"Alice, come back!" Shun ran forward a few steps but stopped because the woods were too dark, so he went back. "Bad news. Alice ran off into the dark woods."

"What?!" everyone screamed.

"After I finished talking to Dr. Gehabich, I went to the lake to find Mira and Alice. Then I heard a scream and saw Alice's hands and face covered in red streaks-"

"Oh heavens no." Mira fainted, but Dr. Gehabich caught her and carried her onto a chair. "Thank you, Doctor. The red streaks are the side effect from touching Minakami's ocean water. She's probably scared that you'll do to her what Ace mistakenly did."

"But why would she even have that water on her? I want to look for her in the dark, but there's not enough light, and the mosquito lamps don't work."

"You can catch fireflies and put them into bottles to make lanterns." Baron suggested.

"Good idea, Baron. I'll-"

"Shun Kazami, will you stop for a moment to think?" Not used to hearing a stranger call his full name, Shun stopped and faced Mira. "Running into the woods by yourself is just as dangerous as being unvaccinated and around yellow fever-contracted people."

"Should I stay and do nothing then?"

Mira pulled him by the collar and spoke firmly. "Alice told me that back in Yukihyou, you two faced a predicament with the ruler there, and you told her that I wouldn't have wanted to her upset like that. Now it's my turn. Would you want Alice to see you like this?"

"No and never." Shun readjusted his shirt after Mira let go. "Baron, get me the empty bottles to store fireflies in, but stay with Dr. Gehabich in case the patients need your help. Jake, Marucho, Mira, and I will go searching for Alice."

"Got it, Shun"

Coincidentally, there were only four empty bottles them to use. Jake and Marucho went into one part of the woods while Shun and Mira went to another. "When did Alice first find out that Minakami's ocean water did that nasty thing to her skin?" Shun asked Mira.

"It was on our first trip there. She told you about Ace, right? Then you should know that he saw the red streaks on her skin and freaked out. She cried on my shoulder for the rest of our stay until we left."

"She cried on your shoulder? On the shoulder of the person whom Ace confessed to after?"

"She told you that, too..." She sighed but kept walking. "Do you hate me or what?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because I know you care for her." Shun stopped walking and looked at her. "Alice has never told anyone else about her personal life except me and the others because we grew up together in the palace, but you're not from Senyou at all. In fact, you came into her life, not the other way around."

"That's part of it, but even so, I can't hate the person who brought me to her."

"Wait..."

"I heard your conversation. You're the fox that I saved long ago who gave me the pendant half. You just gave it to me without thinking about what would happen afterwards. What if I do care for Alice? She deserves better than what she has now. I know she's your closest servant and forever loyal to you, but she doesn't have the same luxury as you. She even wished she had a normal life, one without so many complexities, and asked if I can do that for her. What do you think?"

Mira was speechless and held her chest. "She never told me any of that. I thought we were best friends."

"Maybe it wasn't something that was comfortable to be talked about with you..."

"Maybe. It's all my fault." She fell and hugged her knees. "Being my closest servant and best friend only turned her into my shadow. She just wanted a free life."

"Mira, it really isn't. You two were born into the social hierarchy you live in. You can't change that." Shun held his hand out. "Whenever you're ready."

"I'm ready." Mira grabbed his hand and pulled herself up. "Maybe after this is all over, I can find a way to convince the court to let Alice free."

Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the bushes, and Shun pushed Mira back. "Alice?" Another rustle. "Alice!"

"Shun, come back!" Mira screamed.

Shun already ran too far away to hear Mira and ended up by a bridge. A figure stood on the other side, and Shun slowed his pace. "Alice..."

"Shun, please. I'm begging you. Just go back."

"Alice, I can't leave you alone in the dark. Please come back."

"Not until the streaks on my skin are all gone. I can't go back looking like this."

"But you can't guarantee that you'll be safe here." Shun took a step forward, and Alice took a step back. "Fine. You don't want to come near me. Can you at least tell me what you were doing with the ocean water in the first place?"

"Ace gave me a tiny jar personally for me before we left. Then I remembered that you said a shower of rain would cool down a heatwave. I wanted to make it explode into fine drops using reverse force field, but it backfired and sprayed all the water onto me."

"And you're the only one who knows how to create a force field? What about Mira? I already found out that she was the fox I saved. I guess that proves that the queen is a kitsune."

"Mira can do it, but not as strong as me. Are you going to hate us for that?"

"No way. I might dislike Mira a little—after all, you said Ace confessed to her—but I don't hate her." Slowly and stealthily, Shun crossed the bridge without Alice noticing. "Especially since she's the one whom I saved and gave me the pendant, which led me to you."

