Kimono Code

by Susannah McFarlane

  ej12girlhero.com

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Emma Jacks’ heart sank when she was paired with Nema in karate class.

  ‘Okay, girls,’ cried Ms Sipes, the karate instructor. ‘Take your starting positions, and remember, karate is about defence, not attack. It is a peaceful art.’

  Someone should have told mean-girl Nema that.

  Emma stood on the karate mat facing Nema. She bowed down in the traditional display of respect for your opponent. Nema smirked at Emma, made the tiniest bow and then moved towards Emma, raising her arm. She went to strike her arm down on Emma’s shoulder, but Emma blocked it with her arm and pushed her other arm out to Nema’s side. Nema didn’t see that one coming and was too slow to block it. Points to Emma.

  ‘Go, Em!’ cried Eve.

  ‘Nice work, Emma. Good play,’ called Ms Sipes. ‘Now, back to starting positions, please.’

  The girls began again, each trying out the blocks, strikes and kicks they had been learning. It was nearly the end of the round and the points were equal. Emma and Nema stood, ready for the last movement. Then, as Nema advanced, Ms Black, a teacher at the school, entered the gym. Nema looked over to see Ms Sipes turning away to talk to Ms Black. Quickly, Nema turned back to Emma, moved forwards, put her right hand hard on Emma’s shoulder and kicked into the back of Emma’s knee. Emma’s knee buckled, and she fell to the ground.

  Ms Sipes looked back just in time to see Nema holding Emma to the mat. ‘Points and round to Nema. Good match, girls.’

  ‘Hey, you can’t do that!’ gasped Emma to Nema.

  ‘Do what?’ asked Nema, her black eyes round with pretend innocence.

  ‘You kicked me in the knee,’ cried Emma. ‘That’s an illegal move!’

  ‘Oh, is it?’ asked Nema. ‘But no one saw, so I guess I win. And I’m going to beat you again at the karate competition on Friday. I’m going to win. I’m always better than you, Emma, don’t you know that?’

  No, you’re not. You’re just meaner, thought Emma.

  Nema made Emma so angry. Why did she think she could do that kind of stuff? Nema was just so, so… Emma couldn’t even think of the word, she couldn’t think of anything. Thoughts rushed into her head and were knocked out by more thoughts, even angrier than the thought before, and then all of the thoughts began to swirl around in her head until it felt like a whirlpool and Emma was almost drowning in it. To make matters worse, Nema was still standing over her, smiling her thin, mean smile.

  ‘What’s wrong, Emma?’ asked Nema, smirking. ‘Nothing to say?’

  ‘Now, girls,’ said Ms Sipes. ‘What’s happening over here?’

  ‘Nothing, Ms Sipes,’ said Nema sweetly. ‘I was just helping Emma up.’

  ‘Really?’ asked Ms Sipes, looking suspiciously at Nema. Then she looked down at Nema’s belt. ‘Nema, why are you wearing a red belt? You are a yellow belt.’

  ‘Oh, that,’ replied Nema airily with a little flick of her fringe. ‘I just thought the red looked better with the black.’

  ‘It’s not a fashion statement, Nema,’ said Ms Sipes. ‘It’s a badge of achievement. It’s an honour to be awarded a belt. To wear a colour you have not been awarded is disrespectful.’

  Ms Sipes talked a lot about respect. She was new to the school and had introduced the lunchtime karate classes. She had explained that karate was about control, self-discipline and respect. ‘It helps you let your best qualities shine through,’ she had said. All the girls loved it, particularly when they learnt they could even beat the boys. Emma’s best friends—Isi, Hannah and Elle—went to Karate Club every Monday. (Ms Tenga had really encouraged them to join). So, unfortunately, did Nema and her mean-girl-in-training, Laila.

  Nema and Emma used to be friends, even best friends, in kindergarten. But, when they got to school, Nema changed and became mean and bossy. Emma could hardly remember what Nema was like when she was nice.

  ‘Just keep away from her and do your own thing,’ Emma’s mum had suggested, but that wasn’t so easy. Emma and Nema were in the same class and they both liked sport, so they spent a lot of time doing the same things. They were in the same gym squad, the swim team, the netball squad (although not in the same team) and now the karate club. Ms Black had encouraged Nema and Laila to join.

