Chapter 7: The Mirror
Kazama began tidying the wind-ravaged disaster zone his room had become.
Meanwhile, Kerberos floated before a mirror, admiring its own reflection.
"Hey, Chiba."
Kerberos used one stubby paw to bat at its dangling rat-like tail while complaining in an extremely critical tone:
"Where'd you buy this cheap mirror? Why's the image lagging? This magnificent turning pose I just did—the reflection was half a beat slow! That's an insult to my perfect physique!"
"Lagging?"
Kazama flattened the last deformed cardboard box with his foot, movements pausing momentarily.
Setting aside how those two completely unrelated concepts connected—
Mirrors weren't livestreams. Where would lag come from?
Kazama frowned, casually grabbing the only handheld makeup mirror from his desk.
Besides, wasn't the mirror right here beside him?
Where would a second mirror in his room even—
Mid-thought, Kazama whipped around.
Before the wardrobe door plastered with an Evangelion poster floated two identical yellow winged lions.
The left one maintained a paws-on-hips butt-wiggling pose, turning back toward him with complete bewilderment.
The right one held the exact same pose, but its movements were noticeably half a beat slower—like buffering video footage.
Dead silence.
Kazama's gaze swept between the two lions before settling on the cubic Rubik's Cube at the desk corner.
Without hesitation, he snatched the cube, wrist snapping with sudden force.
"Whoosh!"
The hard plastic cube whistled through air like a miniature cannonball, targeting the delayed-movement Kerberos with precision.
"Holy crap!"
The genuine Kerberos startled violently at this sudden assault, instinctively cowering with both paws over its head.
Smack!
The cube didn't strike the shadow. Instead, at the instant before contact with its nose, the target caught it in one paw and crushed it to powder.
"WAAAAH! What the hell is that thing?!"
The real Kerberos's fur exploded in all directions, rocketing backward like a cat whose tail got stepped on.
"Oh my, I've been discovered."
The unhit Kerberos stopped its mimicry. That dopey cute expression vanished instantly, replaced by cold, mocking amusement.
The genuine Kerberos shrieked, fur standing completely on end.
"Could it be The Mirror card that can duplicate anything?!"
"Wasn't it supposed to escape far away? Why's it still hiding in the house?!"
"Seems we have a clever one who enjoys hiding in plain sight." Kazama reached sideways, grabbing the black-red staff leaning against the desk.
"Since it delivered itself to my doorstep, saves me the trouble of hunting it down."
Before his words finished—
The impostor abandoned pretense, launching directly at the airborne original with vicious winds.
Two yellow plush dolls collided mid-air, twisting into a yellow cyclone of violence.
"Let go! You fake! Stop pulling my tail!"
"Let go! You fake! Stop pulling my tail!"
Both voices rang simultaneously—identical tone, cadence, even that Kansai accent perfectly matched.
"Chiba! Quick! Use the sealing staff to knock it down! This thing's super strong!"
"Chiba! Quick! Use the sealing staff to knock it down! This thing's super strong!"
Both Kerberos creatures pulled each other's cheek meat while simultaneously turning toward Kazama, screaming for rescue.
Kazama stood in place, watching this classic "which monkey is real" scenario unfold, expression flat as he raised an eyebrow.
How to attack?
Both looked equally stupid. Did it copy intelligence this perfectly too?
If this were some hot-blooded protagonist, they'd probably be trapped in ethical dilemmas like "who should I trust" or "reveal a secret only we know."
However, such hesitation lasted approximately 0.1 seconds in Kazama's mind.
Then he raised the staff.
Whoosh!
The staff head swung mercilessly toward the Kerberos that had flown slightly farther away.
"Wha—?!"
That Kerberos clearly hadn't anticipated such decisive action, clumsily flipping mid-air to narrowly avoid the brain-splattering strike.
It landed atop the wardrobe, expression shifting from terror to sinister.
"How... did you identify me?"
Kazama withdrew the staff, flexing his wrist.
"I didn't."
"I planned to hit both. The real one's thick-skinned anyway. One blow probably won't kill it."
The Mirror card froze.
Even as a magical creature, it had never encountered such completely unreasonable humans.
"Tch."
Seeing this lunatic about to raise that obviously painful stick again, it released a disdainful snort before charging toward the half-open window.
Since disguise failed, no reason to continue engagement.
"Think you're escaping?"
Kazama narrowed his eyes. Rather than immediately pursuing, he spun toward the desk, snatching up the open Book of Clow.
Logically, since these cards awakened via the Rat Talisman, cutting the source should immediately revert them to card form.
Kazama pointed one finger. The Rat Talisman floated from the book, returning to his hand.
However, the anticipated scene—The Mirror instantly losing power and reverting to cardboard—never materialized.
The impostor already reaching the window remained vigorous, even accelerating upon sensing danger.
What?
Kazama hadn't anticipated anything outside his calculations.
Instead, the genuine Kerberos who'd just relaxed suddenly acted like someone extracted its spine.
It couldn't even scream. Those lively beady eyes instantly lost all luster.
Its body stiffened like stone, crashing heavily onto the floor—transformed into a thoroughly lifeless stuffed doll.
"...Huh?"
Kazama examined the Rat Talisman in his hand, then the corpse-like guardian beast on the floor, a question mark slowly materializing above his head.
Kerberos becoming a doll proved the Rat Talisman's mechanics hadn't changed.
But why could the Clow Card still move?
Countless questions exploded through Kazama's mind, but he forcibly suppressed these thoughts.
Now wasn't the time for investigating principles. If The Mirror escaped, he'd truly have gained nothing while losing everything.
The Mirror had already broken the window latch, half its body protruding outside.
Kazama casually pocketed the talisman, gripping The Windy card with his other hand. After confirming Windy also hadn't reverted to ordinary cardboard, he flung it airborne while releasing magic.
"If the Rat Talisman doesn't work, then I'll defeat magic with magic."
"Windy! Bring it back to me!"
Green radiance exploded through the cramped room.
The wind spirit manifested again. Though still somewhat translucent, driven by her master's will, she transformed into a visible green chain, roaring across the room to coil tightly around The Mirror's ankle at the instant before escape.
"Screeeee!"
The Mirror released an unwilling shriek, desperately flapping wings to break free.
But before elemental advantage, its struggles proved futile.
The wind chains rapidly tightened, trussing it like a dumpling before violently dragging it back before Kazama.
Kazama had abandoned his initial experimental mood.
Expression blank, he pressed the Rat Talisman back into the Book of Clow's groove.
After activating the Seal Key, he transformed it back into staff form.
Finally, he aimed at The Mirror, still constantly shifting appearances.
"Return to your original form. Clow Card!"
BOOM!
Following this imperfect sealing incantation, the staff tip exploded with blinding brilliance.
Within that radiance, the constantly twisting figure gradually ceased movement, ultimately solidifying into a rectangular card depicting a young girl, slowly floating to the floor.
Only then did Kazama exhale deeply, bending down to retrieve the still-warm card.
Then his gaze shifted toward the just-recovering Kerberos.
The floor doll suddenly sprang up, releasing a zombie-like scream.
"WAAAAH! Scared me to death! What just happened? Felt like being thrown into a black hole!"