"Don't scare us like that!"

"Sorry, sorry. But I can't help it if I woke up that early."

"You could've woken one of us up!"

"It's fine, isn't it? Kyousuke was already awake too..."

"Now, now." Tenma was holding back a fuming Aoi. "It's alright, right? Kimiko's listened to everything we told her to do yesterday. She looks a lot more energized now, so there's no reason to keep getting mad at her, is there?"

"Well... I suppose..."

Kimiko mouthed a thank you at the brunette before exchanging glances with the navy haired boy. They hadn't meant to wake at five in the morning, but it worked in their favor. No one needed to know they spent the night together in his brother's room.

"By the way," Kirino said, staring at the multiple plates of sandwiches laid out on the coffee table. "Did you two make all this on your own?"

"Kyousuke took care of cooking the bacon, minced meat and washing the veggies and stuff. I just mixed up the ingredients and put them together." Kimiko replied as she continued biting down the one she already had.

"Sorry for the trouble." Taiyou said.

Tsurugi grunted. "If you're actually sorry, you wouldn't have insisted on staying in the first place."

He got a nervous laugh in reply. "We'll handle the clean up to make it up to you."

"Mm! But these are so good!" Kinako said, her eyes sparkling.

Fei followed her lead and made the same expression. "They really are! Tsurugi, you're such a good cook!"

"And the arrangement of the ingredients are perfect..." Shindou complimented. "Nice job, Kimiko."

"Well, in Kyou's case, he has to be able to cook this well since he lives alone most times." Kimiko pointed out.

"Oh yeah, your parents are out of town, aren't they?" Midori asked, earning a shrug.

"It's no big deal. They're busy so it can't be helped."

"That's such a mature way of thinking!"

"Makes me wonder who the real senior is here..."

"I heard that, Shinsuke!"

"Yikes!"

The rest of breakfast time ensued noisily. Some made a bit of a mess, while others were scolding and cleaning up after them. But even though it was chaotic, the blonde noticed the small smile her best friend had.

She couldn't help a smile of her own. Good for you, Kyou. You deserve this.

The minute they had finished tidying up everything, including themselves and their belongings, beeps came from Aoi's person. She took out her phone from her pocket and answered it.

"Hello? Miss Otonashi?"

~~~~~

"Emergency meeting? Did something happen?" Tenma asked when they reached the soccer club building.

And it wasn't just them. All of their friends had come to see what their club counselor had to say.

But she gave them a smile to ease their worries. "Gouenji-san wanted me to give this to Daisuke-san." She said, holding up a photo.

"So he got it!" The stone flew out of Aoi's pocket once again.

"What's that?"

"Sakamoto Ryouma's photograph."

Nishiki's eyes went wide. "Ryouma?!"

"So our next target is Sakamoto Ryouma?" Tenma asked.

"Power number five of the strongest eleven in history! A super tricky midfielder with a heart as big as the sea and who acts as the bridge between offense and defense."

"He's the perfect choice!" Nishiki exclaimed, his eyer burning with a new kind of resolve. "And if it's Ryouma, then it has to be me! I'm not letting anyone else take it!"

"Very well. Power number five will be entrusted to Nishiki."

"Alright!"

"The era is the late shogunate period. I have one more candidate. To make it short and sweet, it's the genius swordsman, Okita Souji!"

"Okita Souji?!" Now, it was Midori's turn to get excited.

"Power number six! A speedy striker as quick as lightning, who cuts up the field like a lightning bolt."

"I see! That's the perfect description of Shinsengumi's best swordsman, Okita Souji!"

Nishiki turned to her with a look. "Shinsengumi? They're the enemies who wanted to strike down Ryouma and his plans to change Japan. I will never accept them."

"Huh?! It's the Shinsengumi that protected the dying Bakufu and the capital city. They're what you call real men!"

They're argument turned into a glaring contest.

"A man of the sword... and the capital city... Which means..." Akane, along with Kinako, turned to the navy haired boy.

Tsurugi Kyousuke. The first kanji in his surname could be read as 'ken' which meant 'sword'. And the first kanji in given name is read as 'kyou' which meant 'capital'.

Kimiko deadpanned. "Not that I'm complaining that Kyousuke's gonna get MixiMaxed with an actual swordsman... In fact, I think that it's really cool that that's going to happen, but is it really going to succeed based on name puns?"

He seemed to be a little unsure himself, but... "It can't hurt to try."

"I didn't know Nishiki and Midori liked history so much..." Haruna said with a nervous chuckle.

"I'm only an expert on Ryouma!"

"I'm a fan of Mito Koumon and Shinsengumi and Ooka Echizen and―"

"You're just a fan of period dramas..." Akane cut her classmate off.

"Sakamoto Ryouma and Okita Souji were enemies?" Tenma repeated, getting them back on track.

"Both of them lived in an era that fought over different ideas on how to shape Japan." The woman explained.

"That is the blood-gushing, flesh-chopping era of the late Edo period!" Wondeba exclaimed.

"Sounds pretty exciting!"

"Yeah!"

And deadly...

Don't you start.

~~~~~

"It's the year 1867 in Kyoto." Fei said as they got off the caravan.

Wondeba had switched their clothes back to what they used during the Sengoku Period. He gave Kinako a yellow yukata with a red skirt, Hikaru green and black, Kariya purple and white, and Taiyou a white and blue one.

"The capital of the late Edo period! I'm all fired up!" Midori exclaimed.

"Where would those two be?" Tenma asked.

