Mike — "Another door! Let me cry first… Let me try to understand…"
A door similar to a mirror stood before him. A number was engraved at its center: [98].
Mike — "Are you trying to show me how pathetic I am?"
He stared at his reflection. His nose and cheeks reddened by tears. His eyelids slightly swollen. His eyelashes wet, stuck together. His skin had grown more sensitive, hotter, irritated from being rubbed by his hands.
Asking him if he had cried would be pointless; everything already revealed the inner storm he had gone through.
Voice? — "Mike… Remember, it's a memory. You can't change it anymore."
Mike — "Wow, how comforting!"
Mike's tone rose at a remark that did not need to be made.
Mike — "And why keep going anyway…? To relive another one of those painful memories? To brush death again? Pointless!"
Sadness gave way to anger—at himself. At the Voice. At the building. He waved his hands around, flailing his arms, searching for something to throw. But nothing…
He knew, from the beginning, that he was the only one who could hear that voice. Speaking out loud was useless, nothing new.
「When I was 8… the voice was already there? And what was that other voice?!」
Mike — "Absurd! It makes no sense!"
He tried to get up, gathering what courage he had left.
Mike — "I don't have a choice… right? I hope it'll be different this time…"
He finally pushed the door.
A thin, blinding mist greeted him.
He moved forward anyway, with hesitant steps.
After a few more steps, the door of the floor slammed shut…
BAM! BAM… Bam…
Lamp in hand, he spun in circles, trying to see farther than the tip of his own nose.
Mike — "Can't see a thing."
Nothing… no… no…
A large echo amplified fragments of his own voice.
He jumped, but quickly realized it was just an echo.
Mike — "Ah! False alarm."
Alarm… arm… ar…
「This is annoying. Better stop talking.」
Despite that, he could still hear the echo of each of his footsteps.
Voice? — "Be careful!"
「He's lucky, he doesn't produce any echo.」
He kept advancing before suddenly bumping into something.
Boom boom bo…
Voice? — "I warned you."
Mike — "Ow! What is this? There was nothing!"
Ow! ow!
Nothing! nothing! nothing…
He couldn't stop himself from yelling. The sound spread through the entire floor, the echo stronger than ever.
In front of him, a massive mirror, its top hidden by the fog.
But as he moved closer… was it truly a mirror?
「Where's my reflection? Is it just glass? But the same fog is there…」
Mike — "Weird mirror."
Weird… weir… wi…
He inspected it further, then tapped it lightly to check.
Tap, tap, tap.
Mike — "Phew, I thought something was going to happen again, but seems like I can keep going."
Stay here… stay… stay…
Voice? — "Wait, what are you doing Mike? Didn't you hear the echo? That's not what you said at all!"
Mike stepped back immediately.
Mike — "Huh?"
Finally… fin… fin…
??? — "Oh, so you finally notice me, you idiot!"
The mirror vibrated. A shadow, shapeless at first, sketched a wide smile.
「My reflection? No!」
Inside the mirror, flickering as if distorted by an invisible heatwave, a young man resembling him had appeared.
He stood there, motionless, but his gaze pierced through the surface like a laser.
「His eyes remind me of…」
Bright red eyes, occasionally glinting with gold, burned with a simmering fury begging to be released. They did not blink. They judged.
「The longer I look, the hotter it gets.」
His vivid red hair, messy, fell in wild strands over his forehead. The tips seemed incandescent, as if forged in some inner fire.
「That coat… I've seen it before…」
He wore a long black coat, stiff, charred by flames. Its blood-red interior fluttered at the slightest movement.
「Is he mutilated?」
His hands, wrapped in burnt bandages, bore the marks of repeated torment. His arms, glowing red, and his sharp, claw-like fingers seemed to still be burning.
「Again…」
His torso showed faint glowing red marks pulsing slowly beneath the skin, like the veins of a living volcano. Ready to erupt.
「The heat's rising again!」
His legs were also wrapped in burnt bandages. His bare feet seemed to scorch the ground. The ground itself looked like it was suffering.
He did not move.
But the air inside the mirror trembled around him.
As if his anger… affected the environment itself.
Voice? — "Oh no. So it really was him… and it had to be now…"
??? — "Shut it! Nobody asked you!"
BOOM!
A red flash ignited the entire floor.
The mist turned red. Then vanished.
Around Mike: mirrors. Everywhere. Red. Endless. Countless.
The heat grew suffocating.
Voice? — "You don't belong here."
??? — "Oh… Still pretending to help him? Hypocrite. You've got your own goal."
Mike — "Hey, you two! I'm cutting in—who are you? And how come you can hear the voice?"
??? — "Me? Kid, you really forgot everything, huh! Truly a moron to the end! It's Gekidō!"
Mike stepped back.
