Tokyo Surprise by Alex Ko Read Free Book Online

“Saika Oshiro’s recording sessions for her new album have been plagued by power cuts and technical failure. A computer error left thousands of Tokyo
Ono’s fans with invalid tickets for their tour. Takeo Kimura even had all his hair shaved off in the night!” Jessica gasped.
    “We’ve traced all these ‘accidents’ to the Iron Fist,” said Granny. “Yamamoto-san scanned the scenes of the incidents and found fingerprints belonging to Mr.
Yoshida’s minions. Now, it seems, they have taken their pop idol persecution a step further.”
    “But why? What has this Mr. Yoshida got against pop singers?” Jessica asked.
    “Unfortunately,” Granny admitted, “we don’t know that yet.” She stared at the picture of Mr. Yoshida and narrowed her eyes. “Nana, play our profile of Mr.
Yoshida.” Nana punched another button and a robotic voice began to speak over a slide show of photos of the Yakuza boss.
    “Yoshida Noboru, seventy-eight. Boss of the Iron Fist Yakuza group. To the outside world, he is a respectable businessman, owning chains of restaurants, karaoke bars, hotels, golf resorts,
museums and tourist attractions. In reality, the Iron Fist has been linked to smuggling, high profile theft, espionage, blackmail and murder. He is divorced, and has one granddaughter.”
    “Thanks to you two and your alleyway incident, we know that Kiki’s bodyguard was in league with the Iron Fist,” said Sachiko. “He must have handed her over and faked
injuries to make it look like she was kidnapped – but after that, we don’t know where she was taken to.”
    “We do know something,” Jessica said. Team O all turned to her. She looked at Josh, and he nodded.
    “We overheard the bodyguard on the phone – he was calling someone boss, so maybe he was talking to Mr. Yoshida.”
    “He said Kiki was somewhere where everyone could see her, but no one would know it was her.”
    “Very interesting!” Nana said, typing something into a keyboard near her right hand.
    “So,” Jessica continued, “I was thinking, she could be on top of a building somewhere, or maybe she’s been put in disguise, or they’re hiding her in a Kiki tribute
band...”
    “We could help—” Josh began.
    But Granny put a hand on his shoulder. “That’s enough, both of you. I have shown you our operation because it will be easier for us all if you are aware of my work. Clearly, I cannot
rely on you to keep yourselves out of trouble. But you are not to get involved with this investigation.”
    “But Granny, we can help! I’m sure we can!” Jessica protested. Granny shook her head.
    “As soon as you became involved with Team O, you became a target. I cannot risk your safety. Think of what your parents would say if you were hurt.” Their parents... Josh frowned
suddenly, his mind flooding with questions that he’d been too stunned to think of until now – how long had Granny Murata been a secret ninja agent? Had she ever actually been a
schoolteacher, like their dad had told them? And most importantly...
    “ Obaasan , our parents!” Josh exclaimed. “Do they know about this?”
    “No, Josh. And you can never tell them. They are far happier and safer if they do not know. Now, we really must go back upstairs. The jet lag must be about to catch up with you both. You
need to get straight to bed.”
    The rest of Team O waved them off, and they got back into the lift. Josh traced the light up and up across the glass display until it reached the third floor, and then the door swung open and
they were back in his room, with the desk scattered with books and pencils.
    “Now, straight to bed,” said Granny. Josh didn’t feel tired. He felt like he could take on the world – with the help of his granny’s superhero ninja team, of
course.
    “G’night Josh,” Jessica said. “See you tomorrow.” She raised an eyebrow at him and Josh nodded back.
    Who knows what we’ll see tomorrow? thought Josh.
    “Night,” Josh replied.