MagicxMusicxMelody: You said it! Here's today's update. Maybe I'll stop having Alice and Shun introduce their names then.

Cup of Violet Tea: Oh true. It would be dead debris by present day. Bad anomaly. X( There'll be a lot of assumptions, and the truth doesn't come out until the end. That's a really cool cause and effect!

Cherry-Tree: Maybe I'll give the cloak some magical abilities, like a barrier. I'll explain my idea of 'tickets' later, but it's kind of both your assumptions combined.

Flopi216: Thanks for loving it!

RosesOfTruth: Actually no. Alice said she loved clovers because they hold down your dark side, but your interpretation exists for another charm/item.

Skyress8619: Okay I get it. It's not leading nowhere, but leading to somewhere unknown really slowly.

InnocentDiamond: I saw that coming. Since the anomalies are supernatural, and Julie is from another dimension, maybe it only applies to them? I think I know what show you're talking about. Julie's going to spill all that knowledge someday.

SSR: Wow, it's already pretty late at night. Just came back from watching 'The Book Thief.' It was so beautiful! Anyway, I'm officially one month old on this site!

Runo: 'Secrets' is done airing! Sixteen episodes of suspense and romance are all out.

Dan: How many things are you watching? Why can't we do this one drama at a time?

Shun: Very unlikely.

Runo: SSR doesn't own Bakugan, BTW!

Chapter Seven

Question For You

...

...

Shun wasn't surprised to see Alice again. After all, it was the reason why he was time traveling in the first place.

"No problem," he answered softly. "Here's your bonnet. You should catch your ferry."

Alice grabbed her bonnet and shook her head. "All the ferryboats are gone. Luckily, I bought raincheck tickets, so if I miss the boat I was supposed to take, I can take the next available boat that comes back, which probably won't be here for an hour..."

The ferry services weren't really popular among the younger generation since it was rather slow and more suitable for middle-aged and elderly people, so Shun was more than curious of why Alice was in a hurry. "Where are you going? You looked like you were in a hurry."

"I'm on vacation, actually. It's Thanksgiving break, so I'm going to visit a friend of mine in Bayview. Too bad my other friend canceled. What a pity."

Meanwhile, Julie went around exploring the town.

Two friends? That's a major improvement since the last couple times I saw her. "Isn't Bayview pretty far away and time-consuming for a ferry ride?"

"You'd think the ferry would be slow to take its time, but no. I find the ferry ride to Bayview the most relaxing and beautiful ride ever."

Shun stared out into the water, remembering the beach where he spoke with Alice for the 'first' time. "I guess there is a healing side to that."

"I know, right? I love riding the ferry more than the bus or metro. It's so...romantic. Reminds me of some film about the Titanic."

"Oh, that movie. You said your friend was in Bayview?"

"Yeah."

"How did you guys meet?"

Alice pursed her lips in thought, sitting down on the bench with her legs crossed. Shun sat down as well. "It's a bittersweet story, really. She was my best and only friend at school but moved to Bayview because her parents' company moved. I felt like a piece of me is gone." She rubbed her eyes and put on a pair of sunglasses.

"You miss her a lot, don't you?"

"How can I not? Anyway, I'm going to see her soon. She moved away in the middle of the school year, so we still have a few stuff in common to talk about." Alice took out her phone and turned on the screen, revealing a picture of her and another girl in the background. "Look. We took this during PE after our tag team won the relay race. Don't we look happy?"

Shun couldn't help but smile at the fact that Alice made even just one friend. Maybe all that talk we had a while ago really paid off. "Your 'best' and 'only' friend? I can see why you dedicated your Thanksgiving break to visit her. How long has it been since she moved?"

"Half a month, maybe. We took this picture on a Friday, and on the next Monday, she was gone."

"Ever thought of inviting her back to Wardington for a couple days?"

"I...I don't know." She put her phone away quickly, and Shun sensed something was up. "She doesn't even know I'm visiting her?"

