Dan and Chan quickly arrived at the scene after receiving Shun's call and chased up the supposed building where the brick might've fallen from. The trainee officer kicked the door to the roof and scanned the area. "Chan, there's no one here!"

His supervisor leaned over and saw other colleagues setting up. "At least backup's here. Let them find other witnesses while we go talk to Alice."

On the way downstairs, Dan asked, "Didn't we just interrogate Alice earlier today? And this has to do with the mystery thrower again."

"It's better to have us to interrogate her than someone that has no clue about earlier today. Klaus is unconscious from being hit by a brick, and Alice probably fainted from seeing that right in front of her. Want to follow me to the hospital?"

The only difference between Chan and Shun right now is that Chan follows procedures while Shun follows instinct. "Sure, I could use the learning experience."

At the hospital, Shun waited outside Alice's room and stared at the ground. Hydron stopped by and pointed at the room door. "You're Shun, right? What brings you here?"

So this is Hydron—also Taylor's boyfriend. "Nice to meet you, Hydron. Alice and I were out in the streets when she saw something traumatic and fainted."

"Fainting from trauma...that's a lot to handle in the span of one week. You were with her at that time? Come to think of it, Alice didn't tell me where she met you. I'm a former classmate."

"Alice and I...have a lot of mutual friends. That's all." I have no reason to tell him that my mom was working on Alice's case back then.

The door opened as a nurse stepped out. "Miss Gehabich is awake now. You may visit her."

The two students exchanged glances before stepping inside but were welcomed by a shocked expression on the redhead's face. "Get away from me!"

Suddenly, Chan arrived and knocked on the door. "Hope I'm not interrupting! Dan and I would like to take Alice's statement...again." While walking across the room, she whispered to Shun, "You can stay if you think it will make Alice feel more at ease."

Hydron checked his phone and approached the door. "Sorry, I need to answer this call outside."

Alice finally calmed down and nodded. "I'll tell you everything I can recall to the best of my ability."

Chan pulled up a chair while Shun and Dan stood behind her. "Can you please tell me everything from the beginning when you first encountered Klaus to the moment that you fainted?"

"When I arrived this morning for work, Klaus stopped me at the first-floor elevator to talk about illogical things. Later, I was leaving the building for lunch when you took me in for the first interrogation. After that, Shun was walking me back to the station when Klaus showed up again and repeated the same illogical topics from this morning. Then he stopped talking and looked up to see a brick falling onto his head. Some blood splattered on me and I—" Alice gripped the blanket tightly and trembled. "—just passed out. I can't unsee it."

The female officer wrote everything and let the redhead see the notepad. "If everything's written correctly, then—"

"I know—sign and date." After that, Alice leaned back on the pillow and pulled the covers. "I want to sleep."

"I'll close the door on my way out." As the trio stepped outside, Dan handed Shun's statement to his supervisor. "That was fast. When did you record this?"

"Shun and I stepped to the side and just talked. He didn't know who Klaus was until today at the streets."

"Either way, thanks for completely this quickly. So far, the other two victims have been to the diner, but not Klaus."

"He's too snob to go there," Dan remarked. "Shun, I'll see you later. We need to check on Klaus's status."

"Stay safe." The raven-hair student turned and saw a blond woman rushing over. "Are you Alice's aunt? She's inside."

"You must be Shun. Thanks for letting me know!"

Shortly after, Hydron approached the area after finishing his call. "Is Alice alright?"

"She and I just gave our witness statements to the police. Alice said she wanted to sleep, so I left, but then her aunt just came."

"Always nice to have family around."

Shun immediately gave the PA student a side-eye glare. "Always better than nothing. Good luck on rotations." He made his way out of the hospital and pondered. I never liked his tone of voice to begin with. Alice's mental and physical state makes her vulnerable to everything.

Hydron shrugged his shoulders and returned to the hallways until he bumped into someone. "Katie, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in the pharmacy?"

The creamy-blond girl crossed her arms. "So pharmacy technicians can deliver medications, but an intern pharmacist can't? Get real. What are you doing here? Lunch breaks aren't that long."

"I was visiting an old friend. Isn't the medication cabinet on the other side of this hallway?"

"Well, I wanted to see a certain friend of mine that works in this department first." She giggled and then held out a small intravenous bag. "This is a controlled medication. I need you to be my computer witness when I place this into the cabinet."

"Wonderful. I hate narcotics."

Hydron read the label and led the way as Katie followed, not before she looked closely at Alice's room number.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Fainting was not as severe as blood loss, so Alice returned to work the next day with no follow-up. Just as she approached her desk, her two closest coworkers walked over. "Runo? Julie? Why are you looking at me like that?"

The bluenette pulled the redhead to the side and whispered, "Are you transferring?"

"What do you mean? I just started here."

