“Could I have a word with you, Mr St John?”

  James winced. Partly because “Mr St John” sounded weird at the best of times and even stranger when the rest of the sentence was in Japanese. The other part was that no student wanted to be held back after class.

  Yasuhara Taro, the boy who had been sitting next to him, clapped him on the shoulder commiseratingly. “I’ll see you at lunch,” he said.

  James didn’t have the heart to tell the guy that he’d probably be eating lunch with at least half of the Idol Club. Word was spreading, but it hadn’t gotten to Taro yet.

  Harue would be pleased to know that people were talking about Idol Club. Partly because of her antics, but mostly because three of the girls in it were contenders for the top spot in the ‘most beautiful’ rankings that were quickly taking shape. Which girl stood where in that ranking was all that any of the boys were talking about this morning.

  Which club each of the girls was in had been a hot topic, and James’s main contribution was providing that information. He didn’t think it was a secret, and it had put a dampener on the boy’s plans to join the same club to get close to them. Idol Club was not manly enough to meet their girl-impressing needs.

  James didn’t think it was a bad idea, at least for getting to know Junko and the other normal girls. He was pretty sure that the girls would be fine including a boy band in the club.

  By now, the crowd had cleared, so James stepped up to the Professor’s desk.

  “Yes, Professor?”

  Professor Toei glanced around to make sure no one was listening. “Ah, yes. I just wanted to check with you, to see if you’ve given any thought about how to choose your fellow pilots.”

  “What?” James stared at the professor in confusion. “Oh! The pilots!”

  In James's defence, he’d been busy since he’d activated the giant robot. There had been an attack; he’d blocked a cannon with a sword, and then there had been a helicopter crash. The first day of school, which included a duel, didn’t quite measure up, but it had been just as distracting.

  So James felt he couldn’t be blamed for forgetting he had to pick two more people to save the world with. The secret society that had been following the dictates of a prophecy who-knew-how-many thousand years old might not feel the same way. James imagined that they were getting a little impatient.

  “Sorry, Professor Toei,” he said. “I haven’t had time to think about it.”

  “Try to make time,” the professor urged. “It’s important. Have you considered those… girls as possible companions?”

  The way the professor emphasised the word made it clear that he was talking about the two girls who were anything but that.

  “They expressed an interest, you see. I’m not sure if it’s a good idea, but…” The professor sighed. “I’m not sure what would have happened if they hadn’t shown up,” he confessed.

  “Could you have lost the Warrior?” James asked.

  “I don’t think that the forces they have could have moved it,” Professor Toei said. “And I’m confident that we could have taken the site back with reinforcements from the base on this island. But… it could have gone quite badly for every one of us there.”

  “Isn’t Kana an example of the creatures we’re supposed to fight?” James asked.

  “It’s more complex than that,” Professor Toei said. “Dragons came here as part of the invasion, it’s true. But that was a long time ago. Generations have been born that know nothing of the Dragon-God.”

  Professor Toei stared thoughtfully into the middle distance. “They’re not widely known for their… altruism, let’s say. But some of them have had positive interactions with humans.”

  “That sure is a strong recommendation,” James said wryly. Professor Toei chuckled.

  “I suppose. But the important thing is how you feel about her. You are the Chosen One, after all.”

  James didn’t know what to make of that. There was another class before lunch, where James got a chance to catch up with Suki and the others. Assigned seating and the general hubbub of the first day made it hard to speak to her, even in the classes that they shared.

  “How was music class?” he asked.

  “It was… something,” Suki said. She took hold of his arm and leaned against him. James was sure he could feel eyes lock on to him.

  “How scandalous!” Harue exclaimed with delight. Mitsue raised an eyebrow.

  “Are you certain you want to be making such a public gesture?” he said.

  Matsuri glowered at James, which was about normal. “Typical foreigner,” she muttered.

  Kana did not react in any way.

  “Sorry,” Suki said. “I thought it might make things easier if people saw that I was… taken. I’ve been asked out a lot this morning.”

  “Odd,” Kana said, frowning. “I have not.”

  “That’s ‘cause your beauty is an icy, inapproachable one,” Harue said airily. “Suki is much more vulnerable, at least to look at.”

