Ojiisan stood up suddenly, taking Jet and Hiro by their arms. Hiro looked around quizically. It wasn’t the right station!
“Quick!” Ojiisan whispered, pushing them both out to the platform.
They got off just as the doors slammed shut. Inside the train, two tall men in dark suits stood up and looked out the window. One shook his fist furiously. With a start, Jet recognized them. They’d been on the bus to Osore-zan!
Ojiisan led Hiro and Jet toward the train bound for Morioka Station—the opposite direction from Kanabe. Night was falling. He bought three sushi bentos at the platform kiosk.
“Where are we going?” Jet whispered. Again, Ojiisan motioned for them to be quiet. The next train arrived, and they boarded quickly. When they took a seat, Ojiisan handed them each a bento. It was just after six, and Jet wasn’t hungry.
“Eat,” he told her. “You’ll need strength.”
She did as he suggested. They broke apart their chopsticks and dug into the cold food, forcing themselves to eat. Ojiisan left half of his untouched and wrapped the box, then leaned back in his seat, eyes closed.
Jet held her chopsticks midair, recalling her mother’s words from years ago.
“If you’re completely hungry, you can’t fight. If you’re completely full, you can’t fight.”
Where did that memory come from? She looked carefully at the way Ojiisan was resting. She felt him gathering his energy, concentrating his power, storing it and restoring himself. She’d seen her mother sitting that way many times.
Outside, dusk was settling on the edges of the distant mountain. The bright autumn colors were gone. The outlines of trees stood darkly against the evening sky.
Ojiisan opened his eyes, looking intently at her. He lowered his voice.
“We’re being followed. These men could be dangerous. They might be the people your mother feared. If so, we’ll have to defend ourselves.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Jet asked, desperation rising.
“Fall back on your training,” he replied.
Jet’s legs bounced up and down.
“Jet!” Hiro said, pushing her thighs down. “You’re making me nervous!”
“I didn’t even know I was doing that!” Jet said, embarrassed.
“Take a moment. Both of you,” Ojiisan told them. “Remember—a warrior has to be in control of the body and mind—even to the extent of hiding who he is.”
“Oshaka-sama,” Hiro coughed. Lord Buddha! Then he closed his eyes and took deep, slow breaths. Jet watched his body relax. She wanted to be able to do the same. She tried, drinking in her breath like sips of hot chocolate. But then her concentration lapsed, and fear brimmed her chest.
“I can’t!” she said, voice quavering.
Ojiisan looked at her kindly, his voice now light.
“Go ahead, try. It won’t be so difficult for you, Jet, because you’ve already mastered the art of sozu. Right?”
“Right.” She smiled, twisting the turquoise ring on her finger. Like she always did when she was nervous.
Ojiisan closed his eyes, turning inward, and Jet did the same, trying to calm her mind, breathing deeply. As vivid as if it were happening now, a memory washed up in her mind.
Once when she was twelve, walking home from school on a rainy day, she’d felt someone following her. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she sensed it clearly. She kept on walking, not turning back to look. As she rounded a corner, sure enough four girls came up quickly from behind and fenced her in. Instinctively, she put her right hand in her pocket. J-Bird had given her a beautiful turqouise ring for her birthday. She’d wanted to hide it so they wouldn’t take this precious gift.
“Give us your money,” one girl, the biggest, demanded.
Jet turned to run away. They came closer, encircling her.
“Take your hand out of your pocket, Chink,” another one spat out the words.
They can’t even get it right. I’m half-Japanese, not Chinese, she thought.
The rain started to fall harder. The rest was a blur of shouts, kicks, and pain.
The ring was gone and Jet came home with many scrapes and bruises on her body. She had been thoroughly defeated, shamed, and shocked. She hadn’t really known what hit her. She told her mother what happened.
The next week, walking down the same street, Jet was surrounded again.
The big girl lunged toward her, reaching her right hand to attack. But this time, Jet stepped back to avoid the girl’s hand. When the girl came at her with her left hand, Jet grabbed it and shifted back and to the right, locking the girl’s joints and holding her in place, then jabbing her umbrella into her ribs. As the girl fell, the others stepped back in shock. Jet swung her umbrella in a low circle, hitting their ankles hard. She didn’t know how badly she’d hurt them, but had plenty of time to run away.
When she came home, panting and out of breath, Satoko knew something had happened again. And yet her daughter’s expression was completely different this time.
“Tell me about it,” she said, making Jet a cup of hot chocolate.
Jet caught her breath. “I don’t know what happened. I reached for the umbrella, and some force just took over. It was weird…”
Satoko smiled. “Soujutsu. In the old days, people had to use spears and lances. But nowadays, you can use an umbrella, a cane, a stick, or even a rolled-up newspaper. You did well!”
“Where’d I learn that?” Jet asked.
Satoko smiled. “I don’t remember exactly, but I guess we covered it.”
Jet had a vague memory of her mom teaching her this technique using sticks on a mountain, but her school teachers told her she had an “overactive imagination,” and she was always daydreaming in class, so she couldn’t be sure.
The following week Jet took the same route home. The girls were waiting for her again. But this time when she approached, they threw something on the sidewalk in front of her and ran away, scattering in different directions.
It was the ring from J-Bird, wrapped in a Taco Bell napkin. Jet had to laugh. She kept the napkin as a souvenir. Their white flag of surrender. She turned the ring on her finger now. If she could call upon those skills back then, maybe she could do it now. She felt a bit more reassured, remembering.
Jet snapped back into the present when the train stopped at a small station near Misawa Army base. Ojiisan quickly shuttled them out of the car.
The night’s frozen air hit them on the platform, but Ojiisan didn’t let them move until he was sure no other passengers had gotten off. Then, they headed up the street, stopping at a liquor store. Music streamed into the store from a back room. It sounded like it was coming from a TV game show.
“Anyone
