She seemed about to weep. The room was brightly lit, but somehow the area around Aki lay in shadow, as if she had sucked away all the light. Her face was pale, imprinted with a crease from her skirt.

‘Kokoro,’ Aki said. Her voice was thin. It caught in her throat, hoarse and dry, sounding almost as if she was asking for help.

Kokoro gave an audible gasp.

Aki was wearing school uniform. Kokoro realized no one had ever come to the castle dressed in uniform.

She had a bluish-green sailor-type collar, and a dark red scarf.

As she looked up, Kokoro saw the school badge on the right breast pocket of her blouse. The name of the school was embroidered beside it.

Yukishina No. 5.

She stared again at Aki’s uniform.

She recognized it. There was no mistaking it.

‘Aki-chan.’ Her voice was stiff. ‘Aki-chan, do you go to Yukishina No. 5 Junior High?’

Aki followed Kokoro’s eyes and looked down at her uniform. ‘Yeah,’ she nodded, her movement sluggish, as if only now realizing what she was wearing.

‘Yes,’ she said again, and looked at Kokoro doubtfully. ‘Yukishina No. 5.’

November

KOKORO WAS THUNDERSTRUCK.

‘What’s wrong?’ Aki asked, standing up.

Her eyes still looked cloudy, though in Kokoro’s company, a clear spark of life had returned. The red crease from the skirt still showed on her cheek; Kokoro thought that she may have been crying. Perhaps because of the tears, a few stray strands of hair were stuck to her cheek.

‘Oh!’

They heard voices, and turned to find Subaru and Masamune standing in the doorway. They could have come through the mirrors around the same time. They stood fixed to the spot, eyes wide, and looked incredulously at Aki.

Kokoro had no idea what to say. She saw the two boys’ gaze slide quickly from Aki’s face to the school badge on her chest.

‘What?’ Masamune said. ‘Why the uniform? I mean – is that actually your school uniform?’

‘What do you mean?’

Her eyes narrowed as she realized something was up.

‘Because – it’s exactly the same.’

Aki frowned.

‘It’s exactly the same uniform worn by the girls at my school!’

Subaru, restless beside him, began to wrinkle his brow.

‘At yours too?’ Subaru asked.

Aki looked at Kokoro, astonished. ‘Wha-what? What’re you …?’ And then at the faces of the boys, pale with shock.

‘Yukishina No. 5 Junior High,’ Aki said, as if piecing together the syllables one by one. ‘You are joking, of course. It’s not just that the uniform’s familiar,’ she added. ‘You’re actually telling me you both go to Yukishina No. 5 Junior High? In Minami Tokyo?’

‘And me,’ Kokoro managed to say. Now it was Subaru, Masamune and Aki’s turn to stare at her in utter astonishment.

What could this all mean?

Why was the Wolf Queen doing this? Kokoro couldn’t fathom it.

We are all kids going to the same junior high.