OOOF! UGH! CRASH!

Azuki, the girl who became a toki, landed flat on her back on the practice mats of her Aunt Noriko's dojo. What had she done wrong? She looked up at her aunt by marriage, gasping for breath, the wind completely knocked out of her.

Noriko shook her head, then turned sharply to fix her nephew, the Sparrow-boy Shota, who snickered under his breath, with a gimlet gaze.

"Your turn next," she said, "And I won't pull my throw. Don't think you'll do ...