Chapter 4: Breaking the Pattern
Step 3 of Alice's longterm plan to return to Gensokyo was complete, more or less. It had taken months, or maybe years. It was hard to keep track. Given the youkai's expected lifespan, it was all more or less the same.
Regardless, she had figured out a way to locate where her puppets were. When Alice cast her spell, the numerous puppets she had created and sold throughout her time in this outside world revealed themselves to her. The large collections of them in The Seven-Colored Puppets were obvious. The scattered ones around Konoha were plainly apparent too, as were the few which had traveled far beyond the city limits. More than all of those combined, though, she felt a concentration of them elsewhere. That concentration was located outward, but not upward, for lack of a better term. It had to be Gensokyo.
With that out of the way, it was on to Step 4. She had to find some way to pierce the Great Hakurei Barrier, or whatever else it was that blocked her way to Gensokyo. There had to be a way. She only needed to figure out what it was. She didn't know how she was going to pierce the barrier yet, but she did know that whatever mechanism she would employ to do so would involve her puppetry. Somehow.
It was a shame that Marisa wasn't around to consult with. When it came to breaking into things, the Greedy Magician couldn't be beaten.
In the meantime, life went on. Alice continued to manage The Seven-Colored Puppets to acquire resources for her craft. Puppet creation was her profession, her hobby, her income, and her salvation all in one. It was convenient that it all lined up so well for her.
Her latest creation, Paris, had been a complete success. The glittering, flashy, and extravagant puppet couldn't help but be eye-catching. She always fought to be the center of attention, even when she was merely sitting on a pedestal. She wore an intricate violet and magenta and rose and indigo and cerulean and cardinal and azure confection. Interwoven in her dress were threads of metal which glittered brightly. It made her sparkle and almost glow with a light all her own as she relaxed in the sunlight. In fact, she did literally glow with a light all her own the few times Alice controlled her. Alice didn't do so very often. Paris was a bit too high maintenance, and she took a bit too much effort to casually control. But that was all right. Paris was rather lazy, too. She preferred to just lounge around and look pretty, rather than to do anything which might cause her to get dirty.
Alice was trying to decide what type of puppet she wanted to work on next when Naruto barged into her room. It was a rather unusual intrusion. He typically didn't enter the home portion of Alice's house without being escorted by Shanghai, or at least giving some warning of some kind. He was covered in mud and debris, and he was tracking dirty footprints everywhere. Alice wondered what had caused this change of appearance and behavior.
"Help!" Naruto hurried out.
Alice didn't know how to react at first. She asked, "What's wrong?"
"He went in there!" a voice from outside shouted. That was enough to get Alice to her feet.
"Come out here and fight, you coward!" another voice shouted.
"What's going on?" Alice asked.
"I got into a fight with this boy. I was totally winning. Believe it. But then he goes and calls all his friends and they ganged up on me," Naruto said.
"Slow down. Why were you fighting him?" Alice asked. From what she had seen, Naruto wasn't one for fighting that much. He pranked people all the time, and he postured a great deal, but Alice could count on one hand the number of actual fights he had been in throughout the time she had known him.
"You gotta help. He kidnapped Sakura," Naruto said.
Alice frowned.
"You'd better come out unless you want something else to happen to it!" another shout taunted. "Oh, oops!" The mocking voice didn't sound at all apologetic.
"That's them?" Alice asked.
"Yeah," Naruto said.
"Let's go," Alice said. People just didn't treat puppets that way. Not the puppets Alice made. Especially not the named ones. She was going to make sure they learned that lesson well and good.
Alice stood at the entrance to The Seven-Colored Puppets and faced the dozen kids there. They formed a semicircle in front of the door. Three of them were wearing those weird metal forehead protectors she saw from time to time around the city and occasionally in her shop where they invariably caused problems.
"That's him," Naruto said. He pointed at a boy in the center of the pack.
"What's the matter? Hiding behind a girl? What a coward," the boy Naruto had pointed at said. He was one of the ones with a forehead protector. Alice could immediately see Sakura held in his hand. She was not in good shape. She was covered in mud. Her hair was in disarray. Her dress was basically shredded. Her arm had been detached and it was still being held in the boy's other hand where he had wrenched it off.
As the boy spoke, Alice controlled a platoon of puppets to come out. Each one was a sister puppet to Sakura. They all wore the same happy and carefree smiles they always had, and were almost identical in appearance to Sakura when she had first been made. Showmanship was important for a good puppet show, after all.
The puppets quickly and almost silently flanked the group of boys. Almost silently. They intentionally made a small amount of noise as they moved. It was showmanship. Whispers of activity were much more effective at scaring people than absolute silence. In practically no time at all, they had the group completely surrounded. The boy who was speaking didn't notice, but the others did.
"Uhh... Ryuuchi..." somebody next to the center boy said, nudging him with his elbow.
As one, each of the puppets drew a weapon of some sort. Some had maces. Some had lances. Some had knives. The same carefree smile on each of the puppets suddenly took on a dark and sinister tone. It was the stuff of nightmares.
"Ahhhhh!" the boys screamed as one.
They had only glanced at the layers of metal and wood which surrounded them before running away from the animated terrors as fast as their legs could take them. Most of them made it. Alice didn't bother trying to stop them. One in particular did not. Two of the puppets grabbed the legs of Ryuuchi and sent him tumbling to the ground. Several others grabbed him and held him fast.
The magically controlled puppets were strong for their size. That was on their own. When combined into the eight which had conspired to hold Ryuuchi down, it would have been impossible for even a grown man to overcome them.
Alice walked forward slowly. Deliberately. It was showmanship. Showmanship was important. She was going to teach Ryuuchi to not mistreat puppets, and he would never forget the lesson.
"Sakura?" Alice asked. She had taken control of the injured puppet and had her struggle to her feet from where she had fallen. The puppet limped forward. Her limp was clearly in the sight of Ryuuchi. The boy frantically looked anywhere and everywhere for salvation. "Sakura. What did this boy do to you?"
Ryuuchi was still struggling to get up, for all the good it did him. His eyes were focused on the suddenly living Sakura in front of him, and on her sister puppets surrounding and restraining him.
Sakura used her good hand to point up at her hair. It had been ripped ragged.
Two more of Sakura's sister puppets approached Ryuuchi.
"I see. I see," Alice said. "I think your sisters want a bit of revenge. Isn't that nice? It seems only fair to return the favor."
