Xander stood outside the place where the satiating scent came from. He was probably okay by now. He was no longer sweating and he didn't have the desire to push himself off a building.

While on the way, he saw plenty of students from the Zones frequenting the various hobby shops and popular cafes in town. It was probably time for their lunch in the Academy which towered over most of the other buildings in the zone.

River would find herself right at home at one of the bookstores, sipping coffee while on a lounge chair by herself. The thought gave Xander some solace.

He found himself at the location where the sweet scent was coming from.

It turned out to be a bakery, and it turned out quite a large crowd had built up outside the place. Xander stayed away from the large crowd and just went to the door of the bakery. He, of course, kept his cowl up.

If Xander had to call it anything, the bakery was pretty cute. The outside was made of pink bricks with some white layering, reminding Xander of a cake. The window outside showed off its array of pastries in racks. Cakes, cookies, chocolates, and other sweets stood outside proudly.

On a nearby sign, it displayed the various news of the day. Cinnamon Crepes, Sooty Snickerdoodle, and something called Mega Monkey Bread were apparently on sale today for the price of just 10 silver.

The other bitter treats were there too, but Xander didn't exactly care for them. River wouldn't like them either.

The sign proudly declared the bakery's name in bright white letters, "Fantasy's Frostings", and entering the place, there weren't a lot of people there. Maybe there was a celebrity outside, but it had nothing to do with him. He was just here to visit.

At the register was a button-nosed girl who was staring outside and looking at the crowd which had built up just next-door. Hand on her chin, she yawned and stared at Xander who just opened the door. He was one of the only customers inside the shop.

Other than him, there was nicely dressed man with a notepad talking to a pale boy. Maybe he heard some bad news or something, Xander thought as he turned back to the cashier.

"You're pretty lucky to come here today. Usually the line is about forty minutes long, but something happened."

"Oh. That's cool." Xander monotoned.

"Yeah, you know, I didn't actually see what happened since I came here after whatever happened. My boss didn't say anything to me about what happened, just that it happened a few hours ago. Just told me to put on my apron and the such."

Xander had never worked as a cashier before, but usually their job was to get orders, right? Maybe she was some type of greeter for the restaurant. Whatever, he was hungry.

"Right... so, I wanted some-"

"It's such a shame. From what I could see there was some tape set outside of the alleyway. When I asked Ashley--Ashley's my coworker by the way, she can be annoying sometimes, but she's cool--and she said that some paramedics came by. Isn't that crazy? Do you think-"

Xander cleared his throat. The girl was startled by him as if she didn't care who she was talking to, but just wanted to say something.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that. Usually I have someone to talk to, but there's not a lot of the people at the shop. I'm a chatterbox and I need someone to talk to. I'm so bored without a full house."

Now he felt bad for making her stop talking. Awkwardly smiling, he said he understood (he didn't) and gave his order and put in two silver coins

Drained completely of his mental energy, he didn't want to talk with the girl, or at least any strangers for the rest of the day. The girl, smiling, went to the back. While she did her work, he sat in the booth away from anyone else. There was a crepe already there.

He began to think quietly to himself, trying to relax himself.

A murder, or at least assault. If paramedics were involved, then it means someone was still alive inside of the alleyway... the person in the booth is probably a government agent.

That girl, she said that the alleyway was still taped off for a few hours since she got here. Even if all sorts of government red tape was in the way, for a simple homicide, it shouldn't take that long. Especially in the streets. That means something especially malicious happened.

Then, the guy in the booth is probably part of Jade Affairs and he's interrogating a witness? Annoying. They're searching for me right about, aren't they? God, this is exhausting. How long has it been... I'm nineteen right now so... nine years? I would've figured they would've declared me as a lost cause, or at least take a hint...

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Sighing, Xander put his hand up to his eye and whispered to himself in the corner of the restaurant, "Myself, Perception, A bystander..." After this, he slumped his head against the table and closed his eyes. Now, the agent shouldn't take much notice of Xander. His attention was on the interrogation, but Xander should still be careful.

Too much has happened today. I think I can go ahead and rest home for a few days at least. Maybe a few weeks. I don't need to go out as much because of the haul... I don't want to go anywhere... At least, not anywhere with crowds... That guy was an asshole...

I hope Grant's okay... He probably is... From all the stories he told me, he can handle himself... besides, he promised... Maybe I can get Florian to help him. I should visit him sometime... I owe him a lot. If he hits on River, I'll kill him... It smells nice in here...

Eventually, his order was ready from the back. The girl had tried to talk to him a few times during the wait, but he just pretended he was sleeping. He was actually dozing off at times, but he kept himself awake by pinching himself.

