Tokyo Surprise
Authors: Alex Ko
The black-clad figure raised its hands in challenge to the thugs, who growled and rolled up their sleeves.
“Yay! Go...mysterious ninja!” Jessica cried.
The figure executed a perfect spinning high kick to the first thug’s face, sending him reeling. The second thug tried to grab hold, but their rescuer used his momentum to bounce the
man’s head off the wall.
Josh was stunned. This was a superhero. A real life, seriously for serious superhero had just rescued
him
!
Contents
Sneak preview:
Secret Ninja Spies Football Frenzy
With special thanks to Rosie Best
For Jessie
First published in the UK in 2011 by Usborne Publishing Ltd., Usborne House,
83-85 Saffron Hill, London EC1N 8RT, England.
www.usborne.com
Series created by Working Partners Limited.
Text copyright © Working Partners Limited, 2011
Illustrations copyright © Usborne Publishing Ltd., 2011
Illustrations by Kanako and Yuzuru.
The name Usborne and the devices
are Trade Marks of
Usborne Publishing Ltd.
All rights reserved. This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or used in any way except
as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or loaned or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly. This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
epub ISBN 9781409537519
Kindle ISBN 9781409537526
Batch no. 02335-02
“Tell me where you’ve hidden the device,” Josh Murata demanded, facing his enemy as dust and broken glass settled around the devastated airport
lounge.
Mr. Hamada laughed, his muscles bulging out of the torn sleeves of his shirt. “You cannot stop me, now.”
Whooosh! Smack!
Josh sent his fist flying through the air and connected with Mr. Hamada’s cheek.
Skeeeee!
Mr. Hamada’s shoes skidded on the airport floor from the impact. But he recovered quickly and grabbed Josh’s shoulders, throwing him.
CRASH!
Josh went through the final unbroken duty-free shop window, sending tiny fragments of glass spiralling. He raised his head to see Mr. Hamada sneering in triumph...
“Pardon me, Master and Miss Murata,” said the red-skirted airline attendant. “We’ve got to go to the gate now.”
“Huh?” Josh Murata said, looking up from his illustration.
The airport announcement bell chimed. “Passengers for the 10:35 Japan Jet flight to Tokyo, please assemble at Gate Three for boarding.”
Josh’s twin sister Jessica elbowed him and his pencil slipped, giving Mr. Hamada’s sneering face an unfortunately gigantic nose.
“C’mon, we’ve got to go,” she said, peering over his sketchbook, where the airport battle was laid out in six and a half comic book panels. “That looks cool,”
Jessica said.
“You see them?” Josh said, pointing across the lounge. Two Japanese men in black suits and sunglasses stood in the middle of the duty-free shops. One was short and fat and
grey-haired, and the other looked like he had stepped out of the pages of a comic book – Josh had hardly needed to exaggerate the muscles at all. The two men were talking, leaning together as
if they didn’t want to be overheard. “They’re clearly plotting something.”
“Oh yeah,” Jessica grinned. “They’re going to go on a rampage any minute now. Just like Granny Murata’s going to go on a rampage if we miss our flight.”
“All right, I’m coming,” Josh said, packing his pencil and sketchbook away.
They grabbed their backpacks and followed their appointed guardian’s clicking high heels towards Gate Three. As they came up to the boarding area, Josh could see the plane through the big
glass windows. It was one of the new double-decker ones with the red and black Japan Jet logo painted along the sides.
“Mum and Dad could have landed in Africa by now,” Jessica said. “I bet they’re saving lives already.”
“Could be,” Josh agreed. He could see them now, jetting into a war zone with only a surgeon’s tools and a
Médecins Sans Frontières
van for protection. He
felt a swell of pride. He was sure they’d be fine, but it was still a lot braver than anything most parents did. “I hope Granny’s got some exciting stuff planned for us too.
Anything other than listening to the history of the tea ceremony again!”
“I
like
the tea ceremony,” Jessica said. “Anyway, last time we visited Tokyo, you spent all week in the bookstore drooling over manga you couldn’t even
read.”
“Yeah, but it was research for my future career as a famous comic book artist. And anyway –
manga
!” Josh sighed happily, visualizing Granny Murata’s local
bookstore – shelves and shelves of the Japanese comics, more manga than he’d ever seen in one place. They had all the famous series he’d read in English plus hundreds never seen
before...
Wham!
Josh walked head first into someone’s back, and found himself looking up into the angry face of the huge Japanese man with the sunglasses.
The man shoved Josh away so hard that he stumbled and nearly ended up on the floor. It was like being pushed aside by the Incredible Hulk’s angrier Japanese cousin. He gazed down at Josh
from behind impenetrable black sunglasses. It was impossible to guess what he was thinking.
Josh swallowed hard, taking in the sheer size of the man. He was three times as wide as Josh and much taller. He straightened up to stand face-to-face with the man – though his head only
came up to the man’s enormous chest.
“
Kamawanaide Kure
,” the man snarled, and he stomped off, resuming his mobile phone conversation.
“Shove off yourself,” Josh muttered, brushing himself down.
“How rude!” Jessica exclaimed, helping Josh with his backpack.
Josh decided that the guy couldn’t be an evil villain – he was too much of a thug. He was a lower-level henchman at best, one that would be killed off by the hero in the first
scene.
“Doesn’t matter,” Josh said. “Let’s get on the plane.”
Their seats were on the top deck. Even on the double-deckers, it was cramped. Josh nearly hit an old lady over the head with his backpack, and then had to dodge around a toddler that was dashing
up and down the aisle chased by his frazzled mother. Finally they settled into their seats and Josh leaned his head against the window. As they took off, he watched the houses below shrink away to
dots and disappear into the clouds.