Kiyomi usually awakes early, freshens up and wakes up her sister, “Kirika, wake up. Come on, get up”.

“Good morning, Kiyomi. Give me 15 minutes, I’ll be ready,” said Kirika.

“Good morning. I’ll be waiting downstairs,” said Kiyomi. She went down to the dining hall, “Good morning Dad, Mom.”

“Good morning Kiyomi,” said Kiyoshi and Kohaku together.

“What's for breakfast? Anything special,” asked Kiyomi.

“Nothing special. As usual, sandwiches,” said Ayuko.

“Good morning Ayuko,” said Kiyomi.

“Good morning Kiyomi, where’s Kirika?” asked Ayuko.

“I’m here, good morning everyone,” said Kirika. It was Kirika’s favourite catchphrase. Living in year 2042, she still likes an old manga.

“Good morning Kirika,” said Ayuko.

“Good morning Kirika,” said Kiyoshi and Kohaku.

“We’re leaving now for office, take care you both,” said Kohaku.

“Have fun and be safe, dad loves you both,” says Kiyoshi and kisses them on their foreheads and leaves.

“We’ll be back a little late today, take care,” said Ayuko and leaves. The car exits the HK Mansion.

“So, what are your plans for today, Kirika?” asked Kiyomi.

“Nothing, just a normal day at University,” said Kirika.

“Ok, I’m going to the Tech Fair to give a speech and then attend a meeting at Kawasaki (Kanagawa Prefecture), I’ll drop you at the University,” said Kiyomi. Usually, the driver takes Kirika to the University in the car and returns to the HK Mansion right away.

“Alright, I’ll bring my bag,” said Kirika.

Kiyomi drives the car. They leave the mansion. In around 20 minutes, they reach University of Tokyo, Kashiwa campus (Chiba Prefecture).

“There you go. Be safe,” said Kiyomi.

“Yup, thanks for the ride, Kiyomi,” said Kirika.

"I will pick you up later at 4 PM, is that ok?" asked Kiyomi with a smile. Kiyomi always picks Kirika up from the University, no matter what.

“Yup,” said Kirika.

They wave bye to each other and Kiyomi drives the car. When Kiyomi is about a hundred metres away from Kirika, Kiyomi noticed a few men through the rearview mirror. About 8 men dressed

in black, who didn’t seem like university students, walking towards Kirika. Kiyomi grew suspicious about it and parked the car. She began walking towards Kirika. The men surrounded Kirika, they might be trying to kidnap her, considering they don’t seem armed. Kiyomi shouted as she started running towards Kirika, “Kirika, beat them up.” Kirika began bashing them up. Kiyomi joins Kirika in bashing them. They both handled 4 men each. Kiyomi, who has a tendency of torturing people into speaking the truth, gave a fierce glare to the one who was injured the most. He spouted the truth as to who was the mastermind. Kiyomi warned them and let them off.

“Kirika, if anyone tries to harm you, bash them up. I know, I was the one who told you not to beat anyone. But nothing’s more important to me than you. When anyone tries to harm you, remember, you’re free to beat them up. Do you get it?” asked Kiyomi.

“Yes,” said Kirika with an evil smile. She likes bashing up people, but Kiyomi had restricted her from doing so, so she had to wait for Kiyomi to give the order. Kirika listens to Kiyomi strictly in all matters on her own volition. Such was the sisters’ bonding.

Kiyomi’s parents were well aware of how evil the society is, so they had always taught Kiyomi and Kirika about the politics in business, how cruel humans can be, how to be smart and how to protect themselves. Both Kiyomi and Kirika were geniuses, whereas outsiders knew the sisters as just another ordinary pair of sisters belonging to a multimillionaire family. Kiyomi and Kirika were taught self-defence since young. They excelled in different kinds of martial arts, like Karate, Kickboxing, Fencing, Shaolin Kung Fu and Kendo.

