Review Responses:
Sugar Spice Rush: Yeah, poor Alice! Because she's a ghost and she doesn't have a physical body, she can't really hug him so all he feels is cold air. Small spoiler alert: Their Thanksgiving Break is a week long, although Joe can't come along due to medical reasons you will find out in this chapter! ╥﹏╥
cherry-tree-of-life: There won't be any digging up graves or forensic analysis in this chapter - it will be in the coming future chapters, I promise! - but please stay tuned for it! Haha, there will be a small phone call interaction between Shun and his grandfather, so keep on reading to find out what Shun has to say to defend himself! (*´∇｀*)
Innocent-Diamond: There won't be any exhuming in this chapter, but it will be covered in the future chapters! Unfortunately for Alice, she won't be able to give warm hugs while she is still a ghost.（﹏）Matthew will definitely interpret for Shun when they speak to others, but not as much for Shun and his grandfather for a reason you will find out soon! (´꒳`)
MagicxMusicxMelody: Because Alice is a ghost, she can't really hug him, so whenever she tries to, all Shun would feel is cold air! (⋟﹏⋞) Ah, I apologize for the poor wording in the last chapter! Kato is taking them seriously, but it seems like he isn't as he's worked on it for a while and is tired of the case as it warrants too many bad memories. (ノ﹏ヽ)
Chapter 7 : Bound for Russia
Shun wasn't even in Russia for a full day and already, he wants to go back home.
He knew that he shouldn't think things like that, especially when Matthew's grandfather had been nothing but kind to him, even going out of his way to speak Japanese, albeit, broken Japanese to him, and making sure every few minutes that he was fine. While he was appreciative to the older man and his friend, there was no denying that everything was happening so quickly and he simply could not keep up with it all.
xoxo
~Monday~
"Damnit." Shun hissed under his breath, the numbers in front of his laptop screen taunting him. Ever since he and Matthew visited Detective Kato, which had to be near a month at this point, Shun had done everything he could to save up money for a plane ticket to Russia. He was grateful that Matthew was gracious enough to let him stay with him and his grandfather at his grandfather's house for free, but even then, a roundtrip ticket to Moscow, Russia was $912. That was nearly a thousand dollars - a THOUSAND dollars. Even if he did work overtime and forsook sleep and food for that ticket, the raven-haired male doubted he could afford it.
"Watch your profanity." Looking up from his laptop, Shun was met with a grinning Matthew, who took a seat across from him. The two of them were in the school library, as they both had a gap in-between their classes. "Whatcha got there?" The blond stood up from his seat, trying to see his friend's laptop screen.
"Tickets to Russia." Shun sighed out, running his fingers through his hair. "Can't believe it's a thousand damn dollars."
"Hey." He looked up from the laptop screen to find Matthew's sharp eyes glaring back at him. "Language. Now pass me your laptop."
"Why?" The raven-haired male raised an eyebrow, questioningly, though he did pass his laptop over.
There was a mischievous glint in his eyes. "You'll see."
...
""Matthew, you didn't have to do that. I could have-"
"And starve yourself just to get a ticket?" The blond male retorted. "It's not that big of a deal, Shun, really. Besides, what are friends for?"
"But still-"
"Ah ah ah. No but's. And that's final." Matthew smirked smugly as Shun's eyes threw daggers at him. "Sucks that Joe can't join us - I didn't know that low blood sugar would affect traveling that much."
It was the week of their midterms before they were able to go on Thanksgiving break for a whole week. The two friends had told Joe of their visit to Detective Kato's house as well as their plan to go over to Russia for the break. Shun had asked if Joe would like to join them, as he was the only knowledgeable one out of the three of them when it came to anything criminal justice related, and to his disappointment, the brunet male refused. He had stated that he had low blood sugar and because Wardington University was rather far from his city, he didn't want to scare his mother if he was gone long.
"Matt." Said blond male looked up from his Biology textbook to the raven-haired male. "Thank-Thank you. I owe you one."
"Yeah you do. You're a handful at times." Matthew scoffed incredulously, although his grin gave him away. And although Shun knew that Matthew was just joking, he still wanted to pay him back. After all, not everyone can spend a thousand dollars in the blink of an eye.
xoxo
~Thursday~
"What?! What do you mean you're going to Russia instead of coming back home for Thanksgiving?!" Shun winced as he pulled his phone further away from his ear, hoping that he wouldn't go deaf in his right ear because of his grandfather. "You haven't visited me even once the entire time you've been at school - what makes you think I'm going to let you pack your bags and hop on a flight to Russia?"
"Grandpa, I already bought my ticket - it would be expensive just to cancel it now." The younger male tried reasoning with his grandfather, pacing around the apartment living room with the phone near his ear. "Besides, it would just be a week."
"A week? Ha! What a waste of a ticket." The older male scoffed and Shun could perfectly envision what his grandfather must look like at that moment - his lips forming into a scowl, gray eyebrows furrowing, shaking his head in disapproval. "I thought you were smarter than that, Shun. What's gotten into you, huh?"
"Nothing's gotten into me." The college student denied, trying hard not to get frustrated. "Besides, I'll be home for Christmas break, and that's for a month."
"Is this because of a girl?" His grandfather asked instead, which left Shun unable to answer as he was dumbfounded by how blunt his grandfather was. Taking his grandson's silence as compliance, Grandpa Kazami cackled, "It is a girl, isn't it? Shun, you sly one, you. Why didn't you just say so? Of course you could go!"
"But, Grandpa, this isn't -" Shun began, trying to reason with his grandfather.
"Oh, save your sorry excuses! Make sure you'll be on your best behavior when you get there, all right? You need to get on her parents' good side or else that'll be the end of your relationship with her. Now, how did you two met?" The older male interrupted instead, his initial anger fading into that of curiosity.
