Seeing the battlefield was full of people, Wondeba turned the TM Caravan invisible before landing in the forest. He then used the switch to change their outfits, this time to something suited for blending in with westerners from the medieval times.

Tenma, Fei and Hayami wore blue, Tsurugi and Hamano wore purple, Nishiki and Shindou wore black, while Kirino, Shinsuke and Hikaru wore green. The girls were wearing long green dresses, much to Kimiko's dismay, while Wondeba had a blue cloak and a walking stick. Once everyone was changed, the blonde grabbed the remote and changed her outfit, choosing the purple one.

Curious, they took a peek from the bushes. What they saw made them all run in cold sweat.

"It's a real war."

"Yeah..."

"Armor and shields and swords!"

"Kyousuke, try blending in using Keshin Armed."

"At this point, it's like you want me to die."

"It's a virtual game in real life!"

"Just how much defensive power have they got?"

"Who cares about that right now?"

"This is bad! This is really bad!"

"How do we find Jeanne d'Arc in this situation?" Fei asked.

"She should be in a town called Vaucouleurs..." Wondeba replied.

"Who's there?!" A knight in white armor suddenly appeared, pointing his sword at them.

Shindou thought fast before replying, "We got lost while we were running away from the fighting. We wish to go to Vaucoulers."

"What?" He scanned over them briefly before holding his sword up higher. "You don't belong in this country, do you?!"

"W-Well..."

Before they knew it, many more soldiers surrounded them.

"Who are these people?" Another, older knight came to his side.

"They're foreigners. They say they are lost, but I think they're rather suspicious."

"Suspicious?"

"Yes, sir. They say they want to go to Vaucouleurs."

"What? Don't tell me you're after Jeanne!"

From the corner of his eye, Tsurugi saw his friend's shoulders stiffen. Kimiko, I don't know what you're planning, but don't.

I'm planning on knocking them all out... And why shouldn't I?

This is the time period when people would be killed for being out of the ordinary. If you use your powers here, you might end up getting executed.

... Damn it.

"Um, I'm not sure about that." A girl's voice suddenly came.

"Jeanne!"

The girl had pale blonde hair tied at the end, and soft green eyes behind thin-framed glasses. She was wearing similar armor to the ones that surrounded them.

"You're Jeanne d'Arc?" Shindou asked.

The blonde's eyes widened. "How do you know my name?"

"She's different from what I imagined." Aoi piped in, earning a nod from Shinsuke.

"She's wearing glasses." Akane pointed out.

"She doesn't look anything like an authoritative fighting maiden." Hamano added.

"Hiya! I'm Kinako!" The brunette was somehow already in front of her, saluting. "Nice to meet you!"

Just as she held a hand out, the knight from before came with his shield up. "What are you doing?!"

"That's going a bit overboard..." Kinako said, jumping back.

"Jeanne, I bet they're spies from England!" He said.

"No! No, we're not!" Tenma spoke up.

"We've come from the future! We want you to help us." Shindou boldly proclaimed... again.

"The... future?"

Are you sure I shouldn't just knock them out? Erase their memories too while at it?

Just hold on. We're not in immediate danger right now.

"What do you mean, the future?" Jeanne asked, pushing the man aside.

"Well..."

She squinted her eyes before walking closer, playing with her glasses' position as she looked at Shindou. Then to Kirino, who was next to him. Back to Shindou, and then Kirino. And then, she seemed to have taken more interest in the pink haired boy.

"Um... please answer me."

"Well... What we mean is..."

"We should be honest and tell her about time traveling." Kinako muttered.

"I don't think she'd understand." Tenma replied.

Fei nodded. "This is a time period where anything strange was thought to be the work of the devil."

"Yeah, it could end badly." Tsurugi shot a look at his friend, who only slightly puffed her cheeks out.

"No way..."

"Well? Say something!" The older knights continued to press. The tension only made Kirino panic, losing his voice. "You must be spies! In that case, we cannot allow you to live!" The others surrounding them raised their weapons.

"Please wait!" Surprisingly, Jeanne was the one who called them to stop.

"Why are you stopping us?"

"Well... uh... Oh, I know!" She pulled out a small pouch from her waist. She shook out one of its contents and handed it to Kirino. "It's candy. Please take it."

"Take it?"

"Have a taste." She continued to offer with a smile.

"Right now?"

"Yes, right now."

With an unsure look, he opened the wrapping and popped it in his mouth. All the anxiety from before seemed to wash away immediately and he showed his own smile. "It's good!"

"Thank goodness!" She then spotted Kinako approach her. "Would you like some too?" Seeing her nod, she gave her one, earning a large smile.

"It's so good!"

"Why don't the rest of you have some too?" She offered.

"T-Thanks!"

Most of them ran over to try one and in no time at all, everyone was smiling, praising the candy's flavor.

"Here Tsurugi, Kimiko." Seeing the two not as curious as the rest, Kinako took it upon herself to get extras and handed them one each. "For you two."

They turned to each other before opening the wrappings and popping them in at the same time.

"How is it?" The brunette asked.

"It's good." Tsurugi said, nodding his head slightly.

"It really is." Kimiko smiled before turning to her friend. How long are you going to pretend you don't have a sweet tooth?

As long as I can.

Well, you're doing a terrible job. You're blushing.

S-Shut up! He turned away, crossing his arms almost childishly.

Kinako blinked, having no idea what happened.

"Jeanne! What are you doing?" The soldiers asked.

"Um... I'm showing consideration." She replied.

"I don't think that's quite right." Shindou muttered, scratching his cheek in confusion.

"Interacting with others in this way so that I can get to know them better is important." She explained with a smile.

"You're right!" Tenma immediately agreed.

"Yeah, it's really important!" Kinako joined in.

