infinite_reflection | after school

after school

The conversation was subdued as they trickled out of the locker room, the members of the mens baseball team standing slightly apart from the other students hurrying from practice. They'd just scrimmaged against another team and lost, and it stung even if the game didn't count.

Kota certainly felt it, and one of his teammates slapped him on the arm. "Don't look so down, Kota-kun. You played well, there just wasn't anything we could do."
"That guy could hit homeruns easier than I can breathe," someone else complained, setting off a round of grumbling.
"Alright, enough of that," the captain eventually interrupted. "We've obviously got some work to do, but we can start on it tomorrow at practice."

That signaled the group to start walking again...minus one member. The captain turned back once he noticed Kota wasn't following the group. "Kota-kun, aren't you coming?" Win or lose, they always went to an arcade afterwards to unwind; after all, a bad day on the diamond didn't mean you had to lose at everything!
But Kota shook his head. "Sorry, not this time. I think I've had my ass kicked enough today," he said with a small, strained smile.
The captain hesitated, but now the whole group had paused, with someone shouting for them to hurry up. "Alright," he said. "If you change your mind, you know where to find us."

And so Kota was left standing by himself, making no motion to leave at all. He was looking at the ground with a small frown. They... really couldn't have done anything different during the game. Maybe if their pitcher was a little better, but Kota couldn't really fault him - he'd obviously been doing his best. All their time and effort, and this is where it had gotten them. Losers with nothing better to do than console themselves with an old routine.

Kota turned, his head down, his steps stilted, and walked against the flow of students to slip back inside the locker room. A full length mirror at the end of a row of lockers beckoned him over and he stopped in front of it, only then lifting his eyes.

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Seiya dug her feet into the ground, throwing her hand out in the direction of Kota's shadow. Hlin soared forward, the bright slice of her Garu attack flying at the creature.

It was all up to their personae now. Keeping a watchful eye on Kota and Ren, she let Hlin continue to wail on the monster.

Rather than dodging it and risk having Kota injured, Ren stood her ground. Gefjon shielded Ren's body from sustaining damage as much as she could, but Ren could still feel the pain even if the wounds didn't appear on her. She propped herself up with her bat to avoid falling to her knees.

Gefjon whipped her branch against her plough and four glossy-coated oxen materialized. Giving the signal, the beasts beat their hooves into thin air and rushed towards the Shadow, pulling Gefjon and her plough in a stampede.

Kota stirred when he sensed Ren flinch, looking up in time to see the Shadow beset on two sides, tossed around by the Garu spells that sliced against its wings and unable to avoid the brunt of Gefjon's attack, though it did dodge as best it could.

It was...oddly pathetic, in a way. That thing that had pulled him in here, taunted him, and threatened to kill him was now struggling to hold its own. It couldn't possibly last much longer. If it was him up there, he thought dully, he'd do something drastic just to end the fight, win or lose, and spare himself the further pain and humiliation.

He watched the Shadow fight away from the Personae, climbing even higher, a keening whine coming from its mouth. And, just for a second, he knew.

"Watch out!" he croaked, forcing the words from his throat. But just too late: another ball of energy was already hurtling toward Seiya's chest, and the Shadow itself was in a suicidal dive headed for Ren, gambling everything on being able to take out the guy behind her.

Seiya grinned with a tinge of pride in her team. They were winning! Kota would be home safe and sound in no time-- What did he say? She turned to look at him, the sheer force of the blast knocking her back. Seiya slid like a ragdoll across the floor, grunting.

Hlin, enraged, dove at the shadow, casting a cleave attack. It was all Seiya could do to open her eyes, the wind knocked right out of her.

"Senpai!" Ren called out, watching as Seiya flew back from the blast. She knew she couldn't focus on her for long, what with the Shadow heading straight for her - or rather, the one behind her. Cursing, she turned and made to grab Kota, but the blast from earlier had winded her more than she had expected and she lost her balance. Gefjon rushed to shield them.

Ren raised her eyes to give Kota a look that told him to run.

Kota looked back at Ren furiously. Run? He was supposed to run and leave them in danger - a danger he'd gotten them into? Ren had tried to stop him from getting here in the first place and was protecting him even now, and Seiya had welcomed him without question even after the whole window incident. And he was supposed to abandon them like the coward he'd been accused of being?

The Shadow was committed to its attack, unable to avoid Hlin's cleave, which sent it off target just enough to make it slam into the ground next to Ren and Kota. Which was all the excuse Kota needed, really. "Alright," he called out, pulling away from Ren to stand and look down on the Shadow. "Alright! I'm an asshole, we get it. You can cut it out now."

Wings disintegrated into blackness as the Shadow turned back to human shape. "You're right," Kota said, his throat tight. "I'm a coward. I'm so afraid of getting trapped into something I hate that I run the instant things start to go wrong. And it was never my fault, y'know? I'd find someone else to blame, but that's just another way of running away. I always... hated that part of myself, so I tried to ignore it."

Kota crouched, holding out a hand to the Shadow. "But I can't do that anymore, not if I want things to change. If I'm going to find the right thing, I need to make myself better first, and I need your help for that. Because even if I didn't want to admit it at first, you are me. So c'mon, and stop embarrassing us."

That last was accompanied by a quiet smile, and the Shadow took his hand, letting Kota pull it to its feet. It backed up a few paces as it was enveloped in golden light, turning into a silver-skinned man holding aloft a bright torch.

"Dagr," Kota said, an echo of the whisper in his head. But when the Persona disappeared, he turned his attention to the more pressing issue:

"Miura-san, Yamada-san! Are you two alright?" He looked anxiously between them, fidgeting slightly like he couldn't decide who to go to first.

