“Finally, fresh air… that’s what I want to say, but not with these numbers of evil spirits around us, huh?” Raleigh took out his wooden sword again. Fortunately, it didn’t break even further after he tried to parry the female ghost’s attack earlier.

“…which way?” Mir asked as she looked around with the camera in her hand. She didn’t need the phone anymore as it was still afternoon.

They just exited the Doll Castle now. Mir pointed her camera to the left and right. Fortunately, the evil spirits didn’t attack them as soon as they walked out of the Doll Castle. Perhaps they instinctively knew that the two humans were bad news for them. After all, the two of them just escaped from one of the most dangerous rides, protected by one of the four Ghost General… well, if it were a fantasy story, that kind of description would fit to a T.

Touching his chin to think, Raleigh looked around. He, however, couldn’t decide. So, he took out three dice from his pocket and rolled them.

“…?” Mir sent an inquisitive gaze at Raleigh. Raleigh smiled at her.

“These are not normal dice. They can be used to perform divination. A fortune-telling, you might say. Well, for an apprentice like me, this kind of easy-to-use divination is the most perfect method. You see, you only have to pour a bit of your spiritual energy into the dice while transmitting your intention to them. For example, I want to know the location of the ghost, should I go in that direction? And… you see the results? Triple sixes… that means the ghost is in that direction.” Raleigh explained.

“…try again?” Mir asked him.

“Hm? Alright, let’s try again.” Raleigh rolled the dice once again. The result was still triple sixes.

“…another direction?” Mir asked again.

“…alright.” Raleigh reluctantly agreed to her.

This time, once again, the result was triple sixes.

“How can that be!?” Raleigh exclaimed in surprise. He couldn’t believe that when he tried, he always got triple sixes like that.

He doubtfully tried again. This time, he asked a different question. And the result was, again, triple sixes. And once again, he threw them. This time, the result was three, five and six.

“Argh!! He tricked me! These are just trick dice that will show triple sixes whenever you pour a bit of spiritual power into them! No wonder, I thought my luck would be excellent by choosing this place! But in reality, we are in a real sh…” He stopped and sighed.

“Sorry, Mir, let’s just go. We don’t know where to go, so, let’s walk aimlessly.” Raleigh said dejectedly.

Mir nodded. But after walking a few steps, she stopped and patted his shoulder. “…that way.” She pointed.

“That way… ah, that is Mirror World, huh? That’s right, I mentioned the incident that happened in this amusement park. It is something that a customer broke the mirror and committed suicide. Alright, let’s go to that place.” Raleigh nodded and they went there while looking at the evil spirits that surrounded them. None of them tried to attack though.

“I wonder why they don’t attack us. It’s not bad though.” Raleigh said more to himself than to Mir. He was cautious, as he was grabbing his wooden sword even though it was kind of useless. As for the gun, he trusted it to Mir, because he knew Mir could use it better than he ever could.

Soon, they arrived in front of the Mirror World. Raleigh looked at Mir for confirmation and both of them nodded simultaneously. They entered the Mirror World together.

They entered the Mirror World together… was their plan. However, when Mir stepped into the Mirror World, Mir noticed that her surrounding abruptly changed. She was inside the maze with mirrors as the walls. And Raleigh… was nowhere to be found.

Mir looked around, but all she could see was her reflection. Not only that, even below and above her, there were only her reflections. She couldn’t even see a path. It was as if she was not in a maze but rather, in a prism of mirrors.

“…” Silently, she pulled out the gun and shot at one of her reflections. She couldn’t see the bullet. However, she suddenly felt a stinging pain on her forehead. She understood that when she shot the mirror, the spiritual bullet was reflected at her. And it hit her forehead.

Mir rubbed her forehead. But she abruptly stopped. Chill filled her heart. It was because when she rubbed her forehead, her reflection in the mirror in front of her was not following her movement. Instead, her reflection was smiling. A smile she would never show to anyone. It was a smile she wasn’t capable of performing.

“Miracle Angeliva. Oh, how I hate this stupid name!” The reflection spoke with her voice. However, her tone was different. Mir never used that kind of tone in her life. Once again, it was something that she wouldn’t be able to do.

“…” Mir didn’t say anything as she took a glance at the other reflections. All reflections were smiling at her.

“I hate my stupid parents for giving me this kind of stupid name.” The reflection started walking from one mirror into another. “They are so selfish that they never thought about my feelings to live with this name!”

“…”

“That’s right. The reason for people to pick on me is this stupid name. Oh, speaking about the bullies, I also hate that girl. Ririana. She tried to cut my hair yesterday. I wonder if I can cut her hair too. No, I want to cut her hair until there is nothing left on her head. Or maybe it's better to burn all her hair? Let’s see her reaction then.” The reflection laughed sinisterly.

“…”

“I hate everyone else, for knowing about the bullying, but they ignore it for their sake. The teachers must have known about the bullying for a while. But that girl, Ririana’s parents have a lot of influence that they can fire those stupid teachers easily. And the other students, heh, they are pathetic enough that they don’t dare to say anything to Ririana!”

