Mirrors

“…That looks like a waste of time. Why would that be something people do for fun?”

“Shouldn’t be this be something you’re super interested in? Look! ‘See a parallel version of yourself’!”

“I’m plenty fine with myself just as I am, thank you very much.”

“Oh ho? If you’re so against it then why are you constantly looking in it’s direction hm?”

“Wha- B-because I wanted to see what kind of idiot would go to a place like that!”

“Come on! If you’re so curious let’s go!”

“Hey- Stop- How is someone so small so strong?!”

“Ehehe, isn’t it one of my cute points?”

Sherry and Hanna made their way into the mysterious attraction that was taking social media by storm. It was a mirror house, but one unlike any others. Apparently the experience was truly otherworldly. This was of course, of major interest to the more excitable of the two. And just like always, the other was… encouraged to tag along.

“At least it’s free… though that is strange. How is it making money?”

“Maybe they’re doing it for fun?”

“Oh please, as if there exists anyone that generous.”

“Hey! You don’t need to be so pessimistic! I’d build something like this for fun!”

“With what money?!”

The two chit chatted as they entered the house. The entire process was automated, you simply grabbed a ticket and made your way inside. There were signs detailing the process and the rules. Keep your phones off inside, try not to break anything, the usual stuff. Well except for the part that said they weren’t responsible for any mental harm. That was a little concerning but maybe it was just to set the mood.

As they proceeded deeper and deeper into the house, the lights got dimmer and dimmer. The mirrors on the side seemed like normal fun house mirrors. Ones that made them taller, some that made them shorter, some that made them fatter, what you would expect to find. Nothing that seemed to be worthy of the reputation the house had at least.

Though eventually the lights got so dim that they practically didn’t exist at all.

“What’s the point of the mirrors if you can’t see them anyways?”

“Ooo, doesn’t it add to the mood? It feels like a place where we could also do some naugh-”

“Oi! Do you think this is the time for that? Ugh, come on, let’s just go back.”

“…Are you scared?”

“N-no! How could I possibly be scared of this dim hallway?”

“You’re scared aren’t you~ That’s ok, you can hold my hand then! My duty is to be escorted by you after all!”

“A-as if! Look! I’ll show you!”

Sherry stomped her way forward. Her? Scared? Of the dark? How could she possibly be scared of the dark when she was to be a detective? She’d show Hanna that she didn’t need her to pull her around all the time.

Truthfully though, she appreciated it. How many times had Hanna encouraged her to step out of her comfort zone? Sherry smiled a little. Not that she’d ever tell her that. That damn princess would let it get to her head and she would never live it down.

“Hanna?” Sherry called out. It was practically pitch black now and she suddenly realized that Hanna hadn’t said anything. Surely she wouldn’t have left her behind right? Her heart thumped a little with anxiety.

“If this is a joke it’s not-” Her sentence was interrupted by bumping into someone. “Oh, there you are. You could’ve said something at least-”

The lights turned on and Sherry blinked as she looked in front of her. Did she bump into a mirror or something? She rubbed her eyes to get a clearer look. Wait. Why didn’t her reflection rub her eyes too? Her reflection’s eyes sparkled as they looked at her. Then she suddenly rushed closer.

“What the-” Sherry yelped and scooted backwards. “W-w-who are you?!”

“Eh~ Interesting, interesting!” The other her got even closer. “Are you my doppelganger? But hm… no that can’t be right. If you were then something terrible would’ve happened by now. Then hrm…”

Sherry’s mind was racing with questions. Who was this person, why did they look like her, what the hell was going on, how did this happen, and where was Hanna?! Was she safe?!

“Hm… I got it!” The other Sherry thumped her fist into her hand. “You must be my reflection!”

“How did you come to that conclusion?!” Sherry almost yelled. “That makes no sense, you’re talking as if there’s magic-”

…Magic. Could it be?

“Yes, yes, yes! Exactly!” The other Sherry nodded. “I knew you’d understand!”

Ridiculous. That incident was resolved already! Sherry thought she left all of that behind her. Yet, nothing else could explain the situation they were in. There were no doors, just mirrors surrounding them. She didn’t fall anywhere, it was like she was just teleported here.

“But hmmm… that’s strange. If you’re here, then where’s Hanna?”

“Hanna! That’s right!” Sherry leapt and grabbed her supposed reflection. “Where’s Hanna?!”

“Well if your situation is like mine, then Hanna must be here somewhere!” They were so nonchalant about the situation it was crazy that they were supposed to be the same person.

