LOLz @ some of your theories!

I think what was meant was... what happened to Seifer et al during Time Compression? But that question could be asked of a lot of the characters. What happened to the people in Garden and all the towns? Maybe they were unaware of what was really going on, and were just living out their lives, but in the past and future as well as the present.

So... I think the fishing theory, amongst other things, seems pretty likely.