Dressed in his usual skintight black leather rocker uniform, he gave me his most charming smile. “Anything you want. But don’t you have class?”
“I have managed to convince Mr. Shinji to let me change my Japanese class to an independent study. Would you mind continuing to be my teacher? You can pick the Love Hotel classroom.”
“That works out perfectly. I need you to become much more proficient in Japanese. It is very important you communicate with your ghost like a native. We need to know every word it says.”
I sighed. Why did I have such a terrible crush on a man who was strictly business?
He ran his fingers through his shaggy hair and my heart melted. That was why. Unfortunately, I learned most guys that are drop dead gorgeous are totally unobtainable to average girls like me.
Kenzo snapped his fingers in front of my face. “Earth to Erin.”
“Oh, sorry. I’m just a bit distracted.”
His eyes narrowed. “Did something happen? I told you to phone me.”
“No. I just had a bad dream this morning. That’s all. When you told me I was to stop a battle between good and evil, it kind of freaked me out.”
A pretty girl with shoulder cropped hair and about my height came over to us. Strange, I’d never seen her on campus before. She wasn’t wearing an academy uniform. Instead, she had on a pair of black skinny jeans, a fuzzy cobalt blue sweater, and a pair of super cute black lace up boots. She had that “I just walked off the cover of a Japanese Vogue magazine” look.
Kenzo gave her a smile I’d never seen before—one of admiration. “Hi Ren. Thanks for coming.” He turned to me. “This is Erin. The girl I was telling you about.”
She held out her hand and said in a cute Japanese accent, “Nice to meet you. I hope we can be friends.”
What a weird thing to say right off the bat. Was she a relative of Kenzo’s? Did he think I needed more Japanese friends?
“Good to meet you.” I smiled. “Don’t believe anything Kenzo told you about me.” I punched him in the bicep. “He’s a big fat liar.”
Her eyes twinkled, but she didn’t laugh. “I suspected as much.”
I instantly liked her. “So, what are you doing at Seda Academy? I’ve never seen you on campus before. Do you have a brother or sister who goes here?”
Ren turned to Kenzo. “You haven’t told her yet?”
My arms prickled. The idea they had been talking about me and planning something behind my back made me feel uneasy.
Kenzo shook his head. “No. You weren’t supposed to show up for another twenty minutes. I haven’t had time to prep her.”
Suddenly I felt like I had been transported into some kind of detective TV show.
Ren rolled her eyes. “How you ever made it through PSIA training is beyond me.”
So, she was an agent too. “Guys, can you please tell me what’s going on?”
Ren looked me straight in the eye. “We are about to spend a lot of time together. I am going to be your bodyguard.”
Chapter 2
Art Garden
January 11th 10:00PM
Fudo greeted me with a smile as he waved me over to where he stood on the train platform. Handing me a ticket he said, “The train will be here in five minutes.”
One thing I’d learned living in Japan was that the trains were always on time unless there is a natural disaster. “You didn’t have to buy me my ticket.” I dug into my backpack. “Let me pay you back.”
He gently pushed my hand away. “No, it’s my pleasure. My father was so happy I am returning to his favorite place—and it’s all because of you. The last time I visited the museum I must have been ten.”
The train pulled into the station and Fudo pointed to the cars painted a strange pinkish red and white. “This is the Express Romancecar train to Hakone. Please do not get any ideas.”
I laughed. “You made it clear you have a girlfriend.”
As the train doors opened automatically, Fudo motioned for me to get on the train. “I appreciate that you respect that fact.”
Once aboard the train, I thought the seats might be the reason for the Romancecar name. That and the fact that the train car had the faint sent of roses. I plopped down in my overstuffed seat, leaned back and relaxed. We pulled out of the station and I couldn’t wait to leave the busy city behind.
Fudo, the perfect gentleman, indicated various points of interest as the train picked up speed. The highlight being the majestic Fujisan who sat mostly concealed in a shroud of clouds.