  “Hmmph,” Kana replied, seemingly mollified.

  “You don’t mind, do you?” Suki said.

  “No, it’s fine,” James said. He noticed he was grinning goofily. “I can take a little jealousy. Did you want to talk about music class?”

  “Oh,” Suki said. “That. We were mostly performing, to give Sensei an idea of our skills.”

  “Sensei-sama,” Harue corrected. Suki frowned at her.

  “That’s… not right, is it?” she said. “Sensei is the proper address for a teacher.”

  “You lowly humans need to show more respect,” Harue sniffed.

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Suki said. “He didn’t say anything about it in class, though. It was strange.”

  “What was?” James asked.

  “It was a forty-minute class, and we all performed for him,” Suki said slowly. “But I’m sure my own performance was longer than twenty minutes.”

  Harue shrugged. “He just listened to them all at the same time,” she said.

  “What? How?” Mitsue asked.

  “He’s a god,” Harue said with more than a hint of condescension. “He can do what he likes.”

  “That is… possible,” Suki said. “I wasn’t really aware of what the other students were doing during my performance. There’s an… aspect to my music that I thought was unique to me.”

  “What sort of aspect?” James asked.

  She looked at him. “I’m not ready to talk about it yet. When I’ve performed for you, I’ll show you.”

  “Ooh, mysterious!” Harue said jokingly. “So I take it that it didn’t work how you were used to?”

  “No,” Suki admitted. “I’m used to having more… control. That wasn’t the case during the class.”

  “How was he as a teacher?” James asked.

  “He had… advice,” Suki admitted. “He seemed like he knew what he was doing.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “Of course he did,” Harue scoffed. “His wisdom is ineffable.”

  “Of course it is,” Suki said, rolling her eyes. Then she frowned. “I was a little encouraged by the way he discouraged the students from fawning over him…”

  “Why are you frowning, then?” James asked.

  “If he really is capable of dealing with each of us individually at the same time,” Suki mused, “Couldn’t he be grooming one of us without the others knowing?”

  “Sure he could,” Harue said confidently. “But none of you girls are that lucky.”

  Suki glared at Harue and drew in a breath to retort. Before she could, however, Mitsue intervened.

  “You really do not see that as a bad thing, do you?” he asked.

  “Why would I?” Harue asked. “Just having Hachiman-sama’s attention is far more than they deserve. If he should deign to honour them with more, well, aside from jealousy, what is there to complain about? The best sex a mortal could expect in their lifetime?”

  “We should probably stop talking about this now,” Mitsue said hastily. “It’s making the girls uncomfortable, and we might be overheard.”

  Harue shrugged again. “Sure, but you’d better not embarrass me at the club meeting after school,” she said to Suki. “I mean, ask Sensei-sama about his plans if you like, but don’t make any accusations.”

  “I won’t,” Suki assured her. “I don’t have anything to accuse him of.”

  She turned to James. “Sorry, but our meeting means I won’t be able to watch your training run.”

  “That’s fine,” James said. “I don’t think they encourage spectators, and I doubt I’ll do very well. It's supposed to be an introduction to PMC training, but I get the impression that a lot of the other students have done something like this before.”

  “Hopefully, we’ll finish up soon enough for me to meet you at the finish line,” Suki said hopefully.

  “I wouldn’t count on it,” Harue said. “We’ve got a lot to cover. Applying for a club room, budget for costumes, practice space… and we’ll have to pry Junko off Sensei-sama, that could take a while.”

  “She’s the daughter of a distinguished family,” Suki said primly. “I’m sure that won’t be necessary.

  The lunch bell rang before Harue could reply to that.

  “You’re not keeping it a secret then?”

  James whirled around to see who was addressing him. He had to blink a few times before he remembered her name. She had been at the Idol Club meeting, but she hadn’t said one word to him.

  “Your relationship,” she clarified.

  Toudou Ema, he suddenly remembered.

  “Oh. Um, no, it’s not a secret,” he said. “I don’t really get why idols can’t have boyfriends? Pop stars back home have them all the time.”

