"Kimiko... hates soccer?" Tenma couldn't understand it. "But she plays with you all the time! Maybe she doesn't love it as much as we do, but she still says that it's a fun hobby! And a while ago, she called me saying she's going to America and asked if I wanted her to buy anything for me! She supported us throughout all of Holy Road, despite not being physically there and―"

"The last time she even looked at a ball was nearly a year ago." Tsurugi cut off. "I haven't gotten a hold of her since. Gouenji-san told me she was his cousin, and about her abilities after Holy Road, but..."

"You're both right." Gouenji cut in. "Tsurugi's experience is what's 'right' in this timeline, but Tenma's memories are what's 'right' in the original."

"Then, that means there's still one parallel world left!" Fei stated.

"Exactly. And because of that, I'd like to ask for your help."

"You can count on us, Gouenji-san!" Tenma smiled. "Let's hurry and go give soccer back to Kimiko!"

"Hold on, Tenma." Shindou finally spoke up after taking all the new information in. "First of all, do we even know what happened to cause this?"

"T-That's..."

"And second, do we have an artifact to go back to the exact time the problem happened?"

"W-Well..."

"Please think it through before doing anything..."

"S-Sorry..."

"As for what happened..." Gouenji hummed in thought. "It could be..."

"Huh?"

"About a year ago, a couple of weeks before her eleventh birthday, we sent her to a training camp..."

"That sounds like fun!"

"... To Teikoku Academy."

Shinsuke immediately took it back. "Nevermind."

"She finished her regiment, but didn't come home until two days after. And as soon as she got back, she got rid of anything she had that was related to soccer and refused to play no matter who offered." He frowned. "It was my mistake to ask Kidou to be harsh on her. She developed both a fear and hatred for soccer because of it."

"Gouenji-san..."

"Then, should we prevent that training camp from happening?" Shinsuke suggested.

"No."

"But I thought―"

"It might've caused her pain, but that training camp was necessary. As I've mentioned, she has special abilities normal humans don't have. That training is so that she could understand the amount of power she had and learn to control it better." His held up his bracelet again and showed them some images. "Even in the original timeline, she still went to that training camp and went through the exact same training as this timeline. So, whatever caused this branch in worlds must've happened in the two days that she went missing."

"But then... How would we know what happened?" Tenma asked.

