Perhaps it was fate. When Makoto Nishikado and his group escorted Koyuki Kazahana and the film crew back to the capital of the Land of Snow, the city that had been locked in ice was already thawing.
Sunlight broke through the clouds, settling gently on every tiled eave, as though crowning the dawn of a new era.
The citizens accepted their long-lost princess's return with surprising calm. A decade of Dotou Kazahana's tyranny had ground their patience to dust.
At this point, anyone would be an improvement. This "nothing left to lose" attitude made the transition of power almost absurdly smooth.
As for Makoto's group of four, they were hailed as heroes. Plenty of people had witnessed Dotou's death firsthand, and the story had already grown a few layers of myth in the retelling.
A full week had passed since they'd left Konohagakure.
Utaha Kasumigaoka and the other two girls had spent those days running around with Makoto, nerves wound tight the entire time. Now that things had finally settled, exhaustion hit them like a wave breaking over a seawall.
"I need a bath!"
Utaha practically shouted it, desperation leaking from every syllable.
Megumi Katou and Ran Mouri nodded furiously, exchanging a glance of shared suffering.
As girls who cared about hygiene, even a single day without bathing was unbearable back in the real world, let alone a week. Survival had a way of rewriting your standards, though.
A maid led them to the changing room. The hot spring had been the Daimyo's private retreat, but Koyuki had arranged special permission for them.
They undressed and pushed open the door to the spring. Steam billowed into their faces.
Then all three froze.
Sounds drifted from the pool. Faint splashing. And something else, soft and lilting, threaded with a tremor that defied easy description.
Utaha, at the front, took one involuntary step forward. The mist thinned before her eyes, and the scene sharpened into focus.
Koyuki Kazahana, who would be formally inaugurated as the new Daimyo of the Land of Snow tomorrow, was draped over the warm stones at the pool's edge.
The cold mask she'd worn as "Yukie Fujikaze" was gone. The quiet relief from yesterday's vengeance had been replaced by something hazier, more untethered.
Her lips parted, half-stifled sounds slipping free, her whole expression lost in a fog.
And behind her, a certain someone whose stock had risen dramatically in all three girls' estimation just two days ago was putting in honest work.
!!!???
Three brains crashed simultaneously. Instinct took over, and they bolted.
Even Megumi, eternally unflappable Megumi, had twin patches of red burning on her cheeks, her heart hammering against her ribs.
Back in the changing room, all three faces could've rivaled Hinata Hyuuga's complexion. The image of Makoto and Koyuki refused to leave their heads.
"Shameless."
Utaha broke the silence first, practically spitting the word.
Neither of the others responded. One was still stuck in a loop of where am I and what just happened, while the other looked like a kettle about to whistle.
After a long pause, Megumi managed to speak, her voice strained. "So... are we still bathing?"
The mention of it brought the sticky, grimy feeling rushing back.
Utaha ground her teeth. "Yes. There's no way he can last much longer."
One hour later...
Ran hugged her shoulders, teeth chattering softly. "Maybe... we should put our clothes back on? It's freezing."
Utaha glared at the changing room door with the stubbornness of a siege commander. "No. He's got to come out any second now."
Two hours later...
"Ah-CHOO!"
Utaha sneezed loud enough to echo off the walls.
Megumi finally cracked. "Utaha, let's get dressed. We're going to catch a cold."
The words had barely left her mouth when the door swung open.
Makoto strolled out with a towel around his waist, Koyuki half-asleep on his back. He blinked at the three of them, genuine surprise in his voice. "Huh? You're still here?"
Three pairs of eyes skewered him with identical glares. Then they blurred past him, scrambling for the hot spring like their lives depended on it.
Freezing!
Two days later. The gates of the Land of Snow's capital.
"When will you come back?"
Koyuki stood in her formal regalia, reluctance written across every feature.
Makoto took her hand, his expression tender and layered, shifting seamlessly into his Ninja World Casanova mode. "If our love is true and lasting, why must we cling to every moment together?"
The trio watching from a distance: ...
Utaha couldn't help herself. Another disgusted scoff.
Megumi's face was blank as a slate. "Spreading his affections everywhere. Even in another world."
