The subway station felt impossibly far away.
Renji stared at the photo on his phone—Aoi, his Aoi, was standing near the platform, eyes wide, mid-step. And beside her, in the reflection, was another Aoi, identical except for her pitch-black eyes and a too-wide smile that split past the cheeks.
> "That's not her," Kuro said flatly, but his voice cracked at the edges.
"That's... something wearing her face."
Renji clutched the phone tighter.
He'd lost Aoi once. He wouldn't lose her again.
---
The Chase Begins
They raced to the subway.
By the time they reached the platform where the photo was taken, it was nearly empty. The last train had left minutes ago. But the air was off—charged, like static before a storm.
Kuro walked ahead with a flashlight, sweeping across the tiled walls.
Every pane of glass, every metal surface, was warped or cracked.
And in the brief moments between sweeps, they saw flickers—shadows that didn't belong. Faces that weren't theirs.
Renji paused near a glass panel that separated the platform from the tracks.
Aoi's face appeared.
But only for a second.
> "Did you see that?!"
Kuro nodded grimly. "Yeah. She's caught in it."
---
The Mirror Labyrinth
The reflections shifted suddenly—not in one pane, but in all of them.
A flicker of motion. A hallway that shouldn't exist. A subway corridor leading… inward.
Before they could react, the platform fractured.
With a cracking sound like thunder, the tiles beneath them split, and the walls twisted like soft wax. Renji stumbled, and when he looked up—
—he was no longer on the platform.
He was inside the reflection.
---
Split Between Realities
Renji gasped, clutching his chest. Everything looked the same, but dull—desaturated, as if color had drained away. Sounds were muffled, and every mirror or metal surface pulsed faintly like it had a heartbeat.
He was in the Mirror World.
A realm shaped by reflections. By distortions.
And somewhere inside it was Aoi.
> "Renji!"
A voice echoed behind him—Kuro's. He had been pulled through too.
The two reunited in front of a long hallway made entirely of mirrored walls. As they stepped forward, their reflections lagged—a half-second slower. Off. Watching.
Then the reflections stepped out of sync completely.
Renji and Kuro turned sharply.
Their mirror selves were still walking forward—on their own. Smiling now. Eyes pitch black.
---
Versus the Echoes
The fake Renji lunged.
But the real Renji was ready. He ducked low, using momentum to push the echo into a reflective pillar. Kuro wasn't so lucky—his double tackled him hard.
In the scuffle, Kuro yelled, "They're not just copies—they're amplifications! Echoes of who we could've been if we'd given in!"
That clicked for Renji.
His echo spoke:
> "You should've let her go. You know you wanted to. It'd be easier."
Renji snarled, driving a broken glass shard into the echo's chest.
> "Easy isn't real."
With a scream that echoed backwards, the doppelgänger shattered into black shards and smoke.
---
Deeper Into the Maze
Kuro, panting and bloodied but victorious, joined him.
They pushed deeper into the Mirror World. The labyrinth shifted around them—hallways twisting, stairs turning upside down, reflections dancing in impossible ways.
And then they heard it.
Aoi's voice. Soft. Sad.
> "Renji… I tried to stop it… I'm sorry…"
The sound came from a room with twelve mirrors forming a circle.
And inside, suspended in the center like a marionette, was Aoi.
---
The Trapped One
She looked unconscious. Hair floating like she was underwater, eyes closed, arms raised.
Each mirror held her reflection—but they weren't synchronized.
In one, she was screaming. In another, laughing. One showed her as a child, crying. Another showed her old, broken, and alone.
Renji stepped toward her, but a barrier rippled in the air. The twelve mirrors glowed faintly—symbols etched into the corners.
Kuro studied them.
> "These aren't just mirrors. They're anchor points. She's the center of a new spiral."
> "A new loop," Renji whispered.
"But this one doesn't trap time… it traps identity."
---
End of Chapter 69
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To Be Continue