Major Tags: suicide/suicidality mention Other Tags: mild horror/body horror, possession Word Count: 456
***
Akashi is in middle school the first time the mirror flickers. Nijimura has just handed the team over to him, and he feels the responsibility settle on his shoulders, just one more weight among many. When he looks in the mirror that night, his reflection seems to waver, and he swears one eye is suddenly yellow instead of red.
He blinks and his reflection is back to normal, and he writes it off as a trick of the light coupled with fatigue.
By the end of the year, the weight of responsibility to the team has grown into a heavy burden. His teammates are all growing, and he fears he won't be able to keep up. But failure isn't an option. When he looks in the mirror now, the reflection that looks back always has one yellow eye.
The first time his reflection moves without him, he wonders if he's going mad. He's afraid, and in his locked bathroom in his locked room in an empty house, he finally lets his mask crack, and for a second, he lets the fear show.
His reflection doesn't mimic him. It smiles—a terrible smile that nevertheless seems to promise greatness—and it tempts him.
But he resists that night and turns away from his mirror. Every night he challenges himself, and every night he resists the pull of his reflection.
Then the day comes when he nearly loses to Murasakibara in practice, and he knows his first loss to one of his teammates is imminent. He's not strong enough, and when his reflection beckons, he finally gives in and rests his forehead on the mirror.
He closes his eyes, and when he opens them again, he's on the other side of the glass. The yellow-eyed creature who had been trapped where he is now is inhabiting his body, and when it smiles at him, he feels a sudden flash of fear and wonders if he's made a terrible mistake.
There's nothing in the space behind the mirror, just a blank, windowless room with a lone stool in the middle for him to sit on. Every day, he promises himself he'll demand to be let back out, but every night when his reflection looks back at him, he finds himself caught in the pull of its hypnotic gaze as it shows him scenes of victory.
It's not until long after the creature leaves that the pull fades, and then he can see everyone's unhappiness and the cost of victory, and he regrets. He begins to wonder if he can break the mirror. He wonders if doing so will free him or destroy him. He wonders if it matters if it will finally break the creature's hold over him.
FILL: Team Imaizumi Shunsuke/Kinjou Shingo, T
Other Tags: mild horror/body horror, possession
Word Count: 456
***
Akashi is in middle school the first time the mirror flickers. Nijimura has just handed the team over to him, and he feels the responsibility settle on his shoulders, just one more weight among many. When he looks in the mirror that night, his reflection seems to waver, and he swears one eye is suddenly yellow instead of red.
He blinks and his reflection is back to normal, and he writes it off as a trick of the light coupled with fatigue.
By the end of the year, the weight of responsibility to the team has grown into a heavy burden. His teammates are all growing, and he fears he won't be able to keep up. But failure isn't an option. When he looks in the mirror now, the reflection that looks back always has one yellow eye.
The first time his reflection moves without him, he wonders if he's going mad. He's afraid, and in his locked bathroom in his locked room in an empty house, he finally lets his mask crack, and for a second, he lets the fear show.
His reflection doesn't mimic him. It smiles—a terrible smile that nevertheless seems to promise greatness—and it tempts him.
But he resists that night and turns away from his mirror. Every night he challenges himself, and every night he resists the pull of his reflection.
Then the day comes when he nearly loses to Murasakibara in practice, and he knows his first loss to one of his teammates is imminent. He's not strong enough, and when his reflection beckons, he finally gives in and rests his forehead on the mirror.
He closes his eyes, and when he opens them again, he's on the other side of the glass. The yellow-eyed creature who had been trapped where he is now is inhabiting his body, and when it smiles at him, he feels a sudden flash of fear and wonders if he's made a terrible mistake.
There's nothing in the space behind the mirror, just a blank, windowless room with a lone stool in the middle for him to sit on. Every day, he promises himself he'll demand to be let back out, but every night when his reflection looks back at him, he finds himself caught in the pull of its hypnotic gaze as it shows him scenes of victory.
It's not until long after the creature leaves that the pull fades, and then he can see everyone's unhappiness and the cost of victory, and he regrets. He begins to wonder if he can break the mirror. He wonders if doing so will free him or destroy him. He wonders if it matters if it will finally break the creature's hold over him.