The New Grounds
The day was cold, though the sun was warming up the atmosphere. This Saturday morning was very busy, with cars erratically honking from every location possible. A taxicab stopped beside the sidewalk near a modern cubic building with a grey roof and black pillars surrounded by a waist-high gate. A pole with a banner, on which is written Shinoda Funeral Home, stood out of the bland, lifeless design of the area with a dull grey curb.
The rear left door of the taxi cab opened, only to clam back shortly after and hastily depart, revealing Reika, dressed in a black kimono and matching formal shoes, holding a silver envelope, with two cords – one silver and one black – wrapping it in a symmetrical pattern and adorned of its purpose on the front with "Funeral envelope" (御靈前) written on it. Inside the envelope was 3'000 yen in freshly issued banknotes. Her right wrist sported a juzu made of bodhi seed wood and composed of 18 ebony wood beads, except for one, tied with two threads and an antique coin.
Reika stared at her transportation flying away, her head staying in the same position all along. As she lost sight of the taxi, she turned her head to confirm her destination. The cold temperature giving her goosebumps, she quickly went past the gate, the entrance yard and the supporting pillars of the roof to rush inside.
A large, modern room with colours matching the exterior of the building revealed itself to Reika. Two old men with black tuxedos were having a conversation away from her, on the right. A bald middle-aged man, donning a black tuxedo and a matching mourning band, was standing behind a tall wooden desk placed in the middle of the entrance hall, busy with the usual paperwork. As Reika entered the building, the host raised his eyes from his forms to place them on the guest.
"Good morning," greeted the host.
"Good morning," replied Reika.
Reika gave her envelope to the host, who took the donation and showed the guest book with his right hand in exchange. Reika proceeded to write a burner name in the register: Etsuko Ozawa (小沢悦子).
"May I ask, if you don't mind, your relationship with the defunct?"
"Oh... I was a middle school friend."
"I see. My sincerest condolences. It must be very hard at your age to lose a friend to such atrocities."
Reika merely nodded with a straight face. The host waved his right hand again, this time towards two large doors on the left.
"This way," he added.
"Thank you very much," commented Reika before bowing down a bit.
He bowed as well, though she barely paid attention to the gesture, already set on walking towards the exhibition room. She opened the doors and entered a large room painted in white and lit by a set of fancy chandeliers. Several rows of chairs matching the wall colour were placed left and right, facing towards three closed caskets, surrounded by bouquets, at the end of the room. Portraits were hanged just above the three caskets, brightly illuminated thanks to several neon lamps standing between the caskets and the walls. A decorated table, on which a jade jar holding incense, a handful of ornamented boxes and two candlesticks were put, stood in the middle of the room. The path leading to this table was clear.
Reika slowly walked to the incense table, stopping only one step away from reaching the jar with her hands. She took a moment to observe the portraits of the deceased. On the left was the portrait of Mrs. Sanada, with black hair and blue eyes just like her daughter, the round shape of her face and the short bob being the only giveaway to differentiate the two. Reika could finally put a face on one of her assailants, the poorly lit apartment in which the fight took place having given the impression that she had battled two intimidating shadows.
Her gaze followed by staring at the portrait on the right: it was Mr. Sanada' long black hair tied in a ponytail behind his head, a goatee matching the colour of his hair, wrinkles around his large nose and his tired, grey eyes, and a slender jaw, Reika remembered well the face she confronted not too long ago. Her eyes quickly fled from the nightmarish glare challenging her once again.
Finally, she stared at the portrait supplanting the coffin right in the centre: it was the portrait of her missing mark, taken during her first year of middle school. The brightness of the portrait, along with the lighting of the funeral room, exposed her pale, ghostly skin, complete with her contrasting black hair, again tied up behind her head, and her deep sea blue eyes, staring back at Reika innocently, yet menacingly. The physical contrast between the two was not as obvious now that Reika changed her hair colour, but the hatred remained alive and well inside her guts despite the relief. She finally broke from her idle stance to bow left and right, and then step forward to grab a bit of incense in the jar, only to have her concentration disrupted by a hand grabbing her left shoulder.
A mysterious, yet familiar masculine voice greeted her: "Good morning, young lady."
Halfway in her rotation, another line followed: "How went the exam?"
