‘Hey, you again, Sakura!’
The snow monkey climbed around EJ’s neck, its arms hugging her. Together, they watched and waited. When the geisha came out of the tea-house, EJ opened her fan and pressed the button. A small light went green. The homing devices were activated. EJ began to walk in the opposite direction from the geisha. Sakura screeched and tugged at EJ’s sleeve.
‘Calm down, Sakura,’ EJ said, laughing. ‘They won’t be doing any damage this time, and then they will return to Kitsune-sensei. The kunoichi-geisha will follow the kimono code.’ EJ looked at the inside of her fan where a map of Japan was marked with the flashing lights that were the kunoichi. ‘And I will follow them.’
EJ checked the map on her fan. As she suspected, the kunoichi had stopped briefly in a park on the outskirts of Kyoto, but they were now heading north, in the direction of Mount Fuji. EJ had a plan, but she needed to get to Mount Fuji quickly. Even the Bullet Train would not be fast enough. EJ sent a text to SHINE.
SHINE would track exactly where EJ was from the phone’s location, so she returned to the kimono shop, removed her kimono and make-up but put the fan in her pocket.
‘Arigato gozaimasu,’ she said again to the lady behind the counter and smiled at JV12 as she left the shop.
EJ quickly checked her phone.
Which corner? wondered EJ. She ran to the closest one, glanced left and saw EK12 standing next to a tandem bike.
‘Well, you did say express,’ called EK12, waving her over. ‘Put on this helmet and jump on, EJ!’
The agents climbed onto the bike and pedalled through the streets of Gion and then down a quiet laneway. When the coast was clear, EK12 hit the CONVERT button and the bike became a SHINE mini-chopper. It began to lift up into the sky. As they left Kyoto, they flew over the park. EJ smiled when she saw a row of cherry blossom trees with their blossoms beginning to open. Her tea-swap had worked.
‘Time to go sonic, EJ,’ said EK. ‘Hold on!’
As EK pressed a button marked SONIC on her handlebar, EJ felt the chopper’s blades spin even faster as they sped through the sky. EJ checked the map on her fan. The kunoichi were also travelling fast, but EJ and EK were ahead of them and, in what seemed no time at all, they were approaching Mount Fuji.
‘I think,’ EJ told EK, ‘that Kitsune-sensei’s hideout will be near the Shrine to the Cherry Blossom Goddess, Konohanasakuuyahime. That’s in the forest at the foot of the north side of the mountain. Let’s go there and wait. If the kunoichi come this way, it will confirm my suspicions.’
EK landed the mini-chopper behind a group of trees. EJ watched the map as the little dots that were the homing devices of the kunoichi moved closer and closer towards where EJ and EK were. EJ had been right.
‘They’re getting very close now,’ she said. ‘A little too close. I think I can find the hideout from here. It’s time to call the SHINE delivery service. They are on stand-by and will pick up the kunoichi on our signal.’
EJ keyed the message. EJ and EK heard the sounds of car brakes screeching nearby.
‘That’s my cue,’ said EJ. ‘Kitsune-sensei is waiting, she just won’t be expecting me.’
‘Be careful, EJ!’ said EK.
‘I will,’ EJ reassured her. ‘See you soon.’
EJ walked through the trees and onto a path leading towards the temple. Rows of moss-covered stone foxes lined the path. An even larger fox stood at the temple gate. At its feet was another maneki-neko.
Too easy, thought EJ.
As EJ moved the arm of the maneki-neko, the fox statue behind it tilted back to reveal hidden steps leading underground. EJ walked down and then into a narrow annexe. She heard a thud as the statue closed back over the entrance.
‘Hai!’ A sharp voice came from around the corner of the annexe. ‘Kitsune-kunoichi?’
Her back to the wall, EJ crept slowly down the corridor and then, carefully, peeked into the room. Rice-paper screen panels stood against the walls, but the rest of the room was like a high-tech science laboratory: a long steel bench, filled with rows of glass test tubes, ran down the centre, computer screens flashed on the back wall and, to the left, were two large vats on wheels, one filled with green powder, the other with pink. A woman was standing in front of the green vat, measuring out the green powder into more test tubes. Also on the bench were two large spray flasks, one filled with green powder, the other with pink, and next to both was what looked like a snow monkey cuddly toy. At least, EJ hoped, it was a toy because it was completely still. EJ felt a little sick at the thought that it might be real.
