‘No, I’m not elitist at all. The entrance exam for the school was easy. And the classes are probably not as advanced as in Japanese schools. It’s like the school’s motto is Play football surrounded by the beauty of nature.’

‘So you went there to play football?’ Even Subaru, whose thought process was always a mystery to Kokoro, leaned forward. ‘That’s amazing. Your family must be really rich to send you to a school in Hawaii. As if you’re a celebrity or something.’

‘That’s not true. It’s not like that.’

No matter how much Rion denied it, Kokoro could tell the others had the same impression she did.

Rion isn’t the kind of boy who can’t go to school. He was probably just an ordinary boy who happened to be going to a school in Hawaii.

Still, Kokoro was shocked at the revelation.

Rion is not like us.

So why is a guy like that here?

He has somewhere to go back to.

‘What the—?’ Ureshino muttered. He threw an accusatory glare at Rion. ‘So why have you been hiding it?’ he asked. ‘Are you making fun of us or something?’

‘No way.’ Rion shook his head. But his awkward expression spoke volumes.

Maybe he wasn’t making fun of them. But it was clear he did feel guilty. Maybe he hadn’t intentionally hidden anything from them, though it seemed he wasn’t going to tell them unless someone asked.

‘I’m telling you – I didn’t know what was going on at first. I thought you were all studying abroad somewhere too. I thought maybe you were all going to schools in Hawaii. But I noticed you all seemed to operate around Japan time, and when I heard that the castle was only open till next March, I finally understood.’

Rion continued, ‘But even though I worked out this was daytime in Japan, I didn’t notice you weren’t going to school until someone mentioned it, and even then, I didn’t really think much about it.’

‘Well, excuse us,’ Masamune said. Kokoro didn’t think he meant it to sound so indignant, but Rion looked startled. Masamune sighed theatrically. ‘Excuse us for not being from schools in Hawaii. But don’t worry about it.’

‘No offence intended,’ Rion said. ‘I’m sorry I kept quiet about it. But I really like it here. I don’t have many Japanese friends.’ He lowered his eyes. ‘If you tell me not to come over any more, I won’t.’

‘No one’s saying you can’t come here,’ Kokoro said, finally snapping out of a stunned silence.

The thing with Rion was, indeed, a shock. Honestly, she felt even more intimidated around him now, knowing he was at school in Hawaii, than she did around ordinary students. And naturally she did feel betrayed to suddenly discover he wasn’t like the rest of them.