Kudo Kids--The Mystery of the Masked Medalist

by Maia Shibutani

  They both returned to their phones to find Riley adding rapid-fire messages in the forum.

  Riley: Meiji Jingu, maybe???

  Riley: It’s a shrine. I remember reading that it’s really popular for weddings.

  Riley: Ugh I just tried going there in VR mode, the line’s already long.

  Devon: 15 minute wait!

  Andy groaned. To try to keep things as fair as possible between VR and AR players, OlympiFan made VR players wait in line based on the distance from their last destination. After all, AR players couldn’t just magically pop up in a destination halfway across the city. Although right now, Andy wished desperately that he could. No two teams had the exact same collection of clues, which meant they all had different parts of the photo. If this many VR players were trying to get into the Meiji Shrine, then Team MADR wasn’t the only team to suspect this was where the Bronze medal was hidden.

  “Andy.” Mika looked up from her phone, her eyes wide with excitement. “That shrine is really close to the stadium where we watched the handball event. It’s only three subway stops away!”

  Andy sat up straighter. “Really? Let’s—wait, we can’t go. Dad’s working until lunch.”

  “So let’s ask him if we can take the train by ourselves!” Mika was already standing and picking up her tray. “The rule was no public transportation unless it’s a route we’ve done with him or Mom already, right?”

  Half a minute later, Andy and Mika burst into the business room across the lobby from the breakfast area. Dad looked up from his laptop, startled.

  “You guys okay?” he asked, and Andy and Mika explained everything as fast as they could. Dad leaned back in his chair, frowning. “You think you remember how to get there?”

  “Yamanote Line, three stops, get off at Harajuku Station,” Mika recited immediately, and Andy gave her a grateful look. Knowing Mika, she’d probably taken notes on the route the day before.

  “Still have your metro cards?”

  “Yes!”

  Dad nodded. “Okay, let’s go over the rest of the rules one more time.”

  “No talking to strangers, and no splitting up,” Andy said quickly.

  Mika patted her little blue backpack. “Always have yen on us.”

  “Basically, no doing anything dumb,” Andy finished. “Can we go now? Please?”

  “All right.” Dad glanced at the clock on the wall. “Text me when you get there and keep me updated. Be back here in time for lunch, okay?”

  “Thanks, Dad!” Andy was already sprinting from the room, Mika on his heels.

  The train ride was short, but Andy couldn’t stop checking the OlympiFan app. The first few players were about to enter the shrine—and of course, TilerMyths was one of them.

  Devon: Are you guys going?

  ANDY: YES!

  Devon: YESSSS!!!

  Riley: Awesome! I just added a bunch of clues and I think the couple in the photo is standing in front of the torii.

  Andy: What’s that?

  Riley: The gate! I looked it up, and it’s HUGE—you can’t miss it. I bet the medal is there!

  Andy: Thx!

  Andy’s palms began to sweat as the train slowed to a stop at Harajuku Station. The moment the doors slid open, he and Mika rushed toward the stairs. Above ground, they stopped on the street, panting, and looked around.

  “There!” Mika pointed to a sign. Below the Japanese letters, it read MEIJI JINGU, and beneath that was an arrow.

  Andy and Mika took off again, and a few seconds later they were crossing a stone bridge. Massively tall trees lined either side of the wide path, which was crowded with people strolling leisurely in and out of the park.

  “Whoa!” Mika gasped as the torii came into view. Riley was right, Andy thought—the gate was huge, a beautiful wooden structure with two pillars supporting crosspieces that towered almost as high as the surrounding trees.

  Andy slowed to a quick walk, opening AR mode in the OlympiFan app. The footprints glowed yellow . . . no, not yellow. Bronze. Andy let out an excited yelp.

  “Riley was right! The medal’s somewhere around the gate!”

  Before he could take another step, Mika grabbed his arm. “Do you hear that?”

  Andy was about to ask what she meant when he heard it: the unmistakable whoops and shouts of Team SuperFan. Turning around, Andy saw the group of teens sprinting across the bridge.