EJ looked back to the woman. Tall with grey hair styled like a geisha and held with a gold comb, she wore narrow black pants and a black kimono-like jacket, edged in gold with a large fox embroidered on the back. It was a sleek, elegant fox with nine tails, beautiful green eyes and a bare cherry blossom branch in its mouth. The green-eyed fox—Kitsune-sensei was Kuramiko Kitsune.
‘Kitsune-kunoichi?’ the woman repeated, glancing over her shoulder.
EJ took a deep breath and stepped out of the shadows into the light of the laboratory.
‘No, Kuramiko Kitsune. It’s SHINE Agent EJ12,’ she announced.
The woman turned around. Her eyes widened in surprise, and her nostrils flared. ‘How did you get in here? How do you know my name?’ she snapped. Then she looked longer at EJ. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she sniffed. ‘My kunoichi will make quick work of you. You are only a child!’
‘Your kunoichi are in SHINE detention,’ EJ informed her. ‘Which is where you’re heading, too. Why would you want to destroy something as beautiful as the cherry blossoms?’
‘If I can’t be beautiful anymore, why should anything else?’
‘What?’ asked EJ. She didn’t understand.
‘Beauty! I can’t bear it!’ cried Kuramiko. ‘Unless it is mine! Once, in my springtime, I was beautiful, and I might have stayed that way if it wasn’t for SHINE shutting down my laboratory. So, now, I block beauty.’
‘Why the ransom?’ asked EJ.
‘Research is expensive,’ said Kuramiko, ‘and SHADOW said I could keep half if I shared the antidote. The blossoms are only a test. It works on other things too.’
EJ looked at the snow monkey. ‘So there is an antidote?’ she asked.
‘Of course,’ snapped Kuramiko. ‘I can stop it, I can start it, I can speed it up, I can slow it down. I am a genius.’
EJ wondered if there were any SHADOW agents who didn’t think they were a genius.
‘What will SHADOW do with their money?’ she pressed. She hoped to find out SHADOW’s plans.
‘Who knows, who cares. Something big they say, but I focus on my work,’ said Kuramiko. ‘My work to make me beautiful again.’
‘The ransom won’t be paid,’ said EJ.
‘Of course it will be paid, you silly child. The Japanese love their blossoms, and the trees will never bloom again without my antidote.’
‘No,’ said EJ, firmly. ‘It’s over.’
Kuramiko began to laugh. ‘It’s not over until I say so. And who are you to stop me, you little insect? I’ll block you too. You can join my monkey friend here.’
EJ felt her face redden and her anger grow as she realised what Kuramiko was doing. ‘It’s alive?’ she asked.
‘Yes, but it’s been blocked,’ said Kuramiko. ‘It should recover when the blocker wears off.’
‘It should?’ cried EJ. ‘What if it doesn’t? How can you be so cruel?’
‘Cruel, I’ll tell you what cruel is,’ said Kuramiko. ‘Cruel is getting old, losing beauty. That’s cruel. I’m doing the silly animal a favour.’
‘Not everyone sees it that way,’ began EJ. ‘Akari-sensei says…’
‘Don’t you mention that woman to me! She is responsible for this. If she hadn’t stopped me all those years ago, I might have been beautiful forever. But, by the time I had rebuilt my laboratory, it was too late for me.’
Kuramiko was angry now. EJ was too, but she took
a breath. The sky is blue, the sun is warm. Keep calm, EJ, she thought. Use Kuramiko’s anger against her.
‘No more talk!’ Kuramiko yelled. ‘I will stop you now!’
Kuramiko grabbed the large spray flask of Blossom Block and lunged towards EJ. EJ took another deep breath and remembered what Akari had taught her. She could use Kuramiko’s strength. As Kuramiko threw herself at her, EJ lifted her arm and blocked. So hard was Kuramiko coming at EJ, the simple block sent the SHADOW agent flying across the room. The flask shattered, and green powder showered over Kuramiko. She shrieked and tried to crawl away from the powder, but as EJ watched her movements became slower and slower.
‘Quickly, the pink powder,’ said Kuramiko, her lips hardly moving now. ‘Quickly, spray, it’s the antidote. You…’ Kuramiko’s lips stopped moving. She was completely immobilised.
