CHAPTER FIVE

ANDY

ANDY HAD TO admit, takoyaki was delicious. He ate six of them, then gave in to Mika’s pleading puppy-dog eyes and let her finish off his last two. After looking around for a trash can with no luck, they stuffed their paper trays, chopsticks, and napkins in Mika’s backpack.

“I don’t see any litter,” Mika said as Andy opened OlympiFan. “There’s got to be trash cans somewhere, or the streets wouldn’t be so clean!”

Andy was already walking, eyes glued to his phone. “I’m sure we’ll find one eventually. Come on, we only have half an hour to circle the block!”

Playing in AR was cooler than Andy had expected—even better than VR mode, since they were actually in the city. Through his screen, Andy saw the street ahead of him bustling with people—spotting the little animations was difficult thanks to the crowd. There were the footprints at the bottom of the screen (that still hadn’t changed from blue to yellow). But when he focused on a particular spot, one of those “fun fact” bubbles would pop up, containing a piece of trivia. Andy kept swiveling his phone this way and that to read them, and he made a mental note to show Dad this feature.

Did you know Shinjuku has the busiest train station in the world?

This bakery is famous for its tasty cream puffs.

Kaiju alert—heads up for Godzilla!

Andy stopped, staring at that last animation. Then he tilted his head back and let out a surprised laugh. “Mika, look!”

His sister followed his gaze. “What? I don’t—oh!”

Just around the corner, the massive head of Godzilla loomed over the roof of a hotel. Its mouth was open, sharp teeth exposed as it glared down at the street below.

“That is awesome,” Mika said fervently. “Hang on, I’ve gotta take a picture . . .”

Andy waited as Mika snapped a few photos. He lifted his phone and framed Godzilla in the screen to see if OlympiFan had anything else to say about the monster—then his eyes went to the bottom of the screen.

His footprints were yellow.

“We’re close to a clue!” Andy yelped, and Mika swiveled around to look at him.

“What? Really?”

“Yeah, come on!” He took off down the sidewalk, dodging pedestrians and keeping his eyes on the footprints. The closer he got to the hotel with the Godzilla, the more vivid the yellow footprints became. The moment he reached the entrance, the footprints began to change colors.

“They’re turning pink!” Mika cried, and Andy saw she had her app open, too. The siblings dashed into the lobby, sweeping their phones around frantically to try to spot the clue. Andy forced himself to slow down, taking in the polished wood floors, the stylish sitting areas with elegant bookshelves, the concierge desk, and the statue of Godzilla lumbering past a few knee-high skyscrapers.

“Look! I bet it’s over there.” Andy hurried over to the roped-off statue. He stopped in front of it and framed Godzilla in his screen. His heart leapt when he saw a tiny animated note fluttering over the monster’s head. Andy tapped it, and the note zoomed toward him, opening to reveal a dark green square. A second later, Team MADR’s clue collection page opened, and the square joined the others. Andy watched, pleased, as the colors shuffled around again.

“Yesss!” Mika cheered. “Can I take your picture in front of Godzilla? We should document our first clue in Tokyo!”

Andy obliged, kneeling down and pretending to cower at Godzilla’s feet while Mika giggled and snapped the shot.

After leaving the hotel, Andy and Mika headed around the block, circling back to the restaurant where they were meeting Dad. This street had even bigger ads and banners looming overhead. Most of these were digital, Andy noticed, which looked really cool but made it even harder to spot the animations when they popped up on his screen. Something new caught his eye: a tiny question mark, moving down the street toward him. As it passed, Andy tapped on it, and a message appeared.

Player: TilerMyths

Clues collected: 172

Team: Cryptic (2)

Total clues collected: 178

Current ranking: 8

You must friend this player to see their profile. Send friend request?

YES      NO

Andy stopped walking. “Mika, look at this,” he said, showing her his screen. “This guy’s team only has two players, but somehow they’ve found a hundred and seventy-eight clues!”

“Hmm, wow.” Mika sounded distracted.

“TilerMyths . . . I’ve seen that name before. I think this guy plays S-Cape, too! He’s collected most of the clues by himself, his teammate must not . . .”

Andy stopped, because Mika was gazing up at the digital billboard directly across the street. He looked to see a giant image of a family watching the opening ceremony on television, just like the Kudos had done the night before. Two women sat on a couch, one with a gap-toothed toddler on her lap. A boy a few years younger than Andy sat cross-legged on the floor at their feet, waving a Canadian flag. All four of them looked completely riveted by the ceremony. It was a pretty cool shot, Andy had to admit—whoever took it had managed to show the television in the mirror hanging behind the couch without capturing their own reflection. The Enspire logo appeared over the image, followed by an Instagram handle and #TeamWorld.

When the ad vanished, replaced by an image of a Paralympic swimmer with blond hair, Mika finally tore her gaze away from the billboard. She caught Andy watching her and blushed.

“What?”

Andy raised an eyebrow. “Are you okay? You looked like you were in a trance or something.”

