Football Frenzy (12 page)

Yes, they would dare
, Josh thought, quickly translating in his head what the monk had just said.
But they won’t get away with it!

The fake monk grinned, showing a mouthful of gold teeth, and threw the statue to the ground.

Josh launched himself forward into a skid, sliding along the polished floor like a baseball player heading for a home run, his hands outstretched. The Buddha landed in his lap and he set it down
carefully.

He looked up in time to see two of the monks charging the footballers again, their bare hands out and ready to do damage even without their weapons.

There was a loud
BANG
. An inner door had been thrown open and six lithe figures in full black ninja outfits rushed in. One of them ran up to the stunned footballers and gestured towards
the door.

“Come on, all of you, out this way,” said the ninja. That was Sachiko!

Josh and Jessica whooped and gave each other a high five as Team Obaasan ran, jumped and flipped across the temple towards the Yakuza fighters.

It was the first time Josh had ever seen Team O fighting all together, and it took his breath away. He tried to make out the individual members among the spinning, kicking, backflipping group,
but the kicks and punches flew so fast he could barely follow them. One ninja struck a Yakuza-monk with a chopping motion on the side of his neck and another grabbed his shoulders and yanked him
into a wrestling throw. Another Yakuza-monk was trying to grab at a ninja’s hood, but a blurred spinning kick sent him crashing to the floor, clutching his wrist and bleeding from the chin.
The final Yakuza fighter was caught between two punches, one to either side of his stomach, and crumpled like paper.

One of the ninjas, tall and lithe with stern, wrinkled eyes behind the slit of her ninja hood, walked up to Josh, Jessica and Shini. “You’re safe now,” she said to Shini.
“Yoshida’s final attempt has failed. The Yakuza will not win this day.”

“Thank you...obaasan,” Shini said, bowing deeply. The ninja gave a “humph” of approval, bowed back, and then raised a finger to her lips. “Of course,”
Shini said quickly, “not a word.” Josh and Jessica grinned at each other.

“Come on,” Josh said. “Let’s get you to that match!”

The whistle blew for half-time, and a huge, rolling wave of cheers circled Yokohama Stadium, echoing back and forth between the stands. Josh and Jessica
leaped out of their seats and leaned over the balcony of the VIP box, cheering along with the Japanese supporters.

“One-nil! One-nil!” Jessica sang. Kiki jumped up and joined her. “Oooonne...niiiiiiil!” Josh had never heard anyone harmonize a football chant before, but it sounded
awesome. Granny clapped politely beside them.

The eight seats in the VIP box were all upholstered in red velvet with little trays for drinks and snacks. Only one was empty. The other seats were occupied by two men and a woman, smartly
dressed in stiff grey suits – probably executives on a corporate trip – who regularly shot them disapproving glances.

They can disapprove all they like
, Josh thought.
We’ve earned our seats a hundred times over!

Josh felt a rush of pride as he gazed down at the half-time cheerleaders, their red and white striped skirts swishing as they tumbled and backflipped across the pitch in formation. It was down
to him and his twin sister that the teams were playing at all. He just hoped Shini kept playing well, so that Yoshida didn’t win his bet.

It’s a bit weird, cheering for Japan to beat England
, Josh thought.
But to defeat Yoshida, I can deal with it!

As the players ran back on for the second half, singing from the English fans filtered down from the stands and mingled with the rhythmic, syncopated drumming of the Japanese supporters. The TV
cameras swooped back and forth on their cranes. The scoreboard flashed a bewilderingly fast stream of kanji which resolved themselves into the words
GO JAPAN GO
.

Kick off! Japan had possession at once, but the ball was stolen with a clever bit of misdirection by Mark Gallagher, and he zipped towards the Japanese goal. Then Goro got in the way of
Gallagher’s pass and booted it back towards the England end...

Granny Murata’s mobile phone rang, and she fished it out of the little beaded purse that hung from the belt of her kimono. “Ah, it is Nana-san,” she said, flipping open the
phone. “Hello?”

