‘LISTEN, EVERYONE.’
When she was back in the castle the next day, Masamune wanted their attention. ‘I’m going to a new school.’
They stared at him. ‘I went to look at it,’ he said. ‘It’s about a one-hour commute away, but my dad’s friend has a son going there, too. It’s a private junior high. I took the entrance exam for transfer students and they announced the results yesterday. I passed.’
‘Really?’ they all said – casually, but tension was ratcheting up. Starting in April – that was next month.
If Masamune decides to go to a new school, Kokoro thought, then that’s a good thing.
But the thought of someone among them beginning somewhere new made her chest tighten in panic. It wasn’t Masamune’s fault, but the news hurt.
‘How do you feel about it?’ Subaru asked.
Masamune turned slowly, and a little stiffly, to face him.
‘I mean, you originally said you didn’t want to transfer. But now you’re agreeing to it?’ Subaru pressed.
‘Yeah. Because it’s the beginning of a new school year.’
‘I see.’
‘Actually, I might switch schools too,’ Ureshino piped up. All eyes were now on him. ‘I might go abroad with my mother … Not straight away, though.’
Ureshino looked uneasily over at Rion.
‘I told her someone I know goes to school abroad, but she said she didn’t want me to go alone like you, Rion.’
Ureshino’s family sounded wealthy enough to change plans quickly.
‘My mother said it must have been hard for your parents to send you away like that. She said she wouldn’t have been able to.’
‘It might not have been such a big decision for my parents, really …’ Rion said. ‘Are you coming to Hawaii? Or somewhere else? Like Europe or something? I’d like it if you came to Hawaii, though we couldn’t hang out together or anything, could we.’
‘Yeah, I had the same idea for a second, that if I go to Hawaii I can see you. But that’s not going to happen.’
‘No, it’s not. But I was thinking, about Hawaii—’ Rion started to say.
‘What?’ Ureshino asked. Rion took a deep breath, as if thinking it over, then slowly shook his head.
‘Nothing. Ureshino, if you really do want to go abroad, you’d better study English, or whatever language they speak where you’re going.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘I didn’t really prepare, so it’s been tough.’
‘If you were there, I’d go to the same school as you. Though don’t count on me to play football. But most of the schools abroad start in September, don’t they? That’s sort of the world standard. In that sense Japan’s not in line with the rest.’
Masamune replied, ‘Could be, but so what? The rest of the world might do it one way, but we have to do things the way they’re done in Japan.’
‘Yeah … I see what you mean.’
As Kokoro watched this back and forth among the boys, someone tapped her shoulder from behind.
‘Wow, that’s really something – parents considering your future and stuff. Not like our parents, right, Kokoro?’ Aki said this out of the blue.
Aki seeking her agreement like this made her feel sort of gritty inside.
Mum is surely considering the next step, she thought. She’d spoken with Ms Kitajima, and had asked Kokoro whether she wanted to switch schools. If she hadn’t mentioned a plan yet, it was out of sensitivity towards Kokoro.
But Kokoro didn’t know how things were at Aki’s home, and so was reluctant to share her thoughts.
Aki and Subaru were in ninth grade, the last year of junior high, on the cusp of high school.
Had neither of them taken the entrance exams to high school? Kokoro couldn’t bring herself to ask.
When Kokoro didn’t respond, Aki said with a hint of annoyance, ‘Kokoro?’ and gazed directly at her. When Kokoro still didn’t react, she let out an exaggerated sigh.
‘From next month I’m going to repeat ninth grade.’ This time Aki addressed Subaru.
Kokoro was startled. ‘Repeat a grade?’
‘Yeah. I could graduate, but this strange woman who was a friend of my grandmother’s went to the school and insisted I repeat a year. I don’t really care one way or the other, and I haven’t given any thought to high school.’
‘You’re going to repeat the year at the same school? Not in another school nearby?’
‘You mean, go to the next nearest school, like No. 4 Junior High or something?’ Aki asked. ‘That’s impossible, isn’t it? I’ll be staying put.’
Kokoro was mulling this over – the fact that such possibilities existed – when a voice said, ‘I’m going on to high school.’
It was Subaru.
Aki and Kokoro – and the rest – stared at him, eyes wide.
‘Wait – didn’t I tell you people already?’ Subaru asked, sounding very much like he always did. ‘I took the entrance exam last month. It’s for Minami Tokyo Technical High School, their part-time programme.’
The news took Kokoro by surprise. She’d never got the sense that Subaru was studying for entrance exams.
‘Have you been studying?’ she asked.
‘Sort of, just before I took the exam. I met this man in Akihabara who repairs electronic goods, and I asked him about his work. He told me if I was interested, that’s all they teach at the technical high school.’
Subaru looked over at Aki. Her face had turned red.
Kokoro knew exactly how she felt.
She understood the fear. Not knowing what the future would be for her, not knowing how long she’d be like this. Seeing people who were moving on was enough to make her feel an excruciating pain in her chest.
Even Kokoro, who was just a spectator, felt Subaru’s revelation was a sort of betrayal. If he’d been studying for an exam, why hadn’t he said anything to Aki? The two of them were both in ninth grade, the most crucial time to be making a decision about their future.
He never seemed to be studying in the castle, so he must have done it at home. Was he trying to get ahead of them?
Kokoro thought Aki would feel bitter about it.
‘I see,’ was all she said, flatly.
‘I wonder if we can all meet on the last day?’ Fuka changed the subject. ‘The thirtieth of March. Not the thirty-first, right? Didn’t the Wolf Queen tell us that the last day of March was a maintenance day for the castle?’
‘Yeah.’
The day was fast approaching, the key was still not found, and no wish had been granted.
But Kokoro was fine about it.
Memories were not the only thing she’d take away from here.
The not-quite one year she’d spent here would remain. And making friends like these would be what sustained her. I do have friends, she told herself. Even if I never make any more, I’ll know I did have friends. Right here. Right now. And I’ll have that for the rest of my life.
This made her feel immeasurably more confident.
‘Let’s have a party on the last day,’ Fuka said. ‘Like we did at Christmas. And all of us bring notebooks to write messages to each other. I’m sure we’d be allowed to take them back to our own world.’
‘I’m up for it,’ Kokoro said.
As long as proof remained somewhere that they’d all once existed, they should be able to make it through.