infinite_reflection | The Hell Just Happened?

Miho had decided, after her recent and unpleasant experiences with elevators (mainly the mirrored kind), to take the stairs when senpai had texted her. The result of this decision was a lot of running and a ton of stairs. She’d thrown her wavy brown hair into a messy bun instead of the usual braids, and then booked it out of the apartment.

The poor thing was heavily regretting her decision to take the stairs by the time she had gone down ten flights, and once she had hit the lobby? Hoo boy, she was red faced, slightly sweaty, and completely out of breath. Seiya’s text had said it was important, so she’d hurried as best she could! The very disheveled Miho pushed the lobby doors open while fanning herself. “H-hellloo… Senpaii.. G-san..”

Either they arrived early or it was taking Miho a fair bit to get down to the lobby... Gregory found himself hoping the elevator hadn't stopped and messed with her again. That worry didn't reflect in his ever-straight face, and he eased some of that stress with a game on his phone. That meant Seiya would at best get a distracted conversation with him, but hey. When Miho finally arrived she looked like hell, and the boy glanced up with a few surprised blinks. "... Yo. Take a seat, huh? Don't tell me you took the stairs from the 36th floor..."

It struck Gregory that he didn't know what his new partner in crime had included in the text, so he figured he'd let her do most of the talking. It worked out better that way, anyway, because he didn't have to turn off his game.

"Miho-chan, are you okay?" Wincing, she pushed herself up from the wall, going to her friend's side. "You look like you just ran a marathon." Holding her tender side, she smiled, trying to make this appear less horrible than it was.

"We need to talk about the mirrors."

With her head tilted slightly, as she pushed her oversized glasses up her nose, she took in Seiya’s appearance. The other girl really kind of looked like Hell! “Whaa.. What happened?” Her gaze travelled from her senpai, to G-san, and then back again. “Mirrors?” Erp, she balked a little. That sounded great and probably very bad.

A quiet curse was muttered under the boy's breath when he missed a shot and he glanced up from the phone in time to see Miho looking his way. "Uh, yeah." That was all he'd planned to say, but then he had another thought. "Worse than the elevator. A lot worse, scary worse." The fact he seemed pretty chill about it might've been a little unnerving. "Seiya-san, do you wanna explain or should I?"

"I'll explain." Nodding, Seiya ran her fingers through her bangs, trying to gather some kind of composure. "The mirror in Jumbo's bathroom tried to suck me in. And G-kun saw some little girl inside, and she told him to tell me to let her out or something..." She spoke a mile a minute, looking legitimately freaked out. "I don't know what to do."

Miho folded her hands neatly in front of her while she listened. Her cheeks were still flush from the literal sprint down the stairs, but she didn't quite seem on verge of collapse anymore. “Okay.. Okay. It's about the mirrors, right?” Her gaze traveled to the sky, the dark and heavy clouds reflecting against her glasses. “So, it's about the mirrors and...! I don't think it's something nice – so it's a 'bad guy'. Like in an RPG... And... Since all this started happening... Everything in this city's been weird, right?” She glanced to Greg for conformation.

It had been weird, crimes, rumors, an altogether malicious atmosphere at times... Hmm.

Gregory snorted at the suggestion, looking up from his game with an eyebrow raised. "I don't think it's much like an RPG, Miho-san. I'm not sure what I saw or what's happening, but I'm not about to treat it like a game." Those gears were already turning in his head, though, and there wasn't going to be any going back. "But, uh, regardless... Sorry for snapping. I don't know how the city was before, but it's been getting worse since I got here, sure." The boy didn't spend much time outside, but all he had to do was turn on a television to learn from the local news about this week's big crime... Lately it had become almost the day's big crime, actually. Eesh.

"It's obviously got something to do with the mirrors, though, yeah." It seemed he was going to join in on the planning! Finally putting that brain to good use. "Seiya-san's wanted her to let it out, so that means it's not going to get out without her help. We don't have to worry about that kind of stuff just stepping through undisturbed, at the very least."