“No, I just . . . that Enspire contest is really cool, that’s all.”

“What contest?”

Mika looked flustered. “You know, we saw a commercial for it during the opening ceremony. They’re doing this Instagram campaign where people post photos that ‘capture the spirit of unity during the Olympic Games,’” she explained, wiggling her fingers like air quotes. “You just add #TeamWorld to enter the contest, and if they like your picture, they include it in their ads.” Mika gestured to the billboard again. “I mean, whoever posted that just had their picture on a giant billboard in the middle of Tokyo! Isn’t that so cool?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Andy started walking again, and Mika kept up next to him. He couldn’t help but notice that his sister sounded weirdly nervous. Why did she care so much about some sportswear company’s commercials? He was about to say something more, but then yellow footprints caught his eye. “Oh hey, we’re close to another clue!”

Mika seemed relieved for the change of subject. The siblings turned back onto the street where they’d started, but on the opposite end from the takoyaki shop. The footprints began to glow brighter as they passed several small manga shops, all with flashy neon signs and cardboard cutouts of anime characters in the front windows. There was a commotion up ahead, and pedestrians started moving out of the way. Andy and Mika stepped up onto the curb as the same rowdy group of teens that had almost run them over outside of the hotel came charging down the street.

“Hi, Sabine!” Mika yelled, waving both hands over her head. Sabine spotted them and waved as she and her friends flew by.

Quickly, Andy opened the rankings page and scrolled up until he found Team SuperFan. “They’re in third place,” he told Mika. “Two hundred and fifty clues.”

His stomach flipped over as he said it. Team MADR had some work to do if they were going to find the Bronze medal first.

Mika frowned thoughtfully. “You know, it’s weird that they’re all sticking together. They’d find a lot more clues if they split up, like us—you and me in one location, Devon and Riley in another.”

“Maybe they’re not allowed to split up,” Andy pointed out. “Sabine said it’s a school assignment for them, involving teamwork.”

Before Mika could respond, a tall man with blond hair and a matching beard jogged past, trying to catch up with Team SuperFan. A giant video camera was perched on his shoulder, and his T-shirt read DRISCOLL PRODUCTIONS.

“Hey there! Are y’all playing OlympiFan?” he called after the teens in a Southern accent. The group was whooping too loudly to hear him, and a moment later, they’d disappeared around the corner. “Ah well.” Sighing, the man turned and spotted Andy and Mika, both with their phones in their hands. “Hi! You wouldn’t happen to be OlympiFan players, would you?”

“Yes,” Andy began, then remembered the rules: no talking to strangers, even if they seemed perfectly nice. “Sorry, we’ve got to go. Bye!”

The man said something else, but Andy and Mika were already hurrying down the street. Andy watched the footprints on his phone glow pink as they neared the manga shop Team SuperFan had just left. Mika had a good point: with Devon and Riley playing in VR mode in another location, Team MADR could catch up to Team SuperFan.

Besides, Andy might not need every single clue to solve the first puzzle. He just had to figure out what those squares of color meant. A fresh wave of determination filled him as he and Mika entered the shop. Being a beta tester for the Masked Medalist’s new gaming company was on the line—and Andy was going to make sure Team MADR was victorious.

TEAM ALLEYOOP CHAT ROOM

Beeyanca: GODZILLAAAAAAAA

Feebee: you’re so easily distracted! LOOK FOR CLUES

Beeyanca: BUT GODZILLA!!!

Shellbee: Lolol

Shellbee: Btw I downloaded Zahir Long’s video from the Gallery

Feebee: The basketball player?

Shellbee: Yup! Aaaand guess whose father owns AimBot??

Feebee: What’s AimBot??

Shellbee: A gaming company! Remember playing Zombiez last summer?? Maaybe Zahir decided to design a similar game with an Olympics theme . . .

Feebee: !!!!!

TEAM GHOSTCADETS CHAT ROOM

CadetRicky: It’s Chiang Li, I’m telling you guys. We don’t even need the hints.

CadetKara: Chiang Li isn’t fluent in English!

CadetRicky: So?

CadetKara: The Masked Medalist’s Instagram posts are always in English!

CadetRicky: Oh.

CadetRicky: Well, maybe he doesn’t write the posts! He could’ve hired someone to run his Instagram!

CadetMadison: I reeeeeally think we need the hints.

TEAM SUPERFAN CHAT ROOM

SabineTheGreat: Great job today, guys! Tomorrow morning: Harajuku. We’ll meet at the Hedgehog Café at 9am sharp!

AgentAngel:

DragonmasterMolly: OMG CAN WE PLAY WITH THE HEDGEHOGS??

SabineTheGreat: Of course!!!

DragonmasterMolly:

IronMatt: See u guys then!

AquaMaria:

CaptainArmando: Yessssss!

SuperZuki: Ok

SuperZuki: We dropped to fifth place btw

SuperZuki: I think we need a better strategy

SuperZuki: Hello?