One of Sakura's sister puppets held Ryuuchi's head firm. The aim would need be precise. Alice only wanted to scare the boy, not accidentally maim or kill him.
Ryuuchi could only blink his eyes and gibber incoherently as another sister puppet floated over his head. She wielded a simple chef's knife. It looked impossibly huge in her hands. It would have been comical if it hadn't been so sinister. She raised the knife and sliced it down, cutting through Ryuuchi's hair and leaving a bald streak in its wake.
The boy soiled himself.
"What? That's not it?" Alice asked rhetorically.
Sakura took her detached arm in her good hand and used it to point to the shoulder where it had previously been fastened.
"Oh dear, dear, dear," Alice said, shaking her head. "That looks painful."
The two puppets who had grasped Ryuuchi's arm pulled it out. They held it uncomfortably apart from his body, almost to the point of dislocation. The same knife-wielding puppet from before floated into position.
Ryuuchi looked back and forth between the injured Sakura, the uninjured knife-wielder, and Alice. He was still gibbering unintelligibly.
The knife-wielding puppet stopped right above Ryuuchi's shoulder. She placed the knife's edge against his shoulder socket, turned it to a proper alignment, and raised it up.
Ryuuchi screamed.
The knife sliced downward.
... only to be interrupted by Sakura. She had stepped forward right in the blade's path just as the knife had started to descend. The blade stopped a hairsbreadth away from Sakura's body. It was expertly choreographed.
"Are you sure?" Alice asked. Sakura nodded. "Okay. You heard her, everybody."
All of the sister puppets let go. Ryuuchi was now free to move. Not that he did. He stayed frozen still on the ground.
"You're lucky Sakura is so forgiving. Next time you might not be so lucky, Ryuuchi," Alice said. When the boy still remained paralyzed with fear, Alice further prompted him. "I suggest you run."
Ryuuchi didn't need to be told twice. He scrambled to his feet and ran away, screaming louder than the combined shouting of all the boys before.
Once Ryuuchi was well out of sight, Alice put away all of the puppets. The street was now quiet. The only evidence that anything unusual may have happened just moments prior were some strands of hair left fallen on the dirt. They were slowly being blown away by a slight breeze.
Naruto was laughing non-stop.
Based on the reaction of the audience, the performance hadn't been that bad. It had been a bit cheesy, but it was as good as could be expected for a spur of the moment show. It wasn't like Alice had had the months of time to prepare that she would have had for the splendid performances she gave at the Human Village festivals.
In retrospect, Alice wondered if maybe she had overdone it a bit. However, she then saw the dirty and broken Sakura below her once again. She hadn't. If anything, she might have been a bit too lenient. She picked the puppet up and walked back to Naruto.
"Let's get inside and see what I can do for Sakura," Alice said. Naruto followed right behind her.
The first stop was the bathroom. Alice drew a small bath for Sakura to clean off as much of the filth as she could. The grime would just get in the way of Alice's work. Naruto hovered over them like a worried parent.
Once Sakura's shredded clothing had been discarded and the mud coving her had been washed away, Alice was able to properly assess the damage. It wasn't too bad. Sakura's hair had been torn, but a simple haircut to straighten it out would address that. Her arm had been removed, but it was a clean break at the joint, and it would be an easy matter to create another fastener to reattach it. Alice wouldn't even need to make a new arm, seeing how Sakura's old one had been salvaged and was undamaged.
"Can you fix her?" Naruto asked.
"I should be able to. Why don't you find a new outfit for her while I work?" Alice suggested. Sakura's old dress wasn't even fit to be used as a rag.
Naruto walked over to a wardrobe of puppet clothing while Alice moved to a worktable and pulled out a few tools.
The first thing to do was to straighten Sakura's hair. Alice took some scissors and trimmed around to cut away the asymmetries. Even when Sakura's hair was even, Alice kept cutting. She stopped only when it finally felt right. She ended with Sakura's hair in a slightly longish bob cut. The low-maintenance look suited the puppet and felt much more in tune with the active personality she had developed through all the shenanigans she had witnessed and participated in with Naruto. There was no way Sakura would ever be mistaken for any of her sister puppets now. Alice had always been able to tell the difference before, but now it would be obvious to all but the most unobservant.
Once Sakura's hair was settled, Alice turned her attention to the detached arm. It was short work to make an appropriate joint and reattach it. All said and done, it had only taken a couple of minutes.
"Is she all better?" Naruto asked. Alice hadn't expected Naruto to have finished selecting a new outfit for Sakura, but he had already returned to her side.
"Good as new," Alice said.
The outfit Naruto had selected surprised Alice. She had expected something orange. Naruto was always wearing that attention-grabbing color. It was his favorite color. Alice had been sure that that would have tainted his judgment, no matter how much the color mismatched Sakura.
Alice was pleasantly mistaken in her speculations. Instead of a predictable and unsuited orange outfit, Naruto had selected a slightly abbreviated blue and white cheongsam which Alice felt matched the puppet's tastes perfectly.
Once Sakura was dressed, Alice flexed her control to move Sakura around a bit to make sure the reattached arm and everything else was in good shape. After she was satisfied everything was in order, Alice returned the puppet to Naruto. He looked Sakura over and then placed her in a pouch he kept strapped around his waist. She was held secure there, facing forward and ready to indirectly join in with whatever escapade Naruto happened to be undertaking.
"Thanks," Naruto said. His mood had been restored just as quickly and just as completely as Sakura's state. He had no more worry and no more sullenness. He was back to his jubilant self with no evidence of his earlier problems with Ryuuchi and the others.
"You're welcome," Alice said. "Now that that's taken care of, how is everything else? How's your fuinjutsu turning out?"
"So-so, I guess. I tried asking some of the teachers in the academy in the other classes, but none of them would tell me anything about it, either. I tried asking the old man, too, but he just said something about my blood," Naruto said. "I still don't see what the big deal is. I found a couple of scrolls in the library, and it doesn't seem that hard."
They exchanged smalltalk a bit longer, but Alice had no doubt where it would lead. It was practically a script. The weather was perfect. There was no reason not to. If nothing else, Naruto always got some free snacks or cake at the end, if not the ramen he loved so much.
After a minute more, Naruto brought up the idea of a danmaku battle.
Shanghai flew forward at the suggestion, as opposed to Hourai who hadn't reacted very much at all. Just in case, Alice looked over to Hourai and asked, "Do you want to come too?"
