Football Frenzy (11 page)

“Thanks, Mr. Nakamura,” Jessica said. “Thanks, Team O!”

As the players disembarked and discarded their boots, six monks shuffled down the steps from the main hall, their black and white robes crisp and their bald heads shining in the morning sun.
They bowed low to the players, who all bowed back. Josh gazed up at the temple, heaving a sigh of relief that Shini was okay. He felt his breathing calm and his heart lift, the way it always did
when they visited a Japanese temple. He loved the ancient lacquered wood of the pillars and the moss-edged jade tiles on the curved roof, the gentle crunching of gravel underfoot, the faint splash
of running water from a low fountain full of lilies, and the way the sun gleamed off the smiling figure of Buddha in front of the hall. The temple was so peaceful, and so old, he couldn’t
help feeling as if the problems of the world were fleeting and unimportant.

“The blessing is for the team only,” Shini whispered. “I’ll be fine while I’m inside. You can stay here with the guards. I’ll yell for you if anything
happens.”

“Oh...all right.” Josh nodded, a little reluctantly. He didn’t want to break the rules of the blessing.

The players started to file into the temple with the six monks flanking them, moving silently across the gravel.

As Josh watched, one of the monks fell out of step. He stopped, shuffling his feet while he pulled on the sleeve of his robe, hitching it up on his shoulder, as if it didn’t fit him
properly. His exposed forearm was pale, except...

Josh narrowed his eyes. Monks did not, on the whole, have tattoos. He strained to make sense of the glimpse of red and green curling around the man’s arm, and felt a shiver run over his
neck and down his spine as he identified the creature in the tattoo. There were talons and fangs, and long, barbed whiskers that trailed out behind it.

“Josh!” Jessica hissed, grabbing his arm hard. “That monk’s got a red dragon tattooed on his arm!”

“I see it,” Josh said, through gritted teeth, as the players started to disappear through the big wooden doors into the main hall. The tattooed man stopped fussing with his robe and
walked after them.

“Josh, Josh...” Jessica was shifting her feet. “It’s a Yakuza tattoo, I’m sure it is!”

“We have to stop him! Granny, can you hear me?” Josh looked at the crowd beyond the perimeter of the temple, desperate for a glimpse of Team O. But there were just too many people,
and the players were starting to disappear inside the temple...

“
What’s going on?
” Granny asked.

“We think one of the monks is a Yakuza henchman in disguise!” Jessica hissed. “They’re nearly all inside – we’ll have to go in with them.”

“
Yes,
” said Granny. “
Stay with Shini! We’ll be with you as soon as we can
.”

Still holding on to Josh’s arm, Jessica set off at a super-fast casual stroll and joined the back of the team just as they reached the steps. Josh lowered his head and tried to walk like a
footballer, hastily kicking off his shoes and pulling his blue jacket up high around his neck. He prayed that they’d make it inside without getting caught and thrown back out. He even tried
praying to Buddha:
Hey Buddha, I’m not actually a Buddhist, but if you could lend a hand I’d really appreciate it
...

They were climbing the steps. They were walking across the wooden porch, stepping over the threshold...they were in! Josh looked up and saw the main hall stretching out in front of him, the
ancient artefacts standing on pedestals around the walls, the smoke rising from incense sticks and the large hanging tapestries of elaborate kanji and figures from history...

One of the monks was coming back. Josh grabbed Jessica and they both dived behind an enormous ornamental vase that stood beside the door. Josh watched as the monk closed the doors with a final
ringing
thonk
.

The monk walked away. Josh breathed out, and felt Jessica do the same.

“Where are you, Granny?” Josh whispered, edging out from behind the vase as silently as he could.

“
We’re close. Just hang on
.”

Josh spotted the fake monk, and his heart leaped into his mouth. The man was moving fast across the polished wooden floor. He was heading straight for Shini, like a shark going after a wounded
swimmer, reaching into his robe, pulling something out...

