Time Flies By // TBHK Role Swap AU

Chapter 20: Hell of Reflections

A/N: lets dedicate this chapter to the mysterious countdown that might lead to tbhk season 2 that ends Dec 22nd. Lets hope lol.
Also I just wanna say its called hell of reflections instead of mirrors because its more generalized :P

Today had came to a weird point, but for Kou this time.

Everything was as normal, Kou and Amane were fixing up some planters that had been messed with as Yashiro continued reading her book. Well until a group of arms popped out of the wall and school windows, Amane went over to the bucket stack to put one away and he walked straight into one.

"What the- AH! Uhm Yashiro-"
Amane turned to look back at the purple arm that he went into.

"Thats interesting-"
Yashiro commented, reapplying her bookmark and walking over to the abundant group of arms. Kou finally ran over to the area.

"Agreed-" Kou replied.

"Where have I heard it before.. If I remember right they're sorta like that one ghost you brought Kou. We gotta help them out." Yashiro used Mitsuba as an example, then realizing it was more of a sensitive topic feeling a sudden rush of remorse. "Anyways! You get my point. Amane you get the right side, I'll get left and Kou you can handle the ones in the middle."

And so, they went on to; arm wrestle, thumb war, paint nails, give small massages or just give a simple high five or handshake. Some of them were very extra and had them do more than they were willing, it was grueling.

"Im all done!" Yashiro cheered, Amane was as well.

"I have just one more. What do you want us to do?" Kou asked the hand, normally it was easy to guess based off the position the arm was in. Oddly, the arm was poking through a window, it was different from the rest that were mainly on the floor with a few that was on the wall.

"Come join us."
A mouth came from the hand and grabbed Kou's arm.

"HEY LET GO!" Kou went to grab his staff with the spare hand, Amane was still processing what the hell he was seeing. Yashiro dashed for it though and grabbed his hand for a split second before he got pulled through the window. Kou wasnt on the other side and the window wasnt broken.

"Oh crud-" Amane mumbled, Yashiro released a disappointed sigh.

"Man I was so close!" Yashiro whined out. "Cmon we gotta get him back!"

—Meanwhile with Kou—

"Yoooo lame-ass wake up."
The voice was strangely familiar, Kou was still in the process of waking up and his vision was a tad blurry. There was a transparent hand being waved in his face.

"The arm dropped you on your head, also where'd you get that scar from?" The voice kept asking, besides the blurriness all he could see was a lot, a lot of pink.

"Mitsuba?!" Kou rushed to push himself up as the pink ghost backed up a bit.

"Do I know you?" Mitsuba questioned. Kou just stared blankly. Maybe it was just his head messing with him but he was going to pursue anyways.

"Yeah Im Kou Minamoto! The exorcist dude who went and took photos with you!" Kou explained, Mitsuba just looked at him with a puzzeled expression.

"I think I would remember someone with such a lame-ass earring." Mitsuba retorted, he just looked around to divert his thoughts. The area was strangely bizarre. It looked familiar to his school except it was more empty, and had a creepy feel to it.

"So, I was brought here and I was confused so I asked these arms to get help." Mitsuba explained, the arms praised themselves behind Mitsuba. Mitsuba looked normal, no weird holes through his center or any weird morphing. "Are you gonna help me out here or are you gonna keep staring like a-"

"Yeah! Do you know if this is a boundary or not?" Kou asked, he tried marking the things he learnt from them in his head. It was definitely a weird area, had a weird entrance, it was just weird. Surely it had to be.

"Hell of Reflections I think, I cant see myself though because well- Im dead." Mitsuba commented.

"Righttt.. So heres the breakdown on boundaries." Kou went on a easy and simple rant about boundaries, which was informational enough to survive... ish.

"You know a lot for human, weirdo."

"IM AN EXORCIST I SHOULD KNOW THIS." Kou shouted, they walked out of the abandoned classroom to enter a completely different area. It reminded Kou of a massive tower and they were only on the 3rd floor. It was in a giant cylinder shape and Kou could already see obstacles that laid ahead of him on the upper floors.

They continued walking around the 3rd base until they reached a massive window with some steps. Kou took it as an opportunity to rest for a moment and recollect his thoughts.

He got sucked into a window, fell into the boundary, found Mitsuba who doesnt even remember him, and now theyre here in a new area of the boundary.

"Uhm, theres a dude behind you." Mitsuba pointed out, Kou flipped to face the other way, seeing his presidential brother on the opposing side.

"Nii-san?! Whatre you doing here?!" Kou called out.

"I gotta be honest with you Kou, dont take it to heart but.."
"You really should try to stop being an exorcist."

"Where'd that come from??"

"I always wanted to tell you that you holding back just because some apparitions seem nice is really pathetic and not what we do."

"What're you saying? I thought we had a deal??" Kou mentally prepared himself a little before leaving the classroom, but he wasnt expecting that.

"We both know you're weak and stupid, you were born in an exorcist clan but you were never cut out for it. Even Tiara is stronger than you at not even half your age."

Mitsuba was watching from behind Kou.
"Damn, and I thought I was rude."
Kou was too focused on the reflection to comment on him. He could see himself, but it wasnt him. It was when he was a kid, probably seven or eight. Kou knew it was fake, it had to be fake, something blocked that signal from reaching his head though.

"Stop pretending to be my brother! I know you arent!" Kou shouted, he started grabbing his staff from behind his back, he was going to smash that window.

He was going to prove it wrong.