Kiyomi sees off Kirika into the University campus. Then, she drove towards Tech Fair, where she is supposed to give a speech. Kiyomi got occupied with her speech and the meeting in Kawasaki. As soon as she got free, she left the place to pick up Kirika from the university. She arrived in time to pick her up. No matter how busy Kiyomi was, she’d always pick Kirika up from the university.

“Kiyomi, let’s go,” said Kirika. She was waiting for Kiyomi to come.

“Hmm, how was your day?” asked Kiyomi.

“Just the same debate we had for the last 3 days straight, and guess what?” asked Kirika.

“You won the debate and scored top among your PhD mates,” said Kiyomi like it was only to be expected from Kirika.“Hmm, not fair, you killed the excitement. Anyway, how was your day?” asked Kirika.

“Someone who was impressed with my speech wanted me to give a guest lecture to the undergraduates of his college tomorrow. The meeting went well, hopefully, will launch the product by next year as a national treasure. Research had been completed, but still, it hasn’t been tested yet,” said Kiyomi. Kiyomi was working as an employee in her father’s company. She was heading the project of developing a Time Travelling Device. Upon success of the project, Kiyoshi was going to announce Kiyomi as the next heir to the HK Groups.“You can do it Kiyomi, I'm sure that you’ll figure out a way to make the product a success,” said Kirika.

When they reached home, they decided to spar, since it’s been a long time since they sparred. Both were sparring in kendo until their parents reached home. They spent some family time, before each went to sleep.

This is how any normal day goes by for this family.

The next day, it was supposed to be like any other normal day. Kiyomi went to the college, to which she was invited to give a guest lecture to the undergraduates. Kiyoshi and Kohaku left for office as usual. The driver dropped Kirika at the University.

Sometime in the afternoon, Kiyoshi and Kohaku left the office building as they had a meeting at a

restaurant nearby. A few assassins, with their M16 rifles, fired at both of them, killing them on the spot. Kiyomi had previously implanted a biometric chip GPS into the hands of her parents and Kirika. This biometric chip GPS works when it is in contact with body heat and tracks the location of the person. Kiyomi had designed it in such a way that she’d receive a distress notification when there is an erratic pulse fluctuation.

Kiyomi received two distress notifications at the same time. In the next few minutes, she witnessed both the GPS signals going blank. She was in a state of panic. She immediately excused herself from the college and tried to leave the place, when a few assassins, wielding guns and knives, were waiting for her. She was in a fit of rage, she had almost lost her rationality. She began killing the assassins one by one. She was being as fast as possible, so that she could go and secure Kirika’s safety. She had killed about 10 assassins in a few short minutes, and drove the car at full speed towards Kirika’s location. She got another distress notification, it was Kirika’s. She was just a few hundred meters away from Kirika. When she saw Kirika fighting more than 10 assassins all alone and bleeding, Kiyomi started firing at them with the guns she had previously taken from the assassins earlier. Kirika falls on the ground, bleeding…

Kiyomi begs her to stay alive. Kirika, realising that she doesn’t have much time, tells Kiyomi about the masterminds behind this assassination. Two people were behind the death of her parents and her. Kirika controls her heavy breathing to inform and caution Kiyomi of the danger that was about to befall, “Kiyomi, that Takahashi Hisato and Ozutsuki Itsuo turned out to be the traitors. They’ve joined hands to acquire our HK Groups by killing us all. Kiyomi, listen to me, please, …… (gasping for breath) don’t let the watch fall into their hands, be careful. Go back in time … (speaking feebly) and don’t create the watch”. Kiyomi screams as she watches her sister die in her arms.

