Skyress8619: Third story? In order of what? Thanks for saying it's awesome, though!

MagicxMusicxMelody: Julie's absent so Alice and Shun have personal time to talk. Sorry, but it is ending soon.

Cherry-Tree: I thought no one would mention that again. I don't know if Zhizni will come back. Definitely not a clover, but guess!

alice kazami 58: The beach was three years ago and field was less slightly less than three years ago.

InnocentDiamond: Really? That's cool! I think that's the only time they touched hands. Shun has a LOT to watch out for.

Cup of Violet Tea: They're the weirdest lies I've written. Alice's problem will take a long time to solve.

SSR: My social studies teacher made us write a paper about Veterans Day for homework.

Runo: This has nothing to do with interviewing a veteran, right?

SSR: Not at all. I decided that this will be a long story because there's a lot I want to talk about, not fillers at all.

Marucho: You should get back to working on that paper.

SSR: It's almost done. Just need to spell-check, print, and...

Dan: She had a crazy day.

Runo: (shrugs) SSR doesn't own Bakugan or the charm bracelet.

Marucho: Somebody get it for her on her next birthday!

Chapter Six

Scattered Information

...

...

Alice rode off into the distance home on Zhizni, but Shun doubt that Alice knew she was making a trail of fire that burned the surrounding grass.

What was that supposed to mean?

"Shun! What's with the blank face?" Julie appeared out of nowhere, this time more suddenly than earlier. "I came back and suddenly saw the fire and wanted to make sure okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine, sort of. Your cloak is on fire..."

"Where?!"

While she was busy putting out the embers that flickered onto her cloak, Shun took the time to explain to Julie what just happened. "Alice now thinks she carries around bad luck, which she thinks is the reason why her parents died and people hate her."

"But...that's...so...irrelevant! This cloak sucks!"

"Yeah, moving on. I told her a lie about us here for quadrat sampling, and then she told me her favorite wildflower is a four-leaf clover, which isn't a wildflower itself. I don't understand what she meant by how they can 'suppress your dark side from causing havoc to those around you'."

"That's kind of like using the word 'manifest'. This new phrase is as equally confusing. Open your hand."

Shun held his hand out, and in his palm was another charm, this time a horseshoe charm studded with crystals. "I handed Alice a broken nail earlier. A horseshoe stands for protection and luck."

"When it's faced up and holding in all the good luck, that is. But this is a charm, and you can't attach something onto an empty opening space. Alice's life is getting more and more complicated, but it still has nothing to do with her death. We should move on."

"The sooner, the better."

...

...

Marucho called Julie back for another discussion. "Have you discovered anything new recently?"

"A lot, actually. We were just about depart for the third time." she replied. "What's wrong?"

"We'll talk about your stuff later. I was looking through various periods of time in Alice's life, and there seems to be a few things off."

"Well, Shun and I have seen a lot of things off, only we don't know what to compare it to. What were you saying about a teenage life crisis earlier? And what 'few things off' are you talking about?"

"Take a look at this. It's the period of time before the beach meeting, and Alice only showed minor signs of worry and secretiveness."

Julie wrinkled her forehead and held her arms out. "What's her secret?"

"That, I don't know. She doesn't talk to people that much, not even to her grandfather or aunt."

"Maybe it's because whatever she wants to say would be too awkward to be spoken around them. Shun and Alice were talking about that earlier."

Marucho lit his finger and wrote a note in his imaginary notepad. "I will keep that in mind. Anyway, after seeing Alice talk about witnessing her parents' deaths, I went back further back to see what happened, but because it was too long ago, the details were too blurry to see, and some moments were even blacked out."

"Maybe because you're watching time pass from the general perspective. If you were to see all that from Alice's eyes, then you'd see something else."

Marucho nodded his head and sighed, making another imaginary note. "Too bad I don't have that power. Now, going back to the gap between beach and field. I don't what you two did, but Alice's actions became even more secretive. She avoids her grandfather and aunt if possible, but she's also trying to make more friends. Weird."

