*****
Hisao
*****
"Woohoo! Yeah! You did it! Woooo! Soushu! Soushu! Soushu!"
"Oh, will you shut up, Shikouyama?" Kawatori snapped.
With Shikouyama whooping in joy and triumph, I'm sure you can guess what happened.
That's right. In the end, I lost.
I did the best I could in the battle with Soushu, but in the end I fell short by two points, 19 to 21. Still, I was really surprised that I managed to get some points at all, let alone reach neck and neck with Soushu.
Ignoring Shikouyama's cheers, Soushu walked up to me as I sat on the floor, taking off my helmet. She held her hand out and said, "That was an impressive contest, Oota."
Even though I figured I would lose in the end, I was still a bit sour. But I took Soushu's hand anyway, shook it, and said, "Gee, thanks. But I was really surprised. I didn't know you knew kendo."
"I practiced a little when I was a kid," Soushu said. "In fact, Mirai, Omoyo, Isaneko and I were all part of the same dojo."
"Does everyone in this town know how to use a sword?" I asked.
I was being sarcastic, but Soushu replied, "Not everyone. About 90% of the townspeople learned a fighting art, but just about 40 percent of those learned kendo. A few people learned karate. Some were taught aikido. And others mastered judo. The rest know Chinese wushu. Chinese wushu and kendo are about the most popular here."
I blinked.
"Okay," I said. "First, why do so many people here know how to fight like this is some kind of ninja village? And second, why's Chinese wushu so popular here, a small Japanese town?"
"I can answer that," said Mirai. "After our town was attacked a couple times like we learned in history class, a lot of grownups pushed to have their kids learn how to defend themselves in case it happened again. And according to my grandpa, the Shirogami Clan had someone they called a hero teach their members Chinese wushu, which later became a widespread fad. Thus was the start of our town's revolution to become the fighter capitol of the world! Now, when people see a Japanese fighter enter an MMA tournament arena, they just know that fighter came from this town."
Impressed, I said, "Wow! Is that true?"
"Oh yeah," said Mirai.
But Soushu cut in and snapped, "No, it's not! It's true that the townspeople were all scared another disaster like before might happen again, so decided to learn self-defense, and that someone connected to the Shirogami Clan made Chinese wushu popular here. But that part about this town becoming famous for producing MMA fighters is just nonsense!"
"But Naoko," said Shikouyama, "isn't your cousin fighting in an MMA tournament in America right now?"
For that, he earned himself a dirty look from Soushu.
After that bit of pointless chitchat, Mirai swore to Soushu as the great demon lord detective, that he would take her case and make sure the vile villain was brought to justice. And then everyone went their separate ways.
A few days after that, the Community Service Club came together at school for a meeting, but there was no news to share about the arsonist. Instead, we talked about our next club activity which, of course, would involve community service.
"Comrades!" Mirai shouted. He threw his cape over his shoulder and held his hand out while speaking in a deep, pretentious way. "I have summoned you to this round table for a very important discussion. The future of the kingdom depends on it, as does my title as Demon Lord!"
Mirai did his usual grandstanding with a couple of cups of childish delusions mixed in, but he basically announced that we were going to help with prep for the town's summer festival, which takes place on the road leading up to the local shrine.
Festivals are fun, even to a semi shut-in like me. There are games and lots of good food during festivals. But there was just one problem: the shrine's owned by the Shirogami Clan.
I never had a problem with it before, but after learning about the conspiracies surrounding them like overthrowing that nice granny who was in charge before and spreading rumors to get their rivals to take each other out, I was more than a little hesitant to take part. And I wasn't the only one.
Omoyo raised her hand and said, "Even if it's for an annual festival, is it really a good idea to help out the Shirogami Clan? I mean, we just heard that they're taking advantage of a horrible situation to spark a war to bump off political rivals. Why would you even reach out to them to volunteer our help?"
That was when Mirai dropped his joker act and answered seriously, "I didn't. That old man from the Shirogami Clan's the one who reached out to us. The sneaky weasel called the principal a couple of days ago asking if they could get us to help with festival prep, promising it would make the school look good."