Kiyomi couldn’t hear Kirika’s last sentence. Her voice was too feeble and inaudible to be heard by Kiyomi. Kiyomi understood the situation more or less, and decided to travel back in time to save her family. She closes Kirika’s eyes and promises her “I’ll be back soon, everything’s gonna be alright”. She leaves the place immediately and goes to the company. She notices those traitors standing in the company’s lobby, pretending to be innocent. In order to go undetected, she sneaks into the 18th floor of the company. The company is strictly secured, with various security systems, from intruders and outsiders. All these security systems were personally designed and created by the Genius HK Sisters. No one other than people from HK Mansion knew how genius these sisters were. Kiyomi reached the R&D department without creating any suspicions. No one was inside the department, everyone was downstairs. The news of the demise of HK family had spread throughout the city. The traitors didn't know that Kiyomi is still alive. They had assumed her to be dead as well, and were overjoyed from inside. Some were feeling bad to have lost the HK family, while a few were gossiping about their demise.

The R&D department never has any security cameras for the sake of protecting the company’s inventions, especially the sisters’ inventions. The sisters had a separate compartment were no one was granted access except the sisters themselves. Kiyomi goes through the security system for entering her research compartment.

“Who are you? Name yourself” the security system questions.

“I'm Homura Kiyomi” said Kiyomi.

“Name match successful. Voice match successful. Place your hand on the screen and look into my eyes” says the security system in a monotonous tone. There’s an eye socket near the screen that scans the retina and iris of the person for identification.

Kiyomi places her hand and looks into the socket for scanning. “Handprint match successful. Iris and Retina match successful. You’ve been granted access, sorry for the delay master” says the security system.

Kiyomi had a breakthrough in inventing a time travelling watch but it wasn’t tested by anyone yet. Kiyomi takes the watch and looks at the compartment. Kiyomi destroys all of the inventions, including Kirika’s, inside the compartment. She then modifies the security system into self-destructing the whole R&D department if the access has been denied twice while trying to enter the compartment.

Kiyomi, with the watch inside her pocket, leaves through the emergency exit and leaves the building with a modified motorbike which was stored behind a false wall in the underground basement of the company. She travels to the family hideout which is in the South Kanto region. As soon as she reaches the hideout, she prepares for the time travel. She charged the watch with high voltage for 3 hours. It was already late night. Her dress was stained with blood, so she changed into a night robe. Kiyomi decides to take the risk of travelling back in time. The device hasn’t been tested so far, thereby enveloping unknown risks. Kiyomi wears the watch and sets the date she wants to travel to. The watch whizzes.

Kiyomi finds herself in the middle of a farm. She rubs her eyes. She looks around. She finds a lake nearby. After looking at it for some time, she realises that it’s the same lake near her family hideout in South Kanto. She then realises that her family hideout was built in the very farm she was standing in. She now realises that she has travelled way back in time. Being confused as to what to do now, she tries to relax and inhales deeply.

Some men were searching for a young woman in her teens near the farm. They were shouting “Lady Kyoko, Lady Kyoko”. They were walking towards Kiyomi. They were close enough for their voice to be heard by Kiyomi. They shouted again “Lady Kyoko …”, Kiyomi jerked. She turned around to see the men. They were all dressed the same. Kiyomi noticed them carefully and concluded that they must be soldiers. One of the soldiers noticed Kiyomi, and called the other soldiers. They all started running towards her. Kiyomi immediately raised her guard in caution. The soldiers began questioning Kiyomi;

1st Soldier: Lady Kyoko, what are you doing here? Your family is worried about you?

2nd Soldier: Lady Kyoko, thank the heavens we found you. We’ve been searching for you the whole day.

Homura Kiyomi: Kyoko? Me? Who are you?

1st Soldier: Lady Kyoko, you don’t remember your name? This is serious, we need to inform your parents about this immediately.

2nd Soldier: Lady Kyoko, we are your personal guards. You can trust us. Please do come with us. You’ll be alright.

Kiyomi, not understanding the situation yet, tries to know more about which timeline she is in. She decides to go along with them, but doesn’t plan on letting her guard down.

Homura Kiyomi: Who are the members in my family?

1st Soldier: You have a very noble person as your father.

