I SOMETIMES FIND MYSELF DREAMING.
A new transfer student has started at our school, and everyone wants to be friends with them. The most cheerful, kind and athletic person in our class. And smart, too.
Out of all my classmates this new student picks me out with a generous smile, as dazzling as the sun, and says, ‘Kokoro-chan, it’s been such a long time.’
The other students can’t believe it. ‘What?’ they say, looking at me meaningfully. ‘Do you two already know each other?’
In another world, we were already friends.
There’s nothing special about me. I’m not athletic, and I’m not smart. There’s nothing about me anyone would envy.
It’s only that we had the chance to meet before, and form a special bond.
We go everywhere together: when we move to a different classroom, when we go for break, and when we walk through the school gates at the end of the day.
Sanada’s gang may be dying to be friends with them, but all the student says is, ‘I’m with Kokoro-chan.’
So I am no longer alone.
I’ve been hoping something like this will happen for such a long time.
Though I know it never will.
And it didn’t this time, either.
✦ ✦ ✦
‘SHOULDN’T WE MAKE THAT OUR wish?’ Fuka said, startling Kokoro out of her reverie. ‘We should use the Wishing Key to ask that all our worlds become one.’
‘Um,’ said Aki.
I’m not saying you can’t. Kokoro remembered the Wolf Queen’s words.
‘Aha … so we probably can use the Wishing Key to make all our worlds one,’ said Kokoro.
‘Yeah. Then we can all meet up in the outside world. Isn’t that what the Wolf Queen meant when she said, I’m not saying you can’t?’
‘But that means making a wish come true, and then won’t all our memories vanish? If we don’t recognize each other, then being in the same world is meaningless, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah, so that’s why our wish should be, Please put all of us in the same world, and let us keep our memories … Let’s ask about it the next time we see her.’ Fuka seemed determined.
Maybe her cryptic way of telling them I’m not saying you can’t was based on the underlying assumption that they would have lost their memories. Once Kokoro had thought this through, it felt more and more likely.
‘But so long as we don’t find the key, it’s only a possibility.’
Fuka looked at Masamune. He’d been so enthusiastic, explaining his theory, but now that the Wolf Queen had shot down his idea he seemed to have visibly shrunk.
‘Masamune,’ Ureshino said, and Masamune raised his head.
‘What?’
‘I’m glad you’re back.’
Masamune blinked in surprise. Rapid blinks, like the beating of a bumblebee’s wings.
Ureshino smiled. ‘I was so sure you would never come back. And I didn’t want things to end like that, so I’m really happy you’re here.’ He laughed. ‘See, right at the beginning of the second semester when I felt awkward about coming here, you were so glad I had made it. So I thought the next time you came here, I’d feel the same thing. Masamune – I’m glad you made it.’
Masamune’s cheeks and ears reddened, as if he was trying to hold something back.
‘So, what happened? Did things work out?’ Subaru asked. ‘Do you have to transfer schools?’
‘I’m OK for the third semester at least. Because I made it to the opening ceremony.’ Masamune’s voice was monotonic, and he was still looking down. ‘I couldn’t find any of you, and then I bumped into someone I didn’t want to see, but things are OK.’
‘Cool.’
A lengthy silence fell.
Masamune raised his head. But his eyes below his short fringe were still looking down. ‘Lying Masa … is what they called me.’
‘What?’
‘Lying Masa. Masamune the Liar.’
Kokoro couldn’t imagine why he’d suddenly brought this up. But seeing how serious he was, his voice trembling, she couldn’t look away.
‘I told you all that the guy who made this game was a friend of mine. Well, that’s not true. I’m sorry.’
Masamune looked at the video games lying scattered on the floor. Kokoro had no idea which one he was looking at.
Yet somehow she understood why he had felt the need to reveal this to them. It might not mean much to any of them, but it certainly did to him. In Masamune’s world, that lie was a big deal.
It might have had something to do with why he’d stopped going to school in the first place.
‘I get it,’ Aki said. She usually had a sarcastic comeback for him, but now she seemed to be speaking for the others.
‘Sorry,’ Masamune said again. ‘I’m really sorry.’
✦ ✦ ✦
ONCE THEY HAD ACCEPTED THAT they all lived in parallel worlds, it made it easier to spend time together.
Because they’d all given up.
The end of next month – March – would truly be the final farewell.
Time weighed more heavily on them, and Kokoro felt determined to make the most of each remaining day at the castle.
None of them seemed very interested in finding the key any more. Fuka’s wish, that their worlds could all become one, was all very well, but they were still resistant to the idea that their castle memories would be wiped completely.
And as ever, there was no sign of the key.
Still, they could not forget that it was somewhere in the castle.