Taking the basket, he thanked the chatty girl and left the bakery. Opening the door, the crowd had somewhat dispersed, maybe they just lost interest. A few more agents had shown up, each of them holding a suitcase and were focused on the alleyway. They reeked of danger and that was something Xander wanted no part of. What Xander wanted was to go inside the alleyway as soon as possible.

Huh? Why would he go-

Suddenly, Xander's eye began aching, hard. Even harder then when he used his ability in the bakery. Almost keeling over, he somehow stayed upright and blinked multiple times.

Out of his unjaded eye, Xander's vision pulsated slowly, mixing up colors and values. The world turned from black to white to black again. His jade eye though saw the world the same, causing Xander to become nauseous with the two differing sources of information.

Panting, he reentered the restaurant and sat quickly back down in the booth. He didn't know what was going on, what conditions changed so that his eye suddenly started hurting. What could've happened to him?

There were two variables in the mix. The time he spent next to the alleyway in the bakery and the arrival of more agents. The agents didn't seem to notice Xander at all though, none of them gave a single look at him. So, it probably wasn't their doing... The former wasn't the problem.

Shit, it still hurts...

It started with the unnatural attraction to the alleyway. It had somehow manipulated his thoughts somehow, or something otherworldly was in action here. Did the agent's arrival somehow change something about the alleyway, or was it his exposure to it?

Peeking up from his booth, he noticed that no one else had reacted to the agent's arrival. That meant that it was something extraordinary about Xander himself that interacted with the alleyway.

Only one of his eyes were affected meaningfully, the other one stayed the same... the effect was something to do with his vision. Even now, his Jaded eye was still pulsating the same as before, but not painfully.

Opening his eyes, he saw that the effect had subsided and he could see normally now. The bakery seemed okay, the colors weren't warped or anything, and the cashier in front of him was still talking to him like normal.

"What happened? Did you forget something? Or did you miss me? I'm sorry to tell you I'm not interested in the market, but one of my friends is. I could set you up." She had a concerned look on her face, but she was still smiling. She was trying to shake him back to reality.

Xander looked absentmindedly at the cashier. He didn't even know what she said, but she at least looked like she cared. That felt nice. She didn't even know who he was yet.

Looking at the cashier, he thought for a second about the best way to assess his situation and he began sweating carefully, but steeled his mind.

Taking off his cowl, he bared his face and opened his eyes and stared at her with a smile.

"Look into my eyes."

"I-I thought I t-told you I'm not interested." The girl stammered while blushing. "Woah, you're a solid nine... B-but this isn't fair what you're doing... There's an order to this type of thing."

Thanks for the compliment but please keep it to yourself.

Her eyes opened up as she looked at Xander more as she tilted her head. "Your right eye... it's glowing green... it looks like it's spinning somehow? It's beautiful..."

Green? Usually it glows red... Xander theorized to himself, before pulling his away. At least it wasn't bleeding, and that was good enough for him. As long as nothing horrible was happening to him, nothing that could make him blind, it would be okay.

"Thank you. I'll be leaving now."

"Oh, okay..."

Xander stood up quickly and left the girl behind who was standing there blushing. Concealing his eyes once more, he went the opposite direction of the alleyway. He didn't want any trouble, and it seemed like all that was inside there was a host of bad luck. Screw that.

Walking in the opposite direction, he eventually felt the compulsion vanish with distance and he took a breath of fresh air. Basket in hand, he quickly left through the pedestrian gate without much trouble as fast as possible.

If he'd look behind him, he would've seen the starstruck cashier looking left and right in confusion and trying to look for someone to talk to immediately.

I want to go to sleep...

***

"Sir, we've found something."

A commanding officer looked at the junior in front of him. They were just dispatched with this new case. Apparently, the threat level was raised all the way to Naga somehow. Some detective became crazy all of a sudden.

"Explain".

Around the junior were men setting up experiments and equipment to find out the exact ramifications of the remnant effects. Mice in cages were scuttling about inside of someone's briefcase, probably John's. He was strange in his procedure, but it seemed to work.

"The alleyway displayed signs of Resonance with someone nearby."

Taking a puff with his cigarette, he pinched his brow and shook his head.

"Was it any of our men?"

"No sir. Our Specialties don't seem to match up with the site."

This was getting annoying now. A bystander seemed to have made the case exponentially more difficult.

"Find out who was nearby and make it into a list."

Resonance works both ways. If a bystander noticed, then so did the original assailant. They had to keep everyone safe.