Natellah: I guess it's hard not to hate the antagonist at times. Alice only knows because her friend said so. Don't worry. This story won't reach 30 chapters.

Cherry-Tree: Big difference, right? That really leave a deep and confusing impression on Shun.

Marshall arts: You get to see who the thief is, but he/she isn't the last person to possess it. There will be no 30th chapter.

Cup of Violet Tea: Sometimes you have to trust what someone says despite out appearances. Masquerade is meaner and crazier than you might think.

MagicxMusicxMelody: You have the cause-and-effect mostly right. You will see this connection better now.

InnocentDiamond: I did! I'll let you decide what "destroying herself" means. Not really her friend's job, but she's really desperate. It's pretty obvious who started this mess, so yeah...

SSR: I GRADUATED FROM MIDDLE SCHOOL! CLASS OF '14 FIGHTING!

Everyone: Congratulations!

Dan: Don't you still have school tomorrow?

SSR: Yeah, to pick up our real diplomas and not the props from the stage. And yearbooks, too! Let the signing begin!

Marucho: SSR doesn't own Bakugan, but she finally own the bracelet!

Chapter Twenty-Two

A Certain Familiar Setting

...

...

Marucho lit up his finger and pointed it everywhere like a gun. "Where are you? You'd better return that bracelet back or I'll shoot! Julie, help me!"

"If I only knew where to shoot." Julie lit up her finger and held it close to her. "Give me back that bracelet or—watch out again!"

By the time the three of them ducked and saw a jagged hour hand land on a tree, they already knew who was behind this. "Masquerade! Why come back now after taking a break from erasing Alice's memory?" Shun demanded.

"Such a smart human, but that's the problem. You're just human. You can't do anything to me, not when I have this in my possession." In Masquerade's hand was the bracelet with all seven charms, glowing so faintly. "I must thank you for your hard work because now I have the power to commence with my grand plans."

Shun clenched his teeth and shook his head. "Marucho, you were right. He's planning something big."

"And I fear that he plans on changing the course of time." Marucho added. "That bracelet is your only way of reversing everything and going back to the present, Shun. You must get it back."

"Oh, but I'm doing more than just changing the course of time." The bracelet shone brighter and floated in Masquerade's palm. "With this bracelet, I can erase all I want and make myself ruler of both-"

"That's mine." A sweep hand flew from another direction and cut Masquerade's arm again. A couple feet away from him was Alice, holding more indigo sweep hands between her fingers. She stood confidently as the breezes blew through yellow dress. "You don't deserve that, not what after all you did."

"Alice?!" gasped Shun, Marucho, and Julie all at once.

"Alice?! No, that's not your name." Masquerade held up and shook his finger. "Once I make you gone with this bracelet, no one will care about what your name is—that burns!"

The sweep hand that cut Masquerade lit up, and Masquerade's injury felt even more excruciating. "Don't you dare say that. If I had that bracelet, you'd never exist to ruin everything!" She threw more sweep hands at high speed, making it difficult for Masquerade to dodge.

"Alice, stop it! Let us do the work here." Julie insisted, but Alice didn't look over.

"I think you're still invisible to her." Shun reminded. "Alice, listen to me. I don't know what's-"

"Shh." Alice held a sweep hand to her lips and threw it at the bracelet, pinning it to the tree. She lifted her hand and commanded the two items back. "Copycats never win. Only the original does."

"Then why did I exist? Because first drafts aren't perfect. I knew I should've gotten rid of all of you back then."

"But that's why I'm the original. You can't get rid of me."

"Great. Now I can't go back to present day." Shun complained. "Masquerade, I don't know what you want, but I'm not letting you take away what's mine."

"Says who?" Masquerade quickly wrapped up his wound and teleported aside.

Shun turned around and saw a yellow flash. That flash...now I remember! Masquerade was there when Alice got hit by that car and minutes ago on the grassy field.

Masquerade appeared in a quick flash with a slender minute hand in his other hand. "By killing you with the power of Space, you'll disappear completely like you never existed."

"You're the one who killed Alice!"

Everyone except Alice gasped, and Masquerade stopped in place and asked, "What?"

"You killed Alice for reasons stated earlier so that-"

Alice pulled Shun away before Masquerade could kill him and threw another sweep hand and knocked out his minute hand. "It's always been his fault that everything is like this."

"Really? I can guarantee that there's one thing that isn't my fault." Masquerade argued.

Suddenly, Alice's face went pale, but Shun pulled her over. "Alice, I can't believe you're actually a Guardian of Space. Is that why you're-"

"Stop."

