The Invincible Little Lady: Volume 5, page 8
He shuddered at my suspicious movements and immediately tried to stand up and flee, but his legs were numb from kneeling atop them, so he couldn’t move nimbly.
“M-My l-legs are...” he gasped.
“Headmaster, it’s still not too late. Please be honest,” I requested.
“I-I have no idea what you’re...” he started, continuing to feign ignorance despite my final warning before he cried out. “Aaahhh!”
I poked his numb, tingling legs, causing his pathetic cries to echo throughout the room.
“Pokey pokey pokey! ♪” I said playfully.
“S-Stop! Aaahhh! Stoooop!”
“Now then, Headmaster. Will you tell us the truth?”
“Aaahhh! I-I will! I’ll tell you, so stooooop!”
I started to have fun teasing this defenseless man and devilishly continued to poke away.
“L-Lady Mary, you recommended that he prostrate himself because you predicted this outcome, didn’t you?” Magiluka asked. “You’re terrifying... Are you perhaps used to torturing others?”
“Nope, not at all,” I replied. “I just went with the flow of things. That’s it. Don’t say something so terrifying.”
But Magiluka still seemed totally taken aback. “Ah, I see...” she suddenly said, muttering to herself. “There may not be an organization as the other Lady Mary says, but perhaps you are fighting against something, hence you’re aware of these methods... She may be a fake, but she’s still Lady Mary. Surely, not everything she said was a lie.”
“M-Magiluka?” I was unable to fully overlook her comments.
“Ah, it’s nothing at all,” she replied.
“Please don’t just smile and try to blow this all over. You’re wrong. I don’t know what you’re on about, but you’re wrong.”
I desperately tried to reason with her, but she just kept smiling at me, as though conveying that she had her mind made up.
“Now then, let’s get back to business, shall we?” she suggested. “Grandfather, could you tell us about the Magic Mirror of Hallucinations?”
“G-Give me a moment,” the headmaster gasped pathetically, pleading for a bit of time. “M-My legs...”
After we waited briefly, he started with his story. It all began around a decade ago, about the time when these rumors had surfaced. The magic mirror originally wasn’t a product to sell, but stored as a part of a collection, and it suddenly resurfaced after the store owner accidentally divulged its existence to the headmaster. I couldn’t blame the headmaster for his curiosity about it: the mirror was said to be made by fairies, and it was apparently a legendary-class magic item. Apparently, the owner eventually gave in to the headmaster’s persistent requests to purchase the item from him.
“Huh? Wait a moment...” Magiluka mumbled.
“Hm? What’s wrong?” I asked.
“If my memory serves me correctly, I heard that grandmother had scolded you back then and had forbidden you from purchasing magic items. Is that not so, grandfather?”
Buckets of sweat poured out from the headmaster as he looked at the wall with a thousand-yard stare. Apparently, his fascination with magic items had been much worse in the past, to the point where he’d nearly ended up dipping into the valuable funds of his domain—although he claimed he’d planned to return them. Nah, that’s a red flag. Crimson. He basically tried to embezzle the hard-earned taxes of his people for his own hobbies...and these items are extremely expensive to boot.
And so, Magiluka’s grandmother had raked her husband over the coals, forbidding him from purchasing any more items in the future. And yet, the headmaster had this magic mirror.
“Headmaster...” I murmured after hearing the story, looking at the man with disdain like he was a total failure of a person.
“I-I had no other choice!” he wailed. “I-It’s a legendary item! I had no other choiiice!”
“What should we do, Magiluka?” I asked, gazing at the no-good old man who kept making the same excuses.
“I shall report this to my grandmother,” she replied firmly and mercilessly.
The headmaster, completely shocked upon hearing those words, froze in place.
“However, I’m sure grandmother gathered all these items in one place and kept a close eye on them so that something like this wouldn’t happen,” Magiluka said, shifting her gaze from her grandfather to the shop owner.
