It was best not to think about it at all. She’d just worry if she did.
She had to take things a step at a time. And that first step should be checking out Irokara. If she didn’t know the town, she’d be late tomorrow, and the last thing she wanted was to be late on her first day. She’d be branded as a slacker for sure. So she got ready for the day and headed downstairs.
Mulan was watching the news, as was her new custom. She was fascinated by the magic screen that showed moving people. Aoi’s father left it on for the spirit to watch every morning on his way out to work.
Aoi ate breakfast in silence, absently listening to a local news report about some yankiis who had broken into a store and stolen money last night.
When she finished, she asked, “Hey, Hua-san?”
The warrior glanced over her shoulder from where she sat on the couch. “Yes?”
“Tomorrow’s the first day of school, and I don’t even know where school is.”
Mulan rose from her seat. “Oh, that is a problem. Let’s go then.”
Aoi slipped on her shoes and headed onto the streets of Irokara. She had no idea where she was going, so she walked at a leisurely pace. She could have gone faster if she had a bike, but she didn’t. She’d never wanted one. Probably had something to do with never learning how to ride one.
This was the first time Aoi had ventured into town. She had texted her dad where she was going, and he reminded her to stay safe. He was so protective sometimes, but she guessed that’s what families were for. Aoi glanced at Mulan walking beside her. Her family hadn’t protected her. It had been the other way around. Why had she done it? Sure, Aoi knew some things about the warrior’s family thanks to Disney’s adaptation, but Disney had been wrong before.
With that in mind, Aoi broke the silence. “Mulan, what was your family like?”
“Simple and loving. There were my parents, my older sister, and my younger brother. And there was me—average, plain, simple.” Her voice was soft, as if she disliked speaking of herself.
As they chatted, they passed traditional, older houses. Past those were apartments, some of which were shadier than others. They passed what looked to be an abandoned building, the windows broken and graffiti decorating the peeling plaster siding. Aoi thought she could see someone moving around in there. She shivered, and sped up.
“You had a brother? Why didn’t he go to war instead of you?”
“He was too young and, as you seem to know, my father was too old. Yes, he’d be accepted to battle, but I knew he’d never survive.”
“So you took his place.” Now that was like the film.
Mulan nodded. “I bought a horse and saddle and left in his place.”
How she ever managed to make it was beyond Aoi. She knew she couldn’t have lasted several months on the battlefield.
“I was there for twelve years.”
Wait. What? “Twelve years?” But the movie only made it seem like a few months! Maybe Disney hadn’t followed the legend as closely as she thought.
“Yes, twelve years. We eventually won the war, and the khan asked what I wanted.”
“What did you want?”
“Just a horse to take me home.”
That was it? “You could’ve gotten a nice job at the palace! Or maybe a handsome prince to marry you!”
Mulan laughed at the mere suggestion. “I wanted no such thing. I just wanted to go home.”
“But didn’t you marry Shang? Like in the movie?”
“Shang?” the warrior repeated, one brow raised high. She looked like she’d never even heard the name before.
“He was a general in the movie.”
Mulan’s brow dropped. Both did, and they furrowed together. Her lip was set in a thin line. “There was no such man.”
“Well,” Aoi said hesitantly, deciding it best to change the subject. “What happened next?”
Mulan shrugged. “I went home. My family was happy to see me, and I spent the rest of my life in my hometown.”
That wasn’t exactly the happy ending Aoi expected. Sure, it wasn’t too sad, but it wasn’t full of romance and joy, either.
By then, the apartments were replaced by shops. The bigger ones were two stories at most. The bottom floor was the shop, and the upper floor was home to the owners.
There was only one department store. It was smaller than what Aoi was used to. Probably had something to do with the amount of successful family-owned shops in the area.
“What about you?” Mulan asked. “You said your mother was in France, right? Is that still under Roman rule, or did—” She was cut off by a growl. Aoi’s stomach had interrupted her. Mulan smiled. “On second thought, you should probably eat.”
