Hurry! Hurry!
Every morning, we take the road to school from our dorm and through the town.
They call the sight the Flock of Starlings. The town's famous for it.
Sorry, I'll see you at school.
Io?
Excuse me!
May I help you carry that?
Oh, you wouldn't mind?
Not a bit.
I want to be helpful to others.
I appreciate it.
This is so heavy.
Io's an angel!
Taurus Magic: Gugalanna!
Huh?! Io?!
Hey, Io! What are you doing?!
Oh, Professor Claude.
Good morning.
I thought I'd help this old lady out.
You're holding her like King Kong!
Don't worry. I'm holding her gently.
That's not the issue here!
Io's a really good girl, but she's also really ditzy.
I see...
You had good intentions in trying to help an old lady with a cane.
However...
Your Giant Magic makes you exceptionally large, even compared to other Tauruses,
AVERAGE PERSON
AVERAGE GIANT MAGIC SIZE
which is both a talent and a curse.
You see why that would cause a panic if you use it in the middle of town, yes?
A panic...
I'm sorry. I just want to be helpful, but it never works out.
Do you want to try volunteering?
Volunteering?
You'd be serving the academy, helping with cleaning
and taking care of younger students and such.
Normally, it's used as punishment for students who break the rules.
I'd love to!
Y-Yeah?
Well, then, let's have you work with him.
Castor.
Yeah?
You'll be participating.
Huh? Why should I?
You got in a fight again, didn't you? We got complaints from other students.
I just scared off a kid who was ogling Pollux.
You took it too far.
Let's do this, Castor!
No way.
Why, though?
Volunteering is just virtue signaling.
You're still being virtuous, even if it's just signaling.
Shut it!
Maybe putting these polar opposites together isn't such a good idea.
All right, Io, Castor, Spica,
you three will be cleaning the middle school's Building Two.
We'll be using this place for classes starting next year,
so put your backs into it.
It's pretty gross.
I guess it's been neglected for a while.
Uh... Professor, may I ask something?
What is it?
Why am I here with them?!
Because I can't trust these two on their own!
Please! I'll give you pudding!
Nothing in my character profile says I like pudding!
I know! I'm sorry! Please!
Sure, fine.
Really?
Io's doing it to be helpful, right?
I should learn from her. I'll give it a try.
Spica!
Yeah! The three of us can do this together!
Thanks, Spica.
I'll give you two puddings.
Five, please.
Three.
But I had forgotten...
Castor, you have to work.
Sheesh!
This spot's all done.
Okay, let's start mopping.
Okay.
Here I go!
What is this intensity?
It's almost like...
an out-of-control charging bull!
Io, stop!
That's right.
I'd forgotten that Io has absurd strength.
How did this happen?!
I'm sorry.
I've never been good at self-restraint.
I always end up using way more strength than I mean to.
Taurus Magic makes the user's body stronger.
But once in a while, there are students who can't control their own strength,
and it gets out of control.
Io...
Go back to your dorms for today.
We'll continue tomorrow.
Okay.
Don't be so down, Io.
All you did was wreck a wall. It's not a big deal.
I'm so useless.
Castor!
So why do you want to help other people?
There's someone I look up to.
I want to become like them.
Huh? Who? Your crush?
Professor Deneb, the nurse.
She's always helping the students. She's like an angel.
Professor Deneb's Taurus Magic
lets her strengthen not just her own body, but other people's, too.
I could do so much for people if I could do that.
I'm sure you can do it.
Nah.
Professor Deneb teaches the Zodiac Mastery class.
She teaches us healing magic,
but it's too hard for me because I'm not good at controlling my own power.
I don't have any confidence that I could do that.
Maybe not now, but keep working at it, and someday...
It's not happening.
Castor!
It's irresponsible to baselessly encourage someone.
She doesn't have to give up before she's even tried!
Can you take responsibility when she fails?
Calm down, you two!
Why is he being so abrasive?
I understand what Castor's trying to say,
and I appreciate your encouragement, Spica.
I just wish you wouldn't fight.
Io...
H-Hey...
You're the ones cleaning Building Two, right?