Fudo pulled a glossy paper out of his jacket and handed it to me. I glanced through the pages of a brochure on the Hakone Open Air Museum. The photos showcased a lush green expanse of hills dotted with large sculptures. From one vantage point, visitors could look out over the entire seventeen acres of sculpture garden.
I put the brochure in my backpack and returned my attention back to enjoying the view of the ever-growing countryside. My backpack buzzed at my feet. I pulled out the phone and read the text from Kenzo.
Don’t worry I figured out a way to have Ren guard you around the clock…oh and Setsuko is going to love what I’ve come up with to stop her nosy ass.
I laughed out loud causing Fudo to take his eyes off the view. “Who is sending you jokes? Wait a moment. Where did you get a phone?”
Crap, now I’m going to have to lie. Thanks a lot, Kenzo. “It was a Christmas gift from my parents. My mom decided she’d tortured me enough.”
He smiled. “I am glad. And the joke?”
“Oh, you wouldn’t understand. It’s a stupid inside gag with my mom.”
Fudo was about to dig deeper but thankfully the Romancecar came to a halt. We walked out into a lush green landscape—a mix of cedar and bamboo forests. My nose relished the pungent smell of cedar. The exhaust and stale smell of Tokyo was all but a memory—for now. I could tell already that Hakone was a special place. Fudo grabbed a taxi and we were off to the Hankone Open Air Museum. The cab dropped us off and we boarded a cute three-car train that continued the fuchsia colored romance theme. The train car’s windows were open, and the pleasant scent of cedar forest filled the air. As the train slowly moved higher up into the mountains, we passed streams punctuated by rope suspension bridges. The air hung thick with humidity. I dug into my backpack to get a picture. Further up the mountain loomed a beautiful waterfall. High up in the mountains in a location carved out of a cedar forest, the museum sat in a truly unique place.
Once off the train, my eyes took in the enormity of the grounds. It was hard to imagine what the seventeen acres of sculpture garden in the brochure truly looked like in person. Standing in front of the vast green lawns made me gasp.
Fudo smiled. “It is breathtaking.”
The open-air museum was divided into sections by artist and by style, yet my mind couldn’t decide what to see first.
I stood gawking until Fudo gave me a gentle push. “I know there is a lot to see. Just name an artist and I will take you to that section.”
I stuffed back a laugh. The way he said section made it sound like we were shopping at a department store. In my mind an imaginary store clerk said, “Over here, madam, is the Alexander Calder department, which is right next to the Henry Moore department. To your left and down the aisle is the Rodin boutique. On your way out please don’t forget to check out the nice selection of Picassos, which are on clearance.”
“I can pick something if you want,” Fudo said as he walked deeper into the vast lawn.
“Sorry, I’m hopeless when I’m given endless choices.” I followed behind him “Why don’t you take me to your father’s favorite section?”
Fudo scanned the landscape of sculptures before us. He ran his fingers under his shirt collar. “You would make this hard on me.”
Then he grabbed my hand and off we went. Funny, holding his hand I felt no spark between us. Just the reassuring touch of a friend. Kenzo had a far deeper grip on my heart than I thought.
As he led me along th
e green expanse, I caught a glimpse of a red and black Calder sculpture. Further along, I spotted what looked like a dead man lying face down in a field. “The artist must watch a lot of detective shows.”
Fudo chuckled. “Or he has murdered someone in real life.”
There goes his dry wit again. “Touché’”
We walked up one of the many hills to a formidable cable suspension bridge swinging gently over a small pond. Fudo walked ahead of me and then took my hand when we reached the end of the bridge. He led me around the pond and pointed me so that I could see his father’s favorite sculpture. My breath caught in my throat taking in the long trench-like lake dug into the hillside. In the lake floated two large, bright red geometric sculptures. One was a semi-circular arch and the other a folded C shape. In front of the sculptures stood a walkway that bordered a set of bright blue tubular metal handrails. I could appreciate the contrast between the hard brightly colored metal of the sculpture, the blue railing, and the bright green of the lawn that surrounded the man- made lake. I could see why Fudo’s father liked the installation so much. It had an unforgettable ethereal quality. “It stunning, Fudo. Tell your father I like the sculpture very much.”
