Mirror in the Void

      Night pressed in from all sides like a soft haze. Beyond the rain-streaked windows, a solid blackness spread, rarely broken by the flash of oncoming headlights. Large droplets gathered on the glass, rolled sideways, tracing wet paths, fell under their own weight, and gave way to new ones. The wipers squeaked, and Yuuki hummed along in time, creating a strange, almost familiar melody.       Inside the van, coziness and warmth felt especially strong in this atmosphere. The cramped space wasn't bothersome. On the contrary – it had become familiar and soothing. Someone had already managed to doze off, letting their limp head fall on a neighbor's shoulder; others were still conscious, watching the streaking droplets on the windows. Despite this, up front, there was little calm. Okada gripped the steering wheel as if it might wrench free at any second. She could barely avoid the potholes – the wheels responded to her hand movements half a second after already hitting the dip. The vehicle was unfamiliar to her. The echoing cabin and sluggish handling were also unfamiliar. Her own sports BMW had been left at the loft for practicality's sake – not everyone would fit in a cramped sedan. Hence, she'd had to take this bulky, unwieldy van that seemed unsure of why it had even been let on the road. – Yuuki… shut up already, – the girl snapped over her shoulder when his singing began to wear on her last surviving nerve cells.       He sat in the back row, sprawled out so that he took up nearly a third of the seat, singing nonstop. Though it could hardly be called singing. Rather, he was making sounds that vaguely resembled either some pop song or the groans of a dying animal. He periodically threw in words, improvising verses on the fly, then switched to rap or broke into an incoherent scream that, in his opinion, was meant to mimic a guitar solo, then returned to humming without words.       Next to him, pressed shoulder against the door, sat Jihi. His eyes were closed, arms crossed over his chest. He appeared to be asleep, but his breathing gave him away – too steady and controlled for genuine sleep. Maybe he was simply resting after an intense night at the club, or maybe he didn't want to give his energetic friend a chance to start a pointless and exhausting conversation. And, surprisingly, even in such an atmosphere, he maintained an almost inhuman stillness and detachment.       A little farther away, in the next row, Ai sat with her head against the cold window. Her phone glowed in her hands, illuminating her focused face and a few centimeters of space around. Her fingers moved across the screen at a frightening speed: she read something, then switched to another app, made a few notes, opened another tab, scrolled through text, returned to her notes. Occasionally she turned to Takeshi, who sat beside her, showed him something, waited for his nod, and returned to her phone. He, in turn, returned to his book. His eyes moved slowly across the lines, his fingers lazily turning pages.       Outside, the relentless rain continued to pour. Hino would wake occasionally, look at the darkness beyond the window, shift position, and sink back into sleep. Now she sat with her knees drawn to her chest – it felt more stable and, probably, warmer. Her bangs kept falling into her face, tickling her nose, and she would occasionally brush them aside.       The tension up front never eased. Okada would mutter curses under her breath whenever a wheel hit another pothole. Kiken beside her agreed with her anger – such vehicles were alien to him too. Although, even these two sometimes enjoyed trips like this. The cramped space, noise, and stuffiness were oppressive, but at the same time brought a kind of peace, like family road trips. – Turn right, there's a tunnel, we'll cut through, – Kiken's raspy voice directed, pointing toward an inconspicuous turn.       Okada nodded, slowing slightly. After a few kilometers, the dim lights of a tunnel burrowing into the mountain appeared. The headlights picked out concrete walls covered in vines and the cracks beneath them. The rain weakened, losing its strength among the tree canopies. The wind, on the other hand, beat harder against the van's body. The vehicle began to sway on the road, the steering wheel becoming unresponsive. Okada slowed a bit more. – Fuck… – the girl exhaled. Her fingers turned white on the dark steering wheel cover.       Ai looked up from her phone at her friend. Then shifted her gaze to Yuuki, still unceasing, who had already switched to a new song. – You okay? – the girl asked quietly, moving closer. – Alive, – Okada answered too sharply.       The wheel hit another pothole, and the van jolted so hard that everyone jumped, even those buckled in. – Hey! – Yuuki yelled, finally forgetting his songs. – Can't you be more careful? – Shut up… – Okada hissed through her teeth.       The guy laughed loudly, throwing his head back. So loudly that both Jihi and Hino opened their eyes. – Come on! – he continued once he'd calmed down. – Better yet, let me drive! – The guy lunged forward, climbed over the middle row, and, reaching the driver's seat, peered over her shoulder. – Sit down, – Kiken intervened. His voice was calm, almost gentle. – Don't be such grouches…       Okada jerked her shoulder, shaking off his hand. At that same moment, the van swerved harder – the wheels hit something slippery – and… the steering wheel wrenched free. Just for a second. For one brief instant, during which the world outside the window became a blur. – Okada! – Ai screamed instinctively. – Be quiet!       