A freshman in junior high, the same age his sister was when she died. That had to mean something.

She’d built this castle expressly to meet her brother when he reached the same age as she had been on the day of her passing.

But not just Rion.

She’d gathered other children from seven-year intervals, none of whom attended school. Mio had always been good at making up stories. Like the premise for a fairy tale, she decided on the rules, and played with them all according to the rules of her game.

Within the castle the Wolf Queen was free, vibrant and full of life. She’d appear out of thin air, as if weightless, then disappear, playing with them all just as she wished, and obviously having a wonderful time of it.

Rion looked at his sister in her frilly dress. He broke down.

Her hair was still long, her hands pale, yet plump and supple. Not the thin hands that Rion had come to know.

‘I’m glad I could see you.’

That was what he wanted her above all to know.

Rion smiled at her back. ‘I was so happy you came to see me in this way. I’ll make it through without you somehow. I’ll let people know what I want to do, and if I don’t like something – well, I’ll let them know. I regret now that I didn’t tell Mum and Dad how I really felt.’

Over this last year and a half, Rion had come to understand that it wasn’t entirely because she wanted to distance herself from him that his mother made him go abroad to school. She’d recommended he study overseas, yet she never stopped worrying about him, evident from all the presents she brought when she visited, and how she’d taken him her homemade cake.

‘Do you ever feel like you want to come back?’ his mother had asked.

Maybe she hadn’t been lying when she’d said she wanted to give him the opportunity to develop his talents. Maybe she truly believed it would be for his own good. Yes, I want to go back to Japan, Rion had thought, and his mother hugged him.

‘I know, I know,’ she said.

I’m the one who gave up and swallowed back down my words, he thought. If only I had persisted with her, she might have come to understand how strongly I felt.

‘Mio-chan.’

The Wolf Queen still didn’t respond.

His sister, who’d given him so much warmth, so many precious memories, wasn’t coming back.

‘Since this is the end, could you listen to one more thing I’d like?’

Mio had always had a soft spot for her little brother. He had such fond memories of that.