Review Responses:

Innocent-Diamond: LOL, imagine Shun's grandfather's reaction when Shun comes home for Christmas! Small spoiler, but Masquerade's grandfather isn't explaining anything in this chapter, but you can bet that he'll explain and go more into detail in the future chapters! o(〃＾▽＾〃)o

Sugar Spice Rush: Oh no, I must have forgotten to mention that Masquerade was Russian! I'm so sorry for just dumping a bunch of new information onto you just like that! ＞﹏＜

cherry-tree-of-life: Shun's been overwhelmed because everything happened SO fast and he hadn't had time to fully process things until now! And yep! Get you a friend like Masquerade who'll be willing to drop thousands of dollars for you in a heartbeat, LOL. Ah, okay! So, "2 hours ago" is Sunday - meaning that 2 hours ago, Shun and Masquerade just got off the airplane - and "now" is Sunday night. Hope that helps! o(≧∀≦)o

MagicxMusicxMelody: Haha, well, small spoiler alert: Shun's not going to be returning back home just yet, but please continue reading to find out what happens in the future chapters! －O－

Chapter 8: A Dream Within a Dream

"You don't have to go if you don't want to - "

"And what if I want to?"

"I mean...are you sure? You look like shit. No offense."

"None taken." And Shun really meant it. He had hardly slept at all the night before and could not sleep on the hours-long plane ride to Moscow, that he is pretty certain that he must look horrible. "Guess that's what happens when you're not used to a different time zone."

"Sheesh, you couldn't sleep at all last night? That's gotta be tough." Matthew grimaced, running his fingers through his blond hair. "You know, Grandpa and I won't get to the police department right away. Grandpa usually drags me to the cemetery to visit family like...once every three months or so? Well, he used to, before I came to Wardington University. And, between you and me, it's kind of a pain. I know that they're family and whatever, but I don't even know these people. Like, why am I visiting my fourth cousin twice removed or whatever, you know?"

"Is that why you came all the way to Japan? Just to not visit family?"

The blond scoffed. "Oh yeah, totally. But, we're not getting to the point. Point is, Grandpa will probably drag me to the family cemetery and we'd spend like, what, half an hour there before we'll even go to the police department. I really don't recommend coming along. Get some sleep, you're technically on vacation. If I'm being honest, I'm not even sure you'll last this entire trip if your episode of insomnia keeps up."

"No, I - I have to go."

"Oh, come on Shun, trust me. Grandpa and I'll head on over to the police department and ask around, we won't forget. 'Cause, no offense, you're not gonna be able to understand a word of what they're saying, anyways."

"I know, but - "

"No 'but's, but yours back to bed." The Russian grinned at his wittiness whilst Shun had to suppress a growl, making his way back to his room. "We'll probably go back to the police department, anyways. Between the two of us, you're the only one who knows the most about this girl. So you need to rest up and get your energy to ask the important questions, all right?" Matthew added rather loudly, to make sure that the Japanese male could hear him.

Once he was back in his room, Shun collapsed back onto the bed, silently seething at his first, missed opportunity to unravel the mystery that is Alice's death. While his body had been begging for sleep, his mind wanted answers. Because who would kill such a sweet soul like Alice? Who was her grandfather? And mostly importantly, where were the grandfather and granddaughter buried? He knew that he still had some time to have those questions answered, but he wanted those questions to be answered now. He couldn't help it that whenever he set his mind to something, he wanted to accomplish them immediately. Which is good, he often thought, but it would get overwhelming.

And now was overwhelming. He just felt so exhausted - both from the lack of sleep and the lack of doing anything productive - and there was nothing more that he wanted to do than to curl up and go to sleep. And so he did.

He dreamt. Like most of his dreams, he doesn't know when or how it began, but it just did. And for the first time ever, the raven-haired male dreamt of her.

With her bright eyes and a giggle on her lips, she was beautiful. She was walking ahead of him, stopping ever now and then to make sure that he was still behind her. They were talking, he was sure of it - because how else was she supposed to be laughing if nothing funny or entertaining was being said - but he doesn't remember what they were talking about. Certainly not of her death - murder was no laughing matter. But the only thing he remembered before consciousness was gaining up on him was her smile and how he would do anything to make sure that she would always smile.

Shun heard hushed voices speaking in another language outside of his door and that is when he finally managed to pry his eyes open. He is met with pitch-black darkness and in a panic, he rolled over to his bedside table for his phone. Glaring at the bright light emitting from his phone screen, the raven-haired male is met with the time - 4:00 PM. He had been sleeping for almost 7 hours when Matthew made him go back to bed. Fumbling out of bed, Shun internally cursed at himself for sleeping so much and made his way towards the door, opening it harshly. The voices outside of his door come to an abrupt halt as he is met face-to-face with the owner of the two voices.

"Oh, thank God you're awake. I thought you were dead." Matthew released a dramatic sigh. "You need to get more sleep."

"Matthew." The grandfather scolded. "We are glad you are awake. You have been sleeping for a long time and we were worried."

"Thank you for your concern, sir. I apologize for sleeping so much - I usually don't sleep this long."

"We all know that. Come on, let's get something to eat - you must be starving." The blond motioned to the raven-haired male to come and follow him.

"What about the - "

"I'll explain later when we get some food in your system. You didn't eat breakfast this morning. You must be starving."

After finishing half of a plate of dumplings - pelmeni, as the blond had corrected - and a small bowl of cabbage soup - shi, as the psychology major had also corrected - did Matthew finally tell him about his findings.

"So I'm stupid. I forgot to ask you the name of the girl and when Grandpa and I went inside the police department, we were unable to give them a name so they could identify her. But," The Russian interrupted, sensing that his friend was about to scold him, "I did ask them about the possibility of extracting DNA and or evidence from a corpse."

"And?"

"And...we need permission from the deceased's family members to dig up the body."

"Are you - what?" Shun groaned, rubbing his eyes. He can't believe that he forgot about that small factor. "I don't...I don't even know if she has any remaining family members - wait." He stopped in the middle of his complaints. "Matt."

"Yeah?"

"I need to ask you something."

"O...kay, what is it?"

"You know how you mentioned that you had a family member die in Japan?"

"Yeah? But like I said, they probably died in World War II or something - "

"What's their name?"

End of Chapter 8.

Note: Hello, my friends! I apologize for taking FOREVER, as per usual, to update this work. I really did mean to work on this work but 2020 AND 2021 has been HECTIC for me - I still have online school and my classes are getting harder. （；´д｀）ゞ Who let me go to college?

Anyways, wow! How 'bout that huh? I wrote...1,000 words full of...nothing. Okay, sure it may not be that substantial, but we gotta give our boy Shun a break - mans couldn't even SLEEP and had a hectic week before he even came to Russia. And, LOL, who else is like Masquerade when it comes to visiting family? For me, personally, I know my extended family - second cousins, third cousins, you name it - and I can tell you, it is a LOT. Anybody else knows their extended family like me and Masquerade? §(*￣▽￣*)§

Anyways, I hope you are all doing well! And knowing me, I probably won't update this work anytime again before 2021 is over, haha, so I wish you all happy holidays! Please leave a review on the way out and with that, I will see you all in 2022 and in the next chapter! ( ﾟдﾟ)つ Bye