Gripping the letter, Kokoro looked up and gazed at Moé’s home, two doors down from hers. The house looked quiet.

Leaning against the front door, she quickly slid her fingers under the envelope flap and opened it.

The letter contained a single line.

To Kokoro-chan. I’m sorry. From Moé.

Her eyes scanned the line over and over, struck by the way she was addressed.

To Kokoro-chan.

She recalled the moment when they’d just become friends, and Moé’s voice when she said, Kokoro-chan. She missed hearing it.

She had no idea what Tojo-san was apologizing for, or why she’d written the note. But she knew she’d done it on her own. She could sense this from its brevity.

Kokoro slid the note back into the envelope, bit her lip, and closed her eyes.

‘LISTEN, EVERYONE.’

When she was back in the castle the next day, Masamune wanted their attention. ‘I’m going to a new school.’

They stared at him. ‘I went to look at it,’ he said. ‘It’s about a one-hour commute away, but my dad’s friend has a son going there, too. It’s a private junior high. I took the entrance exam for transfer students and they announced the results yesterday. I passed.’

‘Really?’ they all said – casually, but tension was ratcheting up. Starting in April – that was next month.

If Masamune decides to go to a new school, Kokoro thought, then that’s a good thing.

But the thought of someone among them beginning somewhere new made her chest tighten in panic. It wasn’t Masamune’s fault, but the news hurt.

‘How do you feel about it?’ Subaru asked.

Masamune turned slowly, and a little stiffly, to face him.

‘I mean, you originally said you didn’t want to transfer. But now you’re agreeing to it?’ Subaru pressed.

‘Yeah. Because it’s the beginning of a new school year.’

‘I see.’

‘Actually, I might switch schools too,’ Ureshino piped up. All eyes were now on him. ‘I might go abroad with my mother … Not straight away, though.’

Ureshino looked uneasily over at Rion.

‘I told her someone I know goes to school abroad, but she said she didn’t want me to go alone like you, Rion.’

Ureshino’s family sounded wealthy enough to change plans quickly.

‘My mother said it must have been hard for your parents to send you away like that. She said she wouldn’t have been able to.’

‘It might not have been such a big decision for my parents, really …’ Rion said. ‘Are you coming to Hawaii? Or somewhere else? Like Europe or something? I’d like it if you came to Hawaii, though we couldn’t hang out together or anything, could we.’

‘Yeah, I had the same idea for a second, that if I go to Hawaii I can see you. But that’s not going to happen.’