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"Ugh..." Sara said, clutching his head. "What happened?"
Slowly, she glanced around. Her head still throbbed with a mild headache. It looked like she was in a room. Reko was leaning on a wall on the far right, asleep.
"Looks like you're awake." She turned her head to look at Keiji. He leaned on the wall with Gin's head on his lap. Kanna was on his other side.
"Keiji? What happened? Why is Gin and Kanna...?"
"Don't push yourself," he said. He stretched his body a little before continuing. "Both Gin and Kanna also woke up earlier but fell asleep again. Reko also did. You'd best get your second sleep before another trial starts."
"Trial? Trial!" Sara gasped as she remembered what happened. "Midori! What happened to him? How did you get out of the coffin?"
"I dunno. I didn't realize when I passed out or how I was moved." Keiji's eyes roamed towards the ceiling.
Sara's eyes wandered to Keiji's collar. It wasn't lit up with the red light from the tag game. She let out a huge sigh of relief.
Keiji noticed with the slight shift in his eyes as Sara's attention remained on the ground. He didn't say anything but his line of sight did move towards the two children who had moved to his side as soon as they woke up. His hands twitched on the side but didn't do anything.
"I'm so glad you're alright, Keiji." She said, taking another deep breath to calm herself. Her eyebrows furrowed with worry. "I... We wouldn't know what to do without you."
"Hey now," Keiji said, giving her a small smile. "You guys were doing pretty well even without me. If it's you, I know you can find a way to save everyone."
"Keiji..." Sara said, looking at him. As if him believing in her was still a surprising thing.
She scrunched her shoulders, wiping her previous expression as she looked at him with determination, one hand to her chest. "I will definitely save everyone."
"There we go." Keiji gave a small smile with Sara smiling in return.
"Mmm." A slight groan could be heard from Keiji's side. He turned his head to see Kanna waking up. Gin at his other side still had his eyes closed but pushing himself up.
"Mya? What's... going on, woof?" Gin sleepily said, wiping at his eyes.
"Sara?" Kana yawned.
"Hello, Kana, Gin. Did you guys have a nice sleep?"
Kanna blinked, her face turning red as she whipped her head to where she was sleeping on. A damp spot could be found.
"I, I'm sorry, Keiji. I, um..." She fumbled, eyes darting to his face and to the wet spot on his sleeve.
"Don't worry about it. It'll dry anyway." Keiji said.
"I don't have something to wipe it off..."
"Hm? You drool in your sleep!" Gin exclaimed loudly. All traces of drowsiness drowned in his exuberance.
"I don't always drool!" Kanna shouted back, muttering as she continued, "It's just...sometimes..."
Sara turned her eyes as she noticed Reko waking up. The singer had turned her eyes towards the trio. One eye still closed before pushing herself up and trudging towards them.
"Oh, hi Reko. Did we wake you?" Reko waved her hand in dismissal.
"Nah, it's fine. Let me see." She said, slurring her words.
"Re, Reko!" Reko ignored Kanna's own shout of embarassment as she turned her eyes to the spot.
"I told you guys, it's fine." Keiji said as Reko took a piece of cloth from her clothing.
"Ah shut it, Keiji," before wiping the spot off. Keiji shrugged, leaning back against the wall. "There."
The spot wasn't as obvious from before as Reko pocketed the cloth. Gin stood up as Reko did. Keiji remained on the floor.
"Thank you, Reko and um, sorry, Keiji." Kanna muttered, fidgeting.
"It's fine, Kanna." Reko said, patting her head. "It's all okay now."
Keiji shot her a small grin. "Eh, it happens. Don't worry about it."
Kanna blushed red but didn't say anything more, pushing herself up to stand. Sara took the moment to look around. It was a white room, like in the first trial. There was also a huge mirror and a door at opposite sides of the room.
Sara walked towards the mirror, inspecting herself. Her hands moved to cup her cheeks. Her face was pale and her eyes had bags under them.
She hummed. I guess I'm not getting much sleep after all, she thought. Gin walked towards her.
"What are you doing, meow?" Gin asked.
Sara looked at Gin. "Ah, no. I'm just looking at the mirror."
Gin perked up and looked at the mirror, holding Mew-chan up. "Here, here, look at Mew-chan, woof!"
Sara smiled at him when she heard a voice. It was Keiji's.
"Step away from the mirror, Sara, Gin." Sara looked at Keiji as he walked past them. He put his hand on the mirror.
"Keiji?" She asked.
"Is something up with mirror?" Reko said, walking up beside them.
"Uh, um." Kanna's hesitant voice called out. "Is it a two-way mirror?"
Sara gasped, looking back at the mirror and Keiji's back as he spoke. Keiji answered back.
"Yea, it is. There might be people in the other room, too. I can feel something slamming the glass from the other side."
("Sara! Sara!"
"Snap out of it, Joe! We watched her die remember?" Hinako had shouted.
Joe's desperate face turned towards them, "Then who is she?! She, she looks like her!"
"There's also someone who looks like little Gin and Mr. Keiji." Sou quietly wondered. "Hmm, is there something going on here?"
