Anyone from the small town of Odewara easily recognized the blue blazer with white trim and a grey pleated skirt as the local high school uniform. Ayako Hayami, the girl wearing it, had graceful yet high cheekbones, a long black ponytail, and was tall for a Japanese girl. She was not your typical student, as she was firing an M4 carbine from the shoulder. A townsperson would be worried if they didn’t know her, but the red armband on her right arm would have reassured them immediately. The letters GGA in English were printed on it, indicating she belonged to the Gun Girls Auxiliary.

  GGAs existed in many high schools across Japan. They were a cross between a high school club and a local defence militia. The clubs had evolved from traditional women’s defence cooperatives, which acted when the men were away. In the Odewara area, women had defended their families from bandits, and in local legends, they even defeated demons that had come down from Mount Kumotawa.

  Two paint rounds in quick succession struck the kill zone in the centre of the human-shaped target. Ayako immediately scanned for the next threat and advanced down the makeshift funhouse range. Their outdoor shooting range had been converted into a pseudo street with wooden stand-ups representing the walls of a half dozen houses. Popup targets were installed in most of the facades, but you never knew which ones were active. This drill was for the senior students to practice shooting on the move, but most of the dozen or so members of the GGA were out to watch.

  She reached the house she had just cleared, and another popup appeared in a window before her. Aiming through her red dot sight, she fired two more shots into another kill zone and advanced on the last house. The last target appeared on her left, and she snapped off two more kill shots.

  Yuriko Morimoto clicked the stopwatch and blew her whistle to indicate the drill was over. She was the current combat coach for the GGA, while a teacher served as the club advisor. She even looked like her role dressed in an olive t-shirt, tan pants, and military boots. This job helped her to blend in with the community by supplementing her cover as the SuperQuickly manager.

  Ayako flipped her rifle safety on. Pointing the barrel at an angle to the ground away from everyone, she removed the magazine, stored it in a magazine pouch on the web gear she wore over her uniform, and cleared her weapon. “Weapon’s safe,” she announced. Letting her assault rifle hang from its sling in front of her, she took off her shooting glasses, then walked back to the firing line where everyone waited.

  “Great form, Ayako, “ Yuriko said. “Your time improved by a quarter second!”

  Her friends and club members cheered and shouted, “Good job! Great going, Captain!”

  “You are checking your targets and stepping naturally on the advance, “ Yuriko continued. “You might be focusing too much on the targets in front of you, so keep your situational awareness up for the sides. Tunnel vision kills.”

  “Yes, sensei,” Ayako replied. She knew she had done well on the drill and bowed to Yuriko. “Thank you for your coaching.”

  “You know you don’t have to be so formal. Just a thank you will do.”

  “We are lucky we have you for a coach. We did well at the last regional tournament only because of you.” A number of the students nodded and spoke in agreement.

  Yuriko turned to face all of her students who clustered around them. “I may be the coach who trained you, but remember, I can only bring out what you want to give. You all did well at regionals because of your skill and dedication. I have trained soldiers before as a job, but teaching you girls has been a privilege I have enjoyed. Your ancestors would be proud of how you are carrying on their tradition. As women, we shoulder burdens that men do not, even if times are changing, so always do your best!”

  The girls cheered.

  “Let’s take the regional championship this year and go to the nationals!” Yuriko added.

  The girls cheered again.

  “Okay, that’s it for the day. Recheck your weapons, make sure they are safe, and let’s clean up.”

  The girls assembled into teams by school grade, slinging rifles over their shoulders, and began to clear the range. A storage shed was off to the side where they stored the wall stand-ups and other range equipment. The stand-ups on wheels were fairly easy to move, so the girls unlocked them and rolled them into the shed. It was easy unless you got one with wobbly wheels.

  “Stuff’s getting old,” Chiyo complained. She was having problems pushing one of the stand-ups.