Aoi chuckled softly. “Yeah, probably.”
The shopping district had several places to eat. They had sweets, burgers, takoyaki, and more. But Aoi wanted a very simple pleasure: ramen. And, sure enough, there was a ramen shop.
Mulan disappeared back inside the gem. Aoi entered the restaurant and took a seat at the counter, giving her order to a large man with an apron. When he came back with her food, he eyed her gem with a strange expression.
Aoi ducked her hand into her lap out of sight. Aoi hoped he wrote the gem off as some weird fashion statement. She’d have to figure out what to do about that later.
“Thank you for the food.”
The cook shrugged, refocusing on Aoi’s face. “My pleasure. Anything else I can do for you?”
“Actually, do you have a map of the area?” It would be easier to find her way to her school if she had a map.
“I take it you’re new to Irokara?” he asked. Aoi nodded. “Sure, I got one. You know, in case any tourists come by. Let me fetch it.”
As she ate, she looked at the map. The building was circled with red ink. “YOU ARE HERE” was written in the circle.
“Irokara is pretty easy to get around, once you know the place.” The chef leaned against the counter, pointing at the map. “But you’ll want to stay out of these neighborhoods, here, and away from the old tracks—here.” He pointed at a spot on the western side of town. “We’ve been getting a bit of a gang problem here recently. Probably just some punk yankiis blowing off steam, but it’s always better to be safe, right?”
Aoi nodded, memorizing the bad neighborhoods. She’d stay far from those. After that, she looked for the school: Irokara Senior High. It was then just a matter of connecting the dots—a surprisingly easy task. For the most part, the path there was just a straight line. Good. It would be easy to remember.
As soon as Aoi finished, she smiled brightly at the man. “Thank you for the meal, sir.” She placed enough yen to cover the meal on the counter.
“Come back again sometime.”
“I will!” Aoi left the map on the counter. It belonged to the cook. However, she did leave with a full stomach. Next stop, the senior high.
It wasn’t too far away. She’d definitely be able to make it there on time without waking up super early. Though she was still thinking about waking up a little early so she could find a good seat at the opening ceremony.
Before she knew it, she was there. Aoi looked up at the school, blocked off by gates. It was a tall building, three stories high, with fencing around the roof. It was painted a pale brown—perhaps supposed to be an inviting color—but the graffiti on the first level of the school made it a little scary. “So here it is.”
“That’s a school?” Mulan appeared beside her. “For children?”
“My old school was bigger.” Aoi shrugged. “But at least finding everything should be pretty easy.”
After struggling to find the place and eating lunch, the sun had risen high above them. “We should probably head home.”
“You just wanted to know where your school was?” Mulan asked.
Aoi nodded. “What else is there to do? I don’t really have any friends to hang out with yet.”
“Other than me,” Mulan teased.
Aoi lau
ghed nervously. “Yeah, other than you.”
She turned around and started heading back. The walk was quiet and peaceful. No confusion now that she knew where she was going.
She only stopped twice on the way home. Once for the railroad, still with no trains. Then she stopped for people.
From a distance, she saw two boys her age, talking to a girl who looked a few years younger. Her back was up against a wall, her bag hugged close to her chest. She flinched when one of the boys slammed his hand against the wall near her head.
Aoi didn’t like it at all. A chill ran down her spine and froze her body. She was too scared to do anything.
But what had she expected? Aoi was no hero. She was just a normal girl. More than that, a scared, timid girl who didn’t like to fight.
One of the boys grabbed the girl’s wrist, twisting it back. She yelped; he laughed.
“I, uh . . . I think I’ll go around.” Aoi turned to go down a different street. But a voice stopped her in her tracks. It wasn’t the boys. It wasn’t the girl they were scaring. It was Mulan.
“Honestly, Arisawa-chan?” She was angry. More than that, she was disappointed. “If you don’t protect that girl, who will?”