2nd Soldier: He’s not only noble in his character. He’s a noble by birth.

1st Soldier: You have a kind and caring mother. She cares for all of us.

2nd Soldier: You have a little sister too. You love her a lot.

Kiyomi remembers her family and misses them. She promises to herself that she’ll change the future and save her family.

They have been walking for about 15 minutes until they finally reached the Minoru Residence.

A guard, upon noticing the soldiers returning with Kiyomi, goes inside to inform the master of the residence. The master and his wife rush to the entrance of the residence.

1st Soldier: Master Minoru, we found Lady Kyoko near Ashinoko Lake.

2nd Soldier: Madam Minoru, young lady Kyoko seems to have lost her memories.

Minoru Nobuyuki, the master of the house and the father of Minoru Kyoko, hugged Kiyomi. He then checks her temperature and asks his wife, Minoru Shinobu, to take her in and let her rest.

Minoru Shinobu takes Kiyomi by her hand and takes her inside the residence. She started crying and praying to God, “Thank God, for finding you and keeping you safe. Do you know how worried we were? Where did you go?”

Kiyomi, trying to handle the situation at hand, says “I’m sorry but I don’t remember anything. Are you my mother?”

“Oh, my poor girl, what has happened to you? Yes dear, I’m your mother. I have something to talk with your father, so take rest in your room” says Minoru Shinobu and shows Kiyomi her room.

Kiyomi goes to the room she was directed to and looks around. There she finds a portrait of Minoru Kyoko. She is shocked at the portrait. She is convinced that Minoru Kyoko looks exactly like herself. She now decides to go along and pretend to be Kyoko until she understands more about the timeline she currently is in. Hereinafter, Kiyomi would be referred to as Kyoko.

Minoru Nobuyuki and Shinobu comes to her room. Nobuyuki notices the dress Kyoko is wearing. “What happened to your Jūnihitoe?” asks Nobuyuki. Kyoko’s night robe from the modern era looks like a Hitoe in the Edo Period. Jūnihitoe is a kind of kimono that has twelve layers of clothing and Hitoe is one among those layers. Noble women wear Jūnihitoe. Kyoko’s Hitoe has colors that has not yet been discovered in the Edo Period.

“I don’t know” says Kyoko, She thinks to herself, ‘I don’t even know what you’re talking about’.

(Shakes his head) Nobuyuki says, “Never mind, Kyoko, this is a crucial time and you’ve lost your memories in such a crucial time. We’ll tell you all you need to know to handle the current situation. We don’t have much time to tell you everything in detail. Can you handle them dear?”

“Yes, father” said Kyoko with hesitation.

“Good daughter, I know you can handle this. Here’s what you need to know. You’re the firstborn daughter of a Great General of the Kanto Region, directly under the service of The Emperor of the Kanto Region. You’re betrothed to the Second Prince of the Kanto Region, The Emperor’s Second Son. You need to be careful when you interact with anyone from the Royal Family. You should treat them with respect and protect our family’s pride. The Second Prince will be coming to see you tomorrow, you should respect him and treat him well. You should obey him”, says Nobuyuki.

Kyoko’s mind voice – ‘What the hell, where have I come? I’m a Great General’s firstborn?’, scoffs ‘And I’m betrothed to the Second Prince of the Emperor of Kanto Region? Damn, what era have I travelled back to?’

“Yes, father” says Kyoko after noticing Minoru Nobuyuki and Shinobu constantly staring at her, waiting for her reply.

“Here, let me help you get changed into some decent clothes” says Shinobu while Nobuyuki is relieved to see his daughter safe. He just hopes that all goes well and his daughter is married off to the Second Prince without any problem.

It’s evening time, and Shinobu is teaching Kyoko about things like how to present herself in front of the Royal Family, how to behave when in their presence and such . The real Kyoko is a 16-year-old girl while Kiyomi who is now pretending to be Kyoko is a 23-year-old adult, but somehow both look the same in height and appearances.