  “Hurry!” he yelled, and he and Mika rushed toward the gate. Andy watched the bronze footprints turn yellow again once he had passed under the crossbeams and stood on the other side. Gasping for breath, Andy whirled around and stared through his screen. He could see SabineTheGreat’s avatar among the others as Team SuperFan drew closer. But where was the medal? Andy doubled back and stopped directly under the gate, turning full circle and trying to spot it around all of the people passing in and out of the park. His footprints stayed bronze, but he couldn’t see it anywhere. Nearby, Mika was doing the same thing. Team SuperFan was only a few yards away—and they looked ready to plow right over Andy and Mika.

  Suddenly, Andy had an idea. Tilting his head back, he held up his phone and stared through its screen at the horizontal beam high overhead. His heart leapt when he caught a flicker of something, and he zoomed in with shaky fingers.

  A Bronze medal hung from the lower beam of the gate.

  Andy blinked, stunned. As determined as he’d been to find one of the medals, part of him hadn’t actually expected to win. He started to tap the screen to claim the medal, but a passing tourist jostled him and he nearly dropped his phone. Quickly, Andy zoomed back in on the spot.

  The medal was gone.

  Andy’s confusion only lasted a moment. Because then his screen changed to an explosion of confetti. A message appeared, and Andy’s heart plummeted.

  OLYMPIFAN UPDATE!

  Bronze Medal Found!

  Found by TilerMyths (VR)

  Congratulations to the Bronze Medalists:

  TEAM CRYPTIC!!!

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  MIKA

  “YOU’VE GOT TO be kidding me!”

  Mika gaped at the message on her screen. She looked up, half expecting to see Team Cryptic nearby celebrating even though she knew TilerMyths had won in VR mode. Instead, she saw Team SuperFan come to a halt a few feet away as they saw the notification, too.

  “Ugggh,” one girl groaned, pulling the giant Mexican flag hat off her head. The others looked as disappointed as she was; one of them, a tall guy in oversize sunglasses, stalked away from the group, as if the loss had been his fault. Sabine called after him, but he ignored her, his expression angry and dejected.

  For a moment, Mika actually felt bad for them until she realized how close she and Andy had come to winning. Two teenage girls jogged up to the gate, slowing down and looking at their phones. One glanced up and saw Mika watching her.

  “Hey! Are you on Team Cryptic?”

  “Nope!” Mika replied, noticing that the girls both wore yellow-and-black-striped knee socks and matching necklaces with bee pendants. “Team MADR.”

  “Oh, you’re MikaK!” The girl smiled. “We friended each other a few days ago. I’m Phoebe, and this is Bianca. Team ALLEYOOP.”

  “Hi!” Mika smiled back. “I like your socks.”

  “Thanks!”

  “Team Cryptic is playing in VR mode,” Bianca pointed out, gesturing to Phoebe’s screen. “They’re not here.”

  “Ah, right.” Phoebe sighed. “I can’t believe the medal was right here just a few seconds ago!”

  “Come on, Shelby’s probably wondering where we are . . .”

  The girls headed slowly toward the bridge, and Andy turned to Mika. He looked dazed. “I saw it,” he said as they moved to the side of the path. He gest
ured up at the gate. “I saw the Bronze medal in my screen. I almost had it . . .”

  Mika patted his arm. “Well, it’s really cool that we came so close,” she pointed out kindly. “And there are still two medals left!”

  “That’s true.” Andy sighed. “The clues to the Silver will be released in an hour, so we can start searching again. I bet TilerMyths is already looking since his team got those new locations as soon as they found the Bronze—a head start was part of the prize, right? Oh, I wonder if they decided to go for one hint and five hundred points, or two hints and two hundred fifty points . . .”

  He began scrolling through the app again. After waiting to make sure he was distracted, Mika turned her attention to her own phone. The last time she’d checked her photo of the two little girls at the gymnastics event had been right before bed the previous night, and she had forty comments. She’d been dying to check on it again all morning, but she was too nervous that Andy or Dad might see. Now, Mika turned to face Andy and opened Instagram. When she saw the number of notifications on her photo, she gasped.