Sherry was too busy thinking about how to dispel the magic. She was sure that Hanna would be- actually knowing Hanna, she might be finding the situation amusing. What if she met her own parallel self like Sherry did? Looking at her other self running around checking the mirrors, she could only hope that Hanna’s parallel self was easier for her to deal with… Or maybe Sherry should be hoping that Hanna’s parallel self could handle her Hanna.

Hanna put her face in her hands. She should’ve known better than to trust Sherry’s instincts on what a good date spot was. ‘A magic mirror house’ she said, ‘it’ll be fun’ she said, ’nothing’s spooky about mirrors Hanna’ she said.

Well, there might be nothing scary about this, but there sure was something extremely embarrassing about watching someone that looks exactly like her run around in a very undignified manner.

“If you’re really me, shouldn’t you be more…”

“Hm? More…?”

It was really embarrassing to realize this was like Hanna admitting what she was trying to be. “You know! Like, dignified! And refined!”

“But I am!” Her other self replied. “Look!” She twirled around showing off her clothes. They were in the same clothes so Hanna didn’t understand what she thought she was showing off. “Aren’t I adorable?”

The absurdity of the situation made it hard to sink in for Hanna. Sure, she’d seen her fair share of ridiculous things already. But a parallel universe her with a completely different personality? That one’s new.

And more than that, where did Sherry go? Don’t tell her that THIS girl replaced her.

A soft sensation around Hanna’s waist caused her to yelp in surprise. The other girl had apparently gotten around her from behind and hugged her.

“W-W-What are you doing?!”

“I always wanted to know what it was like to hug myself!”

“Hah?!” Hanna pried herself free from her reflections hands.

How could this possibly be her? Hanna looked at her reflection who seemed to be deep in thought. She was so… so… free spirited!

“So that’s what Sherry feels when she hugs me… I see, I see! She should hug me more often then!”

And she could just say embarrassing things like that? With a straight face?

“Wait. More often? Sherry hugs me practically every time we see each other!”

Her reflection seemed to be surprised by this. “Oh wow! That’s nothing like the Sherry I know, she’s always so shy and embarrassed all the time. ‘A detective wouldn’t act like that!’ she’d always say. But I can tell she wants to!” She giggled.

“…Wow. That’s… Sherry? Really? Her?”

“Yep!”

Imagining Sherry like that was an amusing thought. That muscle brained idiot acting like that?

“Aha! Made you smile!” Her reflection nodded with a smug expression. “As expected of myself, when it comes to Sherry we can’t help but smile!”

Urk. Maybe the reflection was more like her than she cared to admit. Hanna gave in and laughed. “Yes, yes, I suppose it’s less embarrassing to admit it to myself than to others at least.”

“Tell me more about your Sherry then!” Her reflection seemed to be excited. “I’d love to hear about her! And in return I’ll tell you about mine!”

Hanna supposed it’s not like there was anything better for them to do.

“Well, there was this one time we got crepes and…”

The two exchanged stories. It was amusing to hear about a completely different Sherry that Hanna didn’t know. She tried imagining Sherry saying the things her reflection was telling her that Sherry said but honestly couldn’t imagine it. Though it seemed to go both ways. Her reflection was busy laughing at Hanna explaining how much Sherry wanted to be praised.

However, the situation did not appear to be changing. The mirrors surrounding them were unmoving, simply reflecting the two of them together. A extremely bizarre situation and Hanna would of course be lying if she said she wasn’t feeling a little anxious. She was more surprised that her reflection was taking this in stride.

Or, at least Hanna thought she was.

She noticed that her other self’s laughs weren’t as genuine as they were before. Hanna could tell. They were the same person ultimately after all. And since they were, she knew that she was scared of the exact same thing she was.

“…Sherry won’t abandon me. And I know your Sherry wouldn’t either.”

Her reflection looked up at her and laughed awkwardly. “Guess I can’t hide anything from you huh?”

“Of course not. Who do you think I am?”

“Myself?”

“That’s right!” Hanna stood up and lifted her reflection with her. “And I know that means you know exactly why Sherry wouldn’t abandon us.”

They nodded. “Right!”

“Because…” “Since…”

“Sherry’s our prince!”

Hm… Curious, and curiouser! Sherry paced around the room inspecting all the mirrors. How could this have happened? Each mirror seemed to be the usual sort that you’d find in a fun house. And upon pushing on each of them, it didn’t seem like any of them were portals of some sort. Just how could she have ended up here?