Kyoko listens to Shinobu carefully, so that she can avoid being suspected by anyone in this timeline, until she can travel back to the future i.e., a day before the assassination.

After hours of personal training imparted by Minoru Shinobu, Kyoko is allowed to sleep some time before midnight. Kyoko being a martial artist can sleep just a few hours and still be active for the whole day. Kyoko woke up early, and was meditating. Though she has travelled back to the past, she is still unsure of her safety, especially since she’s currently in a period where Emperor of Kanto Region exists, which could very well be the Warring States period. So, in order to prepare herself for any worst situation, she decides to conserve energy until she returns back to the timeline she’s from. As expected of Kyoko’s brilliancy, she has sorted most of the things out with just a few clues.

Minoru Shinobu knocks on Kyoko’s door to wake her up. The real Kyoko used to sleep like a log and Shinobu had to wake her up every single day. Little does she know that this Kyoko is already awake and is meditating.

Kyoko, after hearing the knock on the door, opens her eyes and immediately opens the door. Shinobu is shocked to see Kyoko answering to her knocks so soon, which apparently was a rare sight to Shinobu. Shinobu thought to herself that Kyoko is unexpectedly quite interested in this marriage that she even woke up so soon. Kyoko waved her hand in front of Shinobu and brought Shinobu back to reality. Shinobu informs, “Kyoko, the Second Prince is on his way, he might reach here anytime now, get ready soon”.

Kyoko patiently says, “Yes, mother”. Kyoko then goes inside the room, takes a quick bath and then wears the formal clothing that Shinobu gave her yesterday, asking her to wear it today for meeting the Second Prince. It took a while to wear that overly formal clothing and just as she came out of her room, the news came that the Second Prince has arrived.

Minoru Nobuyuki and Shinobu went to the entrance to welcome the Second Prince to the Minoru Residence. The servants of the Minoru Residence where chanting repeatedly “Long Live the Second Prince, Long Live the Kingdom”. They kneeled down and welcomed the Second Prince. The Second Prince signalled the Great General to stand up and the chants stopped. The Great General showed the way inside, and the Second Prince followed him. Kyoko has been witnessing this from the beginning. The maids in the hall kneeled down and greeted the Second Prince as soon as he entered the building. Kyoko immediately kneeled down and greeted the Second Prince. The Second Prince, Ryouichi looked around and found his to-be Princess kneeling. He approached her and told her to get up. He asked her “What’s your name?” All the maids were still kneeling and only Kyoko got up. They weren’t allowed to get up until the Second Prince allows them to.

“It’s Minoru Kyoko, Your Highness” said Kyoko with her head still bowing down.

The Second Prince Ryouichi held Kyoko’s chin and lifted her face to have a look. He is astonished & mesmerised to have seen such a beauty. He turns back and says to the Great General “I like your daughter, she will be my Princess. The wedding ceremony will happen in 3 days from now. Until then, take care of my Princess”.

“As you wish, Your Highness” said Minoru Nobuyuki.

The Second Prince Ryouichi leaves immediately after ordering the Great General to prepare for the wedding ceremony.

Kyoko was speechless, her mind voice – ‘What just happened?’, scoffs ‘That’s it? He just looked at my face and decided to marry me? What if I was ugly, would he have said that he doesn't like me? Ridiculous!’.

Kyoko looked at the Second Prince’s face carefully when he lifted her face. She had thought that he was handsome, but now, she questions his attitude for deciding to marry just with one look.

Kyoko goes back to her room and changes into normal clothes and comes out to have some water. Shinobu looks at Kyoko and says “Kyoko, you’re gonna get married in 3 days. Don’t go anywhere out of the residence”.

Kyoko says “Can I roam inside the residence?” while her inner voice wanted to add ‘Am I atleast allowed to do that?’. Shinobu agrees. Kyoko drinks some water and goes out to the garden in front of the building.