"That smells nice..." Yoru commented as the speed of Ryo's sedan slowed down and eventually came to a stop at the sidewalks. 

Like the first time he had been around the area, there was a sweet smell lingering in the air. There were children running around at the sidewalk, some played with each other, some roamed around with their parents. All of them still had a genuine charming smile on their faces, their laughs were still contagious much like before. 

There were animals roaming around on the streets, some were collared and played with their owners, while the strays were either barked or hissed at, or ruffled, or ignored.

Ryo smiled involuntarily as the car was put on stand-by and stopped hovered. 

Clack.

"We're here." Ryo exclaimed as he got out of the car. Following him, Yoru and Haori came out too. 

Ryo led the two into a bakery to the left which displayed various cakes, pastries and snacks on the frontal display with an entire menu faintly visible inside the store. 

Entering the bakery, they were met by a familiar young gentleman around 5'5 in height, slick-back black hair, brown eyes, and wearing a formal waiters uniform. 

He bowed at an angle not more than 50 degrees and greeted familiarly, "Hello there! It seems you've come again but with more friends! Welcome in!" 

Ryo could see that the man knew who Haori and Yoru were, yet he greeted professionally and promptly. He was impressed by it as he smiled and said, "Yes, I am."

"Could you please guide us to an open table...?" He added askingly. 

The man nodded and guided the trio towards the table at the far back of the bakery. 

As they went in, Ryo noticed that unlike previously, there were many people occupying the seats and tables. 

The trio reached the empty table which the waiter had for them and pulled out the wooden chairs, sitting down they placed their hands on top of the metal table. 

Adjusted themselves, Yoru was the one who picked up the menu and quickly went through it.

'Ooh, blueberry, vanilla... They have chocolate cakes!' 

'But wait... I should probably order something else, since this is lunch...' Yoru sighed in disappointment. 

After a while he passed on the menu to Haori and leaned back as he had decided on what to order when it was to be placed. After Haori too decided on what she should the order, the menu was then finally passed onto Ryo. 

Ryo waved at the man and the trio began telling what they wanted to order. 

"I'll order a large-size margarita pizza with a large sized soda and four pieces of garlic bread!" Yoru said his order, then following him, Haori ordered, "C- Can I have your standard sized penne pasta and a medium sized non-alcoholic mojito." 

The man nodded and moved his gaze to Ryo, awaiting his order. 

"Can I just have what I ordered the last time? If you still remember it..." He hesitantly asked.

"Very well then. We'll have your order ready as soon as possible, till then, I hope you find this place enjoyable, and if you'd like, then you may roam outside instead of sitting in here. I'll just call you from here once your ordered food is ready." The man said, walking away.

The last time Ryo had come to have lunch, the man had only smiled and said, "Very well then, we'll have your ready as soon as possible!" However, this time he added an extra sentence. 

Ryo presumed it was because of Yoru and Haori's presence. 

And he was correct! 

Even if the waiter had greeted the three in a professional and unfazed manner, he was still in the presence of those who controlled and ran Sector 6. 

He was bound to feel pressurized and act more welcomingly. 

There was a silence that fell for a while. Ryo's eyes darted around awkwardly as he looked past the two in front and look outside. 

"Hey, Haori, how'd you finish the missions already?!" Yoru asked intrigued, not paying attention to Ryo.

'Why... wouldn't I?' Haori replied, turning towards him, "They were easy..."

"Only two missions were there, aside from the case of murder that Raphael's investigating. I only had to deliver items from one place to another." She exclaimed. 

'A mission where she has to deliver items from one place to another...? A transportation job?' Ryo contemplated for a while before asking a question which had been on his mind since the day he had heard about the missing-items case. 

"Why is Squad Eight doing... these trivial things? Shouldn't it be a job left for the Army Division or the Division Squads...?" He asked hesitantly. 

'I hope they don't find the question useless or anything... Whatever the reason is, it's probably not social-service...'

The two turned to him and smiled as Haori replied clarifyingly, "Because it's in the law."

"Each Squad is given an entire Sector to manage. We can change taxes rates to a certain extent, have control over the placement of infrastructures." Haori's explanation concluded. 

Not allowing Ryo to reply, Yoru added, "We're to take care of these people in the Sector."

'But what about the consequence of breaking this law? What can they even do? Why even is this law still valid...? All main squads are on other Planetary Sectors, what about the Sectors they're supposed to manage?'

'Come to think of it, how was Sector Nine managed? Mori didn't manage it, and there was no other authority to manage a Sector either...'

'I don't think the Squads manage Sectors from far away at a Planetary Sector... Ah! Division Squads! Are they the ones who manage Sectors... But then, Sector Six should also have Division Squads managing instead of a main Squad. Is it because this is the only Squad present currently...?'

'Shouldn't it be better for them to have Squad Eight focus entirely on things like analyzing battlefield data, artifacts or relics...?' Ryo shut his eyes and leaned back on the wall. 

"So, do ya play video-games or something?" Yoru asked intriguingly. 

They wanted to know more about him, while Haori did not know how to initiate a conversation because of her awkward and reserved nature, Yoru did know how to initiate a conversation. 

He began his attempt to have Ryo feel more comfortable around them and Squad 8 Headquarters by asking simple questions of interests. 

Him including everyone else had noticed that Ryo had a reserved nature, and this was a step towards tearing apart his cocoon.

"I... don't play any video-games." Ryo replied awkwardly. One could almost see illusory beads of sweat dripping.

Yoru slowly nodded sluggishly and asked again, "I see... What about physical sports, or board games?" 

Ryo's eyes gleamed corporeally. "I did play a lot of board and card games with Mori! I didn't play any physical sports though."

Yoru's smiled widened by an indiscernible amount as he glanced at Haori who also smiled indiscernibly, then at Ryo. "Well, join us sometime! Haori, me, and Raphael play whenever we have no missions!"

Ryo noticed that the reply did not mention Xianye, which lined up with what he had seen, the nature of Xianye. He smiled again and replied, "I'll... think about it."