As she completely turned around, her eyes raised to look at her interlocutor's eyes. Her pupils dilated and her nerve system went in full alert as she identified him: it was the apartment resident who gave her directions in the halls.
Footsteps echoed through the room. Two policemen joined the resident, covering his flanks. They all looked at Reika with a dire glare. Reika's eyes glided from one side to the other in rapid succession, feeling threatened.
The civilian grinned at the young lady: "There is no escape this time, and nice try with the hair dye."
With her shinobi reflexes, Reika shoved her hand in her kimono in an attempt to grab her ninja scroll, merely prompting a laugh from the three men as it hauled nothing from her cleavage. Her arms reached for the incense jar: she showered her opponents with the powder to blind them. She took the opportunity to circumvent the enemy party and run to the doors.
As she grabbed the handles, the door refused to move as they were locked from the other side. She slowly turned around to look at the status of the assailants: they were all in good standing, their eyes open and turned towards Reika already.
"It's over. There's no way out of here," yelled the apartment resident.
The two policemen drew their revolvers and pointed them at Reika. Four loud knocks echoed through the room. Reika's stress and blood pressure were so high, her heart pulse could have burst her arteries from the blood flow alone.
"Reika-chan, wake up! We're going to be late again!"
Reika suddenly escaped from her dream, opening her eyes as her head popped from the sheets. With the adrenaline and intense blood flow still flooding her body, she hastily grabbed her flip phone next to her head to look at the time: it was a quarter to ten, way beyond the half past eight she was scheduled to set up the new Ninja Room.
"Ah, shit... give me a few minutes, will you?" shouted Reika to Mei, who was waiting for her outside her room.
Under a gloomy, cloudy sky, a large wooden bridge with red guardrails connected a warring states era Japanese stronghold to a busy street freshly reconstructed. A couple of trees grew on both ends of the bridge.
On the castle bank, Reika and Mei popped from clouds of smoke behind trees, away from the sight of civilians.
"Alright, we made it!" cheered Mei.
Reika peeked behind the tree, ensuring that no eyes were set on the castle, before snooping past the North Gate. Mei followed the same protocol a few seconds later.
As the duo made its way to the middle of the entrance yard full of gravel, they faced a tall stone wall, along with two paths on each side of the yard. The left one, with the same gravel pattern as the yard, lead to somewhere currently out of sight whereas the right one, with flat grey stones and yellowy grass, lead to a modest ancestral building. The castle keep was visible, as it seemingly touched the clouds, but it was currently out of reach thanks to the fortifications.
Mei pointed at the ancient building and wondered: "Do you think the Ninja Room is located over there?"
"Huh? I thought you knew!" scoffed Reika.
"I knew, but... I don't remember now," said Mei, a pout drawing across her face as she felt guilty.
Reika facepalmed: "I should have been the one with the location info — actually, no, I should have been given the two bits! I don't think you would remember the puzzle room solution since you can't even remember a simple building name."
Mei's eyes widened as she heard the words 'puzzle room'. She was spooked: "The. What?"
"Exactly," sighed Reika. From her own initiative, she took the endless path on the left.
Mei still looking at the wall, her head lightly tilted on the right, wondered what kind of architect would make it artificially long and cumbersome to navigate around: "What is it with the weird layout?"
Reika stopped in her path, backtracked and joined Mei again: "It's a castle, it's made to slow down enemy invasions."
"But, Reika-chan, we are not the enemy!"
"Huh, we should be done with the tiresome layout once we reach the Ninja Room"
"Actually, I have an idea. Just watch me!"
"Wait! What are you up to again?"
Mei giggled and sprinted to the wall, following with a jump. She climbed on the wall by merely walking on it. In a glimpse of clumsiness, her left foot slipped and she lost balance midway, falling flat on her buttocks.
Reika joined the clumsy climber as she got up and rubbed her bum and shook her head: "You never cease to surprise me with your stupidity."
"Reika-chan, you're so mean! Don't trash me for trying to solve problems!"
"Ha, I'll start complimenting you when your tricks actually work."
"Just you wait, I will show you, one day!" asserted Mei as she pointed at her interlocutor.
