After continuing down the path Hina-chan chose for a while, we unfortunately ran into a dead end.
"Ah, it's a dead end. I'm sorry."
"No, no, honestly, it'd be weirder to make it through a maze without hitting a single dead end. It's nothing you need to apologize for, Hina-chan. Just be on guard... It's probably coming."
"R-Right. It's coming, isn't it?"
Hitting a dead end wasn't an issue. There was no penalty for it, and encountering a few dead ends on your first time through a maze was practically inevitable.
However, given the concept of this attraction, it was hard to imagine the Mirror Monster wouldn't show up at a moment like this. Or perhaps, anticipating that participants would expect it to appear here, they might try to double-cross us... No, would they really make it that complicated? It would probably just show up normally right where you'd expect it to.
Keeping that in mind, I watched the mirror at the dead end in front of us as well as the ones to our left and right... and just as a dark haze flickered across the front mirror, the Mirror Monster appeared.
"Eeeek?!"
This time, the Mirror Monster's appearance was in plain view—bulging eyes, disheveled hair, bared sharp fangs... carrying an aura like a mountain hag, causing Hina-chan to scream and jump straight at me.
While slightly startled by her soft touch, I immediately raised the lantern in front of me and went to push the stone in... but faster than I could react, the Mirror Monster slipped into the mirror on the left.
"Huh? It moved?"
When I hurriedly aimed the lantern toward the left mirror, it darted back to the front one... Was it trying to fake me out...? If I fell for the feint and used the lantern, it would go on cooldown, leaving me wide open when it struck...
The Mirror Monster moved swiftly between the front, left, and right mirrors. Even if I reacted the moment I saw it, by the time I brought the lantern to bear, it had already vanished into another glass pane.
...No, but considering this was an attraction, it had to be designed so that players could repel it... Losing my cool here would be defeat. I needed to watch its movements patiently.
Though thrown off by its rapid darting, I tightened my guard. After several shifts, the Mirror Monster came to a halt in the front mirror. I swiftly raised the lantern and pushed the stone in, banishing the creature into nothingness along with a shriek.
I see. It was programmed to pause after a set number of movements; if you panicked at the intensity of its initial jump scare and used the lantern right away, you would fail.
"Hina-chan, it's alright now."
"T-T-That was terrifying! It has such a scary face..."
"It certainly had a look that would startle anyone if it suddenly lunged at them up close."
It definitely had an imposing presence reminiscent of a mountain hag, but if we were talking sheer visual terror, I felt the Dimensional Beasts over at Gluttony-san's place were far scarier.
Well, in any case, we managed to repel it, so all was well.
"...Hina-chan, um, you can let go now..."
"Huh? Ah, I-I'm so sorry?!"
"No, it came out so suddenly that it's only natural you were startled."
Since Hina-chan was clinging tightly to my side, I subtly hinted at it, causing her cheeks to flush with embarrassment as she hurriedly pulled away. Still, whether because the fear lingered or something else, after letting go for a brief second, she wrapped her arms around mine once more and hugged it close.
Of course, it wasn't that I disliked being held like this. I was a guy too, so having a pretty girl like Hina-chan cling to me was actually quite nice, and contextually speaking, you could call it a lucky perk.
However, if possible, I didn't want to make an unsightly, sloppy face. Right now, how should I put it... unless it was sheer vanity, I felt like she saw me as a kind, dependable senior, so I had the pride of not wanting to shatter that good image.
That said, acting all cool and aloof wasn't my style either, so I wanted to keep things as natural as possible without letting it get to my head.
Well, the moment my arm was pinned against her, staying completely indifferent was impossible... but I still wanted to be as much of a cool senior as I could.
"For now, once we clear an ambush like this, it seems unlikely there'll be another until we get back to the fork in the path, so shall we head back?"
"Yes. But it even pulls feints like that, doesn't it?"
"It has a surprising amount of variations. I thought disguising itself as me or you would be the main trick, but to think it would reveal its true form like that and throw us off with speed..."
"For that one, if you had quickly aimed the lantern and pressed it right at the start using Physical Enhancement, could you have beaten it without letting it move?"
"Hmm, no matter how fast you aim or press it, there's a slight time lag between pushing the stone in and the lantern releasing its light. To put it in meta terms, if it's scripted to move in response to the motion of pushing the stone, that might be impossible."
The Mirror Monster's movement just now was ultimately an attraction gimmick, so I didn't think it was designed to be bypassed by brute-forcing it with physical abilities. Or rather, with Alice supervising, she would naturally have accounted for that sort of thing.
Therefore, the Mirror Monster stopping after darting around several times... was the intended window to strike. If you pushed the stone into the lantern anywhere else, it would probably just slip into another mirror before the light burst out.
"...You could be just a little more conscious of me, though..."
"Hm? Hina-chan, what did you just say...?"
"Ah, um, it's nothing! Let's head back!!"
"Huh? Y-Yeah."
Hina-chan had muttered something under her breath, but since I couldn't make out the words, I asked, only for her to flash a smile insisting it was nothing before squeezing my arm even tighter.
Serious-senpai: "Gwaaah, t-this is... It's definitely not a calculated strategy, but an accidental reaction born from pure fear that made her cling on impulse, yet completely setting that aside, it's the maiden heart that feels a bit sulky because he isn't flustered by her in the slightest... Guh?!"
???: "...Are you a Romance Expert or somethin'-ssu?"