Chapter 101

Among the countless images of me reflected between the elevator’s opposing mirrors, repeating into the distance and growing smaller, there was a single anomaly.

The figure with its back to me that had beaten me at rock-paper-scissors.

That “thing” in the mirror was craning its neck, looking back at me and smiling.

CLUNK.

The noise of the elevator barely brought me to my senses.

My hand was a fist.

Whatever was in the mirror had thrown... paper.

'... I lost.'

Well, since I’d lost, I had to try again.

Until I won.

[5F]

The elevator was going up.

※ Caution: According to most accounts from those who have performed this ritual, the “me in the mirror” has an unnaturally high win rate at rock-paper-scissors against their real self.

With a trembling hand, I raised my fist toward the mirror again.

“Rock, paper, scissors.”

The figure with its back to me, smiling with its head turned around, changed its hand however it pleased.

I threw scissors.

The mirror threw rock.

... I lost again.

CLUNK.

... The ascending elevator stopped briefly, then resumed its climb as though nothing had happened.

In reality, that was definitely all that happened.

But in the elevator reflected in the mirror...

The doors had opened a tiny crack.

A white hand jutted out through the gap.

“...”

[7F]

The elevator was going up.

“Rock, paper, scissors.”

A tie.

[7F]

'Just once.'

I only had to win once. Before we reached this building’s top floor, the twelfth...!

“Rock, paper, scissors.”

I threw scissors. The ghost threw rock.

'I lo—'

CLUNK.

The elevator shuddered briefly.

That was it. Nothing changed in reality.

But in the elevator reflected in the mirror... the doors had opened farther.

Someone’s arm and leg were visible through the gap.

“...”

Its torso was halfway inside the elevator, looking almost close enough to touch me...

But I still couldn’t see it in reality. Only the mirror showed that strange sight, so I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

'Please, just once!'

If I won just once, it would all be over.

3. Congratulations. You have now reached the question stage.

I could move on to that instruction.

'That’s the route I have to take.'

It was the least frightening, fastest way. Please, please...

“Rock, paper, scissors.”

A tie.

[10F]

“... Rock, paper, scissors.”

...

I raised my head.

My hand was clenched in a fist.

And in the mirror, I could see my own face smiling, its palm spread wide.

[12F]

I lost.

13. You failed to win even once.

You cannot get off at the top floor. You poor thing.

CLUNK.

The elevator stopped.

Every button’s red light went out, plunging the interior into darkness. I barely suppressed a scream.

'Fuck, fuck...'

I managed to lift my head.

In the enormous mirror reflecting this pitch-dark elevator...

“...”

The elevator doors stood wide open.

1930819F. A bizarre floor number glowed on the display. And beyond the wide-open doors in the mirror, there was nothing but a void.

And...

A ghost was standing beside me.

“...”

I gasped for breath.

The ghost that had played rock-paper-scissors with me from deep within the reflections had opened the elevator doors and come inside. Now it was in the mirror right in front of me.

Moving only my eyes, I glanced to the side.

I saw the empty, shabby, dark elevator interior, its doors firmly shut.

But when I looked in the mirror,

another me, who had come in from the darkness beyond the wide-open elevator doors, stood beside me with a gleeful, mouth-splitting grin, its head turned toward me as it stared straight at me...

...

You have failed the ritual.

You should be careful whenever you take an elevator from now on. The thing in the mirror will try to find you and meet you.

Fortunately, you still have a chance to ask a question.

However...

: Go to 6.

The smiling thing in the mirror lowered its hand.

6. From this point on, the entity in the mirror will conduct the ritual.

Its lips moved without a sound.

Rock, paper, scissors.

Then it thrust out a fist.

“...!”

Cold sweat broke out as I looked at my own hand, which had managed to meet it with a fist in time.

If you fail to respond to the “me in the mirror” at rock-paper-scissors, it will gladly accept a win by default.

In this case: There is no further instruction number. Rest in peace.

I had to get it right.

Rock, paper, scissors.

Once again, I thrust out my hand.

My opponent threw rock. And I threw...

Scissors.

“...”

I lost.

Now I had to pay the price for losing.

Drenched in cold sweat, I raised my head.

It will not be you.

The entity in the mirror will ask the questions.