Hourai shook her head. She was content to stay home and hang from her favorite perch along the side of the room.
"Can you watch the shop while we're out?" Alice asked.
Hourai nodded her agreement back. It was quite an interesting effect, seeing how she was still hanging in her noose as she did so.
"Okay, I'll leave things to you then," Alice said. "Let's go."
Hourai waved goodbye to them. Naruto waved back, and then was out the door in a heartbeat. Shanghai and Alice followed at a somewhat more reasonable speed. Danmaku in Alice's house had always been slightly constrained, and now that Naruto was dodging spell cards fairly proficiently the room's limitation were felt more acutely than ever. They could still play indoors in the event of terrible weather or some other limitation, but moving their danmaku battles outside was much more prudent.
The three of them left The Seven-Colored Puppets and moved to a nearby grove. It had several properties which made it a good arena. The trees had grown in such a way that the clearing was roughly rectangular, which made it a naturally good playing field. It was in a secluded area, which meant that it was unlikely that some random bystander would end up caught in the crossfire. And it was outside, which made cleaning up much easier as they could leave things as they ended up if they wanted to. The only real downside was that the grove was much brighter in the sunlight than Alice's house, which made it somewhat harder to see and appreciate the beautiful bullet patterns of danmaku.
They reached the natural arena and all three of them went their separate ways.
Alice walked to the center of the clearing in preparation for the match to come.
Naruto had a bit more preparation to undertake. He walked over and picked up a bag where it had been left in a nook under a tree. The bag was heavy, which stood to reason as it was filled with rocks. It was an inelegant solution to an inelegant problem.
Kunai were too expensive to literally throw away in massive quantities, so Naruto had figured out something better. In this case, better was defined as being cheaper. He had painstakingly gathered hundreds of rocks from the rivers and forests around Konoha. They weren't nearly as precise or as effective as kunai, but the sheer quantity of them had a quality all its own. Their slight unpredictability also added a bit of extra challenge when trying to avoid the projectiles.
Naruto's solution also had the interesting effect of subdividing his danmaku battles into roughly three phases. He would begin very offensively, throwing out lots of projectiles while moving relatively slowly due to the weight of the bag. As the bag lightened, Naruto would gradually speed up. If the battle lasted long enough, he would enter a third phase once the bag was emptied, where Naruto's attack pattern would abruptly change as he started moving erratically to salvage the projectiles he could from the ground.
It wasn't elegant. It wasn't beautiful. It was barely functional. But it was functional. Naruto's solution of throwing rocks could have been better, but it was far superior to the alternative of Naruto only being on the defense the entire game.
The only thing which remained before Naruto could participate in a danmaku battle as a full participant was to figure out some way for him to emulate spell cards. That was one of the major reasons he was trying to learn fuinjutsu. Alice didn't see how sealing techniques were at all related to spell cards, but Naruto seemed convinced that if he figured out enough, they could work.
Shanghai's path was much more like Alice's than Naruto's. She flew directly into the clearing. She took her place near the side of the grove and hovered in place as she patiently waited for her opponent.
Naruto's skill had definitely improved over time, but Alice had to give the edge to Shanghai. That was when Shanghai operated semi-autonomously on her own. If Alice were to take a more direct role in the fight, then facing the puppet would have been as difficult as facing Alice herself. But there was no reason for Alice to do such a thing. The whole reason for Naruto to face Shanghai was to give him a legitimate chance to win in a fair fight against a roughly equally skilled opponent.
There was even the chance that Shanghai could possibly learn some new tricks and tactics. Maybe. And, if that happened, it could be the key to bringing Alice one small step closer to achieving her longterm goal of creating a fully autonomous puppet.
Besides, it was fun. Fun for Naruto. Fun for Shanghai. And fun for Alice to watch. It was a shame the clearing was as bright as it was. A bit more shade would have made the game that much more impressive to observe.
Naruto entered the clearing once he was prepared and took a position opposite of Shanghai. Alice stood in the middle between the two of them.
Once all of the players were in position, Alice signaled the start of the battle and then got out of the way.
Tea at Ramen Ichiraku was good. The ramen was good as well. It was a good conclusion after a hard-fought danmaku battle.
Shanghai couldn't join in any of the eating and drinking herself, but that didn't prevent her from animatedly joining in the festivities. She flew over the table, and her various gestures and pantomimes made it clear she was having just as much fun as Alice and Naruto were having.
Sakura sat still on the table, much less animated than Shanghai but just as happy as everybody else. Her new look suited her very well.
The various flavored liquids at Ramen Ichiraku worked their magic, even on those who could not partake of them. Alice, Naruto, Shanghai, and Sakura were all in high spirits as they parted company after the shared meal. Alice and Shanghai departed to return to The Seven-Colored Puppets. Naruto and Sakura went off to do some sort of super secret thing. Knowing Naruto, it was probably a prank of some kind.
Alice stopped by a store to get some cake on the way home. She wanted to treat herself to a bit of sweetness after the savory meal she had just eaten. She would have a slice when she got home, and maybe another one after dinner.
Both Alice and Shanghai were still in high spirits as they approached The Seven-Colored Puppets. This turned into wary caution in a heartbeat as a shout from inside the building made itself known. "If you don't come out right now, we'll take this whole house apart plank by plank until we find you, and I promise you won't like it when we do!"
Alice cautiously entered. Once her eyes had adjusted to the indoor lighting, she saw a man confronting Hourai near the front of the store. The puppet was persistently tapping the "Sorry, but Alice isn't here right now" sign over and over.
"Were you looking for me?" Alice announced herself. "I just got back. Sorry for the wait. I'm Alice Margatroid. Can I help you?"
The man turned to face her. She couldn't tell the expression on his face, due to it being completely hidden by a mask. Specifically, it was hidden by a weasel mask. Alice wondered if he was like Hata no Kokoro. Alice didn't feel especially weaselly, but she also wasn't exactly sure what a weasel felt like.
"You are to accompany me to see the Hokage," the weasel-masked man ordered.
It was short notice, but Alice didn't have anything else planned for the day besides her usual magical research and mundane puppets crafting. It wasn't anything that couldn't be put off for another day to see what the leader of this city wanted. She said, "Okay, just let me put this away."
"You are to accompany me to see the Hokage now," the weasel-masked man ordered.
"Okay, okay," Alice acceded. Her sweet tooth would need to wait for later. She held out the tray and said, "Can you put this away, Hourai?"
