Masamune shrugged. ‘I thought it was a possibility. It’s pretty unique, don’t you think, for us to gather here? If we’re representatives of seven worlds, then this is like a world summit or something. There’s gotta be something they want us representatives to do. And then I remembered – the quest for the key.’

Masamune waited a moment. ‘I feel like the Wishing Key that grants wishes is suggestive of something. Only the world of the person who finds the key survives, and the rest all vanish. I was thinking maybe this is how our game plays out.’

‘All worlds except one disappear?’

Disappear – the idea didn’t seem quite real, and Kokoro had her doubts.

Kokoro’s home, waiting for her when she went back through the mirror. Her parents, her school; like it or not, the real class with Miori Sanada and Tojo-san.

How could they all vanish?

I can’t bear to think about it. And then another emotion welled up inside her, which felt unexpected. Actually – it might be OK after all. It might be OK if they all somehow disappear. She wasn’t planning on going back to school. And she couldn’t picture herself starting at some other school.

A hope had always burned inside her: the possibility that she could meet these kids outside the castle. Thinking that the others existed somewhere out there had been like the beam from a lighthouse, shining in the dark sea of her heart.

How had the others understood it? She didn’t know. The one thing they did seem to share, though, was a sense of bewilderment. Kokoro hadn’t thought about it in ages – this Wishing Key they’d once falteringly searched for but never found. Masamune’s story seemed even more believable.

Apart from the world of the person who located the key, everyone else’s worlds would vanish.

‘The Wolf Queen told us, didn’t she?’ Masamune said. ‘That if a wish is granted then all of our memories will disappear. But if the key isn’t found, and a wish isn’t granted, our memories remain. Even when the castle has closed for good, we will never forget what happened here.’

‘Right.’

‘The Wolf Queen’s told us that many times. We’re here in order to weed out people’s worlds other than our own.’

‘That sounds right,’ Subaru said.

‘If that’s true, then isn’t it better not to find the Wishing Key?’ Fuka asked. A trace of sadness – and terror at the alternative outcome Masamune was suggesting – showed in her eyes.

Hearing this stated so baldly left them all stunned. Fuka stared fixedly downwards. ‘And it’s already February,’ she said. ‘We have less than two months. All we’ll have left is the memory of having been here, right? If that’s true, then I want to hold on to that memory.’ Fuka’s voice seemed to resonate within their silent circle.