"Simple." Tsurugi met them with a blank stare. "We ask."

~~~~~

"Kimiko, you're back! Let's start on that combo technique like we promised!"

"Kyousuke..."

"Hm? What's wrong? You shouldn't be upset on your birthday."

"... I hate soccer."

"...Eh?"

"I hate soccer! It does nothing but hurt people!"

"... What...?"

"I'm not gonna play anymore! Don't talk to me about soccer ever again!"

Even if he wanted to, he couldn't have. That was the last time he had ever seen her. When Gouenji approached him after Holy Road and told him that he knew about their friendship, he was more than a little surprised. How could someone related to a soccer star like him hate soccer so much out of nowhere?

He was about to get his answer now.

"Shuuya-nii, I'm here! Now, what―" Purple eyes widened at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, it's been a while."

She gave a blank stare before sighing. "You're the one who got him to call me out here, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

She sighed again. "Well... I'm already all the way here. I guess I'll talk to you for a while."

"Thanks."

He led her to the railings, passing by the caravan, where all the others were hiding in. They took a seat by the bench, him picking up a soccer ball that was left beside it by accident.

"So then..." She turned to him, trying not to look interested. "How are you holding up? With the soccer ban and all..."

"We're going to fight to get soccer back."

"I figured. You won Holy Road and brought normal soccer back, so this should be just as easy."

"Was that sarcasm or are you actually supporting me?"

She shrugged, faking a smile. "Who knows? It's got nothing to do with me, so whatever happens just happens."

His eyes narrowed. "Hey... Are you happy that soccer is banned?"

This time, she bit her lip. "... 'Happy' is a bit much. I hate soccer, but it's not right to take it away from the people who love it. And... I feel bad for... Well, you and your brother." His head snapped at her, surprising her. "D-Don't look at me like that! I just...!" She turned away. "All you've ever wanted was to play soccer with him again, right? So... who am I to prevent you from that? No matter what you like or dislike, everyone deserves to be happy, so..."

He blinked. "Then, the reason you won't talk to me is because―"

"I was afraid." She nodded slightly. "I hate soccer, but you love it. I was afraid that, if I keep spending time with you, I might... end up hating you too..."

A teasing smirk appeared on his face. "Then? Do you?"

She nudged him. "Don't push it." She chuckled a little. "Looking back, I had a pretty lonely year. But I thought there was no going back after ignoring your calls for so long."

"So, you missed me?"

"Not anymore, I don't."

He rolled his eyes, but still smiled slightly. "Hey, is there anything I could do to get you to play soccer again?"

"Well... Maybe if I had knocked on your door back then..."

"Huh?"

She faced him properly, her expression serious. "Back then, I had just gone through a training camp. Every single part of my body hurt. I wasn't spared at all. At the time, I thought that if I went home, they'd just send me away again, so I went to your house."

"I... didn't know."

"Of course not, because I didn't knock." A sad smile appeared. "If I did... then maybe I wouldn't hate soccer this much..." She chuckled to herself. "But it's not like you could time travel, so toss that idea out the window."

"Yeah? Well, watch me." His smirk caught her off guard.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"You? You're going to time travel?" He had a confident smile on his lips. That alone was enough to make her burst into fits.

"I'm not joking. I will do it."

"Yeah, sure you will! Haha! Geez, I haven't laughed like this in a while!" She wiped away the tears gathering in her eyes. She turned to face him properly and for a while, she just simply observed him. Then, she took in a deep breath, nodding to herself. "You're really going to time travel?"

"It's the only way to bring soccer back." His expression was serious this time.

Seeing that, she let out a sigh. "Alright then. Do what you have to do."

"You're fine with just accepting all of this?"

She shrugged. "It hasn't exactly been a happy year for me. I wouldn't mind if a few things got changed here and there. Who knows? Maybe, if I liked soccer... Maybe..."

"Hm?"

"... Maybe I would've been a better friend."

His eyes widened. "Miko―"

"It's getting late." She stood before dusting herself off. "I promised my parents I'd be back before dinner." She turned to her friend, giving him her best smile. "Good luck, Kyou. And... thanks for calling me here."

He returned it with one of his own. "Anytime." She nodded, and suddenly, she was gone. That must be one of the abilities they mentioned.

This means that I can use that for the artifact.

"Tsurugi!" He looked up and found his friends flooding out of the caravan. Tenma ran up to him first. "How did it go?"

The blue haired boy gave him a nod. "I know what to do."

"That's great, but how do we get there?" Shindou asked. "Did she give you an artifact?"

"No, but she didn't need to." He went into the caravan and dug through his bag. He slipped a hand into one of the pockets and pulled out a pendant.

Tenma's eyes widened. "That's..."

"I bought it on the day it happened. Would it work?"

"It's perfect." Fei took and placed it on the circular device.

Without further delay, they bid the adults goodbye and time jumped.

It was nighttime when they arrived. They parked several blocks away from their destination so as to not catch any unwanted attention. Getting off the caravan they began sneaking their way around in the dark.

Then, they heard grunting. It was then replaced by huffs, which eventually turned into rag breathing, and finally sobbing. "Hurts... Everything hurts..."

"Tsurugi, is that...?"

"Tenma, shush."

"But Aoi―"

"I said shush."

"That Kidou Yuuto..." The blonde girl was finally in sight. She was leaning against fences to help her walk, dragging a duffle bag across the ground. She stopped for a moment to rub her eyes. "And Shuuya-nii just... Shuuya-nii just... He promised... Everyone promised...!" She continued to make her way down the street.

"Hey, this is..." Midori couldn't find the right words.

Nishiki was beside her, frowning. "It's hard to watch."

The girl finally reached her destination and looked up through the open gates. "Kyousuke... Kyou will understand... soccer... hurts..." She made it up the steps and held her hand up to knock, but it stopped right before it hit the wood.

"Do you really think he'll understand?"

Tenma's eyes widened. "That's..."

"Alpha?" Shinsuke asked.

"I thought he was replaced by Beta." Shindou muttered.

"This modification probably happened before that." Fei stated.

Alpha had a device in his hand, emitting a familiar light from it. "He loves soccer, more than anything, doesn't he?"

"Kyousuke... loves..."

"He won't understand your pain. He won't understand anything."

"He..."

"You should head home now―" In the blink of an eye, the sphere was gone. "Hm?"

"You're not welcome here." Tsurugi kept the ball under his foot, standing between the two. "You need to leave. Now."

Alpha looked like he was ready to fight, but the strange device near the corner of his mouth lit up. "... Yes, master." He held out his palm and the ball flew to it. The light from earlier seemed to head back into the ball, before glowing and disappearing along with him.

He just left? His thoughts were cut short when he heard footsteps coming from inside. The younger version of his friend was still facing the door, seemingly in a daze, so he slipped back to the others before anyone could notice.

"Kimiko? H-Hey! What's wrong? Why are you...?! Kimiko, where did all these wounds come from?! Who hurt you?!"

And he was right on time too.

"So that's how that was supposed to go, huh..."

"Tsurugi, you were so cool!"

"I thought we would need to have a match before he left, but..."

"Well, Protocol Omega's captain had already been changed. I guess El Dorado figured it would be pointless to have him fight."

"Hey, Tsurugi." Tenma was peeking through the gates, the two children already inside. "What do you think the younger you and Kimiko are doing right now?"

"It's the middle of the night. They should be sleeping."

"But the lights are on!" Shinsuke pointed at a window covered by thin curtains. They could see shadows of the two children, perhaps talking.

Akane pointed her camera at them and a smile appeared as she peered through her lens. "Looks like they're heading up stairs." Click!

...Did she just take a picture?

"That's it then." Fei nodded at them. "Let's head back and see if it worked."

~~~~~

When they arrived back at the steel tower in their present time, nothing seemed to have changed, aside from the fact that the necklace disappeared from the dome. They were about to make a call to the adults, when a certain red cellphone began ringing.

Tsurugi picked it up. "Yes?"

"Why are you so formal― ...You didn't read the caller when you picked up the phone again, huh?"

"Kimiko?!" His friends all grinned at him.

"Who else would it be? Anyway, Shuuya-nii told you guys to go to God Eden, right?"

"Yeah. We'll head over there after―"

"Don't wait for me. I got a head start. I'll see you guys there, and I'll restore your memories."

"Restore our memories?"

"You guys, aside Tenma apparently, only remember the timeline where I hated soccer, right?"

"You know about that?"

"Yeah? Kyou, you're really slow today."

"Hey―"

"I'm joking. It's probably a shock to suddenly get a call from me like this, right? Don't worry, I'll make sure you all know who I am when you get here." There was a short pause before she added, "That last part sounded evil, didn't it?"

"You don't need me to answer that."

She chuckled. "I guess not. See you soon, Kyou."

"See you." He ended the call and came face to face with his friends. "Let's go."

Tenma grinned. "To God Eden!"