"Dylan was screaming unpleasant things earlier," the Australian explained. "and now he's in Anubias's office down the hall on the same floor."

"Uh...be right back." Alice was utterly confused and grabbed all her stuff on her way to Anubias's office. "Sorry for interrupting, but I—"

"There she is." Inside the office, Dylan stood up from his chair and dragged Alice's over. "I thought you'd never come back."

"Excuse me? It's not my fault that someone nearly died in front of—"

"That's not important." The silver-haired man placed his palm out to stop Alice from talking. "As general director, I oversee all employees in this building. Is it true that another radio station offered a 15% increase based on your current salary?"

"What?! Where are you getting this from?! I've been in and out of the hospital for the past few days and—"

"Enough. Hospital visits aren't cheap. I'll give you both a 25% raise. End of story. Out of my office, please."

Dylan left first and waited at the elevator without even going back to the office studio. The doors opened, but Alice blocked her co-host's path. "Dylan, what was that? I never thought about switching to another station."

"Alice, it's a win-win. We both stay at this station and get paid more now. You should be happy." He walked forward and brushed against Alice on purpose before entering the elevator.

The redhead returned to her desk and leaned into her chair. Runo and Julie asked frantically, "What happened?!"

"Dylan lied about me considering another station so that Anubias can increase our pay by 25% to keep me here. Anubias won't believe what I say because he thinks I need more money to cover recent hospital costs. He doesn't understand—nobody does!" Alice flipped through the folders on her desk and groaned before laying her head down.

Runo and Julie backed off and went out into the hallway. "When was the last time we got a raise?" the bluenette asked. "Alice already gets paid more than us because she speaks on air, but what was Dylan thinking?"

The Australian shook her head. "It's not her fault, and hospital bills have nothing to do with this. Dylan probably wants the raise because the audience likes Alice more than him. He's been...acting weird on air lately."

"Keep this to ourselves for now. I don't want Dan or Shun getting involved."

"My lips are sealed."

-x-x-x-x-x-

"Sweetie, I'm working overtime tonight. You don't need to wait for me for dinner."

Alice signed after answering her aunt's call. "I'll be fine. See you tonight." She looked around and saw the Misakis' diner a few meters ahead of her. Do I want to try again?

She shook her head and continued walking until someone rushed out the back door. "Alice! Good to see you again!"

"Hi Komba. Going on delivery?"

"Setting up my bicycle for now. I don't know what's taking Mrs. Misaki so long on the phone. Did you want to order something?"

"It's okay. Do you mind if I talk to you for now?"

"Of course not!" The diner employee leaned his bike against the wall. "What's wrong?"

"I had a couple hospital visits lately, but I'm better now. Recently, someone's been throwing items from rooftops at people, and I've been interrogated twice for witness statements because I just happened to be there. A senior colleague isn't getting along with me now. The only thing good so far is that Klaus won't be disturbing to the radio workplace now. I should've told Anubias earlier when I was still in his office!"

"Well, good for you. Klaus is always like that."

"You know him?"

Komba sighed loudly and rolled his eyes. "Who doesn't? He works in real estate and has too many unnecessary promotions. If he's been bothering your workplace lately, then that explains why he's not annoying the rest of us now—no offense to you, of course. What's he up to know?"

"He got hit by a brick and probably won't leave the hospital anytime soon." Alice let out a slight giggle but quickly stopped. "I can't believe I did that! Even though I don't like Klaus, he's still recovering. I'd better go home."

"Don't go yet!" Komba rushed inside the diner and brought some orders outside. "Do you want cube cheesecake and egg tarts? This order is from a customer that gave Mrs. Misaki a hard time. The customer doesn't want it anymore, but the food's untouched, so—"

"Komba, I really can't! Save it for the next customer that orders these."

"I already told her that you were outside and would likely take this. Egg tarts need to be fresh, and barely anyone orders cheesecake here."

The redhead flustered and nodded. "Thank you for the sweets, then. I owe you a favor."

"Don't worry about it! We're friends, and I want you to enjoy Bayview. Got to go!"

Alice waved goodbye and watched Komba ride off the street before seeing Shun exit the diner's front doors. "What a coincidence. I wasn't expecting to see you here."

The raven-haired student waved a slip of paper in his hand and continued walking. "I was asking Runo's mom if it was okay for a campus organization to fundraise with the diner. What are you doing here? Mind if I come along?"

"Just walking home while it's still bright. Aunt Clara has overtime tonight. This path is supposed to be a shortcut, but I guess I spent too much time talking with Komba earlier."

"About what?"

"Recent things that I went through, such the hospital, interrogations, even Klaus. I knew he worked in real estate but didn't know that he promoted his stuff into people's faces."

"You're not wrong, but it also depends on who the audience is. I asked my classmates about Klaus, and they said he was on campus once to promote places for students to rent off-campus. Too many complaints went to the school and the real estate office, so he stopped coming. He won't be bothering anyone for a while."

