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Several kilometers off the coast of Chiba Port.
The sun gradually set, casting golden light across the sea, as if countless shattered gold pieces danced among the waves.
The clouds in the sky were dyed a brilliant orange-red, layered like burning flames.
The sea, reflecting the magnificent colors of the sky, was tranquil and vast.
The sun slowly approached the horizon, its light gradually softening, no longer dazzling, but carrying a warm afterglow.
At the junction of sea and sky, the sun seemed to be gently held up by the seawater, sinking bit by bit into the deep azure.
The moment the last ray of light disappeared, the sky and the sea seemed to hold their breath simultaneously.
Then, twilight quietly descended, and the boundary between day and night gradually blurred at this moment.
In a place in the bay that no one noticed, a large snake, resembling a speedboat, surfaced from the sea.
Unlike sea snakes, or rather, unlike ordinary snakes, its body looked furry, and its overall color was a warm tone dominated by off-white, giving the first impression of it being more like a large dog than a snake.
Considering it appeared in the sea, perhaps it was a sea dog?
Suddenly, the sea dog (possibility exists?) opened its mouth, and a white, lotus-root-like arm extended from its mouth. A slender figure with pink buns in her hair clung to its chin, skillfully emerging from within and deftly flipping to stand steadily on the sea dog-snake's broad back.
She waited for a moment, but nothing happened.
So the bun-haired girl quickly turned around, re-inserted her hands into the other's large mouth, and strenuously dragged out another girl from inside.
Unlike the bun-haired girl, the girl who was dragged out was covered in sticky liquid, looking disheveled.
"Why was there a swamp in that place?"
The disheveled girl knelt on the back of the sea dog-snake (?), coughing up some sticky fluid with a strangely sweet scent from her mouth. Covered in jelly-like gel, she said tearfully, "I almost got stuck in there and couldn't get out..."
"Because Napoleon seems to be very interested in jelly lately, so many places have jelly swamps. But don't worry, Anon-chan, you just need to rinse off later."
The bun-haired girl comforted her, "Yukino and I were even buried in a candy pillar before."
"I always feel like your past, Yuigahama-senpai, has been quite eventful."
Chihaya Anon, like a otter emerging from water, vigorously wiped her face with both hands, while muttering, "To think that even the belly of a pet snake has such a magical space..."
"Well, a lot has certainly happened..."
Yuigahama Yui responded vaguely, "Forget it, we'll have plenty of time to talk later.
Compared to that, there's something more important to do now."
As she spoke, both of their gazes turned towards the shore—or more precisely, towards the Chiba Port Tower standing in that direction.
"Is that it?"
Chihaya Anon asked, sounding unsure.
"Takkun probably meant that—" Yuigahama Yui nodded.
A few days ago, Asakura had said that he needed to prepare to deal with the mastermind behind the Human-Faced Sore.
It wasn't out of fear of the opponent's power, but rather concern that the opponent, like Slender Man, might possess abilities similar to teleportation, and flee immediately upon realizing the situation was unfavorable.
It turned out his initial worries were not unfounded; both the Human-Faced Sore and Slender Man were the work of the same group of people.
And the countermeasure he had prepared in advance fell upon Chihaya Anon and Yuigahama Yui.
"This should be about right here."
Chihaya Anon, after washing her face with seawater, disregarded the many gel-like substances still clinging to her, and unclasped the necklace with the Mirror pendant from her neck.
[Mirror]!" the girl whispered softly.
The next moment, the seawater seemed to be endowed with spirituality; the surface of the sea, which had been rippling with waves due to the gentle evening breeze and tidal forces, suddenly calmed down.
The sea surface, which had been reflecting the afterglow of the setting sun and appearing sparkling, became incredibly smooth, like a Mirror.
—No, in reality, it had indeed become a Mirror.
The image of 'reflection' has existed in water surfaces since ancient times; compared to conjuring a Mirror out of thin air, activating the Curse [Mirror] using the sea surface as a medium was clearly much easier and had a much higher success rate.
"This is truly incredible…"
Yuigahama Yui murmured softly as she looked at the scene before her.
Theoretically, even if the sea surface turned into a Mirror for a short time, what it reflected should be a clear, cloudless night sky.
However, at this moment, Napoleon, the puppy snake they were riding, was twisting its body, passing through the reflection of the Chiba Port Tower, which should not have appeared on the sea surface.
"The rest is up to you, Yuigahama-senpai."
Chihaya Anon held the pendant and called out softly.
"Leave it to me."
Yuigahama Yui clasped Chihaya Anon's hand, which held the pendant, and gazed at the tall tower in the distance, declaring loudly, [Mirror]!"
At this moment, all ordinary people in Chiba Port did not notice that the Chiba Port Tower, which was considered one of the landmarks, had itself been dragged into the Mirror formed by the sea surface.
The building that now stood on the land had already become a mere replica reflected in the Mirror.
—Actually, Asakura originally couldn't determine the location of the enemy's stronghold.
After all, the information he could gather in just a few days was too scarce to pinpoint the exact location of the overlapping malicious network.
But precisely at this time, in order to abduct Gokou, the opponent dispatched a large number of Slender Men carrying strong malice all at once.
With so many reference points and malicious indicators at the same time, Asakura naturally quickly determined the opponent's location.
However, as just mentioned, if he rashly went in and the opponent wasn't instantly crushed, they would most likely chicken out.
If the enemy managed to escape, it would be anyone's guess when he would be able to reconfirm their location next time.
Even for Gokou, who had lost a part of her mystery and was still unconscious, Asakura had to ensure that this plan would hit its mark in one go, leaving no chance for the opponent to escape.
Therefore, Chihaya Anon and Yuigahama Yui's Curse [Mirror] was essential.
Chihaya Anon creates the 'Mirror,' allowing Yuigahama Yui to pull the tower into the Mirror Demon Realm.
Only by directly pulling the opponent into the Mirror Demon Realm, completely sealing off teleportation abilities like those of Slender Man in terms of space, defining a scope, and making them like a turtle in a jar, unable to escape the Mirror Demon Realm, is the safest strategy.
And in the Mirror World, in front of the Chiba Port Tower, Asakura, clad in Cursed Flame Scale Armor, had already been waiting for a long time.
Looking at the Chiba Port Tower that suddenly appeared before him, pulled from the real world into this space, with some lights even still on, Asakura took a deep breath.
Then he strode forward, directly and stubbornly crashing into the locked main entrance of the Chiba Port Tower!
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