Seiya gulped, the taste of blood fresh on her lips. Experimentally, she licked at her lower lip, a large cut there. At this rate, people at school would think she was some kind of street fighter.

Lifting herself to her knees, she held her stomach as Kota took his shadow's hand. It seemed another resolution was in order. Relieved, she leaned back, brow furrowed.

"M'fine. Are you two okay??"

With the help of her bat, Ren pushed herself up to her feet and dusted herself off. She was more worn out from that blast than she had anticipated, but fortunately she suffered minimal external damage thanks to Gefjon shielding her. As Gefjon faded back into her psyche, it was like the damage was transferred into tiredness instead, at least enough to tell her that a good nap was in order. "I'm good," she spoke, picking up her now regenerated compact and pocketing it.

Ren went over to Seiya and helped her up to her feet, looking at Kota with a bit of a smirk. "Looks like we'll have +1 to the team, huh?"

"Just a little tired, that's all," Kota answered Seiya first before turning to Ren.

"Nice to know I have a choice, Miura-san." Slight sarcasm aside, he sobered. "I would've been toast if you two hadn't come after me. Thanks. I really do owe you my life. ...Now with that said, can we get the hell out of here?"

Seiya smiled, relieved that they were all in one piece. Appreciative of the help, she dusted off her skirt. They'd all definitely be sore for a while.

As Kota mentioned leaving, a bright light twinkled, a mirror identical to that in the locker room appeared in the middle of the field.

"Aaaah cool! [Level up!]"

"Man, that's convenient." She definitely would not have wanted to backtrack all the way to the beginning to get to the mirror like last time! Resting her bat against her shoulder, she walked towards the mirror.

"Remind me to wish for things more often." Because judging by the way Seiya and Ren were reacting, that mirror was their ticket out of there.

Kota hesitated slightly, however, before following after them with a shrug. He was thinking about going through first, because if they ended up back in the guy's locker room he didn't want them to get in trouble.

Then again, he figured, if anyone saw them coming through, they'd have more trouble explaining the 'walking through mirrors' bit than anything to do with their gender.

Seiya followed her friends, testing the waters by shoving her bat through the mirror. It passed easily, and with that she eased through.

The locker room was vacant, as it had been when Ren and Seiya first jumped through. The girl breathed a sigh of relief, planting herself on a bench.

Whew. Ren plopped down on the ground by her bag and stuck her bat in it. Surely they could afford to rest for a couple of minutes before having to leave in case someone walked in. "So, uh..." she gave Kota a look, then gave one to Seiya. "Guess we'll have to explain, huh?"

Kota leaned against the lockers, looking between the two. "I'd like one, if you're up to it. I could hold off becoming a gibbering mess for a little while."

He could play cool for only a second, however, because seriously, how was he supposed to react to what had just happened? "I mean, what the hell was all of that? Being inside the mirror? Those...people?" He paused for a moment, rubbing a hand over his face. "If a bunch of high schoolers are going to be fighting some supernatural shit, shouldn't we at least get giant robots instead of baseball bats? Because a gundam would make up for a lot of things right now."

Seiya allowed herself a moment to breathe before digging in her school bag. She produced three little vials, handing one to each of them. "It's medicine."

Thankfully, she had purchased a few from Arthur for just this occasion. Sipping her own, her wounds instantaneously healed, allowing her to focus.

"We were just in the mirror world. Those creatures? And the one that looked like you? They're called shadows. The same thing happened to Ren-chan and I." She tried to pace herself, but it seemed to just all be one long blab. "The power you have is called Persona... I... I think what we have to do is really important."

Seiya slumped against a locker, looking distressed. "I just don't kno what it is."

Ren boggled at the sight of Seiya's wounds healing just like that, and eyed the little vial she was given. Popping the lid off with her thumb, she took a sip, and found herself rejuvenated. Whoa. Now she'd seen everything.

Ahem, and she regained her composure. "I went through the same thing as you, just a few days ago." Putting the lid back on the vial, she put it away on a side pocket of her bag. "You've heard about the weird mirror rumors, right? Well, I'm pretty sure this is it. Only not everyone's experienced this level of... this." She made a gesture with her hand, as though to say whatever this is.

Ren wasn't the only one staring; the medicine was the last straw for Kota because okay, now they were in crazy magic land. His priority just changed from trying to fit things into his understanding of the world to redefining the entire universe to include this.

"The mirror rumors? Yeah, I'd heard them, but..." But he hadn't really believed them. Even with the "ghost" in Yamada's place, he'd thought it was more his eyes playing tricks on him, just the result of an overactive imagination. As he trailed off he looked at Seiya, frowning slightly at her state.

"Hey Grandma, not that I want to keep harping on this, but you did just save my life. I consider that pretty damn important." Kota glanced back at Ren, trying to gauge her reaction as well. "I mean, a few days ago? If this happens again in a few days, isn't it enough to save that person too?"

"It's impossible to determine who's next..." She smiled weakly at the nickname, fondly patting his shoulder. "You did good in there, sonny. That's all that matters. You too, Ren-chan."

Seiya gathered her things, tossing her bag over her shoulder. "We should all meet up and talk about this more in depth after some rest. Somewhere co-ed." She gestured to the locker room with a little grin.

Ren snickered and nodded in agreement, zipping up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder as she stood. "Hopefully no one catches us coming out of here." She didn't comment when she felt her stomach growl; she didn't really care whether people heard it, unlike other girls she knew. That fighting worked up a bit of an appetite for her.

Still... that was a little unsettling. She had fallen on Kota by chance, and it was the same when it happened to her. They couldn't rely on something like that to save any possible future victim unless they posted someone at every mirror, and that was just silly.

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after school

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