"I see," said Isaneko. "I know the principal doesn't care about the whole Shirogami-Soushu-Yamimura power struggle, and that he's a good, honest educator at heart. But he's also the sort of guy who likes to brag. A lot. And us students of his helping out with festival prep will definitely give him something to brag about."
And then it was Yuna's turn to raise her hand. Through her phone, she said, "Please don't tell me the principal promised that we would help out without asking us first."
"Sorry, Yuna, but that is exactly what he did," said Mirai. "To make matters worse, news spread fast about the promise all over town. So even if we don't want to, we have to help out. If we don't, we're the ones who'll look bad."
I sighed. "So we got no choice. For some reason, it feels like I'm working a lot more this summer than I expected. Whatever happened to being free to relax however I wanted?"
"You're always welcome to skip out on it and let the rest of us handle all the work," Mirai said.
"And get an earful from my mom when she finds out? No thanks," I said and then let out a resigned sigh.
"But why does the Shirogami Clan want our help with the festival prep?" Omoyo asked. "What do they gain?"
"It's probably because the club's been getting pretty famous with all the volunteer work we do," said Isaneko. "A lot of people trust us now, so if they see us working for the Shirogami Clan, they'll think the Shirogami Clan's not so bad now."
"Don't you think that's a bit of a stretch?" I asked. "I know we do a lot of volunteer work, but to be famous for it . . ."
"Whatever the Shirogami Clan's goals are, it doesn't change that we have to help them," Mirai said. "But it's just our usual volunteer work, so don't worry about what shady business they could be up to."
And that's how, instead of lying on bed in my air-conditioned room going through a backlog of TV shows on my laptop, I was outside under the hot, hot sun moving boxes from Point A to Point B. And those boxes were heavy.
We first met up at the shrine bright and early in the morning right at the base of the stairs leading up to the actual shrine building where we were greeted by a deputy priest. Even from the top of the tall hill the shrine sat on, I could see colorful tents down below, beneath which various businesses set up their stalls. They were all lined up along both sides of a long strip of road that led to beneath the hill.
To my surprise, Soushu, Yamimura and their respective gangs were also there. Apparently, the principal not only asked the Community Service Club, but also the Student Council to volunteer work for the festival. Since it would boost her own family's name, she readily accepted.
As for Yamimura and his crew, when Omoyo asked what they were doing here, Yamimura gruffly asked back, "Do I need a reason to do volunteer work?"
Mirai cut in and said, "Nope. Not at all. The more hands on deck, the better."
The deputy priest gave us a rundown of what we were supposed to do, but I barely heard anything he said because of the tension between Soushu's group and Yamimura's weighing heavily over my shoulders. Shikouyama, especially, kept shooting blatantly dirty looks at Yamimura and his crew, which they returned with nasty looks of their own. I was right in the middle of it, afraid that a fight would break out around me.
Thankfully, it never came to that. And when the deputy priest finished with what he needed to say, we all went our separate ways. While following Mirai, I asked, "What are we going to do?"
"Weren't you listening?" said Akira. "The priest just told us that we're mainly running errands and moving stuff around."
Oh, I think I forgot to mention earlier, but Akira's with us too. When his grandma and grandpa heard that we were going to help set up the summer festival, they strongly insisted that Akira joined since he had nothing better to do. None of us had a problem with Akira joining and welcomed him aboard. It was actually fun talking to him while we moved boxes around together. Our talk was mostly about the mobile games we played, though.
But even fun conversations with friends was not enough to distract me from the sweltering heat as the blazing sun microwaved the road we worked on. Carrying heavy boxes around all day was bad enough, but the hot, hot air made me want to just put the box down already and sit this work out.
I didn't, of course, for fear of getting yelled at. So, instead, I just groaned and complained in my mind.
"Ugh! So hot! My arms hurt. I'm so sweaty. My shirt's sticking to my back!"
I swear I've been getting way more exercise lately than I usually did.
"Want to take a break?" Akira asked.
"Wait," I said as I set a box down beneath the stove of a food stall. "Did I say all that out loud?"
Akira nodded to my horror and embarrassment.
"By the way," said Akira. "I've been meaning to ask, but do you only wear Aloha shirts outside of school?"
