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cried.
    The figure executed a perfect spinning high kick to the first thug’s face, sending him reeling. The second thug tried to grab hold but their rescuer used his momentum to bounce the
man’s head off the wall.
    The bodyguard scrambled to his feet, blood streaming from a broken nose, and stumbled away down the alley.
    Josh was stunned. This was a superhero. A real life, seriously for serious superhero had just rescued him ! The person turned, hands on hips.
    “Well? Nigero! ” came the command.
    “Okay, we’re going!” Jessica said. She grabbed Josh’s hand and tried to pull him away. He dug his heels into the concrete – there was no way he was going to be
yanked away before he found out who their superhero really was. “Come on , Josh, don’t upset the dangerous ninja,” Jessica said through her teeth.
    No way , Josh thought. The hero’s hood was coming loose from its top. If he could just reach it...
    As Jessica dragged him past, he wrenched his wrist free, reached up and pulled the black fabric hood. It slid off, smooth as silk.
    Underneath there was a flash of grey hair, pale skin, serious brown eyes...wrinkles...thin lips pursed in an expression of annoyance. Josh’s hero shot out a hand, quicker than the eye
could follow and grabbed him by the wrist.
    “Josh Murata, you return that to me this instant!” said Granny Murata.

 

    Josh dropped the hood. Granny scooped it up, brushing the dirt off. She sighed at Josh and Jessica, then her hands shot out and cuffed them both around the head.
    “Foolish, foolish children!” she said. “You wander off alone; you follow a suspicious man three times the size of both of you put together; you do this—” She
brandished the mask. “Worst of all, you compromise my mission!”
    “Your...” Josh croaked.
    “Your mission ?” Jessica asked.
    Granny Murata sighed. “You think I do this for my health?” she said. She glanced around, checking for eavesdroppers. “We can’t talk about it here.” She unzipped her
black jacket, took it off and turned it inside out. Josh was amazed to see that the lining was made of light blue silk with a pattern of white flowers. She shrugged the jacket back on, and suddenly
she was no longer a secret ninja – she was just an elderly lady, dressed in a modern blue silk jacket over a black vest and black trousers. “Right. Home.”
    When they got back to the apartment Granny led them straight to Josh’s room. He was a bit embarrassed that he’d left books scattered over the floor. Granny stepped neatly over them
and approached the bookshelf. If she was surprised to see that he’d already found the secret safe, she didn’t show it.
    “Move these, please, and stand back,” she said, gesturing to the books. Josh and Jessica scrambled to pick up the books. Granny Murata reached over the shelf and tapped out a code on the keypad. Josh saw the red light go out and the green
light flicker on, and then there was an enormous clang and the whole bookshelf started to swing outwards. Josh and Jessica watched as the secret door revealed an elevator with shiny silver
panelling and a set of gleaming multicoloured buttons.
    Granny entered the elevator and stood there, eyebrow raised and arms crossed.
    “Come along, then,” she ordered. Josh hurried in and Jessica followed, hastily dumping the books. The bookcase door swung back and the elevator started to descend.
    An illuminated map of the building was etched into a glass panel on one wall. As Josh watched, a floating blue light travelled down the map from Granny’s third floor apartment. One floor,
two, three...they were beside the lobby now but the elevator kept on falling, down below the basement and the car park level. The light kept moving too, into the unknown blank space under the
Sakura Apartments where there was nothing marked on the glass.
    “This is amazing, obaasan ,” said Jessica. “Where does it go?”
    “You’ll see,” Granny said. Josh saw her