Dear Grandpa and Mom, oh, and my dear little brother Sota.
I'm sorry. Your big sister has ended up in the Warring States period, and now I'm about to go to heaven to see Dad!
Higurashi Kagome had lived in a peaceful age and had yet to weather any truly harrowing situations.
Suddenly faced with so many armored horsemen charging straight at her, how could she possibly withstand such terrifying pressure?
Her life flashed through her mind in a dizzying whirl. Kagome had even composed her own epitaph.
Fortunately...
Before coming here, Hojo Akitoshi had given instructions to all his cavalrymen, and they had undergone his rigorous training.
The Hojo cavalry were full-time professional soldiers, well-trained elites through and through.
Under Akechi Mitsuhide's command, the charging cavalry displayed exceptional discipline just before they would have sent Kagome flying.
One by one, they hauled back on their reins, stopping just short of the girl.
"Who are you? Dressed in such bizarre clothing, are you a female ninja from the Takeda or the Imagawa?"
"Unable to defeat my lord on the battlefield, have you resorted to these underhanded methods to assassinate him?"
"If so, come at me! I, Akechi Mitsuhide, shall take your head."
"And present it to my supreme lord!"
Emerging from the ranks, Akechi Mitsuhide studied Kagome, who still had her eyes closed as she waited to die. Her clothes were far too modern.
The handsome Akechi Mitsuhide frowned, then drew his family's treasured sword-Go Yoshihiro.
Pointing it at Kagome, he roared.
"A female ninja? Akechi Mitsuhide?"
Kagome waited for a while, but the impact she had expected never came.
Hearing Akechi Mitsuhide's shouted questions, she timidly opened her eyes.
As she looked at Akechi Mitsuhide sitting astride his stationary horse, her mind descended into chaos, yet her eyes lit up.
He's so handsome!
It was an instinctive reaction from a girl who was, for now, still an innocent teenager from the modern world. Her eyes worked like a high-definition scanner.
She examined Akechi Mitsuhide closely and immediately decided that the man before her!
Was more attractive than any idol from her own era.
"Wait! Akechi Mitsuhide!"
Kagome's sudden, piercing shriek startled both Akechi Mitsuhide and the cavalrymen behind him.
At that scream, quite a few of the riders instinctively drew the long swords at their waists.
"Akechi Mitsuhide!"
She cried out again. Kagome was a good student, but even if she had been a terrible one.
She would still have known someone as wildly popular as Akechi Mitsuhide, who appeared constantly in games and manga.
"Then doesn't that mean the person behind you..."
"That lord behind you is Lord Oda Nobunaga!"
In a flash of inspiration, Kagome rose onto her tiptoes. According to the history she knew, anyone Akechi Mitsuhide called his lord.
Had to be that Demon King of the Sixth Heaven of the Warring States period-Oda Nobunaga, Kazusa-no-suke!
"If only I could get his autograph!"
Cradling her lovely cheeks in both hands, Kagome recalled all the praise she had heard about Oda Nobunaga's beautiful features.
"This woman..."
Akechi Mitsuhide stared at the bewildering woman before him, his brow twitching uncontrollably at her nonsense.
"What rubbish are you spouting? How could the mere Fool of Owari possibly compare to my lord?"
"Are the female ninja of the Takeda or the Imagawa really this incompetent?"
"If you meant to provoke us, then let me tell you-you've succeeded!"
His sword quivered. Akechi Mitsuhide decided that whether or not this woman was an assassin sent by the enemy.
The mere fact that she had compared his lord to the Fool of Owari.
Was reason enough for her to die!
Such were Akechi Mitsuhide's thoughts. He was of noble birth, and although he enjoyed a reputation for virtue.
What sort of age was this? Never mind the present-even a hundred years into the future.
Would it really be such a big deal for a nobleman, a samurai, to cut down a commoner?
Akechi Mitsuhide raised his sword without hesitation and prepared to swing downward, intending to cleave the woman before him in two.
"Hey, you stupid woman!"
The large mounted force had been halted here for some time, so the villagers had heard the commotion and come running out.
