The Confession

They watched her with a mix of fear and pity. Hina stopped a few feet away from them, panting, her hands trembling visibly at her sides. She didn't look like a powerful witch. She looked small, sick, and absolutely terrified.

"Kaito! Mei! Wait!"

"Hina, please," Mei began, taking a step back. "I can't..."

"You... you guys were right," Hina gasped. The words came out rushed, tripping over each other. "About everything. Kaito's notebook. Ren's game."

She took a deep breath, and the world seemed to spin. Without the ring, the sounds of the street—a truck passing, other students shouting—felt like needles in her ears. The afternoon sunlight was too bright. It was the withdrawal. It was weak, like her, but it was there.

"Hina, you're not well," Kaito said, his voice softer than she expected. "You should go home."

"No, please, listen to me," she begged, taking a step forward. Mei recoiled. "It is magic. It is a ring. It was my brother's. And the principal... the principal took it."

Kaito and Mei exchanged glances.

"What?" Mei whispered. "What do you mean, 'took it'?"

"In PE class." Hina rubbed her bare left hand, the spot where the ring used to be feeling like a cold burn. "Mitani-sensei saw me wearing it. She made me take it off. It's locked in the principal's file cabinet. She said I can only get it back on Monday."

Mei blinked, confused. "That... that's good, isn't it? If that's what's making you... you know... be like this. Maybe it's better if you're without it."

"No, you don't understand!" Hina's voice rose, bordering on hysteria. "I need it. I need it tomorrow."

Kaito crossed his arms. His face wasn't angry anymore, like in the cafeteria. It was just... tired. "Why, Hina? What for? To 'help' someone else? Or to curse someone else?"

The bluntness of the question hit her like a slap.

Hina looked at her feet. She deserved that.

"To fix," she whispered.

"Fix what?" Mei said. "You can't 'un-lose' the game, Hina. You don't have to do anything about my diary."

"I know!" Hina looked up, and her eyes were full of tears of frustration. "I don't want to fix the game. I want to fix him. Ren."

That caught them off guard. Kaito and Mei just stared at her.

"I..." Hina continued, speaking fast. "I did what I did to Ren because I was angry. I was so angry that he hurt you, Mei. And I liked it. I liked watching him fail. And when I realized that, I felt... exactly like my brother."

"What's wrong with your brother?" Kaito asked.

"He's in a coma, Kaito," Hina said, her voice breaking. "That's where the ring took him. He used it for evil, to hurt people, and it destroyed him. I almost did the same thing. And you hate me for it. And you're right to hate me."

The silence that followed was heavy.

"I don't hate you, Hina," Mei whispered, looking miserable. "I'm just... scared."

"Then help me not be scary," Hina pleaded. "When I cursed Ren, I saw his father. And his father is... worse. He's the reason Ren is the way he is. He's a monster. And I realized I didn't fix anything. I just gave the monster another reason to hurt Ren."

Kaito frowned. "What did you see?"

"I saw him yell at Ren after the game. I heard him call his own son a 'joke.' I followed him home. Ren's father is abusive. And I... I just threw more fuel on the fire."

She took a deep breath, the plan coming out all at once. "I have a plan. My brother's notebook... it says the ring can do more than 'luck' or 'bad luck.' It can make someone... remember. My plan is to go to the party at their house tomorrow night. I'm going to bump into Mr. Ishida, use Direct Touch, and wish for him to 'remember his first failure.' I'm going to make him remember what it's like to be young and fail, so he stops destroying Ren."

Hina finished, out of breath. She had told them everything.

Kaito and Mei stared at her, mouths agape.

"Hina," Kaito said slowly, "are you talking about crashing a party... to cast a 'memory therapy' spell on the dad of the guy you hate... so we'll like you again?"

"Yes!" Hina said. "No. I mean, yes, that's it!"

Mei shook her head, overwhelmed. "That's crazy. You're crazy. And why do you need our help?"

"Because the ring is locked in the principal's office!" Hina shouted, frustration exploding. "And the party is tomorrow! And I can't go through the weekend without it!" She pointed to her trembling hands. "I feel sick. And I can't execute the plan. And I don't know how to open a file cabinet!"

She looked at them, her anger dissolving into desperation.

"I can't fix anything without it," she whispered. "And I can't get it back alone. I know you hate me. I know I'm a monster. But I'm begging. Help me fix this. Help me fix one thing."

She stopped talking. She had said it all. The rest was up to them.

Mei looked at Kaito. Kaito looked at the ground. He seemed to be calculating something, analyzing the "evidence."

"The pencil case," he said finally. "It was magic."

"Yes," Hina admitted, ashamed. "I charged it for 24 hours. The wish was for your talent to be noticed."

"So..." Kaito said slowly, "it wasn't the case that made me draw better."

"What? No! Kaito, you're a genius! I could never... the ring can't create talent. It just... it just creates the opportunity. It made Ren push you. It made the notebook fall. It made the sensei look. But the talent? The drawing of the dragon? That's all you. And I ruined everything. I made you doubt that. And I'm sorry."

Kaito was silent. But something in his face softened.

"And you," Hina turned to Mei. "I didn't want to scare you. I just wanted to protect you. I saw what Ren did, and I... I acted like him. I became the bully to stop the bully. And I lost you. And that's... that's worse than anything Ren ever did to me."

Mei started to cry, but this time, they weren't tears of fear. They were tears of confusion. "Hina... you're so stupid."

"I know," Hina agreed.

"No," Mei said. "I mean... you're stupid for thinking I hate you. I just didn't understand. And you... you did all that... for me?"

"I did," Hina said.

Mei looked at Kaito. Kaito let out a long sigh, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"So," Kaito said, "the principal's file cabinet. You said she locked it?"

Hina sniffled, wiping her eyes. "Yes. With a key."

"School file cabinets aren't safes," Kaito said, almost to himself. "The lock is probably a standard cylinder model. It's... it's easy to pick."

Hina and Mei stared at him.

"What?" Kaito blushed. "I read. And I watch movies. You don't need an explosion. You just need... a bobby pin."

Mei stopped crying. "A bobby pin? Like in the movies?"

"No, that's stupid," Kaito said. "But two paper clips... one to be the tension wrench and the other to lift the pins... maybe."

Hina stared at him, hopeless. "Kaito, I don't know how to do that."

"Neither do I," Kaito said. "But..."

He looked at the school. The sun was starting to set.

"Tomorrow," Kaito said. "Saturday. The school is locked. But Mrs. Tani, the janitor, always leaves the window of the art storage room open to ventilate."

Hina stared at him, her heart pounding. "You... you want to help?"

Kaito looked at Mei. Mei bit her lip.

"If... if we do this," Mei said, her voice tiny. "If we get the ring... do you promise? You're going to use it to help Ren... and then?"

"Then, I don't know," Hina said honestly. "But I promise I'm going to fix this."

Kaito took a step forward, standing beside Hina. Mei reluctantly took a step, standing on the other side.

The Reject Club was back.

"Right," Kaito said, looking terribly scared and terribly serious. "Here's the plan..."