"Eat up! You don't have to be courteous to me when it comes to food."

After Shun followed Julie out of the alley, Julie found out that Shun was a friend of Marucho and Alice, thus treating him to afternoon lunch. Shun stared at his bowl of noodles reluctantly. "Are you sure? We just met. Aren't you hungry?"

"I already ate before I came out here, but I am getting thirsty from so much talking." She waved her hand violently and yelled, "Waiter! One honey grass jelly for me please!"

"Coming soon, Miss Julie."

"He knows your name?" Shun asked.

"Of course. I'm a regular here. Usually, I only order breakfast for my gathering groups to eat, but I stopped here since you were persistent on finding me as well as being hungry."

"What were you doing earlier? Did I disrupt something?"

"Well, I was on my way to the shore, but my friends won't mind. Speaking of friends, we still have find Marucho."

"Don't forget Jake and Baron."

"Them too?! Shun, what's going on?! Why are you all separated?"

She seems really agitated, clueless, and weird. "Let me start from the very beginning. There's been chaos happening in Senyou, and the queen was executed because of it. The princess is under assassination by her own father, who allied with rival and enemy countries just to capture the girl, dead or alive. All of this is pretty stupid because I still haven't seen the princess herself or any of the allied soldiers."

"Wow," Julie gasped, still trying to absorb what he all said into her head. "Minakami is too far away from Senyou to receive any of that news quickly. We're also a democracy, so any form of alliance is extremely unlikely, especially not for an absurd reason like that." She placed her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands. "You're not from Senyou."

"How did you know?"

"Your identification token in your pocket." Upon hearing that, Shun reached into his pocket and took out the token. "How did you get mixed up in foreign politics?"

He sighed and laid down his chopsticks. "It all began as a business trip with my grandfather into Senyou from Japan. I still remember the words that the guard who checked out token said. We stayed in a ryokan, and I went out for a walk at night. Then I got ambushed by Marucho and Baron, but Alice took me into their room to rest and recover. The soldiers came in and took my grandfather away."

"You didn't have a choice? Have you seen your grandfather since?"

"Nope. I reluctant at first, but something about Alice and her story made me change my mind. Here I am now. Even though I don't like running away for my life, especially from a certain person and his army, I don't regret meeting and helping Alice."

"Really?"

"Really. Alice, Baron, Marucho, and Jake...they're all nice and hardworking people and possibly Senyou's only hope in restoration. Of course, both Dr. Gehabich and the princess are hiding somewhere. Then there's Masquerade, the man who started everything by killing the queen. He's extremely dangerous, with his armies and an extremely lethal secret weapon."

"Oh dear. You really want to help Alice, do you?"

"Well...that is why I know all this. Julie, I need to ask something. You're a friend of Alice, but don't seem a bit concerned at all."

Julie removed the straw away from mouth and sighed. "I didn't Alice would speak to another guy whom she didn't know from before on this close of a level ever again."

Didn't know? Close? Again? I wonder what else other people have to say about her. "Marucho said Alice and the princess came here when they were younger. Don't tell me what you're about to say has to do with the past."

"I don't know to say! I'll be honest and say that I'm shocked that Alice would send you guys back here." She drank her beverage and fanned herself down. "Then again, Marucho and the others probably don't know what happened."

"So what-"

"Julie? What are you doing here?!"

Julie stopped drinking and looked outside. "Ace?! Aren't you-" She check her watch and slapped her forehead. "I keep forgetting to keep track of time!"

"Shun? You're here!"

Now Shun looked outside and saw Alice running to his table. "Alice! Good to see you again! Have you found the others? Were you here all this time?"

"Not yet, and not really. After watching Yukihyou succumb to fire and snow, I took another path here to-"

"Alice, shouldn't we get to business?" Ace reminded. He and Shun met eye to eye, in which Alice noticed and felt uncomfortable about.

"Why don't you sit down with us?" Shun offered. Ace took a seat next to Julie while Alice sat down next to Shun. Ace eyed them stiffly, but Shun continued. "Julie and I were just talking about why we're here."

"That, more or less. Ace, did you come all the way here to find me? What's everyone else going to think when they see that you're gone?"

"Everyone's already wondering where you went, so I just came here to find you. But I wouldn't mind staying longer to chat with you and Alice's friend."

Shun drank the soup and stared at Ace from an angle. What's his problem?

"Ace, Julie, you two really should go back to the shore." Alice insisted. "Meanwhile, Shun and I should really go find out where Marucho, Baron, and Jake went." She tugged on Shun's jacket and added, "I'm going first."

"I'm leaving, too." Shun concurred. "Shouldn't have been distracted."