"Okita Souji should be at the Shinsengumi's headquarters."

"The problem is Sakamoto Ryouma." Akane stated.

"You don't think they'd be together, do you?" Shinsuke said.

Midori let out a hiss. "Unthinkable! If those two were in the same room, they'd be fighting to the death!"

Kinako caught sight of a certain blonde elbowing her navy haired best friend rather roughly, earning a glare. She chose not to question it.

"Well, not like Ryouma would lose to Okita." Nishiki said, smiling smugly.

He and Midori returned to their glaring contest.

Ultimately, it was decided that they'd break into two groups. Nishiki would lead the group to find Sakamoto Ryouma, consisting namely of Wondeba, Shindou, Tenma, Shinsuke, Aoi, Akane, and Hikaru. Midori offered to lead the group to find Okita Souji, which consisted of Fei, Kirino, Taiyou, Kariya, Kinako, Kimiko and, of course, Tsurugi.

"Begin the search!"

"Yeah!"

Team Okita began making their way down the hill, through the torii gates lined up on the path. Once they were far enough from Team Sakamoto, Midori let out an excited squeal.

"I hope we get to meet Okita Souji soon!" She then eyed the navy haired boy walking beside her. "Okita Souji is the aloof swordsman beauty who protected Edo's Bakufu with his very life while forcing down his illness."

That made him stop. "Illness?"

"Souji suffered from tuberculosis and was said to have lived half on willpower before he died. The beautiful die young, as they used to say."

"Some rumors suggest that he wasn't all that good-looking though."

"Kariya!"

She got a snarky laugh in reply.

"We'll see once we meet him." Fei said, defusing the situation.

"Yeah." Taiyou said. Kirino only smiled.

Meanwhile, her friend was blankly staring at his redheaded senior.

Suffering from an illness... And yet he's the best swordsman they have...

Kimiko pretended that she didn't hear that.

~~~~~

She caught a yellow flash in the corner of her eye. She swore it came from the forest.

Isn't that the direction Tenma's group went?

"Kimiko."

"H-Huh?!" She jumped and turned around. "Oh, Kirino-san..."

"Is something wrong?" He asked.

"Ah, no... I was just wondering if Tenma's group had any more luck than we do so far."

They've gotten into town a while ago. At the moment, the rest of the group, though mostly Kinako, was asking a passerby for information regarding their target. However...

"Don't bother! You shouldn't get yourselves involved with the Shinsengumi!" He said.

"Why not?"

He covered the side of his mouth, as if to prevent anyone else from reading his lips. "If the Shinsengumi suspect that you're an enemy of the Bakufu, who knows what they'll do to you!"

Tsurugi's eyes narrowed. "They are known for shutting up even the wails of crying children."

"The Shinsengumi are on edge so much these days that they have been looking for any excuse to use violence. If you're going, be careful!" The man then left.

"Okay."

"Thank you."

They spent quite a while wandering around to no avail.

Midori crossed her arms in thought. "Where is the Shinsengumi's headquarters?"

"If we don't know, we should just ask." Kinako said before running off.

"But isn't it dangerous if the Shinsengumi find out that we're investigating them?" Kariya reminded.

"Yeah, we should act with caution." Kirino nodded.

"Well, I'm glad we figured that out, but it's a little late, don't you think?"

"What do you mean?"

Kimiko sighed, pointing in the direction their brunette friend ran off to.

"Excuse me!"

In front of her were two men clad in blue, white, and black. Both of them had swords attached to their hips.

"What's the matter little girl?" One of them asked.

"Where is the Shinsegumi headquarters―" Midori ran over to cover her mouth but it was too late.

"What do you want with the Shinsengumi?" The other one pressed.

"Ahahaha... Nothing―"

Kinako broke free of her grasps. "We want to meet Okita Souji!"

"Lord Okita?"

"You aren't spies sent from Satsuma or Choushuu, are you?"

Before they could deny, his hand went to his sword's handle.

"How very suspicious!"

"Ah―!"

Before Kimiko could suggest using her powers through telepathy, another voice cuts in.

"Wait!" A much bulkier man in white and dark blue suddenly appeared. He had a similar red scarf as Tsurugi did too.

"C-Commander!"

"Kondou-san!"

They all turned to each other at that name and title.

"What is going on here?" The man known as Kondou asked.

"We were interrogating them to determine whether or not they were spies."

He turned to them, scaring them, before going back to his men. "Keeping on guard is commendable, but making a panic over children is a disgrace to the samurai name."

"Apologies, sir."

"Go to headquarters and cool off your heads!"

"Yes, sir!" And they immediately ran off.

"Sorry for frightening you." He then said to them.

"You're the most frightening of them all." Kariya muttered, turning away when Kondou's gaze landed on him.

"Excuse me..." Midori said. "Are you Kondou Isami-san?"

The man smiled proudly. "That's right. I am the Shinsengumi's commander, Kondou Isami."

The girl had to use all her power not to squeal. "It is such an honor to meet you!"

The man took a step back. "I-Is that so?"

After they've expressed their gratitude, he warned them to be careful and left.

Once he was far enough, Midori let her inner fangirl out again. "As expected of the man who leads the Shinsengumi!"

"Sure is..." Kirino nodded.

Kimiko hummed. "Now, why do I get the feeling we're forgetting something?"

"Huh? ...Ah!"

"Okita Souji!"

"We completely forgot!"

"I'm sure if we ask him, he'll take us to him!"

"He turned right at that corner!"

"I don't see him..."

"He can't have gone far!"