  Andy glanced up. “What?”

  “Nothing! Just a text from Riley,” Mika replied, trying to keep her voice light. Andy went back to his phone, and Mika stared down at her notifications again.

  One hundred and fifty-four likes. Seventy-six comments. And forty-two new followers.

  Mika scrolled through the latest comments, exhaling shakily. As she read, she felt an uncontrollable grin stretch across her cheeks.

  BEAUTIFUL!!!

  Omg look at these little girls! This is perfection!

  Wow! Followed—I hope you post more pics like this!

  Hey @enspire, this is the best #TeamWorld pic yet!!!

  Love it!

  Sooo cute!!!

  A thought occurred to Mika, and she checked to see who had liked her photo. One of the first accounts had been rileyreallyreads, which had made her giggle when she’d seen it a few days earlier. Riley had promised not to follow her right away, because they’d both agreed that would probably make it too obvious that it was Mika’s secret account. But Riley hadn’t been able to resist liking the post immediately. Mika scrolled through the rest of the names, amazed that so many people had seen her photo. Then she saw the last account and pressed her lips together hard to keep from squealing.

  The official Enspire account had commented with a thumbs-up emoji!

  Mika fought the urge to do a happy dance right there in the park. Of course, whoever ran Enspire’s Instagram account was probably liking all of the posts under #TeamWorld. But the point was they’d seen it. Maybe they’d actually choose it for their campaign! Mika was so absorbed in her phone that she didn’t notice someone standing next to her until they spoke.

  “Are you guys playing that OlympiFan game?”

  Mika almost jumped out of her skin. The person, a round-faced girl about her age with brown skin and a cloud of black curls, held up her hands and laughed.

  “Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you.” She had a gentle accent and a friendly grin.

  “It’s okay,” Mika said, returning the smile. “Yeah, we were playing OlympiFan—my brother actually almost got the Bronze!”

  “It was so close,” Andy said with an exaggerated sigh.

  “Aw, I’m sorry!” the girl exclaimed. “I just saw the notification that someone found it, but I can’t believe it was here. My mom and I were right across the street buying souvenirs for my grandparents. I’m Emma, by the way.”

  “I’m Mika, and this is my brother, Andy,” Mika said. “So you’re playing, too?”

  “Yeah, but I’m not very good.” Emma shrugged. “I really like all the facts that pop up when you use AR mode, though. Do you guys live here?”

  “No, we’re from Los Angeles,” Andy told her. “What about you?”

  “Johannesburg.” A note of pride crept into Emma’s voice, and she pointed to the pins on the strap of her purse: a South African flag, a silhouette of someone sprinting, and the Olympic logo. “My brother’s competing in the Olympics. He’s a hurdler.”

  “Oh my god, that’s so cool!” Mika exclaimed. “We’re here for the Olympics, too. Our mom’s here for work. She’s the editor of Compete—a sports website,” she added. “When’s your brother’s event? Maybe we can go watch!”

  “It’s Sunday! The hundred-and-ten-meter hurdle.” Emma glanced up at the gate and gave Mika a sheepish look. “Hey, would you mind taking a picture of me standing under the gate? I tried to get a selfie, but it’s too tall.”

  “Sure!” Mika took Emma’s phone, then hurried to stand several yards away from the gate. Emma stood directly beneath it, arms spread wide and beaming like a gymnast who’d just stuck her landing. Laughing, Mika snapped the picture.

  “Thanks!” Emma called, jogging over to her and taking back her phone. “I should get back to the shop. I just wanted to see where the Bronze medal had been found.”

  Mika was about to say goodbye when something occurred to her. “Hey, if you have any free time, maybe you can come look for clues with me and Andy sometime!”