"While that's true," she glanced at Greg, fear in her eyes, "that means I can never be alone around a mirror again. If you weren't there earlier I..." Trailing off, she limped forward, pushing the door to Miho's building open.

"It's an RPG right? Take me to the elevator."

Miho tugged anxiously on the tip of her left braid, watching her snepai limp forward and toward her apartment building. "Are you sure this is such a good idea?" Regardless, she lead them both in and down the lobby hall. The elevator slid open immediately as she pressed the button. Somehow, it seemed forbidding...

"You can't be serious..!" At least he wasn't fixated on the phone anymore, but at that point Greg looked like he thought Seiya might be crazy. "Miho-san, don't-- What're you--.." With a sigh, he followed regardless of the warning and glanced around the lobby while they stepped through it. The elevator wasn't terribly far, and much to the boy's dismay it was already on their floor. "This is a bad idea. A really bad idea, who's to say that Miho-san and I can't get the same thing as you?"

He peered into the mirrored elevator, looking mildly afraid for the first time the two girls had probably ever seen. Inside Gregory was panicking, though he could thankfully mute that quite a lot. "There isn't even anywhere to run..!"

"G-kun." Seiya paused, feeling her phone vibrate in her pocket. "Hold on." Stepping to the side, she answered it, holding the conversation for a few moments before sliding it back into her pocket.

"Sorry. G-kun. It's sink or swim. I'm not expecting you," she turned to Miho, "or you, to save me. But I have to see what you saw."

Pushing past the now open elevator doors, she held onto the bar, staring out at her friends.

"You don't have to come with me... but I really want you to."

Miho, her hands folded neatly in front of her and her shoulders somewhat slumped, stared into the elevator with a brittle and worried smile on her face. She nodded as if to steel herself, and then let her gaze travel to Seiya. “If we're going to go... We should all go together, right? Like.. Like a team. We're a team!” She bit her lip in mild anxiety while glancing to Greg. “R-right?”

With that asked, she stepped into the elevator. When and if the others joined, she'd press the button for the top floor. The doors would smoothly slide shut and their ascent would start. Simple, right?! The first ten floors went by with little trouble, but as the number flicked to eleven... The lights started to flicker. “Um.. I t-think, if we're gonna, y'know..” She gestured at the mirror behind them (the only one without a bar to lean against), “Well, I just think we should get on with it, maybe..”

Did she mean for Seiya to stick her hand in, again?

"No! No, this isn't a team thing, I don't-- I've only known you for a day, Seiya-san. I'm out." Greg stayed in spite of his clear refusal, though, and looked torn for a good several moments. "... Look-- Ah!" The doors started to shut and he slid right in, looking briefly panicked! "Fine. Fine, I'm in, shut the door before I change my mind!"

Miho pressed the button and those doors slid shut; he was in this for the long haul now. Hopefully there wouldn't be a 'long haul', though, and they'd just get to their destination without any disturbance! Not the case, because just as he'd finished thinking that the lights started to give out. "This.. This was a bad idea."

Seiya seemed hurt by his words, but understood. It was a lot to ask of a practical stranger. Yet here they were, in the elevator, the power dancing on and off. She leaned back, the mirror rippling, pulling her in with gentle arms.

"G-Guys...!!"

Trying to pull forward, it seemed useless, her left leg fully inside the mirror.

Miho had winced with Greg's words. It was true, but it was a little harsh, wasn't it? In the movies, and plays, and even video games, people always established team bonds. Was this different? Sort of! Real life, and all! She was temporarily lost in her thoughts again as the power continued to flicker – but then Seiya called out! “..H-holy crap! Seiya-chan!” The girl whirled on her heel and curled her hands around her senpai's wrist. Was she getting sucked in!?

The answer was a big yes! Seiya would find it hard to resist the pull, even with Miho yanking on her. “G-g.. G-san, help!”