Aoi looked back at the girl. The boys were too close to her. Their smirks were the opposite of her wide eyes, her quivering body. She was scared. Even more so than Aoi. If only someone else was there, someone they could see. They could stop the boys. But no one was here. No one but Aoi.
“No one,” Aoi replied. She forced her legs forward, in the boy’s direction.
But the closer she got, the more she wanted to run away. It was obvious what these boys were up close, with their bleached hair and baggy clothes. Yankii. They were bad people, and definitely bad news for the young girl.
They may have been bad, but Aoi was here. And she was going to stand for none of this.
“Excuse me, but I don’t think she’s interested.”
“Huh?” A guy with spiky hair raised a hand to his ear. He’d definitely heard her. Aoi hadn’t whispered. He was just trying to be intimidating. “What’s this girl saying, bro?”
A blonde boy with his hair pulled into a ponytail, the one holding the girl’s wrist, turned his head in Aoi’s direction. “I think she tried to tell us what to do.” He turned away from the small girl and folded his arms over his chest. “Don’t be stupid, brat. Go home already.”
“I can’t do that,” Aoi said. Her heart pounded loudly in her chest, like a drum at a summer festival. But she wouldn’t back down. Not with this girl in danger. “That girl isn’t interested in you. Leave her alone.”
“Or what? What’re you gonna do?” He took a step forward.
Aoi took a step back. “I . . . I don’t want to fight you.”
“Too bad. You got our attention now and didn’t listen to our warnings. Now you pay.”
Pay? Aoi’s eyes widened. Knives. They were pulling out knives.
Aoi had no choice now. They were going to attack if Aoi didn’t back down. And that was something Aoi couldn’t do, not now.
“Mulan,” Aoi whispered, panicked. “What do I do?”
Mulan’s urgent voice answered her in her head. “Remember, you’re strong enough to fight back. You can do this. I have faith in you.”
The boys didn’t hesitate a moment longer. They ran at her, ready to stab and slice.
“Duck!” Mulan ordered.
Aoi didn’t ask any questions. She did as told—only to trip and stumble a few steps. She’d gone too far forward. But she’d missed the knife coming for her face. She’d call that a win.
“Cartwheel!”
What? Okay. Aoi did as she was told. Her hands slamming against the pavement hurt, but she did what she had to.
SMACK!
Her foot collided with one of the boy’s faces. He fell to the ground before Aoi righted herself and began to dust herself off. She was shaking.
“You’re not done yet!” Mulan insisted.
Aoi stopped. The other boy rushed her. Aoi tried to move out of the way, but the knife grazed her arm. At least she made it around without getting killed. She’d take what she could get.
Taking down the first guy with just a kick to the face made her feel . . . something. Powerful, maybe? Confident she could help the girl, definitely.
And Aoi found faith in herself. She would save this girl. She had to. Only she could do this.
Confidence raced through her veins. Driven by some newly woken instinct, Aoi reached out her hand towards the empty air. As her fingers closed, she grasped an invisible object, and a blue ring of light took form in her hand.
Aoi also stared down at the blue ring in her hand. What on earth . . .? It was almost two feet at its widest, and fizzled with an electric glow. She’d never seen anything like it before, except maybe in a video game or a movie. And even then, she still wasn’t sure what it was or what it could do. She just knew it was a weapon—and her only chance to save the girl was to use it.
The yankiis around her exploded in confusion. “This kid—”
“How’d she—”
Aoi had no time to ask questions. She had to stop this fight and get home. She rushed the closest boy, spinning around his knife, and aimed for him.
She almost went for his head, then stopped. Would that kill him? She didn’t know. So she struck his shoulder instead, her ring cutting into his arm. It didn’t bleed, but rather immediately cauterized the wound. That was a good thing, Aoi supposed. She didn’t like blood. Aoi couldn’t help but wince. She may be hurting these boys, but it didn’t mean she liked it.
Her hesitation was all it took for the other boy to be on his feet and rush her.