“I will.” Fudo beamed as he led me to another section of the museum. I gazed out at the endless acres of hillside and realized we could be here until the sun set and still not see everything.
We approached a sculpture made of enormous pieces of stacked wood. At first sight, it looked like the logs had naturally fallen on top of each other. But as you approached the installation you could see the logs had been stacked together to form a troth that spiraled down the hill. I leaned over and looked down into the spiral toward the bottom. My vision became blurry and I felt dizzy.
Fudo stood next to me and followed my gaze. “I really like this sculpture. It looks like a logger’s nightmare.”
I laughed. It did leave a very haunting impression. The Japanese sculptures in the museum had a theme of mixing natural materials and geometric shapes. Some of them were stark and had the appearance of cities. The influence of Tokyo had crept all the way up to this beautiful mountain setting.
We walked further down the hill and came across a sculpture that would have made a nudist cheerleading squad proud. The sculpture stood two stories tall and was made up of red and black naked women with their legs and arms stretched out, each one stacked on top of the other. When I stood back away from the sculpture, I realized it could easily fit right in at Legoland.
I tried not to be too obnoxious about taking pictures of everything, but Fudo already knew I was a shutterbug. The photo opportunities at the sculpture museum were enough to burn a hole in my camera.
“Come, I want to show you my favorite,” Fudo said as I followed him to another section of the museum. A huge marble head of a woman with a wonderfully serene face laid on its side surrounded by a rectangular pool of water. Growing out of the top of the head and down the sides like locks of flowing hair were a group of shrubs. For some reason the head sculpture haunted me like my ghost. The look in the woman’s eyes seemed otherworldly. They reminded me of the Sun Goddess. Of course, I couldn’t help but take pictures of her from every angle.
Fudo laughed when I finally came up for air. “I guess you really like that sculpture.”
Embarrassed, I tucked my camera back into my pocket. “Sorry, I know I got a bit carried away.”
Fudo followed me smiling as he I darted from one section of the museum to another.
As it turned out, I was the least interested in the most famous artists work— like Picasso. Maybe it was because I had studied them so much in my two semesters worth of Art History classes.
Fudo nudged me out of my contemplation. “I do not know about you, but I need to have lunch. I will buy us a set of bentos. Chicken for you?”
I smiled. Fudo knew me well. “Yes, thanks.”
Fudo headed toward the museum café and I sat down on a nearby bench. A large maple tree formed an umbrella-like canopy shading the bench from the sun. Using my backpack to prop up my tired feet, something stirred under the bench. A tiny grey and white furry ball scurried out from under my backpack. The animal was about the size of the palm of my hand and it leapt up in the air and used its tiny feet to grab onto a branch. Then it stretched out its legs and literally flew onto a larger tree branch. I closed my eyes and then opened them again. The tiny grey and white fur ball had vanished.
Fudo returned with our boxes. “Here’s your lunch…I mean early dinner. It is four o’clock.”
That explained my furry ball sighting. My brain needed food. Digging into the box, I downed the chicken, rice, and cucumber salad in record time. Fudo eyed my empty bento box. “Sorry, I had no idea it was that late. No wonder I was starving. All I had for breakfast was a box of Little Pockys.”
He laughed. “You forgot about being hungry because your appetite for art took priority.”
What an amazing observation. “You’re right.”
He placed his empty box on the bench. “I am glad you are having a good time. I knew you would.”
I looked off at the rolling green hills that filled my day. “Thank you so much for bringing me here. Tell your father the Open-Air Museum is one of my favorites, too.”
Fudo had that contented look of someone who had done what they set out to do.
“I’m ready for round two if you are.”
Off we went to check out the Henry More section, which had over twenty pieces. The sculptures were known for their wonderfully organic shapes, mostly depicted barely discernible women. They looked very much at home scattered amongst the trees on the hillside. I really liked the way the sculptures were placed next to the trees and shrubs. As always, the Japanese gardeners made the placement look random, but upon close inspection each sculpture fit their location perfectly.
