He got this out in a monotonic stream of words, and Kokoro wasn’t sure who he was talking to. She managed a simple, ‘Oh, I see.’ Then: ‘Are you two the only ones here today?’

‘For now, yes. Though someone might come later. We’ve been here every day, but the others sometimes come, and sometimes don’t.’ Subaru smiled, a smile that to Kokoro seemed graceful. ‘You haven’t been over for a while, have you, Kokoro-chan? I thought maybe you weren’t interested.’

‘Well, I …’

She didn’t know where to start. She felt some implied criticism for turning up all of a sudden, and was about to say something, but Subaru spoke first. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I called you Kokoro-chan. It’s a bit cheeky.’

‘No, it’s OK.’

She had only given them her first name so far, so it was understandable. He really was an unusual guy after all. Not that she liked Masamune’s way of ignoring her, though that did seem like a more common reaction for a boy.

She took a closer look around the room.

On the wall hung a large painting of a light-blue lake and rugged forest – and a mighty set of knight’s armour, which took her by surprise. She was startled, too, by the stuffed deer’s head and antlers, which reminded her for a second of the Wolf Queen’s mask. She’d seen and read about these things in anime and fairy tales, but never seen them with her own eyes.

The two boys seemed settled on the thick patterned carpet, engrossed in their game.

Subaru picked up on her silence. ‘You OK?’ he asked her.

Masamune had already restarted the game and was glued to the TV. ‘Yes!’ he shouted at the screen. Then: ‘Are you kidding me?’

‘Aren’t you going to look for the key?’ Kokoro asked.

‘Hm?’

At this rate Masamune would never speak, no matter how long she waited. So she made up her mind to speak to him first.

‘Masamune-kun, you sounded as though you wanted to find the key to the Wishing Room. So I thought maybe everyone had been looking for it while I wasn’t here, and perhaps had found it already.’

‘But if I’d found it, we wouldn’t be able to come back. Because then the castle would close up.’

Masamune had become more talkative. He still wouldn’t look at her, though.

‘So that means no one’s found it yet, right?’ he went on. ‘I looked for it myself quite a bit, but nothing so far.’

He spoke bluntly, but at least he had answered her question.

‘I see.’

‘He looked pretty hard for it, did Masamune,’ Subaru chuckled.

‘Shut up,’ Masamune muttered.