Mia went on to tell me that she’d started hearing a faint voice calling to her, coming from nowhere.
“It’s like a whispering voice. Even when I listen as hard as I can, I can’t tell what it’s saying. But it’s definitely someone’s voice, trying to tell me something.”
“Could it be the master of this ruin, the Temple of Tepat?”
“Hard to say. But…”
Mia opened the back door to the Cultural Arts Center and stepped inside, and I quickly followed.
The corridors were illuminated only by the sunlight streaming in from the windows. There was no sign of anyone else, no trace of human habitation. Yet, there was no dust, either.
“Of course, there’s no sense of life. This world has just been created,” Mia stated calmly, glancing back at me.
It felt strange… She was too composed. A hint of unease crept over me. “Did you notice something?”
“Probably, the thing doesn’t have evil intentions.”
“You mean the thing that created this space and teleported us here? We were attacked by that jellyfish in Shibuya.”
Mia stepped onto the staircase leading to the second floor, turned around to me, and slowly shook her head. “Just because it doesn’t want to hurt us doesn’t mean it can’t. Like, we step on ants all the time without even realizing it. It’s probably something like that.”
“Isn’t that still dangerous, though?”
“This entity is highly intelligent. It’s trying to talk to me. It recognizes us as individuals. It understands our existence—or at least, it’s trying to understand.”
By now Mia and I had reached the second-floor landing, and I followed as she started up the next flight of stairs.
“Next time, it might try to kill us more effectively,” I said.
“If it wanted to kill us, we’d already be dead. After all…”
“It’s capable of instantly creating this world and teleporting us here,” I finished, nodding. I understood what she was getting at. But that didn’t mean we could lower our guard. Right now, she was being a bit reckless for my liking.
“What’s the rush?” I asked.
“To convince it that this approach is right before it changes its mind.”
“So, you think this whole situation is just because of this entity’s whims?”
By way of answering, Mia passed the third floor and continued climbing.
I’d stopped, momentarily distracted by my thoughts, and by the time I caught up, she was opening the door to the rooftop.
As the door swung open, a gust of wind hit us.
Under the blue sky, a girl who looked exactly like Mia stood in the middle of the rooftop.
“She looks like me,” Mia commented without surprise.
“Yeah. Is that… a doppelgänger or something?”
“Probably not. But just in case…”
Mia pulled out a knife and made a small cut in her fingertip.
Blood oozed out, forming a droplet.
She pointed her bleeding finger at the other Mia.
The doppelgänger, after a moment’s confusion, pressed her right hand to her left wrist and sliced it open.
Blood spurted out like a fountain.
“Wait, hold on! A normal person would die from that!”
“Uh-oh,” Mia said.
The Mia Doppelgänger exclaimed, “Oh!” in realization. She hurriedly picked up her severed hand and reattached it, and the bleeding stopped.
“Good,” I said.
“Not good at all,” Mia retorted accurately.
The doppelgänger stood for a moment, downcast and frozen, then slowly lifted her head and gazed at Mia.
“Huh?”
Mia tilted her head inquisitively at her lookalike, who mirrored her gesture, tilting her head the opposite way.
“Trying to act like nothing happened with the hand? Well, okay then.”
Is that really okay? Still, this doppelgänger is as nonchalant as Mia… It’s almost anticlimactic.
Mia slowly approached the doppelgänger and stopped just in front of her, extending her right hand. The doppelgänger mirrored her, extending her left hand…
“Hey, isn’t this a bit risky?” I called to her.
“We have to try. After all, the other party is in a way better negotiating position.”
“That’s true, but still…”
Mia’s courage always amazed me. No way I could have made myself do what she was doing now.
But that’s Mia for you—somehow, she always manages to pull things together. I do trust her in that regard, but still…
As Mia and the doppelgänger’s hands touched, the other being staggered, trying to merge with her.
“Ah, that didn’t work,” Mia muttered.
The next moment, the doppelgänger’s entire body dissolved away like melting snow.
“Hey!”
No, it hadn’t dissolved, exactly. As I stood there wide-eyed, I realized what had happened: Mia had absorbed it into her own body. Mia stumbled unsteadily.
“Mia!” I rushed over, catching her before she could fall.
Mia looked up at me with a dazed expression. “Made a little mistake. Take care of things for a bit.”
“What exactly just happened…?” I asked, bewildered.
Without answering, Mia closed her eyes, and breathing grew shallow as she drifted into sleep.
“What’s going on here…?” I asked no one in particular, taking stock of our surroundings. The rooftop was smeared with blood from earlier, a clear reminder that this wasn’t a dream… but it was all too confusing.
“My head’s about to explode,” I mumbled dizzily. I hoisted the limp Mia onto my back and went back inside.
I found a suitable room with tatami mats and laid Mia down. Fortunately, there was no need for a futon—this was the tea ceremony club’s room.
“This is just… unbelievable.” I stood there, arms crossed, looking down at the sleeping Mia.
✦ ✦ ✦
I sat in that room until the sun went down, but Mia remained asleep.
“Looks like we’re in this for the long haul…” I finally disconnected the link with the grey wolf and re-summoned Sha-Lau.
“Master, what’s happening?” the Phantom Wolf King asked, concern evident in his eyes.
“Well, um…” I struggled to find the right words. When I finally managed to explain the situation leading up to this point, I asked him what had happened on his end after Mia and I disappeared. His response was… unexpected.
“We were gone for less than a second? So, what, time flows differently here and there?”
“It appears so.”
“Hmm. At least Arisu and the others won’t be worried about us if we take our time here.”
This world might be similar to the White Room in some ways. If so, could the creators of this place be related to whoever’s behind the White Room?
No point in overthinking it now. I decided to leave Sha-Lau on guard and lay down next to Mia on a futon.
✦ ✦ ✦
The next morning, Mia still hadn’t regained consciousness. I left her resting in the tea ceremony club’s room and walked around with Sha-Lau to explore the surroundings. This space only replicated the area around our school’s mountain; just a few square kilometers. There was no one else around, not even the Flying Jellyfish.
There wasn’t much more I could do on my own, so I performed the Familiar Contract ritual. Fortunately, I had all the necessary materials in my backpack, probably thanks to Sumire and the others. I successfully contracted with two familiars, but they weren’t able to help either.
Without anything else to do, I went back to the CAC and waited for Mia to wake up.
✦ ✦ ✦
On the third morning, I awoke in the tea ceremony club’s room to find Mia standing over me, staring intently.
“Mia… is that you?”
She slowly tilted her head to the side. “Maybe?”
“Uh… what does that mean?”
“It seems like things got mixed up inside me,” she said, then plopped down on the floor. I sat up to meet her gaze.
“Tell me more about it.”
“Okay,” Mia nodded and began to explain.