Are you from the middle school? What's wrong?
Please...
Help us save Comet.
Comet?
Our dog.
We picked up a stray.
We couldn't keep him in our dorms, so we were keeping him in Building Two,
but he heard a loud noise and ran off scared.
It's my fault!
We were looking for him and found this.
His name tag was in front of the big mirror in the storage room.
The big mirror?
They took him!
The ghosts of the mirror world!
Gh-Ghosts?!
Rumors say that if you stand in front of it at sunset,
a girl's arm grabs you and drags you into the mirror.
That must be what happened to Comet.
We won't be able to keep him if we go to the professors.
So please, help us.
Professor Claude said taking care of the younger students was part of volunteering.
Let's do this!
Let's find Comet!
Does she mean...
we're going into the mirror, too?!
The mirror belonged to a girl living in a mansion.
But the girl died in a fire.
The mirror survived the fire and changed hands several times,
but sometimes a girl would show up in it, or its owners would go missing.
All sorts of weird things happened.
Even now, stored away in Diana,
the girl is waiting for an opportunity to drag us into the mirror.
Calm down, Io! It's just a rumor!
So then, this is that big mirror?
Magicians afraid of ghosts? That's hilarious.
Stop it!
I can't help that it's scary!
It won't open.
That's weird. It was just open before.
It says something on top.
You're right.
I wonder what it says.
Let's see...
"Present your likeness,
and you shall be invited into the depths of the magic mirror."
I think.
It opened!
How do you go in?
Spica, is it safe to get close?
Spica!
You guys!
You two stay here!
Call for a professor if we aren't back in an hour!
Got it?
They really went inside the mirror...
Io.
Io!
Io, are you all right?
A-Are we inside the mirror?
It's like an infinite mirror hallway.
I guess we should keep going.
How far does it go?
It probably goes on infinitely.
Look, there's a door.
You're right. There's one here, too.
That's odd...
All the other furnishings are the same,
but only the doors are different kinds.
Maybe we should go inside one.
B-But what if there's a ghost?
We're going to have to find the ghost if we want to find the dog.
That's true, but...
What's wrong?
S-S-Something was just there!
Begone.
C-Castor, did you say something?
Huh? I didn't say anything.
But I just heard a deep voice say something.
Thick legs.
It said I have thick legs!
You're awful, Castor.
I never said that!
You're trying to scare us, aren't you?
I-I'm not!
The ghost is going to get us!
Spica, what's wrong?
Was it the ghost?
What do we do, Castor?
O Lord, deliver us from evil.
Huh? What is that? A cross?
O Lord, deliver us from evil.
Are you scared?
What? I'm just stretching.
I was getting ready to ream the ghost.
It's all dark!
Castor, use your magic to make light!
I-I know!
Gemini Magic!
Gh-Ghost!
That's a ghost, right?!
That's a ghost! Right?!
S-S-Stay calm, Spi-Spi.
Now you're giving me a nickname?!
M-Maybe she's just a lost girl.
And look carefully. A puppy!
You're right!
A-Are you alone?
May we have a look at the doggy?
We're looking for a dog named Comet.
Get lost.
Get lost!
We'll kill you!
Whore!
Giant girl!
Leave this world, you pigs!
Io, this is bad! Let's retreat!
How is she a "girl"?!
Pigs! Pigs!
Find somewhere to escape!
Damn it, does this door not have a lock?!
I've never seen a room like this.
Shh.
Her footsteps vanished.
It's safe.
She isn't chasing us, and the lights are back on.
That was scary.
But how are we going to get Comet back?
Blast her with magic.
Does magic work on ghosts?
Magic...
Do you think...
Spica!
She vanished!
Did the ghost take her?
Oh, no!
This is terrible.
It's my fault.
It's because I said we should try to help them by ourselves.
Now's not the time!
Spica...
Wipe your tears and get up.
That look doesn't suit you.
Castor...
Is crying going to bring Spica and Comet back?
I-It won't.
You want to be helpful, don't you?
Yeah.
Then quit moping!
Right.
I'll do my best!
Our first priority is to find Spica.