  “Let me help you with that,” Ayako told her friend. “We should get these fixed soon.” They had known each other since kindergarten, and Chiyo was like a sister to her. Chiyo was quite a bit shorter than her, wore her hair long and straight, and had balanced facial features with a delicate touch.

  Ayako and Chiyo managed to wrestle the stand-up to the shed.

  “You are on patrol duty tomorrow?” Chiyo asked.

  “Yes. I’m going with Sarah and Karen. Those two are inseparable. When Karen heard you couldn’t go tomorrow, she volunteered to buddy up, and Sarah followed.”

  “I’m sorry I can’t go with you, but I’m glad you’re going with them. I like them a lot.”

  “Don’t apologize. You have to help your father with the purification ceremony tomorrow at the shrine. Besides, I’ll drop by to watch with the girls.”

  Chiyo smiled. “I would like that.”

  *****

  Yuriko and Ito, the club’s teacher advisor, walked back to the nearby high school. They trusted the Grade 12 girls to tidy up and supervise the underclassmen. Ayako, the club captain, ensured the shed was locked up and would turn the key into the teachers’ office. The National GGA issued each girl a semi-automatic rifle, and they were expected to take care of it, store it in the club room on club days and secure it at home when it wasn’t in use. The girls had to follow strict rules regarding their weapons. They had to wear their school uniforms and armbands to identify themselves clearly when carrying them, and the guns were unloaded during transport. Loaded weapons were only allowed when they were on duty or practiced. Not everyone could join the GGA, but if they qualified, they were fulfilling tradition and responsibility. Having your weapon taken away was serious and dishonoured your family.

  “I know the club really appreciates your hard work.” Ito adjusted his glasses. “I must confess I was a little worried when you started.” He hesitated a second. “You looked so tough from your credentials, but it turned out you have a good way with people. I—I mean that in the best way possible. You won the girls over by how you acted and your shooting demonstration on your first meeting—”

  Yuriko fixed Ito with a stern glare to communicate her displeasure.

  “Uh-Uhhh,” Ito stuttered before he saw the big grin on Yuriko’s face.

  “Glad I didn’t use my drill instructor look back then. I wasn’t sure I would be able to teach the girls either.”

  Ito let out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad. And I think I need to learn that look for problem students.”

  “You look too happy,” Yuriko joked, “I don’t think you have an angry face.”

  “I would need to work on it,” Ito chuckled. “Also… If it isn’t too much, the girls asked me to ask you if they could hold a party for you.”

  “That is quite sweet,” Yuriko replied. “Tell them I would be honoured. But please keep it simple.”

  “I will.”

  *****

  The GGA patrol team met in the SuperQuickly at the foot of Kumotawa mountain the next day. Kumotawa Shrine had requested weekend patrols for as long as anyone could remember, and it was a standing duty for the club. The weekends were also when the shrine and the trail to the viewpoint at the peak were busiest. Yuriko worked most Saturday day shifts, so the girls always stopped by to chat. When they entered the store, Yuriko waved to them as she rang through a customer’s purchase. The girls went straight to the snack aisles.

  Sarah Benton put the shopping basket on the checkout counter, brushing back a strand of her brunette hair with her free hand at the same time. Yuriko checked through a pile of snacks, which included some real food like grilled salmon onigiri.

  “That’s a lot of snacks, Sarah,” Ayako observed. All she had bought was one of the store’s fresh ham sandwiches in cellophane wrap, jellybeans, and a bottle of cold tea.

  “She always buys this much when she goes on patrol,” Yuriko said. “She just likes being prepared. I like those new grilled salmon rice balls, too.”

  Karen walked up behind her shorter friend Sarah and hugged her arm. “There’s always extra for friends, too.” Her face had a smile on it, often reserved for teasing, instead of her usual firm, set look that made her look determined. Karen was a blonde with short hair and had a slender build and height like Ayako.

  “Karen! Ayako!” Sarah protested as she ignored her friend’s hug. “I just get hungry with the hike and all the fresh air.”