The owner gave a jolt of surprise and inched back.
“I-I know nothing!” he cried. “I definitely wasn’t told he was being surveilled at home, making me have to sneak it into the academy under the guise that it was some sort of school equipment! Erm...”
Is this man cursed with honesty or something? He keeps shooting himself, I swear...
“The academy, I see...” Magiluka mused. “Supervision would be more lax away from home. But he’d eventually have been found out if he kept it in his office.”
“Ah, which is why he hid it in an area of the academy no one would usually set foot in,” I guessed, ignoring the frozen headmaster.
“That must be it. And it was unluckily found by students.”
“Wait, maybe that’s why its location kept changing. Every time someone found it, the headmaster would secretly move it elsewhere.”
“That’s possible. What happened to those unlucky victims who found the mirror?”
We stopped deducing and turned to the store owner.
“Wh-What? I-I’ve got nothing to do with this!” he yelped. “I’ve never tried helping with putting the people born from the mirror back into the item! Ack!”
I was tempted to praise him for once again babbling all of his secrets of his own accord.
“I see. You were helping grandfather, were you?” Magiluka said. “Then could you please tell us how to turn our situation back to normal?”
“Er, well... I simply kept the people who were made from the magic mirror here, so I’m not sure of the details,” he admitted.
His response was vague, but judging from his past actions, he was likely telling the truth. I’d only met him today, but I felt like I was able to trust him deeply. In a sense, I think a customer could build a good relationship with this guy. Wait, does that mean he’s actually suited to being a merchant?
“I see,” Magiluka replied. “Then I suppose I must ask grandfather.”
Magiluka, possibly reaching the same conclusions as me, easily trusted the owner’s words and turned to the headmaster.
“Grandfather. How long are you going to be in a daze for? You heard our conversation, didn’t you?”
“Magiluka, your grandfather here has received quite the shock,” he chided her. “Can’t you be a little more mindful— Um, never mind.” For some reason, when he saw Magiluka’s face, he immediately stopped sulking and seemed intimidated. I couldn’t see Magiluka’s expression from my angle, but judging by his reaction, she was undoubtedly showing zero sympathy to this old man.
“What did you plan to do from here?” Magiluka asked.
“During the next full moon, I was planning on activating the mirror and pushing them inside,” he replied.
“Pushing them inside?” I repeated. I was bothered how he didn’t use the term “return” and couldn’t help myself from interjecting.
“Indeed. If they were obedient, they’d return to the mirror of their own accord, but a majority of the time, they resisted doing so. In such cases, I needed to use force,” the headmaster said.
“That sounds quite dangerous,” I replied.
“Personally, I consider instances of the mirror activating to be valuable opportunities for me to research and observe the item’s power, so I’d like to settle it peacefully, but the object’s victims probably want to get it over with quickly. In the end, it usually ends up with me fighting against the fakes to get them back in the mirror. Ha ha ha!”
“Wait, so is the rumor of a person being pushed inside stemming from someone witnessing you doing just that?”
As the truth of the rumors came unraveled, I started to feel exhausted—this was a far cry from my fantasy-esque, occult-like expectations.
“I believe so,” Magiluka replied. “As far as I’m concerned, I simply cannot allow my absolutely shameless fake to roam around as they please.” Her face grew red and she looked down at the floor while she seemed to recall her fake’s actions. I also wasn’t willing to let my cringey self stay on the loose—my psyche wouldn’t be able to bear it.
“But I wonder why they have those personalities,” I wondered. “I thought they would’ve been carbon copies of ourselves.”
“Oh, you’ve noticed a very good point,” the headmaster said. “The results of my research and analysis states that beings born from that mirror will completely copy their victims’ appearance, abilities, and knowledge! It’s a wonderful item that lives up to its name of being a legendary-class! I haven’t a clue as to the logic behind it all, but I suppose we can only be impressed by the fairies.”