There's a good chance she's been locked away in a room.
Then should we open every door?
That's probably our only option.
Where'd that come from?!
It's a poltergeist!
Get in!
Shit, this is bad.
We can't even fight back if we can't see it.
Spica doesn't seem to be in here. We have to go to the next room!
It might be hard to search all the rooms for Spica under these conditions.
I'm going.
We have to hurry.
We don't know what she's going through.
Hold on!
We don't know where it'll hit us from!
What's that noise?
Castor! Are you okay?!
Shut up.
It's just a scrape.
You're bleeding!
Never mind that!
We need to find Spica!
But how are we going to deal with this?
She's a ghost. We can't see her or even touch her.
We're going to get wiped out!
Brother!
Pollux!
Sorry for butting in. It seemed like you were in a pinch.
Check the chandelier chain.
It looks like it was melted apart.
Like it was burnt by a beam.
Doesn't that seem pretty artificial for a ghost?
Think of it that way, and the fact that it's invisible
along with all the other odd phenomeona...
They're all things we know well.
Of course!
Hey, Io! I figured it out!
She panicked and revealed herself.
She's vanishing again, though.
She's just pretending to be invisible,
using Gemini Magic to manipulate light.
She's not a ghost.
She's a magician, just like us.
A magician?
Yeah.
Which means she has a physical form.
In that case...
I'll take it from here.
Taurus Magic: Heightened Hearing!
Even if she's invisible, if she has a physical form, she'll emit sound.
I need to listen for her footsteps... Her breathing... No, even more!
I need to hear with even more precision!
So I can hear even her heartbeat!
There!
Taurus Magic: Gugalanna!
You hurt Spica and Castor...
but you won't get away with it!
What is this strength?!
She's like a raging bull!
I guess you don't even need to see them.
I need to remember not to anger Io.
Who's this dude?!
He's no girl!
I guess he was bending light to make himself look like a girl.
So a magician dude was pretending to be a ghost girl?!
Hey! I need you to tell me where Spica is!
He's totally knocked out.
Oh, no! But we need to save her!
Io, look over there.
Flower petals?
They keep going.
Spica might have left a trail of them when she was abducted.
Let's go!
They stop in front of this door.
Okay, let's go in.
Spica!
Thank goodness!
Comet's here, too!
What's up with this room?
Middle school uniforms with photos...
Has he been stealing these?
You damn brats!
Get out of my sanctuary!
I collected these treasures myself!
I pretended to be a ghost so no one would come near me!
I can't believe I've been busted by these kids!
He's a total pervert!
Hey, mister...
I'm gonna take you to the police.
Tell us how to get back to our world.
Why the hell would I tell some handsome boy?!
Die! Die a hundred times!
Tell us where the exit is, Mister Pervert!
Find the same door as in the storage room! You can get out from there!
Looks like he's completely traumatized.
Guys!
Wh-Who are you?
Comet!
Thank you for saving Comet!
Did you take down the ghost?
She took him down.
It wasn't just me, though.
We can play with Comet again thanks to you.
Thanks so much.
Um...
Was I actually helpful?
Io looks so happy.
Did you just smile?!
Wha? I didn't smile.
No, you definitely smiled.
Of course you're happy, Brother.
You were thinking about how she's like us in that we can't control our magic.
Our body swap magic has been messing us up, so you know how she feels.
Shut up! It's not like that!
Wh-What?!
Did I say something wrong?
And that settled that.
As it turns out, he was a guard at the middle school.
We ended up getting an award from the school for what happened.
I think I've come to love myself a little more
now that I've managed to help people with my magic.
As for the mirror, it turns out that
it was a magic tool that copied whatever it reflected.
The rumors about people being dragged in
were just a story that the pervert made up.
The ghost girl was just an urban legend.
But there's just one thing that still bothers me.
The pervert insists that Comet went into the mirror by himself.
Is there any way Comet could have opened the door on his own?
I can't let Aria best me in magic!
I'm a genius. There's no point in even trying, Spica.
I won't know until I try!
Let's settle it during finals, then!
You're on!
EPISODE 17: FINALS
Next episode: "Finals."