Cherry-Tree: You'll guess the charm after reading this chapter. It was pretty humorous, right?

Cup of Violet Tea: It's just two people, but we partly know one, and the other person will be vaguely explained.

InnocentDiamond: Those two people will be revealed more clearly later on. I might have Marucho return instead of staying in his bubble.

MagicxMusicxMelody: I know it's pretty funny, but there's more humor later. And you're right about him getting curious with the questions.

Flopi216: Your English is pretty good. Thanks for the compliment!

SSR: I wanted to update yesterday, but the server crashed many times.

Julie: It's Christmas, after all. Show some holiday spirit!

Marucho: Correction - New Year's spirit.

Runo: Major busy holidays at work.

Alice: How many chapters will there be again?

SSR: I said about 20, right? And I don't own Bakugan!

Chapter Twelve

Talking to Myself

...

...

Alice hastily whispered, "What are you doing here? How did you even get here?"

"I know I'm not supposed to stand here within a five-foot radius from you, but I really need to talk to you." said the 'person'.

"Can we talk later? I'm cold, and Shun and I are eating."

"It'll be brief, I promise."

"One minute, like you always said."

"I know that and won't waste your time."

Meanwhile, while Shun finished the piece of roll cake he broke off, Julie came back and rested her hand on Shun's shoulder. "What are you doing eating this piece of food all by yourself? Where's Alice?"

"She went to throw tape away from the box. What were you doing?"

"Before I answer your question, I think you should look over there." Julie pointed to Alice, who was talking to herself by the trash can. "That's exactly what Marucho told me Alice was doing."

"Are you serious? She could be killed any moment, and I would know nothing about it!"

Shun swallowed the rest of the cake and ran over to Alice, who saw from the corner of her eye what happened. "He's coming! Hurry up and leave." she warned the 'person'.

"Hurry, yes, but leave? Not yet."

"What?! Not now! We haven't even-"

"Alice, are you okay? That was longer than I expected."

Alice choked for a moment and drank from her water bottle. "I-I'm fine. There was something in the trash can that was quite disturbing."

"That's disgusting. I'm leaving." Shun turned back and whispered to Julie with one hand slightly over his mouth. "There's nothing wrong."

"I don't think so." she whispered back.

"Whatever." Shun walked down the sidewalk with Alice while eating the rest of the lemon-vanilla roll cake. "Do you come here downtown often?"

"When I have the time, of course I do. Especially at this time of the year with the light snowfall." Alice took off a leather glove and held her hand out. Flakes of snow descended onto her hand into a fluffy pile. "It doesn't even feel cold."

"Let me try." Shun first blew and rubbed his hands before holding them out. Soft snow piled up on his palms, too. "Are you kidding me? This is nowhere near not cold."

"That's because you have both hands, silly." She raised her hand up to her lip and blew on the snow, dancing in a graceful mess before falling back down to the ground. "That was pretty fun."

Shun pulled his hands apart and watched the snow dust his shoes. "Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Who were you talking to earlier?"

True, Alice was talking to someone that she didn't want Shun to know, but she didn't even look shocked or surprised that Shun asked that question. "I was talking to someone?"

"I saw your mouth moving and head facing the other way."

"I wasn't talking to anyone."

"You're lying." But to back up his claim, Shun added, "I find it weird that you'd talk to someone else when I'm right here."

"So your point is...?"

That, Shun didn't know how to explain.

Alice rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. "Can you keep a secret?"

This had better not be what Julie said about what Marucho said. "Of course I can. I swear."

"Great. It's not that big of a secret-"

What a sigh of relief for Shun.

"-but rather embarrassing. Although you probably don't know anyone who knows me, don't tell anyone this. I like to talk to myself when I'm lonely."

"Um..." Shun placed his hand over his mouth and gagged. "No offense, but-"

"You think that my habit is childish? Go ahead and laugh. You're the only person I've told this secret to, yet I don't know you very well."

"Well, too bad. You already told me that, and I can expose this secret to any random person I talk to."

"You wouldn't dare. What am I to you?"

