When Tenma took a while to grab a stray ball, they began to worry. However, just as Shindou went to check on him, he came back with a rather serious look on his face. He told them all that he had just met Katora again.

"Didn't I already tell you? Princess Katora is dead." Potomuri immediately cut in.

"But I saw her with my own eyes!" Tenma argued back. "Katora is alive!"

Kimiko pinched the bridge of her nose. "And here I thought we agreed to stop arguing about this..."

Tenma didn't seem to hear her. "She told us to go to the east mountains and find the red stone."

"The east is where the Gardonians with wings who are part of the Anti-Machine Faction live, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Hold on a sec!" Tetsukado spoke up. "We have a game coming up. Training for it is more important!"

"I agree." Manabe said. "Our fitness against this environment is still incompatible."

"But we can't just be focused on winning this tournament!" Tenma continued. "We have to do what's needed to save the galaxy, the way Katora tells us to!"

"So you'll believe someone who may or may not even exist and follow what she says?"

The brunette nodded without second thought. "Yeah. I believe Katora."

"No, I didn't mean whether you believe her or not..."

"Yes. That certainly isn't the issue." Shindou cut in. "But it's worth making the attempt. Especially if it's possibly the only way to save the galaxy."

"Shindou-san... Thank you!" He then turned to the rest of the team. "Let's start by exploring the east mountains. If we all work together, I'm sure we'll find them soon...?"

"I really think we should focus on preparing ourselves for the match." Sakura stated what seemed to be in most of their heads.

"Guys..."

"Then, Tenma and I will go alone." Shindou said, walking up to the captain. "The rest of you continue with practice."

"No, I'll come too." Ibuki joined them. "It sounds interesting."

"I will too." Minaho said, his usual smile present. "Meeting the Gardonians with wings will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"Me too." Kimiko decided for herself. "I'm used to being in dangerous situations, so I'll be able to help you guys out should anything happen."

"Don't you have a training menu to make?" Matatagi jabbed.

She smirked in return. "I've watched you guys enough. I've already put together my notes. It's a rough draft, but you can take my notebook if you're going to continue practicing."

"I will accompany you as well." And then Ichikawa. "Finding the stone may be the shortcut to adapting ourselves to this environment."

"You do make a strong point..." Manabe eventually gave in.

"Oh, alright..." As did Sakura.

"Fine then, let's go." And finally Tetsukado.

"Thanks, everyone!"

And so, after using rock-paper-scissors to decide the groups, Kimiko went with the paper team... which, as fate would have it, was also Manuuba's team. Great. Perfect.

~~~~~

"Oh geez, why is it so hot?" Sakura groaned as they walked further out into the mountains. "It's so hot, I could die."

"Quit saying that it's hot all the time. It only makes us feel hotter." Kusaka scolded.

"Why don't we think about something else?" Shinsuke suggested.

"Something else?" The pink haired girl looked up in thought. "Ice cream, air conditioning, cold juice... Now I just feel sad."

"Then let's play shiritori."

"Shiritori, huh?"

"It might help us to forget the heat for a bit." Kusaka agreed.

Kimiko walked ahead. "You guys do that and take it easy. I'll keep track of our surroundings in case anything happens."

"Eh, you're not at all hot, Kimiko?"

"I'm fine. This isn't my first time in a volcano."

"What?"

She gave a wry smile. "Trust me. You don't want to know."

"I-I think I do?"

"No, you don't, Kusaka. Go play your game already. I'll be fine."

"I want to ask, but I don't have the energy to." Sakura sighed.

"Tsurugi, you go first!" Shinsuke suddenly pointed.

And she was so glad that she chose to walk ahead, as she was unable to suppress the smirk that appeared on her face. Oh, this is gonna be funny!

"Hurry up." Sakura urged, wanting to forget the heat already.

"... Daren Moshiranu."

"What's that?"

"Daren Moshiranu. It's a planet at the galaxy frontier... What's wrong?"

She tried to suppress her laugh, but wasn't able to either, earning looks from the group.

"Hang on, were you trying to make a joke?" Sakura ended up asking.

"Huh, is that it?" Shinsuke asked.

Kusaka seemed to smile a little. "I didn't know you made jokes. That's surprising."

"Let's do this seriously, okay?" Sakura said. "I'll start. Shiritori."

"Ringo."

"Gorilla... Tsurugi, it's 'la'."

"Laion."

"That's... Tsurugi, you... do know you lose if you end your words with the 'n' sound, right?"

"It's fine." Suddenly, he sounded really close. "I just don't trust our tour guide here to not get us lost."

She looked back and found him walking right behind her. She gave him a look before sticking out her tongue and facing ahead again.

"You know, if you just wanted to be with Kimiko, then you should've just said so from the start."

Neither of them paid any mind to Sakura's statement, so she went back to the game with Shinsuke and Kusaka. The three at the back were the only ones making noise. Kimiko and Manuuba remained silent as they observed their surroundings during their walk.

There was nothing but rocks and lava as far as the eye could see. Just as she was about to suggest heading back, the voices behind them turned to yelling.

"Spice!"

"School bus!"

"Stress!"

"Status!"

"Sphinx!"

"Spandex!"

She wanted to comment, but felt a chill run up her spine. The hairs on her arms were standing too. She knew what that meant.

"Get down!"

Just as Tsurugi pushed Shinsuke to the ground, Kimiko turned and activated a forcefield just in time to shield them all. After a strong gust of hot air passed by, the four behind her got up slowly.

"Thanks, Tsurugi." She heard Shinsuke mutter.

"It's dangerous to go further. We should head back."

"Yeah... K-Kimiko, are you okay?!"

She took several deep breaths, not taking her eyes off of her very red hand. "Just a slight burn. I'll douse it in water as soon as we get back." She immediately started going back the way they came.

"H-Hey, wait up!"

She didn't. She didn't want them to see her face. She couldn't let them see just how much the pain didn't bother her, because above all the other things she was feeling...

She was pissed that she acknowledged him as Tsurugi for even a second.