Josh held his breath, his heart pounding and his attention torn from the pitch for a moment. Had something gone wrong? Was there another threat to Shini...?

Granny nodded, her eyes narrowing. “That is good news,” she said. “Thank you, Nana-san. Excellent work.” Josh’s heart slowed to a steady thud as she hung up and
turned to him with a satisfied smile. She motioned for him and Jessica to lean close to her.

“Minister Kobayashi has been apprehended,” she said, keeping her voice low so the executives couldn’t hear over the roar of the crowd. “Nana’s surveillance
operation caught him as he attempted to check in at Tokyo airport.”

“That’s fantastic!” Josh beamed.

“Kobayashi is willing to testify that Yoshida was behind it all. It’s not enough to take Yoshida down yet, but the Minister will be a valuable asset for the police as long as Yoshida
doesn’t find out we have him.”

“Like the ace up our sleeve!” Jessica said.

“Or the East Wind tile hidden in our kimono,” Josh joked, remembering Granny’s talent for mah-jong.

“Indeed,” said Granny, her face deadpan.

The crowd made an “
Ooooooohhh!
” noise, and Josh’s attention flicked back to the pitch again. One of the Japanese players was on the ground in the England penalty box,
with an England player standing over him, gesticulating wildly. The referee held up a card – penalty to Japan!

Josh watched, holding his breath as Takeshi took the kick...and sent it speeding past the goal. A groan went up from the Japanese supporters.

Josh heard a chuckle from behind them. “
Konnichiwa
, Mimi,” said an elderly man’s voice. “I shan’t pretend I’m surprised to find you here.”

Josh, Jessica and Kiki all spun around to find Yoshida Noboru standing in the box. He bowed low to Granny Murata then stroked back his long silver ponytail and met Josh’s eyes.

“And hello to you, precious grandchildren,” he said, grinning like a shark. Josh fought the urge to shudder. “Mikiko-san, how nice to see you again.”

“
Nice?
” Kiki gasped. “You...you horrible old man! You had me kidna—”

“Now,” Yoshida said, his voice low but a nasty smile still plastered on his face. “Let’s not dig up ancient history, for which there is no proof, eh?”

“Ancient history?” Jessica growled. “That was three weeks ago!”

Yoshida gave a little shrug and turned to the three executives. To Josh’s dismay, they each rose politely to shake his hand, exchanging a few words of greeting as if they had all met
before. Were they corrupt business leaders, in Yoshida’s pocket?

Josh balled his hands into fists. He wanted to take Yoshida down right now – Jess could distract the man while Josh got in just one good punch to the back of Yoshida’s
neck...

He glanced at Granny. She met his eyes, briefly, and gave the tiniest shake of her head.

“I am surprised you did not come for the first half of the match, Noboru,” she said in a pleasant, even tone of voice. “Or perhaps you could not bear the uncertainty of the
outcome? You know how unpredictable these games can be.” She indicated the scoreboard.

Josh saw Yoshida’s eyes narrow and the twitch of a muscle in his cheek. His monks had failed in their mission and now the game couldn’t be thrown.
He’s furious, but he
can’t show it
, Josh thought. Yoshida’s glance flickered over the pitch to Shini, safe in the Japanese goal. A cloud passed across his face for just an instant, before he recovered
himself.

“I’m sure the end result will be pleasing,” he muttered.

Granny snorted. “So like you, to care only about the bottom line.”

Yoshida nodded. “So like
you
, Mimi, to care about fair play.”

Kiki spoke up. “Shini’s the greatest, and we’re going to win!”

“We will see,” said Yoshida, and turned to watch the game, smiling.

He looks suspiciously confident
, Josh thought. Did he have some other plan up his sleeve?

Granny beckoned Josh closer.

“Do not worry,” she whispered. “As well as Noboru knows me, I know him. That smile is hiding his desperation – he has no plan but to hope that the game goes his way.
Watch his face when the Japanese players do well, and you will see.”

Back on the pitch, the match was hotting up. A glance at the giant electronic scoreboard told Josh that there was only half an hour to go.