Ace and Alice left first, and Shun drank up the last drops of soup. "I'm done eating. Thank you so much for treating me to brunch. I can't exactly pay you back because I don't have the right currency, but-"

"No excuses, Shun. Since you're Alice's friend, you're also my friend. Glad to hear that you enjoyed this." As Shun stood up to leave, she added, "Maybe you can set her free from what happened years ago."

"Sure?" But what's that supposed to mean?

Alice reached the sidewalk first, but Ace pulled on her elbow. "Alice! I thought you said that you'd never do that again after what-"

"Let. Go." She held her restrained elbow and pried Ace's fingers off in front of his face.

"But Alice, why? Why are you-"

"Because you're still asking me why, that's why." Shun only had a few steps let to descend, and Alice reminded Ace before leaving, "Nothing's changed."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

Alice didn't even bother answering that question.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

"Shun... where are you?"

"Have some tea, Marucho."

"Thank you, Rafe." Marucho drank the cup of tea and waited impatiently. "Honestly, I don't know why I came to the church in the first place. Shun doesn't know his way around."

"But Alice does, right?"

"But she didn't come with us! In addition, I still don't know where Baron and Jake are. Shun and I came by river while they took a horse. Logically, they should've been here by-"

"Marucho? Rafe?" Alice suddenly walked in and hugged the blond boy. "Shun and I were looking around town for where you were."

"Welcome back to Minakami, Alice." Rafe greeted. "The last time you were here, you were twice as tall me. Now I'm taller than you."

"Really?" Alice and Rafe stood back to back and measured. "Close enough. Rafe, I'd like you meet my friend Shun. Shun, this is Rafe. He's a friend I made a long time ago."

"Marucho did say you came here when you were younger. Nice to meet you, Rafe." Shun and Rafe shook hands, and the four sat around the table where Marucho was. "Does Rafe know about what's going on? Because I already told a mouthful of information to Julie, and-"

"Don't worry, Shun. I already told Rafe." Marucho reassured. "Wait, how did you meet Julie?"

"She was the girl on the bike whom I was chasing. Then I ate food with her, and Alice and Ace came by. Those two went to the shore whereas Alice and I came here."

"Oh, I see."

"Marucho told me told me everything, and long story short, you guys really need to find Dr. Gehabich and Hime-denka." Rafe urged. "I almost forgot. I'm supposed to be at the shore for a group project, too. I already showed Marucho the rooms in the back for you to stay during your visit. Got to go."

"Bye Rafe!" the other three greeted. From her bag, Alice took out the Palm of Heaven, a pestle, a mortar, and Fabia's hairpin. "We don't need this etched map now that we're out of Yukihyou, right?"

"Nope." they answered.

"Great. Moving on." Like with Kagusa's flower, Alice crushed the hairpin in the mortar. After ten minutes, it turned into a soft but not fully fine powder, which Alice poured into the left socket of the outer ring. Followed by a glowing soft light, it was filled with an illuminating silver-gray orb. "Two down, two to go. Let's-"

Suddenly, Alice burst into heavy coughing. "Alice-sama, drink my tea. Maybe it'll help."

"Tea? What—oh no...can't talk..."

"Alice, take it easy. Let's wipe all that saliva away first." Shun grabbed some tissues and wiped her fingers and cheeks clean of the saliva stains. It wasn't until Alice pulled her hand off her mouth that he noticed blood stain. "Alice! You're coughing blood!"

"Alice-sama, are you hurt?!"

All Alice could do was cough, which only stained her face even redder. "Marucho, what kind of tea is it?"

The blond boy help the cup to his nose. "Smells like sakura."

"Sakura...?" Alice breathed. "Give...me..."

Sakura tea was what Kagusa boiled for Alice last time, Shun thought. He dipped a tissue in the tea and wiped the fresh and dried blood away. With left hand on her back and right hand holding the cup, Shun slowly fed her the sakura tea and watched Alice rest. "There. Feeling better?"

Alice closed her eyes and nodded.

"That's good. Marucho, get Alice more sakura tea."

"I'll bring the whole pot over then!"

Shun pulled Alice in and felt her breathing slow down to a more normal pace. Kagusa was right. If Alice were to live every day for the rest of her life, drinking sakura tea to maintain health is especially vital to her. He stared at the pile of bloody tissues and sighed. She could've died from blood loss just like that.

Alice tilted her head and asked, "How did you know...?"

He brought her head closer to his chest and whispered, "Because I heard Kagusa mention it back in Ukishima. You did say you didn't mind that I listened in on some of your conversations."

Alice nodded and closed her eyes. "Fair enough. Thanks, Shun."

"Anytime, Alice."