"Sometimes I feel like going somewhere faraway and never coming back ever again. You?"

"Maybe once in a while. But Shun, where would I go?"

"That's a good question."

Shun and Alice walked home from school and continued the discussion of a topic mentioned earlier in class. The question was, 'If you could go anywhere and never come back, where would it be?' That question still remained unanswered for both of them.

"So Alice, let me ask you this. What place makes you feel content and at peace so that you don't have to worry about anything?"

"I really don't know. Why are you asking me this? Is this an assignment?"

"You heard what the teacher said about homework. Discuss this topic at home and be prepared to share tomorrow."

"I can discuss by myself, Shun. No need for you brainstorm it for me."

"I was just saying, alright?"

Alice turned a street corner and arrived at her house. She searched for her keys in her pocket and said, "I get it, Shun. I'll tell you tomorrow when I actually can think of something."

"Fine. One last question."

"Just ask."

Shun cleared his throat and asked, "If you were to go to that place wherever it is, would you go by yourself or with someone else?"

Alice thought about it as she continued looking for her keys. "That depends on what the situation is and what my mood will be. What about you?"

"I'd go with a certain person."

"And who might that be?" replied Alice, who finally found her house keys.

"Yeah, about that. I'll tell you tomorrow when I actually can think of something."

Alice flushed in anger and yelled, "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"I don't know. Ask yourself. You said it. You think about your answer while I think of mine."

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

"Excuse me, miss. It's time to wake up."

"Hmm..."

"Hello? Please, just wake up!"

"What?!"

Alice shot up right from where she sat to see a young boy sitting next to her. She looked around frantically but saw that she was no longer in the mansion, and neither was Suguru in sight. "Where am I?"

"You don't even know where you are?!" The boy stood up with his mouth open. "This is the train station, and you're waiting for the next train. Look at your ticket. Your train comes in ten minutes."

Alice looked at the slip of paper in her hand and read the time and date. He's right about the train, but how did I get this ticket in the first place. She sat up and looked around her. "How long have I been sleeping here?"

"Let's see...you bought your ticket from the booths, came out here, took a nap, and that's about it." He tilted his head and shrugged. "Want to help me with my train set for now while you're still waiting?"

He must have a lot of time. Alice looked up and down from the boy to the train set he put out on a makeshift table. Then she took a good look at him. The boy was shorter than Alice by a head, had black hair, a round haircut, and a pair oval glasses. "I guess I can help you for now. What your name?"

"Shinji. What's yours?"

"Hello, Shinji. I'm Alice." She walked next to him to see what he was doing. "How does all this work? And what do you need help on?"

"Just piece the train tracks together. Follow the silhouettes." He connected the caboose with the rest of the cabins. "Sadly, I'll be doing this for nothing because I have to catch a train later."

"So you have to dismantle this in order to bring with you on board?"

"Yeah, but it's also incomplete. The train engine head is the part that drives everything along the tracks, leading every other piece with it. Only," Shinji to the train engine and shook it. "I lost the small motor inside somehow. Even installing the parts stressed me out. Why can't I be as successful as him?!"

"Him? Who's him?"

"A close person whom I look up to very much. He's older than me by a couple years, but he looks out for me all the time. He's also an expert inventor and won many awards."

"Oh. Reminds me of a once close friend of mine..."

"Really? What was she like? Way older than you, or almost like your best friend?"

"Actually, it's-" Alice covered her mouth quickly to prevent herself from saying unnecessary things. Shinji assumed that I'm talking about a girl, but that's not what I had in mind. "Neither one, really. More like the concept of the best person to go to for anything."

"Like that one person who has advice for every situation but never really encountered them before? Reminds me a lot of my mentor."

"Really?" asked Alice curiously. This is too coincidental. If Shinji's role model is the person I'm thinking of, then how did they meet? I'm pretty sure that Shun's not the inventor type of person, but everything else matches him. "Shinji, what's his-"

Shortly, a train pulled up on the tracks by the platform with a loud, screeching dissonance. Alice and Shinji's covered their ears as the train slowly came to a stop.

"There's your train." said Shinji. "You might want to hurry up."

"But can't you at least tell me-"

"It's was nice meeting you, Alice. Maybe we'll see each other again."

He's not going to tell me his mentor's name, is he? "Bye, Shinji. See you next time."

Alice approached a pair of sliding doors as the train went to a full stop. A burst of steam emerged from inside as the train doors open. She and walked up the short flight of stairs. Immediately, the train closed the doors and drove off again. All Alice did was find a seat where she could sit down. Where is this train going to take me? She looked at the ticket she carried in her hand and read it. Printed on the ticket were Alice's full name, date and time, and the departure station. There was nothing else to read.

"This is strange. This ticket is missing many important features. How could anyone be allowed to sell such faulty train tickets like this?" Alice flipped it over but saw nothing except for a watermark of the train station's logo. "How did I get this ticket in the first place?"

Then she heard gentle weeping from the wall behind her. "Is anyone in there?" Alice got up from her seat to see that she was sitting next to one of those luxurious train cabins. She turned the knob, but it wouldn't budge.

"A train cabin needs a key from the front counter to open." Alice concluded. She ran to the conductor's office and opened the key cabinet. There were multiple keys, but they were all the same. The keys only opened that one cabin that Alice sat next to.

But the key chains were what caught Alice's attention. A white, hexagonal shape all dangled from those identical keys...

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

Once again, Alice was searching for her house keys everywhere in her pockets and backpack without luck. Only a metal detector was the ultimate solution to finding those keys.

"This is tiring! I can't find my house keys! Now I can't go home." Alice yelled. "I put them in my coat pocket this morning and then placed them in my backpack in this compartment. Now they're gone. I'm pretty sure magic didn't do this."

"Isn't anyone at home right now?" asked Shun. "Maybe they can let you in."

Alice shook her head. "My aunt wasn't home when I called the house phone, and you know how she's always going here and there for her job. I only have this one key to use in my life so far, and I can't even keep it safe. Even the other keys are quite useless. Why do I keep losing my keys? I still had them in less than an hour ago."

"Don't worry, Alice. I know how to help you with that." Shun looked through his knapsack and took out a metal ring. On it was a pointy, hexagonal shape with ice-blue and white details.

"What's that?"

"It's a key chain, like those fancy decorations you see people put with their keys. Attach your key onto this hexagon snowflake key chain and you'll never lose it again."

"Yeah, but why a snowflake? A snowflake is so boring and typical, if you ask me. And I already have a key chain on my key already, so-"

"Snowflakes are unique, you know." Shun interrupted as he put the key chain in Alice's hand. He closed her hand and further explained, "Trust me. You won't lose your key again. By the way, this snowflake reminds me a lot of you. So gentle and unique, yet fragile and easy to lose..."