Kokoro couldn’t tell if Tojo-san was with them. A part of her wanted desperately to know, another part wanted to avoid knowing at all costs. Tojo-san was as cute as a doll, a girl she admired and wanted so much to be friends with, and just picturing her standing outside, and who knows what sort of look she had on her face, was enough to make Kokoro choke.

‘Come out! You wuss!’

Miori Sanada’s voice.

Kokoro held her breath and lay flat against the floor next to the sofa.

Outside the window was the lawn of their garden, lined by a low fence. Kokoro lay completely still.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang – they pounded at the back door.

So many voices; she figured there must be about ten of them, repeating each other’s calls.

If the door weren’t locked, she felt like Miori and her pals would march right into her house. And she actually felt that if that happened, they’d find her, drag her outside and – kill her.

She was so terrified she couldn’t utter a sound.

In the low light, she could make out more shadows lurking beyond the curtains. They reached out their hands to the window. She heard several clicks as someone rattled it.

She realized with a flood of relief that the window was still shut. It was locked after all.

‘It won’t open,’ she heard someone say. One of her classmates’ voices, sounding no different from when kids were talking in lessons.

She curled up, put her head between her knees and trembled, more like a turtle than a rabbit.

As she sat there, Kokoro silently asked her parents to forgive her. These kids she didn’t know had trespassed into the grounds of their house while they were out. And had trampled over her mother’s precious garden.

I’m so sorry, so sorry, so sorry.

‘She’s not coming out.’ Miori’s voice sounded less savage. She started to sound tearful. ‘She’s a total wuss, is what she is,’ she said in a faint, weepy tone, and one of the girls said, ‘Come on, Miori. Don’t cry.’

All the kids cared about was themselves.

‘She flutters her eyes at someone else’s boyfriend and she really loves it when they touch her,’ another girl said.

He never touched me, Kokoro thought, but her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth and she couldn’t even whisper.

In the darkening room, the cold floor chilled Kokoro’s legs. She was still in her school uniform.

‘I can’t forgive her,’ a voice said.

Kokoro couldn’t tell any more if it was Miori speaking.

I don’t care if you don’t forgive me, she thought. Because I’m never, ever going to forgive any of you.

Kokoro had no idea how much time had passed. It seemed like for ever.