Boys she’d been introduced to before – Masamune, the abrupt one with glasses, and Subaru, the lean one with an unusual air about him. There was an old TV set, cumbersome and heavy, which she figured they must have carried in with them, and playing on the screen was a video game that Kokoro recognized. An action game based on the Three Kingdoms of China, where you sliced and diced your enemies.

‘Whoa,’ she said in a small voice.

Since she spent so much time at home, she had had hours to search high and low for all the games her father had removed from her grasp – in his study, in her parents’ bedroom, the kitchen, the patio, everywhere – but he’d done such a good job of hiding them.

I should have brought some of my stuff too, she thought, and as she stood there, tote bag in hand, gazing into the room, the two boys seemed to sense her presence. They glanced over in her direction, but Masamune quickly turned back to the TV screen. ‘Damn it!’ he said. ‘My health bar went down. I’m gonna die,’ as if he was talking to himself. Kokoro realized he’d spotted her but had pretended he hadn’t. She couldn’t decide what to say to them, and no words came out.

It was Subaru who came to her rescue.

As before, he struck her as a little otherworldly, and as Masamune intoned he was gonna die, Subaru used the opportunity to put down his own game console, and turn to Kokoro.

‘So you came, eh? Welcome!’ Then he said, ‘It doesn’t feel right to say that. This isn’t actually my house, and all of us have the same right to it.’

‘He-hello,’ she said, a little unsteadily.

‘Hey, Subaru!’ Masamune called.

The way he called Subaru using just his first name – no san or kun attached – made her tense up. It was just as she suspected – in her absence they’d become friendly enough to address each other so casually.

Masamune ignored Kokoro. ‘Hey, don’t give up halfway. What’m I supposed to do if I die because of you, eh?’

‘Sorry, sorry.’ Subaru gave Masamune a look. ‘Do you want to sit down?’ he asked Kokoro. ‘Will you play with us?’

‘Did you bring those games with you?’

‘Um. Masamune did.’

Even hearing his own name wasn’t enough to take Masamune away from his game. His eyes remained glued to the screen as he weighed up his controller. Then he spoke. ‘Talk about heavy.

‘This old TV set was the one my dad had put away in the shed,’ he said. ‘He’d forgotten all about it, and I figured he wouldn’t notice it’s missing so I lugged it over here. But boy, you really want to kick the thing, it’s so damn heavy. The console is also old; we weren’t even using it any more.’