
"..."
Perhaps because of his own experience, Cyril felt dismissive of this at first, but then he thought about it more.
Even he was completely stunned when he first saw Rhamn. Back then he asked for her name, wanting to stay in contact, something he had never done before.
If he didn't 'meet' her on the manarail but instead in some private, enclosed space, and if she were to tempt him stronger than she did back then...
As Rhamn looked at him, her smile growing more smug, a shiver went down his spine.
It would've probably turned into a piece of dark history for him.
Then all those students who refuse to talk about what happened when they were here...
"Hahahaha!" Rhamn immediately broke into laughter, holding her stomach.
"What losers! Let's- haha, let's find them later and ask~"
Cyril even forgot to breathe for a second. He covered his face with a palm and slowly shook his head.
I underestimated Margaret's maliciousness...
At the same time, he felt a profound sense of relief. Like never before, he truly felt grateful for Rhamn being here. She raised his resistance to such tactics to a rather respectable level.