  “They can,” Ema said. Her tone left no doubt as to just how slim a possibility that was. “Most management teams either forbid it or strongly discourage it, as it puts the fans off. Or triggers them to violence.”

  James shrugged. “I don’t think Suki’s seriously thinking about making a career of it,” he said. “It’s just a bit of fun for high school, like Harue said.”

  “Hmmph. Harue-chan’s thoughts about idols are very naive.” Ema said.

  “You might be right,” James agreed. “But I don’t think that’s a good description of how Harue thinks about anything else.”

  Ema gave him a long look. “Perhaps not,” she said. “You do know her better than I.”

  “Not that well,” James demurred. Unbidden, a thought pushed itself into his head.

  Do I know her well enough to have her join me in the Jade Warrior?

  He pushed the thought back. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking crazy thoughts about dragon-gods and giant robots. He needed to focus. He was about to run down the side of a mountain carrying a katana.

  The PMC senpai had been evasive about what he’d need the sword for.

  “Why are you here?” he asked Ema to distract himself.

  “Should I not be?” Ema asked. “All first-year PMC applicants need to make the run.”

  “I guess what I’m wondering is why you chose to join both Idol Club and the PMC,” James explained. “Aside from joining two clubs, they seem… pretty different.”

  If not entirely opposed, he didn’t say.

  Ema sighed. “It will be difficult,” she said. “But Idol club gives me a chance to reconnect with Junko, and… I trained for this.”

  She held up her katana, still in its sheath. James looked at it, not sure what he was supposed to be looking at. He didn’t know much about katanas, but this one looked… different from his sword.

  James was carrying one of the standard katana that the club provided members. Ema’s sword did not look like his, so it couldn’t be standard.

  “Is that your personal katana?” he asked.

  Ema nodded.

  “The reason I didn’t go to middle school with Junko was that I went to Takemori Academy,” she said. “It focuses on martial training.”

  “I have heard good things about the training it provides,” Mitsue said as he joined them. He bowed to Ema.

  “Are you both ready?” he asked. “The event is about to begin.”

  They went down the mountain one at a time, with five minutes separating them. They had to follow the mountain stream that flowed down the mountain, swollen with the spring rains. If the stream split, James was told, he could follow whichever path he wished. All the paths had been mapped, and they all led to the finish line.

  Some paths were better than others, though.

  The first runner departed without fanfare. The celebration would be held at the bottom. James watched him go, feeling a little nervous. Getting up here had been hard enough, even with a bus to take them most of the way. Going down might be faster, but James didn’t think it would be easier. Fortunately, he wasn’t completely inexperienced at clambering down the mountain.

  “Were those trips to the hot spring training for this?” he asked Mitsue.

  “Not specifically,” Mitsue answered. “But cross-country training is never wasted.”

  James wanted to say that he didn’t think it would be useful in most circumstances. It had been this time, though, so he wasn’t sure what to think.

  Another runner left. Ema was next, and then James was after her.

  “Good luck,” he said. She bowed slightly in return.

  “And to you,” she said as she headed for the starting line.

  “If the path forks, take the rightmost one,” Mitsue said suddenly.

  “Have you scouted it out already?” James asked.

  “No, the location was kept secret. In any case, I suspect the natural obstacles are not the ones we need to be concerned about.”

  “What, what?” James asked.

  “It’s just that I will be following you,” Mitsue explained, ignoring his question. “If you take the right-hand path, I’ll be able to follow and catch up if you get stuck.”

  “That’d be pretty embarrassing for me,” James said. “But what was that about obstacles that aren’t natural?”

  “A sword is only useful for one thing,” Mitsue said. “Now, go. It’s your turn.”

  James stalked over to the start line with one last outraged glance at Mitsue. One of the older club members was waiting for him.

  “Okay, kouhai,” he said. “This is simple enough. You run down the gully, sticking to the path that the stream follows.”

  “What’s the sword for?” James asked.

  His senpai raised an eyebrow. “To protect yourself from the dangers along the way, of course.”

  “I’m going to be fighting my way down?” James exclaimed.