  ‘You could get a black belt,’ she had said, winking at Nema and Laila. ‘I really believe that, without a shadow of a doubt.’

  Emma, Hannah, Isi, Elle and now Eve, who had come to the school last term and was becoming a good friend, were in one girls’ group, while Nema, Laila, Mel and Darcy were in the other. Nema walked off the mat, her group all smiling and hi-fiving her, and left Emma sitting there. Slowly, Emma got up and walked over glumly to Hannah, Isi and Elle.

  ‘Em, you would have had her if she hadn’t made that move,’ Hannah consoled her friend.

  ‘Thanks,’ said Emma. ‘But why didn’t Ms Sipes say anything?’

  ‘I don’t think she saw what happened,’ said Elle. ‘Ms Black started talking to her just as Nema began her last move. But, hey, don’t stress, Em. Are you really surprised? You’d expect Nema to cheat, wouldn’t you?’

  ‘Maybe, but not to get away with it,’ said Emma. ‘It’s not right.’

  Isi looked around. Eve had left to go to the toilet, and it was now just the four of them. ‘She doesn’t get away with the most important things,’ Isi reminded her. ‘You and SHINE have never let her.’

  Emma smiled. It was true. Emma had been recruited to the secret agency SHINE and, as Special Agent EJ12, was one of its best spies, cracking codes and going all over the world to stop SHADOW agents from carrying out their evil deeds. She wasn’t really surprised when she found out Nema had been recruited to SHADOW, but while Emma knew Nema was in SHADOW, Nema didn’t know about Emma.

  ‘And Nema doesn’t suspect a thing,’ said Elle, who had just been recruited into the Transport Division.

  ‘You could say she’s in the dark about it,’ joked Isi, one of Emma’s best friends and an agent in SHINE’s Science and Invention Division. Isi liked to make things, including jokes, not all of them funny (although they were always hilarious to Isi).

  The girls changed back into their uniforms and went out on to the school oval to eat their lunches.

  Halfway through her sushi, Isi suddenly looked up. ‘It would be so cool if we could go on a mission together,’ she said.

  ‘But we couldn’t all go,’ said Hannah, looking down at her sandwich.

  Emma, Isi and Elle looked uncomfortably at each other. Hannah was the only one in the group who wasn’t in the SHINE Agency even though they had all been sure she would be. When Hannah had told them last term that she had entered a writing competition, Emma wondered if it was another SHINE secret recruitment test. When Hannah found out she had won the competition, Emma suspected it was, and when Hannah said that she had to pick up her prize from a light shop, the three girls were certain that Hannah had been recruited. So they were all really surprised—and really crushed—when Hannah turned up at school the next day with a photo of a light, a funky desk lamp, she’d been given by the sponsors of the competition. There was also a framed certificate that was awarded in assembly. Emma, Isi and Elle had clapped hard for their friend when she went up to receive it, but they were all so disappointed. Hannah kept smiling, but no one was as disappointed as she was.

  ‘I was so sure that competition was
a SHINE test,’ said Emma, putting her arm around her friend.

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Hannah.

  ‘Hey,’ said Isi, changing the subject, ‘your braces are coming off tomorrow; your teeth will look amazing!’

  ‘Hope so, Is,’ said Hannah, managing only the thinnest of smiles.

  ‘And you’ve been so patient about them,’ said Emma. ‘Putting up with Nema’s cracks about being a metal-mouth.’

  It was true, Hannah had been patient. Hannah was good at being patient, but how long, wondered Emma, would she have to wait before SHINE recognised her talents? Emma didn’t think it was fair and could feel her face flushing and her thoughts getting worked up all over again. Why couldn’t SHINE see how good Hannah would be? Had SHINE changed its recruitment tests? Emma wished things wouldn’t keep changing. She liked things being predictable and she liked things being fair. Hannah wasn’t in SHINE, and now Nema had won the karate match by cheating. Nothing at all seemed fair.

