"By the way, how are your powers still active? Didn't you take the vaccine already?" Tsurugi asked as they all decorated Fei's room.

Kimiko was beside him, holding on to the bottom part of the banner to keep it stretched out. "Some anomaly thing. They couldn't really figure it out since there was no other vaccinated SSC to compare me to."

"Eh? Then, what about your lifespan?"

"Kariya!"

"It's a genuine question!"

She chuckled slightly. "It's alright, Kirino-san. As for the answer... Can't really give you one."

"Meaning that the chance of you dying within eight years is still at fifty-fifty..." Tsurugi muttered.

"Oh, come on! Let's leave the depressing conversation for some other time!" She pouted. "Let's ignore me, and focus on Fei! He could be here any minute!"

"I hear footsteps!" Midori hissed. "Everyone, get ready!"

"Hurry, take these!" Kinako tossed them all a party popper each.

They surrounded the door and waited. Right as it opened, they popped it open.

"Welcome back!"'

The boy blinked in utter shock. "This is..."

"Midori-san came up with the idea!"

"If we're gonna welcome you back, it might as well be a party!"

"Welcome back, Fei!"

He bowed, showing a small smile. "Thanks... It's okay for me to be here, right?"

"Of course!"

"And don't worry about your past deeds." Kimiko said, walking up to him and patting his back. "We've got a handful of people here who've hurt each other once or twice before."

"Eh―?"

"Well, the easiest example is how my Artemis attacked you all two days in a row. And another is how Kyou spent his first month or two at Raimon beating everyone up."

Said boy facepalmed.

"Believe it or not, Shindou-san also beat Tenma up quite a lot when the poor boy only wanted to join the club."

Said boy choked.

"And finally, there's Zanark."

"What? No explanation for me?"

"You're self-explanatory, but if I really have to, then you all should know he dragged me out at midnight to find the worst hurricane in all of history, and left me to crash into a cliff while still on his bike."

"EHHH?!"

She winked. "So, see? Fei, compared to him, you're an angel."

"T-Thanks...?"

"You're welcome!"

They all turned to each other before letting out full-hearted laughs. They didn't know what was so funny, but it was a nice feeling.

"But Fei," Tsurugi called. "The real fight for you starts now. You're going to be up against your old teammates tomorrow."

"It's okay, I can fight them." He reassured. "I want to save Saru from the prison that he's made for himself in his own heart."

"Using soccer to save people... Let's do it, everyone!" Tenma said. "We'll convey Fei's feelings to Saru!"

"Yeah!"

Suddenly, a certain stone popped out of a certain pouch.

"Attention!" Daisuke the stone floated up above their heads.

"What's up, Daisuke-san?" Shinsuke asked.

"Apart from yourself." Kimiko added.

That earned her a knock on the back of her head.

"Don't tell me you guys haven't realized it? It was a long journey, but our gathering of the strongest eleven in history is now complete!"

"Complete?"

"Power number one, MixiMaxed with Oda Nobunaga, is Shindou Takuto."

"Power number two, MixiMaxed with Jeanne d'Arc, is Kirino Ranmaru."

"Power number three, MixiMaxed with Zhuge Kongming, is Amemiya Taiyou."

"Power number four, MixiMaxed with Liu Xuande, is Nishizono Shinsuke."

"Power number five, MixiMaxed with Sakamoto Ryouma, is Nishiki Ryouma."

"Power number six, MixiMaxed with Okita Souji, is Tsurugi Kyousuke."

"Power number seven, MixiMaxed with a Quetzalcoatl, is Torb."

"Power number eight, MixiMaxed with Big, is Fei Rune."

"Power number nine, MixiMaxed with Master Dragon, is Nanobana Kinako."

"Power number ten, MixiMaxed with King Arthur, is Matsukaze Tenma."

"Power number eleven, MixiMaxed with the great hurricane Clara Jane, is Zanark Avalonic."

"You're right, we have all of them!" Shinsuke exclaimed.

"Wait, wait! Calm down!" Midori rubbed her forehead, wanting to keep a rational head just for a moment longer. She turned to her fellow managers. "We really have all of them, right? We're not missing anyone?"

Immediately, all four of them became nervous. They turned to Shindou, making him step back.

"One!"

Then to Kirino, who blinked.

"Two!"

Taiyou smiled.

"Three!"

Shinsuke was the same as Kirino.

"Four!"

Nishiki smirked.

"Five!"

The four turned to the navy haired boy behind them, Midori's point finger nearly poking his eye.

"Six!"

Torb grinned.

"Seven!"

Fei pointed at himself. "Eight."

And so did Kinako. "Nine."

Tenma smiled proudly. "Ten!"

They turned to a certain boy in black and red standing in the corner of the room. He only smirked.

"Eleven!"

"There's no mistake! It's complete!"

"Alright! Complete!"

"You did it, Tenma!"

"I knew you guys could get it done!"

"I still can't believe two of them worked by name puns while another four weren't even human..."

"Don't ruin the moment, stupid."

As they celebrated, Wondeba called for them to quiet down, needing as far as to tell them all to shut up.

"We've completed gathering all of the strongest eleven in history. I think our next step would be giving this team a name."

