The strange thing about attention is how loud its absence feels.
After the eyes moved on, the city didn't celebrate. There were no sighs of relief, no sudden rush of freedom. Things simply… resumed. Like a conversation picking up after an awkward pause everyone pretended not to notice.
That was how I knew it had worked.
We walked through streets that had learned not to look for me anymore. Not pointedly. Not performatively. Just naturally. People checked their phones, argued quietly, laughed too loudly at bad jokes.
Life reclaimed its noise.
Arjun stretched his arms over his head."Feels quieter," he said.
"It's not," I replied."It's just not about us anymore."
The girl nodded, eyes tracing reflections in shop windows."They're acting without calibration."
"Which means trust is re-forming," Aaryan added."Slowly. Messily. Correctly."
✦
We passed the same aid kiosk from yesterday.
The screen cycled once—then resolved.
No loop.
No crowd.
