‘Well done!’ she said, with a touch of sarcasm.

No one knew quite how to react.

Only Kokoro was brave enough to speak. ‘Wolf Queen …’ she said.

The others stared at the Wolf Queen, a look of fear frozen on their faces.

Kokoro hadn’t seen the version of the ‘huge wolf’ for herself, so she didn’t know the details of what it had done to them, but it was clear the others had experienced something unearthly before they were ‘buried’ underneath their X mark. Just from the intensity of the howls, she sensed it was indescribable, and the kids themselves were not fully conscious of it.

‘Why all the grimacing?’ the Wolf Queen said dismissively. ‘Don’t worry. Nothing will happen to you. I didn’t really want to have to do it, anyway, and I never would have had to, if somebody hadn’t broken the rules.’ The Wolf Queen cast a glance at the newly rescued Aki. ‘Think about what you did!’

‘I’m so sorry.’

Aki’s face was still pale, and she started trembling again. The Wolf Queen nodded, accepting her apology. ‘Well, you’re all safe now.’

‘Everything’s out of kilter,’ Rion said. ‘I mean, I was so frightened, scared to death.’

The Wolf Queen ignored him and pointed her muzzle towards Kokoro. Somehow she seemed to be smiling. ‘Well, you did well to work out what’s going on here. To understand that this is a castle that transcends the rules of time.’

‘Um.’ Kokoro nodded, still confused. Her eyes met the girl’s through the wolf mask. ‘You said something that led me to realize it will be possible for us to see each other. We’re all at the same school, but from different periods across time.’

Kokoro still remembered the question Rion had once asked.

It was the day Aki turned up in her school uniform, and they began to realize they were actually all at the same junior high.

You’ve done this before, bringing other Little Red Riding Hoods here and telling them they could have a wish granted, haven’t you? Were those Little Red Riding Hoods also students at Yukishina No. 5 Junior High? Every few years you bring a group of them here, don’t you? Rion had asked.

To his question, the Wolf Queen had replied: Every few years – I think it’s more consistent than that.

Still cryptic, but she’d meant it literally.

She summoned children here with a fixed number of years between them.

Not able to meet? Not able to help each other? Neither one was true. So long as they uncovered the truth.

‘The castle will be closing as pre-stated. Unfortunately, that will be today, not tomorrow,’ the Wolf Queen said haughtily.

They were prepared for this, but even so it was hard to hear.

‘So our memories will disappear?’ This from Fuka. ‘Will we really forget absolutely everything?’