SORA'S POV

After planning and preparing, my sister and I are now in Kyoto exploring various temples and shrines and visiting the marketplace. We got to one of the shrines and Mai took a picture of Bearsace with the temple in the background with a smile on her face.

"You love that bear don't you?"

"Of course, it's one of my first designs," Mai spoke with a smile on her face.

Mai got the leaflet she bought at the shop from earlier which was 'A Traveller's Guide to Japan's Hottest Warlords.' We read through the warlords' background info and what they did for a living before they died including the Devil King Oda Nobunaga.

"Hey, check out Masamune, they did a lot of historical dramas about him."

"I know, there's been some info about him being great at cooking and he was one hell of a fighter."

Mai giggled a little and then she said to me.

"If he was still alive, you two would have a lot in common."

"I seriously doubt it, I haven't got time for that romance nonsense."

"Hehehe, there's that Lonewolf attitude again~" Mai spoke in a teasing tone.

I shook my head at her and then we continued our little exploration in Kyoto. We got to a famous temple which was Honno-Ji. I stared at the stone monument where Nobunaga died and I ran my fingers over the stone monument.

"Hmpf, no matter how many times I see stone monuments like this, it always brings back memories about the army days..."

Mai sighed a little and then she said to me.

"Whatever happened to 'not feeling depressed during our holiday?'"

"Gomen, you know what I'm like," I spoke with a smile on my face.

I stood up from the ground and I stared at the temple. 

"Oda Nobunaga killed himself at this very temple, I also learnt from history that this place was engulfed in flames at the time of his death."

"As I said, you're such a history nerd when it comes to these things."

I giggled a little and then I saw a man wearing a lab coat and his eyes were fixated on the monument. Mai looked at me and she asked me.

"Who is that?"

"I don't know but, I wonder why he's staring at the stone monument like that," Sora asked as we watched the man in the lab coat.

At that moment, I felt a drop of rain landing on the bridge of my nose. Mai and I looked up and then dark grey clouds appeared and it got heavier with the rain. 

"Oh come on! seriously?!" I yelled angrily.

Mai got her umbrella and she held over our heads.

"I thought the weather report was gonna be clear skies all day and night for the rest of the week!"

"Ugh, you can't always trust the weather reports these days," I told Mai with an annoyed frown on my face.

Mai looked at the man and she asked him.

"Excuse me, do you have an umbrella?"

"No, it's back at my hotel."

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning appeared in front of us and then it shattered the stone monument. Mai hugged me in fear and I shouted.

"OK, that did not look like your natural lightning at all!"

"Sora, let's get out of here."

"Sounds good to me."

The man looked at his watch and he seemed a bit shocked.

"The wormhole..." He mumbled before looking back at us.

"Ladies, be careful-"

"Huh?"

The young man offered his hand to us but, it appeared to bend and warp into the darkness, eventually disappearing. I shut my eyes tightly as the dizziness got worse while feeling Mai holding onto me tightly in fear. Once the dizziness disappeared, I opened my eyes only to feel a small headache.

"Ugh, my head is pounding..." I mumbled as I rubbed my head after sitting up.

I looked at Mai and I crawled over to her before turning her onto her back to see if she was all right.

"Mai! wake up, Mai!" I shouted as I patted her cheeks.

Mai regained consciousness and she blinked a few times before I helped her sit up on the floor.

"Oh, what happened? wait, where are we? weren't we just outside and where did that guy in the lab coat go?"

"I don't know, by the time I came too, he's nowhere to be seen."

Suddenly, the smell of burning came to me and that was when I realised the temple was on fire. I quickly covered my mouth and Mai's. Mai looked at me surprised and I said to her.

"Mai! keep your mouth and nose covered! this place is on fire!"

Mai nodded her head and she did what I told her to do. Right when we were about to make our escape from the flames, we saw a man wearing samurai armour asleep on the floor. I spotted another man among the flames and it looked like he held a sword in his hand.

'A sword?! this bad!'

Sparks of the flaming paper walls illuminated the sharp edge of the raised metal blade. I rushed over to the sleeping man and I shook him a little to wake him up and I patted his cheeks a few times to wake him up.

"Oy! oy! wake up!!" I yelled and then he woke up.

The man stared at us and he asked us.

"Who are you?"

"No time for introductions! come on get up!!"

I dragged the man onto his feet and then we made our escape from the burning temple. Eventually, we made it outside and then Mai panted in exhaustion and she coughed a little from inhaling too much smoke. I placed my hand on her back and I asked her.

"Mai, are you all right?"

"I...I think so...what about you?"

"I'm fine, I've been through worse remember?"

Mai nodded her head and then we heard the man in the armour spoke up.

"Someone tried to do away with me while I slept? Audacious, but foolish. Killing my guards and getting that close to me is another matter."

