Eyes shut tight, she didn’t know how to respond, and just gave a firm nod.

The very idea that she didn’t need to fight made her whole body feel enveloped in peace.

When she next opened her eyes, she felt more in control of herself. Ms Kitajima was gazing at her, and Kokoro gazed back.

‘What I want to do – is go home.’

Ms Kitajima nodded.

KOKORO’S MOTHER CAME FROM WORK to pick her up. The nurse had apparently contacted her just after Kokoro fainted.

Kokoro lay down slowly on the sofa, while her mother sat silently beside her.

Half an hour later, Ms Kitajima came by.

She had wheeled Kokoro’s bike back.

Then she explained that the reason Tojo-san was at the school entrance later than usual was because she had felt a cold coming on, and had stopped at the pharmacy on her way to school.

That’s all Ms Kitajima told her, nothing more.

Kokoro suddenly remembered.

Mr Ida had wanted Miori and Kokoro to speak to each other, and didn’t Ms Kitajima want Kokoro and Tojo-san to see each other, too?

Kokoro’s mother asked her to go upstairs while she and Ms Kitajima talked over things alone for a while.

Kokoro took a deep breath, and looked hesitantly up the stairs. After the events of the morning, she was now afraid of going into her room.

There’s no seventh-grader with that name.

The nurse hadn’t looked like she was lying.

Did it mean that everything that had happened in the castle was in Kokoro’s head? If the illusion was undone, then wouldn’t the mirror stop shining?

Kokoro climbed the stairs and boldly pushed open the door. She gasped.

The mirror was shining.

She remembered how they’d all promised each other what they’d do.

If the nurse’s office didn’t work, then they’d go to the library.

If the library was out, then the music room.

And if none of those worked, they’d make a run for it.

They promised to run away from school, and come back through the mirrors to the castle.

And her mirror was calling out that promise to Kokoro.

DOWNSTAIRS, HER MOTHER AND MS Kitajima were still talking.

Kokoro didn’t know how long they would take. And they might suddenly ask her to join them.

It was entirely possible, if she didn’t answer, that they’d think it odd and come upstairs to look. But still, her desire to go through the mirror was even stronger.

She placed her hands on the mirror and, as ever, her palms fitted perfectly, as if being sucked through the surface of water. She splayed out her fingers and sank into the glow.

Everyone will be there, she told herself.

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF the mirror, the castle was silent.

None of the other mirrors was shining.

Oh. No one is here yet, she thought.