  “They’re teasing,” Yuriko smiled. “Now, you girls should get going. You’re already late starting. It’s going to be a warm day today. Stay hydrated and stay safe.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Ayako replied. “Let’s go, girls.”

  The three girls exited and walked over to the vermilion torii gate behind the store. Gates like this marked the entrances to sacred Shinto shrines, with this one leading to a pathway with 408 steps to Kumotawa Shrine. The pathway continued past the shrine for another equally long hike up switchbacks to the 380-metre peak of the mountain. They packed their purchases into hip packs on their web gear, which they wore over their school uniforms, then inserted magazines into their assault rifles without chambering rounds.

  Slinging her rifle, Sarah grumbled just a little. “I like the hike, but lugging this rifle and gear up the mountain is a bit of a drag.”

  “You say that every time,” Karen said. “It must be for luck.”

  “You’re going to join the army after you graduate,” Sarah replied. “This is like practice for you.”

  Karen smiled mischievously. “Ayako’s going to be a police officer. It’s good for her, too.”

  “Well, I’m going to be a pastry chef or baker,” Sarah retorted. “The only gun I’m going to be using after this is an icing gun.”

  “You do make great bentos, too,” Ayako said light-heartedly. “But you’re the best marksman out of all of us, so your talents are wasted in the kitchen.”

  “You don’t complain when you eat my cookies.”

  “Mmmm. Cookies. I guess you’re multi-talented,” Ayako teased. “Let’s get going, girls. We want to get to the shrine in time to see Chiyo dance.”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Karen nudged her friend as they left the store. “Thanks for coming. I know you joined the GGA because I did.”

  “It’s not that bad,” Sarah replied, “lugging a rifle up a mountain still isn’t my favourite thing.”

  They set out a little earlier than mid-morning. If they maintained a good walking pace, it would take about one and a half hours to summit, but it always took longer as they talked to people or offered assistance. Their first aid kits had all seen use. On a typical day, they went up the pine-covered mountain once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

  The patrol passed a few slower people and some early risers already returning from the shrine. They greeted everyone politely. Tourists were sometimes surprised by the sight of girls with guns, but the locals gave them friendly greetings. Ayako even stopped for a brief chat with an elderly lady she liked who walked up to the shrine every morning for her health. They kept an eye out for anything out of the ordinary and even joked about yokai. People still saw strange things, though, and people had vanished without a trace, like a pair of high school kids nine years ago. Just last month, a tourist bicycling on the mountain road had been mauled by a bear, but rumours said it wasn’t a bear attack. The mountain was still pretty safe overall, especially on the well-used path to the shrine, but locals avoided the mountain when it was foggy. When the fog came, the road up to the shrine and the path to the shrine would even be closed by the police.

  The patrol made good time and reached the main gate to the shrine in fifty minutes. They passed under the big red torii with its gold imperial crests on the top corners, avoiding the middle of the stone path where the gods walked. The three stopped to purify themselves by ladling water over their hands from a cleansing fountain before continuing.

  Karen tilted her head. “I hear music. I’ve never seen Chiyo perform the purification dance, so I hope we catch it in time.”

  Off to the side of the main shrine building was a covered wooden platform that was raised above the ground. A small crowd stood in front of it. On the stage, a trio of musicians played traditional instruments, and two miko dressed in white robes and long red skirts were in the middle of a dance. Each shrine maiden wore a golden headband, had on white makeup, had their hair tied back, and held a short bell-tree wand in their left hand. The two dancers moved to the slightly shrill music in slow, graceful motions around the stage, and the ends of the movements were punctuated with a shake of the bells. The dance was an offering to the two important kami of the shrine to pray for protection from evil. The gods were Inari for farming and Amenominakanushi for the creation of the world.

  “There’s Chiyo,” Sarah said.

  “She’s a really good dancer,” Karen added.