The girl wrenched the wheel in the opposite direction. Sharply and too hard. The van careened the other way, spinning on the wet asphalt as if on ice, turning sideways toward the tunnel. The headlights caught the concrete wall, now too close. – Hang on! – someone in the cabin yelled.       No one even had time to close their eyes. Uncontrolled gasps burst from their chests as their bodies lurched forward. Seatbelts dug into shoulders. Someone grabbed door handles, someone else gripped their neighbors' arms. Yuuki instinctively dropped to the floor, curling up.       The impact. Along with it – a metallic crash that deafened them, the shatter of glass spiderwebbed with cracks, and the screech of metal crumpling like paper. And… silence. A sharp, deafening silence after the noise, in which only the hiss of the leaking radiator and the sound of raindrops drumming on the shattered hood remained.       Okada stared ahead. Her head was ringing, colored spots swimming before her eyes. – Everyone alive? – the girl asked, bewildered, not taking her eyes off what she saw before her. – Seems like it… – Yuuki moaned quietly. – Yeah… Fuck, it hurts… – Just don't move, – Takeshi spoke up. He had already unbuckled and was checking on the others. – Jihi, can you hear me? – he looked at his friend, who wasn't moving. – Yeah, – the guy replied quietly.       Ai released her fingers, which had been digging into Hino's elbow. Red marks remained on the skin. The girl looked at them, then at her own trembling hands. Hino stared fearfully from Ai to Takeshi. Then she shifted her gaze to the shattered window, beyond which was… a dark forest. – You… see this too? – Good… so it's not my hallucination, – Okada exhaled.       The headlights pointed straight at an ancient oak. Around it, a dense wall of ferns stood, dissolving into a thick, almost tangible fog.       The group climbed out of the van slowly, as if afraid that any sudden movement would make reality crack like the ill-fated windshield. Okada and Kiken got out first. Their legs trembled from the residual adrenaline boiling in their blood. While Kiken helped the others, Okada walked around the van, running her hand over the crumpled metal of the hood. The van sat at a slight angle, the front wheel mired in forest soil and roots. – Well, fucking hell… – the girl said quietly, looking around.       The forest around them stood as a dense wall. Tall trees with thick trunks blocked the view. Canopies covered the sky, letting through not even the thinnest rays of night light. Fog hung low, hiding the root-ravaged ground, intensifying the smell of decaying leaves and something between flowers and grass.       Yuuki tumbled out of the cabin, nearly falling as he tripped over the threshold. He opened his mouth to joke about Okada's driving skills, but the words stuck in his head when his gaze fell on the trees. The guy froze, blinked several times, and slowly turned to the others. – Where's… the tunnel? – for the first time on the whole trip, there wasn't a trace of humor in his voice.       No answer came – no one could have answered his question precisely. – We have another problem… – Ai said, raising her phone higher. – No signal. At all…       Takeshi and Hino came out next. The guy held a first-aid kit and was already checking everyone for serious injuries. A few scratches, some bruises, but nothing life-threatening. He handed Okada a bandage – she hadn't even noticed she'd split her brow. – Is this… a set? Someone's joke? – Hino looked around and moved closer to Okada. – Doesn't seem like it, – Jihi replied, crouching down to touch the grass. – Smells pretty… natural… We're in a real place. – Let's go, – Kiken said suddenly. Tension edged his voice.       Everyone turned to him. He stood on what resembled a path, peering into the darkness. Tension radiated from his entire body and the way he stood. – There's light there, – he added.       Okada raised a skeptical eyebrow – she sensed a lie in the reason the guy had given them. Still, she looked, along with everyone else, toward where Kiken was pointing. Far off, perhaps at the very horizon, a warm golden glow was barely visible through the trees. The group exchanged glances and, without a word, moved forward in unison. Slowly, they picked their way through the forest amid Yuuki's newly resumed and seemingly endless jokes.       Hino walked a little apart, sometimes stopping to look into the forest. There, between the trees, hidden in the fog and foliage, shadows moved. The girl froze, peering into the darkness, and suddenly felt a touch on her wrist. Kiken took her hand and pulled her along. – Don't fall behind.       Hino nodded, quickening her pace. The guy didn't let go of her wrist.       After a few minutes, the ground evened out, the trees thinned, letting through soft moonlight. At the same time, the group could make out the source of the golden lights. Before them rose a majestic castle. It stood atop a hill. A huge, clearly ancient structure with towers reaching into the sky. Thousands of windows glowed with that same soft golden light. – What the hell is this? – Yuuki exhaled. – Obviously a castle, – Jihi replied sarcastically, smirking. – That's not what I meant! – the guy waved him off. – Look over there, – he pointed slightly away from the gates. – Are those horses… skeletons?... With… wings?...       