After the volleyball tournament, Yukio ran off the beach, and towards the hotel.

Phew...at least those ghosts didn't appear while I was playing, I wouldn't be able to focus. Those ghosts...they are the last thing I want to encounter.

"I don't want to be reminded of my failures again." Yukio said to himself.

Yukio went back to his room, and laid on his bed.

I know I can't be in this room the whole festival, I've got to protect all the platforms. The problem with that is...I don't even know where they are.

"How am I supposed to protect 81 different platforms at once anyway?" Yukio was stumped on what to do next.

He suddenly heard knocking on his door, then a voice called out from the other side of the door.

"Yukio? Are you in there? It's Yumi." The Gessen leader called out to Yukio.

"Oh, yes? What is it?" Yukio got out of his bed, and opened the door.

Yumi's expression brightened when Yukio opened the door. "Yukio, I'd like you to meet someone."

"Huh? Who is it?" Yukio was confused, Yumi pointed towards a muscular old man with spiky white hair and grey eyes.

"You must be Yukio. Yumi has told me a lot about you." The old man said in a husky voice.

"I see...I'm sorry, who are you?" Yukio asked politely.

"My name is Kurokage, I'm Yumi's grandfather." He replied.

"Kurokage?! I-It's nice to meet you mister." Yukio responded.

That's Yumi's grandfather?! He's the one who took care of Yumi and the rest of the Gessen Shinobi.

Kurokage smiled, and looked towards Yumi. "Can you give us a minute, Yumi?"

Yumi nodded, and left Yukio and Kurokage in the hallway.

"Do you want to talk in my room?" Yukio offered, but Kurokage declined.

"You probably know how I got here, right?" Kurokage asked.

"This is the festival's doing, isn't it? It brought you back to life." Yukio reached his hand towards Kurokage, but it phased right through him.

"Correct, Yumi and the other girls were overjoyed to see me. They've told me all about their adventures ever since my passing. Yumi's mission to hunt you intrigued me the most." Kurokage stated.

"Yumi told you about me?" Yukio felt a little bashful.

I didn't think I left that much of an impression. I guess that makes me happy.

"Yumi told me everything about you, from back when you enrolled at Hanzo to her first encounter with you." Kurokage stated, then he suddenly bowed towards Yukio. "Thank you so much, for teaching Yumi about good and evil in a way that I couldn't."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Yukio was confused. He didn't remember teaching Yumi anything.

"You taught her that people still have morals, even if they are evil Shinobi." Kurokage explained.

"Oh, Yumi didn't need me to teach her that." Yukio replied.

"I'm just glad she finally learned that, and I have you to thank for it." Kurokage bowed again.

"Y-You don't need to praise me so much." Yukio grew embarrassed.

Kurokage raised his head. "I know that you've already done enough for Yumi, and I'm grateful for that. However, would you please listen to my request?" He asked.

"Sure, what is it?" Yukio responded.

"I'm afraid that I can't ask you for it just yet, but make sure you're prepared for this festival." Kurokage denied.

"Oh, ok then." Yukio responded.

Kurokage proceeded toward the door, and left Yukio's room. Yukio had new-born determination to participate in the festival.

Wait...I've been thinking about this all wrong? Nobody has destroyed any platforms this early in the festival. I can look around, and figure out what's happening behind the scenes.

Yukio left the hotel and headed into the forest, he suddenly stopped when he heard voices nearby.

There's someone there?!

Yukio jumped into a nearby tree, and jumped from tree to tree towards the voices. He stopped when he saw an opening in the forest. There was the three Mikagura sisters standing by a yellow festival tower.

"So they finished their whole beach volleyball game, ugh...what the hell is wrong with all of them?! They're not even taking the festival seriously." A familiar female voice said.

Wait, isn't that...that's the girl who fought me! I think her name was...Renka. What are they talking about?

Yukio waited in the tree, and watched the three sisters complaining about the other teams.

"Their silliness is over with anyway. We need to stop worrying about them and focus on why we're here." The pigtailed sister said, harshly.

"I've got an idea." The short haired sister got their attention. "What if we actually tell Master Sayuri about why we volunteered? She could help us."

"Of course we can't, you know what will happen if our village finds out." The pigtailed sister countered.

"I know, but...erg..." The short haired girl seemed to be thinking of a comeback.

"Uh...Hanabi. Calm down, ok?" Renka said.

"But...hmm...hmm..." The short haired girl, Hanabi continued thinking.

What's happening? What is this girl doing?

"Ka...k-ka..." Hanabi started to get stressed out. Which made the other two panic.

"Don't do it, Hanabi! Don't say it!" Renka stepped away from Hanabi.

"Stop thinking, Hanabi!" The pigtailed girl tried to calm her sister down, rudely.

Hanabi suddenly pulled out a large firework. "Kaboom!"

She threw the firework as it suddenly went off. Renka and Kagura were hit by the falling sparks, as fire slowly surrounded them. Hanabi then fell asleep.

"Agh! Hanabi! Damn it, she 'kaboom'ed again! Ow! Kafuru, get some water!" Renka shouted.

"There's no where I can go, I'm stuck." The pigtailed sister, Kafuru, countered.

"What?! Ah shit, we're surrounded by fire!" Renka cursed as the fire slowly got closer to them.

Oh god! Gotta get water, and fast!

"Timer!" Yukio stopped time, and rushed to get water from the beach and went back just as time resumed.

Now to help them.

Yukio poured the water all over the fire.

"Huh? The fire's going out?! But we didn't have any water!" Renka exclaimed.