  That afternoon in class, Emma was still annoyed and finding it hard to concentrate, even in her favourite subject—maths. Usually, Emma loved maths: she liked its patterns and how it all made sense. It was logical and you could predict it, unlike, it seemed, everything else in her life at the moment. Maths helped Emma to calm down, but today as she tried working through the sums on the board, she couldn’t concentrate. The real problem she wanted to work out was why Hannah wasn’t in SHINE.

  Hannah would be perfect, thought Emma. She’d be better than me! She’s always so calm and patient. Emma remembered how Hannah had taught her budgerigar to talk. She had spent hours standing next to the cage, saying, ‘Good morning, gorgeous!’ over and over again to her budgie, Sunny. Sunny, named for her bright yellow feathers, would just cock her head and chirp happily, but Hannah persisted. She kept saying, ‘Good morning, gorgeous!’ in the same perky voice until the whole Jiang family couldn’t get it out of their heads. They were all saying ‘Good morning, gorgeous!’ while Sunny just stood on her perch, tweeting. That is, until one morning when Hannah came into the kitchen for breakfast while her mum was unpacking the dishwasher.

  ‘Good morning, gorgeous!’

  ‘Morning, Mum,’ Hannah had replied sleepily.

  ‘Oh, morning, darling!’

  ‘Mum, you just said that!’

  ‘Good morning, gorgeous!’

  Hannah and her mum had both spun around as Sunny chirped her morning greeting again. From then on, Hannah had taught Sunny lots of words. She stuck with it. That was Hannah, she stuck with things and she was patient. After her success with Sunny, she had even trained Isi’s rabbit, Choccie, to come when her name was called.

  Hannah loved animals. Emma knew her friend wanted a dog most of all, but Hannah’s mum had said that their flat was too small. Hannah loved Sunny, but having a budgie wasn’t the same as having a dog. Birds couldn’t cuddle you at night, or shake hands (although Hannah had taught Sunny to lift one foot) or eat your broccoli under the table. Hannah had pictures of dogs all over her school folders, including pictures of the Jacks’ dog, Pip. And when Emma told her about the Jacks’ new puppy, Beret, Hannah had looked genuinely happy for her friend. She told Emma she was going to an open day at a dog-training centre and she couldn’t wait. That was typical Han. She never said anything about being disappointed. She always found something positive to say.

  Why doesn’t A1 see that? thought Emma. She usually sees everything! I wonder if I can talk to her about it.

  Emma’s thoughts were interrupted by a buzz in her right ear. Emma put her finger to the stud in her ear and pressed. She didn’t have her ears pierced: her mum said she had to wait until she was in high school for that, but she was wearing SHINE-issue alert studs. The stud at the front was held on her ear by a tiny magnet at the back. Inside the stud was a receiver that sent a buzz into the agent’s ear when there was a SHINE mission alert.

  SHINE realised that its school agents couldn’t take their spy-phones to class, so this was the perfect solution. When the agent heard the buzz, they could excuse themselves from class, get their phone and make their way to their SHINE Mission Tube access point. Isi had improved the studs a little and they were now available in a range of colours. Emma’s aqua studs were currently transmitting a mission alert. She put her hand up, and at almost exactly the same time, so did Isi and Elle.

  ‘Yes, Emma?’ asked Ms Tenga.

  ‘Please, can I be excused to go the toilet?’ asked Emma.

  ‘Me too, please!’ said Isi.

  ‘Um, Ms Tenga, I need to go too,’ said Elle.

  ‘Right,’ said Ms Tenga. ‘Well, you’d all better go.’

  The girls were lucky they were in Ms Tenga’s class. Ms Tenga also worked for SHINE, in Agent Support Services, so she acted as if it were completely normal for three students to want to go to the toilet at the same time.

  Emma, Elle and Isi stood up and left the classroom. They went to their lockers, collected their spy-phones and CHARM bracelets (which were stored in a secret compartment in their lunchboxes) and made their way across the courtyard to the girls’ toilets. They were relieved that Hannah was in another class; heading off without her would have been awkward. Emma went in to the toilet first. She checked that no one else was in there and turned to give the thumbs-up to Elle and Isi. The three girls walked in. Emma went to the last cubicle on the right, Isi to the one next to it and Elle to the one next to Isi. Emma looked wistfully at the first, empty cubicle as she shut the door, at exactly the same time as Elle and Isi shut and locked theirs.