He spoke excitedly and rapidly, the words passionately tumbling from his mouth as I was a bit taken aback.
“And, fitting for these mysterious fairies, the beings from the mirror don’t simply copy their victims,” he continued. “The fairies tinker a little with the reflected personalities! That is to say...”
The headmaster paused, causing me to gulp nervously and listen intently. “When the real one views their fake, the fake will manifest the most embarrassing, disliked possible personality of their counterpart!” he explained. “Apparently, the fake will use their copied knowledge to find the real person’s most perfectly hated behaviors!”
“B-But why would the fairies do something like that?”
“Hmm, well, there are a few theories as to why, but the most likely one is...” The headmaster again did a dramatic pause—I only had a bad feeling about this, and I was suddenly overcome with an impulse to not listen to him anymore. “...they thought it would be funnier.”
Oh, for Pete’s sake! I knew it was a stupid reason! Those jerks! They just take delight in people’s reactions!
“In any case, what we must do now is to quietly return our fakes into the mirror before they create a fuss,” Magiluka said, showing a terrifying amount of composure.
I, on the other hand, feigned my calmness toward the headmaster’s explanation while internally cursing and insulting the creators of this stupid idea. I was definitely for shoving our fakes back into the land of mirrors. However, since they were currently on the run, I had one more question in mind.
“Didn’t you say that we needed to return them on the next full moon?” I asked.
“That’s true,” Magiluka said. “If the power of that magic mirror only activates on a full moon, is it just a normal mirror for other days?”
“Unfortunately, that’s the case,” the headmaster answered. “Hence, we currently cannot return those two ladies back into the mirror. Thus, I was planning on secretly sheltering them to observe the abilities of the magic mirror...”
He proceeded to cough a few times to hide the fact that his last line was uncalled for while we fell silent. However, we’d heard him loud and clear, and our icy gazes conveyed our contempt toward the old man.
“I see. In other words, you were looking after them, grandfather,” Magiluka deduced. “Thinking back to the night when we saw the mirror, the shadow that Tutte had seen wasn’t you, but our fakes. You were just nearby, keeping watch.”
“P-Precisely...” he replied.
“Then what were those organization personnel I ran into the other day?” Magiluka asked.
“Th-That was, well... Little Mary told me about some sort of bizarre performance she had in mind and begged for me to make it into a reality. I was watching from afar...”
“Headmaster, that wasn’t me but my fake...” I interjected, unable to overlook the two’s conversation.
“My lady, perhaps we should let that go for now,” Tutte immediately refuted.
I pursed my lips obediently, knowing that my maid was in the right. I had broken the flow of the conversation, but I knew that we now had to find our embarrassing fakes and watch over them so that they wouldn’t cause a fuss before we returned them to their world on the day of the full moon. We have to capture them first. How far have they walked? If she ran at full speed, she could probably be anywhere by now, but she’s with the fake Magiluka. She wouldn’t go all out while they’re together, right? R-Right? Anxiety loomed over me as we wrapped up our discussion and left the store.
I was immediately met with a surprising incident. My carriage was nowhere to be seen. I didn’t need to be a detective to swiftly assume that my fake had casually taken it. It would’ve been absurd to have expected the coachman, none the wiser, to instantly see through my fake.
“Wh-Wh-Wh-What do we do?!” I stammered.
“Lady Mary, please calm down,” Magiluka said calmly. “Even if they used the carriage, they couldn’t have gone far. They can’t stray too far from the magic mirror, after all. And though my fake is there too, there aren’t many locations where the two could run off to without the coachman finding it odd.”
I’m so glad she’s with me.
“D-Do you have a place in mind you think they’re headed?” I asked.
“The academy,” she replied. “The magic mirror is there as well, and there are plenty of places to hide. Above all, it’s a location the coachman wouldn’t find suspicious. I believe your double would come to that conclusion, but am I wrong?”