‘You really need to slow down, Kuramiko, think things through,’ said EJ, smiling. ‘But, don’t worry, there will be time for that in SHINE detention.’
EJ walked over to the pink powder-filled spray flask and sprayed powder over the snow monkey. In just seconds, the monkey blinked and then screeched and jumped up on EJ.
EJ laughed. ‘You can come with me, little one,’ she said. ‘I know someone whom you will like.’
EJ opened her phone and dialled in another pick-up for SHINE Delivery. Then she texted both EK12 and KM12 from the Transport Division.
With Kuramiko safely on her way to SHINE detention, EJ wheeled the Blossom Unblock vat out of the laboratory and pulled it up the long set of stone steps, down the path, back through the trees and into the clearing where she had been dropped. It was hard work, and the snow monkey sitting on top was encouraging rather than helpful, but EJ didn’t mind. She smiled when she saw EK12 and KM12 talking as they waited there beside their mini-choppers.
‘I see you two have met,’ said EJ. ‘We have some work to do. Do the mini-choppers have crop-spraying capacity?’
‘Oh, yes,’ said KM12. ‘SHINE mini-choppers are fitted with pretty much everything! We can even pick up water for fighting fires. What do you want us to do?’
‘This is concentrated Blossom Unblock,’ explained EJ, wheeling the vat closer to them. ‘I need you to split it up between you, dilute it with water and spray it over the cherry trees of southern Japan. IJ12 and Professor TR55 have confirmed that, when the spray hits the air, it will disperse over the trees and release the blooms that Blossom Block has stopped. But, you will need to fly low and fast. How fast can you go?’
KM and EK looked at each other, grinning.
‘Oh, we can be really fast,’ said EK. She and KM laughed as they began loading the Blossom Unblock onto their choppers.
‘That’s great,’ said EJ, ‘and we have two other deliveries before you start. Me to Tokyo and this little one to Akari’s temple in Kyoto.’ As she spoke, the monkey jumped on to KM12’s shoulder.
‘I guess I’m off to Kyoto,’ she said, laughing. ‘Let’s keep in radio contact, EK.’
‘Rosie that, KM,’ replied EK12. ‘Let’s go, EJ!’
EK and EJ climbed on to the mini-chopper and flew towards Tokyo. As they approached the outskirts, EJ tapped EK on the shoulder.
‘Start spraying, EK,’ cried EJ. ‘The Blossom Unblock will also accelerate the blooms, and if we do it quickly, the hanami can go ahead this evening, right on schedule after all.’
‘Rosie that, EJ,’ said EK, pressing the SPRAY button, then the SONIC button, on her handlebars as she swooped the mini-chopper down over the city of Tokyo. ‘We’ll be done in no time!’
And they were. Thirty minutes later, EK landed in a small laneway near Ueno Park.
‘Thanks, EK,’ said EJ. ‘I’ll meet you back at the airport after you have finished spraying. I need to check everything is okay and to see the blossoms. I promised someone I would.’
The sky was blue, and the spring sun was warm. EJ walked into Ueno Park, and then her excitement got the better of her and she began to run. When she arrived at the cherry blossom tree avenue, she was out of breath but overjoyed by what she saw. Blossoms—there were beautiful cherry blossoms everywhere. White and pink petals were bursting from every bud of every branch of every tree. Thousands of blossoms, all blooming on the trees all at once. It was an explosion of colour, and one of the most joyful sights EJ had ever seen—and she wasn’t alone. People were flooding into the park from all directions to see the much longed-for bloom of the cherry blossoms.
Everywhere, people were walking, smiling, taking photos of the blossoms and setting up their celebration picnics under the branches and the yellow lanterns that swung gently in the breeze. EJ looked at her blossom map: all of southern Japan was now pink. She checked the Sakura Front news bulletin on her phone. She smiled as she read the subtitles.
EJ saw her reflection in her phone screen and noticed her black hair: she had forgotten all about her wig. She slipped it off, pressed the small ED button on the inside of the cap, and then left it underneath a cherry blossom tree. The Eco-Deco process would break down the wig, which would make excellent compost. EJ put her hands in her pockets and happily joined the crowds strolling under the blossoms. She felt a piece of paper in her pocket. It was the fortune from the Tokyo temple.