  “No! Not really…” The older student said. “You’ll see as you go. Don’t worry; there are watchers all along the gully walls. They’ll come rescue you if you get into trouble, but that will, obviously, fail the test.”

  “Right…” James said doubtfully.

  “I’m glad you understand,” the student said. “Now get ready… and go!”

  James ran. Not as quickly as he could. The ground was too uneven; the rocks were too slippery to risk it. But the downward slope made speed easy to gain. It was all too easy to get to dangerous speeds.

  James had always considered himself fairly athletic, but he was surprised at how easy the run was proving to be. This sort of thing would be forbidden back home, due to the likelihood of him breaking his neck.

  What mom doesn’t know won’t hurt her, he thought. Now I just need to make sure it doesn’t hurt me.

  Up ahead, he could see that the slopes of the gulley were rising, becoming steeper. To his surprise, he saw Ema ahead of him.

  That’s odd; she seemed like she’d be faster than that, he thought. As soon as the thought came, he saw why Ema had stopped.

  As she leapt forward into the narrow gap, a basketball came flying out. Ema tried to dodge, but it struck her on the body, sending her stumbling back. The ball bounced off her, off one of the walls, and sailed back where it had come from, out of sight.

  A voice came out of the gap.

  “C’mon, is that the best you got? I’ve seen tumbleweeds move faster than you. You’re all hat, no cattle! Better step it up, or I’ll be sendin’ y’all home cryin’ like a baby who just dropped her ice cream.”

  “There’s no call for crudity, Tiffany,” another voice replied. James looked up to see Midoriko standing on the edge of the cliff.

  “Ah, I’m just having a little fun!” the unseen voice responded. “Not my fault if she’s getting frustrated!”

  James could hear the slap slap slap of a basketball being dribbled off the hard ground.

  “You won’t beat me!” Ema declared. She drew her sword and strode forward, scabbard in one hand, blade in the other. This time, when the ball flew towards her, her blade swung in a bright arc, bisecting the ball neatly.

  “Ha!” Ema cried, racing forward. Realising that the way was now clear, James dashed after her.

  He wasn’t quick enough, though. He barely had time to see the blond girl before a ball flew right at him. He got his arm up to block, but it hit him hard enough to knock him over. He barely managed to keep a grip on his sheathed katana as he fell back.

  “Y’all think you’re gonna sneak past me? Ha! Bless your heart, sugar, but you’re about as quick as a cow stuck in mud!”

  Knocked back on his ass, James stared in consternation at the out-of-place Westerner. The ball that had hit him bounced off his arms, hit the canyon wall and went straight back into the girl's hands. She smirked at him.

  “Hey!” she said, switching to English. “You’re the new American kid! Nice ta meetcha! The name’s Tiffany McMasters!”

  “James,” James said automatically. “What are you doing?”

  “Stoppin’ you, o’ course! The PMC gets a little help from the sporting clubs to make the run a wee bit tougher. Kinda fun for us, too.”

  “Looks like it,” James muttered. He readied himself to get up. Tiffany grinned and hefted the ball.

  From above, a mobile phone rang. They both looked up.

  “Excuse me!” Midoriko said awkwardly before answering the phone. “What is it—now! But I’m—you’d better get someone up here then—all right.”

  She put the phone away. “I’m terribly sorry,” she said. “Something has come up, and I won’t be able to proctor the rest of the run. Someone will be up here shortly. Please be on your best behaviour until then.”

  She drew her sword and took a quick breath. Then, in one smooth motion, she brought it up and then down, slicing through the air.

  Slicing… and cutting it. Something that James could only call a wound in the air opened up. A vertical slash, five feet long and bleeding rainbow colours. Midoriko stepped into it.

  A moment later, it sealed up behind her and was gone. James and Tiffany looked at each other.

  “Did you know she could do that?” he asked.

  “Ah’ve heard rumours,” the girl admitted. “But y’all missed the important bit.”

  “What’s that?” James asked warily.

  “With her out of the way, Ah don’t have to hold back none!”

  James felt a sudden premonition of danger and rolled out of the way as fast as he could. The ball slammed into the rock face beside him, just inches from his head.

  The rock splintered under the impact.