In the mirror, the ghost wearing my appearance moved its finger, leaving marks on the glass.

What’s your name?

F*ck.

With a trembling hand, I wrote on the mirror.

Kim Soleum

The ghost standing beside me in the mirror grinned and grinned.

... I had to endure it.

If you give a false answer: There is no further instruction number. Rest in peace.

I felt like I was going insane.

'Why can’t I win even once?'

Searching the wiki’s Exploration Records in my head yielded no answers.

Rock-paper-scissors with the ghost hadn’t been their focus in the first place.

They focused more on what questions people asked afterward. There was no strategy explaining how they’d beaten it at rock-paper-scissors.

Wasn’t rock-paper-scissors a game of chance, after all?

There was no guaranteed way to win. But...

I barely managed to meet the stare of the ghost beside me in the mirror.

'... Then how has that thing managed not to lose a single round so far?'

Pure luck?

The cliché where it knew everything I would throw because it was me in the mirror?

'But if that’s the case, how did other people win?'

And even in my case right now...

'If it knows everything, shouldn’t it never tie, either?'

If it could win, then why on earth...

Rock, paper, scissors.

Damn it.

I hurriedly thrust out my hand.

I threw scissors. The ghost... rock.

“...”

When’s your birthday?

My finger trembled.

September 13

The ghost in the mirror leaped up and down like mad.

... Because there was only one left.

“...”

Continue playing rock-paper-scissors at the direction of the entity in the mirror until the elevator starts moving again.

If you win at least once: Go to 3.

If you answer your opponent’s questions three or more times: Go to 99.

I had already answered twice.

My name.

My birthday.

... Now I could only afford to lose one more time.

'It’s over.'

... Because instruction 99 read as follows.

99.

If enough time has passed since your third answer for you to scroll down this far, you are probably no longer the person who first began reading these ritual instructions.

I hope you live happily outside the mirror! Don’t come looking for meplease

I would be switched.

With whatever was in the mirror.

'No.'

Cold sweat trickled down me.

But I had no time to dwell on it. I was no longer in control...

Rock, paper, scissors.

I hurriedly thrust out my hand.

Paper versus paper. A tie.

'Phew...'

I could finally catch my brea—

Rockpaperscissors.

“...!”

I missed it.

I hadn’t... responded.

'Fck.' *

Preparing to face whatever came next, I gritted my teeth and braced my...

...

Huh?

Nothing happened.

'... Oh!'

I realized what had happened. Apparently, because I hadn’t lowered my outstretched hand, it had counted as a “response” to the next round as well.

'Right. I was still holding out pape—'

“...”

Wait a minute.

I recalled the results of all the rounds I’d played with the ghost so far.

Could this be...

Rock, paper, scissors.

I didn’t change my hand this time, either.

A tie.

Rock, paper, scissors.

This time, too.

And the next...

I stayed still, continuing to throw paper.

The strange thing was that the ghost was doing the same.

We tied three times in a row like that.

'... Just as I thought.'

I swallowed.

I seemed to have realized something crucial.

-The ghost in the mirror never throws scissors.

That was why throwing nothing but paper resulted in ties.

If I threw paper, my opponent needed scissors to win. But since it couldn’t do that, it had no choice but to throw paper as well to avoid losing.

'Why?'

Why couldn’t it?

There had to be some backstory... No, that was nothing but blind speculation for now. Focus on what was happening.

At least I had a way to defend myse—

Rockpaperscissors.

I hastily spread my hand.

As long as I kept throwing paper this way, I could guarantee a tie.

'But I can’t tie forever.'

The fact that the manual didn’t cover that scenario at all made it even more hopeless.

Right. The condition hadn’t changed.

'I have to win once. At least once, no matter what.'

How could I win...?

'... If that ghost knows what I’m going to throw because it’s the “me in the mirror,”'

then the way around it was surprisingly simple.

'Throw at random.'

That was probably how everyone else had passed.

Either they were civilians so dazed with terror that they played at random, not even knowing what they were throwing.

Or they were fearless Field Exploration Team employees who already knew the manual and simply threw whatever came to hand without a thought.

Even if they occasionally collected themselves and became predictable, they would have won one round out of five or six. There was no reason to record what they had or hadn’t thrown.