Purple flames flickered as they turned Alice's yellow dress into indigo and her dark orange hair into light auburn. "You're not Alice. You're the girl who said you couldn't always be there for Alice forever."

"And the girl who saved us from Masquerade!" commented Julie.

"And also the girl who saved you two from Masquerade downtown Wardington. I'm finally glad that I can meet you all, but first," After pulling Shun away from Masquerade's second attempt to kill, she looped the bracelet onto her remaining sweep hand and pointed the tip at Shun's forehead. "I need to take you somewhere."

...

...

Shun woke up and lifted his head up drowsily. Looking around, he realized he recognized this place and checked the date on his phone. I'm sitting on a bench in the shrine plaza on the day I canceled my badminton practice so I can come here with Alice.

Then Shun noticed a purple 'A' silhouette on his jacket that wasn't there and only showed up at a certain angle. I've been wearing the same clothes ever since, and now there's a shiny A on my coat. Is this the place where Alice's friend wanted to take me?

"Shun, we can go now. See you later, Runo!"

"Bye Alice!"

Alice ran over, and all these thoughts suddenly came back to Shun. I can't believe I'm remembering that exact details of that day. It's like telling the future. Alice held onto Shun's hand on the way out from the main hall. "So, did you tie your slip onto the tree?" he asked.

"I did. I hope this method really-" Alice looked up to see the black cat still perching on the Torii gate. Suddenly, it jumped down on her and left scratch marks on her arms. "Shun, I feel like this is an omen. There's been too much bad luck today."

"Don't worry. As long as you tied the slip to the tree, you'll be fine." Shun covered his mouth and clicked his tongue. But you didn't, and you won't. I guess I can't say anything new that I didn't say before.

"But I-"

"Great. The traffic is worse than I thought." Shun yelled when they reached the sidewalk. Not only that, but I still have to interrupt her when she was about to disagree with me. Why did her friend take me back here? And what is her name if not 'Alice'? At this point, Shun didn't care about looking at the traffic anymore.

"Would you say having crowded traffic today is bad luck?" asked Alice.

"No. Traffic has always been this busy. You know, Alice. You've been acting really weird today ever since some truck almost hit me." Here I go asking a redundant question again. He put his hand on her forehead. "You don't have a fever. Maybe I shouldn't have asked you to come with the shrine with me today."

"Don't say that! I know you asked me so we can spend time together, but it was my decision to come with you today, so let me handle it."

"Fine." The traffic light flashed green again, and Shun took the first step down again. "Hurry up, Alice. This traffic light changes fast if it doesn't sense anyone moving."

"I'm coming." By the time Shun arrived at the other sidewalk, Alice still hadn't stepped down onto the road. The crossing signal tweeted faster, and Alice crossed the road right when the light changed.

"Alice, hurry up! Just sprint over!"

"Wait! I dropped something."

Shun was about to say 'Forget about it' but realized he didn't automatically say it. I didn't say what I was about to say. Does that mean I'm not bound to the time frame now? He turned around and ran for his life to drag Alice over, who didn't get hit but didn't picked up what she dropped. Am I dreaming? I actually saved her! "Alice, are you-"

"What were you doing?!" she yelled harshly.

Shun stared at her confusingly as she glared at him. "I just saved you from that car!"

"Why?!"

He pointed to the car that would've killed Alice, resting a couple inches too close to the crosswalk. On the other side was a patch of yellow, which disappeared with the changing lights and moving cars. "Masquerade was going to kill you! And if this is about the paper you dropped, then don't even-"

"Did Masquerade really kill me?" Now Alice was speaking in active present tense, confusing Shun even more like it already happened in this parallel moment. "Why do you think I wanted to get hit?"

"Because...because..."

"No explanation, huh?" The 'A' on Shun's coat lit up, and purple flames turned Alice into her auburn, indigo-clothed friend again. "Well, I do. To another place we go."

Everything went extremely bright to extremely dark again with another poke of her sweep hand.

SSR: In the process of writing this, I had to copy-and-paste from the first chapter and modify a bunch of phrases.

Everyone: Ew.

Alice: I wonder how I look with auburn-

Shun: Don't even talk about it!

SSR: (sweatdrop) You sound scared. It's like having a ghost occupy Alice's body and-

Julie: You're making this sound like The Host!

Runo: Novel or movie?

Julie: (facepalm)

SSR: I'll let you all decide what the meaning of the last few sentences/paragraphs mean. Review!

Marucho: There's no such thing as "active present tense"...

SSR: Who cares? I'm out of school now. X)