While watching the cars zoom-by on the road beside him, John quickly arrived at his first stop; a small newspaper stand.

Stepping up to the small shack lined with papers and books published by different printing houses, John quietly read through their headlines.

[This CELEBRITY said WHAT!? You will not believe…]

[The Psi variant is deadly and here’s 10 REASONS why you should take it seriously!]

[New Autumn Collection. Here’s how YOU can make a FASHION statement in 2024.]

[Left-wing activists have done it AGAIN! Right-wingers DEMAND for resolution.]

Discarding the obviously extraneous and useless news reports, John picked up a few that managed to catch his attention. Picking them up from the stand, just as he was about to open the pages to read the articles in detail, he was interrupted by the stand owner.

“You’ll have to pay before you read it, sir.”

A voice softly demanded.

“Ah, apologies,” John immediately apologized and reached into his pocket of change.

Passing over a few coins, he kindly looked towards the stand owner and asked, “Is Joe not running the stand today?”

“A-ah, Uncle Joe is out sick today. I’m running the stand in his place.” A young woman cautiously replied.

“I see,” John nodded his head and opened the newspaper in his hands.

“I never knew that Joe had a young niece like yourself. He’s always prattling on about how much he hates his family and how he’s on bad terms with everyone.”

John absent-mindedly monologued while hiding his face behind the newspaper.

“Especially with his sister…” he spoke with a mysterious tone.

Hearing his words, the young woman seated inside the newspaper stall with her face covered with a mask trembled. Her hands discreetly reached for a button hidden underneath the table in front of her. Just as her finger was about to push down on the button, she heard John speak again.

“But hey! Good for him. I’ve always told him to make amends with his family and reunite with them. Seeing you here today, I’m glad that my words got through that big, dumb head of his. Hahaha!~”

“Haha…”

The young woman nervously chuckled and removed her finger from the button. She then lowered her head and did not dare to look at John’s face hidden behind the newspaper.

Behind the newspaper, John put aside the matter of Joe’s family and carefully read through the newspaper article. He then repeated the same with the other newspapers that he had purchased.

Finally putting them down, he carefully folded them up and sighed.

“Seems like those countries can’t hold it in any longer. Peaceful days like this will soon come to an end and tranquility will escape.”

He shook his head.

Listening to his words, the young woman couldn’t help but grow interested.

Although her mission Captain had warned her multiple times to not engage in a conversation with the target unless absolutely necessary, her growing curiosity made her decide to throw wind to caution.

“What do you mean by those words, sir?”

Taking a deep breath, John heavily stated with utmost certainty in his tone.

“War. It means that war is upon us.” He then shook his head and continued, “And you’d think that with all the trouble that I caused them, they’d keep their tails tucked in for at least a few years. But nooo~”

“Welp, I can only hope that my final act will scare them enough to stay put. A war right now would be very wasteful, you see. Moreso, when this war could very well be the sequel to the ‘Big Two’.”

He shrugged his shoulders and pocketed the newspaper. Turning around, John began to walk away. Just as he was about to leave the newspaper stands’ earshot range, he spoke.

“You be careful too, ‘Joe’s Niece’. As someone who’s been there and done that, take it from me. You might want to quit while you’re head, lest you end up as someone else’s cannon fodder.”

He then completely disappeared into the crowd.

Meanwhile, inside the newspaper stand, the young woman managed to hear his advice. With her head lowered, he carefully pondered on his words.

“Pzzsht This is Bravo Leader, over. Did you make contact with the target, Bessie?”

A voice crackled within her ears.

Awakening from her thoughts, Bessie touched the earpiece lodged inside her left ear and replied.

“This is Bessie. I have confirmed that he is indeed your target.”

“Good. Do you think he was alerted to our presence?”

Bessie’s eyes suddenly glazed over. She absent-mindedly stared into space for a second before regaining her bearings.

“Negative. Target has no idea about our presence.”

She pressed into her earpiece and confidently replied.

----------

‘Joe’s niece, huh. She seems like a good girl.’

John thought to himself as he arrived on the other side of an intersection. He faintly smiled as he recalled how the young girl had taken an interest when he had spoken about the world’s political climate.

As someone who had ‘dabbled’, or so he calls it, in the world of politics himself, nothing brought John more joy than having someone to discuss the topic with.

Shaking his head, John cleared his mind and continued his journey towards his favorite coffee shop. On the way there, he continued to quietly appreciate the life and energy that filled his surroundings with a faint smile on his face.

Dak!

“Ah!~ I’m sorry, mister!”

Amidst his wistful appreciation, John accidently crashed against a teenage boy’s side. Looking down towards the apologetic youth, John kindly replied.

“Don’t worry. It was my fault too.”

He then inwardly remarked at how incredibly handsome this youth was.

‘Damn, this guy is hot! Is that his girlfriend by his side? Wow, what an incredibly good-looking couple!’

He then tried his hardest to not turn around and gawk as the young couple passed him.

“Stop pulling me while you run, Ollie! I nearly crashed right into that old uncle!”

“Then run faster! At this rate, we’re going to miss our train! I will not have our long-weekend date-trip cancelled just because you were a little slow in running, Lu!”

‘Ah, young love. How envious.’ John inwardly remarked to himself, before continuing with his own trip.

After walking for a dozen or so minutes, he finally arrived at his destination; a coffee shop that had the logo of a white angel holding her arms up against a green background.

Pushing aside the glass entry doors, he quickly found the line queuing up before the counter and joined them. Three other people were standing before John in the line and each seemed to be intently focusing on their phones. As such, John quietly waited for his turn to come.

After exactly eight minutes and forty-two seconds, he knew this because he counted, John’s turn finally arrived.

“Hi! Welcome to ‘A fixed luminous point in the night sky which is a large, remote incandescent body like the sun’-bucks! How may I help you?”

“Yes, I would like a…” John then placed his order at the counter.

After taking down his order, the lady at the counter told him the payable amount and his name.

“Oh, it’s John Doe.”

Immediately, John could see the woman’s body stiffen. Her facial expression which was forcibly maintained to be plain could not hide the internal conflict within her eyes.

Smiling at this, John politely asked, “Is there something wrong?”

“N-no. No-nothing wrong!”

The lady’s reply almost turned into a scream. However, she managed to hold it together and left the counter to prepare John’s order.

As he whistled while waiting for his order to be readied, John faintly noticed his surroundings become quieter and more desolate. At this change, he did not react too excessively but instead continued to whistle with a wider smile on his face.

After waiting for around two minutes, he finally received his order.

“He-here is y-your order. H-have a-a nice day!”

The lady handed over his cup with trembling hands. Graciously receiving the cup with his hands, John looked up and met the lady’s eyes with a kind gaze.

“Thank you. You too, have a wonderful day.”

He then turned around and started to walk. Lowering his mask, John brought the cup closer towards his lips and gently blew into the small opening.

After inhaling the freshly prepared coffee’s energizing scent, he took a sip while simultaneously exiting the store.

The instant he came out, John was hit by a flash of intense white light and found himself blinded.

“John Doe! For your crimes against humanity, you are under arrest!!”

Someone loudly proclaimed and in the next instant, John felt a sharp force strike against his neck. He felt his limbs growing increasingly powerless. Unable to hold the coffee cup in his hands, he dropped it to the floor.

Feeling his vision swirl and his body grow weak to the point of falling at the slightest touch of the wind, John thought to himself.

‘Ah, fu*k. I didn’t even get to take a proper sip of the coffee. All I got was the foam.’

Darkness claimed him.