  Emma blinked. “Oh! Umm . . . sure, thanks! But I’m really not very good at that game. And your brother seems . . .” She paused, glancing over to where Andy still stood in the same spot, staring intently at his phone. “Really serious about it.”

  Mika snickered. “Yeah, he loves games. He takes all of them really seriously. But it doesn’t matter, I promise. It’d be fun to play together!”

  “Okay, yeah!” Emma pulled out her phone. “What’s your number?”

  Mika recited her phone number as Emma typed. A moment later, a text popped up on Mika’s phone:

  Hi! It’s Emma Botha.

  “Got it!” Mika said.

  A soft twinkling melody sounded, and Emma glanced at the screen. “Ah, that’s my mom. I gotta go! Maybe we can meet up later this week?”

  “That’d be great!” Mika replied.

  With a cheerful wave, Emma headed back to the bridge. Turning to look up at the beautiful, massive gate again, Mika thought of Emma’s photo. Mika had been so preoccupied with the Enspire campaign, she hadn’t taken many pictures in Tokyo that included herself.

  “Andy!” she called, and he looked up. “Take my picture!”

  “Okay!”

  Mika jogged over to the spot where Emma had stood directly beneath the gate. She could see Emma crossing the bridge, not far behind Phoebe and Bianca and their eye-catching socks.

  A familiar laugh caught her attention. She glanced around and spotted Gavin Driscoll, giant camera up on his shoulder, chatting with the SuperFan player wearing the oversize sunglasses. Gavin was chuckling as they spoke, but the boy still looked upset as he gestured at his teammates, who stood farther down the path. Mika could see Sabine watching the boy and rolling her eyes. Apparently, the “fostering team-building” part of their school assignment wasn’t going so well.

  “Ready!” Andy called.

  Turning, Mika grinned and raised her arms as if reaching to touch the gate’s beam. After Andy took the picture, Mika took a step toward him—then stopped.

  A small square of paper lay on the ground, right where she’d been standing. Mika saw something scrawled on it in bright purple ink. She read the message, blinked in disbelief, then read it again.

  Congratulations! You found the REAL clue. Pandas stand guard around the Silver.

  TEAM DRAGONFLAME CHAT ROOM

  GoblinGeorge: I was in the VR line RIGHT BEHIND TilerMyths!

  CentaurCici: ARGH!!!

  MageMisaki: Sorry it took me so long to get there! But I looked around the gate for a while after Team Cryptic won, and you guys aren’t going to believe what I found.

  CentaurCici: ??

  MageMisaki: I’ll show you when we meet up at the hot
el.

  TEAM ALLEYOOP CHAT ROOM

  Shellbee: Why are you guys still at the park??

  Feebee: Leaving now, sorry! B had an EPIC idea.

  Shellbee: ??

  Beeyanca:

  TEAM CRYPTIC CHAT ROOM

  UppeRcase: Mission accomplished!

  TilerMyths:

  CHAPTER NINE

  ANDY

  “ANDY!”

  A couple strolling under the gate cast curious glances at Mika, who was crouched on the ground, waving frantically. Frowning, Andy hurried over to join his sister.

  “What is it?” He saw the paper on the ground, and squatted to get a better look. When he read the message, his stomach flipped over.

  “Is it . . . I mean, do you think . . .” Mika’s voice was hushed. “Did the Masked Medalist actually leave this here?”

  Andy’s mind was reeling. “Maybe? I mean, OlympiFan could have another level—a secret level, like the time travel portal in S-Cape, or the—”

  “But what about the VR players? This isn’t fair to them.”

  “Oh.” Andy had to admit it was a good point. OlympiFan had obviously been designed to be as fair as possible to both AR and VR players.

  “Plus, it’s in English,” Mika added.

  “Well, the Masked Medalist’s Instagram posts are all in English,” Andy pointed out. “That doesn’t mean English is their first language. But you’re right—this note doesn’t seem like an official clue. It’s not a puzzle, like the color squares. It’s just telling us where to find the medal.”

  “Hmm.” Mika bit her lip. “Should we take it?”