Mirror Mirror (self-insert #9)

Chapter 10

"Eugene?"

Once Mai had gotten up and eaten the next morning, we'd gathered together in the base to go over what he'd told her. Mai nodded at Naru. "He said that although he can see the exit, he can't reach it and that it's been this way since the beginning."

Naru frowned. "What could be the reason? Thinking about it, he really is a fool!" He shook his head, not seeming to notice the look Mai was giving him. "So? Did he say anything beneficial to the current situation?"

"He said that five people died—an old man, a couple, and two children. He also added, 'This isn't the end. Something worse might appear, so you better be careful.'"

"Oh."

"Nonsense."

We all turned to stare at Hirota. Naru arched an eyebrow at him. "Hirota, aren't you even going to investigate what happened in this house before?"

"Isn't what Taniyama-san said just a dream?"

Naru's face, if possible, got colder.

I snickered. "Ah, youth." I muttered. Naru's gaze flicked toward me for a second and I knew I was going to get it later.

"Speaking of that, you said that those silly things Taniyama-san said are the truth. How did you arrive at that conclusion?" He demanded. "What's so different between that and the ESP myth that people talk about these days? Don't you that it was just an illusion?"

Those were surprisingly good questions coming from someone like Hirota, but still Naru wasn't moved. Insulting Mai's capabilities must've been too much. "Even if I explain it to you, I don't think that you'll understand."

"What did you say?"

"I'll say." Bou-san cut in. "You're too biased against ESPers."

"So what?"

"It's your own problem whether or not you believe in it, but doubting others and labelling them as cheats and liars is a different matter." Bou-san stated. "Being careful in order to not be cheated isn't a bad thing, but meeting others ans immediately labelling them as scammers without noticing what's happening around you and being unwilling to listen to what others say is different." Hirota opened his mouth to speak, but Bou-san shook his head. "I have nothing to say to you, who only wants to hear what pleases himself."

His hands clenched into fists, and I watched with growing interest as he made a visible effort to calm himself. "Then I have a question." He glanced at Naru. "Since you're a researcher, you have a responsibility to explain the situation to those who are uninformed. Why do you think Taniyama-san's dream means something? What's so different between this, and those people who often claim that they can see spirits?"

Naru studied Hirota's persistent scowl before signing. "Being able to see thing that shouldn't exist is something that's wrongly considered an illusion. For example, if Hara-san saw an illusion and happened to find out information that shouldn't be possible with regards to where she is physically, we wouldn't be able to confirm if that was a coincidence or something else, but it's still different from a typical illusion, we would categorize and call it ESP. We would then call that an ESP ability. Those with ESP abilities are called ESPers. Language is just a form of labelling." His voice had slipped into that colorless tone he often used when explaining the paranormal. "People often think that when such things happens, we'll call it ESP and say that person has ESP abilities, but in reality, even without ESP abilities it's still possible for a person to experience ESP. Those who are called ESPers are called that only because people think that they have ESP abilities. Thinking like this, she can only see illusions once in a while, and those illusions are considered ESP, so she can see what we can't know."