"That wasn't us, you idiot. He got the water." Kafuru pointed towards Yukio.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Renka wondered.

Yukio continued putting out the fire until it was completely extinguished. Afterwards, he let out a sigh of relief.

"That's it for the fire." Yukio said, as he turned to face the Mikagura sisters.

"What do you want, wild card?" Renka asked, in a hostile way.

"Um...you're welcome for saving you." Yukio responded.

"We would've been fine without you!" Renka countered.

Jeez...why is this girl so rude?

"Are you here to destroy our platform, wild card?" Kafuru said.

"Of course not, my whole goal is to keep the festival going. However, I'm not going to stop anyone from attacking the platforms." Yukio responded.

"Obviously, you wouldn't be able to protect all the platforms anyway." Kafuru shrugged.

"Well...yeah, that's the whole point." He remarked.

"What are doing here then, wild card?" Renka questioned.

"Jeez, is it really that unusual for someone to just help?" Yukio let out an annoyed sighed.

"Ok then, why did you help us?" Kafuru countered.

"I don't know. I'm used to helping people for no particular reason." He responded.

"Sounds pretty foolish to me." Kafuru remarked.

"Well...I've done a lot of foolish stuff too." Yukio chuckled.

Since I've had these curses, they've made me want to help others more. I guess that's probably the only good thing about them.

Yukio saw the ghosts from before in the corner of his eye, and immediately started to panic.

"Whoa, you ok, wild card?" Renka asked.

"Well, I'm heading back to the hotel now." Yukio jumped into the trees and headed back to the beach.

After a few minutes, he made it back to his hotel room and sat down on his bed.

Ugh...those ghosts are preventing me from doing anything around the island. I don't know what to do about them either, they're just there to remind me of my failures.

Yukio got up, and started to pace around his room, trying to make a plan about what to do.

All of the girls are probably participating in the festival by now. I guess the only person to go to about all this is Asuka's grandma. She teleported all of us here, so she must know something.

Yukio ran out of the hotel, and looked around the island to see where Sayuri could be. After an hour of searching, he stumbled upon an empty festival in the middle of the forest.

Wait, I've been here. This is where Sayuri explained the rules of the festival. Maybe she's around here?

Yukio looked around, a saw the old lady standing in the middle of the festival. She noticed Yukio, and chuckled.

"So, the wildcard also wishes for answers?" Sayuri asked Yukio.

"How'd you know?" Yukio questioned. "Did the others have questions about the festival?"

"Nah, only Yumi. She only asked if her dear grandpa was here." Sayuri replied.

"What exactly is the point of this festival?" Yukio asked.

"Why, to have all of you face off in the Shinobi bon Dance." Sayuri responded.

"No, I meant why are we doing this?" Yukio clarified his question.

Sayuri went silent, she instead turned her head and faced away from Yukio.

"There's a reason why you brought us here, right? What is the reason?" Yukio started to pressure Sayuri for answers.

"It's best you don't know, boy." Sayuri looked down at the ground.

You've got to be kidding me?! Why is she talking like she's trying to protect me?

"I'm sorry, but I wouldn't have made it this far in the Shinobi world without being stubborn. I'm asking again, please tell me why you started this festival?" Yukio asked again.

Sayuri remained silent, and Yukio let out a disappointed sigh.

Damn it! I didn't get a damn hint of info here.

Yukio started to walk away, and Sayuri glared at him as he walked away.

Defeated, Yukio walked back the hotel as the sun was setting, and he noticed someone by the pool.

"Oh hey, Yukio!" A familiar voice called out, which made Yukio jump in fear, and he immediately turned around.

I know that voice...she isn't going to kill me, is she?

Yukio turned back towards the voice, and saw the white spiky haired Shinobi in a black striped swimsuit.

"Yukio, I wanted to talk with you about something." Miyabi requested, her monotone voice made Yukio question if she was threatening him or not.

I just have to hope that she doesn't hurt me, or anything like that.

Miyabi walked over to the back of the hotel, and Yukio reluctantly followed her. He had his foresight ability active to predict any attacks.

"Yukio...Ryobi and Ryona told me about your ability to see people's past. Is that true?" Miyabi asked as she turned to face Yukio.

"Huh? Yeah, I can do that. How else could I have figured out why your group attacked us." Yukio replied, he couldn't help his anxiety of being caught off-guard, but his foresight didn't give him any indication of an incoming attack.

"Then you know about my past as well?" Miyabi continued.

"Yes, and I'm sorry about what happened with Ryoki-" Yukio said, but Miyabi interrupted.

"Not Ryoki, I already know that you knew about her death. I'm talking about my mom." She corrected. "Do you know what happened to my mother?"

"Yes, and I'm sorry for that too." Yukio apologized.

"I see. Then I don't need to give you anymore context then." Miyabi said.

She turned towards the beach, many ghosts of Shinobi from the past have gathered at the beach and walked along the shore peacefully.

"Do you know if she's here? My mother died in battle, and if Sayuri's telling the truth about this festival, then maybe..." Miyabi said, but hesitated to finished her sentence.

Yukio understood what she was implying. "You want me to help you search for her, right? Well...I'll try my best, but I can't promise anything." He accepted the request.

Miyabi was taken aback by his sudden acceptance, but she smiled and bowed to Yukio. "Thank you, Yukio. I greatly appreciate it."

After everything I've been through, I'm just glad I'm able to still help someone normally like, despite how non-normal this whole situation is.

Yukio held his hand out to Miyabi, and she shook his hand to seal the deal to find Miyabi's mother.

To be continued...