"You're-" That question begged a moment to think. She's right. What is she to me? In the future, Alice would be my girlfriend that I lost to a car accident, but right now, we're not even supposed to be talking. "Just someone to talk to on this lonely night. And because I'm also talking to you, you're not 'lonely' tonight anymore and have no need to talk to yourself. Understand?"

"Whatever you say." Alice ran a couple feet ahead of him and turn around. She held up her left index and middle finger into a V and pointed them at her eyes than at Shun's. By adding a left wink to it, she conducted an implied process of eye contact. "Either way, I got my eyes on you."

Suddenly, all the lights from the lampposts and buildings shut off.

And a neon blue silhouette of an eye of Horus floating over Alice's unclosed right eye.

"Did you see that?!" Shun yelled. The darkness was so overwhelming. I must be seeing things.

"See what?"

Instantaneously, all the lights came back on.

And Alice's 'eye of Horus' disappeared.

"N-Nothing. I must be getting dizzy from the cold."

"Here." Alice took her scarf off and handed it to Shun. "I have a turtleneck under my coat. I don't think you were even prepared for a snowy night."

"Didn't pay attention to the weather report, that's why." Shun wrapped her scarf around his neck. "What material is this? It's so smooth and nothing like wool."

"Cashmere. It's really expensive." Alice must be out of her mind to give such a valuable scarf to a 'stranger' to wear. "Grandfather said to never wash it in a washing machine and only dry-clean it."

"You're not serious."

"Yes, I am. Be grateful that I'm giving you something warm to wear."

"But it's still yours." After a moment of laughter, Shun asked a serious question. "How often are you by yourself?"

"What do you mean?"

"I saw the way you talk about your friends. You say you have a lot of them, but your voice suggests that you're really lonely on the inside." The next statement he had in mind was a little offensive, but Shun said it anyway. " Not only that, but I think you're keeping a secret."

"What?!" Shun was expected Alice to react like that. "That's absurd. Why would you say that?"

"Because I know how people act, and there's something about you that isn't right. Answer this question first: is it true that you don't have that many friends?"

Alice sniffed quietly but answered with a stable voice, "Kind of. I've met a lot of people, but most them come by and leave so fast that we only vaguely remember each other. But I have a small of group of friends who are the closest to me, and those friendships will never change. Happy now?"

Alice's answer was quite a contrary to what Shun had in mind, mainly because Shun's expectation was based on one-side experience. "Second question: who were you talking to earlier?"

Alice sniffed again. "Answer my question first. Have you ever met someone in your life who just completely changed you?"

That was uncalled for, but Shun had an answer to that. "Yes, I did. The moment I first met my girlfriend was the moment I realize my life was changed forever. Now she's gone, and I'm still trying to find out what happened to her. The clues left behind indicate there was something deeper about her that I know nothing about. Seeing you act like this reminds me of how she was, and I really hope that-"

"Please," Alice shook her head violently with her hands over her ears. "Just stop."

"I'm sorry that was ranting at you."

"No, it's okay. I kind of feel that way, too."

"Someone close to you passed away?"

She let go and shook her head gently. "Someone did die, but it's complicated."

"Who? Tell me."

"I can't. What was your question again?"

Forget it. She won't talk. "Who you were talking to earlier? You definitely weren't talking to yourself."

Alice put her hands over her mouth and closed her eyes. She stalled for a few seconds doing nothing but thinking. What is she doing? I answered her question now, although maybe I went a little overboard, but I couldn't help it. Seeing her brings back so many thoughts. Alice opened her eyes again and whispered.

"What if I really was talking to myself?"

SSR: I can't believe I forgot to create an anomaly for the mushroom charm.

Dan: That wasn't really like a 4th charm, but a 3.5th...

Runo: What kind of ordinal number is that?

SSR: Whatever. I made it up with a rather beautifully creepy anomaly this time. Initiating eye-contact...

Julie: What is it with you and subliminal messages?!

SSR: What, me?! That's how you create suspenseful cliffhangers! Everyone can guess what they want. (cough) Last (cough) line. (cough)

Marucho: Just review please. :V