The group turned their gaze toward the gates. Someone gasped in surprise, someone else swore under their breath. There, hidden in the semi-darkness, lurked strange creatures. Not quite horses, not quite pegasi. Their bodies, however, didn't resemble anything that could be alive – bones stretched over skin, nothing more. And empty eye sockets into which the castle's light fell and vanished. – I don't see anything, – Hino said.       No one answered her. She shifted her gaze to the silent group. On their faces was frozen a terror the girl had never seen before. Accustomed to constant danger, they seemed no longer capable of surprise, but now… now they were horrified. And she couldn't understand why. For her, before the castle, there were only gates and emptiness. – There's nothing there, he's just joking, – Okada said after a few seconds, moving closer to Hino. Her voice was even, almost ordinary, but somehow too… fast? As if she were rushing to close the topic before anyone dared to continue it.       Hino looked from her friend to the others. Yuuki, who a second ago had looked as if he'd seen a ghost, suddenly laughed unnaturally loudly. – Okay, you got me! – he spread his arms. His palms trembled slightly. – It's just… such a tense atmosphere! Thought I'd lighten it a bit… – Let's just go… – Okada stepped forward, turning to the group. – We'll get soaked anyway… – In there?! – Ai responded, pointing at the gates. – Do you have another option? – No…       The group exchanged one last look and took their first hesitant step forward. The road to the castle turned out to be longer than it had seemed from below. Each step physically brought them closer to the massive wrought-iron gates, but they seemed to recede, unwilling to let uninvited guests approach.       Hino still didn't fully believe the others' words. Hearing Yuuki's silence only deepened her doubts. The guy walked with his hands in his pockets, turning his head in all directions, and his gaze often returned to the gates. – Do you have any charge left? – Takeshi asked quietly, peering over Ai's shoulder.       She walked with her phone held out in front of her, periodically checking if signal had returned. She shook her head in reply – the battery was dying.       When only a few dozen meters remained to the gates, they swung open on their own. Behind them stood an elderly woman. Tall, with a stern gaze, wearing a green robe, she resembled a kindly witch from childhood fairy tales. In her hand, she held a wand. – Good evening, – the woman's voice was even, without a trace of surprise. – You are on the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. How did you come to be here, and for what purpose?       Okada and Kiken instinctively stepped forward, positioning themselves between the woman and the others, and exchanged a silent questioning glance. Jihi and Yuuki moved to flank Ai, Hino, and Takeshi. – We're not sure ourselves, – Okada answered, more firmly than she'd intended. – We lost control, drove into a tunnel wall, and came out in the forest.       Hino snapped her gaze to her friend, hearing the foreign words. Okada, surprisingly, spoke them easily and without stumbling, as if she'd spoken English her whole life. And from the way Okada stood before the woman in the robe, it was clear – she wasn't trying to dredge up forgotten school phrases. Hino looked at the others. In everyone's eyes – complete understanding. And only she herself could barely translate a few words into Japanese. – A tunnel? – the woman raised an eyebrow. – Can you show me exactly where you emerged? – No problem, – Okada shrugged. – And can you explain what the hell is going on here? – she looked at the woman defiantly. – Unlikely, – the woman replied, hiding her wand in the folds of her robe. – But I am obliged to introduce myself. My name is Minerva McGonagall. – Omori Okada, – Okada bowed slightly, then nodded toward the guy. – And this is Hanasu Kiken, my right hand. The others' names, you don't need for now. – Charmed, – the woman smiled. – And… the situation we all find ourselves in is highly unusual, I can say. – Unusual? – Yuuki snorted from behind Okada. – We, fuckin', saw gh... – he immediately fell silent upon receiving her disapproving look.       McGonagall looked at him over her glasses. The same look one gives noisy first-years. Almost immediately, her gaze returned to Okada. – According to protocol, I should act somewhat differently… But, based on what you've told me, we will accommodate you in the guest wing until morning. The Headmaster and I would be interested to hear more details about how you got here. Follow me.       Without waiting for a reply, the woman turned and headed toward the castle. Okada watched her for a few seconds, then looked at Kiken. He stood lost in his thoughts, as if analyzing everything that had happened in the last half hour. Then she looked at the bewildered Hino. – I'll explain everything later, – she said quietly in Japanese. – Let's go.       Hino nodded, despite an overwhelming desire to know everything here and now – she didn't want to be the only one left in the dark. But the others had already started following the woman, leaving no room for argument. – Let's go, – Ai repeated, taking Hino by the elbow.       The group entered the castle grounds. The gates closed behind them on their own with a soft metallic creak.