Hourai floated under the offered tray, and then floated up to carry it over her head. She held the cake steady as she flew towards the kitchen. The cake was larger than Hourai was. It made for an adorable picture.
The weasel-masked man watched the exchange impassively.
"You're in charge again while I'm out," Alice said. Hourai nodded in acknowledgment.
"If you are quite done," the weasel-masked man said.
The weasel-masked man herded Alice out the door and down the street. Shanghai came along just behind Alice. The puppet flew over Alice's shoulder, as she frequently did whenever she was left to her own devices.
It only took a couple of turns before Alice found herself in an unfamiliar part of the city. It still wasn't an issue to navigate the roads and streets. Even though Alice didn't know where she was going, the weasel-masked man was quite deft at leading her despite his staying behind her the whole time. It was a rather impressive skill.
Alice eventually reached a huge building at the foot of Hokage Mountain. It was the largest building she had seen in Konoha, and it easily rivaled the apparent size of the Scarlet Devil Mansion in Gensokyo. The expansive dirt courtyard in front of it contained a few trees which provided some welcome shade against a summer sun. Alice paused a bit to admire the building before the weasel-masked man unsubtly pushed her forward. There were numerous entrances to the enormous building, and Alice was directed to one of the ones on the right.
The receptionist in the building looked up at Alice, Shanghai, and the man when they entered. She gave no comment and quickly returned back to work. Being semi-kidnapped and taken to see the Hokage by a man in a weasel mask must not have been that odd an experience in this outside world. Every time Alice thought she had figured the place out, something new would happen to remind her how different it was.
Alice was once again led from behind to a room at the top of the building. It was circular, much like many of the buildings in Konoha. Numerous windows surrounded the room and gave it an open and expansive view of the city around them. The weasel-masked man stopped leading Alice. This was apparently the destination.
Dominating the room was a large desk covered with scrolls and loose paper. Sitting behind the desk and positioned in such a way that he was facing the entrance to the room was an old man. He had the creased face of a life long-lived, but that wasn't even his most notable feature. He wore an enormous hat. Written prominently front and center of the hat was the word "fire."
The man, presumably the Hokage, didn't bother looking up when Alice entered.
It was rather rude. The Hokage didn't even acknowledge their presence. Alice could understand him being busy. People such as Remilia and Patchouli, not to mention Alice herself, were frequently caught up doing whatever when unexpected visitors came. It was a fact which Marisa took advantage of more than once when visiting the Scarlet Devil Mansion library. On the other hand, Alice had been invited. A scheduling conflict shouldn't have occurred. Then again, sometimes things did happen, and it was easy to imagine the leader of Konoha getting caught up in some emergency. But even so, the Hokage shouldn't have been so rude as to entirely ignore Alice.
After a couple of minutes, Alice turned to the weasel-masked man. She asked, "Do you think it's going to be a while?" She got no response. She got no reaction at all.
"What do you think, Shanghai?" Alice asked.
Shanghai shrugged back.
"Maybe we should come back later," Alice said.
The puppet shrugged again.
Alice sighed. Her good mood from watching the exciting and competitive danmaku battle, and then subsequently joining in the tea afterward, had been thoroughly soured.
She looked out of one of the windows. At least the view was nice.
Alice figured she would give the Hokage five more minutes before leaving. The leader of the city might have been a busy man, but enough was enough. She wouldn't have waited this long for even Remilia. Flandre she might have waited for, seeing how much less mature the child was and how she had the ability to accidentally destroy the world in a pique of anger. She expected the Hokage was neither that irresponsible nor that powerful.
"Tell me," the Hokage finally said without looking up. His voice was as gravelly as Alice had imagined. "How am I supposed to feel when a ninja sneaks into my village without announcing herself and then proceeds to terrorize a bunch of our children."
Alice was wondering why he was asking her. There was a reason she was a puppet master and not something more people-oriented like a shrine maiden or a maid. She answered, "I don't know. How are you supposed to feel?"
"Pretty angry," the Hokage said.
"Okay. Why are you telling me this?" Alice asked.
"Let's not play games. Why are you here?" the Hokage asked.
That put a new spin on things. If he hadn't summoned Alice, then it would have explained why the Hokage had been caught up doing other things when they had entered. Irrespective of that, the least the man could have done was offer an apology and some refreshments, or even just a place to sit.
"I don't know. You should ask that man with the weasel mask. He's the one who brought me here," Alice said. She glanced at the man behind her to see his reaction, and then turned more fully. He was gone. Alice turned back to the Hokage. "Well, he was there a second ago. Anyway, I had assumed you wanted to see me. If it's all a mistake, I can leave."
The Hokage raised his voice and said, "I said no games. Nobody can find you in any Bingo Books so I doubt you're gone rogue. I'll give you one more chance. What are you doing in this village? Showing up unannounced is an act of war. If I like what I hear, then maybe I'll not destroy your village in a sea of fire and blood."
Bingo? As in the game? Alice didn't know any of that. There was one thing she had figured out, though. She put two and two together, and it suddenly all made sense. His weird question from the start of the conversation, and the persistent and impossible mistake people always seemed to make in Konoha.
"I get it. This is all a misunderstanding. I'm not a ninja," Alice said, with a shake of her head and a wave of her hand. In her mind, she could picture a puppet tapping the well-worn sign hanging in The Seven-Colored Puppets.
"So you're saying three ninja of Konoha lied when they said you..." the Hokage looked down and started reading from a scroll, "summoned hundreds of puppets, attacked them, and threatened to cut off the arm of one of them?"
"It was only 61 puppets," Alice said. She would have done more, but she only had so many of that particular puppet type available. If she had had some time to prepare, then she could have made hundreds of them and put on a real show.
"And the rest of it?" the Hokage asked.
"They deserved it," Alice said. "That boy intentionally broke Sakura. That's the puppet's name, by the way."
"Breaking a puppet deserves all that?"
"Of course. He wasn't even sorry," Alice said. It wasn't acceptable to treat puppets like that, especially the puppets Alice had made, and most especially the named puppets. She added, "It wasn't like I caused any permanent harm."
"They'll have nightmares for weeks."
"And they'll not hurt any innocent puppets in the future," Alice said.
"And you still insist you're not a ninja?" the Hokage asked.
"Do I look like a ninja?" Alice asked. Given all of the past accusations directed to her, Alice didn't give him a chance to answer. "No, I'm not a ninja."
