‘Bzzt ! Sorry, wrong answer. Thank you for playing.’
‘Huh?’
‘Look, Ken-chan. Look harder.’
Kenny looked again, as carefully as he could, searching for hidden shapes and patterns. ‘I don’t see anything.’
Kiyomi walked up to the screens and pointed. ‘Didn’t you notice the wonky letters? Some of them are in italic. Look. Here, the “p” in “place” leans to the right. Two lines down, the “h” in “that” and then the “l” in “feelings” are irregular. Do you see it now?’
Kenny stared again. ‘Oh, wow,’ he said, as the pattern became clear, like a 3D Magic Eye picture coming into focus. ‘You’re right. I never saw any of that before.’
‘That’s because your brain irons out the wrinkles,’ Kiyomi said. ‘Here, let me underline the italics.’
‘It’s an old trick from World War Two,’ Harashima said. ‘Prisoners would send hidden messages this way in their letters home.’
‘So,’ Kiyomi said, arms folded in a teacher-like pose, ‘what does it say?’
To my dearest grandson, Kenneth,
Yes, I know you hate being called ‘Kenneth’ but it could have been worse – your grandmother wanted to name you ‘Aloysius’.
If all is well, you will be reading this upon an aero plane high above the Pacific Ocean, making your final approach to Japan, where I have arranged for you to spend the summer with your father.
I remember what it was like for me, travelling alone to a strange and unfamiliar place, but, once I adjusted to the local customs, I found it a place of magical wonder. I suspect that you too may be embarking on a similar journey of self-discovery.
If I have any advice for you, it is this: believe in yourself; trust your feelings; do what is right, especially when it is most difficult; and always carry a cucumber near fresh water.
With all my love,
Your grandfather, Lawrence
Kenny read down quickly. ‘It says . . . open . . . the . . . enve . . . lope. Open the envelope. Open the – Hey, I already opened it, otherwise how would I have got the letter out? This is stupid. It makes no sense.’
‘Do you have the envelope?’ Harashima asked.
Kenny patted down his pockets, heard the paper rustle and took it out. ‘Yes, here it is. They took the letter, but left this.’
‘May I?’ Harashima drew closer and held out his hand to take the paper. It was then that Kenny noticed that the last joint was missing from the man’s little finger. He stared for a moment, trying to remember what that signified. Harashima gave no indication that he had noticed.
‘Kuromori-san, your grandfather went to a lot of trouble to tell you to do something you have already done. Is that not so?’
Kenny nodded. He was feeling stupider and stupider, and getting weary of everything being phrased as a question.
‘Except you have not done as he instructed.’ Harashima carefully ran his fingertip under the sealed edges of the envelope, gently lifting as he went, and flattened it into one large sheet of paper. ‘Now it is opened,’ he said, sniffing at the paper and holding it up to the light.
He took a silver cigarette lighter from his jacket and struck the flint. He ran the flame beneath the envelope, scorching it in spots, trying to avoid burning his fingers. ‘Lemon juice makes a good invisible ink,’ he said. ‘So do onion and vinegar, but the smell gives them away.’
When he had finished, he snapped the lighter shut and handed the paper to Kenny. There, clearly written in brown lines, were the symbols:
N/Ca Al:Fm
Harashima smiled. ‘Your grandfather has done well to narrow it down. It is as we thought.’
Kenny stood up again. ‘OK, obviously, whatever’s going on here, you don’t need me. I’m way too dumb for any of this fun and games, so I’m just going to get my backpack and go, all right? I need to find my dad.’
Harashima adjusted a cufflink. ‘Kuromori-san, you are wanted by certain authorities who, no doubt, have you listed on their records as a threat to national security. You have no money, no friends, no contacts; you cannot speak, read or write Japanese. As of now, the only people who have helped you are us.’
‘I can call my dad, just as soon as I get a signal.’
‘Your father was arrested this afternoon, just before your plane landed. If you call him, it will lead Sato straight to you.’
Kenny’s hands closed into fists and he felt a scream starting low down in his stomach.
‘I know how difficult this is for you,’ Kiyomi said, ‘and believe me, I’d love to tell you more, but you’re going to have to trust us. You’re safe here. I saved your life once already. Why would I do that if I meant you harm?’
‘Look, I get it, OK? Something crazy is going on. I can see . . . weird creatures. My stupid grandad is somehow mixed up in this. You think I can help you, but you’re wrong. That’s not me. I don’t belong here and I don’t want to be involved in any of this, whatever it is.’
‘Kenny, you’re already involved,’ Kiyomi said. ‘As am I. We were involved in this before we were even born. Choices were made for us years ago, and now we have to decide whether to accept those choices or not.’
‘You’re kidding me, right?’ Kenny took a deep breath, placed his fists on the table and rested his weight on the knuckles. ‘OK, one question before I go: what does it mean? N, Ca, Al, Fm?’
‘Chemical names,’ Harashima said. ‘Nitrogen, Calcium, Aluminium and Fermium. They’re not important. What is important is their position in the periodic table. Nitrogen is 7, calcium is 20, aluminium is 13 and fermium is 100.’
Kiyomi looked expectantly at Kenny.
‘What? I don’t get it,’ he said. ‘I’m stupid, remember?’
‘Seven, twenty, thirteen, one hundred,’ she said. ‘It’s a date and time: July the twentieth, thirteen hundred hours.’
‘What’s the big deal about that?’
‘Ken-chan, that’s nine days from now. Unless you help us to stop it, that’s when fifty million people on the West Coast of America are going to die.’
Kenny’s legs buckled and he sat down hard.
‘Say that again,’ he said. ‘I don’t think I – I couldn’t have heard that right.’
Kiyomi sat down across from him and leaned closer. ‘Kenny, there is a plan to kill millions of people in America in nine days’ time to avenge something that happened many years ago.’
‘In nine days?’
Kiyomi nodded and leaned back.
‘How?’
‘We are not exactly sure, although I have a good idea,’ Harashima said.
‘And are you going to tell me?’
‘Not yet, Kuromori-san. You have not yet chosen sides, therefore it would be dangerous to tell you more.’
‘Sides?’