Mai and I looked at each other with confused looks on our faces when he spoke...oddly. The man looked at us and he said to us.

"You two are probably some girls the monks snuck in for amusement but, I owe you thanks."

"Really? we must have missed all the amused monks in the massive fire we just escaped, we don't even know how we got in there."

I looked back at the man and I can tell he was supposed to be someone important and his eyes were proud and brutal.

"What are you staring at? Surely you two know who I am."

"No, we don't unfortunately."

Mai waved at the man before hiding behind my back. 

"You two saved me without knowing who I am? Not expecting reward or favour? So be it. I shall tell you my name. I am the man who will rule all under the sun, I am the Lord of Azuchi Castle and Daimyo of Owari, Oda Nobunaga."

"...ODA NOBUNAGA?!!" Mai and I shouted in unison.

"Why are you two shocked to hear that name?" Nobunaga asked us with a sweatdrop.

"Uh...can you excuse us for a minute?" I said as Mai and I got away from Nobunaga to talk in private.

"What the hell is going on? I thought Nobunaga is supposed to be dead," I said to Mai who was also confused too.

"I know, it's weird but, wait a second, what's the name of that temple we escaped from?" Mai asked me as we looked at the sign.

We were shocked to see the sign saying 'Honno-Ji- on it. Mai and I looked at each other shocked and then I glanced Nobunaga.

"There's only one way to find out for sure if we did go back in time," I looked back at Nobunaga and I asked him. "Um, Nobunaga-sama, this is might be a stupid question but, what year is this?"

I asked while pinching my arm.

"1582, why are you pinching yourself?"

"Uh, no reason..." Mai mumbled and then Nobunaga smirked at us.

"Why are you two so shocked? I've given my name, it's your turn."

"Fair enough, my name is Mizusaki Sora and this is my little sister, Mai."

"Nice to meet you..." Mai spoke with nervousness.

"Nobunaga-sama!" We heard someone calling for Nobunaga.

We spotted a large group coming towards us and then the leader of the large group approach Nobunaga.

"Mitsunari? Why are you here? where is Hideyoshi?"

"Hideyoshi-sama sent me ahead. He should be here shortly."

The man called Mitsunari took in the sight of the burning temple with a frown.

"We received information about an assassination attempt. It appears to have been true. I had my men search the grounds, but, whoever it was had already fled."

I got in front of Mai protectively after Mitsunari looked at us.

"I may ask, who are those two ladies? I saw the three of you leave the temple together."

Nobunaga looked at us and he told us.

"Sora, Mai, present yourselves to my subordinate."

"Excuse me? since when did my sister and I became one of your subordinates? We don't have to follow your orders," I spoke with a frown.

MAI'S POV

'Wow, I never thought I'd see Sora, an ex-soldier, would say no to an important leader like Oda Nobunaga.'

I thought to myself as I looked at Sora's glare.

"You have a nerve talking back to me like that," Nobunaga spoke with a frown but, Sora didn't back down.

Mitsunari, who had been silent the entire time, finally spoke up.

"Please, this is on me. It was rude of me not to introduce myself first. My name is Mitsunari Ishida. I serve at the side of Lord Hideyoshi, Lord Nobunaga's right-hand man."

"Nice to meet you," I spoke with a small smile on my face. 

'Mitsunari seems kind, which is a nice change of pace and his name seems familiar too.'

Nobunaga looked back at Mitsunari and he asked him.

"I don't know who they are, but, they woke me up and saw me to safety."

"They did?! I can't thank you enough for protecting our Lord's life."

I smiled at Mitsunari and I said to him.

"Oh no thanks are necessary, I just did it without thinking."

"But, what brought you two here tonight? You don't appear to be nuns and your outfits are unusual. Are you from abroad?"

"No, we are not, my sister and I are from a different timeline compared to yours."

"Huh?"

Mitsunari and Nobunaga looked at us with confused looks while Sora shook her head at me.

"Oh, brother..."

"You poor girls, the smoke from the fire was very disorienting, I'm sure," Mitsunari told us.

"More and more interesting."

Nobunaga said to us before laughing. Sora looked at me with a frown and I asked her.

"What? I had to tell them."

"Are you seriously that daft, Mai? what the bloody hell were you thinking? even I knew they weren't gonna believe us."

"As I said, I had to tell them! what would you have done?"

"I would have kept my mouth shut and keep quiet about the whole time travelling business, now those two are gonna think we're insane!"

"No, they won't, you're just being paranoid."

"And you're being a complete idiot right now."

"What did you call me, stupid Sora?!"

"You heard me, brat!"

3RD PERSON POV

While the Mizusaki sisters continued to bicker, Nobunaga and Mitsunari watched them with dumbfounded looks on their faces as they listened to their bickering.

"They're sisters all right but..."

"They're bickering sounds childish and do they even realise we're still here?" Nobunaga questioned his subordinate until he shouted at them.