‘Hmmm, “Mists will fall and flowers will bloom,”’ read EJ. ‘Perhaps it wasn’t just luck after all.’ But then her thoughts were interrupted.
‘EJ12, up here!’
EJ looked up.
‘Over here, in the tree!’
EJ peered up into the hundreds of blossoms. She could just make out a pair of blue eyes peering out.
‘It’s me, Agent RD12.’
EJ looked again. ‘Great disguise, RD12!’
‘Thanks, it’s a blossom blouse,’ said RD12. ‘EJ, here’s a message from A1.’
‘Thanks, RD12,’ said EJ, taking a rather large petal from RD’s outstretched hand.
What does that mean? wondered EJ. She was trying to work it out when her phone beeped. It was a normal text message from Hannah.
EJ was thrilled for her friend. She texted her straight back.
Hannah sent a photo. The puppy, a white poodle, looked very familiar.
EJ’s smile could not have been wider. She looked at her wooden bracelet and saw the little Buddha CHARM on her bracelet. She hadn’t used it. She twisted it, and the CHARM enlarged and an inscription appeared, just as if it were a heart charm.
‘And it is,’ said EJ to herself, as she strolled among the blossom trees. Everything was perfect, back to how it should be.
Well, nearly everything, she thought. There’s still Nema.
It was Friday, the day of the karate competition. It wasn’t a proper competition, more of a display to show the parents what they had been learning, but everyone was still keen to do their best. Eve was away from school and had been since the last practice. Ms Tenga reassured the girls she would be back soon.
‘What a pity she’s missing the competition,’ said Emma, who was sitting with Elle, Isi and Hannah.
‘But the rest of the team is here,’ said Isi. ‘Isn’t it great that we’re all part of SHINE?’
‘We’d make such a good mission team,’ said Elle. ‘Just think of it!’
‘I still need to do my training,’ Hannah reminded her. ‘A1 said I might be going on a SHINE camp. I can’t wait to work with all the animals!’
‘I would love to do that!’ said Isi. ‘That would be so cool!’ Then Isi looked serious for a moment. ‘Hey, Emma, when I got back, Nema was asking where we’d been. She was talking to Ms Black. You don’t think she…’
‘Girls!’ cried Ms Black. ‘Are you in this competition today?’
‘Yes!’ they cried, jumping up.
‘Good luck, girls,’ called out Ms Sipes. ‘Try hard and you might earn your orange belts.’
‘Orange! That’s my favourite colour!’ said Isi.
‘Is, I don’t think that’s the point,’ said Hannah.
‘Your skills are real
ly blossoming, girls,’ continued Ms Sipes. ‘You could really shine out there today.’
‘Guys,’ said Emma. ‘Did you hear what she just said? And has anyone noticed Ms Sipes’s name? What it spells if you swap the “i” and the “p”?’
‘Come on, girls,’ cried Ms Sipes. ‘I expect you to concentrate and do well this afternoon.’
The girls did do well. They did really well, Emma in particular, and at the end of the girls’ round robin round, Emma and Nema had collected the most points. They would contest the final.
The other mats were stored away, and everyone, including parents, teachers and the other girls and boys, moved over to the centre mat to watch the match. Emma’s friends gave her a big group hug and sat down to watch. Emma could see her mum and dad and her grandparents in the audience and even her brother Bob, although he was busy doing something on his phone. Emma also saw Nema’s mum and dad in the audience, but she noticed that they weren’t sitting together and that neither of them was smiling. Quite the opposite—they looked almost cross as they stared, tight-lipped, out to the mat. Nema looked across to them with a hopeful smile, but Emma watched her smile melt away and her jaw clench as her mother mouthed the word ‘win’ at Nema. Poor Nema, thought Emma.
The contest began.
Nema moved first, coming out strongly with a kick to Emma’s side, but Emma saw it coming and blocked. Nema frowned as she moved in for a strike to Emma’s shoulder. This time, Emma didn’t move quickly enough. Points to Nema. Emma now countered with her own strike and found Nema’s side. Points to Emma. Nema moved again towards Emma, but this time Emma could sense what Nema was planning. As Nema moved her leg behind Emma’s leg, Emma blocked it with her leg. Nema put her hand on Emma’s shoulder and pushed hard. Emma winced; Nema was strong.
Kimono Code Page 5