Reika sighed and headed for the endless path once more. Mei followed her along the way. The path consisted of the same layout of gravel bordered by stone walls for the next hundreds of meters of walk. The East Gate midway through the trip made for a brief landscape change before returning to the same pattern. After a few minutes of walking, they finally reached a large yard populated by a handful of buildings sharing the same architecture art as the one near the entrance. The premise was dominated by a palace, surrounded by a colourful pond, save for a modest stone bridge at the soil level leading its large wooden doors behind stone pillars and a healthy cherry tree near the entrance, along with a rich flora around the pond. As they faced the palace, amazed by its ever-fashionable beauty, the castle keep was on their left, still afar.
Reika started walking towards the palace. Mei fell into a daydream for a brief moment, her eyes staring at the void. Reika only noticed her classmate's condition after a few steps, turning back and staring at her the same way she stared at the void.
"What's wrong?" wondered Reika after a long silence.
Mei did not reply. Reika slowly approached her classmate, who broke out of her psychosis right as the invader was within a meter of distance, jumpscaring her in the process.
"I remember now! It's here!" claimed Mei with her usual peppy mood.
"Mei, are you sure it's here?" contested Reika, with a strong emphasis on the word 'sure'.
"What other option do you have, if not that?"
Reika turned her head to aim for the keep, her arm raising to point at the giant climbing in the sky. The fortifications surrounding the huge yard lead to nowhere, save for a long bridge at the South.
"I say, we take the bridge to reach the keep now," suggested Reika.
"No! The keep would be too obvious! It has to be here!" protested Mei.
"Huh? Are you sure?"
"Yes! We're in the middle of the castle! Plus, don't you think it's a bit too obvious for a shinobi hideout? We saw the keep from the entrance, after all."
"Hmm, good point."
The duo crossed the palace bridge and opened the doors. The entrance hall was a large empty area, fusing history with modernity thanks to its renovated layout to accommodate the touristic activity of the past decades, only to shut down in the name of preservation. The walls were painted with landscapes in a very antique fashioned art style. Sliding doors bearing painted trees, sharing the same art, surrounded the centre of the hall. At the end of the room were an identical set of doors as those of the entrance and a staircase, visible across the room as some sliding doors were wide open. Dark wooden planks and beams completed the scenery as the floor and ceiling.
The duo walked across the entrance hall to reach the staircase, noticing two corridors on each side leading to what will be the classrooms. They climbed two stories, only to stop because the staircase would not go higher.
"Mei, are you sure this place is where the Ninja Room is?" asked Reika.
"Actually... no," giggled Mei.
Reika sighted: "Ugh, well, there's only one way to find out, it seems."
The trip on the second floor started with a single large hall leading to more rooms. Right at on the opposite side of the stairs were two large doors, which the two girls pushed to access the abandoned imperial room behind it. Behind the doors was a small room, surrounded by closed sliding paper doors of a single, bland tone. The light beige tatamis, along with a checkered pattern of dark wooden beams and light tiles with flower designs, completed the confusing pattern.
Reika closed the wooden doors behind her and stood in the middle of the first room to think for a moment. Facing South, she tried to remember the exact sequence Daisuke disclosed to her.
"Okay, this is the part where I come into play," she affirmed.
Reika headed West to open a sliding door, waiting for Mei to follow her inside the next room. The duo followed through the labyrinth with two rooms South, one room West, one South, and one West again.
Reika noticed an oddity in the room she currently stood: there was no West door.
"Wait..." she hummed.
"What's wrong?" asked Mei.
"Master Daisuke told me we start from the middle room, top North, and there are supposed to be nine rows and nine columns of rooms, so how come after three rooms West, we are already hitting a wall? It doesn't make sense, the layout is much smaller than what he told me."
"...I didn't get whatever you were talking about," shrugged Mei.
"Just keep following me, then."
Reika resumed the sequence to the Ninja Room by moving two rooms South, four rooms East and two rooms South again. Reika stopped in her tracks once more, starring at the South wall. Mei looked at Reika, perplexed.
Reika broke the silence: "There's definitely something wrong here. We are supposed to go one more room South."
Mei moved to the South wall and slammed it with her palms, hoping to find a secret door. She turned to Reika and shrugged, asking: "So, what do we do now?"
"Hold on," replied Reika.
Reika moved to the West door and opened it. She walked a few steps in the room, expecting some sort of trap triggering. As she noticed nothing happened, she turned around to look at Mei, who followed her.
