‘Hold on a sec!’ Masamune said.

Too late.

‘When you have anything else to ask, you know where I am,’ the Wolf Queen said. And then she vanished.

The group were left staring at each other.

‘That girl said, You will all simply return to your own realities, didn’t she?’

‘What?’

They looked at Subaru. He was always so mature, so easy-going. If anyone could get away with calling her that girl, it was him.

Subaru looked at Masamune.

‘Our worlds won’t vanish, won’t be weeded out. She sort of dodged the question of parallel worlds, but at least the Wolf Queen said, your own realities. That must mean something. She seemed to be saying we could see each other, yet the worlds we all live in seem to be different.’

‘And no one can reach anyone else’s world.’

Wouldn’t it be awesome if the others could join my world, thought Kokoro. She could take them to her school. If only she could do that …

I SOMETIMES FIND MYSELF DREAMING.

A new transfer student has started at our school, and everyone wants to be friends with them. The most cheerful, kind and athletic person in our class. And smart, too.

Out of all my classmates this new student picks me out with a generous smile, as dazzling as the sun, and says, ‘Kokoro-chan, it’s been such a long time.’

The other students can’t believe it. ‘What?’ they say, looking at me meaningfully. ‘Do you two already know each other?’

In another world, we were already friends.

There’s nothing special about me. I’m not athletic, and I’m not smart. There’s nothing about me anyone would envy.

It’s only that we had the chance to meet before, and form a special bond.

We go everywhere together: when we move to a different classroom, when we go for break, and when we walk through the school gates at the end of the day.

Sanada’s gang may be dying to be friends with them, but all the student says is, ‘I’m with Kokoro-chan.’

So I am no longer alone.

I’ve been hoping something like this will happen for such a long time.

Though I know it never will.

And it didn’t this time, either.

‘SHOULDN’T WE MAKE THAT OUR wish?’ Fuka said, startling Kokoro out of her reverie. ‘We should use the Wishing Key to ask that all our worlds become one.’

‘Um,’ said Aki.

I’m not saying you can’t. Kokoro remembered the Wolf Queen’s words.

‘Aha … so we probably can use the Wishing Key to make all our worlds one,’ said Kokoro.

‘Yeah. Then we can all meet up in the outside world. Isn’t that what the Wolf Queen meant when she said, I’m not saying you can’t?’