"Enough!!"

Sora and Mai stopped arguing when they heard Nobunaga shouting at them.

"This not the time nor the place to be fighting, Mitsunari, set up camp and then give those two a change of clothes."

"Yes, Nobunaga-sama."

Mai and Sora looked at each other before looking at their clothes. Their clothes were covered in sot after escaping from the fire. Sora checked the scarf that was tied around her waist to make sure it wasn't damaged and luckily it was still in one piece.

MAI'S POV

We got to the camp that was now set up and then Mitsunari gave me a change of clothes.

"Here you go, please change into one of these tents."

"Arigato, Sora you coming?"

Sora didn't hear me as she stood there staring at the night sky. I glanced at her clenched fists and I realised that she was having another flashback about her army days.

"Is she all right?"

"She'll be fine, leave her be for a while," I told Mitsunari for getting changed.

SORA'S POV

While Mai got changed, I looked around at my surroundings and then I had another flashback about my training days in the army.

FLASHBACK...

I stood in line with the rest of the soldiers and our general was asking our names and we responded immediately.

"What's your name, recruit?!"

"Mizusaki Sora, sir!" I shouted back.

"And what about you?!" The general shouted at the girl standing next to me.

"Fujisaki Maria sir!" Maria shouted in a nervous tone.

The general walked away from us and he then said to us. 

"Listen up soldiers! you lived your daily lives but, starting from today! those daily lives will change forever! as soldiers all of you will be put to the test to see whether or not you're worthy of becoming soldiers! that means training hard and determined mind, do you understand me?!"

"Sir, yes sir!!" We all shouted.

"Excellent, now start doing 20 laps around the course and don't even think about stopping until you've all done them! now go!"

We started running the laps. After a while, I was tired but, I managed to keep going but, Maria was struggling. She stopped for a moment until our instructor shouted at her.

"Move it, Fujisaki!!"

"Give me...a second...here..."

I ran over to her while jogging a little to keep my running rhythm and I grabbed her arm and said to her.

"Don't give up now, come on!"

After giving her that little encouragement we were all tired from running. Maria panted heavily like Darth Vader and I offered her a drink of my water.

"Here you go."

Maria took the canister from me and she started to gulp it down.

"Arigato...I needed that."

"You certainly did Darth Vader," I joked with her.

"Hehe, thanks again for the help back there, you really are different compared to the others here. What are you a machine?"

"Nope, I practically spent my spare time in the gym and I'm also an expert at free-running too so, this is no big deal."

"I see, I'm Maria and you are?"

"I'm Sora."

FLASHBACK ENDS...

"Sora?" Mai called out to me.

I snapped out of my thoughts and then Mai asked me, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, I just...had a flashback for a moment..."

"I guess being in the Sengoku era has started to trigger some of the memories for you."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine," I told her before looking at Mai's kimono.

"That colour suits you."

"Arigato, how come you're not wearing one?"

"Becuase, A: I hate long skirts and B: I can't be bothered changing."

"You're such a tomboy."

"I don't care and besides, I hate wearing kimonos and yukatas as everyday wear, they're impossible to move about in."

Mai giggled a little and then we heard someone call out to Nobunaga.

"My Lord I see you are well."

"Mitsuhide?"

"I hurried here when I heard about the attack, but it seems there was nothing for me to worry about."

"You, worry? Don't make me laugh. I've never even seen you sweat."

Mai leaned over and she whispered to me.

"Isn't that Akechi Mitsuhide?"

"It is, according to the history books, he betrayed Nobunaga and started this whole incident, but..." I took another look at Mitsuhide and then Mai asked me.

"But what? Sora, what's the matter?"

"If Mitsuhide tried to assassinate Nobunaga then I would have been able to smell the remains of smoke from him and his clothes would have been covered in sot from the fire as well, however, I don't see or smell any of those things from him and that mysterious figure we spotted in the flames, I can definitely tell that guy wasn't him."

"What are you saying? are you saying someone else is trying to come after Nobunaga's head and Mitushide is innocent?"

"For the time being? yes, I don't trust on that smile on his face, men like him are always trying to hide something even if their Poker face is very strong."

"Nobunaga-sama!!"

"AHH!!" Mai and I jumped in fright when a loud voice suddenly shouted out of nowhere.

 "Are you injured?" Another familiar figure camp into the camp

"Hideyoshi, the only injury I suffered is to my pride in letting my assailant escape."

"I see."

I looked at the familiar figure and I knew who he was.

"That's Toyotomi Hideyoshi, isn't it?" Mai asked out loud.

"Shh!! be quiet you idiot!" I shouted at her after covering her mouth.

Hideyoshi looked over at us and he asked us.

"Aren't we outspoken? have we met?"

I uncovered Mai's mouth and I stood in front of her protectively and I said to Hideyoshi.