But I’d fallen outside both categories.

The reason was...

'... The silver ring!'

I’d come in wearing an item that protected my mind, so I hadn’t panicked. Instead, I’d been scared and calculating every throw, and that was how I’d ended up here. Damn it...!

The worst possible outcome of a coward being immune to status effects.

'Should I take the ring off now?'

No, it was too late. I only had one chance.

'What on earth can I do...?'

I roughly wiped away the sweat running down my temple.

In the process, my cuff button scraped my cheek, drawing blood. I wiped the blood away along with the sweat.

... At that moment,

a thin red line appeared on the ghost’s cheek in the mirror as well.

“...!”

And its sleeve became stained red.

... Exactly like the blood mixed with sweat that I had wiped away.

Wait.

'Does it... share my physical state?'

Right. The mirror was reflecting me, after all.

Even if the ghost shaped like me had begun moving independently inside the mirror, it was still affected by the “me” outside it...

...!

Right.

'... In that case!'

Understanding flashed through me.

I gritted my teeth and rummaged through my pockets.

As though mocking me, the ghost wearing my face rummaged through its own pockets and took out the same things.

But what I’d taken out was no extraordinary item.

Just pens and rubber bands.

'Hurry.'

I slipped a pen against my finger and began winding a rubber band around i—

Rockpaperscissors.

“...!”

I responded.

While responding to the mirror-me’s sudden challenges with ties, I secured a pen lengthwise to each of my right hand’s thumb and index finger.

Then my left hand, too.

'H-hurry.'

Rockpaperscissors.

As if trying to interfere, the ghost in the mirror kept thrusting out its hand. Breathless, I kept responding as I worked.

I fumbled repeatedly, the ballpoint tips scraping my arms and hands.

But...

Rockpaperscissors.

'... Done!'

I hurriedly thrust out my hand.

But this time, it wasn’t paper.

Made with my index finger and thumb, fixed in place so they couldn’t bend...

Scissors.

...!

But my opponent in the mirror still had every finger spread wide in paper.

To be precise...

'That’s all it can throw!'

The pens and rubber bands I’d used to keep my index fingers and thumbs from bending had restrained its fingers as well.

'Now it can’t make a fist.'

But since it couldn’t throw scissors, either... its only option was to spread its hand. In the end...

Scissors versus paper.

“...!!”

I won.

“I di—!”

BANG!

The ghost slammed its head against the mirror from inside.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

I stood frozen in place.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!

The mirror was breaking.

Cracks spread, ripples spread, and pieces shattered away.

But, but...

The thing inside the mirror couldn’t come out.

...

The shaking stopped.

Inside the mirror, the thing that had been ramming its head outward raised its face.

The grin that had nearly split its mouth until a moment ago was gone. Its face was blank.

It looked down at its own hands, bound so the joints couldn’t bend, then contorted its expression.

Contorted it!

It glared at me with a bizarre expression no human could possibly make, a b-bizarre expression...

HAHAHAHA!!

Then it burst out through the open elevator doors in the mirror, laughing like mad.

“...”

[Going down.]

“Phewww...”

I sank to the floor.

The elevator was moving again.

The bizarre text vanished from the floor display, replaced by normal numbers...

[12F]

DING-DONG.

[Twelfth floor. Doors opening.]

3. Congratulations. You have succeeded in the ritual!

Get off at the top floor and find a nearby window.

If there are no windows: Go to 7.

I’d survived.

I staggered out into the dark hallway.

Though I’d definitely entered during the day, the gloomy hallway looked as if the sun had already set. Its windows were broken here and there, taped up, or covered in graffiti.

Normally, entering an abandoned building like this alone would have sent me running out screaming, but now even that fear was reassuring...

I walked toward the nearest window, directly across from me.

The glass was clouded with dust, but I placed my finger on it without hesitation.

Write whatever question you wish on the window, and the entity that was in the mirror will answer, no matter what you ask.

And its answer will always be true.

The question I most wanted answered.

The wish I would make.

-Can I return to the place I originally lived through Daydream Inc.’s Wish Coupon potion?

I lifted my finger from the glass.

Then, at the bottom of the window, other letters began to appear...

“...!”

The answer to my question.