Ran went quiet for a beat, then had a sudden realization: maybe her own father wasn't so bad after all. Kogoro Mouri might lose all brain function around a pretty face, especially Yoko Okino, but he was all bark and no bite. He'd never crossed that line.
Makoto, on the other hand? He treated the line like a jump rope. Oh look, I'm over it! Oh wait, I'm back! Nope, over again!
By the time he'd exhausted his stockpile of cheesy lines from a past life and finally wandered over, three faces greeted him, each wearing a look of disdain straight out of "I Want You To Show Me Your Panties With A Disgusted Face"
He cleared his throat, adopting a serious expression. "This was a matter of diplomatic relations between two nations. I could hardly refuse."
"Ha."
Utaha's lip curled. The look on her face said everything: You expect me to buy that?
"Scumbag." Megumi's word choice was blunter.
Ran considered her phrasing carefully before speaking. "Sensei, aren't you... being unfair to Akizuki?"
Makoto blinked. "Which Akizuki?"
All three girls: ???
Back in Konohagakure, Makoto went straight to Sarutobi Hiruzen's office to debrief.
The report was, of course, the carefully curated version. No mention of the Mangekyou Sharingan.
His noble sacrifice of his virginity for international relations was left suitably vague. Everything else, he recounted honestly.
The Third Hokage nodded with satisfaction. The Land of Snow was far from the Land of Fire, and a friendship there wouldn't yield obvious short-term benefits, but another ally was always better than another enemy. He'd lived long enough to understand that much.
"As expected of my student."
Hiruzen Sarutobi channeled his inner Fugaku Uchiha, his tone filled with the kind satisfaction of a proud father. 'Go home and rest.'
What a touching picture of master and disciple.
Just a perfectly loving father figure and his incredibly 'dutiful' son!
Meanwhile, the three girls headed to their respective homes.
Ran had barely pushed her front door open when...
Pop! Pop!
Confetti rained down, catching in her hair and settling on her shoulders.
Eri Kisaki and Sonoko Suzuki each held a party popper, beaming. A banner stretched across the center of the living room:
"Congratulations on Ran's Safe Return from Her Mission!"
The table was loaded with food, and a candle-topped cake sat at its center.
Looking at her mother's and best friend's smiling faces, Ran froze for one second. Then the tears came.
"Huh??" Eri startled, rushing forward to pull her daughter into a hug. "Ran, what's wrong? Did something dangerous happen?"
Sonoko panicked too. "Are you hurt? I'll take you to the hospital right now!"
Ran cried for a long time before lifting her tear-streaked face from her mother's arms.
"Mom... what am I supposed to do?"
With Eri and Sonoko coaxing her gently, the three settled onto the sofa.
Between hiccups, Ran recounted the entire mission from start to finish. The critical detail: Makoto Nishikado's Mangekyou Sharingan.
Her anguish came from the collision course waiting in the real world. Her childhood friend, Shinichi Kudo, was investigating Makoto. Those two were bound to clash eventually, and given both their personalities, the result would be catastrophic.
Shinichi was arrogant. Makoto was proud. Two tigers fighting, and one would fall.
The odds were 99.9% that Shinichi would be the one who fell. Possibly for good.
If Ran wanted to keep Shinichi safe, her best option was to go to Sarutobi Hiruzen and expose Makoto's secret.
But every time she thought about the trust Makoto had placed in her, willingly revealing something that could get him killed, she couldn't bring herself to do it.
"He trusted me with something that important... and I'd turn around and betray him? What kind of person would that make me?"
Eri and Sonoko exchanged glances when Ran finished. Neither had expected Makoto to trust her that deeply.
"That's so romantic!" Sonoko gushed first. "A man who shares his most dangerous secret with you? That's basically a proposal! If it were me, I'd marry him on the spot!"
Eri, meanwhile, found herself mentally placing the two young men side by side.
Her conclusion:
Neither one was good enough.
Shinichi Kudo. Insufferably cocky. A little talent for deduction and he thought he was invincible, making enemies left and right, dragging her daughter into danger at every turn.
Makoto Nishikado. Wild and untamable, killing people left and right. Strong now, sure, but what happens when someone stronger comes along?
In summary, the queen of the legal world was thoroughly unimpressed with both prospective son-in-law candidates.
Which was a funny way to frame it, considering Makoto had never shown any sign of pursuing Ran.
Oh well.