「So that's it!」
He understood despite himself.
He rubbed his temples. A migraine was rising. As if that reflection was inside his head.
Gekidō — "I'm you, obviously."
「Me?」
Gekidō — "What, cat got your tongue? Don't tell me you're not aware of it anymore?"
Tongue… ton… to…
He spoke so loudly one could have heard him outside the building.
Mike — "No, no, I just realized something was missing. But I can't figure out what… You're me? Is that it? What does that mean? And what are you doing in a mirror?"
Mirror… mirr… mi…
Gekidō — "God, you're annoying. Do I ask you that many questions? I barely managed to manifest myself before! Ever since you woke up here it's been a nightmare. You never heard us when we talked to you."
Mike — "Manifest? Don't tell me it was you…"
Gekidō — "HEHEHE You figured it out?"
Gekidō stomped his foot.
Crick.
A small crack echoed through the mirrors.
Mike looked around to see which one it came from.
「Figured what? What was that? He didn't notice…」
Gekidō began jumping from mirror to mirror while speaking.
Gekidō — "I'd like to get out of these damn mirrors too!"
He punched the mirror. Another micro-crack appeared on one of them, unnoticed by both except the Voice, who had gone silent.
Voice ? — "…"
Mike — "I don't know how to do that… But what would you do if you got out?"
Out… out… ou…
「What do I do? Help him? Leave him? Where's the next door?」
No matter how much he thought, he didn't know the right choice, what he should actually do.
Gekidō — "Huh? Take back control of our body. What else?"
Dry and firm, Gekidō answered, determined to do whatever it took to escape.
Mike — "I see… Then no. I can't let you out."
He can't… can't… ca…
He won't… won't… wo…
Mike held his head, as if his own thoughts were getting too loud, as if his own voice had doubled inside his skull.
??? — "You think you can hide behind refusals?"
He flinched. This voice… It wasn't Gekidō. Nor the usual Voice. It sounded like him. But deeper. Older.
Mike — "How many of you are there?"
After that, he stumbled back, but lifted his head and spoke clearly, with resolve.
Mike — "No! That's not happening! I won't help you, and I won't give you control."
The body… bod… bo…
Gekidō glared daggers at him. A black fury consumed him.
Tension rose, and with it, the heat climbed.
「I can't breathe.」
Gekidō — "No!? You're such a pathetic idiot. You think you have a choice? You think I can't find my own way out? Who do you think kept you alive until now?! Not that useless idiot who can only TALK!"
He paused, then roared again.
Gekidō — "You treat me like a stranger, a monster? But I'm the one who ALWAYS protected you while you cried in some corner!"
Criiik.
Under the heat, the cracks grew wider. The creaking grew louder.
Gekidō — "What's with that noise now?"
Mike — "The mirrors! They're breaking!"
Crack…
Deliverance…
Escape…
Gekidō looked around.
The world he was in was shattering, as if he were part of the mirror, as if he'd been born from imagination.
Gekidō — "No!"
Poof.
In an instant, Gekidō vanished.
All the mirrors shattered into a thousand pieces.
Some reflections looked slightly out of sync, as if Gekidō were still present.
The room seemed to spin, cooling down at the same time.
Then came an eerie silence.
No sound at all. The calm was chilling, as if the person he had seen in that mirror had taken everything with him.
「I can hear myself breathing… Weird…」
Despite the broken shards, Mike felt a heavy gaze still weighing on him.
Voice? — "That was one of your alters. He's a little… short-tempered."
The voice broke the silence. It spoke calmly. Back again? Why had it gone silent all this time?
Mike — "A little short-tempered? You knew this was going to happen?"
The echo was gone. Completely. If it had ever truly been an echo.
Voice? — "Use this chance to leave."
The Voice did not answer further.
Mike — "Tss."
He continued searching for the exit.
Each of his steps felt heavy, anchored by thoughts.
「I could've gotten more information.」
He felt like he had missed an opportunity.
Who would answer his questions now?
He walked on mirror shards, feeling nothing. The soles of his shoes were covered in them, more and more each step.
But he simply brushed them off and threw them far behind him.
As he stared at the fragments on the ground, distorted reflections stirred: the silhouette of a crying child, a muffled scream, a hateful glare.
Mike looked away. He didn't want to know if they were his… Confused, a chill crawled up his spine.
He finally reached the exit door. It stood there, broken in many pieces, yet still upright.
He saw his reflection in it, then grabbed the handle.
When he touched it, one fragment of the door vibrated.
At that exact moment, his eyes flashed red for a split second.
「My eyes? Red?!」
He stepped back, checked quickly, then returned, unwavering.
Mike — "I must've been hallucinating again."
Behind him, another shard vibrated. A mouth briefly appeared on it.
Gekidō — "You think it's over? This is only the beginning…"