AOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
For a moment, Kokoro’s whole body shivered, as if every single pore had opened. She felt the air and the floor move around her. She lay down on the floor, cheek pressed hard against the prickly rug.
Then she got up into a crouch, avoiding the shards of smashed cups and plates. In the castle, the dining room and kitchen were the furthest away from the grand foyer. She didn’t know if she could make it all the way to the clock.
She glanced around the dining room. It looked like it had been trashed by a monster. But the glass door leading out to the courtyard was strangely intact.
Her heart banged loudly in her chest, almost painfully.
Aoooooooooooooooo!
A cry squeaked up her throat. The vibration of the howl made her knees weak, and she collapsed back on to the floor. She spied the fireplace in the middle of the back wall. If only she could get there. She started to crawl.
She could see the X inside the fireplace.
Without thinking, she reached out a finger and touched it.
She felt another shock in the middle of her forehead. It grew hot and feverish.
✦ ✦ ✦
THE VERY FIRST THING THAT slammed into her head were memories of 10 January, when Ureshino thought he had been stood up.
He was hanging around waiting for Masamune and the others. Feeling hunger pangs, he took the rice balls his mother had made out of their aluminium foil wrapping, and started shoving them into his mouth.
‘Guys, it’s him.’
‘You’re right – why has he come? So weird.’
‘He’s stuffing something into his mouth. Ugh. Look!’
Malicious voices. Kids at a school club, even though it was a Sunday, were staring like he was some bizarre creature.
Ureshino knew very well they were saying nasty things about him. Kokoro could hear it all now, in her own ears. But Ureshino just stared at his rice ball, and carried on chewing.
A large bird flapped its wings as it crossed the cloudless sky.
‘I wonder if that’s a migratory bird. Hope he can make it over to his friends,’ Ureshino said. Not so anyone else could hear, but just to himself.
Speaking aloud gave him courage.
‘Masamune and the others sure are taking their sweet time,’ he murmured, glancing through the school gate.
Just then a warm feeling spread through his chest.
The warmth and strength that surged through him were pure and clear, unwavering. Ureshino knew that, at this moment, he was happy.
Whether Masamune and the others came or not.
The rice balls were delicious, the winter sky was clear, and he could see a bird flying.
This was a happy day, Ureshino thought to himself. Even if he had been stood up, he wanted to tell the others all about it in the castle tomorrow.
‘Haruka-chan,’ he heard a voice call.
‘Mama,’ he said and looked up.
Kokoro could also see who it was. Ureshino’s mother, wearing an apron, had a kind, round face. Very different from the person Kokoro had been imagining. Ureshino’s mother wore hardly a trace of make-up and her coat was covered in bits of fluff. She seemed modest, yet she had a big-hearted smile.
This was the woman who’d said she would accompany her son if he chose to go to school abroad.
Someone was with her.
‘Kitajima-sensei – so you’ve come too!’ Ureshino said happily. ‘I saw a beautiful bird flying, and I was wondering if it was migratory,’ he said, pointing up at the sky.
✦ ✦ ✦
‘AKI-CHAN!’ URESHINO CALLED. ‘AKI-CHAN, WHERE are you? It’ll be time soon and we need to go home. The howling has started …’
‘It’s OK, Ureshino. There’s nothing we can do,’ Fuka said. Her face was pale. They were gathered in the grand foyer, standing in front of the line of seven mirrors. Only Kokoro’s wasn’t shining.
Aki wasn’t with them and they were beginning to get impatient.
‘Why don’t we go home now, just us. Time’s running out.’
The Wolf Queen’s howls grew more shrill.
‘Let’s go!’ Fuka shouted, and grabbed Ureshino by the arm.
‘But Aki’s not—’
Ureshino’s body started to pass through the mirror – but when he was halfway through, he was violently dragged all the way back.
Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
A piercing scream.
Ureshino was back in the grand foyer. With all the others.
The scream was Aki’s.
The five looked at each other in horror and were suddenly bathed in a violent blinding light, like a ball of fire, which swelled up, splitting open the mirrors with a deafening bang that echoed through the castle.
✦ ✦ ✦
DAZZLED BY THE LIGHT, KOKORO found her consciousness returning.
The pitch-black interior of the castle was now completely quiet. She was crying. Why, she wasn’t sure. ‘Guys,’ she said, wiping away tears with the back of her hand.
She reflected on what she’d seen. Reflected and reflected.
There was something she had to be sure of.
If what she’d seen just now by touching the X in the fireplace was Ureshino’s memory. And if what she saw in the kitchen pantry was Masamune’s …
If she could follow their memories to the point when they were eaten …
It wasn’t as if she was some voyeur or anything, but she wanted to make sure. She slowly got to her feet.
She remembered her conversation with Tojo-san a little while ago. In her reality that existed beyond the castle.
Kokoro had expressed how sad she was that Moé was moving away in April. To which Moé had replied, ‘Dad wanted to move in March, but the first of April is a Saturday this year so he has the day off.’
This year.
Kokoro squeezed the hardback book to her chest, pressing it into her with her palms.
I’m going back, she thought. To return this book and say a proper goodbye to her.
The earlier howling had come from the grand foyer, where the clock was.
That meant she still couldn’t go there.
Without further thought, she dashed quickly in the opposite direction, towards the bathroom.
The Wolf Queen’s words really were clues for them, weren’t they? Kokoro’s chest was ready to burst. But not out of fear, like a moment ago.
I never said you can’t meet up, or can’t help each other. It’s time you people worked things out. Don’t start barking up the wrong tree. Think about it, and don’t expect me to tell you everything. I’ve been giving you clues all along.
The small laundry basket was still inside the bathtub.
She moved the basket to one side. There it was. She reached out a finger and touched the X.