Reika got angry and stared at Mei with a killer glare: "Mei, you goofball! This is not a puzzle room and we are in the wrong building!"
Mei's eyes widened as she raised her hands to her head: "D-don't look at me like that!"
"Alright, I'm all set and ready. You can grab it," prompted Daisuke, on his knees, to Suzune, in front of him.
She squatted and followed Daisuke's request. In front of the elevator, they spread out and unfolded a big circular red rug with the Hebijo emblem, in white, knit into it. Away from the teachers, Tera was fooling around with a white tiger fur rug, poking it with her feet to adjust it at an angle and position which she seemed to be never satisfied with.
"Well, what are these two doing? We are almost done," complained Tera.
Suzune and Daisuke shrugged with a stupid face, as if they had any intel on their location in the first place. A bell next to the elevator rang.
Daisuke poked fun at Tera: "Ah, finally; you merely had to summon them."
Daisuke reached for the elevator and turned to Suzune, his face reminiscent of a mischievous child: "Watch this demo of the other password."
He snickered and held down an assistance button next to the one calling the elevator.
"Hello, and welcome to Hebijo Academy. How may I help you today?"
"May I have a hint about the password?" asked Reika from the intercom.
"Duck."
"Uhhh," she mumbled a bit. "Beans."
"Wrong password, bitch."
"Yeah, that's what she said," Mei replied.
Daisuke chuckled: "Give me a second, you two, I'm about to pick you up."
Suzune shook her head in disapproval: "You really love stupid, complicated and over-the-top password systems, don't you?"
"Safety first," shrugged Daisuke, still laughing at his own artwork, who clicked on the button to open the door.
The doors cracked, revealing an empty elevator ready to operate. Daisuke hopped into it and turned around to wave in a silly manner to Suzune.
"Behave well, you two. I'm going," he commented as the doors closed.
"Please go," completed Suzune, sighing.
The visible gears above the elevator loudly creaked as they rotated. Tera joined Suzune in front of the elevator, who in turn looked back at her.
The teacher broke the ambient silence, asking with a smile: "So... are you excited about your new role as Elite leader?"
"Absolutely. It is already a lot of work, but I am ready to fulfill my position until the end of the year."
"Not putting Master Daisuke's manners to use already, I hope?"
"Hum," Tera's gaze diverted from Suzune, looking to the ground.
Suzune's look already lost its joyful tone. Tera's expression announced what was coming from her mouth.
"I have roughed up Reika yesterday."
"Oh, is that why you are so excited about the role? To beat your subordinates just like your superior does?"
"No, it was not out of excitement; I had to teach her a little lesson in manners."
Suzune did not enjoy this answer: "Consider yourself lucky you have Master Daisuke in charge. I would never allow this under my lead!"
"How convenient, you are not the one in charge either, Captain Suzune (鈴音の頭 / Suzune no Kashira), so why should I be bothered by this threat? This is nothing but wasted barking to me."
Suzune got angry: "Tera, I suggest you change these manners around me and correct your inappropriate behaviour as soon as possible!"
Tera tilted her head on the right, her face having a wary defying glare.
"'Never allow this under my lead', and 'as soon as possible', hmm... you are up to something, aren't you?" she wondered in a calm tone contrasting with her accusation.
Suzune realized what she has said sounded very suspicious, especially to a paranoid like Tera. She shook her head.
"Please, accept my apology, Tera, my requests were poorly worded. Be reassured, I simply want you to know that I remain a teacher and authority figure to you at all times."
Tera squinted, not buying a single word of what the teacher said: "Yes, of course..."
Suzune lifted her head, her eyes wide open, visibly irritated by her refusal. She was about to reply to Tera's provocation but got interrupted by the cracking elevator doors. Reika and Mei were in the cabin with Daisuke.
Tera greeted her two juniors with the usual gritty tone she reserved for misbehaviours: "It was about time you two showed up. We are almost done setting up everything."
"I'm home, Elder Sister Tera!" quipped Reika to bury her senior's statement in a formal, yet mocking manner.
The trio got out of the elevator, the juniors looking at their new Ninja Room in awe. Reika set her eyes on her computer, which stood on a counter to the left of the entrance and was turned halfway around to expose its back, which she noticed now has two plastic antennas. The cathodic ray tube screen and the huge beige desktop shell almost filled the entirety of the counter, leaving little room for the black keyboard and mouse.
