THE WOLF QUEEN HAD ARRIVED among them, gently applauding, and appeared as collected as ever.
Now that Aki had been rescued, the Wolf Queen’s dress, which had been in tatters, was back in its usual pristine condition. Before they knew it, the darkened castle was now suddenly bright again.
‘Well done!’ she said, with a touch of sarcasm.
No one knew quite how to react.
Only Kokoro was brave enough to speak. ‘Wolf Queen …’ she said.
The others stared at the Wolf Queen, a look of fear frozen on their faces.
Kokoro hadn’t seen the version of the ‘huge wolf’ for herself, so she didn’t know the details of what it had done to them, but it was clear the others had experienced something unearthly before they were ‘buried’ underneath their X mark. Just from the intensity of the howls, she sensed it was indescribable, and the kids themselves were not fully conscious of it.
‘Why all the grimacing?’ the Wolf Queen said dismissively. ‘Don’t worry. Nothing will happen to you. I didn’t really want to have to do it, anyway, and I never would have had to, if somebody hadn’t broken the rules.’ The Wolf Queen cast a glance at the newly rescued Aki. ‘Think about what you did!’
‘I’m so sorry.’
Aki’s face was still pale, and she started trembling again. The Wolf Queen nodded, accepting her apology. ‘Well, you’re all safe now.’
‘Everything’s out of kilter,’ Rion said. ‘I mean, I was so frightened, scared to death.’
The Wolf Queen ignored him and pointed her muzzle towards Kokoro. Somehow she seemed to be smiling. ‘Well, you did well to work out what’s going on here. To understand that this is a castle that transcends the rules of time.’
‘Um.’ Kokoro nodded, still confused. Her eyes met the girl’s through the wolf mask. ‘You said something that led me to realize it will be possible for us to see each other. We’re all at the same school, but from different periods across time.’
Kokoro still remembered the question Rion had once asked.
It was the day Aki turned up in her school uniform, and they began to realize they were actually all at the same junior high.
You’ve done this before, bringing other Little Red Riding Hoods here and telling them they could have a wish granted, haven’t you? Were those Little Red Riding Hoods also students at Yukishina No. 5 Junior High? Every few years you bring a group of them here, don’t you? Rion had asked.
To his question, the Wolf Queen had replied: Every few years – I think it’s more consistent than that.
Still cryptic, but she’d meant it literally.
She summoned children here with a fixed number of years between them.
Not able to meet? Not able to help each other? Neither one was true. So long as they uncovered the truth.
‘The castle will be closing as pre-stated. Unfortunately, that will be today, not tomorrow,’ the Wolf Queen said haughtily.
They were prepared for this, but even so it was hard to hear.
‘So our memories will disappear?’ This from Fuka. ‘Will we really forget absolutely everything?’
‘Right,’ the Wolf Queen said categorically. ‘As I explained to you all earlier, since you’ve found the key and the wish has now been granted, you will no longer remember a thing.’ She gazed at them steadily. ‘However.’ She paused and raised a forefinger. ‘I will grant you extra time.’
‘Extra time?’
‘This is the Castle in the Mirror, where the rules of time are fluid. I can give you a moment of pause, before each of you goes back through your mirror. Be ready, and please make sure you don’t leave anything behind.’
It was just like the closing ceremony at the end of a school year, Kokoro thought. When the teachers instructed them to make sure they took all their belongings home from their lockers and desks.
‘Check your own rooms, and the Game Room,’ the Wolf Queen said. ‘From tomorrow you will no longer have access. For now, I have stopped the flow of time outside. You will be able to return to your world by seven o’clock, Japan time. Your parents may tell you off, but they won’t be too cross.’
It felt a little odd, while surrounded by the scattered ornaments of the wrecked castle, to hear her sounding so concerned for them, but it seemed appropriate. ‘Don’t we have to tidy up here?’ Ureshino asked. The pillars were cracked, the walls soiled, overturned furniture and crockery scattered everywhere; the castle looked like it had been hit by a tornado, and they felt uneasy about leaving it like that. Ureshino continued hesitantly, ‘So, are you OK for us to just pick up our own stuff? Won’t it be a huge job for you to clean the mess all by yourself?’
‘It won’t be a problem, not at all,’ the Wolf Queen replied, with a dismissive wave of her thin arm. Then she looked more directly at Ureshino. ‘You’re a pretty decent guy, aren’t you?’
The group exchanged an astonished look. This moment of humanity was not what they’d come to expect from their wolf.
‘OK, I have a suggestion,’ Ureshino said confidently. ‘Before we gather up our things, I want you all to come to the Game Room. I’m still super confused by everything, and I’d love you to explain it, Kokoro-chan.’
‘OK,’ Kokoro said.
They went back to the trashed Game Room, and Kokoro picked up the sheet of paper on top of the overturned table.
And she began to explain how each of them existed in a different time.