"Never mind that. Hurry up and decide what we should do with them!"

"Um, well... At any rate, we can't just leave them here. Let's take them with us to Vaucouleurs."

They all let out sighs of relief. None of them questioned why Tsurugi shoved Kimiko as they set off.

~~~~~

Tenma eyed the guards by the door before turning to his friends with a complicated look. "Well, things took a weird turn."

"Yeah." Tsurugi nodded.

"You don't think we're going to get enlisted into this war, do you?" Hikaru asked.

"Or we may even be executed as spies of the enemy!" Hayami whined.

"Hey, hey, anything but that!" Hamano scolded back.

Shinsuke frowned. "And we just met Jeanne d'Arc..."

"We'll have to watch the situation for now." Shindou stated.

"Yeah, and let's make a new rule." Kimiko said, holding a hand up. "Let's not casually throw out that we're from the future the next few times we time jump, okay? Let it be a last resort for an explanation." Everyone nodded.

"We'll find a chance to MixiMax with her one way or another." Fei said.

"But will we really get stronger MixiMaxing with that Jeanne-san?" Kinako asked.

"She does have a point." Aoi said.

"Yeah, I don't feel any power from that girl at all." Midori pointed out.

"In any case..." Tenma dug into the sack they brought and pulled out a soccer ball. "Why don't we practice?"

"Practice?"

"Yeah! I'm sure things will work out. For now, let's just chase the ball."

"Things will work out, huh?" Tsurugi repeated with a small smile.

Only Tenma could say such a thing at such a time. Only Tenma.

"Okay then, let's do it!" Kinako agreed.

They all took their uniforms out of the sack as well, knowing full well the Wondeba Switch would cause them more harm than good if they used it under the watch of the guards. The girls went into a shed to let the boys change, and so Kinako could also change in private.

Once they've gathered again, they started doing stretches.

"One against one, and imagine that you're in front of the goal!" Wondeba directed how it was going to go. "Shinsuke, are you ready?"

The short boy was standing between two pitchforks they stuck to the ground. A makeshift goal. "Yep!"

"Want to go against me?" Kinako asked Tsurugi, who was tying his shoes.

Her smile was met with a competitive smirk. "Sounds interesting."

The two got into position first. The others cleared the area for them. Kimiko sat on a bench, a large grin present. She was going to be happy no matter who wins.

Tsurugi charged ahead with the ball, and Kinako moved to intercept. He made a feint and kicked the ball into the air. Jumping after it, he aimed to score by kicking with his heel, but Kinako reached it first and headed it away.

"Not bad. You can defend too."

"I can do a lot of positions."

"Oh, you're really skillful, Nanobana-san." Tenma complimented.

"Eh, you and Kimiko are the same... Why are you so formal all of a sudden?" She frowned. "Just call me Kinako like you always do."

"I-Is that right?"

With that, the two continued their duel. Kimiko watched the two have fun, vaguely hearing Tenma and Fei's discussion changing from time paradoxes to creating a combo hissatsu technique.

They're making one too now, huh...

"Ah! Oh no, watch out!" Kinako's yell snapped her head up. The ball was heading straight for Hayami, who was too surprised to react properly.

Her instincts made her jump right at it, catching the ball with her foot. She let the momentum flip her over to slow it down, before landing with a sigh of relief.

"Hayami-san, are you alright?" She asked.

"Y-Yeah..." He nodded, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves. "Thanks, Kimiko."

"No problem." She kicked it back to the two with as much energy she could muster. Kinako panicked at the sudden shot, but Tsurugi stopped it with his chest, just barely getting pushed back.

"Was that really necessary?" He asked.

She stuck her tongue out. "Revenge."

"Kimiko, that was..." Kirino walked up to her with wide eyes. "I remember those movements. Tsurugi made that play in the match against Mannouzaka!"

The others only realized it when he mentioned it.

While they made a commotion about it, she only tilted her head. "Is it really that surprising?"

"W-Well, it's just that we've never really seen you play!" Tenma said. "I was also really impressed when I saw you and Tsurugi copying each other's movements perfectly back in the Sengoku Era!"

"Eh? When did that happen?" Shinsuke asked.

"The night before our fight with Beta. When they went out that time, you know?"

"Oh, right."

"Well, of course I can do this much at least." She said with a small smile. "After all, I―" She cut herself short, turning to the navy haired boy. "Uh... Kyou, can I tell them?"

He made a face before giving a single shoulder shrug. "Go ahead. It's not like it's a secret or anything."

"Just making sure." She glanced back at the others, pointing at herself. "I was the one who taught Kyousuke how to play."

"Eh... EHHH?!"

"We've been even for three years, though." He added in.

"Yeah, what he said." She chuckled. "Ever since then, we've been developing our playstyles together, and they started mixing. We can just about do anything the other can do now."

"Then I want to try going against you!"

"Huh?! Hey, Tenma! That's not fair! I wanna go too!"

"Me too!"

"And me!"

That was not the reaction she expected to get. Stepping back to gain some space, she shook her head. "Sorry, but I don't really..."

"It's fine, isn't it?" Tsurugi passed the ball back to her. "It'll be just like playing tag."

A simple game they made up where the one who's 'it' had to chase after the ball and steal it. If they succeed, then the other would become 'it'.

"Well... I guess..." She stared at the ball under her foot as she thought, and eventually gave a small nod. "Alright. I'll join in."

"Then, let's all go at once!" Tenma suggested, running to one side of the field. The others also spread out, taking up all the space they have.

Kimiko met their expectant gazes with an unsure look before locking eyes with her best friend. A nod was all it took to regain her courage.

It's not a match... It's not a match. A competitive expression dawned on her face. "Here I come!"