She tilted her head to one side, waiting to hear my opinion. This is me we’re talking about. Am I that resourceful and quick-witted? I feel like I’d just leave it to the flow of things before panicking about it later. I simulated the possible outcomes of the situation in my head and came to a conclusion as I placed my fist over my open hand.
“Ah, that’s where I’d turn to Magiluka,” I said.
In fact, I could almost definitively make the claim that my fake self would turn to fake Magiluka to figure out their future steps to take. If the fake Magiluka then suggested using the carriage to head back to the academy, my fake could absolutely follow that. My friend’s fake swooned over me, but she still held Magiluka’s intelligence and thus would draw similar conclusions. In that case, the academy does seem like our best shot.
“Okay, then let’s go to the academy,” I said. “Can we borrow your carriage?”
“I don’t mind, but if we return now, the sun will start setting,” Magiluka replied.
“I don’t mind! Worst case, we can just stay another night within the academy! That’s not a problem is it, headmaster?”
“Not at all,” he replied. “I had preparations made to shelter those two, so you should be set.”
He offered a depressing slump of his shoulders, but we paid no mind and headed back to the academy. By my calculations, the academy should’ve been devoid of students by the time we returned—on the off-chance that our fakes ran wild and did something asinine upon us spotting them, only I would suffer psychological damage while everyone else would be safe from harm. Ideally, I’d like to avoid that mental damage, so please don’t do anything weird, other me!
10. Your On-Off Switch Is Horrid
As the sun started to set, we returned to the academy. Were our fakes truly here as we’d guessed? We discussed our next moves as we made our way to the headmaster’s office.
“Now then,” I started. “Since they know they’ve been found out, there’s a good chance they’re hiding somewhere.”
“Indeed,” Magiluka replied. “However, while locating our doubles is important, I believe we should determine how we’ll secure the magic mirror. There’s a chance they will attempt to hide it.”
“You’re right... That’d be troublesome.” I stepped inside the office and headed toward the sofa for a short break. “How about we leave the mirror to the headmaster while the two of us chase after our fa—”
“Hm?”
As I was about to sit down, I locked eyes with a visitor who seemed to have gotten here before us—sure enough, I’d stumbled into a staredown with my fake, who was lying slovenly on the sofa. She appeared to have thrown off her embarrassing outfit for more casual clothes. Upon closer inspection, I noticed her jaw was moving, doubtlessly in the midst of eating some kind of snack. She was in total relaxation mode.
My fake didn’t seem to expect to encounter me either, which I gathered when she froze stiff upon our making eye contact (sans chewing, of course). After a few seconds, she finally swallowed her mouthful, causing time to advance once more.
“Why are you here?!” we both cried in beautiful synchronicity. “That’s my line!” we shouted simultaneously once again—our double act was flawless, if I do say so myself.
I hadn’t thought I’d meet her so easily. Unable to find what to say, I first decided to point out a problem that caught my eye.
“Putting that aside, why are you dressed like that?!” I shouted. “How can you let yourself go like this?!”
I took a good look at my fake, who was lounging around in nothing but a thin nightgown. Furthermore, she was reading a book while eating a snack—she was being a hot mess.
“I’m in my own room,” my fake replied. “Why wouldn’t I unwind a little?”
“This isn’t your room! It’s the headmaster’s!” I yelled back. “People come in here all the time, so look a little more sharp! Please! I’m begging you!”
In my panic, I wasn’t even sure if I was angry so much as I was desperate—my fake simply looked that sloppy. Her on-off switch’d been flipped to “off” so hard it’d fallen off the wall.
“What are you on about?” my fake asked. “You’re always like this at home.”
“Hey! Cool it with your wild accusations!” I roared. “I’m not always like this! Only sometimes.”
I was so flustered at her exposing my embarrassing side that my panic had reached its peak. Despite Magiluka being beside me, I couldn’t suppress my shouting. Ack! I’ve gotta explain this to the Magilukas somehow!
