It wasn’t like Imai didn’t believe in Yukihide’s explanation, but he had to make sure that Yukihide was not daydreaming about it. He went back to the storage room to check the mirror. He opened the cover and stared deeply into his image. He swore nothing happened.

He paid more attention to the carving on the mirror’s frame. The carving was beautiful and unique. He wondered who put an antique mirror carelessly in the storage room. He took some pictures of the mirror, just in case he needed it someday. Yukihide might not want to find out about the guy, but Imai wanted to find him.

For that day, Imai had nothing to do, unlike Yukihide with his packed schedule. Imai decided to be that good best friend—helped Yukihide to find out about the mirror without him knowing. His first plan was to search antique stores near campus. He never thought that there were so many antique stores. It was like finding a needle in the haystack.

Three out of four stores that he had already visited knew nothing about that antique mirror. Imai hoped that the fourth store could give him any information about the mirror because he was already so hungry.

On the way there, he met two students in uniform. He had seen their uniforms somewhere, but he forgot. Suddenly he remembered the students’ brawl when he was in high school. He wasn’t a really good student. He was one of the students who liked to make scenes and participate in every students’ brawl. His school and those two students’ schools were fighting quite hard at that time. Ogasaki High school. Imai missed his high school time.

He came closer to the last antique store. That was the most decent antique store compared to others he had visited. He stopped for a while to admire the store’s design, but when he came inside he was already welcomed by an old lady with an annoyed face. The store might look modern, unlike that lady.

“Excuse me, I want to find something,” said Imai.

The lady answered, “You can go around and find it by yourself.”

“But, I need a specific item.” He went closer to the lady to show her the picture of the mirror on his phone, “Do you have this mirror, Grandma?”

“Excuse me? I'm not a grandma! I don't even have grandchildren yet! Call me Madam and—” All of sudden, she stopped in the middle of her sentence seeing the picture. Her fingers pointed at Imai, and her eyes widened, “You!  Who asked you to come here?”

“Nobody. I am looking for the mirror.”

“Don’t you dare lie to me! Are you and those two high school students trying to pull a prank on me?”

“I-I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

She pushed Imai to the door, trying to get him outside, “Just go! There’s no mirror! I don’t have it!”

“Bu-but...”

“Listen, Young Man,” The woman pointed her finger toward him, “I don’t want to hear about a story of someone with another person’s reflection!”

Before she completely threw Imai out, a young guy—probably her employee—stopped her. That young guy stood between Imai and the woman.

“Aunty, why are you doing that? He’s a customer.” said that guy.

For the second time, she pointed her finger toward Imai again, “He must befriend those two high school boys to pull a prank on me. They are not customers.” After saying that, she went to the back of the shop.

The guy felt embarrassed, and bowed down to him to apologize, “I’m so sorry. My aunt isn’t feeling well. How can I help you?”

Imai smiled a bit then showed the mirror’s photo on his phone, “I’m looking for this mirror.”

The guy in front of him drew his brows together and took Imai’s phone to zoom in on the photo, “This mirror was already sold yesterday to an antique collector.”

Imai thought it was weird that the mirror in the warehouse had been there for a longer time. It was impossible that it was just sent yesterday. So, it was a different mirror?

“Does the owner live nearby Gakugei University?”

The guy asked him to wait while he was checking the inventory on his computer, “Nope. That collector is a principal of Ogasaki High School. May I ask why you need to know about this mirror? Are you a collector?”

Imai’s mouth quirked. He wasn’t sure whether to tell that guy about the real reason why he tried hard to find the mirror or not. They didn’t know each other and Imai couldn’t trust him.

“I’m not a collector. I’m just curious since something happened related to that mirror.”

“Wait, are you the priest? Are you going to pray for the mirror?”

That was the first time someone mistook Imai as a priest, “No, no, I’m not a priest. I’m just a uni-student.”