"True, we can't keep calling you guys the strongest eleven in history all the time!" Daisuke said.

"I've already come up with a name." Wondeba said. "The name of the strongest eleven in history is...!"

"Crossing through time like a raging storm!" The stone then began glowing, shining over the bear's eyes, stunning him. "Chrono Storm! We'll blow away the darkness within the evil children of Feida! The team name is Chrono Storm!"

"W-What about the name I came up with?!"

But the bear was too late. They had already taken a liking to the one Daisuke made.

"Tomorrow's match will be fought by this team, Chrono Storm!"

"I thought you'd say that."

"But what about Alpha, Rei Rukh, and the others?" Tenma asked.

"They fought in Ragnarok with us too!" Amagi said.

"We asked the chairman as a favor to us." A new voice joined them.

Turning to the door, they found Alpha, Beta, and Gamma standing there. Alpha was the one who spoke.

"Guys!"

"What do you mean 'asked'?"

"The opponent for the final match tomorrow is Feida's strongest team. The only ones who can beat them are you guys."

"Alpha kept saying that so insistently that I just had to give in." Beta giggled.

"Since there's no helping it, I'll let you guys have the opportunity this time." Gamma said.

"Beta... Gamma..." It was a surprise to Shindou most of all, as he was the one who had to deal with the worst of them as their captain just the day before.

"Matsukaze Tenma." Alpha called. "I wish for you to protect our soccer."

"'Our'?"

The purple haired boy smiled.

"Alpha... Okay!" The brunette turned back to his teammates. "Guys, let's win tomorrow's match for Alpha and the others too! And we'll also rescue Coach Endou!"

"Yeah!"

~~~~~

As they headed out to call it a night, they were met with two of their coaches and a certain trainer.

"Kimiko."

She gave her cousin a wry smile. "I take it you heard from Masato-nii?"

"Yeah..." He gave a slow nod, looking down in thought for a moment before facing her. "Listen―"

"It's fine! Don't worry about it!" She cut off with a small chuckle. "Okay, well maybe that's not the right phrase. What I mean is, can we put this off to some other time? Fei just got back and now we have the strongest eleven in history assembled under the coolest team name ever! Chrono Storm! There's so many reasons to be happy tonight! And winning tomorrow's match will only add to that!"

"Kimiko..."

"I don't want to drag the mood down for you all. So let's just keep being happy alright?" She gave a thumbs up. "Eight years isn't much, but it won't blow over that fast. We'll definitely figure something out!"

That finally brought a smile to all three of their faces. Her brother was the one who nodded. "Right."

She was satisfied with that. "Then, I'm getting sleepy, so I'll head to my room first. See you all tomorrow! Good night!"

"Night!"

"She's an amazing kid, Masato." Gouenji said.

"Oh, I know." His cousin laughed. "I'm so glad we took her in."

Kidou had a soft look as the two relatives praised the young girl, but it dropped to a frown when he spotted his team's captain's expression.

He wasn't smiling.

~~~~~

"Kyou?"

"I knew you'd be awake." He sighed as she let out a small chuckle. "Then, can I come in?"

"Yeah, of course."

She moved away from the door and locked it just as he sat on the edge of her bed. She sat on the other side, leaning on the wall.

"So, is there something you want to talk about?"

He gave her a look. "I should be the one asking you that."

She frowned. "I keep telling you, I want to leave it until later."

"So there is something." He shifted his position so that he'd be facing her. "You don't have to keep it to yourself. We're all here..." He trailed off before quietly adding, "I'm here."

She shook her head. "I don't want you guys worrying about me throughout the match..."

"We're friends, Kimiko. Worrying about each other comes with the job." He reached out and gave a light tap on her head. "It's hard to lean on others when you've been alone for so long. I know better than anyone. But there's a reason why the world has so many people in it, you know."

"That's... true..."

"You don't have to try and reach out so far, but you don't have to shoulder the burden yourself either. Rely on us more."

She looked down, as if considering her answer. Suddenly, she tackled him in a hug.

"Kyou... I..."

Getting over his surprise, he let out a small smile and returned it. "Let it out. I'll be here for as long as you need me."

"...It's not fair." She began. "They said it's guaranteed to work on all the other SSC, so why not me? ...Why am I the only different one?" She started shaking. "Kyou, I'm scared... I don't... I don't... want... to die..." Having finally said those words, her mind blanked out in a panic. "I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die!"

He tightened his hold around her. "You won't. We'll definitely find a way."

She buried her eyes on his shoulder,

"Kyousuke..."

And all the tears came flooding out.

~~~~~

"Sounds like he's got her."

"Yeah... That kid's more reliable than anyone when it comes to her."

The two blonde men stood by their youngest relative's door, listening to her muffled sobbing and her friend's words of comfort. They had their observative friend to thank for it, else they would never realize how she was really feeling.

"Hey, Shuuya." Masato suddenly called.

"Hm?"

"You know how I've been going back and forth to the labs since the initial test, right? Well, right now, they're all looking for a way to help her."

"And?"

"...I'm going to need your help."

That got him to raise an eyebrow. "My help?"

"It's got nothing to do with uncle being a doctor, don't worry. I just need you to be there when I tell our whole family." He let out a sigh. "If she agrees, she might not come home for a while."