"All your neighbors say you're a ninja," the Hokage said.
"I told them I'm not a ninja, too," Alice said. She wondered if she could make a more emphatic sign to hang up in the store.
"Let's say for a second that you aren't a ninja. Then what are you?" the Hokage asked.
"I'm a puppeteer," Alice answered.
"I know civilian puppeteers. They can only control a couple of puppets, and they use strings," the Hokage said.
"I'm not just a puppeteer. I'm a master puppeteer," Alice said with a touch of pride.
"And how does a 'master puppeteer' control puppets without using string?"
"I use magic," Alice said.
"Magic... So you're saying you don't use chakra to control them?" the Hokage asked.
Chakra? Those energy points in the body? That made no sense. Alice said, "I guess I could, if I really wanted to, but I've never really tried." Whenever she used her body directly, she usually just used her fingers. They had much more dexterity than sticking a string to her forehead, as an example, and most of the time she used strings it was to demonstrate the basics of puppetry to somebody rather than to show off. Seeing how she could use magic, she didn't see what attaching a string to a chakra point would prove, either, although she thought she might try it one day when she had nothing else more interesting going on just to see what she could do.
"So you admit you could use chakra, but you still say you're not a ninja and are just a puppeteer?" the Hokage asked.
"A master puppeteer," Alice said.
"And your interest in Naruto is just a coincidence," the Hokage said.
It was a major topic change. Alice didn't see the connection, but she went along with it. She said, "I guess so. He's just a kid who comes around sometimes. He seems pretty lonely, so I play with him sometimes."
"There's nothing more than that?" the Hokage asked.
"Why do you care about Naruto? From what I can tell, the only people who care about him are a ramen seller and his daughter," Alice said. She had never seen anybody else treat Naruto with anything other than apathy and scorn. There was that unknown old man that Naruto sometimes talked about, but Alice had never actually met him and she wasn't fully convinced that he was a real person.
"All you need to know is that I'm going to stop you and whatever it is you plan on doing with him," the Hokage said.
"I don't see why it's any of your business if we play some games sometimes," Alice said.
"It's my business as Hokage," the Hokage said.
Alice really disliked dealing with all these people. In Gensokyo it could sometimes get annoying, but at least there she mostly understood everybody. In this outside world, Alice couldn't make any sense of anybody, their leader least of all. Why couldn't it be easy, like puppetry?
"You know what I think?" the Hokage continued. "I think you're an infiltration ninja, sent here to hurt our village. I'm going to hand you over to T&I, and they are going to pull your head apart until you can't think straight. We're going to find out which village sent you, what your mission is, and every secret you don't even know you have. Your mission here has failed."
Instantly kunai were flying at Alice from every direction. They appeared as if out of thin air. It took Alice by surprise. Gravely by surprise.
However, being surprised was not the same as being unprepared. Knives appearing out of nowhere was a common occurrence when fighting against Sakuya and her ability to stop time. Alice could hold her own against the Maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and she was sure she could hold her own in the face of this sudden attack.
Alice danced around the kunai, moving only the barest amount needed to get out of the way. She took a great deal of pride in her skill, especially whenever she maneuvered little enough that a kunai grazed against her and left a tear in her dress. It was a mark of her precision and judgment. It was just like a danmaku battle. Kind of like a danmaku battle. The projectiles flying her direction didn't glow with the light and beauty of a spell card that somebody like Reimu might use. That was outweighed by the refreshing novelty of the fight. She had faced the familiar and well-known patterns of her own puppets for quite some time, and Naruto's barrage of rocks was interesting but one-dimensional. Interacting with some new patterns was an interesting change.
Not content to simply take whatever was being thrown at her, Alice decided to return the favor. She pulled out a spell card, a relatively moderate one to begin with. Alice hated going all out, and she did so only when she absolutely needed to.
"Elegant Sign 'Spring Kyoto Dolls.'"
A dozen puppets appeared and surrounded Alice. They started shooting out their bullets in the well choreographed patterns designed to blanket the area while leaving just enough of an opening for those who were both observant and patient to dodge through. The force of the spell card threw back all of the metal projectiles flying towards Alice, giving her an unnecessary but still appreciated breather.
"Genjutsu!" somebody shouted. Immediately several people shouted, "Kai!"
The bullets from the puppets covered the room as they were designed to, leaving a slight stinging impact on everybody they hit. Six masked people, mostly men, materialized in the wake of her spell card. They all wore masks, much like the weasel-masked man who had brought Alice to the Hokage in the first place. There was a bear, a rat, and a tiger, among several others. Each mask was different.
Alice paused her attack. She had scored a hit. Courtesy demanded she pause to allow both sides to recover and get their bearings.
The masked people didn't.
The breaking of the form of danmaku took Alice by surprise, much more so than the sudden appearance of the kunai in the first place. Alice was taken so much by surprise that she was almost stabbed in the chest by one flying kunai. She dodged away at the last moment. The weapon grazed against her dress and slashed another tear in it. Unlike the other grazes, Alice took no pride in that near miss. It was a comment on her carelessness and luck, not on her skill.
This wasn't a danmaku battle, no matter how much Alice's skills applied. That the masked people continued to attack despite being hit was more than enough proof of that. That wasn't even taking into account the threat the Hokage had said to Alice right before the fight had started. This was no playful game between girls.
This left Alice with two options. She could escalate, or she could escape. She had no doubt that she could destroy the room and everybody in it if she really wanted to. And probably the building. And maybe a good portion of the city, if she really cut loose. She was no Remilia, but Alice had a fair bit of magic to her, especially if she utilized the Grimoire of Alice. Changing from being a human to being a magician wasn't merely a question of hard work, although that was certainly needed in spades as well.
But did she really want to? Alice was many things, but she was no murderer. And what had the Hokage and the others really done? They were only trying to protect their city. It was all a huge misunderstanding. Alice wasn't sure she could live with herself if she did anything too drastic, and she knew she would have a great many years in front of her to live with herself.
That left escape. For an escape she would want a distraction. It was much easier to get out without concurrently being attacked from every angle. It was a good thing danmaku was focused on being beautiful and eye-catching, and that spell cards by their nature cleared the area of incoming attacks.
"Puppeteer Sign 'Maiden's Bunraku -Lunatic-.'"
