Reflection

White.

It was all encompassing in this featureless void stretching out as far as imaginable. At the center of it was a small table with two people sitting across from each other. They were two boys who looked identical to one another in every way but one, their facial expressions. 

The boy on the right fixed his eyes solely on the space below him with a sullen look in his eyes, while the boy on the left wore a satisfied, slight smile. It was the latter who spoke first. 

"Is there anything you regret?"

Silence.

"Come on. Just answer me."

He was met with silence once again, but instead of pressing any further this time, he simply waited for his other to open up.

"...What's the point in asking me that now?", the sullen boy asked.

"Well, aren't you bored just sitting there? We don't have anything else to do, so we might as well talk, right?"

The sullen boy finally looked up at his doppelganger and then towards the space above him.

"I'd say...

I regret having parents."

***

*Buzz Buzz*
Rin lay in his bed wide awake, ignoring his phone's alarm blaring next to him loudly. His gaze was fixed on the ceiling above him. He made no effort to get up and wouldn't have if not for the fact he heard his own voice telling him to.

"Come on. Turn that thing off."

The boy turned sluggishly onto his side, finally silencing his phone and getting up. His room was nearly empty as it only contained the bare necessities like a bed to sleep in and a desk to work at. Perhaps the most eye-catching object though was the dresser with a large mirror atop it sitting in the corner. 

Rin pulled open one of its drawers in search of a fresh set of clothes. He dug past a variety of outfits including a high school uniform which had gone unused for a while and eventually settled on a simple t shirt and shorts.

"Showing up in casual wear would be pretty rude, don't you think?" 

Suddenly realizing how odd it was hearing his own voice coming from something other than him, Rin looked up towards the source. Nothing immediately stood out as unordinary, but something about his mirror just felt off. 

He leaned in, examining his reflection as closely as he could. And after what felt like an eternity, he saw it. 

A slight smile.

He stepped backwards and then rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. But there was no mistaking what he saw next. His reflection's mouth opened, taking a breath before it spoke.

"I know this is shocking for you, but..."

Whatever he was going to say next didn't matter as Rin promptly fainted and fell onto the floor. 

***

An hour later, Rin awoke to the sight of his ceiling again. But this time, he immediately sat up and gauged his surroundings. With minimal movements, he took note of a bunch of things, most notably; his position in front of the dresser, his phone lying on the floor beside him, and his mother looking down on him through a now opened door.

"What are you doing?", she asked. 

Rin didn't respond as he averted his gaze. She ignored this and placed a folded suit on top of the dresser nearby. 

"Wear this. And don't sleep on the floor." 

Out of the corner of his eye, Rin noticed a distortion in the mirror. He instantly recalled what happened before and right on cue, his reflection showed up to wave at him. 

"Can you look at my mirror?", he asked.

His mother rolled her eyes, only obliging her son because of how simple his request seemed. Yet, in spite of her coming face to face with the supernatural, she could only find one thing to comment on.

"It's dirty. Clean it up."

She briskly exited the room after that, but not before reminding her offspring about the suit she'd left for him while muttering something under her breath.

"Stop wasting time..."

The door closed, leaving Rin all by himself. At least, he would have been if not for his mirror's peculiarity. 

"It's frustrating, but you're the only one who can see me.", his reflection said.

Still adjusting to the extremity of the situation, Rin remained silent for a bit. His reflection took the opportunity to explain everything. 

"Listen to me carefully. I don't know why, but I suddenly appeared here and-"

"Hold on. Before any of that... Just let me sort out my thoughts."

Rin rubbed his temple furiously as if trying to force all that's transpired into his brain. It was to no avail of course, but he managed to calm down slightly, at least enough for him to engage in conversation with his reflection.

"Okay... so what are you exactly?"

"Simple. I'm you but from the future."

"...I'm sorry?"

"I'm your future self."

"Could you repeat that?"

"Well, it's only natural you don't believe me."

They had reached another standstill. Despite this though, the initial shock of the situation was beginning to wear off. 

Rin found himself growing more and more comfortable with what was happening. What he was hearing was quite jarring still, but he realized that all he needed to do was squeeze as much information out of his uninvited guest as possible. 

After all, he was free to entertain the scenario all he wanted without any consequence. Worst case scenario, he could ignore everything his reflection said and carry on with his day as if nothing was wrong.

"Tell you what? I'll give you a chance to prove your story."

"Hmm... What do you mean?"

"Well, if you really are from the future, then why don't you tell me what happens in it?"

His reflection crossed his arms and closed his eyes, taking a moment to consider before responding. 

"Where should I start exactly?"

"How about today's date, June 4th."

"June, huh? That's quite a while back." 

This caught Rin's attention.

"That reminds me. You were saying something before I interrupted you. Something about randomly appearing in my mirror?"

"That's right. What about it?"

"Then, what's the last day you remember being... normal?"

His reflection chuckled slightly at his phrasing. 

"Let's see. It was New Year's Eve, I think."

"New Year's Eve... So, six months then..."

After pausing briefly to take a mental note of that tidbit, Rin continued to interrogate his counterpart in the mirror.

"Anyways, let's get back to the topic at hand."

"Sorry but just knowing the date isn't that helpful. Anything else you can tell me?"

"Well... 

it's my father's funeral today."

He said it matter-of-factly and without much emotion. It almost caught his reflection off guard how dryly he spoke those words. But Rin didn't wait for him to recover before pressing further.

"So? Remember anything?"

"...Yeah, now I do."

In response to this, Rin held up three fingers on his right hand.

"Then, you'll give me three predictions. And they all have to be specific too, nothing general that could be chalked up to coincidence."

"Can't I just give you one?"

"I want three."

"I don't know what to tell you, I can't-"

"Can we stop this already?"

His reflection seemed to feign ignorance. 

Never taking his eyes off the mirror, Rin walked over to his desk and took a seat before elaborating on what he said.

"You're lying to me."

Silence. 

"You already knew what day it is today. That was clear from what you said to me before I passed out."

In a constant rhythm, he began tapping the desk with his finger.

"You said, showing up in casual wear would be pretty rude."

*Tap, tap, tap*
"I can only imagine you knew where I'd be going to be able to criticize my choice of dress like that." 

*Tap, tap, tap*
"Then there's the fact that you so confidently told me you were from the future. If you really just randomly appeared in my mirror like you said you did, then there'd be no reason to immediately assume you were sent to the past." 

*Tap, Tap, Tap*
"I didn't give you the date until later so the only way you'd be able to tell if you were from the future is if you knew beforehand." 

As his train of thought came to an end, Rin's tapping subsided, and the prior silence soon returned to replace it. 

He stood up before speaking again.

"Now, just tell me what I want to know."

His reflection raised his hand to his chin as if seriously considering the gravity of the situation. But he couldn't keep up the act any longer, his face finally cracking and letting out a tiny smirk.