"You didn't tell her? Why not?" So this is why she's kind of frustrated, but it's definitely not it. There's more to it.

"Relax. These tickets are for a one-way ride between Wardington to Bayview, whether from here to there, or vice versa. My other friend—a guy, my best friend's understudy—and I were supposed to visit my best friend as a surprise. We had in mind to stay at her house for the night and buy new tickets the next day. But he canceled."

"So what are you going to do with the tickets now?"

"I don't know. Either I'll visit my friend as a surprise or just ride to Bayview and stay for my entire break. I have a lot of money. The ferry ride takes a long time, but I don't care."

But Shun wanted to cut to the chase. "But what do you want to do?"

Alice growled, taking her sunglasses off and resting her face in the palms of her hands. "I might as well spend my entire break in Bayview, but it's not the first time I've ridden there."

"Why do you say that?" That answer was really out of the blue.

"Every time I board the ferry, I always know it'll be a long ride. Sometimes I wish the ferryboat won't dock or reach its destination. Sometimes I wish it'll just keep moving in the water."

Here comes her frustration. "Why? Does it upset you?"

"No, but it's still the slowest and most time consuming thing ever. Not that it's bad, but I just want to waste away or stall time so I can skip all the other things that would be happening now or at least delay them."

"What kind of things?"

"You wouldn't understand." The foghorn echoed again, and people swarmed to the gates, even though not a single ferryboat was in sight. "I should still go to Bayview anyway and take a chance."

Shun shrugged his shoulders, seeing that she wouldn't talk. "If you insist. One-way or two-way?"

She stared into the water in thought. "Maybe one-way for now."

"Can I have your other ticket?"

Now Alice focused her stare on Shun. "You asked a lot of questions today."

"So?"

"So..." She walked up to him with the other ticket in front of her face. "I'll give you this ticket for free if you answer my question."

"Go ahead."

After a silent pause of backing up, Alice asked, "Why are you here?"

Shun didn't see that coming.

...

...

"Here you go, little lady."

The cart vendor gave Julie her hot dog and cup of soda, and Julie paid him with 'legitimate' money that she magically created. "Thanks, sir! Keep the change!" Walking down the streets with food in her mouth, Julie looked up and around at the tall buildings. "This place is magnificent. I hope there wasn't much change as Shun said."

Down the street she was walking were more food vendors, and Julie could as much food as she want—after all, her money was 'unlimited'—but she'd have no more hands to carry and couldn't eat them all at once. Instead, Julie crossed the street to the department stores.

Julie, now's not the time to be shopping! Julie shook her head at the thought and decided to head back to the harbor. "Shun must be waiting for me. I've been away for almost an hour now." She stuffed the hot dog into her mouth and ran quickly to the corner of the street.

"Get out."

Julie froze in position.

Someone said something, but she couldn't tell where it came from. Cars zoomed past quickly yet quietly, and all the stores on the sidewalk still hadn't opened yet. Who could've said that to me?

The answer laid in a tiny alley between two stores.

Julie swallowed the hot dog and went inside, unsure of what she was going to find. Julie, you should be at the harbor by now. No point searching for some nonexistent person. Her instincts told her to go deeper, but stopped when she reached a dumpster. "What a waste of time."

Not quite.

The moment Julie turned around, she saw someone—most likely a guy based on body build—standing a few feet away from her. He walked closer, leaving Julie nowhere to go.

"You shouldn't be here. Neither should he."

What scared Julie more was that he had a bladed weapon in the hand that was aimed for her.

SSR: Sorry, no charm today.

Dan: Alice knows how to get back at people...?

Julie: Why are you doing this to me?!

Alice: What did I do wrong?

Julie: Not you, my attacker.

Alice: Oh...wait, who?!

Runo: That's not very funny.

SSR: Right, this is a terrible time to be talking about this. I don't think it's important to bring up who Alice's friends are. Please review!