Kokoro had convinced herself that, if parallel worlds existed, it would be possible that their gaming devices would not be identical.

‘You’re talking about the first-generation Nintendo DS, aren’t you? The one I was using is the third-generation DS.’

Masamune scrutinized Subaru as if studying his features for the first time. ‘I just don’t believe it. Subaru and I are, what … twenty-nine years apart in age?’

The paper recording all their timelines was now filled with myriad scribbled calculations.

‘You’re pretty sharp though, Kokoro, to notice. I never ever thought for a moment that we didn’t come from the same time period.’

‘I can’t believe it,’ Rion said, ‘but it does seem more likely than the parallel world idea Masamune had.’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Masamune said, frowning a bit. ‘Sorry I scared you.’

‘Look, aren’t there seven years between each of us?’ Fuka laid a finger across each of their years. ‘Seven might be an especially significant number here. There are seven of us, and the seven hiding places were taken from the story The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats.’

‘You’re right.’

Once they’d established this fact, all kinds of other things became clear.

For instance, all the different iterations of the shopping centre, and the location of McDonald’s.

Aki came from Minami Tokyo City of the past.

In the future, Careo probably developed into an even bigger shopping mall with its own movie theatre. Just as Masamune and Fuka described it.

‘So Ureshino must be from between Aki and Kokoro’s years. There’s a fourteen-year gap there, instead of seven. So Ureshino should be from the year 1999, no?’

‘Eh? Really?’ Ureshino looked pensive for a moment, but then shook his head. ‘Nah, I don’t think so. I mean, I was born in 2013.’

‘What?’ they exclaimed.

‘So that would mean …’ Fuka said, gazing off as she computed the numbers. ‘That for you, Ureshino, right now it is 2027. You should have told us that from the start.’

‘2027! That’s really incredible! So you’re from way off in the future?’ Subaru said, looking stunned.

‘I guess I am,’ Ureshino said, tilting his head.

Listening to this exchange, Kokoro said quietly, ‘Just wow …’

In the 2006 that she lived in, Ureshino wasn’t even born yet. It was hard to wrap her mind around it.

‘So Kokoro, Rion and I are the only ones with fourteen years between us,’ Aki murmured slowly. ‘How come?’

After such prolonged crying, Aki’s face was still pale, but Kokoro could sense she was getting back to her normal self. She was relieved that Aki was now contributing. ‘I’ve no idea,’ Kokoro replied after a moment, shaking her head. ‘It would make more sense if there was somebody in between us … It’s sort of strange as it is.’