"Look, I don't care about the prize of achieving the 'road to Kagura'. I don't care how useless my role is in this festival. Something's happening behind the scenes, and I'm gonna keep this festival going until I find out what's really happening!" Yukio announced with conviction as he pointed to Sayuri.

Sayuri glared at Yukio, as she wrapped up the festival introduction, and sent them back to the hotel. Yukio found his room, and settled down.

His room was a large hotel room with a king size bed, a large window that leads to the balcony, a large bathroom, and a shower with plenty of the hygiene essentials.

He checked the drawers and closet, and saw that they were filled with clothing of all different kinds; casual, underwear, even swimsuits.

These are my exact size and everything, how did Asuka's grandma do all this?! Another question is 'why'?

Yukio laid on his bed, and looked out the window. He saw the pool and the beach below his balcony.

This room is very high-class though. It's like I'm back home. This is so nice, I think...I needed this.

Yukio instantly fell asleep on his bed, and woke up as the sun shined in his face. The orange tint of the sunset lit his hotel room.

"Ugh..." Yukio groaned as he tried to cover the sun from his vision.

Man, I wanna stay in this bed all day...wait, I need to start looking for everyone else.

Yukio reluctantly got up from his bed, and headed back towards the beach. However, He stopped by the hotel's pool, and decided to look around.

Seems like no one is here, I wonder if they are already competing in the Shinobi Bon Dance that Sayuri mentioned.

"I guess I should look for someone." Yukio said.

When he arrived at the beach, he saw a group of ghost Shinobi wondering around the beach.

"Huh? Wait, isn't that..." Yukio walked towards the ghosts, and noticed familiar faces.

The group of ghosts were a bunch of ghost versions on the Hanzo girls and Homura's squad. All of them had fatal injuries on them, which made Yukio fall back in shock.

W-What the hell are you?! You can't be...each one of these wounds, I recognize them.

"Flattened bodies...pierced torsos...bullet wounds...oh my god..." Yukio grew nervous from the ghosts.

Flattened by Orochi's feet...pierced by Hebijo's falling debris...and shot by Ryobi's sniper bullets...and there's other ones that I recognize too. These ghosts are the dead versions of the girls from my previous lives!

The ghosts approached him like zombies, and he ran away out of fear. They blocked Yukio's path back to the hotel, and Yukio hesitated to run through them.

What do they want from me?! How are they even here?!

"Leave me alone!" Yukio shouted, as he ran towards the hotel.

He closed his eyes as he ran straight through the ghosts, and continued towards the hotel. Once Yukio reached the pool area, the ghosts stopped and continued wondering the beach.

So the hotel is the safe spot from those things...why are there ghosts of the girls from my previous timelines?! Wait, if dead people from my previous lives are here, then why aren't there any versions of myself?

"None of this make sense to me..." Yukio said to himself, as he sat on the stairs between the pool area and the beach.

"It doesn't make sense to any of us either." A voice replied, Yukio jumped from the sudden voice.

He turned around and saw Asuka in a green colored swimsuit with a white tulip pattern on it.

"O-Oh, hey Asuka." Yukio tried to act normal and greeted her. "Where are the rest of the girls?"

"I had to get away from them. Katsu got a little too excited after seeing everyone in their swimsuits." Asuka answered, as she let out an annoyed sigh.

"Of course she would do that." Yukio chuckled.

"So what are you doing?" Asuka asked, as she sat next to him.

As Asuka got close, Yukio remembered that she had a crush on him. He blushed and looked away.

"N-Nothing. I've been asleep until now, so I'm just looking around." He said.

Sayuri said everyone could see the ghosts of the fallen Shinobi, so does that mean Asuka saw the ghosts of herself and the others?

"Hey, Asuka? Have you seen any familiar ghosts yet?" Yukio asked.

"Huh? No, I haven't. Why do you ask?" Asuka responded.

"Oh, well...Ryobi and Ryona have met their sister, so I was wondering if you met anyone here." Yukio answered.

"My family and my friends are the only Shinobi I know, and they are all still alive, thankfully." Asuka said.

"Y-Yeah...the only Shinobi I know are all of you." Yukio replied nervously.

"Are you ok, Yukio? You seem distressed." Asuka said, concerned for him.

"I..." Yukio paused and took a deep breath. "I'm ok, Asuka. Thanks for worrying about me."

"Anyone would be worried. We all care about you...I care about you." Asuka said.

Yukio looked towards Asuka, who was also blushing immensely. Yukio blushed again, and looked down.

Asuka wants me to make my move, right? Right?!

Yukio hesitated, until Asuka stood up. "W-Well, I should check on the others to see if Katsu has calmed down."

Asuka walked away, while Yukio sat there.

Damn it! Why am I so scared?!

"A-Asuka!" Yukio called out to her.

"Yes?" Asuka asked. She turned around to hear what he had to say.

"Uh...you look really beautiful in that swimsuit!" Yukio yelled.

Asuka blushed again, and quickly turned back around. "T-Thank you!" She said, as she ran away.

She ran towards the beach, out of Yukio's sight.

I guess...that was all I could say.

Yukio called it a day, and went back to his room. However, he didn't get ready for bed. Rather, he walked around the island looking for platforms, while he kept an eye out for any ghosts. He finally went back to the hotel at midnight, and heard someone by the beach.