“…”

“That school which only cultivates bullies should be just burned down already!” The reflection stopped smiling and laughing. Instead, she showed anger that looked more like wrath.

“…no.”

“…no? It’s your true feeling. I know it. Whenever you are picked on. Whenever Ririana bullied you, you always think how you want to bully her back, don’t you? You always think about how to make her feel what you feel. And when those ghosts attack you, you have a thought like that. You think it is alright to burn down this useless school… no, maybe the entire world. Am I right?”

“…but don’t.” Mir couldn’t deny her reflection at all. Her reflection started to laugh again.

“You said don’t!? It’s not because you don’t want to, but you don’t have the power to do so! Hey, my other-self. Now that we have the power to do so, let’s do it. Let’s burn that useless school. Let’s kill that stupid girl—”

“…no!” Mir glared at her reflection. Her reflection seemed to be stunned. She looked stupefied for a second before she laughed again.

“No!? I know you want to do that! I know your deepest secret! You actually want to hate everything in the world, right? The world is unfair, right? It’s okay to burn everything down!!” The reflection raised her voice. Her voice echoed in the small room Mir was in.

“…” Mir’s face paled. She didn’t want to admit it. She didn’t want to admit it. After all, someone who wanted to burn the whole world down… that someone must be a psychopath. And she didn’t want to admit that she was one. But on the other hand, she couldn't deny it as well. She always thought that the world was unfair. It was unfair and even though she rarely had this kind of thought, she thought that it would be better to burn the whole world down. That way, she wouldn't be bothered by anything anymore...

“Ah, I really hate everything! But you know what? What I really hate? It’s not our parents. It’s not Ririana. And it’s not the school. Heck, it’s not even the world. What I hate the most is… myself.” The reflection smiled.

“That’s right. I hate my name. I hate my face. If only I’m less beautiful than I am now, the boys wouldn’t be attracted to me. And if they aren’t attracted to me, the girls wouldn’t be jealous which would lead to bullying. My name is only oil to that fire of jealousy.” The reflection smiled melancholically.

“…”

“I hate my personality. If only I can fight back a little… no. If only I can properly talk to them, telling them to stop. That’s enough. I can think about everything that I want to say, but only the most important thing is out of my mouth whenever I speak. I can’t convey how much I love my parents, or how much I hate them for the name they gave me. I really hate myself.” Her voice became softer. However, those words stabbed Mir's heart even deeper than the previous words she said with a loud voice.

“…” Mir breathed quicker.

“You know, I’m really useless. I won’t be able to be useful to the society I’m living in. I won’t be useful to my parents. I… me living in this world is just a waste of resources. If only I didn’t live, perhaps a more useful person can live their life happily. Yeah, I’m really useless…”

“But I am not a coward. I have the courage to do something. I have the courage to fight a strong ghost even though an experienced ghost hunter can’t do anything to that ghost. I have the courage to endure the attack of the ghosts every time I was bullied. And so, with that courage, I will do one last thing. By doing this, I might be able to be useful, at least once.” The reflection said with resignation in her voice.

The reflection walked out of the mirror. She gently grabbed Mir’s hands and put something in her hand. It was a glass shard.

“That is right. I have the courage to kill myself. I can be useful once. That is why, I have to kill myself, right here, right now.” The reflection showed a smile. It was a soft and gentle smile as if a mother was coaxing her toddler to do something good.

Mir looked at the glass shard in her hand. She couldn’t think straight now. But everything that the ghost said was true. She was a useless person. She couldn’t be helpful to anyone. She couldn't express what she wanted. She couldn't talk properly And that is why, rather than living a useless life, it would be better if she died.

Slowly, Mir raised the glass shard and put it on her neck. The glass shard was sharp. Even by touching it, blood had flowed from her neck. All she had to do was now a single push. A single push and everything would be over. She wouldn’t be bullied anymore. She wouldn’t be a burden to her parents anymore. She wouldn’t have to live in this unfair world…

…no! Mom didn’t give up! She told me that she didn't give up even though the chance was practically zero! I’m still young, so it’s alright for me to be useless! The world is unfair, that’s right. I have to fight if I want to live in this world! I… I shouldn’t die now! I can’t die by killing myself!

When that thought ran through her mind, Mir’s eyes suddenly brightened up. She looked at the smiling face, her face, in front of her. Without hesitation, Mir stabbed her reflection on her shoulder with one quick action.

“Ah!” The reflection screamed. Surprisingly, it was not a girl’s voice. But rather, it was a man’s voice. And Mir knew the owner of the voice quite well. After all, they had been talking for a few hours.

It was Raleigh. She just stabbed his shoulder, and now, he was lying on the floor with blood started flooding the floor.

And then, behind her, she heard a whisper.

“Told you so. You are so useless. You don’t want to kill yourself, and now, an innocent person becomes your victim. Poor Raleigh. He will die because of you. Even though he has a firm will, he would never expect to be killed by you, his only hope.”