"Is it bad to think that it's a good thing?"

"Not really. You're just a victim—"

Alice froze and gripped her wrist and bracelet. It's happening again. I don't want to be the victim anymore.

"—of his endless solicitation." Realizing his mistake, Shun grabbed Alice's hand and pulled her over to look her in the eye. "Alice, it's okay. Klaus needs to reconsider how to attract customers. It has nothing to do with you."

"I just remembered." The redhead double-checked the box of egg tarts and handed it all to Shun. "Weird offer, but do you want these egg tarts? Somebody gave these to me from the diner."

"Uh...I don't mind, but why?"

"Back in college, Hydron used to bring half a dozen egg tarts went he visited the five of us. I liked eating them, but now they remind me of—"

"I'll take it." Shun took the box out of Alice's hands. "What's in the other box?"

"That's cheesecake. Aunt Clara loves it, so I'll save it for her. She deserves it after working overtime." The pair arrived at the end of the block, and Alice hit the crosswalk button. "Shun, if you need to go home, then you don't need to come with me. Even though I gave you the egg tarts because I don't like them, I think you deserve it for getting me to face the past. Dylan and I had a heated argument earlier about employee pay, but I'm tired and don't want to think about it. See you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? For what?"

"Nothing really. We both live in this area of Bayview, so it wouldn't be a surprise if we see each other around. Drive safely." Alice waved her friend goodbye and crossed the street.

Shun opened the box again and counted exactly six egg tarts. Overcoming the unintentional bad memories of egg tarts is a minor concern. The fact that she looks forward to seeing me around might mean that she's not afraid of me anymore. Not sure if it has to do with Klaus being hospitalized for a while.

Little did either one of them know that their exchange was seen by someone across the street.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"I'm back." Shun returned to Dan's house and took his shoes off as the brunette leaned back in his swivel chair. "What's got you so focused?"

"Still thinking about the recent water balloon, paint can lid, and brick cases. Chan and I made some interesting discoveries. It appears that a lot of people say the victims acted obnoxiously to some degree."

"Are you legally allowed to tell me details of an ongoing investigation?"

"Well...just don't say that it came from me. Besides, you're not an obnoxious person, so I don't think you'll be targeted."

"Define 'obnoxious'."

"Strict parents, strict nannies, rude people, clingy people—you name it! We asked Runo's parents for details since most of the victims go to their diner. Runo's mom said that Alice was chatting with one of the workers when Julio complained about distracted employees. Sellon later came and accused Alice of cutting in line, which was so not true. Surprisingly, Klaus stopped by once to order cheesecake but had too many specific requests and refused to pick up his order after seeing that it came out wrong. He should've ordered cake from a bakery. Wrong place, man."

Shun set the box of egg tarts on the kitchen counter and wondered. "Did anyone else order cheesecake besides Klaus?"

"Don't think so. You don't get that many unforgettable yet problematic orders...or people."

Alice had cheesecake with her, but if Runo's mom doesn't recall Alice placing the order, then where did Alice get it from? Maybe Runo's mom gave both items these to Alice? "By the way, here's a box of egg tarts."

"That looks good!" Dan rushed over and immediately stuffed one into his mouth. "It's from the diner!"

"You know that already despite no label on the box?"

"I recognize the taste. Where did you get this from?"

"You just said it's from the diner."

"But Shun, you and your friends never order this. I know you better than you think!"

"Fine. Alice gave the box to me after—"

Immediately, the brunette stepped on a chair and pointed at Shun. "I knew it! You two have been weirdly close together lately!"

The raven-haired student took a bite but set the pastry down. "I'm still trying to solve a case that my mom couldn't close. So far, the three things in common between these three specific victims are visiting the dinner, insulting Alice, and acting rudely in general."

"You have a point, but I don't think Klaus and Alice ever saw each other in the diner before."

"He annoys her daily at her workplace. Even Runo and Julie are angry."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Shun continued eating and stared at the messy whiteboard in the living room. What exactly about 'employee pay' were Alice and Dylan arguing about? And why would she buy or accept these egg tarts if they gave her bad memories? He tilted the pastry and watched the reflection on the yellow surface. "Do you think Dr. Brown will let me visit Lync if I requested?"

"Dude, what about you talking about?"

"Mom's notes said that once she was done with her expert witness statement of Lync, Joe's mom—who's Dr. Brown—oversaw Lync's case so that Mom could handle Alice's case...until that traffic accident."

"Shun, are you crazy?! That's the killer you're talking about!"

"Aside from him, I don't know who else to talk to."

Dan stuffed another egg tart into his mouth and shook his head. "I can't help you this time. You need to ask Joe about this. Even if you explain your reasoning to him, I don't guarantee that either of them will agree."

"Let's hope they do..."