Chapter 32

“Choose.”

“Oh yeah ... umh ... I don’t know. They all speak Japanese?”

“Yes.”

“But they’re all tall, blonde and beautiful ... in a western European kind of way.”

“What?” Ceiling said. “You want short and dumpy?”

“If they look Japanese? Yes.” Mahiro. “She’ll look like my wife ... looked.” He slumped. “When she was alive.” He perked up with a thought, “If you had one that looked like my wife when we met...”

“Hold on,” Ceiling said, “Let me confer with my people. Sam?”

“What?”

“Can you?”

“Sure,” Sam said, “If she agrees.”

“That’s a difficult one,” Ellen said, “You want a beautiful Cassandran woman to alter to short and dumpy?”

“No,” Sam said. “You airhead. I want her to look like Sato-san wants. Young and Japanese.”

“Only one way to find out,” I said. “Ask.”

“But ... but ... but,” stuttered Ellen, “You would have to ask ‘em face to face.”

I wondered, “What’s the matter with that?”

“It’s against the rules.” Ellen said.

I picked up the Rulebooks. “Show me!”

Three days later, she said, “Okay ... it’s an unwritten rule.”

“If it’s not written down...”

Sato-san said, “It never happened.”

High Five.

“Yeah ... truck ‘em out. They might not want him.”

Ceiling said, “This is highly irregular ... but yeah ... truck ‘em out.”

Mahiro was the first Apprentice Hero to interview all of his prospective Caregiver. How about that?

Five of the six had various ways of saying, “No.” The sixth said, “You bet. Japanese? Think how that’ll go over with the Club.” She started running it through her mind. “No makeup ... no dye? Besides ... he’s cute.” Big Grin! “And he can teach me to be a proper Japanese.”

She ran through Sam’s door. It slammed.

The run was spectacular ... finely tuned and tanned cheeks in rhythm.

What?

Of course they came in naked! Naked increased their chances. And the No’s didn’t disqualify the dissenters ... the Hero didn’t turn them down ... that’s in the rules. The woman loses her chance if she is rejected three times. Nothing said about her rejecting him. The rule makers never considered that a woman would turn down the chance.

Sam said, “You might as well relax ... this is going to take some time, Why don’t you look over the available rescues. See if you can one you like.”

Mahiro asked, “Can’t we choose two?”

“Umh,” Ellen waffled and minced, “Why two?”

“I might want my own.” Sato-san said. “I’m still kinda upset about the yacht.” ‘Mostly about my house and the replacement boat.’

So ... I said, “How good are you about sword fighting?”

“I’m Japanese ... in a quasi-military organization that trains with the men of the former Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF), (Kaigun Tokubetsu Rikusentai)”

“Those groups were disbanded after the war.” I said. I was pretty sure I’d read that somewhere. Probably the best trained maritime forces in the Japanese Navy. The equivalent of the US Marines. Every man was a minimum of 6 feet tall and superbly trained.

“Do you really think they quit just because a bunch of gaijin round-eyes told them they must? What do Americans say about their Marines? ‘You can take the man out of the Corps ... you can’t take the Corps out of the man.’ I’ve trained in Shinkendo Japanese Swordsmanship and Aikibujutsu Shokai single-stick since I was six. You’re an amateur. You’ve had one successful rescue. I’ve been rescuing people at sea for years.”