Oh boy, who is it?

Yukio hid behind the hotel, and approached the voice. He could make out some words she was saying.

"How can I apologize? What am I supposed to do? She's alive now, but why do I feel so sad?" The voice said to herself.

Yukio looked over the corner, and saw Ryobi by herself.

The bitchy twin is by herself? I thought Ryona or Ryoki would be with her out here.

"How do I apologize to her? I have to, right? It might have been a few years ago, but I still have to apologize." Ryobi talked to herself.

Ok, what is she talking about? Who does she need to apologize to? Something that happened a few years ago? Let's see...

"Soul travel." Yukio whispered, and felt his soul leave his body.

He woke up in a different body, and saw an angry little Ryobi in front of him. Next to Ryobi was a sleeping Ryona. The body Yukio entered was arguing with Ryobi, but he wasn't able to make out words.

Ok, where is this going? Maybe Ryobi said something bad during this argument?

"I wish you were dead, sis!" Ryobi yelled at Yukio.

That sentence confirmed two things for Yukio. He figured out whose body he was in, and the bad thing Ryobi said to her.

Got it, so Ryobi wanted Ryoki to go and die. I'm guessing this was probably the last time they spent together for her to still be fretting over it.

Soon enough, Yukio was shown Ryoki's death the day after that argument.

I see...so Ryobi wished for her sister's death, and then she was killed in action the next day. Now that her sister's alive again in the Kagura Millennium Festival, Ryobi's been wanting to apologize but she hasn't yet. Well, maybe she doesn't know how to apologize to her?

Yukio woke up back in his original body, and stumbled a bit.

"Ugh!" Yukio grunted as he bumped into the wall.

The noise he made caused the present Ryobi to pull out her sniper rifle, and aimed it towards Yukio's hiding spot.

"Who's there?" Ryobi asked. "I know someone's there."

"Timer." Yukio whispered, and time froze around him.

He ran to the hotel and escaped Ryobi. After a while, Yukio made it to his room, and time automatically resumed.

"That was close." Yukio let out a sigh of relief, entered his room, and laid on his bed.

Ok, let me go through the backstory that I just witnessed in chronological order. Apparently, the day before Ryoki was killed, she had an argument with Ryobi, that resulted in Ryobi telling Ryoki to go die. Now that Ryoki is now alive, she doesn't know how to apologize for wishing her death.

"I don't understand that girl. First the whole 'avenge my sister' situation, and now this?" Yukio commented.

He slowly started to fall asleep, and woke up the next morning. The bright morning sun lit up Yukio's room from his balcony window, and he got ready to start the day.

I should stay away from the beach, and try to look for the festival platforms.

Yukio left his room, headed outside, and saw a bunch of the girls in swimsuits gathered around the pool area. Curious about what was going on, Yukio joined the group.

"What's happening here?" Yukio asked.

"My, Yukio's here too. Good." Haruka from Homura's Crimson Squad was in the center of the crowd, and got everyone's attention.

All the girls from Gessen, Hanzo, Hebijo, and Crimson Squad gathered around Haruka.

"Why is everyone here, Haruka?" Yukio asked.

"Everyone, have a seat for now." Haruka ordered everyone, and they all hesitantly sat down on the floor.

"Good, now then." Haruka started. "I've been wondering about the name of this so called 'Shinobi Bon Dance', and I've come to the conclusion...I think the name sounds boring." Haruka blatantly said.

"Really? You call all of us here just to say that?!" Miyabi exclaimed, clearly upset.

"I think it's, like, not that bad of a name." Shiki argued. "It sounds kind of old school, but also kind of modern, you know?"

"Now, I propose this idea. Instead of the Shinobi Bon Dance, how about we do a contest of our own?" Haruka ignored the comments, and continued.

"A contest? Where are you going with this?" Yukio grew suspicious.

"Don't worry, the contest is going to be a simple sports tournament. I call it 'Surprise Shinobi Splash and Spray Sports!' How about it?" Haruka announced.

"I love it! I love sports and games!" Minori shouted.

"I like the title, maybe we should add something like 'Slippery' to it, hehehe." Katsuragi added.

I hate it. The idea, and the title.

"N-No...I want to end this festival already and go back home..." Murasaki said, but Imu covered her mouth.

"Shut up, Murasaki! Summer activities, Miyabi in a swimsuit, We've got plenty of time." Imu rejected her sister's suggestion.

"I would like to stay here as well." Yumi supported Imu's statement.

Miyabi, Ryobi, and Ryona agreed as well. Yukio was sort of taken aback from their agreement.

Why do these girls want to stay? Wait, the longer we stay, the longer I have to find out what's really going on here!

"I wanna stay too, damn it! Unlimited seafood and meat!" Homura exclaimed.

"Yeah, only eating grass back in the real world sucks." Mirai added.

"Yukio said he wants to keep this festival going, plus we should make it fun for us...but what would grandma think..." Asuka murmured.

Haruka chuckled. "Very well, it's settled! Surprise Shinobi Slippery Splash and Spray Sports."

Something's up with this, what's Haruka planning here? To get the attention of Sayuri, or maybe something perverted?

"Whatever, as long as I get more time here, then I might as well enjoy it." Yukio said to himself.

"Let's get started then!" Haruka announced.

To be continued...