Cup of Violet Tea: If I put the death in the later chapters, then I'd have to push everything back. Superstitions play a major role.

fia3striker: Thanks for liking the plot! Oh good. You didn't get scared away. Was that a good cliffhanger? I hope every five days is quick enough.

alice kazami 58: Glad you think it's a good start! The summary says it clear what happened to Alice, but the rest of the story won't talk about Alice that way.

Troth: Glad you liked it too! Thanks for the welcome!

InnocentDiamond: Finally get to talk! The summary may have spoiled Alice's part, but definitely not the others.

Cherry-Tree: Sorry for the confusion! All you do is pay a small amount and pick a random slip/stick/fortune. That's where the title comes in.

Flopi216: Thanks for being my first reviewer! I guess my story looks great for a scary first chapter. Greetings from USA!

SSR: Thanks for all the reviews on my first chapter! As a present, I updated this earlier!

Runo: You're five days old now!

SSR: Hopefully not too old. I think I'll update every five days. This chapter and all others will be shorter.

Dan: Speaking of stories, SSR doesn't own Bakugan but owns the plot.

Chapter Two

Dead On Arrival

...

...

Once the paramedics whom Shun called over arrived, they immediately lifted Alice onto a rolling stretcher and carried her into the ambulance. Before they left, the police, whom the paramedics called, arrived and immediately snapped photos.

"Looks at those bloody tire tracks. The vehicle sped off."

"This is the worse hit-and-run I've ever seen. Doesn't even look like the driver stopped at all."

"I'm more concerned about the pool of blood..."

Shun, on the other hand, was in no mood to talk. He stared at the paramedics who hooked Alice onto an IV and a breathing machine. It's all my fault. I should've crossed the street with her together. One of the doors was slightly shut, and Shun noticed Alice's clenched fist. "Excuse, sir. May I go with you? I'm...uh...her-"

"Sorry, but this is a critical condition. I advise that you stay and wait for the police to ask you for a report of what happened," one of the paramedics replied hurriedly.

The crowd around the pool of blood attracted everyone from everywhere over to see what happened. Some people who just came from fortune telling at the shrine held their hands up and prayed. Shun still couldn't believe what happened.

"Hey Shun! I heard there was an accident!" Dan rand across the street over to Shun with Runo with the assistance of an officer directing the traffic. "What is this? The victim's going to need blood transfusions."

"Who got hurt?" Runo asked. Shun continued to stare at the pool of blood palely. "Shun, what-"

"Alice got hit."

Dan and Runo were speechless.

"And it's all my fault. I should've-"

"Shun, it's not your fault. I heard the officers mutter that it was a hit and run, and the vehicle didn't even stop to check. It's the driver's fault, you hear me?"

Runo elbowed Dan on his side. "Now's not the time, Dan. So where's Alice now?"

"In the ambulance. It's probably going to the hospital two blocks from here..."

Dan reached for a set of keys in his pockets. "I can drive you there, but my car is at the top of the hill, so-"

"Just get me there." Shun interrupted.

Runo escorted Dan away across the street after hearing the anger and irritation in Shun's voice. Looking at Alice one last time, Shun saw another flash of yellow at the moment when the paramedic closed the back doors. It's just like when I turned around to call on Alice. What is it? Once is probably an accidental sighting, twice is a coincidence, but if I see it a third time...

Shun shook his head and quickly caught up with Dan and Runo.

...

...

"I'm sorry."

By now, Shun was used to hearing all these apologies from the doctors. This one was no different, yet there was something not right about this one. It was so...abrupt.

"The victim passed away the moment we attempted blood transfusion."

"I see."

While Shun stood still in front of his seat staring into nothing, Runo covered her mouth in shock, and Dan pulled on strands of his hair. "Shun, is there anything we can do for you right now?" Runo asked.

"Yeah, man. You'll need all the support you-"

"I'm fine. It's my fault. You two don't need to do anything for me."

"But Shun, at least let Dan and I-"

"Holy macaroni!" Distracted by the abrupt exclamation of a nurse down the hall, the trio ran to the front entrance to see what the nurse saw. Up in the fair blue sky was a dark but translucent silhouette of a giant bird flying above. It darkened the sky and sunlight like sunglasses. "What on earth is this?"

"Somebody has to be playing a joke here."

"Wait! What's that?"