Fudo beamed. “I saved the most popular sculpture for last.” He pointed to a huge tower made up of stained-glass mosaic pieces. The tiles glinted in the sun. The myriad of colors was impressive enough from the outside, but once you were inside the tower, the colors washed over you like a cloak. The dappled light from all the different colors in the glass had a church-like quality.
Fudo tapped on my shoulder. “The piece is called the Symphonic Tower”
I admired artists that picked the perfect title for their artwork. “After the symphony of colors.”
Fudo nodded. “I knew you would understand, being an artist.”
I craned my neck back to take in the sixty-foot tall tower. The large cedar trees had some competition. My eyes were overwhelmed by the endless combinations of colors flashing before me. It felt like I was standing inside a giant kaleidoscope. Twirling around in a circle, the patterns changed just like the real thing. Fudo picked the perfect piece to finish my grand tour of the museum. The sun moved closer to the mountain top and we needed to get back down the hill before the day turned into complete darkness. Sadness filled me at the thought of leaving such a magical place.
I said to Fudo, “The museum should be on everyone’s list of places to see in Japan.”
Fudo nodded. “I couldn’t agree more.”
The sunset glowed a purplish red through the trees. It really was quite romantic. Maybe that’s why they painted the train fuchsia. It matched the sunset so well. I sat on a stone bench cherishing my last moments in such a special place, when my eye caught something flying from one tree to the next working its way closer to me. It had the same grey and white color of the furry ball I had seen before. I nudged Fudo. “Hey, can you see that animal up in the tree? It’s moving toward us.”
Fudo leaned forward concentrating on the tree branches. As the animal moved closer, Fudo called out, “It is a momonga. Why is it showing itself? They usually stay high up in the trees.”
As the animal crept closer, I zoomed in with my camera. “No way! It's a tiny flying squirrel.” Moving the zoom even closer I could almost look into its huge black eyes. The squirrel seemed to be staring ri
ght back at me. How weird.
Fudo touched my hand and whispered, “Put down your camera and be very quiet. The squirrel is jumping to the tree next to us.”
A slight chattering sound filled the air as the squirrel landed on the branch dangling over my head. It balanced on the branch using its fluffy tail. It stared right at me with its huge eyes, its little arms resting on its white pudgy belly. I whispered to Fudo. “It’s so cute. Are they normally this friendly?”
He shook his head gently. “Not at all. They are very shy and only come out at night so no one ever sees them.”
I smiled up at the squirrel. “Well, this one seems to be quite social.”
The squirrel crept further down onto the branch until its weight caused the leaves to touch my shoulder. I whispered to Fudo, “Its acting like it wants to jump down in my lap.”
As if my words made it so, the squirrel did just that. It jumped down and scurried into my lap. It danced around frantically in a circle. Somehow, I knew it was trying to tell me something. Then I watched as the little squirrel used its tiny claws to spell a word out on my jeans. The squirrel wrote in kanji—Taiyo—the sun.
Chapter 3
The Messenger
January 14th 9:00AM
Achoo!
I woke up shoving the momonga’s tail out of my face. “Why don’t you tell the Sun Goddess to visit me herself?”
I waved my hand frantically in front of my nose—the squirrel vanished. I laughed when I realized I’d dreamt the whole thing up. My time with the flying squirrel at the museum left a lasting impression on my subconscious mind. Glancing over at the Hello Kitty clock, I sucked in a breath when I saw the time. Crap. I was going to be late for my Japanese Mythology class. Why hadn’t my alarm gone off? My first suspect—the ghost. Yet, I hadn’t seen it in weeks
I pushed off the bed and stuck my head out my bedroom door. Not a peep from the Mori household. Making sure I had a protein bar stuffed in my backpack, I threw on my uniform and raced out the door. Running the mile to the train station I gained about fifteen minutes. Plopping down on the train seat, I huffed and puffed until I caught my breath. I ignored the stares from the two women seated near me and pulled out Kenzo’s emergency only phone. Time to fill him in on my mysterious encounter with the squirrel.
Final Showdown Page 2