~~~~~

Upon seeing her injury, Aoi seemed to want to scold her, but she dodged past her, heading straight for the kitchen. After running tap water over her hand for a long while, Kamata had prepared a wet cloth with a mini bucket for her, so she thanked her before heading back to her room.

She heard a bit of commotion going on outside, but decided against checking it out. She wasn't in the mood to see anyone, so she kept her focus on tending to her hand.

By the time someone came knocking on her door, she had calmed down and the pain had already numbed. She still couldn't do much with it, but at least it wasn't swelling.

"Come in."

While drying her hand with another towel, the door opened to reveal Ichikawa standing there. "Kimiko-san, it's almost time for dinner. Everyone else is already in the dining car."

The polite tone coming from the same face as the one she constantly argued with was enough to get a chuckle out of her.

He tilted his head in response. "Did I say something funny?"

"No, I was just thinking that you've been tending to me a lot recently."

That wasn't a complete lie. They were friends because she was with Endou when he was trying to get him to join the team, and despite the brunette being the coach, she was the one who made most of his training regimens back on Earth. But because of their mentor-student relationship, she would usually be the one taking care of him, not the other way around.

"Our roles seemed to be reversed now." She gave a wry smile as she held up her numb hand. "You probably heard about this from Aoi, right? Sorry to make you worry."

He shook his head. "No need to apologize. Accidents are prone to happen in environments such as these. Shinsuke-san told us you got hurt trying to protect the rest of your group. We're glad that it wasn't anything more than a slight burn."

"Yeah. I'm sure it'll heal by tomorrow too, so thanks for not making a fuss."

"Tsurugi-san must've panicked when he saw."

She froze for a second before quickly regaining her senses. "I didn't notice. I ran straight back here to get it treated, so I didn't pay attention to the others... Aoi tried to blow up on me, though."

"She was only concerned for your well being."

"I know, I know." Letting out a small sigh, she stood up. "Okay, let's go get dinner."

When they got to the dining car, as expected, she got various comments about her arm. Some teased her while others hoped she'll get better soon, all of which she responded to with a single, "It'll be completely better by tomorrow. Trust me, this isn't the first time this happened."

"Yeah, I still want to hear what you mean by this not being your first time in a volcano." Kusaka said as they sat down and waited for their food to be served.

She and Ichikawa sat at the last available seats before she shrugged. "I have two brothers. One of them takes me on trips around the world to learn soccer, while the other one seems to enjoy getting into natural disasters with his teammates. Guess which one dragged me into an active volcano for endurance training."

"... There are so many things wrong with that sentence, I don't even know where to start..."

"I've never heard of Chairman Gouenji having another cousin." Manabe spoke up. "I did some research on him after he told us about the Grand Celesta Galaxy. He has a father, sister, and two cousins. But if you have another brother, then..."

"Well, that guy isn't my real brother. He kind of adopted me into his team... Although, that was because I originally begged to join when I was younger..." She scratched the back of her head. "The details get too complicated, so I'll save it, but all you have to know is we got separated for a few years due to circumstances and just recently reunited, like a few months ago. I've been travelling with him before coming back here to help with this whole mess."

"Okay, but a volcano?" Tetsukado asked, still in disbelief.