People then looked the other away in the direction of the shrine. Like shooting starts, glowing red fireballs flew everywhere, ready to burn and destroy. But they somehow burned themselves out, causing no damage.

The head of the hospital entered the lobby and shouted, "Everyone! Go back to work! You can all observe something as nonscientific as that during your own leisure time."

"Looks like a bad omen to me. Reminds me of the raven that 'stole' Alice's fortune." Dan commented, not realizing that the said event happened not too long ago. "Uh, sorry about that, Shun."

"No need to apologize. I prefer to be by myself for now."

Runo tugged on Dan's arm. "If he says so, then we should leave. Bye Shun."

Shun sighed and waved them goodbye as he watched the surgeons roll Alice's body out of the operating room. In between the time two of the surgeons switched sides to undo the IV, he saw a flash of yellow for the third time. That's it. No longer was that a coincidence, but I don't know what it's supposed to mean. And why am I seeing that only on Alice?

In addition to the spontaneous sight of yellow, he also saw Alice's clenched fist. I almost forgot that. It was because Alice dropped something and picked it up that stalled her and caused the accident. At first, he was afraid to touch Alice after the hit, but then the authorities came and took Alice away, so Shun never had the chance to check it out. "Excuse me, doctors. Did you find anything in her hand?"

"Her hand? We haven't checked since surgery and blood transfusion were our top priorities. I guess it wouldn't hurt now."

"Thank you so much."

The surgeon gently pried Alice's fingers open and removed a crumpled piece of paper. "You're the boy who gave the receptionist her family information, right? Thank you so much. I believe her grandfather's coming, and unless you want to stay, you're free to go home."

"Thanks again. I think I'll stay until he arrives."

That gave Shun time to think about and try to bring together just exactly what had happened today in this short amount of time.

...

...

It was six in the afternoon. Shun originally planned to stay for a couple minutes to tell Dr. Gehabich what happened when he arrived at the hospital, but it just dragged on the entire afternoon. Shun purposely canceled all his plans just for this important day at the shrine with Alice, but nothing went the way it was supposed to.

This morning, I almost got hit by a car if it weren't for Alice, but from that moment on, I knew something wasn't right about her. Then the black cat, raven, bad fortune, and so on. It feels like everything bad that happened today was premeditated, all planned for specifically Alice, by why?

Walking down the streets of Wardington in the cold, evening breezes, Shun suddenly remembered the crumple paper that he was so concerned about before the accident but now almost forgot about. Is this another omen? With Alice alive, I actually care about certain things. But now she's gone, and I completely forgot this crumpled paper was with me.

He lifted a corner and stopped opening the paper when he saw the design. "I know this stationary. It's the same as the—no, I'm probably imagining things." Shun continued walking and opening the paper, but he only got closer and closer to what he feared. "It can't be..."

Shun pressed the paper against his abdomen and flattened out any other wrinkles. The top half of the paper read 'great curse', and the bottom half read 'lost articles'. "This is Alice's bad fortune. I thought I told her pin it to the pine tree. Great curse... Lost articles... Because Alice didn't pin this to the tree, she lost something as great and serious like her life. No way..."

"So you've noticed it too?"

Shocked by a sudden voice speaking to him, Shun turned around and was face to face with a girl with silver hair covered all over with a pink cloak. "W-Who are you? W-What are you talking about?"

"Oh, I almost forgot. I'm Julie. You must be Shun."

"That's my name, but how do-"

"And I'm here to tell you that Alice's death wasn't accidental."

Shun blinked a couple times and said, "Of course it wasn't! She didn't pin this fortune on the tree like I told her to."

"No, not that. I mean, somebody planned her death long ago. It was premeditated, just like you thought. All these superstitious things were meant to warn her this was coming."

Shun was a little skeptical. After all, he just lost his girlfriend because he invited her to the fortune telling. "How much do you know, exactly?"

Julie smirked cleverly but cheerfully. "I know about the hints, fortunes, today's anomalies..." She looked around, put her hand to the side of her mouth, and whispered, "And who Alice's murderer might be."

Now that caught Shun's full attention.

SSR: I hope Julie's appearance wasn't too random.

Dan: No time traveling?

Runo: Maybe we should concern ourselves with the flying raven.

Marucho: And fireballs.

Dan: You did not have a third anomaly!

SSR: Oh shoot, I need to fix that. Review in the meantime!