Alice looked around the workshop to see unfinished sculptures lying around as if for ages. "I wonder where the sculptor is. Who would abandon their workshop like this?" On the ground scattered some firewood, so Alice collected it all and set them in a pile. I guess it wouldn't hurt to start a fire here for now.

A broken window let in a breeze and blew a stack of papers into Alice's face. "What's this? It looks like somebody's journal. Could it belong to the missing sculptor?" She arranged the pages so that she stared with the earliest date.

November 11th: I retrieved enough marble today to begin carving a statue of my dear wife Mira. It's been a while since she passed away, and I really need to look for my past sketches of her radiant smile and elegant beauty and carve that into my work.

"So the sculptor's wife died, and he's planning to carve a statue of her. This is so sweet. When was the last time Shun ever did something like this for me? What happens next?"

November 17th: This is not as easy as it seems. I'm already on my third piece of marble, yet I still cannot carve Mira's face into it. Why?! I'm working as hard as I can to make this perfect, but her beauty just cannot be captured into this piece of marble!

"Seems like he's not doing so well. If he still remembers his wife's face and has sketches of it, then he shouldn't have any problems with carving the marble."

November 25th: For Heaven's sake! No matter how hard I try, Mira's face will just not bring itself out into this statue! I've wasted eight pieces of marble now. The only chance I have of carving an exact replica of her face is to retrieve her face itself!

"Retrieve her face itself? Sounds more disgusting than a horror movie. He had better not do anything stupid because none of it will be worth it if things go wrong."

December 3rd: I quit! Digging up Mira's skull was even worse than carving her face from memory! Now I'm certain that I'll never be able to carve Mira's face into marble. Oh, how my head hurts just writing this—

The journal entry ended there with a huge, dried spot of spilled ink, and there were no more entries beyond that date. "Something's not right. This is the only clue saying what happened to this sculptor, but there has to be more to it. Maybe I should search outside."

Wearing an old but warm coat that she found in a closet, Alice left the cabin and explored the snowy ground outside. She found a house about a few feet away and went over there. The first thing that caught her eye was the frozen mailbox.

Alice gently blew on the side to melt the ice. "These must be the names of the residents. Ace Grit and Mira Clay...Mira?" So if Mira was the wife, then Ace Grit must be the unsuccessful sculptor.

Later, Alice looked around the house to look for a way in, but it was no use. The only door to inside the house was in very bad condition. As she walked down the steps and onto the snowy grounds, Alice suddenly remembered Shun and what he said before he left.

"What do you mean, 'I won't be in class on Monday? What do you want with me?!" Alice fell to her knees and breathed deeply in anger. "Oh no. The train left before I had a chance to talk with Shinji."

She stood up and walked across the slippery icy bridge in front of her. Alice looked over to her side and saw the river, frozen and solid from presumably years of snow and ice. She also glanced over at the bare winter trees, all leafless and white. I really miss the old days...before we broke up.

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

It was an average snowy day in Japan when he took her out to a sakura forest.

"Watch your step, Alice. We're going on the bridge, and it's icy and slippery. And didn't I tell you not to wear those boots?"

"I'm sorry, Shun, but these were the only appropriate winter footwear I have. Besides, I don't get it. You're taking me to a sakura forest in the winter? Shouldn't the trees be bare by now? And can I open my eyes now? At least give me a blindfold so my eyelids won't hurt."

"Actually, cherry blossoms are one of the most unique aspects about Japan. Open your eyes and see."

Alice opened her eyes to see a magnificent scene of sakura trees, each with many beautiful cherry blossoms blooming. The winter wind gently blew some of the petals into the air, bringing a sweet and memorable scent.

"This...this really is beautiful. I had no idea that they would blossom so vibrantly in the winter. What a mystery. How is that possible?"

Shun stood next to Alice and put his hand over her shoulder. "Normal sakura trees blossom in spring and become bare in winter, like most flowering trees, but fuyuzakura blossom in autumn and remain blossoming and vibrant for the entire winter. This is a rare sight, you know."

Alice suddenly thought of an idea. "Rare sight? Then we should take a picture with the fuyuzakura on this snowy day we'll always remember it."

"Great idea. I'll set my camera on a timer." Shun laid his camera gently on the opposite rail and posed with Alice as the camera beeped and flashed.

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

Alice found herself standing in front of a meticulously sculpted granite tombstone with a rough edge at the very top. She brushed the snow off and read the name. "Mira Clay...so this is where she's buried. At least the sculptor carved a beautiful tombstone for her. If only she could see it..." Alice looked to see that the Grit residence wasn't far away from where she was. "This mini graveyard is quite close to their house, but I wonder why-"

"Excuse me, but you're stepping on my late wife's grave." Alice turned around to see a fairly young man. Could this be the ghost of Ace Grit? He seems so...young. The ghost sighed and added, "But it doesn't matter. It'll be the same either way."

"What do you mean? Are you the well-known sculptor Ace Grit?" asked Alice. "What happened to carving a statue of your wife?"

"Yes, I'm Ace Grit. I gave up on that project years ago when I realized that I couldn't carve Mira's face into the marble. I dug up her skull to use as a real example, but that was even worse than before."

"Why so? What happened after you dug up her skull?"

"I literally went mad. I was so angry that just threw the most successful sculpture of Mira onto the ground, even though it wasn't finished. I was so hopeless and lost that I decided to reunite with her."

"So you committed...suicide? It wasn't that serious, was it? You probably were quite young back then." I can't imagine Shun ever saying that for me. This sculptor must have had a really tough life.

"I was twenty-two back then, for Mira and I got married early, but then Mira died early of sickness. After a while, I hung myself, and that was a huge mistake. Ever since I dug up Mira's skull, I must have put her soul at unrest. I returned the skull back, but that made things worse. Now I'm at unrest, too, and it's too late for me to do anything about it because I'm dead."

I need to help him like with Runo, but how? This isn't as easy as stopping a train. "Uh, Mr. Grit, I-"

"Call me Ace. I'm not that old." he replied jokingly.

"Okay then, Ace. What did Mira look like?"

Ace reached in his pocket and took out a small photo. "Here. Mira was the most beautiful woman I ever met, inside and outside. Her bright smile and gentleness always brightens up every one of my tough days as a sculptor. That is, until she became ill. Then things changed."

"Is there anything that I can do to help Mira?"

The sculptor took out something from his pocket again. "I don't know if there's a way, but there has to be. Her skull is back inside now. Also, I've been working on this necklace for some time, but didn't get the chance to give it to Mira. It's just an ordinary metal chain with a small pendant."

"Is that all?"

"You see that notch on top of the tombstone? I broke the decoration by accident when I dug up the grave. I'd appreciate it if you could fix it. That's the least we can do."

"What was it supposed to be?"

"A flat silhouette of her head. I won't be able to sculpt anything in this condition. Maybe you can carve something."

So I need to carve roughly Mira's head and adhere it to the broken base. That's convenient. But how am I going to carve a perfectly fitting neck? Suddenly, Alice thought of an excellent plan and yelled, "Ace, I know how to give this necklace to her and put your souls at rest at the same time."