The Mists of Osorezan: Nihon Gothic Book 1 by Zoe Drake

Author:Zoe Drake [Drake, Zoe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Excalibur Books
Published: 2019-10-30T22:00:00+00:00

There were so many books written and movies made about aliens. So much money spent on telescopes and probes to try to contact intelligent life somewhere out there in the universe. Sometimes David felt that it was a total waste of time and expense, that the real aliens were right here on earth. He was looking at one of them right now.

It was a praying mantis, one of the insects that he’d never seen until his arrival in Japan. It crouched on the warm flagstones of the pathway outside the east wing of the school. The color had caught David’s eye as he walked along: a brilliant green, as shiny as a child’s plastic toy. He crouched down to look at it closer. It stood on its hind and middle legs, the front legs folded in that classic praying gesture. The skeletal body rocked backwards and forwards in a steady, hypnotic rhythm, calm under the human scrutiny from above.

Despite how tiny it was, David could see every detail sharply and clearly. The mantis turned its flat, triangular head up towards him in a slow rotating motion. It knew he was there. It looked directly at him, and he imagined his own face, reflected over and over in its emerald compound eyes.

He straightened up. The dream therapy seemed to have sharpened his senses; the color of the mantis was brighter, the smells of the flowers and trees were stronger, the sounds of the girls, both inside and outside the school – all seemed to be much clearer than usual. His usual aches and pains after football were gone. Was all this down to the Modulator?

Entering the cool of the staff room, David encountered his second surprise of the morning. A Japanese police officer in full dark blue uniform, standing next to the Vice Principal. The man gave David a long, unsmiling stare. David bowed quickly in greeting and walked to his desk, trying to hide himself behind the overflowing shelves of books and folders.

Perhaps they were putting on some kind of public information display, he thought. Or one of the students was in trouble? A big scandal in a small town?

The chimes sounded to signal the start of the meeting. Standing up with the microphone, Ogura-sensei introduced the stern-looking individual who stood surveying the assembled teachers from underneath the brim of his peaked cap.

Listening intently, David knew enough Japanese to make out the general sense of what had happened. There’d been a break-in at the school. Last night. Nothing had been stolen, and nothing in the teachers’ room or classrooms had been damaged, but for the time being the building known as the old gymnasium – as opposed to the new gymnasium, where the regular PE lessons were held – was out of bounds.

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