"I went prepared that time, so it was fine. On my first trip with him, I didn't know what to expect so I didn't wear any protective gear... He then proceeded to head straight towards a hurricane at full speed. We were on a motorcycle, by the way. He jumped into said hurricane, leaving me to crash into the side of a cliff."

"Wha― How are either of you alive?!"

"You could say that telepathy isn't my only ability... We actually have lots."

"'We'?" Minaho repeated slowly. "I see. I recall you mentioning that there are others like you. However, they're rare."

"Yup. And that guy is one of them too." To make her point, she used her unharmed hand to create a small force field around herself. "This is the ability I used to protect us from the steam vent earlier. The only reason I got hurt was because I was a little late to put it up." Calling it back, she continued to say, "I have other abilities like telekinesis and teleportation too, but with a distance limit."

"Prove it." Manabe said. "Show us everything you can do."

"Well, some stuff is dangerous, so I'll just..." She teleported herself into another car before walking back in through the door. As expected, she got a lot of surprised looks. "And as for telekinesis, I plan to eat using it so you can just watch that, I guess."

"That's amazing!" Sakura beamed. "How did you get those powers?"

"Genetic mutation apparently."

"... What?"

"My life is weird. I find it easier to just cruise through it than to think about every little detail."

"Well, it's not like we can be one to talk." Matatagi smirked. "We're in space for crying out loud. Shit can't get weirder than this."

Kimiko waited for two seconds before looking around. "Okay, where is Shindou-san? I was waiting for him to comment on the cursing... Come to think of it, I don't see Ibuki either."

The rest were quiet for a few seconds before they all collectively slapped their heads. "We forgot to tell her!"

So, they spent the next five minutes explaining Shindou and Ibuki's situation.

They had been in danger after a mechanical bird attacked their group earlier during the three-way split search. Minaho had been told by Shindou to take Konoha away from there while he and Ibuki distracted it and they had not made any contact since. Later, while she was taking care of her arm, the whole team had gone to where they were last seen and a bird man from the east approached them, informing them that the two were safe in their village.

"Then, they say that they can't return home yet." Tenma finished. "But they promised that they will definitely make it to tomorrow's match... So we have no choice but to believe them."

"Hey, since you have telepathy, can't you make contact with them?" Tetsukado suggested.

While the others widened their eyes and were about to agree, she shook her head. "Range, remember? The mountains are way too far for me. Our best bet is to wait until tomorrow." She gave a small smirk. "And if they don't come back by the time of the final whistle, I'll help you all raid the place."

Before anyone could agree or object, Kamata's voice came from the kitchen. "Order up!"

"Oh, let me help, Aunty. They want a demonstration, after all."

"Huh?"

Without another word, purple eyes glowed. Multiple plates floated over the kitchen counter before steadily landing one by one in front of each of them. The rest of the team, even those who had already known her for long, could only stare with their mouths opened.

"Well, that's convenient." Kamata said, smiling. "We're having chicken! Chicken! Eat fried chicken to beat chicken, you hear?"

"To beat chicken, huh? I'll eat it all!"

"We'll beat them!"

"Mmhm!"

"What are those guys doing..." Sakura sweatdropped as she watched Tetsukado and Kusaka get roped in by Kamata's puns.

"Hey, Tenma. Why do you think Shindou-senpai and Ibuki can't return right now?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure they'll be okay. The elder from the east even told us so."

"Maybe they're going to turn their bodies into machines." And just like that, Matatagi had ruined everyone's appetite.

"M-Machines..."

"No, they won't." Minaho said, his ever present smile on his face. "The eastern clan is against mechanization.

"R-Right..."

They all sighed in relief.

"Even if machines aren't likely..." Matatagi, still with his cheeky grin, started eating. "I really wonder why they can't come back."

The rest of the meal proceeded in silence as they all pondered on that same question.

~~~~~~~~~~

Shiritori is a game where you connect words by their sounds/syllables. Basically, the sound of the end of a word is how you start the next word. However, you lose if you repeat a word that was already mentioned, or if you end the word with the 'n' sound because it can't be continued.

Daren Moshiranu is a play on the words "Darenimo shiranai", which means "no one knows". It's also funny, because right after, no one knows what the heck Manuuba was talking about. And Laion is how they pronounce "Lion" (Japanese people actually struggle with pronouncing L, so it was actually Raion, but as Shinsuke's word was Gorilla, I just fit it to match).

Additionally, "Chikin ni katsu" means "Beat the chickens". Kamata is making a pun from Chicken Katsu, which was the food she served. Tetsukado and Kusaka played along.