It wasn't Alice's biggest attack, but it was one of her bigger ones, and it was one of her more directed ones. She focused the beams of the spell card at a nearby window, and let the flurry of bullets fly around the room as they did. The goal was threefold. The first was to dazzle and distract her various attackers. The second was to break some, preferably all, of the windows around the room. The third was to clear the air, both to take stock of the situation as well as to create an easy path to the hopefully open window. It would be a quick fly away after that.
The lights cleared.
To Alice's dismay, the windows were all left intact. It was quite annoying. In fact, aside from a couple of scrolls and papers which had been scattered around the room, the spell card had had no effect at all.
One panic-filled second later, Alice realized what the problem was. It was obvious in retrospect. Of course a spell card wouldn't break the windows. That was the whole purpose of the spell card system: to constrain the devastating and deadly magic of the user into a flashy and beautiful but ultimately harmless attack. If it weren't for the spell card system, the first time Remilia cast a Scarlet Meister or Marisa cast a Final Spark, the Scarlet Devil Mansion would have been leveled. Likely a large swath of the Forest of Magic would have been eradicated, too.
The solution was obvious once Alice had figured that out. She would just need to not use a spell card. This called for something more serious. She would need to do it on her own.
Alice subdivided her attention, keeping only a minimal amount focused on her assailants all around her in case one of them launched a surprise attack. She might not have a mini-Hakkero available to use, like Marisa had, but that only limited the amount of power she had access to, not her actual abilities. It was just a laser. It was not difficult. She concentrated her mind, muttered the spell tenderly, aimed at the target she didn't like, and unleashed her annihilation of love.
The laser blasted at the selected window. It was the fundamental attack upon which the Maiden's Bunraku spell card had been based. However, it lacked the plethora of bullets, the flashy effects, and the limitations which had intentionally been built into the spell card. It was simply a large magicannon focused on the target.
The beam struck against the window with a hard knock, but it had no other effect. It was odd. Alice hadn't used that much power, but an ordinary window shouldn't have been able to resist even that much.
Alice focused more of her energy into it. And then more.
The window eventually gave up in the face of Alice's attack and blew outward. Despite everything Alice had thrown at it, the glass was still in one piece. It was very fractured, but it managed to hold together. However, the failure of the window as a whole still left a gap through which Alice and Shanghai could escape.
"Let's go," Alice said to Shanghai. She put her words into action and floated up and then straight out the window. Two seconds later, Alice was out into the open air with Shanghai right beside her.
The attackers still in the room had recovered and were now at the window. They threw various projectiles at her as she flew away. They were barely even worth noticing. Countless danmaku battles had honed Alice's situational awareness to the point where sometimes it felt like she was watching herself from the third person. That wasn't actually the case, but it felt like it at times. Even attacks from behind, like the ones she was evading from the various masked people, were simple to detect and avoid.
Alice drifted to the left to avoid a last volley of projectiles sent her way. Despite the large and growing distance between her and the now open window, the aim of her attackers had been right on the mark. If Alice hadn't moved, then she would have been rewarded with a kunai in the back.
The ultimate kunai continued to sail through the air until it landed on the ground. At that point it exploded.
If Alice hadn't moved, then she would have been rewarded with a kunai in the back and an explosion.
Alice hurried her escape.
She landed back at her house and took stock of the situation. She had received 12 grazes, 11 of which had been intentional. Not too bad for the short skirmish.
"I'm back," Alice announced as she entered The Seven-Colored Puppets. Hourai moved into view to greet her, and then did a double-take upon catching sight of Alice.
"The meeting was rather unpleasant," Alice said. Shanghai nodded in agreement.
Hourai accepted the minimal explanation.
"Keep guard here. I'm going to set up some protections and post some sentries," Alice said. Hourai and Shanghai both saluted to her.
Alice supplemented their guard by setting up a few squads of puppets to keep watch of the windows and the roof of her home. She was very worried after that meeting with the Hokage, and she didn't know what she was going to do about it.
She supposed she should offer to share some tea with him. They had just had a fight which had now been concluded, in a fashion. However, she really didn't want to. The meeting had left her feeling rather sour. She honestly didn't want to see him or any of those masked people ever again. She had no interest in getting to know them better, and she wasn't sure what they would do the next time they met.
That wasn't the only thing she was wondering. She had been thinking about leaving Konoha ever since she had first moved in. On the positive side, it was nice to have a steady supply of all the amenities a city could provide. On the negative side, the traffic of people both outside and inside her house ranged from distracting to infuriating. It was annoying to be jerked away from some deep contemplation by an angry couple shouting at each other outside, or by a difficult customer inside.
Given the situation, Alice decided to not indulge in her daily sleep that evening. She wanted to be available in case anything strange did happen during the night. Sleep was a luxury which, much like food, Alice hadn't strictly speaking needed since becoming a magician. She still ate and she still slept on a regular basis, though. She enjoyed both as much as when she had been human. Actually, she enjoyed them even more than when she had been human, as they were now an option rather than a requirement. It would be a disappointment to skip her daily luxury of sleep, but it was better than being caught unaware in the event of a surprise attack.
Alice instead spent the night doing something she enjoyed as much as sleeping. She spent the time crafting her puppets. She didn't do any serious research. She was still too shaken up and distracted to really concentrate. Alice instead lost herself in the simple meditative motions of crafting. She could make her puppets from rout memory, so she was able focus as much or as little attention as she wanted to on the materials in front of her. It left the remainder of her concentration to think about how the day had gone, and to pay attention to if her puppets noticed anything.
In the end there was only one possible conclusion. Alice didn't like it at all. She wasn't sure how dangerous it would be for her. She never wanted to see the Hokage again, but that was the point of it all. The point of sharing tea after a fight, danmaku or otherwise. The point was to smooth over any upset feelings and make sure the situation in Gensokyo didn't become untenable. It worked all the time in Gensokyo, and who was Alice to doubt it?
The first thing Alice did in the morning was write out a note. She cordially invited the Hokage to her house for tea. She forced herself to write one of the generic friendly letter that had served her so well in Gensokyo. She checked it over to make sure she hadn't made any mistakes and then handed it to one of her puppets for hand delivery to the Hokage.
Rather than taking the long and circuitous route through the city that the weasel-masked man had directed Alice through the day before, she had the puppet take the much more direct and faster path of flying over the city straight there. Once the puppet had reached the destination, she was to go back to ground level and enter in through the door. She could have entered through the window Alice had broken during her escape, assuming the window was still broken, but that would have been rude. It would hardly do to try to smooth over any hurt feelings with the Hokage and the others by highlighting Alice's having damaged his office. The puppet would deliver the letter to the receptionist and see what would happen. If things went well, then the puppet would return with a response. In the meantime, Alice returned to her crafting.
