Kauro, Kenshin and Yahiko accompanied by Ayame and Suzume, have decided to take a break from their daily troubles and go to visit the circus, hoping to have some good time, and they really do seem to enjoy themselves. However, there's a group of other people who aren't as happy about the circus's success- The manager of the rival circus doesn't seem too pleased about the fact that he has no costumers anymore, he blames it all on some "cannon girl"...
Back to the KenshinGumi, they are now watching the main attraction of the Ebishu Cannon Circus- Marimo, the human bullet. In front of their amazed eyes, a cute girl (or at least that's what Yahiko says ^_^) enters the arena and crawls into a cannon located behind her. The show's manager, who is also the girl's father, lights up the cannon and begins the countdown. After three seconds the girl comes shooting out of the cannon and hits the bullseye of the target stationed above her. The crowd cheers in disbelief, as the girl lands on her feet and runs to her father. Suddenly, two other men enter the circus arena, one of whom is Mr. Sumidaya, the other circus's manager mentioned earlier. It appears that Marimo's father used to work for Sumidaya but then went independent. However, he still owes Sumidaya money for helping him start his new business. Marimo's father promises to pay by the end of the following day, which was their original deal. But Sumidaya isn't convinced and says that if he doesn't pay up he must return to his circus with no complaints. The other man who came with Sumidaya uses his pipe to create a fire on the arena as a warning to Marimo's father as both men leave, laughing. Before Kauro and Kenshin could even notice, Yahiko was down at the arena giving Marimo and her father a hand in putting out the fire, which also gave him a chance to introduce himself to Marimo who, while thanking him, called him Yahiko-chan, and we all know how he dislikes that...
At the Kammiya Dojo, Sanosuke is surprised that Yahiko can fall for girls so easily, what with both Tsubame and then Marimo. Yahiko, who doesn't seem too pleased with Sanosuke's embarrassing words, stands out and goes on a walk, but the gang knows that the real reason is that he's is worried about Marimo.
As Marimo and her father are walking down the street, a thief approaches them and steals the money supposed to be used as payment for Sumidaya.
When Marimo's father attempts to chase the villain, a bunch of large planks fall on him. Marimo stands next to the pile of wooden boards covering her father and screams for help after being threatened by the man who stole her father's money and his two friends. Luckily for her, Yahiko, who was just passing by, comes to the rescue and attacks all three men, causing them to run away with the money. Now, with a little help from Yahiko, Marimo manages to take her father to the Kokuni clinic where he will be taken care of by Megumi.
Here a problem arises... Marimo needs to have another performance the following day in order to get the money back, otherwise the circus will be closed. But the thieves, who obviously work for Mr. Sumidaya, took the money while making sure that Marimo's father will get injured from the pile of planks... And after all, the key to their show is a perfect synchronicity between father and daughter, seeing as how a slight miscalculation of the amount of gunpowder needed could lead to a total disaster. So Megumi volunteers to mixing the gun powder instead of the injured father, saying that it's probably similar to mixing medicine.
The following day at the Ebishu cannon circus, Marimo discovers that the gunpowder is missing! So Yahiko and Marimo run off to a local fireworks store in order to buy some gunpowder while Kauro, Kenshin and Sanosuke help out by stalling the crowd. They do a good job at first, making the audience laugh with their clumsy performances (like Kauro throwing daggers at Sanosuke and almost killing him, or Kenshin trying to stand still on a giant ball but falling down) but eventually, the crowd gets sick of them and want the famous cannon girl.
After having a little encounter with Sumidaya and his assistant, Marimo and Yahiko manage to arrive safely back to the circus but with Sumidaya's entire staff chasing them. Kenshin warns Sumidaya's so-called "warriors" that their skills aren't meant for actual fighting but for performances so they shouldn't battle hit. Foolishly, they insist. Using nothing but an umbrella, Kenshin manages to defeat all three performers within seconds, leaving Sumidaya's assistant to Yahiko. But Sumidaya is escaping and one of Kenshin's victims broke the cannon. Fortunately, Sanosuke comes to the rescue. He picks up the cannon on his shoulder and shoots Marimo up above, eventually landing on Sumidaya's head. Sumidaya's assistant isn't very loyal and tells the police all about the crimes he has committed, leading to Sumidaya's arrest.
After the show, Marimo asks the gang if they are interested in continuing to perform with the circus. Kauro says that she'll be delighted and that she's sure that Kenshin and Sano would love to be her dagger-throwing targets, a sentence which sends both Kenshin and Sano running like there's no tomorrow.