"Yeah," I said. "They're comfy. And they look nice. Office people even wear them as work clothes in Hawaii instead of neckties and stuff."
"Right," Akira said. "Where do you get all those Aloha shirts anyway?"
"The internet," I said. "They're cheap on the International Aloha Shirt Coalition website."
Akira looked at me dumbfounded while close by, people hammered into wood and shouted for help to each other. "There's an International Aloha Shirt Coalition?" he exclaimed.
I nodded and replied, "Sure there is. They have offices all over the world." I showed him my nembership badge. "I'm an agent of the Japanese Branch."
Raising an eyebrow, Akira said questioningly, "An agent? Not member, but agent?"
I nodded again.
"How come-?"
Akira was going to ask another question, but then Mirai poked his head in and interrupted.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Our ever eccentric club leader spoke in a deepened, goofy voice. "I'm not paying you guys to just stand around flapping your lips. Get those feet moving, or it's ten more laps around the field!"
Akira frowned.
"Just what are you supposed to be?" he said. "A boss or a gym teacher?"
"I am both your boss and your gym teacher," Mirai said. "But jokes aside, it's looking more like me and the others are doing most of the work. I mean, just look at Lady Isaneko! She's carrying two boxes at once and not breaking a sweat. Doesn't that make you ashamed as men?"
He pointed out the tent towards the middle of the road where Isankeo could be seen holding a large, square box in each hand. The boxes were made of cardboard, but I could hear the rattling of steel cooking supplies inside them so I knew that they must have been very heavy. But I still frowned and looked at Isaneko doubtfully.
"Hey, wait a minute," I said. "She's just using her telekinesis to make the boxes lighter! Is it really okay for her to be using her powers out in the open like that?"
"Sure it is," Mirai said. "It's not like anyone would notice. But anyway, the point is you guys really need to pick up the pace. Especially you, Akira. You disappeared for about thirty minutes earlier. Where were you?"
"Sorry about that," Akira said. "I sneezed and suddenly went wolf. Unlike Isaneko's telekinesis, that's not something easy to hide."
Suddenly worried, I asked, "Did anyone see?"
But Akira shook his head and replied, "I don't think so. As soon as I saw fur covering my hands, I bolted to the forest. It's been happening a lot lately, but I never get used to it."
"You don't have control of your power?" asked Mirai.
"Only a little bit," Akira said. "I mean, I can transform whenever I want, but stopping the transformation from happening is a lot harder. Without meaning to, I would sometimes transform while I'm outside. I was lucky enough that no one ever saw, but it's always been bad for my heart. I've lost count how many times I've freaked out because that. That's why I try to stay in my room as much as I can. I've tried practicing to get better control over my power, but it looks like I've still got a long way to go."
"Are you okay now?" I asked, really concerned. "Do you want to maybe go home early?"
But Akira shook his head.
"I should be okay for now," he said. "It only ever happens once a day at most."
Suddenly, I heard gasping breaths coming up to us and turned around to see Omoyo running towards us, pink faced and drenched in sweat more than I was.
"Hey!" she called out to us. "Has anyone seen - ?"
Before she could finish her sentence, Mirai bolted. He ran out of the tent at top speed.
Dumbfounded, I just stood and watched. That was when Isaneko appeared.
"Is something wrong?" she asked. "I just saw Mirai running towards the shrine like the devil was chasing him."
"I don't know," Omoyo said between gasps of air. "He ran out as soon as I came."
"And what did you come here for, Homura?" Isaneko asked. "And where's Yuna?"
"That's what I want to know," Omoyo said. "Did any of you see her? She suddenly disappeared on me."
Akira, Isaneko and I exchanged looks.
"I haven't seen her," I said.
"I was with Oota the whole time," Akira said.
Isaneko shrugged and shook her head.
"I have a bad feeling about this," she said. "Yuna might be in trouble. That's probably why Mirai ran off like that. He must have seen something with his psychic power."
But what? I wondered.
That was when Akira pointed towards the shrine crying out, "Look!"
We all turned around to see what he was pointing at, and I saw a sight that has become very familiar lately: a pillar of dark-gray smoke reaching out to the sky.
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