"You're not serious."

"I am. After all we've been through, I won't let some ugly side effects get in the way." Once close enough, he grabbed her left hand, turning Alice around to show her scarred face. "You don't look that bad. Does your skin still burn?"

"Not as much now. Now it just stings." Alice wanted to cover her face, but Shun pulled her hand away. "You really don't think I look like a freak?"

"All that matters are your eyes when they look at me. You look just the same. I'm still trying to understand how sakura tea, coughing blood, Minakami's water, and these red streaks all tie in together. It's so...random."

"I've had a weak immune system since I was a child. I can withstand certain diseases and illnesses if vaccinated, like with yellow fever. Sakura tea only cures my bloody coughing temporarily, but you've seen the effects of Minakami's water on me."

"Wait." Shun rolled Alice's sleeves up and gently ran his fingers around the red streaks. Then he touched the red streaks along her face, making her blush and tremble at the same time. "Your face is less severe than your upper limbs."

"So?"

"You said you were poisoned by aconite before visiting Minakami. How did the doctors treat it?"

"They found out that the foreigner woman touched me with diluted aconite after she left. Later, they prescribed me oral medicine and told me to wash my hands and bathe in water soaked with this other plant. The toxin was diluted to begin with, so I became better immediately. Still don't know why she did that to me, though."

Shun continued stroking her face and said, "I think that there are still toxin residues in and on your skin. Maybe that's why your skin burns. If the water is really cleansing you of impurities, then just by of the sound of it, cleaning out toxins will be a tough and painful task."

"That's it? That means I've never recovered from that traumatic episode."

"And why you haven't been the same since, as Baron says. Maybe you'll be the same again after the spiritual water fully treats you."

"But you know that water is reserved for the yellow fever patients."

"Not if you turn it into rain." Shun let the fireflies free and filled the bottle with regular water. "Work your magic."

Alice grabbed the bottle, tossed it, and suspended it in the air with a force field. Seconds later, the bottle exploded, spraying soft mist on her and Shun. "It does work, but this is regular water."

"And this bottle is larger than your tiny jar. Keep this confidence up, and you can explode all those other bottles at once."

"You really think I can?"

"I know you can. Let's do it tomorrow at noon." He brushed her wet bangs aside and dried her face. "Come on. Mira must be worried sick that we both ran off."

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

"You ready, Hime-sama?"

"Ready as ever, Alice."

Shun received the cue and threw the twenty-six bottles in the air one by one. Alice and Mira both held their hands up and cast white force fields, forming a giant bubble encircling the twenty-six bottles. Everyone else stood back and watched the redheads do their thing.

"Will this really bring us rain?"

"I hope this spiritual water doesn't go to waste."

"None of this will go in vain. I'm sure of it." Dr. Gehabich guaranteed.

"I know they can make artificial rain this way, but will it bring rain to upon the entire country?" Shun asked.

"It had better. You know that the queen and the princess are both kitsunes?"

"They are related, so I assumed. Mira even said so herself."

"But do you know how her mother became queen despite being a kitsune?"

"No, but how? And why?"

"Because she and her best friend once did the same thing Mira and Alice are doing now back in Senyou, but they used a large piece of ice from the Arctic. Mira's mother, Cassandra, became queen, but her friend didn't even make it into the picture."

"The queen's best friend? She was completely ignored?"

"Ignored and forgotten, sadly. I watched them grow up and even entered the palace as a doctor just to stay with them. Cassandra's friend was never seen again, until-"

"Finished!" the girls yelled.

The bottles exploded one by one, and soft rain fell on everyone. Crops quickly revived as mosquitoes instantaneously died. The heat speedily cooled down as the yellow fever immediately healed. With the regular water all purified, the girls repeated the process and made more rain.

"I told you it would work." Dr. Gehabich admired, taking his glasses off. "Well done! I'm proud of you two."

"Thank you!"

An upsetting thought suddenly popped into Shun's head. "Doctor, about the queen's best friend. Is she the foreigner who poisoned Alice?"

"Why would you say that?"

"And Alice and Mira are sisters, aren't they?"

"Shun, you're being absurd."

"But I-"

"Shun, we did it!" Alice ran over to hug Shun and showed him her hands and face. "Look. My red streaks are disappearing, and my skin doesn't sting anymore."

"Congratulations. Maybe you'll finally be able to lift off the shadow of that traumatic event now."

"Thanks, Shun."

Even if Alice was happy, Shun wasn't satisfied until he knew for sure that the queen's best friend did indeed visit the palace and poison Alice.