Something did return, but it wasn't the puppet Alice had sent out. As noon approached, Alice heard a familiar voice call out, "Hey, Shanghai." A few seconds later, Naruto entered.
"What happened with the old man?" Naruto asked.
"What old man?" Alice asked.
"You know, the old man. The Hokage. He was really angry," Naruto said.
"You know the Hokage?" Alice asked. Despite all the times Naruto had mentioned the old man, Alice had never made the connection that he was talking about the Hokage. In thinking back to the lack of deference Naruto had had whenever he had spoken of him, it still didn't sound quite right.
"Yeah. Doesn't everybody?" Naruto asked back. "He called me into his office in a big hurry and told me I wasn't supposed to see you anymore. What happened?"
"If he said that, then what are doing here?" Alice asked.
"We're friends, aren't we?" Naruto asked. Alice wasn't sure. She decided that yes, they were friends. "I've been avoiding the police and ninja for years. It's real easy. Believe it. They don't have you guarded half as well as the Hyuga's place, and I prank them all the time."
"They have guards out there?" Alice asked. Her puppets hadn't noticed anything amiss.
"Yeah. Just a couple. No big deal," Naruto said. "So what'd you do? I bet it was totally awesome. He wasn't that mad even when I nailed the door to the academy shut."
"I don't know," Alice said. "Some masked guy showed up and brought me to the Hokage. Next thing I know, he accused me of being a ninja and attacked me."
"But you're not a ninja," Naruto said. At least one person in Konoha believed Alice, even if he was the city's pariah.
"That's what I said, but they attacked me anyway. Take a look," Alice said. She pulled out the dress she had worn the day before. It was covered with the cuts and tears from the fight.
"That's a lot of grazes," Naruto said. Admiration was evident in his voice.
"They threw a lot of things at me," Alice said. She tried to be humble. She was skilled at danmaku, but it wasn't good to be too arrogant. There was always somebody better.
"So what're you going to do now?" Naruto asked.
"It depends on the Hokage. I invited him to tea," Alice said as if it explained everything.
Naruto nodded in understanding. He asked, "What if he doesn't come?"
"I'm not sure. I'll probably leave the city," Alice said. She had no desire to live in constant fear of being attacked, especially by masked people who threw explosives at her.
"You can't leave," Naruto said. "It's... it's dangerous out there."
"I've lived on my own in a forest before," Alice said. Ironically, Alice found it easier than living in a city.
"But... they got the best ramen here," Naruto said, trying a different argument.
Alice shrugged back. The normally bubbly face of Naruto had collapsed. It tugged at Alice's heart.
"But I don't want you to go," Naruto said. His face showed the stress and disappointment of abandonment.
"It all depends on the Hokage," Alice said. She waffled back and forth. "How about this? You can keep a secret, right?"
"Of course I can. Believe it," Naruto said.
"If I end up moving, I'll tell you where I go. That way you can come and visit," Alice said. Leaving Konoha was a very different thing than disappearing forever. Anywhere she went would still be reachable from the human settlement. It wasn't like she was like Yukari, who could make a gap and actually leave the world. Not yet, at least. Fortunately the forest surrounding Konoha was like the Forest of Magic. Alice was confident that it was large enough to get lost in.
"You promise?" Naruto asked.
"I promise," Alice said.
Noon came and went. Alice had no other visitors. She didn't even have any casual shoppers. Her business wasn't overwhelming, but she usually had a couple of people here and there. The puppet she had sent out with the invitation to the Hokage hadn't returned, either. She used her locating spell and determined that the that puppet was underground at that large building she had visited before. No matter what scenarios she came up with, Alice couldn't think of a good situation which would lead to this set of circumstances.
"What do you think, Shanghai?" Alice asked. Shanghai shook her head back.
"What about you, Hourai?" Hourai shook her head back too.
"What about this house?" Alice asked. Shanghai leaned her head against her hand in thought. She shrugged back. Hourai was more definitive, shaking her head.
"I suppose you're right. Somebody else might be able to use it."
The first thing Alice did was to write out a large sign declaring that the house had been abandoned and was open to whomever wanted it. She hung it prominently in the front of the store in a way such that anybody entering couldn't help but see it.
Alice then summoned a large number of puppets and got to work. Their many hands made the work fast, and in short order Alice had her furniture combined, her garden packed, the Grimoire of Alice in hand, and everything ready for transportation.
The conversation from earlier with Naruto was still firm in her mind. There were some people guarding her, and Alice had no desire to confront them. Not when she had all of her possessions in tow behind her. Not even if she hadn't had all of her possessions in tow behind her.
It seemed like nobody really flew in this outside world. It made the escape path of choice obvious. Not that she would drop her guard. She had been caught by surprise in the past. She had no desire to be so again.
Alice left The Seven-Colored Puppets for the last time and flew straight up. Her substantial caravan of puppets trailed behind her. Up and up she went, higher than even strongest throwing arm could throw. Up higher than that, until the city below appeared like an intricate model painstakingly created by a modeler with as much loving attention to detail as Alice gave to her puppets.
Once she was reasonably confident she was out of range of any attacker, she turned and flew off into the forest surrounding Konoha.
Omake:
The afternoon sunlight was streaming into the Hokage's office. Kakashi automatically took note of the new window through which it came. Even a chunin would have spotted that. What a chunin wouldn't have noticed, though, was the unusual and disorganized placement of all the scrolls on the Hokage's table. The jounin immediately deduced that a fight of some sort had taken place. It had been a large fight, seeing how the chakra-reinforced windows of the Hokage's tower had broken. It must have been a strange fight as well, given the lack of other destruction. There was a high chance it was related to what Kakashi had been summoned for.
"I have an S-ranked mission for you," the Hokage said. He handed over a scroll.
Kakashi's uncovered eye rose fractionally at the announcement. S-ranked missions were no joke. He didn't hesitate in opening the offered scroll and reading the mission inside.
The top of the scroll contained the profile of a hostile ninja: Alice Margatroid.
There was a picture of the young woman with blonde hair cut into a bob. It was more than a bit disturbing. She had none of the musculature or bearing of a ninja, or even of a samurai. She looked more like a civilian. That meant she was either harmless or extremely dangerous. Harmless people did not end up on S-ranked missions.
