Lonely Castle in the Mirror

by Mizuki Tsujimura

They want me to be how I was before I became the girl who won’t go to school.

Seven of them altogether. Kokoro thought about the question posed by the ponytailed girl. Why have you even called us here? Kokoro didn’t know, but she was sure everyone here had one thing in common. Not a single one of them was going to school.

Only with kids who had gone through similar experiences could she really open up about what had happened, and how it made her feel. And now she’d gone and closed the door on that opportunity, and it was painful.

If somebody manipulated your thoughts and feelings, would you still be the same person as before?

A week passed, and Kokoro had grown used to Subaru’s dyed hair and ear piercing, when another shock rocked the castle. This time it was Aki who appeared with her hair dyed.

Kokoro didn’t know the details of any of their situations. But she knew full well that whatever they’d experienced, it must have felt like jumping into a storm or tornado, one that would mangle and maim you. Exactly like the feeling Kokoro had—that if she went back to school, Miori Sanada would murder her.

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.

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.

What sort of reality did this girl face that made her feel it was preferable to be eaten, for it all to be over?