To add on to the strangeness, she was even with another version of herself!

“Damn it!” Her reflection cursed as she continued to ruffle her own hair.

In some ways, it was rather amusing to see another version of herself. They seemed to have similar tastes in clothing as they were wearing the same outfit too. Yet their personalities were so different!

Sherry nodded to herself as her reflection walked up and grabbed her by the collar. “How about you actually try helping for once you useless detective?” She said.

“Eh~ That’s mean! I am trying!” Sherry replied.

Tch. They clicked their tongue and let go of Sherry.

Sheesh. Sherry thought she wouldn’t be… Actually maybe she would be a little physical. Memories of certain incidents came flooding back into her mind. But she was better now!

And more importantly, she needed to solve this locked room so she could find Hanna! Their date wasn’t over yet and she wasn’t about to let a locked room stop that.

Looking at what her other self was doing, it seemed that they both had the same idea that maybe one of the mirrors was the secret to the room. But alas, Sherry already knew that was going to be fruitless. Any moment now and-

“Argh!” Her reflection let out a yell of frustration.

Hm, hm, hm! Quite curious indeed that her other self would be so… emotive. They were the same person, yet at the same time so different. She wondered just how much of their life was the same and how much wasn’t.

But, Sherry had a bit of pride that she was able to remain calm in the current situation. She may have cracked a few mirrors here and there from trying to find out if they were secretly doors, and she may be pacing quickly back and forth in an attempt to cal- keep her mind on track, but she was still doing a better job than her other self! She smugly smiled.

“And just what the hell do you think is so god damn funny?” Her reflection noticed her smile. She grabbed Sherry by the collar once again. Sherry held her hands up since she would be the better detective. There was no need to get violent!

“You think this is amusing? Just a joke?” They continued. “Hanna’s missing and you’re just going to smile?! Do you even care about Hanna?! Maybe YOU don’t care about YOUR Hanna but I-”

But every detective knew there was a time to use force. Sherry clenched her right hand into a fist and punched her reflection on the jaw, causing her to let go.

“Don’t you ever say that.” Sherry said coldly. “I won’t forgive anyone who says that. Not even myself.”

“Hmph.” Her reflection spat out blood. “So at least we have that in common huh?”

…Right. The two of them were both ‘Sherry’ after all. Sherry nodded and smiled.

“Of course! And that’s why it’s important we figure out this locked room as soon as possible!”

They nodded and extended their hand. “Probably for the same reason as me huh?” The corner of their lips curled upwards.

Sherry reached out with her own hand.

“Considering…” “After all…”

“Hanna’s our princess!”

The lights flickered off and silence enveloped the room. Hanna’s heart thumped once, twice, thrice, and then the lights came back on. She looked around and saw not just one Sherry, but two, and one other Hanna too.

“Hanna!” “Hanna!” The two Sherrys yelled.

One of them had leapt at the other Hanna, while the one that Hanna knew was her Sherry let out a huge sigh of relief. She walked briskly up to her Sherry and threw her arms around her.

“I knew you’d come for me!” Hanna said, perhaps a little too loudly.

“Argh, could you be a little more quiet?”

“Of course not! It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other!”

“It couldn’t have been THAT long!”

“And I missed you a whole bunch! Do you have any idea how scared I was?”

It was true. Hanna did miss Sherry a lot, even if it was just for a short period of time. She was glad that nothing had happened to her.

“Well, now that wouldn’t do for a princess now would it?” Sherry replied while hugging Hanna back, taking her by surprise.

“…I know that’s a different Sherry but seeing you act like that is… very shocking.” The other Hanna replied.

“Right, right?! But you know, she’s just like me too!” The other Sherry nodded her head. “She was super worried about her Hanna, just like I was!”

“Wha- No I wasn’t!”

“Yes you were!”

The four of them stared at each other before Hanna burst out laughing. It was a truly ridiculous situation.

“Still, wow, I didn’t expect to see Sherry to smile all the time like that.” Hanna nodded to herself. “Maybe you should learn a thing or two from that version of yourself!”

“Oh shut up.” Her Sherry pouted. “As if I would ever act like an muscle brained idiot like that.”

“Hey!” The other Hanna yelled. “Watch your mouth.” She glared at Sherry.

“I- Uh-” Sherry stuttered, not used to having Hanna yelling at her like that, even if it was another Hanna. “S-sorry?”

“Hmph.”

