“What do you mean?” Yume questioned.
“Tell me more about your nightmares over the time span of three years. Did any creature tell you anything or just say a sentence that isn’t directed towards you?” Haruto said.
“Why not, I’ll start where it started, when I was thirteen. There was a mirror I had always kept in my room, my parents told me it was a reflection of the soul, and to never break it or I’ll get bad luck for the next seven years. My parents died when I was eight, and I went to live with my adult cousin. Every day had felt like a living hell without my parents, I was angry and sad all the time. I didn’t know how to express myself properly. After four years of anger and sadness, I came to my breaking point. I destroyed everything in my room, including the mirror.” Yume explained with a sad tone.
“Wait, you broke the mirror when you were.. thirteen, correct?” Haruto asked her. Yume nodded in agreement.
“I thought it was a normal mirror. I thought it wouldn’t have consequences. The mirror turned out to be an ancient relic that if broken, something terrible would happen to different realms and realities. I still find any of that hard to believe, but the nightmares may have convinced me a little bit. When the nightmares began, I almost got my arm ripped off. It was terrifying.” Yume continued.
“So you’re telling me your arm almost got ripped off? By who?” Haruto questioned.
“Remember the puppet-like monster? That one. Its mask only made it worse, a smile with no eyes. I don’t know if it’s blind or if there’s a reason for no eye holes in the mask.” Yume paused as she took a bite from her lunch. Haruto became puzzled about the pause from the nightmares after listening to what she said.
“About the ancient relic, is there some more history behind it? Like a book?”
“There should be. I believe there’s five of those kinds of mirrors, only two of them intact I believe?” Yume said, unsure.
“And you broke one? Who broke the others?” Haruto immediately questioned.
“Ancient gods, though it was probably just some humans. I don’t really believe in gods.” Yume said in response.
“If these nightmares were able to hurt us, you never know what else could happen.” Haruto added.
“After school, why don’t we research these gods?” Haruto asked.
“..sure. Why not.” Yume said, not long after she spoke, the bell rang.
“See you after school.” Haruto said to Yume right before departing from her.
Haruto began looking for Yukio in the halls, yet no sign of him. Haruto made it to class, but he didn’t see Yukio for the rest of the day, just like the day before. ‘He’s not here, again? Where has he been? Skipping classes?’ he wondered. Before he knew it, it was already time to leave.
Haruto made his way over to the library, waiting for Yume.
“Bushida, right here.” It turned out, Yume had already been waiting for Haruto in the library.
“How did you get here so fast..?” Haruto said, staring blankly at Yume.
“My final class is right around the corner, it’s really easy to get here quickly.” Yume answered.
“That’s convenient.”
“Yeah, but we should look for the books about these mirrors.” Yume told Haruto.
“Right.” They began searching for books that relate to the topic of the mirrors, hoping to find out more about the origin of the ancient relics.
“Hey Kuroki, I think I found one about the five mirrors.” Haruto said quietly.
“You think or you know?”
“Why don’t we find out.” Haruto said while gesturing for Yume to sit next to him. She did.
“Yup, this is it. Are there any other books similar to this one that you can find?” Yume asked after she briefly looked through the book.
“Let me see.. ‘Mirror Realm Myths’..? Would this one be related to those ancient mirrors by any chance?” Haruto went to Yume, showing her the book he found.
“It might.. let’s look through it.” Yume said. Right before they were going to look into the book, someone called out their names in a kind of quiet manner.
“Kuroki, Bushida.” Said someone, walking closer to the two, it was too dark to see who it was from Yume and Haruto’s view.
“What are you guys doing here?” After the figure walked into the light, they realized it was just Yukio.
“We should be asking the same question.” Yume said.
“Where were you at my final classes? I didn’t see you there.” Said Haruto.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I had to go home and watch my siblings since I’m the oldest there. Mother hasn’t been feeling that well, so she asked if I can watch everyone.” Yukio explained to his friends.
“Oh, how many siblings do you have?” Haruto asked.
“I’d prefer not to say, if that’s fine with you.” Yukio answered. Haruto gave a thumbs up.
“So, what exactly are you guys doing?” Yukio asked.
“We’re looking for information on the five ancient mirrors. According to the books we’ve found so far, they seem to be connected to some sort of chaotic realm.” Yume answered.
“Interesting, mind if I help out?”
“Sure– Kuroki, you have the book we were about to read?” Haruto said.
