When Jin and Isis arrived at the market, the amalgamation of people was palpable. The markets were mostly known to be the treasure of all things due to the buyers.
Even in this crazily quiet city, the market was a district that just attracted noise.
Crazy individuals like Tora who are obsessed with gadgets are the ones Jin liked to sell his stuff to. Though, there was also another reason he'd drop around this area.
As the boy's hand reached out through the crowd—a leather wallet latched onto it.
"Ooh, that's a lot!" Jin reacted, counting the notes inside. "What's this? Like $50 here?"
Isis, who was holding a bag of coins, replied: "How would I know? You're the one who has it."
"Hmm, yeah nevermind it's $30, but it's still quite a bit. How is it for your side?"
"Hold on, give me a sec. This guy made my life hard by bringing only coins."
"Who did you get that from?"
"The one with the top hat. I just thought he looked rich. Turns out he's just a weirdo."
Though Jin didn't find stealing exactly fun before—as he grew more used to it to keep his family barely financially stable—he found a certain thrill from the task now. It wasn't as big as Isis but it was still up there.
"Alright, this should be more than enough," Jin said, looking for the donut stall.
"Huh—?! Where did my wallet go?!"
"Shit! My money!"
"Aghhh, I had a lot of stuff in there!"
Clear realisations settled throughout the market. Isis looked back at the scene. She looked as innocent as a puppy; like Jin, not a shred of guilt echoed.
"Quite the scene we caused," Isis thought.
"It's fine. We can just return this stuff to the lost property. It's not like I have any use for all this cash."
Jin… you say that but have the greediest look on your face right now.
The boy felt Isis staring as he spoke back.
"What?"
Isis averted her gaze. "Nothing. Just remembering how much crazier you are than me when it comes to this."
An irked looked accompanied with a sharp hand to the back of her head caused the dark red haired girl to yelp.
"Ouch, that hurt, idiot!"
"Don't compare me to you. It's insulting."
"Blegh!" She pulled her bottom eyelid down, sticking a tongue out. "Am I wrong, though? You've always been the first one to charge right into different houses!"
"You say that like you don't have a massive grin tearing through your face while you help me do it."
Isis couldn't respond immediately before crossing her arms defensively.
"Whatever! And I'll have you know, I come along to make sure your dumb ass has enough hands to do the job."
"Don't call me dumb. I have better grades than you."
"Yet you're still a dumb ass!"
"I do all the planning whenever we're out stealing."
"That's not what I meant, dumb ass!"
"Then why are you calling me that?"
"I-I…" Aggressively pushing the bag of coins in Jin's face, Isis was flushed red. "If you're that idiotic, don't ask!"
"….ow."
The two finally arrived at the donut stall. Isis admired the many different flavours. "Holy crap, they've got cookies and cream! Lucky!"
Jin eyed his own flavour as he asked for a chocolate glazed donut.
"Chocolate again? I swear, you always get that," Isis commented, pointing at the cookies and cream topped donut. "I'd like this one please."
"What can I say? I like things the same," Jin responded, passing the notes to the stall owner.
When Jin and Isis received their bags of donuts, the raspy voice of the stall owner spoke.
"Have I seen you two before?"
The old man with an unruly beard flashed with familiarity. Especially at Jin.
"No, why?" Jin curtly said, stepping further back, catching hold of the retracted walking stick that he grabbed back earlier.
The old man's eyes lit up—transforming to anger.
"Wait, you're that kid who stole from me two weeks ago and sold my shit for a higher price!"
Spectators grew as Jin started thinking about how troublesome things might get the longer he stays here.
Jin raised one hand in a surrendering manner. "Sorry, sir. I don't think I'd go out of my way to steal donuts."
"…"
"…"
"…pft."
Isis stifled a laugh as the old man, now enraged, tried reaching across the stall to grab Jin.
"Get him!" the old man commanded his workers. One in particular was more built than the rest.
Yeah, hell no. I don't want to deal with that.
Quickly, Jin tossed his walking stick in defence. The stick disrupted the men—wailing back from Jin's sudden action. The latter then grabbed Isis for a sprint.