Inuyasha, who had parted ways with Kagome in the mountains earlier, had also followed the noise and reached a spot nearby.
When he saw that Kagome, whom Kaede had identified as Kikyo's reincarnation, was about to be killed by a human samurai.
He shouted without a second thought and rushed over to protect her.
"Bastard! Take this-Sankon Tessō!"
With his claws raised, Inuyasha hurtled toward Akechi Mitsuhide.
Meanwhile, having watched Kagome provoke Akechi Mitsuhide until he raised his sword in fury.
Hojo Akitoshi, who had remained under the cavalry's protection all this time, also spoke at the crucial moment.
"Stop, Mitsuhide!"
"My lord!"
Hearing Hojo Akitoshi's command, Akechi Mitsuhide was already preparing to halt his blade.
But Akechi Mitsuhide, who had received rigorous training in the warrior arts since childhood, also noticed Inuyasha rushing toward him from a distance.
"A demon!"
His brow tightened again. At heart, Akechi Mitsuhide wanted nothing to do with demons.
But that hardly meant he was afraid of them, especially one that did not look particularly intimidating.
Shifting his blade away from Kagome, Akechi Mitsuhide squeezed his horse's flanks. He spurred it forward, holding his sword across his body at a slight angle to make use of the horse's momentum.
"Bastard!"
Cursing as he watched Akechi Mitsuhide charge toward him, Inuyasha inwardly sighed with relief that Kagome was safe.
But his opponent's dismissive attitude easily kindled the hot-tempered Inuyasha's anger.
With no intention of backing down, Inuyasha struck out with even greater ferocity.
He swore he would cut Akechi Mitsuhide down from his horse!
Clang!
In the blink of an eye, Akechi Mitsuhide's sword collided with Inuyasha's claws with a tremendous crash.
The horse let out a shrill neigh.
After all, the blood of the Great Dog General of the Western Lands flowed through Inuyasha's veins, even if he was only a half-demon.
He still overwhelmed the charging Akechi Mitsuhide, forcing his horse to rear and neigh. Mitsuhide nearly lost control of the frightened animal and came perilously close to being thrown.
But while Akechi Mitsuhide had fared badly, Inuyasha had also suffered a slight injury.
This guy's sword!
Inuyasha sucked in a breath and discovered a shallow cut across his palm.
"Damned demon."
Having calmed his horse, Akechi Mitsuhide cursed and wheeled it around, ready to order his men to surround and kill Inuyasha.
"Enough, Mitsuhide. Stand down."
Hojo Akitoshi slowly rode out from among the cavalry and spoke again.
Meanwhile, among the villagers was Kaede, Kikyo's younger sister, now aged and blind in one eye.
She hurried to the front and prostrated herself in a deep bow, calling out loudly.
"Please, honored Kirin of Sagami, guardian of Odawara Castle, undisputed Overlord of the Tōkai."
"Lord Hojo Akitoshi, future Ruler of the Realm, please calm your anger."
"The girl over there is Kagome, my granddaughter. She is certainly no female ninja of the Takeda or the Imagawa."
"And this is my granddaughter's shikigami, the half-demon Inuyasha. He is no wicked demon, either!"
"What?"
Hearing Kaede's words and seeing how she was behaving.
Kagome's beautiful eyes blinked uncontrollably. The Kirin of Sagami?
Wasn't the head of the Hojo...
His title wasn't Kirin, was it? Wasn't it supposed to be the Lion?
Wait. Kagome quickly looked toward the man standing before the assembled cavalry.
Hojo Akitoshi was as beautiful as Takuya and Takeshi, as handsome as Nicholas and Daniel, and as strikingly gallant as Andy and a certain Ming.
She promptly tossed that discrepancy to the back of her mind.
"Shikigami?"
A huge, bold, black anger mark seemed to throb on Inuyasha's forehead as he stared at the cavalrymen, some drawing their swords while others dismounted and raised their matchlocks.
Then his gaze fell on the foot soldiers arriving belatedly, pushing the Kunikuzushi cannon...
Before you continue