"No, we haven't, we just heard your name somewhere before," I spoke with an emotionless look on my face.

"Nice save, Sora," Mai whispered to me.

"Oh yeah? where did you hear about me?" Hideyoshi asked me in a demanding tone.

"Does it even really matter where and when we heard about you? you're particularly well known throughout Japan, anyone pretty knows you're the Devil's pet monkey."

"Pet Monkey?!" Hideyoshi yelled angrily.

"Pfft!! *chuckles* pet monkey, good one," Mitsuhide spoke while holding back his laughs.

"You be quiet Mitsuhide!" Hideyoshi yelled while glaring at Mitsuhide. "

Nobunaga smirked at us before telling Hideyoshi and Mitsuhide.

"Aside from the woman's joke, their names are Sora and Mai. Oh yes, and they saved my life."

Mitushide looked at us and then he said to us.

"You two saved Nobunaga's life...?" Mitsuhide looked between me and my sister before continuing.

"And you're such a slender thing but, your courage makes up for it, however, the feisty one, on the other hand, looks strong and she's got quite the mouth on her too."

A tick mark appeared on my head when he said this and my eye twitched in annoyance.

"I'll...take that as a compliment..."

Mai laughed nervously when she saw the look on my face. Hideyoshi then glared at Mitsuhide before speaking up.

"Mitsuhide, what are you doing here?"

"I was wondering the same thing. I didn't know you were in Kyoto. What about the campaign?"

"When I heard about the threat to Nobunaga-sama's life, I dropped everything to come here, but, I never heard anything about you being in Kyoto.

"Are you implying something?"

"Can you swear before our lord you weren't plotting anything?"

Mitsuhide didn't answer him. The two locked eyes, tension filling the space between them.

'Looks like Hideyoshi is already suspicious that Mitsuhide is responsible for the attack."

I thought to myself as a cold sweat ran down the side of my head as the tension got worse between the two of them. Mituhide smiled at Hideyoshi and he said to him.

"All men have secrets in these chaotic times. Are you saying you act with no ambition of your own?"

"Stop being evasive. Confess."

Hideyoshi's eyes flared. He gripped his sword, ready to draw.

"If I find out you played any part in this attack on our Lord, Mitsuhide, I'll show you no mercy."

"Sora, do something!" Mai shouted at me.

"All right chill out..." I said to her before yelling at Mitushide and Hideyoshi. "Pack it in the both of you!!" I yelled loudly making the two men look at me.

"Toyotomi, there's no way Mitushide had anything to do with Nobunaga's assassination, the culprit we saw wasn't him, the drape of his clothes is all wrong and he's spotless if he was in the temple he would have been in the same state as me."

I said as I pointed out my clothes which were still covered in sot from the fire. 

Hideyoshi glared at me and he said to me.

"Sora and Mai, was it? you two stay out of this. We'll settle things with you later, and learn why you two schemed to get so close to Nobunaga-sama."

Mai looked at Hideyoshi shocked when I growled angrily.

"What the hell are you trying to say?! are you trying to say we're involved with the assassination?!"

"Sora, please calm down," Mai told me as she gripped onto my arm.

"And if you are, I'll get a confession out of you."

"What are we supposed to confess when we have no idea what the frig is going on here especially since my sister and I came here by pure coincidence!"

"I'll get a confession out of you and your sister one way or another."

"And how are you gonna do that? beat the crap out of me? oh no, wait, I just realised something, you can't hit me, I'm a girl and you're not man enough to lay a finger on me!"

Hideyoshi looked at me shocked while the others shout 'ooh' and Mitushide chuckled at him.

"Watch out, Hideyoshi, this woman has got a nasty bite."

"I'll say," Nobunaga said with a smirk.

Sora giggled quietly and she said to me.

"Talk about fighting back with words, nice one, Sora."

"Thank you."

Hideyoshi glared at me and he said to me.

"Why you-"

"Enough, Hideyoshi. Regardless of what brings Mitsuhide here, I am alive and well. "

"My apologies my Lord."

Hideyoshi immediately let go of his sword, his hand relaxing somewhat. Nobunaga stood up from his seat and he then said to them.

"Hideyoshi, Mitsuhide, leave us. I have something to discuss with Mai and Sora."

"With us?"

Mai asked as Hideyoshi and Mitsuhide stepped aside as Nobunaga approached us.

"Your bold lies about coming from the future aside, you two saved my life. I'm intrigued by you. You're women who carries fortune's favour, of that I'm certain."

"Fortune's favour? tch, I don't believe in that crap, as I said to Hideyoshi, it was pure coincidence that we were there and we just saved your life, big deal," I spoke with a frown.

"She's right you know- kya!"

My eyes widened in shock when Nobunaga slipped one arm around Mai's waist, drawing her possessively toward him.

"How would you like to rule the world at my side?"

"......Huh?"