"Alright, we're out of here!" he exclaimed, shoving past the wall of people.
"Bahahaha, what kind of excuse was that?!"
"I didn't exactly think this through, alright?"
The two would keep running whilst evading the many obstacles however Jin would end up bumping into someone, causing him to separate from Isis.
"Shoot!" he grunted, starting to think that this was a bad idea. "Isis, where did you—?!"
A powerful grip seized Jin's wrist. When he turned around, it turned out it was the muscular man from before. That grip ripped a memory of Kyle pinning Jin down back to the surface. It was a very unpleasant reminder he didn't want to think about. No, calm down. He was much stronger than this guy.
To Jin, he was just all brute strength. Nothing like the tactical strength that Kyle had. A punch getting loaded by the man as Jin started to think.
He wanted to warp right now. It'd be so much easier. That way, he could escape the grip with ease. He could still vividly recall where his last set point was, and fortunately it was still close by. Approximately 25 metres away.
Just within his range.
But, just as he was about to, those violet cracks spread further across his arm.
Hesitation gnawed at him to the point of stopping. It'd be bad if he got a headache right then and there. Instead, Jin ducked under the thrown punch. Wind wooshed across his hair.
"Are you trying to knock me out or something?" Jin commented, twisting his arm and slipping out of his grip.
"It's nothing personal, kid," the man said. A raspy tone bellowed. "You know how it is in these parts. Karma is a bitch. And a kid like you is no exception!"
Not an exception? How ironic for you to say that. Jin went into his all-seeing state, eyes flashing violet as his world view changed. The man shot another fierce punch directly towards Jin's guts. But with a steep step back, he narrowly dodged it.
In this state, Jin's reaction time would shoot up the charts simply because it increased the amount of information flowing into his head.
There's many things Jin didn't understand about this state. Why he could see small glowing droplets floating across space. Why that, when he focused, he could see the presence of others through walls all at the same time at a bird's eye view.
But the Vassari knew everything. And from what they said, Jin could infer that this ability was a byproduct of having a Nexus—being an Exception—or whatever they like to call it.
As Jin carefully evaded the man's onslaught, the man was at a loss for how he hadn't landed a single hit. This kid in front of him looked lanky. Pitifully weak. He had terrible form yet managed to dodge every last blow. And he wasn't even looking where he was going. How could someone blindly dodge while avoiding the traffic of people behind him?
"I guess you're right. Karma is a bitch. That said, I really don't know what I stole from your boss. So can you just leave me be?"
He scoffed at Jin. "Your jokes are only as funny as your attitude. Don't humour yourself."
Jin would finally waver from overusing the all-seeing state—feeling his consciousness staggering. A single misstep which the man took full advantage of as he clawed a hand towards Jin's face.
However, in that last moment, another hand slapped the man's hand away. Deep aubern hair tied into a messy pontail, danced with crimson flair. "God, the second I leave you alone, you're about to get your ass handed to you?
"Isis!"
"Huh, you're that girl! Wasn't the boss chasing you?"
Isis could only smirk. "If you're talking about those other old perverts, I gave them a nice lil' toss."
Using the carried momentum, Isis managed to heave the man over her shoulder, supporting her grip by planting another hand under his armpit.
"Like this!"
The man flew over her and slammed right into a couple poor souls who were caught in the cross fire. Jin was taken aback at her strength.
That is NOT normal!
This time, grasping Jin's hand, Isis took a b-line right out of the markets, laughing.
"How did you do that?"
Isis has always been really athletic, but he's never seen her outright throw someone like that. Naturally, he was stunned.
The girl grinned before rolling up her sleeve, showing off what looked to be a gadget supporting her arm.
"It's a gadget! What else? Brother Tora made this a while ago with the spare Vassari parts he tore from the gauntlet. It can let someone become multiple times more powerful! Neat, right?"
Jin couldn't help but facepalm. "Again, I wonder how he manages to come up with these things yet still suck so badly at studying."
"Bahahaha, true~!"