Jamie blocked out the thought. He hated that he could never trust anyone. He hated that he was so cold to this person who only seemed to want to be friends. Why couldn’t he just let himself believe in someone else for once? Why did he always have to make it so hard?

‘Just a second; I have something for you,’ Haru called behind him.

The Conch House mother’s office was filled with trophies and cultural artefacts from her travels during her time as an Olympic athlete, all of them glittering proudly on the mahogany shelving behind her desk. The room was also immaculate, with virtually no sign of human disturbance except for a small wastepaper basket in the corner that was filled almost exclusively with orange peels.

From the doorway Jamie looked at his companion, who was now searching through the house mother’s top desk drawer. ‘Should you be rifling through that?’ he asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Haru chuckled. ‘Don’t worry – this is my drawer. I do a lot of errands for her in this office so she let me have this for my things.’

Curiosity getting the better of him, Jamie followed into the office, leaning over the desk to take a peek into Haru’s drawer of ‘things’.

The inside was a mess, entirely at odds with Dame Bolter’s perfectly ordered room, and it was no wonder he couldn’t seem to find what he was looking for. Jamie was about to take a step back when his attention snagged on something that seemed out of place, a tattered old locked box.

‘What’s that? he asked, pointing to it.

Haru pulled it out gently, as if it were a sacred item made of gold and not a simple wooden box with a withered lock. ‘This?’

Jamie nodded.

‘Would you believe me if I said it’s where I keep my secret diary?’ he replied, grinning as he gazed at it.

Jamie regarded Haru. If Jamie tilted his head, the oak beams and shadows from the vases of sunflowers on the shelves behind Haru gave the strange illusion that he had sprouted ram’s horns, his smile turning demonic.

‘Fine, don’t tell me,’ Jamie huffed, taking his place back at the door and refusing to bite what was obviously bait. ‘I’m not interested anyway.’

‘I am not lying,’ Haru protested, leaning down to return the box to the drawer. ‘I will show you what’s inside when we are closer.’ He seemed to ponder for a second and then changed his response. ‘When you’ve earned it.’

Jamie frowned, trying to figure out what was going on behind Haru’s easy-going smile as he continued to rummage through the drawer. He was so lost in his thoughts that he jumped when Haru shot up, presenting him with a brightly coloured packet that was covered in Japanese text. ‘Here it is.’