“Oh no – what’s that?” Jessica gasped.

Josh broke into a run. He pushed one of the players aside. Jessica was right behind him. He had to stop the monk, had to bring him down... He saw a glint of steel as the man raised his
hand.

Josh leaped into the air feet-first, launching himself into a flying kick...

A
thud
rang out as Josh’s trainer connected with the fake monk’s head. Josh landed as the man fell, out cold, the knife skittering out
of his hand.

A stunned silence filled the temple. The players and monks were all gaping at Josh.

Hot blood rushed to his cheeks.

You just kicked a monk in the face
, he thought, as his brain caught up with his instincts.

“Josh,” said Goro, the player Jessica had been interviewing on the bus. “What is this? You just hit a monk!”

Someone grabbed Josh’s arms and held them tightly. It was Takeshi.

“Wait – no, not me, it’s not me you should be worried about!” Josh cried. He tried to nod towards the prone figure of the fake monk. “It’s him, he had a
knife! He was going for Shini!”

“He’s right.” Jessica found her voice. “You don’t understand, he’s not a monk, he’s Yakuza! Look at his arm.”

“Are you mad?” Goro asked, but he gazed down at the bald, robed figure lying still on the wooden floor.

“It’s true,” Shini said. “The Yakuza are out to get me. They want us to lose the match.” A ripple of outrage and disbelief ran through the players. “They made
the scaffolding fall on us – Takeshi, it was me who was supposed to be poisoned!”

Josh felt Takeshi’s grip on him loosen and then fall away altogether.

“Seriously,” he said, “check his arm! That’s no monk.”

Goro stepped closer to the unconscious man, carefully bent down and lifted the sleeve of his robe. The players gasped at the vivid red and green dragon that roared across his skin.

Suddenly the fake monk lashed out, an uppercut punch connecting with Goro’s jaw and sending him flying. He’d only been pretending to be unconscious, and he leaped smoothly to his
feet, shaking his head clear and crying out “
Mokka!
”

Josh’s heart pounded as he stood back, falling into his ready stance with his arms up in position to block...

Who was the man speaking to?

“
Hai!
” two more voices replied. The players turned. Out of the five remaining monks, Josh saw two more men step forward, reaching into their robes. Each of the fake monks
pulled out a pair of shiny wooden sticks, polished and dark with handles jutting out about a fifth of the way down their length.

“Tonfa,” he heard Jessica mutter. “Oh,
great
.”

There was a
click
, and Josh spun round again to see that the first monk had scrambled to the door and locked it.

“No!” he gritted his teeth. “Granny, they’ve just locked us in!”

He heard Mr. Yamamoto’s voice cursing in his earphone.

“
Don’t worry
,” Granny’s voice said. “
We’ll find another way in
.”

The real monks backed away, as the fake monks let out a yell and charged towards the players, their tonfa held up, ready to swing.

“
It’s up to you two for the moment
,” Granny said. “
I know you can handle this!
”

“Get back!” Josh yelled to the players. “Those things’ll break your skulls, get back!” He had to do something to stop them. He raced towards the charging monks,
past Jessica, who was pushing the players back to the corner of the room while looking over her shoulder, ready to repel a blow if she had to. A Yakuza-monk brandished his tonfa as they drew
closer, twirling one of the batons through the air with a sound like ripping cloth.

Josh stopped, waited – he had to time it right, just half a second longer, until he could see the whites of their eyes and the vivid greens, reds and blues of their tattoos...

He dropped to the floor in a spinning move, his outstretched leg sweeping around. He caught the fake monks hard on the sides of their ankles. They toppled and landed in a groaning heap in the
centre of the room.

But as Josh stood up, they were getting to their feet too. Jessica sprinted up to his side, and they faced the three Yakuza-monks in a defensive stance with their feet apart and their hands
raised, perfectly balanced for any attack.

“We won’t let you harm any of the players,” Josh said.