The picture was about the only useful piece of information on the background of Alice. There were almost no other details describing her origins or her past on the scroll. The firmest thing listed in her general profile was that it was possible she was affiliated with Iwagakure in the Land of Earth, but that was extremely tentative speculation.
The skill rank estimates weren't much better. Alice wasn't listed in any of the bingo books or intelligence reports. The only things they knew about her were from direct interactions, and those interactions marked Alice as being extremely dangerous.
Ninjutsu: S-ranked. She could control an unknown number of puppets, with her limit being at least 61 and possibly substantially more. She was able to control them remotely, not even needing line of sight. She had some kind of absolute defense in the form of a jutsu which knocked away all kunai, shuriken, tags, and other weapons thrown at her. She was strong enough to break the chakra-reinforced windows of the Hokage's office. She was able to fly, or give the appearance of flying, using some unknown jutsu. Her elemental affinity was uncertain, but it was likely to be wind.
Taijutsu: A-ranked or higher. She was able to fend off a simultaneous attack by six ANBU, including the Hokage's guards, without sustaining any injury.
Genjutsu: S-ranked. She had trapped all of the ANBU and the Hokage himself in some kind of illusion that none of them had been able to break out of. She was also able to hide her chakra use from detection.
Kakashi put it all together and figured that the last point had been why he had been summoned. If it were a mere question of skills, then he could think of several teams which were just as capable as he was and had been available for immediate deployment. Against an S-ranked genjutsu user, though, teammates could just as easily become liabilities as assets. It wouldn't hurt to be extra cautious. Kakashi was the only person who would have a trump against genjutsu in the form of his sharingan, and, unlike the byakugan, he could also use it to steal some powerful new jutsu if the opportunity presented itself.
The mission was a standard one. Capture the target. Assassination was authorized, but only as a last resort.
"You think this is where she'll be?" Kakashi asked. Usually these types of missions were vague, listing locations such as "along the border of the Land of Earth." Almost never did they list a street address, let alone one in Konoha.
"Yes. I received this this morning. It was delivered by a puppet. Nobody could see any evidence of Alice anywhere nearby controlling it. We're investigating the puppet now, but the letter seems safe to handle," the Hokage said. He handed over the message.
Kakashi skimmed through it. It was pleasant enough. It could have been taken for an innocent invitation for tea a few hours earlier in the day. It invited the Hokage to suggest another time if lunch wasn't convenient.
To casually invite the Hokage and not set any terms of the visit spoke of somebody either horribly naive or supremely confident in her abilities. Given what they knew of Alice, it was likely to be the latter.
"It's a trap," Kakashi said.
"Probably," the Hokage said.
Kakashi finished the short and relatively unenlightening briefing, and then left the Hokage Tower. He would need to think about the best way to approach the mission. Would it be better to attack immediately, or to attack at night? Normally nighttime operations were better due to the element of surprise, but ninja weren't normal. It could be more dangerous to act at night due to Alice being a ninja expecting a night attack and thus be more on guard then. In that case Kakashi should act immediately, but Alice might be expecting that and be more on guard during the day. In that case, Kakashi should wait for the evening and a more traditional time of assault. But then Alice might be expecting Kakashi to predict how Alice would predict his attack, meaning Kakashi should attack immediately.
The mind-games were impossible to parse through. Both Alice and Kakashi would know an attack would be incoming, and that it was possible for it to happen at any time. In light of that, Kakashi decided to stage a nighttime assault where his chances of surprise were at their highest. It would give him a chance to prepare, as well.
To the civilian eye, the otter-masked ninja would have appeared out of nowhere next to Kakashi. The jounin had noticed him coming, though, and wasn't surprised in the least. He took the proffered scroll without a word and let the ANBU almost-disappear again.
The scroll was an update. A couple of hours ago, Alice had abandoned The Seven-Colored Puppets and had flown out of the city. Kakashi paused and re-read that last line. It did in fact say that Alice had flown. When the profile of Alice had listed flying, Kakashi had assumed it had meant some kind of brief flashy technique, like the Flying Claw. Not outright flying like a bird. Technically that skill still placed Alice as being S-ranked, but that only just barely described it. That put her ninjutsu or maybe her genjutsu, or possibly both, at the level of the Tsuchikage, if not the level of a jinchuriki.
That almost demanded an assault in the evening at the earliest, just to give Kakashi time to prepare. If Alice had abandoned the area, then there was nothing to do about it now. If it was a trap, more preparation time for Kakashi would be a good thing.
Kakashi went about the rest of the day with the normalcy of a man who was facing an S-ranked mission and the very real potential of death or worse, but who had also been on countless other such deadly missions in the past and had survived with only some scars and a transplanted eye to show for it.
Night fell.
A few more hours.
Kakashi stealthily approached the last known address of Alice.
When he was about two blocks away, Kakashi uncovered his sharingan eye. The drain on his chakra was immediate and substantial. He would only be able to go for a couple of minutes, but when facing an S-ranked genjutsu user it didn't hurt to be cautious. Chances were that everything would be over in moments, anyway.
As he didn't know where Alice was, he needed stealth. He eased his way forward and into the building. His sharingan caught every nuance as he searched for traps or anything else out of the ordinary. He couldn't see anything unusual.
Which was to say he saw numerous unusual things, but nothing which seemed to be dangerous.
Prominently hung in the front of the store was a large sign saying, "This house has been abandoned. Feel free to take it if you would like it. Sorry about the mess. Sincerely, Alice Margatroid."
That wasn't even the most unusual sign. Hung around the front room were dozens of signs. They ranged from the ordinary: "All of the puppets were made by Alice."
To the farcical: "Alice is not a ninja." The "not" had been half worn away.
To the odd: "You can also pay in tea or baked goods." Written in a much more messy scrawl next to that was, "And ramen."
To the ominous: "You can return it once you die."
Kakashi spent a few more minutes searching the house, but there was nothing he could detect. He continued to search until he felt the warnings of chakra exhaustion setting in. Regardless, Kakashi waited until he was a few blocks away from the building before re-covering his sharingan.
He would need to return with a Sensor later, although given what was already known about Alice, it was doubtful if that would do any good. They hadn't been able to detect her in the past, but it was worth another shot. After that, they would demolish the house to see if they could locate anything else, but it was looking more and more like Alice had just plain escaped.
End Omake.
Last Updated: February 14, 2019