——— Minho ———
"Hey, Human. Just one more experiment left."
Mira told me on our way back home from the Academy now.
"Oh, God. What is it now?"
"Just a short experiment in the woods. Not a full mock battle. Just something for the final confirmation."
"Sigh… OK, boss."
It's been only a short while since I came to this world, but a lot of things happened. The life here so far wasn't too bad, although sleeping in the basement sucked. Mira was a handful and over-domineering, and that damned mirror thing she used on me was unforgivable.
Yet, I wasn't staying with her just because I was scared.
It'd be a lie if I thought I didn't think about deserting her.
She couldn't possibly cast that mirror thing on me if she didn't even know where I was, right?
And besides, perhaps… confronting what I saw in that mirror was something I had to do anyway, at some point in my cursed life.
At the same time though, the life in Celestine's mansion would have been divine. She was beautiful, her family seemed rich, and I could be eating better food every day than I ever did in my world. All I had to do was change my allegiance and switch over to Celestine as my 'master' as they seem to think they are when it came to the relationship with their summoned monsters.
But there was something about Mira that brought a pang to my heart. It was easy to see just how desperate she was to win this Monster Battle Contest. Also, her act of grandeur - to me - clearly seemed to indicate that she was vulnerable in a way she didn't want anybody to know. I also noticed just how much she overreacted and put everything in line - including losing her prized asset, me - to save the name of her clan.
I'm no psychologist, but all this pointed to me that she had a complex family background she was hiding. Perhaps it was something shameful. I'd wager that she came from a very poor or at best an 'average' - in any case unremarkable - family. We lived in the shittest area in the city. The food we got here was an abomination compared to what was served at Celestine's. The floor creaked with every step. The bed, even under Mira's petite body, looked somewhat tilted and gave the feeling that it could collapse any night.
But this seemed to be the best place her family could afford for her.
I knew it.
I knew what it meant to live like this.
I knew what it meant to have parents who gave their all for you, only for you to go and fail them. It is not the scorn or anger from your parents that scares you when they hear about your failure. It is the smiles that they make to encourage you when you tell them your failure after failure that breaks your heart.
As we arrived home, without going to the room we headed straight to the ground where we trained before.
"Right, Human. I'm going to show you one of my MANY magic spells. I don't often use it. Actually, I haven't used it for YEARS. You've NEVER seen me use this magic before. Not only that, NO ONE in the Academy has seen me use this magic either. This is the FIRST time I show you this magic."
"OK. I get it. I've never seen you use this magic before."
"Good. Now turn around and don't look at me until I tell you to."
"Fine."
I turned to face the other way as commanded.
"Now you can look."
When I turned, there were two Mira standing next to each other. Completely identical. I couldn't believe my eyes.
"What… what did you do?"
"This is a very simple illusion magic. Now, tell me which one of me is real."
There was absolutely no difference I could discern.
"I can't tell at all, but I will guess it's the left one."
"Your left or my left?"
"My left."
"OK, now come and try to hit her."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah go ahead."
I walked over to the left Mira. It was obviously not real as she wouldn't let me hit her if it was. I casually kicked her sheen.
"Aoah! You FOOL! Don't kick so hard!!"
What turned out to be the real Mira groaned and rubbed her sheen.
"I-, I'm sorry. I thought it wasn't you."
"OK, now kick the other one. NOT SO HARD this time. OK?"
Knowing now that the other one was definitely not real this time, I gave a full swing of my kick to the sheen of the illusionary Mira.
"KAAARRGH! NOT SO HARD, I SAID!!!"
Mira on the left winced in pain again.
"Wha-, what's going on?"
"Now it's my turn."
The right Mira then returned the favor by kicking me on my sheen.
Damn, that hurt.
But to my surprise, the left Mira also winced in pain as I got kicked.
Huh?
Just after she recovered though, the left Mira punched me in the face.
"Ouch! What's all this for?!", I protested, rubbing my cheek.
Mira however, didn't say a thing and just looked down on the ground, her eyes blocked from my view by the brim of her hat.
"Ku… kuku… kukukuku… I see, that's how it is."
It sounded like she made some profound discovery. I was curious to hear what she'd say next.
"It doesn't hurt!!! KAKAKAKAKA!"
With that, she started to punch and kick me everywhere.
"What the hell?!! This HURTS, Mira! STOP!!!"
"It doesn't hurt!!! Mwwhahaha."
After a good minute of beat down, both Mira and I - understandably, and unfairly - were exhausted and laid on the ground, feeling the not-so-soft blade of grass stabbing our backs.
"Minho, I have a new instruction for you."
"Whatever, man. All of your 'ideas' so far have been ridiculous."
"I'm serious."
Mira turned to lay on her side and face me.
"What is it now?"
"Minho."
"Yes?"
"Feel free to get hurt by any physical attack - as much as you want. But don't let any magical attack hit you."
What nonsense.
I don't want to get hurt either way.