The monks didn’t answer. A hard wood tonfa arced through the air towards Josh’s head and he leaped back, almost stumbling, as one of the deadly weapons passed a few centimetres from
his chin. Jessica lunged forward with a series of fast-swinging kicks, high then low, but her target raised his arms, with the tonfa shielding him, and deflected her blows as fast as she could
strike.

The other two monks advanced on Josh and he scanned the room, trying to think fast and avoid their vicious blows. He ducked under an arm and landed a satisfying, heavy punch to the man’s
stomach, but he paid the price as a tonfa smacked down on his back. It was a weak blow, but it burned with the intensity of a hundred bee stings, and Josh had to drop and roll to avoid the next
strike splintering his jaw.

...
Splintering
. That gave him an idea.

“Aim for the tonfa!” he yelled.

“I – can – hardly – avoid – them!” Jessica cried back, punctuating her words with sweeping kicks that mostly connected with nothing but thin air.

“No, really go for them.” Josh ducked again to avoid one of the swinging sticks. “Like the boards we used to break in class, back in London, remember?”

“
Oh
...” Jessica danced back a few steps, a faint smile of understanding lighting her eyes.

Josh sprinted forward, right at his attackers, and threw himself into a somersault that took him right between them and left him standing behind their backs. He landed a punch on one of the
monks’ necks, making him stagger and let out a stream of Japanese that was very un-monklike indeed.

Beyond, Josh saw Jessica kick out at the monk she was fighting, making him raise his arm once again to deflect her with one of his tonfa. But she pulled back and before he could move she leaped,
and with a yell of “
Haiiiiya!
” drove the side of her foot into the wooden stick.

“
Yaaaow!
” The monk cried out in pain and dropped the tonfa. It fell to the floor and lay there, one end of it splintered and now close to useless. The monk staggered back,
clutching his arm, and Jessica pressed her advantage, bringing her other foot up and then down in a smashing kick onto the man’s other arm, breaking the second tonfa clean in two and reducing
the monk to a whimpering heap on the floor.

“
Aieee!
” One of the men attacking Josh twirled his tonfa in his hands and drove the ends forward in a cruel, stabbing motion.

In one smooth movement Josh ducked his head and lunged forward. The tonfa brushed through his hair, much too close for comfort, and slid into the collar of his Team Japan jacket. He unzipped it,
twisted his body free, and at the same time caught the man’s hands and his tonfa up together in a knot of blue fabric.

“What...?” The monk stared at him in surprise before Josh tore the bundled tonfa out of his hands and threw them towards the Japanese team. Shini caught them effortlessly, and
the players cheered.

One to go
, Josh thought, kicking out and catching the still-surprised monk a heavy blow to the ribcage.

“You...little...” the man gasped, and then collapsed in a heap at Josh’s feet.

The last armed man was running towards the players now, letting out a scream of rage and twirling his tonfa so fast they were a solid circular blur around his hands.

“Jess!” Josh cried. “Get him!” Jessica tried to throw herself into the path of the monk as he passed, but he dodged round her. The world turned to treacle as Josh saw the
monk getting closer and closer to Shini. He looked around for something, anything...and spotted the incense sticks on the low altar. They were set into grooves in heavy stone blocks, each the
size of a brick. He grabbed one of the blocks and threw it, as hard as he could, hoping with his entire being that it would fly true.

The stone hit the spinning tonfa, shattering them both! The monk skidded to a halt, throwing his hands up over his face to protect himself from a shower of splinters.

“
We’ve found a way in
,” Mr. Yamamoto’s voice said in Josh’s ears. “
Hold on just a little longer, kids!
”

Jessica raised her hands with a whoop of victory, and the football players all let out a rousing cheer...but it wasn’t over. Josh saw one of the disarmed monks getting to his feet,
seizing a golden statue of the Buddha from its pedestal and holding it over his head.

One of the real monks started forward, his eyes blazing. “A thousand years of history you hold in your hands,” he said. “You already defame our temple – you
wouldn’t dare!”