After hearing Imai’s answer, the guy only nodded, then handed him his business card, "Call me if you really need the mirror. I may help you negotiate with the collector."

Hayashi Kazuto – Arts and Antique

He took the card and put it in his wallet. He was about to tell Hayashi that there were two identical mirrors, but before that, the old lady appeared and kicked him out of the store.

“Why are you still here? Get out!”

Hayashi approached the old lady, “Aunty, please be nice to our guest.”

“He’s not our guest! Don’t you see, he wants to prank us!”

Imai headed to the exit after thanking Hayashi, while the old lady was still nagging. Hayashi bowed his head to apologize to Imai. Imai never thought that trying to help his best friend was the most difficult task ever

***

"Are you okay, Kinnosuke?"

Kinnosuke looked at Inagaki with his lips pursed, looking exactly like Inagaki's pet fish, "You wish I was okay after being kicked out by that old lady? I'm desperate, Inagaki. I don't know what would’ve happened to me if I hadn't found that man right away!"

"Chill. We’ll definitely find him."

"What if I die?" He looked more depressed, "I don’t wanna die young, Inagaki."

"You won’t! You’ll meet your true love, then get married and have four children. Who the hell said you were going to die young? That's just your assumption!"

This time Kinnosuke only smiled grimly, "Why am I the one cursed? Why not Mr. Matsuoka?"

Inagaki wrinkled his nose, "Gosh, I can't imagine what it would be like if Mr. Matsuoka had the reflection of a cute young man. I mean… eww." Suddenly, he stopped in the middle to check his phone, “Mori texted. He said his cousin works at the police station as a sketch artist and he’s willing to help you to find that guy.”

“Really? Let’s go to Mori’s house!” He grabbed Inagaki’s hand and sprinted to Mori’s house. Then they realized they hadn’t asked for Mori’s address yet.

***

Yukihide hesitated to step into his house when he saw a black sedan parked in his yard. His father's car. That day it just happened that he brought home his canvas since he had to finish painting immediately for the exhibition. If his father caught him carrying a canvas, he would be so angry. Although his father knew he was majoring in art, in his father's mind Yukihide still made a big mistake. Anything that had to do with art would be considered wrong in his father's eyes.

He tried to sneak up, but only a few steps later, he heard his father calling his name. Yukihide abruptly stopped.

"It’s already late at night. You just got home.”

Yukihide bowed to his father, "I’m sorry Dad. There was group work." He lied.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He thought about texting his parents to make an alibi, but he completely forgot about it, “Sorry, my phone ran out of battery. I can’t contact anyone.”

His father's gaze turned to the canvas covered in white cloth, "Then what is that? You know that I don’t like to see that thing in our house, right?"

Yukihide lowered his head, "I haven't finished my assignment yet." He didn't dare to look at his father, "But I promise I won't paint at home. I brought it home because I’m worried it might be damaged."

"Oh," His father nodded understandingly. Yukihide sighed in relief while hoping that his father wouldn’t ask to see his painting, "May I see it?"

He was looking for the right reason to refuse. The only reason he thought about was the exhibition. Yukihide was confident that his painting would be accepted by his professor. So he pulled out a ticket from his bag and handed it to his father.

"Dad, please come to the painting exhibition on my campus. I want you to come and see my work. I want you to be proud of me."

His father took the ticket, without giving any comments. Yukihide's heart was pounding. His father's reaction was unpredictable, sometimes good, sometimes not.

"What exhibition?"

"It’s an annual exhibition at the university. With a very strict selection, students can showcase their work. I was one of those who were selected." Although he hadn’t been accepted yet, he lied so that his father would be willing to come.

His father's gaze seemed to underestimate Yukihide, "Oh really?"

Yukihide smiled wryly. He's used to being treated like that, but this time his expectations were very high on his father, "Yes. Would you please come?"

"Hmm, I'll consider it." His father patted Yukihide's shoulder softly, "Sleep. It's late."

Hearing that, he almost cried out of joy.

***