  Ayako said, “I never get tired of watching her dance.” She saw her best friend was focused on giving a flawless performance. Chiyo had practiced dancing since she was six, and her family both lived and presided over the shrine, a centuries-long family heritage. Ayako’s eyes met Chiyo’s at one point, and she saw a glimmer of a frown cross her friend’s face. I wonder what is wrong, Ayako thought.

  Soon, the dance was over, and the two girls exited the stage to let Chiyo’s father, the head priest, finish the purification ceremony. The ceremonies were held after every major fog event on the mountain, which seemed to occur about once a month.

  The girls met Chiyo backstage, where she ran over to Ayako.

  “I’m so glad you dropped by,” Chiyo blurted out, “there’s something I need to tell you.”

  “Something’s worrying you.” Ayako knew her friend well. “What is it?”

  “I had one of my premonitions last night.”

  “About us?” Ayako knew the women in her friend’s family had dreams that sometimes foretold the future. It was a gift and a curse somehow related to the mountain.

  “Just you. I think the other girls were there too, but I’m not sure.” Chiyo started speaking faster. “I didn’t call this morning as the dreams are not always true, but when I saw you, I had to tell you. There was something frightening in the forest. You were shouting and shooting at something coming at you through the trees!”

  “Calm down, Chiyo!” Ayako held her friend. “It’ll be fine. Remember the time you thought I would crash on my bike coming here? Nothing happened. I was really careful.”

  “But that car almost ran you off the road!”

  “Yeah… Bad example. I guess it was kind of close, but I was okay.”

  “This time is different. It felt different,” Chiyo clutched at her friend. “You should just go back down the mountain to be safe!”

  Ayako was unnerved by her friend’s intensity. She took Chiyo’s dreams seriously but thought of them more as warnings. Behind her, Karen and Sarah looked at each other, confused by what they were hearing.

  “Hold on,” Ayako said as calmly as possible. “Your mother told you the premonitions are strange. They are more about possibilities than anything else.”

  “So you aren’t going back down?”

  “No. You know I need to meet it my way. You can’t hide from these things. Besides, I didn’t stay home the other time either.”

  “Please…” Chiyo looked into her friend’s eyes and saw she meant what she said. Taking a deep breath, she said. “You’re too stubborn. Fine! Then I’m coming with you. Mom says I have to face them too.”

  Ayako’s stomach was a little twisty, but she just smiled at her friend. “Get changed then. We’ll wait.”

  Karen and Sarah just looked at each other. Karen said, “Not routine at all.”

  Sarah had a bit of a nervous tone to her voice. “Nope. I guess we’re continuing…”

  Ayako looked back at the other two girls. “It’s going to be fine. She’s been like this since we were kids. I’ll explain while we wait.”

  *****

  Chiyo joined them ten minutes later. She had scrubbed off her makeup and changed into her uniform and gear. Her hair was a little mussed, but Ayako fixed it. More people were visiting the shrine now, and the teahouse outside the main gate was busy when they walked past.

  The girls picked up the pace to head to the peak, a little nervous and more alert than normal after the drama at the shrine. It was a beautiful sunny day with fresh mountain air, the gentlest of breezes, and a comfortable temperature.

  “Great day for a firefight,” Karen sarcastically said.

  “Nothing’s going to happen,” Ayako said in a flat tone.

  Their spirits improved bit by bit as they hiked. They kept pace with a younger couple ahead of them, passed an elderly couple, and met a couple of trail runners coming back down from the peak. There were some quick greetings; they passed some minor monuments, the large oak with the rope sash around it, and they made the peak in less than half an hour. The view up here was a great vista down to the sea in the west, with low hills covered in citrus orchards in between. High peaks with thick pine forests were to the east and south. To the north, parts of Odewara town were in the distance where the forest thinned out. Mount Kumotawa was an outlier to a thickly forested and wild north-south mountain range east of it.

  The girls chose a picnic table to sit at on the flagstone terrace at the top.

  “Did you have time to get any food?” Ayako asked Chiyo.

  “Just a couple of yokan and some water.”

  “I had an energy bar on my way up. I can split my sandwich, “ Ayako offered. “Those red bean jelly bars aren’t going to be enough.”

