"dammit tenpou!"

"don't worry, general." he called over his shoulder. "you'll receive fair rewards for your efforts."

kenren grinned and vowed to make sure that tenpou lived up to his word. 'rewards' not 'reward.' tonight...will be a very very fine night indeed. taking the time to make short celebration of this little victory, he lit a cigarette and posted himself outside the door, gun ready, while tenpou foraged inside. "hurry up tenpou, this place is really too fucking creepy. i'm gonna have nightmares."

"didn't i say that i'd help you deal with that?" he heard the voice mix with sounds of wooden boxes being open and shut, open and shut.

drawers opened and shut, opened and shut.

shelves being moved. "you're telling me now, and i'm gonna remember it." books being opened... "and don't tell me you came here looking for books, dammit!"...and shut.

but tenpou didn't answer. after two minutes of random treasure hunting, he found the rumored relic. supposedly something that one of the demon king's spies stole from heaven years ago.

so much for border security.

from beneath a silken cloth, he found a mirror, and upon exposing its pristine surface, he nearly stumbled back from shock. the reflection he saw was not of himself...or it may have been...or might have not...

his same hair, only shorter. his same face, only kinder. his same ears, only with cuffs. his same eyes, only...with a monocle? his same lips, but instead of the grim line of abject horror tenpou knew he wore, his reflection simply...smiled.

it followed his movements...just like any obedient reflection, but the eyes he saw were not obedient eyes.

"oi, tenpou, what's takin so long?"

he didn't hear kenren's voice, only a little hum ticking the back of his mind, saying...

"a pity isn't it? that this isn't hell..." tenpou whispered the words to himself.

then behind his reflection, in the mirror, was a shadow. a specter, hazy and shifting. tenpou glanced over his shoulder, but there was nothing. he looked back at the mirror. definitely...something. so he approached the glassy surface, touched its coldness and looked deeper. into his own strange eyes, but also into that shadow which seemed to move and take shape until his reflection wavered, melted, split like lava prying through the earth's cracks, only to meet the coldest day of winter. there were claws now...teeth so sharp that he could taste the blood they drew from his tongue...