Hanna laughed. “Well, I suppose we should probably head back now right? I think we’ve seen all the house had to offer.”

“Eh~ But what if we could see another version of ourselves if we stayed here longer? What if we had ten pairs of us! Right Hanna?” The other Sherry seemed excited by the idea.

Hanna thought about it for a second. “Hey, wait, that could be a fun idea! Right Sherry?”

“No way!” “Absolutely not!” The other two shouted in unison.

“Aw… Can we at least continue on our date Hanna?”

The other Hanna blushed but nodded. “Yes, I think that sounds like a great idea.” Hanna had a feeling that like herself, the other Hanna was really looking forward to their date today.

“Yay!” The other Sherry grabbed her Hanna’s hand and the two of them turned to leave down the corridor. The two of them looked back briefly and waved farewell. “I hope you two enjoy the rest of your date as well!”

Hanna smiled. It was refreshing to see Sherry act so happy, even if it was quite out of character. At the same time it was comforting to know that the two of them even in another universe still loved each other all the same. She gripped her Sherry’s hand who seemed strangely quiet.

“Sherry? Is there something wrong?” Hanna asked.

“…Nothing. Come on let’s go.” Sherry shook her head.

For a so called cold detective, Sherry’s emotions were rather easy to read. Hanna giggled.

“What’s so funny?”

“I just…” Hanna almost doubled over from laughter. “Are you… Are you jealous of yourself?”

“How did- No!”

Her attempts at firmly denying it just made it funnier to Hanna. She wouldn’t have made it out of the house if it wasn’t for Sherry dragging her alone.

“Jealous… of yourself… Oh my god, that’s so funny- I can’t stop laughing.”

“Oh come on!” Sherry frowned. “I’m not!”

“You’re not fooling me Sherry!” Hanna smugly smiled. “You may be a detective, but I guarantee you I’m the number one Sherry expert!”

“…” The subject of Hanna’s PhD gave up on responding. Instead, Sherry just looked away.

“Even if there were a million other Sherrys, I’d always pick you.” Hanna let go of Sherry’s hand so she could hug Sherry from behind.

Sherry didn’t respond but her cheeks were tinged with a hint of red. Hanna smiled. “What about you?” She asked, knowing the answer.

“Idiot. You already know.”

“Come on, I want you to say it though! I command you as your princess!”

“Hey, don’t say that so loud!” Sherry looked around to see if there was anybody near them.

“Then you better hurry up and say it! Otherwise I’ll say it louder! I, Hanna Tono am Sherry Tachibana’s prin-”

“Okay, okay! Damn it all!” Sherry turned to face Hanna, face flushed bright red at this point, and got on her knee to hold Hanna’s hand. “Of course I’d pick you out of all the Hannas that exist! You’re my one and only princess!”

Glancing to the side to hide her embarrassed face, Sherry continued. “And that means I’m your one and only prince too, got it?” She gently kissed Hanna’s hand, which made Hanna grin from ear to ear.

“Of course!” Hanna crouched down and hugged Sherry from the front this time. “I love you Sherry!”

“…you too.”

“Louder!”

“I love you too damn it!”

“Ehehe~”

It was comforting to know that even in another universe, the two of them were together. Hanna gripped Sherry tighter. And out of respect of all the other Hannas and Sherrys out there, she’d make sure to keep loving her own. Just like how she was sure Sherry would do the same for her.

Afterword

Wow, September already! I checked how the Femslash Big Bang worked and didn’t realize that posting would start next month! I have already finished my fic featuring yours truly (my recent obsession), so I hope you all enjoy it when it’s posted! I could split up the releases but I think I’ll probably post it all at once (like a big bang haha get it I’m so funny (sorry)).

Anyways, more about this fic, I struggled a little with what I was going to write at first, I actually was thinking of one that was more like an old doujin I read with Kaguya and Mokou taking place from the perspective of the mirror. Unfortunately I think that concept doesn’t work as well in text form, and as I pondered I eventually thought about mirrors, parallel selves, and well this came a result of that!

It was actually kind of hard for me to write a “parallel” Sherry and Hanna, so I hoped while they came off as different, they weren’t so different that they didn’t feel like Sherry and Hanna, but at the same time not so similar that they were basically the same Sherry and Hanna we all know and love. This also came at the price of wow, it was even kind of hard for me to write the main Sherry and Hanna!

This fic, much like this afterword, got a lot longer than I initially intended it to be, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! As always, thanks for reading!