‘See you tomorrow,’ Kokoro said, emphasizing the words more than usual.

‘Yeah. See you tomorrow. At school.’

‘MUM, I’M GOING TO GO to school tomorrow.’

Kokoro’s mother looked momentarily blank, as if time had stopped. But it was only an instant. ‘Oh, is that so?’ she said.

Kokoro knew she was deliberately showing a lack of concern. Kokoro had bided her time, avoiding saying anything until the day before she was due to go in. The evening of the ninth.

They were doing the washing up together when Kokoro gave her the news.

‘Are you sure you’re OK with that?’ Her mother avoided her eye. Kokoro followed suit, keeping her gaze on her hands as she dried the plates.

‘I’m fine with it. I’d actually like to try going in, even for one day.’

She planned to arrive after lessons had started at nine-thirty.

And go straight to the nurse’s office instead of her classroom.

And straight back home if she couldn’t manage it.

She explained the plan to her mother. ‘So don’t worry about me,’ she pleaded.

‘Do you want me to go with you?’

‘No, I’ll be fine,’ Kokoro said.

In all honesty, though, she would have loved for her to come.

Her heart was pounding. Just the image of the hallways and the front entrance was enough to make her freeze up.

But the rest of the group would no doubt come in alone, without a parent.

Masamune’s parents, so down on the state school system, would definitely not accompany him. And Subaru wasn’t even living with his parents.

Ureshino, Fuka and Aki might bring their mothers along, but if even one of them arrived on their own, Kokoro wanted to do the same.

Her mother said she’d contact the school – Mr Ida – to tell them in advance that Kokoro would be going in the next day.

‘This is so sudden. Why don’t you go a little later? Like next week.’

‘But it’s the opening ceremony.’

‘What?’ her mother said. She put down a wet plate, and wiped her hands on her apron. ‘The opening ceremony was the end of last week. On the sixth of January.’

‘What?’

Her mother brought out a piece of paper which had been lying in the small rack for letters in the living room: a note from school that Tojo-san had delivered. Kokoro usually just handed these to her mother without looking at them.

On the school events calendar, sure enough the opening ceremony was on January the sixth.

‘You’re right.’

As the opening ceremony had already happened at the end of last week, lessons would begin the next day. A three-day weekend, including the Coming-of-Age holiday, fell in between, but the first day of class was tomorrow.

Had Masamune misunderstood? She suddenly wanted to dash back into the castle to check, but that night, her mirror didn’t shine. She regretted not exchanging phone numbers.