"Grandpa, I don't -" The twenty-year-old tried once more.
"Oh! My show's on! I'll talk to you later, Shun. Oh, and Shun?" Grandpa Kazami's voice got serious once more. "Remember to bring her with you when you come back home for Christmas break, you hear me?"
"Grandpa -" Shun was cut off as his grandfather had hung up on him. "Tch." He grumbled as he stuffed his phone back into his pockets. That was certainly not the response that he was expecting from his grandfather, especially since he thought that Shun, of all people, got a girlfriend, but at least he got his grandfather's approval to go to Russia. He idly wondered how his grandfather would react if he came back home to Bayview without a girl. But then again, that was a problem that the future Shun would deal with; present Shun already had enough problems on his hands.
xoxo
~Saturday~
"Shun?" Shun was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Alice's voice coming somewhere from the other side of the apartment. "Are you certain that you have everything you need? You do know that from Wardington to Moscow will be nearly 20 hours, yes?"
"I'm sure." He answered back, though he was biting back a groan. He had never left the country before, and of course, the very first time that he does, he just had to go to a country that will take 20 hours to get to. "Don't worry about it too much, Alice."
"Of course I have reasons to worry!" Alice exclaimed as she floated to the living room, a stack of his clothes floating nearby. "I can't keep an eye on you there! Make sure you eat, all right? I know that Russian food may be different from what you usually eat here in Japan, but promise me that you'll at least-"
"Alice." Shun interrupted. "I'll be fine, really." He smiled gently, hoping to calm down the ghost. "I'll be careful. Don't worry about it."
"I - I know. I just -" The spirit sighed, massaging her temples - or at least that's what he thought she was doing. "I think I'm just worried that something would happen to you over in Russia." She admitted. "I don't want you to end up like me."
"I'll be careful, Alice. It's not like I'm going alone - I'm going with a friend. Don't worry about it." He reassured her once more.
"All - all right then. I trust you." Alice smiled, tentatively. "Shun...could you - could you do me a favor?"
"What is it?"
"Well, I was wondering...if you have the time, could you visit my grandfather's grave for me? If you have time, of course." She added the last sentence hastily. "It's just...well... I was all he had and I - I don't think anybody's ever visited him."
"Of course I will. What's his name?"
"Michael Gehabich. And thank you, Shun."
xoxo
~Two Hours Ago~
"Matthew, wake up. We've landed." Shun elbowed the sleeping male next to him. To say that he was exhausted was an understatement. Because he wasn't used to flying on an airplane, nevertheless sleep during the entire flight, was a struggle. As such, Shun had spent most of the 17 hours awake, although he did doze off at some points, unlike the blond male next to him, who had slept for nearly the entire flight. And to say that he wanted a nap was also an understatement - he wanted to sleep for a year.
"Already?" Matthew yawned as he stretched his arms over his head. "Ugh, finally. Come on, let's get outta here and get our bags. Don't want to keep Grandpa waiting."
...
"I should warn you that Grandpa's not that great in Japanese." The Psychology major said nonchalantly as he picked up his suitcase. The two of them had been waiting for their suitcases for God-knows-how-long and now that the last of their luggage was picked up, they could finally make their way to the arrival terminal where the blond's grandfather was waiting for them. "I'm apologizing ahead of time just in case he mispronounces something."
"Your grandfather knows Japanese?" Shun asked, surprised. While he was grateful that he didn't have to rely on Matthew that heavily when it comes to translating, as the two of them would be staying in his grandfather's house, he was still surprised nevertheless. He just didn't expect the older male to learn Japanese.
"Yeah. When he found out that I wanted to study abroad, he took it upon himself to learn the language with me, too. You should have seen the look on his face - he was horrified." Matthew let out a small grin at the memory. "Our family's got a weird thing against Japan - I swear, we're not racist. It's just - Grandpa told me that one of our ancestors died in Japan. He never really said from what, but I'm guessing it's from World War II or something. You can imagine how well he took it when he found out that his only grandson was leaving for a country our entire family's afraid of."
"You're his only grandson?"
The blond nodded. "And only grandchild. Mom and Dad died when I was really young so he took care of me for pretty much my entire life. I'm the only family he has left."
xoxo
Shun rolled over to the other side of his bed in a vain attempt to fall asleep. He had been awake for 24 hours and perhaps a few more hours, and while his body was begging for sleep, his mind decided that it would be a good idea to think about the information he's gathered about Alice ever since they met.
She was stabbed multiple times. She was killed in her apartment. She had no other family members besides her grandfather. She was stabbed multiple times. She was killed in her apartment. She had no other family members-
The Japanese male bolted upright as one thought clouded his mind. She had no other family members besides her grandfather. It sounded so familiar, so recent-
His eyes widened in shock as he remembered the past events in the last 24 hours. There was no way, it couldn't possibly be-
He was overthinking things. He must be. He has to be.
End of Chapter 7.
Note: You must be wondering why this chapter sucks...I am wondering that as well, LOL. I apologize that this chapter is essentially a recap of Shun's week leading up to his arrival to Russia! I figured that this chapter could be a comedic relief of some sorts before we go into the juicier details of the plot. Anyways, Matthew is such a good friend - none of my friends have a thousand dollars to spend at will and even if they did, I doubt they would give me it, LOL! Get you a friend like Matt! So, I checked up roundtrip ticket prices from Tokyo to Moscow and it came to about $912 - I really don't know if that's true, so I apologize if the price is wrong. I'm also not sure if it is true that it would take 20 hours from Tokyo to Moscow - I looked it up on Google and it gave me 20 hours, LOL, so I apologize if that is wrong as well. As always, please let me know what you thought of this chapter and I will see you in the next one~! ⊙０⊙