‘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,?

THEY CHECKED WITH EACH other to see what year they were living in and where.

In the trashed Game Room, they spread out a sheet of paper and wrote it all down.

‘I don’t remember what year it is,’ Ureshino said, and the rest knew exactly where he was coming from.

Sometimes you could be well aware of the day of the week and the month, but scarcely aware of the actual year.

A stir swept through them as they digested each other’s details, particularly the moment they realized that Subaru was still in 1985.

‘That’s back in Emperor Shōwa’s era!’ Masamune said, and Subaru replied, ‘Sure. Sounds about right.’ But he looked confused, and Kokoro realized even the mention of Shōwa didn’t click with him.

Then Subaru said: ‘Didn’t the world end in 1999? You know, after Nostradamus’s great prophecy? Whoa. It’s a relief to know it didn’t.’ He smiled and no one knew if he was joking or not, or whether he had actually believed it.

‘Of course it never ended,’ Masamune said caustically. ‘I mean, when you were playing my state-of-the-art video games, didn’t you ever think anything was weird? Maybe that the screen was so clear and sharp? Back in your time, Subaru, weren’t consoles really simple machines?’

‘I never played them much, so I just thought that’s what they must be like. You said your friend made the game, so I thought it wasn’t on sale yet and you’d got hold of an advance copy or something.’

‘Me too,’ Kokoro said. ‘I did think it was quite odd. The Nintendo DS you had, Masamune, wasn’t like the one I have.’