"[Fuck]!" Greg cursed and in English no less, flailing a little aimlessly for a moment. Back to Japanese! "Help how?! I, I-- Mmrgh!" He planted his feet and wrapped an arm around Seiya's torso; it'd do more than Miho's simple wrist-grab but he wasn't quite sure it'd be enough! To make it worse, the boy really didn't want to touch the mirror for fear he'd end up in the same predicament... That made it very difficult to properly brace himself. In this position he'd probably end up sucked in if she was, too. Dammit!

Struggling helplessly, she felt Miho's grip on her arm. "It's not enough!!" The tug was overwhelming now. Seiya began to cry, now feeling Greg's arms around herr. Still, it wasn't enough.

The mirror tugged her inside, pulling her into what felt like an eternal fall. Yet, she seemed to only hit the ground. Eyes shut tight, she simply screamed.

“Just.. just hold on, okay?! Hold on!” Miho tried, in vain, to grab onto one of the bars that ran along side the other two mirrors in the elevator. With her teeth grit she held on for dear life, her knuckles turning white from the effort of it - it wasn't enough. “Seennpaaaai!” The girl screamed, eyes wide behind her oversized glasses as they were all forcibly dragged into the rippled surface of the mirror. The fall felt like it took ages, wrenching her gut out of her chest – the world around them was pitch black as far as the eye could see.

They fell for what seemed like an incredibly long time. Miho's eyes were shut tight as possible, and her grip was hard around Seiya's wrist (one of her hands had also grabbed onto Gregory, so she was effectively clinging to them both). The sight that greeted her when she opened her eyes was bizzare. They were still in the elevator... Or so it seemed. This elevator only had one button that said 'lobby'. Their reflections didn't show up in the mirrors that lined it, either!

That wasn't the oddest thing, though. The doors were open, and stretched out before them was what seemed to be a long and spiraling corridor of ice.

Just as he'd expected, Greg flew in the moment Seiya did the same. While the two girls let loose like banshees he was much quieter, and all the boy did was grunt once and then clamp his mouth and eyes shut. The poor boy fell for what felt like absolutely forever, and never felt a landing either! That meant opening his eyes was a surprise, as they'd already landed! When did that happen?

Gregory stumbled out of the elevator quickly, if only to get out of the confined space, and leaned on his knees to almost-but-thankfully-not-quite puke. Ever obsessed with his technology, though, the boy wasted no time before tapping at the touch screen of his phone. "On, turn on, will you?" No dice; the screen was back-lit as though it should be displaying something but the screen was simply black.

As they descended, her thoughts were anything but positive. How dare she drag two innocent bystanders into this? Curling up into herself, it was then that she noticed she was no longer suspended mid-air.

Opening her eyes, she felt a shudder run down her back. Seiya's breath came out with a hitch. What was this place?

Daddy, I don't want to. A little girl's voice echoed down the long hall before them, bouncing off the walls. It's stupid... I want to go out. Let me out, won't you?

Miho's breath came out in a puff of steam – it was chilly, here. That was probably a result of all the ice. But... That couldn't be ice over there, could it? Where in the world were they?! She lifted her glasses a little to rub at her eyes before looking to Seiya. “Was that a..” She squinted back down the hall and gulped.

“G-san, come back in the elevator, kay?”

"I'm fine. It's fine out here, and less... Claustrophobic, ugh." Greg was still smacking at his phone, trying to get the stupid thing to work, but it seemed like no dice. "How about you come out here?" Gregory sounded mighty annoyed, but with good reason (in his opinion). At that point the boy finally looked up and away from his phone, taking in his decidedly odd surroundings. "Didn't I say this was a bad idea? This was a bad idea, uh, let me say it again."

"I'm so sorry..." Tears pricked at her eyes as Seiya shakily exited the elevator. Leaning on the icy wall, she allowed herself to fully sob. "I'm so so sorry!!"

You should be. You're the reason they're going to die! The little girl cackled, her reflection showing up in the mirrors. She reached out, her fingertips breeching the glass.

Seiya stared wide-eyed, "It's me."

That... Wasn't possible, was it? How was that possible?! The little girl in the mirror's finger tips weren't in the mirror anymore. “...How can that be you? Let's get out of here.” Miho bent down and lightly tugged at Seiya.

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