‘Kokoro!’ a voice said. Not Aki’s, but someone from behind her.

She barely had time to think before she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around with a jolt.

It was Fuka.

Fuka, and Subaru, and Masamune, and Ureshino, and Rion.

They’d all come back. Her wish had been granted.

‘Is it Aki?’ Masamune asked, and Kokoro nodded.

‘Yes!’

That short exchange was enough. While Kokoro thrust her hand beyond the clock, the friends took hold of her and each other in a line like in a tug-of-war, and they yanked with every ounce of strength they could muster.

‘Heave-ho!’ she heard Subaru call out.

‘We’re not letting go of you, even if it means we all die!’

She felt something slipping.

They all shut their eyes and pulled harder.

This wasn’t The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats, but more like the Grimms’ story The Enormous Turnip, Kokoro thought. And suddenly she felt a weight lifted off her.

We can do it, she said to herself.

‘Here we go, Aki!’

‘Heeeave-hooo!’ they shouted. The tops of Aki’s fingers began to emerge from behind the clock.

The momentum sent them all tumbling backwards down the staircase.

AT THE TOP OF THE staircase, in front of the grandfather clock, lay Aki.

‘Aki!’ Kokoro shouted, and raced back up the stairs.

‘Aki, you idiot!’ both Masamune and Rion said. ‘Seriously, you deserve a good kick in the butt,’ added Rion.

Aki looked as if she’d just emerged from underwater.

Her face was all wet – she’d been crying so hard and for so long.

‘I’m so sorry!’ Aki managed to speak through her sobs. Eyes bloodshot, she looked at each of them in turn.

‘I’m so sorry. I—’

‘You complete idiot!’ This from Fuka, echoing the boys. Fuka’s face was just as flushed and wet with tears as Aki’s. ‘What are we going to do!’ she squealed. ‘We’ve used up our one wish – to rescue you!’

‘I’m truly, truly sorry. I—’

‘Thank God,’ Fuka said, and clung to Aki’s neck in a tight hug. ‘Thank God you’re all right.’

Aki’s eyes widened, but they were blank. Arms wrapped around Fuka, she gazed at each of them again.

Perhaps she noticed that they weren’t actually angry.

She let out a long, deep sigh.

WITHOUT WARNING, THEY BECAME AWARE of the sound of hands softly clapping.

They knew without even turning around who it was.

They also knew that their last hour of friendship was here. They knew, and they were ready.

Since the wish had been granted, the group would now lose all memory of ever having been to the castle.

The moment of farewell had finally arrived.

‘Wolf Queen.’

As one they turned to face her.

‘Well done, indeed.’

She was standing at the bottom of the staircase in the grand foyer, daintily clapping her small hands.

Closure

Subaru was in 1985.

Aki, 1992.

Kokoro and Rion, 2006.

Masamune, 2013.

Fuka, 2020.

Ureshino,?