“Arisawa-chan, duck!”
She tried, but the blade grazed her other shoulder. She hissed in pain, but somehow made it under. While she was down, she swung her ring and cut his legs.
The boy stumbled, then went down.
Aoi stood, breathing heavily as she dusted herself off. Her arms were stinging, but she was trying her hardest to ignore them. It wasn’t so bad—just an incentive to be more careful in the future.
“I really am sorry,” Aoi said as the boys scampered to their feet and ran away. The ring vanished from her grip, from existence.
“Wow! That was amazing!” The overly excited voice made Aoi flinch. That was definitely not Mulan. “How’d you do that? Can you teach me?”
The younger girl stared at her with awe, her eyes glistening with excitement. She bounced a little on her heels. Aoi didn’t know how to react. Her eyes were wide and her mouth agape. She forced herself to close her mouth, sealing it in a hesitant smile. “It was nothing, really.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” the girl exclaimed. “You saved me! Like, you totally saved my life! What’s your name? I got know that much if I’m gonna be your biggest fan!”
Wait. What? Biggest fan? What was she even talking about?
“I, uh . . . Aoi Arisawa?”
This was way too much. This girl was too excited, too energetic, too overwhelming. Aoi had to get out of here. Aoi turned on her heel and fled as fast as her legs would let her.
Chapter 4
Home at last. Aoi took a moment to catch her breath and headed inside. “I’m home!”
Her father was sitting at the kitchen table eating dinner. He must have gotten home early that day. “Welcome back,” he said. “Come get some food. It’s on the stove—” And then he saw her wounds.
He stared at her, his face a mixture of concern and surprise, then shook himself and scrambled to fetch a first aid kit. “Are you OK?”
“It’s no big deal,” Aoi mumbled as he cleaned her cuts. It stung, but getting the cuts had hurt worse. “There was a girl getting mugged. She needed help.”
“And you helped her?”
“I did.” Aoi nodded, looking down at her now bandaged arms. “Thank you.”
He pulled her into his arms. “I’m proud of you, Aoi. But, what came over you? Are you trying to
be a hero or something now?”
Mulan appeared beside Mr. Arisawa, her eyes fixed intently on Aoi. Aoi stared at her bandages, quiet.
“I . . . I think so,” she mumbled. Aoi glanced up at the two adults standing before her. Mulan’s face was lit in a triumphant grin, while her father’s brows had creased even further.
“Are you sure, Aoi?” he asked, looking between the two girls. “Things could get a lot worse than this.”
Aoi nodded. She didn’t know why, but she knew it was the right thing to do. Mulan pulled her into a tight hug.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I’ll keep you safe, I promise.”
“You better.” Mr. Arisawa sounded stern, but Aoi could tell he had loosened up. “You hungry?”
Aoi fixed a plate and took a seat across from her father. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until that moment. All she wanted to do was stuff her face with her father’s cooking.
Mr. Arisawa finished eating first, having had a head start. He leaned back in his chair. “So, hero, school starts tomorrow.”
“Mm-hmm” was all she could say with a full mouth. She swallowed. “I’m a little nervous.”
“Still think you won’t make friends?”
He hit the nail on the head. “Yeah. I’m gonna do my best though.”
“That’s all you can do.”
“And I’m sure she’ll do a fine job of making friends,” Mulan added. She sat in the chair next to Aoi. “Though I do have a single concern.”
“And that is?” Mr. Arisawa asked.
“The gem on her hand.”
Aoi thought of the ramen chef and nodded. That had been awkward.
“You didn’t understand what it was until you saw me,” Mulan continued, ”and I don’t want Aoi to introduce me to every person in town to explain the gem. It could prove dangerous.”
“Yeah, since you’re not alive and all.” Aoi swallowed her bite. “This town may become like a hotspot for ghost hunters.”
“There is a bigger problem than that, Arisawa-chan. Others may use you for your weapon.”
Linked: The War of the Gems - Book 1 Page 4