  Emma lowered the toilet-seat lid, sat down and took out her spy-phone. Under the toilet-roll holder was a small socket to which Emma now connected her phone. The phone flashed, and Emma keyed in her pin code. The phone flashed again.

  ‘Here we go, guys,’ whispered Emma. ‘Good luck!’

  ‘You too!’ whispered Elle.

  ‘You three!’ giggled Isi.

  Emma held on tight as the toilet and the wall it was attached to spun around. On the other side, EJ dropped down onto a beanbag and the wall moved back again. EJ heard the cubicle door unlock. She was expecting to see IJ and EK on the other side, but she was alone. The others must be in another tube, she thought. That makes sense. I am going to the Code Room, but IJ must be off to the Science and Invention Labs and EK to Transport. EJ pushed the beanbag off the landing, and she sped down the Mission Tube until she came to a stop at a platform with a small keypad. EJ stood up, keyed in her pin code and waited for the agent recognition test.

  ‘Breathe deeply,’ a digital voice announced as a thin rod, with a small glass circle on the end, ejected out and up from the base of the keypad, right in front of EJ’s mouth.

  What? wondered EJ. Is this preparation for the test?

  ‘Five deep breaths in and out, please.’

  EJ took a breath, her breath clouding the glass, then another, then another and was just breathing out again when the digital voice spoke once more.

  ‘Re-start the test, please. Five slow, calm, deep breaths.’

  Arrrrgghh! thought EJ. This just isn’t my day. I can’t even breathe properly! But she stood still and took one long, deep breath and then slowly exhaled before taking another. It seemed to be taking longer than it needed to, but EJ didn’t want to start the test again: she knew a code would be waiting for her and she wanted to get working on it.

  ‘Agent’s DNA confirmed in breath,’ said the voice, as the door behind the keypad slid open. ‘Enter the Code Room, Agent EJ12.’

  EJ sat down at the table in the middle of the Code Room. She looked up at the clear tube that came from the ceiling above the table and waited. Seconds later, a small canister whizzed down the tube and fell out onto the desk in front of her. EJ opened the canister and took out a tightly rolled sheet of thick parchment paper. As she unrolled the sheet, a twig fell out onto the table. The twig that looked as if it had been snapped from a tree.

  ‘That’s strange,’ said EJ, picking up the twig as she held th
e paper. ‘What does this stick mean? Is it something to do with the message?’

  EJ looked at the paper. It was covered in beautiful black strokes that almost looked like a drawing. Was it a picture code? EJ re-read the top lines from SHINE. Hmmm, the message was found in Tokyo, she thought as she looked at the writing again. Is this drawing really Japanese writing?

  EJ took a photo of the paper with her phone, and then opened her writing analysis app. She opened the photo in the app and pressed ‘GO’. Words flashed onto the screen.

  EJ smiled. This will be my fastest code-crack yet, she thought as she pressed YES. Her screen flashed again, and the translation appeared. It was then that she realised her work had only just begun.

  I can’t send the code back to SHINE like this, EJ decided. Anyone could have translated the message from Japanese. A1 must want me to work out what it means. But what’s Konohanasakuuyahime? What’s hanami?

  EJ clicked on the word Konohanasakuuyahime. An entry flashed up on the screen telling her it was the name of a Japanese goddess who, according to legend, lived on Japan’s most famous mountain, Mount Fuji, and made the blossoms appear in springtime.

  ‘Okay,’ said EJ. ‘So this message is saying someone else is now controlling the blossoms. With the help of kunoichi. Let’s see who or what they are.’

  ‘Wow,’ said EJ. ‘Nema would be a perfect kunoichi!’ She read on.

  ‘Well, now we know they do,’ said EJ, ‘and it looks like they are holding someone or something called hanami to ransom. I need to check that word as well.’ She clicked on hanami.

  EJ clicked on the images and saw parks and streets packed with crowds of people walking under trees bursting with pink and white blossoms. Springtime is starting in Japan now, thought EJ, picking up the twig that had fallen out with the message, but this doesn’t look like it’s about to bloom. The small buds dotting the twig were tightly closed. ‘Is this the work of the kunoichi?’ EJ wondered out aloud.