Julie's jaw remained open after watching a few more scenes. "Okay, maybe that was Shun's fault. Alice did say she was making more friends, but more people keep disliking her. That cancels out."

"But what is it about people at school that's different that her family members?"

Marucho and Julie took a moment to walk around and think. "Wait!" Julie exclaimed. "For the first two time travels, every time Alice says something weird and leaves, there's always a weird anomaly that occurs, kind of like present day, as well as a charm on the bracelet I gave Shun that relates to what happened. Oh yeah, my cloak got burnt."

He waved his hands over the charred spots and repaired them. "All fixed! But what kind of weird things?"

"At the beach, Alice said she always thought there was something manifesting in her that brought all this bad luck. In the fields, she said that four-leaf clovers suppress your dark side from causing havoc. Given these two phrases, it could mean something dark manifested in Alice and created her dark side."

"But nobody can prove that for certain yet. Considering you visited during the middle of a time travel, I suggest you go back before you're left out by accident."

"Yeah, I don't want that to happen. Bye Marucho!"

After Julie teleported away, Marucho looked for when Shun would meet Alice for the third time. Let's just hope Shun traveling back in time is not the reason why this is all happening.

...

...

For the first time, Shun and Julie got traveled to a period of time with civilization and actual other people. "Is this Wardington? That means we're back home, sort of. And it's early morning, too."

"We're definitely still way back in time, though. A few months after the 'quadrat sampling' incident."

"Very funny."

The chances of this place being Wardington was ninety-nine percent since Shun knew the area well, but even in just two to three years, many things have changed. "This is where you grew up, right? It looks kind of different than present day Wardington."

Shun stood at the corner of street, staring at the buildings and people. "I never realized how much has changed. You don't notice this kind of stuff when you're living here for these consecutive years. Right now, I feel like a person who moved out of Wardington and came back three years later to see all the changes."

Julie turned a corner and walked past a sidewalk of restaurants. Shun followed because he had nowhere else to go. "Speaking of Alice, how did you meet her? Like, tell me the setting in which you met her a year before present day."

Thinking about the past made Shun feel nostalgic yet upset. "At first, we met by accident during a weekend activity, but then Dan and Runo said that they originally scheduled Alice and me to be partners for the activity. Alice used to call them 'unofficial matchmakers'."

"Wow...what a romantic coincidence."

"How so? Coincidence, yeah, but nowhere near romantic."

"I know, but-" Julie was interrupted by a loud echo blast. "What was that?"

"Sounded like a foghorn. I think we're by the harbor. Let's check it out."

"Wait for me!"

Shun rand down the streets of Wardington based on intuition to the ferry, where many ferryboats left the harbor simultaneously one by one. "The ferryboats are making their first trip of the day. That's why they're all leaving together."

"But they don't come back together, do they?"

"Maybe a few do, but not all."

In the distance, the flip-flap sounds of a girl wearing a giant bonnet running over in sandals resonated. In one hand was a suitcase; in the other were ferry tickets. "Wait for me!"

"Hey! That's what I said earlier." Julie yelled.

Shun looked at the clock tower and concluded, "I think she's late."

A strong breeze blew the girl's tickets and bonnet away. She grabbed the tickets first, but the bonnet was out of her reach. "Aw man."

But it happened to land right in Shun's hands. "Where did this come from?"

"The same girl who's late for her ride?" Julie suggested.

The girl ran over, tying her orange hair into a ponytail. "There it is! Thanks for catching my bonnet."

Once again, Shun couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the girl's face.

Julie: I feel very intimidated that Marucho is above me.

SSR: But it makes so much sense!

Marucho: What does NOT make sense are the inconsistencies I discovered.

SSR: This "arc" is kind of different, but I'll explain later.

Dan: Because it has civilization?

SSR: I guess. This isn't a cliffhanger much, but situations will clear up soon.