“No, I thought you had it.” Yume said, becoming fidgety. All three of them began looking around, with no sign of the book.
“Dammit.. where did it go?” Yume complained. Haruto and Yukio shrugged.
“We might have to look for something similar, think we should ask the librarian to save some time?” Haruto explained. Yume nodded in agreement.
“Uhm, excuse me, ma’am?” Haruto asked the librarian nervously. He waited there, but the librarian didn’t move, not one bit.
“What’s wrong? Did you ask her?” Yume asked, walking over to Haruto.
“She’s not responding. She’s just standing there. It’s weird.” Haruto explained. He showed Yume the fact that the librarian wasn’t moving at all. They looked closer, she was paused in time. She seemed to be doing something beforehand, so they investigated further in the library. Yume and Haruto found more students who were as still as stone.
“If they’re all like this… YUKIO.” Yume ran back over to where Yukio was.
“What’s wrong?!” Yukio says anxiously as he runs over to Yume, making sure she’s ok.
“N-nothing, glad you’re ok.” Yume said as soon as she made it over to Yukio.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Yukio was clearly confused.
“Haruto, why don’t you tell him,” Yume said. Haruto explained to Yukio what happened as soon as he caught up with her.
“What? That’s…” Yukio was stunned. He had no idea why it happened.
“Pretty strange, right?” Yume said, she took another look around the library, just to find more students frozen in time. It was a strange thing, Yume decided to go outside and see if it was only the library. She looked around and saw more people frozen in time.
“Any luck finding the book, or at least a similar one?” Haruto asked Yukio.
“Found this one, it’s only about the five mirrors and possible locations. Will it be of any use?” Yukio responded.
“Yeah, probably. Wait, does it also have some information about who broke some of them?” Haruto questioned.
“Let me look….. yeah, it does. No information about the third broken one, very little information on the second one. The most information is on the first broken mirror, which is still a small amount. Why is there such a small amount of information?” Yukio complained.
“Probably because there’s not much evidence to prove who really broke them.” Haruto reasoned.
“Makes sense”
“Hey, you guys find anything?” Yume came inside, checking on Yukio and Haruto. They both shook their heads.
“Also, it seems like everything is frozen in time. The clocks, cars, clouds, and especially the people.” Yume told the two. Haruto began to think that it was a bad idea going over to the library, but he also doesn’t. He’s very hot and cold at the moment.
“I don’t get it.” Haruto said, very annoyingly. They all sat there in the awkward silence, all in deep thought. That is until Haruto had an idea.
“Wait, Kuroki,” Haruto said. Yume had her head up, listening. “Can you by any chance, tell us more about your past with the monsters? And about the mirror?” Haruto asked.
“Sure, I doubt it’ll get us anywhere though,” Yume said. “As I said before, that puppet monster is always targeting me, I’ve never really seen any other monsters besides the puppet and a raven, demonic-looking monster.” Yume continued, “I have also heard a voice warning me: ‘Beware, one was enough, but your kind is fitting for her appetite. The puppeteer will not be the only one who craves human flesh.’ I still don’t get who this ‘her’ is.” Yume explained. “But what I do know is that I am a target to more than one beast.”
“Wait, you mentioned a raven, demonic-looking monster, right?” Haruto noted.
“Yeah.”
“Has it tried to hurt or kill you yet?” Haruto asked.
“No, I’ve only seen it sitting down, feeding demon-like ravens and wolves.” Yume responded.
“Sorry if this is a little sudden and off topic.. But can you tell me a little more about your past? Possibly a little more on how your parents died..?” Haruto said, it was obvious that he was hesitant.
“...they died in a fire. Away from home, the police told me the news. After that, my cousin took custody of me.” Yume replied. She wasn’t very happy about it.
“Oh. At least you weren’t there to witness the incident. You know? I’m really sorry about that though..” Haruto said quietly.
“Don’t worry about it. That was a while ago.” Yume reassured him. “Has the wound been getting any better?” She asked just as it came to mind.
“Yeah, it’s usually hurting, but I don’t really feel any pain right now.” Haruto answered.
“Mayb–”
“Guys! Found the book!” Yukio came running to Haruto and Yume, waving the book in the air.
“Nice going, Yukio!” Haruto said, complimenting him. “Think we should go through it now?” Yukio asked. Everyone nodded, prepared to learn about the very monsters that had been haunting Yume for a long time.
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–CHAPTER 4 END–
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