"Tha, that's...?" Alice was pale. His sole attention towards Reko.
"Did you have a twin, Keiji?" Megumi asked, observing the other Keiji.
"If I did, you would've known," was Keiji's languid response. "I'm also curious myself as to who they are."
"Woof?! It's me, meow!" Gin exclaimed.
"It's like an exact copy." Kurumada said, mouth agape. "Is this something the kidnappers also prepared?"
"Hmm, I don't think even they can clone people, can they?" Ai Dole calmly said.
"Hehe, like doppelgangers." Rio chuckled to himself. "Would be bad if we meet. You know, the whole, 'one would die if they meet their doppelganger.'")
"A two-way mirror, woof?" Gin asked. Keiji stepped away from the glass.
"Yea. There's people on the other side who can see us but we can't see them."
("He acts just like you, Keiji," Megumi said in wonder.
"That person, too. He acts like me, meow!")
Sara frowned at the mirror. "Doesn't that mean they can also hear what we're saying?"
"Maybe." Keiji simply said.
"Dammit," Reko cursed. "So they could see and hear us but we can't?!"
"I don't see any speakers, woof."
"Didn't Sara and Keiji said that they saw footage in the first floor?" Kanna suggested. "Maybe it's like that here as well?"
"A small security camera?" Sara mumbled. "It could explain it."
"Wait a second," Reko said, looking sround the room. "Where's Qtaro?"
A silence permeated the room.
"Muscle Gorilla really isn't here?! When I woke up, it was just us, meow!" Gin shouted.
"The dummies aren't here either..." Kanna hugged her shoulders, a pale expression on her face, "Did...did Qtaro...?"
Sara paled at the thought, exclaiming loudly, "No! Qtaro was just fine when we left him, right, Keiji?"
All eyes turned to Keiji who had his left arm stretching his neck. He turned away before speaking. "Yea, we were just talking before we got here."
"Qtaro's separated from us?" Reko said, frowning. "But that doesn't make any sense! Why just him?"
"Maybe cause he's injured? He couldn't move after all." Kanna offered.
"We wouldn't know until we leave this room." Keiji sighed. Sara glanced at him. He seemed odd, she thought but looked away.
'Keiji would tell me if something's wrong.'
"You're right. We still have to leave this room and see if it's another trial. We might meet up with Qtaro once we do." Sara said. She shot a pointed glance at Keiji who just smiled in return.
"For now, let's try to get out of this room."
"Seems like a good plan to me." Keiji gave a glance at the mirror before turning away. "I don't think we can break this mirror without risking ourselves."
Sara looked around in the room. The room was bare. The walls a stark white. The only thing adorning the room was the door and the mirror, both on opposite sides of the room.
She walked towards the door and tried the door knob. It won't turn.
"The door's locked and I don't see any keys around here..." Sara looked at the others. "Do you guys have any clues?"
Gin shook his head, raising his hands. "No, meow! I only saw you guys when I woke up!"
"Yea, I didn't see anything when I woke up earlier." Kanna said. She turned to the side with a contemplative look. "It seems weird that we're left here with no tools."
"You're right." All of them turned to Reko. "Every time in the past, we were always given instructions. We haven't received anything here."
Sara mulled over her words just as Keiji walked closer towards the mirror. She looked up and watched as Keiji knocked his hand on the mirror. Knocking it thrice, then another slowly, then another set of quick knocks.
"Keiji?" Sara saw as he put another hand on the mirror.
"Yea, we aren't supposed to do anything here." Keiji told them, jerking his hand to point towards the mirror.
"We? Here?" Sara walked again towards the mirror. She saw herself, but she also did remember what Keiji said earlier.
"Does this mean... the people on the other side have to be the one to do something?"
"Seems like it." Keiji shrugged.
"We're just gonna leave people we don't know to save us?" Reko narrowed her eyes, glaring at the mirror. "We can't just not do anything here."
"We might not have a choice." He said
The glass from the mirror broke cutting him off. A piece of wood emerged from the crack. The rest in the room immediately backed away from the window.
The wood disappeared before a chair went through, creating a huge gap in the window. The one holding it was Rio Ranger.
Before anyone else could speak, Ranger spoke as he took the chair away. "There, now we can just ask them."
"Ask them?" Sara echoed, confused. There were figures around Ranger. People. Her breath stuttered. Joe.
It was Joe. His spiky hair and school outfit. Like he hadn't died. Was he really here?
All the rest were acting the same. Keiji had gone pale seeing Megumi. Reko was in shock as she saw Alice. Gin was only surprised as he saw himself. Kanna, Kanna's eyes saw Sou but she also saw the real Sou, Midori.
"Stop!" Kanna screamed, the memory of Sou's death still a fresh reminder. Her voice jolted the rest. "Just, who are you? Why are you, why do you look like our friends?"
"Shit, did they make a dummy of our friends?" Reko cursed, still with teary eyes. "Did they have to do this?"
Ranger twitched at the mention of the dummy. A blue haired woman on the other hand spoke out, "How rude, we are not dummies and we haven't met all of you before!"
"Meow..." Gin gave a shaky meow. "What's going on, woof?"