On The Side Of The Pitch With You

Sengoku Era I

"I'm not here for your amusement." Her giggle only made him sigh. Then, a bright yellow color caught his eye. "Is that..."

Down by the river, they spotted a man seeming to scold eight children, three of which were familiar to them. They hurried down and ran into Shindou along the way. Apparently, he had spotted them too.

"Tenma!" Shindou called. "Did something happen?"

The brunette nodded. "Yes, we ran into kidnappers... But he saved us from danger."

"This man?" Tsurugi asked.

"Yeah! Um... Uh..."

The man smiled as he pointed a thumb to himself. "I'm Kinoshita Toukichirou."

Three pairs of eyes widened with Shindou, Tsurugi, and Kimiko immediately recognizing the name.

"Kinoshita Toukichirou?" Tenma repeated, letting his brain process. "I've heard that name before..."

Then, he and Aoi gasped at the same time, the girl turning to him while pointing at the man. "Kinoshita Toukichirou! Isn't that...!"

"Toyotomi Hideyoshi?!"

The man was taken back. "What? What's wrong?"

As the five other children went home, Shindou explained their situation to the man, minus the time-travel. As best he could anyway.

"I'm not sure I understood that, but I understand..."

"I'm sorry, it's complicated."

"Is this 'soccer' that you're trying to bring back that much fun?" He asked.

Tenma nodded. "Yes! It's fun!"

"I see. Well, having what you love close to you is important. Work hard for it."

"Okay!"

"I'm working hard right now to be next to what I love most too." He stated.

"What is it that you love, Toukichirou-san?" Shindou asked.

"What I love is Oda Nobunaga-sama!" All their attention was turned at the mention of that name. "I feel a strength from him that isn't part of this world! I can't help but feel that he'll be the one to turn all of the world's common practices on his head."

"You must look up to Nobunaga-sama a great deal." Tenma commented.

"Yeah, you could say that. I'm going to be by his side one day. Nobunaga-sama has God-given talents. I know he will rule the country one day. If I follow him, I may become a great man too." He stood up proudly. "I am going to be great! I will make sure of it."

He has no idea...

Kimiko nudged her best friend. We're supposed to act like we don't either.

"Well then, you kids should head back to where you're staying." He said. "It's getting late. You don't want the Shiroshika coming after you again."

"Right. Thank you, Toukichirou-san!"

~~~~~

As soon as they met up with the others outside of the village, Wondeba led them to an abandoned temple he found. To their luck, all the electricity and water still worked.

"But it's a little scary..." Akane said, staring out a window. They were surrounded by the dark forest, and the village was quite a walk away, so it was understandable.

Still, "It's better than attracting unwanted attention." Those words weren't very comforting, but because they were said by Shindou, Akane immediately smiled again.

"There will be less chance of us affecting history in a place like this too." Fei stated.

"What do you mean?" Kimiko asked.

"Well, we never know what kind of butterfly effect we could have if we stay in town. We might interfere with something small but was meant to happen and change history by accident."

"That sort of thing can happen, huh..." Tenma muttered.

"Yes. That's why, staying in a place like this would be the most ideal, because no one uses it."

"What about the caravan?" Kimiko asked again. "Since it's invisible and far away, it won't affect anyone if we stayed there, right?"

"True, but it sure would be cramped in there." Fei chuckled. "Unlike the Inazuma Caravan, the TM Caravan isn't meant for camping."

"Well, in any case, let's get started on the cleaning." Aoi called.

"Right!"

As soon as that was done, and they all ate the food Akane and Midori had bought, they sat around an ash pot, lighting it up to keep warm.

They discussed their findings for the day, with Tenma mentioning how they ran into Kinoshita Toukichirou. When Fei mentioned that he's the one who'd become Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the man who unified Japan, Nishiki suggested we take his aura instead.

"No!" An orange glow came from Aoi's sleeve pocket and Daisuke the stone came flying out. "You guys don't get it! It's not the individual's ability but the players' abilities as a whole that make a team when synchronized! As that unified power increases, you bring out your best performance! It's as important as the combination of ingredients in the finest tasting dish. If you want to assemble the strongest team in history, you need the exact players that I specify..." He then went to Nishiki's ear. "OR IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN!!!"

"A-Alright..."

"Also, the one to take Nobunaga's aura will be Shindou Takuto. You!"

"It's... me?"

"Ever since I've changed into this shape, I've grown able to see the power that people possess. Your own special abilities as playmaker will make the most of Nobunaga's power."

"Me with Nobunaga's aura..."

"A game-maker of truth who can appraise people and the general situation, while combining both stillness and motion. Shindou Takuto. That is who you will be. One of the strongest eleven in history."

The boy nodded. "Understood. I'll try it."