“What are those?” Anastacia pointed at a selection of long wooden poles with handles like a sword.
“They’re called shinai,” replied Haru, smiling. “They’re kendo swords. I teach some of the classes.” He turned his attention to Jamie as if they were the only two people in the room. “I think you’ll enjoy it, Jamie-kun. And you too, Saskia.”
It was so friendly, so effortless, the way Haru spoke to him. Jamie didn’t have friends besides Ellie and Lottie, if they could even be called that anymore, and after what had happened at the Tompkins Manor even Raphael had felt the bite of Jamie’s coldness. Everyone waited for the inevitable rebuff, so it came as a shock when Jamie returned Haru’s broad smile and replied, “I look forward to it.”
Lottie wanted to grab Haru and shake him until he revealed his Jamie-taming secrets. Even Lola and Micky were standing with their mouths agape, looking between the two Partizans as if the world were about to split in half.
“Excellent,” said Sayuri, walking gracefully to the center of the room. “I look forward to seeing your progress.”
The tour continued, then Lola and Micky were left in the kitchens for their first lesson in authentic Japanese cuisine. That left just Lottie, Sayuri, and Miko to finish the tour and choose a course for Lottie.
Other summer-school students began to emerge, and the scents of miso and fresh rice wafted around them when they walked back past the breakfast hall again, toward a bridge leading to a quieter area of the school. Both Miko and Sayuri were waiting to eat until after Lottie had found a course, so she couldn’t get distracted by food.
“What programs are you taking, Miko-san?” Lottie coughed, feeling awkward for being so indecisive.
Miko looked up, and Lottie could see how dark her eyes were, like the bottom of the ocean rippling under heavy lashes.
“Kabuki,” she replied simply. “Japanese theater.”
“Miko-san makes beautiful costumes,” Sayuri added pleasantly.
“Costumes?” Lottie asked.
“Yeah,” said Miko, at last seeming to relax. “For the plays, and masks and items and the back—What’s that word? Sets! But the costumes are my best. Let me show you.” From Miko’s blue satchel emerged an art folder with a cute penguin mascot on the front, but when she opened it a dark and magical world bled out of the pages.
The sketches and photographs hidden within her art book were both grotesque and enchanting. Hideous doll props with horns and eyes like an abyss—and the costumes! They were ghastly and gruesome in the most wonderful way. Lottie felt as though she should be afraid of the spiked and jagged demon clothes, but instead she was enraptured. It was not like any art she’d ever seen, let alone something that could be made, and the idea of working on such incredible things was tantalizing in a way that lit her up from the inside out.
“You like them?” Sayuri asked curiously.
“They’re fascinating,” said Lottie, feeling almost breathless.
Miko looked at Sayuri, confused, and Lottie watched her face morph into a grin when she translated, nodding up at her in approval.
They were about to continue down a smaller, darker path, when a black flash darted through Lottie’s legs, nearly tripping her over, before disappearing.
“Cat!” Lottie exclaimed inanely.
Another appeared, a big, fat ginger one with fur that smelled like candy and a tail as thick as a log. It plodded slowly in the same direction, pausing briefly to rub against her bare legs. She attempted to stroke him, but he bristled and continued walking.
“Look, there’s loads of them.” Lottie blinked in astonishment when two more cats appeared behind her, both black and white but with different-colored eyes.
Sayuri and Miko barely reacted.
“Neko-jinja, the cat shrine,” said Miko, by way of an explanation, and for the first time Lottie noticed that one of her teeth protruded like a tiny fang.
Sayuri bent down and effortlessly scooped up the fat ginger boy, rubbing his chin. “It’s an old superstition. Some think they’re messengers of the founder of the school; some that they’re here to guard her secrets.”
“The founder?” Lottie asked.
“Kou Fujiwara, a strange woman, and supposedly my ancestor. She wrote poetry and kept cats. There’s a silly belief that she hid something in the school that’ll make its finder rich.”
Lottie’s ears pricked up.
“We have her study preserved by the headmaster’s office as a museum with a statue of her outside that we’re very proud of. I’d be happy to show you one day.”
Lili Mayfutt! The name burst into Lottie’s mind like a balloon filled with confetti and she remembered Liliana’s diary, which she and her friends had found when they’d discovered the secret study. She’d left it cold and alone in Liliana’s study, a museum of its own, forgotten in the mess of awfulness that had followed. The roots inside her grew, trying to anchor to the ground beneath her.
Lili and Kou. Both school founders, both writers of poetry. Coincidence? Or could they have known each other? The idea made her chest feel like it would explode with excitement. It was also laughably fantastical.
There was something magical in the idea, though; that she might have an ancient connection to Sayuri that neither of them knew about.
“I’d love to see the museum. Do you have any of her poetry?”
“Oh yes. We have her old drafts too. Although I should warn you most of her work is about cats!” Sayuri smiled, and it was the first real smile Lottie had seen from her. “Some think the cats are waiting for someone worthy to show them the secret treasure hidden in the grounds. It’s all very silly.”
“No, it’s not! You should never ignore these things,” Miko protested with a mischievous grin.
“And where are these ones heading?” Lottie asked, looking at the cats.
“To the theater.”
In a moment that felt like fate Lottie decided what her program would be. She would join Miko and learn to make those shocking costumes. Because, as far
