‘Wait – didn’t I tell you people already?’ Subaru asked, sounding very much like he always did. ‘I took the entrance exam last month. It’s for Minami Tokyo Technical High School, their part-time programme.’

The news took Kokoro by surprise. She’d never got the sense that Subaru was studying for entrance exams.

‘Have you been studying?’ she asked.

‘Sort of, just before I took the exam. I met this man in Akihabara who repairs electronic goods, and I asked him about his work. He told me if I was interested, that’s all they teach at the technical high school.’

Subaru looked over at Aki. Her face had turned red.

Kokoro knew exactly how she felt.

She understood the fear. Not knowing what the future would be for her, not knowing how long she’d be like this. Seeing people who were moving on was enough to make her feel an excruciating pain in her chest.

Even Kokoro, who was just a spectator, felt Subaru’s revelation was a sort of betrayal. If he’d been studying for an exam, why hadn’t he said anything to Aki? The two of them were both in ninth grade, the most crucial time to be making a decision about their future.

He never seemed to be studying in the castle, so he must have done it at home. Was he trying to get ahead of them?

Kokoro thought Aki would feel bitter about it.

‘I see,’ was all she said, flatly.

‘I wonder if we can all meet on the last day?’ Fuka changed the subject. ‘The thirtieth of March. Not the thirty-first, right? Didn’t the Wolf Queen tell us that the last day of March was a maintenance day for the castle?’

‘Yeah.’

The day was fast approaching, the key was still not found, and no wish had been granted.

But Kokoro was fine about it.

Memories were not the only thing she’d take away from here.

The not-quite one year she’d spent here would remain. And making friends like these would be what sustained her. I do have friends, she told herself. Even if I never make any more, I’ll know I did have friends. Right here. Right now. And I’ll have that for the rest of my life.

This made her feel immeasurably more confident.

‘Let’s have a party on the last day,’ Fuka said. ‘Like we did at Christmas. And all of us bring notebooks to write messages to each other. I’m sure we’d be allowed to take them back to our own world.’

‘I’m up for it,’ Kokoro said.

As long as proof remained somewhere that they’d all once existed, they should be able to make it through.

‘KOKORO, WE HAVE SOMETHING WE need to talk about,’ her mother said one day, as the end of March approached.

Here we go, Kokoro thought.