Just before saying their goodbyes, Kokoro caught up with Masamune. They were standing in the grand foyer, about to exit the castle through their mirrors.

It was almost five o’clock.

‘Tomorrow’s the day,’ she said to him.

At that moment, the Wolf Queen’s howl rang out like a siren, signalling the closing of the castle. They’d been hit by such powerful tremors recently when they were about to exit at five o’clock that it scared them, and so they usually made sure to leave before they heard the curfew howl, fifteen minutes before the hour.

‘Yeah,’ Masamune murmured, ignoring the howl. He seemed self-conscious and reluctant to engage.

His cheeks looked pale. Kokoro didn’t know the details of what had made him drop out of school. She knew his parents were pretty progressive, and respected their son’s decision not to go, but there had to be some reason behind it all.

Just like with her.

‘Masamune,’ she said, ‘there’s a girl in my class I don’t get on with at all.’

Don’t get on with was a convenient expression. It helped her avoid all the other possible nuances – I hate her, I can’t stand her, she bullied me. What happened to Kokoro wasn’t a fight, or bullying. It was neither, she thought, but something she couldn’t put a name to. When adults and friends put it down to bullying, it made her so irritated she wanted to cry.

‘I don’t want to go to school because I know she’ll be there, but if you and the others are with me, Masamune, then I’ll be fine.’

‘What?’ Masamune said, almost inaudibly, and looked at Kokoro. ‘What the hell? Are you trying to show me how heroic you are by saying you’ll go in with me, even with all that crap that happened to you? Are you trying to show me how hard it will be for you?’

‘Not at all.’

Kokoro was relieved to hear Masamune back to his usual cynical self. Not long ago that tone might have frustrated her, but now she knew she shouldn’t take him literally. All the time they’d spent together had taught her that.

She knew that Masamune was actually grateful to her for being willing to ignore past events and meet up with him. He’d just twisted it around to sound like the opposite.

‘What I’m saying is, despite what’s going on for me,’ she said, ‘I feel safe knowing all of us will be together. You’re not the only one who’s uneasy about it. You feel you’ll be safe knowing we’ll be there. Well, we feel the same, knowing you’ll be there.’

Masamune heard her out, and was reaching for the mirror when his fingers clenched and he grabbed hold of the frame.

‘Yeah,’ he murmured.