The England supporters roared and stamped in time as Clarkey got the ball at his feet and passed it up to Neil Ash, who sprinted for the Japan goal – but lost control at the last second, a
Japan defender tackling the ball away.

Josh glanced at Yoshida. Sure enough, the dangerous smirk didn’t leave his lips, but his eyes were narrowed and angry.

Takeshi got the ball and booted it hard at the England goal. It spun as it shot through the air, and Josh gasped. But it wasn’t quite on target, and the England goalie Dave “the
Giant” Levy caught it easily. The twins sank back in their seats, as the England crowd yelled their approval.

“This is just too weird,” Jessica muttered. “Bad enough cheering against our home team, but rooting for Japan while the Yakuza boss in the next seat supports England?
That’s just not right!”

Josh nodded, and laughed to hide his nerves.

The minutes and seconds ticked away in a blur of sprinting, passing, shooting and tackling. Fifteen minutes passed, then twenty, twenty-five, twenty-seven... Kiki stood again, dancing from
foot to foot in anxiety. Twenty-eight, twenty-nine...

“Yes! Full time!” Jessica jumped up, pumping her fist in the air. “One-nil!”

I can’t celebrate yet
, Josh thought.
There’s still extra time – I won’t jinx it!

Still, Yoshida looked pretty sick.

One of the referees held up a digital display that read
THREE MINUTES EXTRA TIME
. Japan just had to hold on to their lead for three more minutes...

Clarkey leaped forward with the ball and Josh’s breath caught in his throat. The England players were stepping up, playing better than they had all match! The Japan team hardly got a touch
in as the ball passed smoothly from Clarkey to Gallagher, back to Clarkey, then to Brown, Ash, Elton...

Jamie Elton skidded to a halt in front of the goal, avoiding a tackle from Goro, and kicked the ball up, on target, towards the corner of the goal... Shini leaped, but Josh already knew it
was too far away for him. He wasn’t going to catch it. Sure enough, the ball slipped between the tips of his fingers and the goalpost and hit the back of the net.

Yoshida leaped to his feet and let out an excited yell as Jamie Elton threw himself into a quadruple backflip in celebration, before the rest of his team piled onto him, patting his back and
rubbing his head.

Josh groaned, as the England supporters cheered and chanted. That was a
fantastic
goal. Any other day he’d have been replaying it over and over, but this time, he felt cold shock
crawling over his skin.

Shini kicked the ball as hard as he could, but it was no good.

Three, two, one...

The whistle blew.

“It’s a draw!” Jessica gasped.

Kiki frowned. “Does that mean Yoshida gets his money – or not?”

“It’s not over,” Josh said. “They’re going to penalties.”

He looked over at Yoshida, who seemed stressed. A few strands of long silver hair had fallen out of his neat ponytail. Josh realized he’d started chewing his lip. Shini was the greatest
goalie in the world, even better than the Giant – that had to mean that Japan would win a penalty shootout, right?
Right?

“Each team will take turns to try to score a goal,” Jessica was explaining to Kiki. “They get five goes each. They keep taking the penalties until there’s a clear
winner.”

“I see...” Kiki frowned. “So it’s really up to Shini, now.”

Shini and the Giant joined the referee for the coin toss, and Shini raised his hand, waving up at the crowd, to show that Japan had won and they’d go first.

The Giant took his place in the goal, and Jun Fujita squared up to the ball on the penalty mark. The entire stadium seemed to hold its breath... Fujita took a run up, the ball went
flying...and the Giant leaped the wrong way. The ball thudded into the back of the net.

1-0!
proclaimed the scoreboard.

The teams swapped places. Shini waved up at the crowd again – and this time, he seemed to be waving right at Josh and the others. Kiki waved back, her other hand pressed tight across her
heart. Neil Ash took the first England kick, but Shini leaped higher and faster than Josh had ever seen, and he saved the shot.

“It looks like your little gamble isn’t going to pay off, Yoshida!” Kiki said.

“We will see,” Yoshida snarled.