  Sarah had just laid out her supplies from the konbini and sighed wistfully at the sacrifice she would make. “You can have an onigiri and some of my chips and chocolate, too.”

  Karen joined in. “I packed a bento. You can have some of that.”

  “It’s really nice of you all,” Chiyo said earnestly. “I’m sorry to be such a burden. I wanted to make sure Ayako was safe.”

  Karen said, “We’re all friends. Don’t apologize.” She looked around the table, and Ayako and Sarah both said, “Friends help each other.”

  “That’s right,” Ayako added, “let’s eat. I am a little hungry from all that walking.”

  The four enjoyed their food and talked a little about everything. The warmth of the sun and being well-fed relaxed them all. They even teased Karen about a boy in class 4 who had asked her out and talked about the last episode of Ninja Force 5, an action drama they all watched.

  Soon enough, it was time to hit the trail, and they started back down the mountain. It hadn’t been more than ten minutes when they heard a man scream some distance away. A woman’s scream came a moment later, followed by a frantic shout for help. The cries had come from off-trail in the forest. The girls unslung their rifles and chambered rounds.

  Ayako managed to coolly issue orders to her friends, and she was glad about Yuriko’s mentoring of her leadership skills. “Karen. Sarah. Right flank, five-metre spread. Sarah, call 119. Let them know where we are and what happened. Chiyo left flank with me. Everyone keep scanning around.”

  “Roger,” the girls replied. The girls spread out into a rough line and began walking through the trees with their rifles ready, their GGA drills kicking in. Sarah dialled the emergency number on her cellphone and gave the operator GPS coordinates before hanging up.

  “Stay calm,” Ayako called out, “Remember your drills and check your targets.” Inside, her heart raced, but she tried to keep calm. The other girls probably feel the same way, she thought.

  A thrashing noise came out of the brush ahead of them, and a middle-aged woman in a red jacket burst out. Rifles partially came up, but no one fired, to Ayako’s relief. The woman had a panicked look on her face and yelled out when she saw the girls. “Help me! It's right behind me!”

  She was out of breath and slowed as she neared Ayako. “You need to kill it! It attacked my husband, then came after me.”

  More thrashing sounds came from where the woman emerged.

  “Don’t fire until I say so,” Ayako ordered. She moved clear of the woman and sighted down her rifle. She wondered if it was a bear.

  The brush shook violently. A large, bulbous bug head emerged. It had several sets of sharp mandibles in front of insectoid eyes. The insect’s centipede-like body reared up several metres to get a good look at all of the girls. It resembled a giant mukade taller than two men and five metres long. The red and yellow spotted head and its segmented black chitin with dozens of spindly legs were a horror. It gave a chittering cry, and its mandibles clicked together with sharp cracking sounds.

  The girls stood firm, staring at the beast with wide eyes. Ayako snapped out of her surprise first. “Fire!” she shouted.

  Four rifles went off almost simultaneously in a loud crackling roar. Rapid rifle fire followed as each girl put out bullets as fast as they could pull the triggers on their weapons.

  The initial volley hit on target. Bullets seemed to glance off of its shiny black chitin with sparks, but bright green ichor sprouted out of at least one hit. The beast gave off a loud squeal of pain as more bullets struck it. Again, some of the rounds glanced off, but others punched through its iron-like armour. The mukade thrashed around, both wounded and angry. It lowered its sinuous body back down to the ground and came straight at Ayako.

  Ayako realized the bullets were not stopping it. The creature was like the invincible demon centipede the samurai had fought in The Tale of Tawara Toda. This is bad, was her next thought when she saw it coming for her.

  “Aim for the head,” she cried out, knowing it would be much harder to hit.

  It moved faster than a man could run. Its long body was low to the ground as it swayed a bit from side to side, its dozens of legs propelling it forward in a speedy and automatic rhythm.

