Kenshin was doing laundry with the kids when they heard Kaoru whining about her not having any students. Kaoru said that they should be cheerful though and asked Kenshin to treat them to lunch.

While they were walking around. Kenshin saw a boy pick an old man’s purse without the old man noticing it. The boy then heard the old man’s grandson asking for his grandfather to buy him something. Then, he walked back to bring the purse back. He gave it to the grandson. Kenshin told the boy that he’s kind.

Just as Kenshin walked away, the boy heard two women talking about Kenshin’s sword that it’s prohibited to carry sword in the Meiji era.

The boy ran after Kenshin and stole his wallet. Kaoru tackled him down to bring Kenshin’s wallet back but Kenshin gave it to the boy. Kenshin walked away but the boy threw the wallet back to Kenshin. The boy said that his name’s Yahiko Myojin from a family of samurai and he didn’t want anyone’s pity. Kenshin apologized to him and the boy ran away.

Yahiko was sitting by the river when three men came to him and asked for his earnings. It seemed that Yahiko owed them but he didn’t have any money so they beat him up.

While eating some beef hot pots at “Akabeko”, Kenshin and the others learned from the waitress that Yahiko was forced to pickpocket to pay for a debt from a Shuei Yakuza who paid for his mother’s medical bills before she died. Kaoru didn’t wasted any time and went looking for Yahiko.

She found him with some goons who were at that time watching one of them show how to cheat with the dice. She told Yahiko to stop stealing but the leader of the Shuei told her that Yahiko owe them some money. Kaoru said that she’s going to pay for it.

Kaoru agreed with a deal that if she wins with the game of dice, Yahiko would be free of the debts. If she loses, she’d be a slave for them for the rest of her life.

Yahiko told her that he’s not asking for her help as one of the goons pushed him down. Kaoru bet for odd combination and she won. They found out that Yahiko switched the dice for cheating and replaced it with a real one. He also told Kaoru that they’re not going to let her go alive so she better leave right away. He also remembered what Kenshin told him and said that he would stop pick-pocketing and would pay them by earning from honest job.

The leader, Gasuke told Yahiko that there really was no debt and they’re just using him. Kaoru started attacking and knocked down a few of them. She fought Gasuke and lost.

They saw the boss eating. He told Gasuke to bring Yahiko to him. He tried to convince Yahiko to go back pick-pocketing but Yahiko insisted on quitting. The boss told Gasuke to kill Yahiko but Kaoru stood on the way. Then Kenshin came and said he knocked down the other gang members already. Gasuke tried to attack but Kenshin hit him with his sword’s handle and Gasuke got his head stuck in the ceiling. Kenshin asked the boys to let Kaoru and Yahiko go and the boss agreed. He even stopped his men from chasing after them and said that Kenshin had the eyes of a real manslayer. Yahiko said that he wanted to become stronger so Kenshin took him to Kaoru’s dojo to learn the Kamiya Kasshin style of swordsmanship.