‘Then, you mean—’

‘We don’t only have to find the key, but also the location of the room,’ Subaru added, and Kokoro breathed out slightly.

‘I see.’

‘Come on! She should have told us that at the start. That little Wolf Queen brat.’

Masamune’s words were so funny Kokoro couldn’t stop herself laughing. ‘What?’ he asked her.

‘Nothing.’

But it was funny all the same.

Cute, in a way, how this guy with his rough way of talking added the honorific sama to her title when talking about the Wolf Queen. If she’d pointed this out, it would probably irritate him, but still it was amusing.

I see, she thought.

Masamune’s use of polite honorifics didn’t exactly match the level of Subaru’s young lady, but Kokoro was now sure of one thing: both these boys were real gentlemen.

‘See ya.’

Masamune stuffed the game console into his backpack, and gave a little wave as he stood in front of his shining mirror at the end of the row.

‘Yep.’ Subaru nodded as he touched his own mirror, the second from the left. The surface seemed to melt under his fingers, drawing in his hand. It was like putting your hand into a rushing waterfall and stopping the flow of water. It still startled Kokoro, but the two boys were clearly used to it.

It was the first time she’d seen someone else enter a mirror.

It made her feel a bit strange.

These mirrors – with just a touch of the palm – would connect up with the other kids’ rooms too, just like hers did. Could she visit their rooms, perhaps without them even knowing?

Not that she particularly wanted to.

That would be worse than sneaking a peek into someone else’s diary. Kokoro shivered at the idea of an intruder in her room. But Masamune and Subaru, both standing with a hand inside their mirror as they waved goodbye, were people she could trust. And the same held true, she imagined, for the others.

‘Bye.’

After waving them off, Kokoro thrust out a hand towards her mirror and passed into a veil of light.

KOKORO VISITED THE CASTLE the very next day.

She found she had no problem being with the others again, and wondered why she’d been so bothered about it before.

It was just after ten in the morning. She was playing video games with Masamune and Subaru in the living room, now transformed completely into their Game Room, when Aki breezed in with a ‘Hi, people.’ Kokoro hadn’t seen her in quite some time, but Aki’s lively ‘Hey, Kokoro-chan. How’ve you been?’ made her forget.

Aki had said she was in ninth grade, the last year of junior high, and when she was with Aki, Kokoro definitely felt she was her senpai, her senior. Kokoro was happy that Aki addressed her in a familiar way – adding chan to her name – but she was unsure how to address her back.