  Time seemed to slow for Ayako as the mukade closed the distance. Her vision focused on the giant mandibles and the venom glistening on pointy injection fangs. She barely heard the other girls shouting and shooting as she concentrated on her shooting. Gun blasts sounded loudly next to her. Bullets drew more green blood. The creature’s head filled her vision as she fired shot after shot into it. One of the bulbous eyes burst in a gush of fluid, and a chunk of its carapace was shattered off, but it still came for her. I’m going to die, she briefly thought but stood firm.

  It was three metres away from her when another chunk of its head blew off in a gush of fluid. The mukade plowed into the earth and stopped its advance. Its body still quivered, and its legs jerked around randomly, but it seemed to be dead.

  Ayako put another shot into it as her rifle clicked dry. Several shots sounded off right next to her. She exhaled heavily and took a deep breath. Turning her head, she saw Chiyo standing at her side. Her friend had stood right by her to the end to make sure she was safe.

  “Thank you, Chiyo,” she told her friend.

  Chiyo had tears in the corner of her eyes as she hugged her best friend tightly. “I told you the premonition was different,” she gently scolded.

  “I’m okay. Thanks to you. We’re all okay now.” She hugged her back. Her body trembled a bit from the adrenaline and excitement she had just experienced, but her friend’s hug was reassuring. “I really need to be more cautious when you warn me.”

  “That was a close one,” Karen called out as she and Sarah approached. “Good shooting at the end, though.”

  “Too close,” Ayako replied. Her belated notice of Chiyo joining her made her recall Yuriko’s warning about tunnel vision. Slightly chastened, she resolved to do better while reloading her rifle.

  The mukade had stopped moving, looking very dead. All of the girls stayed a safe distance away, not daring to approach.

  Karen snapped some cell phone pictures of it. “What the hell is this thing? Jurassic centipede?”

  “It’s pretty gross, is what it is.” Sarah’s face wrinkled in disgust.

  The woman came up and started calling for her husband. She ran back the way she came, and the girls followed her. They quickly found her husband lying across a log, looking deathly pale. A bit of foam was in the corners of his mouth, his eyes were dilated, and his breathing was shallow. Two deep puncture wounds across his chest were bleeding all over his clothes.

  “It looks like he’s been poisoned,” Ayako said while suppressing a shudder, realizing it might have been her, too. She was still pumped full of adrenaline.

  “Can you help him,” the woman asked.

  “I don’t know if the insect anti-venom we carry will help,” Ayako replied. “It’s like no bug I’ve ever seen. What do you think, Chiyo? You’re the medic.”

  Chiyo thought for a moment. “I think we’re losing him. We should try,” she said firmly. He might have a reaction, but doing nothing is worse.” She opened the medical kit in her web gear and pulled out an autoinjector. She pushed it against his arm and gave him the full dose.

  They would have to wait to see if it would help. They called 119 again for an ambulance that would come up the mountain road and reported the giant mukade.

  Sarah and Karen went back to the trail to meet the paramedics as guides.

  To their relief, the man’s condition seemed to stabilize, with deeper breathing, but he was out cold.

  Ayako’s cell phone rang. She pulled out her phone to see Yuriko’s name on the display.

  “Hello?” she said into the phone.

  “Are you and the girls okay?” Yuriko worriedly asked.

  “We’re all good,” Ayako answered. “I’m much calmer now. Your training helped.”

  Yuriko sounded relieved. “I’m glad.”

  Ayako had a sudden realization. “How did you know we were fighting?”

  There was a pause on the line before Yuriko spoke again. “Listen carefully. I’m informed about the 119 calls on the mountain. That mukade is not of this world. Don’t tell anyone about it. I’m coming up to brief all of you.”

  “What? Why?” Ayako was puzzled.

  “There are secrets about this mountain. Chiyo will eventually learn about this from her family. But you all need to know more now. Everything is going to be okay, though, so don’t worry.”

  “I won’t.” Ayako realized she really trusted Yuriko since she felt more curiosity than anxiety about what she had been through.