Beyond the computer, a small wooden desk, intended for Tera to use, was built right in front of a large window. A small dark brown table, with a phone installed on it and surrounded by square cushions of various colours, stood next to the desk. It was littered with Daisuke's radio and music setup. Wires parasitized the table and extended to the floor, connecting to the bigger electronics in the corner of the room.
At the other end of the room laid Daisuke's big wooden desk. A laptop computer, a phone receiver and stacks of paper occupied the top of the desk, whereas the sides were taken care of by plenty of boxes. To the left of the desk were built two shelves, each having a handful of drawers still empty of their intended belongings but ready to stash them.
Two small stairs in front of the manager's desk dropped down to an open area with a purple checkered rug on which a big sectional couch, enough for everyone to sit, a large square glass table and a flat television along with its small brown wooden shelf stood.
A handful of decorative trees were put around the room. Large lamps were hanging from the ceiling, whereas portraits of the five Elite members, including the now retired Miyabi and Imu, hanged from various walls of the room. Purple curtains matching the colour of the rug covered the handful of windows all around the room.
Reika walked to her computer and pressed the power button to boot it. The pitch black screen displayed lines of bright white and red digits to intimidate the user with its specs. It then moved to a login screen on which a picture of Reika grimacing was used as a makeshift avatar. She filled her credentials by hammering on the keyboard, only to be welcomed by a single line stating a login error. She noticed Daisuke was looking at the screen from the reflection and turned her head in his direction.
"I swear, I didn't touch it beyond plugging the cables," he said in his defence.
"Nah, this is the part where you're not supposed to look," rectified Reika.
"Huh?" Daisuke was confused.
Reika lifted her left arm and flapped her hand as to shove him away. Daisuke turned around accordingly. She trounced the keyboard again, ending her sequence with a bash on the enter key that might as well have broken the entire plank.
Daisuke commented: "No wonder our computer expenses are through the roof with gestures like that."
Reika merely snickered: "So, how come there is still no Internet?"
"Ah, I gave your old rig a bit of love and installed a Wi-Fi card on it."
Reika turned around to look at her teacher, confused: "Why fly? What?"
"Wi. Fi. It's getting increasingly popular. I thought you'd have known about it beforehand."
"Hmm, nope."
"It's wireless Internet, basically."
Reika looked surprised. She turned her attention to the plastic antennas protruding from her computer and pointed at it with the same face she would have pointed at a big creepy crawly. Daisuke simply nodded.
"Huh? Internet with radio waves? No way I'm using that: everyone will see what I post!" complained Reika.
"That's why you'll use a VPN now," Daisuke reassured her as he handed her a flash drive.
"A... beppin (別嬪 / pretty girl)?" Reika was confused, again. She was not interested in the little gadget.
Daisuke facepalmed and spelled the new word: "Vee. Pee. En. Virtual Private Network. It's made t—"
The phone on Daisuke's desk rang. Mei, who was already snooping in his boxes, promptly picked it up and greeted in a cheerful voice: "Helloooo?"
Daisuke dropped the flash drive on the counter and quickly walked to his desk, looking at the contents of the two boxes Mei looted: one contained a torn grey uniform and a grey scroll with pink floral print. The other had a previous edition of a famous weekly gossip magazine and a few sheets of papers watermarked with the Asahikage (朝日影), the emblem of the Japanese police.
"It's for you," said Mei, peppy and smiling, as she handed the receiver to Daisuke.
"No shit," he replied as he shoved her away from his desk, his right hand on the back of her head.
"This is Daisuke... ah, Mister Principal (校長さん / Kōchō-san), good morning!"
Daisuke's eyes went from the phone base to his students, still listening very carefully.
"Ah... yes... they all are, now... yes..."
The room went silent for a moment.
"This afternoon? Fine enough. We should be there as requested... got it, see you later!"
Daisuke hanged. He approached the crew with a relieved face: "Imu has woken up from her surgery. We are allowed to pay her a little visit. I hope you did not have anything planned this afternoon?"
Everyone either shook their head or shrugged.
"Perfect! We'll find an eatery on our way out to the hospital. Deal?"
"Deal!" claimed everyone.