Adventure's Call

Chapter One: Searching for an Answer

My name is Ming Ace. It's okay to think, "Wow, stupid name." After all, I didn't choose it; my parents did. Unlike my parents', my life has never been exciting. My mom grew up in Hitachi, Japan as an only child. My father also came from Japan, but from the largest city- Tokyo. One day, they met, decided to move to America, got married, and then had me. Well, they also had my brother Niko, but he's not anything special. Mom and Dad told me all about what it's like in Japan. And, from what they've said, it seems to me like Japan is way more exciting than America.

The four of us (Mom, Dad, Niko, and I) live in St. Louis. I just joined a new school, too. You may be thinking, "St. Louis is anything but boring. Um, hello? Ever heard of the St. Louis Cardinals?!" Yes, I have heard of the Cardinals. Most of the tourists who come here come to see a baseball game. Well...that and the Gateway Arch. Anyway, you wouldn't believe me, but it is boring here. I go to school- it's all the same. Sure, there are a variety of people. However, those people are also all the same. It seems as if everywhere I go here, it's the same thing every day. Baseball, tourists, crime. What I'm missing is something brand new. What I'm missing is an adventure.

***

I always ride my bike to school on days like this. It's warm, but the wind is gently blowing. I'm looking at all of the trees from the sidewalk I'm on. There are cracks, so it's a pretty bumpy ride, but I finally make it to the mammoth of a building that I call school. I'm 30 minutes early, as usual.

I'm parking my bike and am about to walk inside when I hear a noise from a nearby bush. "What in the world?" I say, looking directly at the bush. Now, I may be early, but I'm not the only one of them. The girls around me must be confused. I hope they don't think I'm one of those animism weirdos- thinking that the bush will talk back. Although, to my surprise, it does. "Ace," it says. "Come in." Okay, so there are a big handful of psychos and nuts at this school, but I'm not one of them. There is obviously a person in that bush. "It's okay. I'm harmless!" says the unseen person. Whoever this guy is, he has a girlish voice. Based on that, I'd say that he's probably two grades below me, one of the 7th graders. Just to be safe, I wait a second, then hop at the bushes all at once. "Ow!" the voice says. I finally see that its owner is a young Asian boy with smooth, light brown hair. He's now covered in tiny leaves and scratches.

"Sorry," I say, truly meaning it. "It's fine. Just take this," the boy says, handing me a folded piece of scrap paper. He starts to jog away from the bush, but then abruptly stops as if he's forgotten something. "Oh, yeah! By the way, my name is Rin. Nice to finally meet you, Ace!" he hurriedly says. I stand in bewilderment, wondering how he knows my name. Before I enter the building, I open up the folded paper. On it reads, Hello, Mr. Ming, you have been invited to join us at the Jim Kirk martial arts building immediately after school today. We'll be expecting you. I can't believe my eyes.

***

I'm at the door of Jim Kirk's Martial Arts when out comes Rin, the boy from earlier today. "Hey, Ace!" he says. "Hey, guys, he came!" he shouts over his shoulder. I'm feeling nervous. What if they don't like me? What if I don't like them? I'm deep in thought and worry when Rin opens the door up wider and practically pushes me in. It takes me a second to recuperate. Toward the back of the room, there are three other boys.

"It is him! Hello, Mr. Ming," says and older boy with hair and facial features similar to Rin's. I'm guessing that this boy is not only Rin's older brother, but also the one who wrote the note I received. "My name is Hiromi," he continues. "It means 'wide-seer'". "Hi. I-" another boy starts talking before I get to finish. He looks about the same age as I am and has light brown skin and a smile on his face. "Yōkoso. Kon'nichiwa," he says to my surprise. "I am Derek. That means that I am the shogun here. Hiromi is the emperor. Jun over here," he gestures to the slightly younger-looking Caucasian-Chinese boy to the right of him. "Jun is the daimyo." All of this seems so official. They even have a set-up feudalism. I wonder why I was invited to come. Then something occurs to me. "Wait...if there's already an emperor, a shogun, and a daimyo, then what is Rin?" Hiromi speaks up. "He's not really a member of the guild. He's just my brother," he says as if he is exhausted. I know how he feels. Having to include a little brother can really wear you down.

All four boys start to meditate. Realizing this, I join in. After about ten minutes, Derek pulls us back into reality. "Okay! Books out," shouts Derek to the rest of the boys. They each pull out a book almost as thick as a Bible from their backpacks. Even Rin obeys. "I thought this was a guild, not a sect. All that's missing is the shrine," I say jokingly. "This is a guild?" Rin asks. I always thought we were a clan." Hiromi rolls his eyes at Rin and turns to face me. "These are our guild books. We write down information and our thoughts in them." I understand now. "Just observe," says Rin.

I watch the boy nearest to me, Jun, write a tanka in his guild book. I read each carefully beautiful calligraphed word. Despite his silence, Jun seems to have many thoughts.

After about five more minutes, Hiromi announces, "Free-thought-writing time is up!" "Time to plan," says Derek. I just met these guys, and they're full of mystery. I still have no idea why I'm here. "Plan what?" I ask. I want to be included. Rin's face lights up. "Plan for battle, silly!" "Rin!" exclaims Hiromi. I'm confused. There are a lot of things they still haven't told me about. "Plan for battle?" Jun sighs and finally speaks up. "Rin was not supposed to announce that, but, yes. It's kind of like our own constitution." This dude must be joshing me. "It's true," chimes in Rin. "We've...well, they, have fought all sorts of bad guys." "We don't actually do the fighting. We just do the planning for the real fighter-guys in the guild," says Derek, looking annoyed. "So it's not just you four in the guild? There are more?!" I'm really confused, now. I thought these were just four boys around my age with a small club. If they're really telling the truth, I was way off. "Why was I even invited to come here?" I ask. Rin's eyes start to plead with me. "We asked you here to join us. Please join! Please! Please, Ace!" "We'll need a vassal soon," Jun says. Rin and Jun are correct," says Hiromi. "We'll need an answer before we can move on. So...what will it be?" I can't believe my ears. This is my chance at adventure.

***