I walked in to find a man so big and scary that he should apply for a Russian gangster part in the movies, cursing at a coffee machine.
"Stupid piece of junk!"
He slammed his palm on it twice to make it work. Which, to nobody's surprise, it did not, considering the power wasn't turned on.
"What do you want?"
He caught me staring.
"A job."
I pointed to the sign.
"You know how to work this thing?"
He waved a thumb at the machine.
"Yeah."
I had worked part-time at a cafe to get some extra pocket money.
"Good, you're hired."
Well, that was easy.
Joe's Cafe and restaurant wasn't a really fancy place at all. It was more of a comely, homey place where you went to feel warm despite being run by an odd group of kind but struggling ex-felons and a teenage mom with a 5-year-old girl named Millie.
Nessa watched over Millie and the cash counter. I was the new Barista. Enrique and little Henry were the cooks. (There was nothing little about him. The man was a bald version of Hagrid.) And the waiters rotated more or less.
I lost myself in the simple but amazing art of brewing coffee until at the end of the day Joe, the man who hired me, called it a night and began closing the shutters.
"Good job out there, newbie. What's your name?"
"Mirror."
The reflex kicked in before I could stop myself. But apparently that was alright here.
"Cool. If you have a place you can go. If you don't, you can use one of those long chairs."
He pointed at the booths to one side, to which I nodded gratefully.
"I'll take the booth. Thanks."
He was surprisingly trusting of a newcomer.
Millie caught hold of my hand and tugged.
"What is it, Millie?"
"She'll give you your ID card."
I glanced back at the scary Russian to see if he was joking.
"Seriously."
He nodded with a frown.
"Yes."
Okay. Cool.
I followed her to a small shrine where a bunch of toys were kept with googly eyes pasted over them. A train, a broken crane, and an oddly smooth rock, along with a necklace, among other things.
"Pick one."
I furrowed my brows.
"You mean pick one of these toys?"
She bobbed her head up and down with a smile.
"This is your ID."
I looked around, utterly flabbergasted.
Little Henry chuckled from the side and pulled a pair of googly-eyed scissors from his pocket.
"Everybody gets one."
Huh.
It's been a week since my escape. And surprisingly I haven't been tracked down yet. Maybe because I haven't really gone out of the cafe. But life was getting back into a routine. But somehow this felt far easier than the one Valorant had me on. I know my choice might seem weird to anyone else who was a fan of Valorant. But it somehow made sense to me.
I was not a hero. I was not the protagonist. I was just a simple man wanting a simple life.
I pulled Rocky the rock from my pocket and smiled. I hadn't wanted to take one of the poor girl's toys, so I took the most boring one imaginable. A smooth oval rock named Rocky.
"Oh, you got a pet rock too!"
"It appears so."
I answered before recognizing the voice.
Then the horror sank in, and I whipped my head up to find a grinning Clove with a similar smooth rock in her hand, just without the eyes.
"Mine's Pebble. What's his name?"
Millie bounced up to the counter. "Rocky!"
"Our tastes match!"
No, they don't.
"What are you doing here?"
I exclaimed.
"Oh. Tracking you."
"And you found me before Cypher? How?"
"I just did what I would do."
I tilted my head.
"What do you mean?"
I did not have a good feeling about being labeled similar to Clove, especially right after she found out that we have matching pets.
Millie had brought her two googly eyes and a superglue gun.
"For Pebble."
"Awww. Thank you, little one. I guess Pebble can use a few eyes."
Her accent was really sweet.
Jesus.
She ignored my question.
I paused. Why are we standing around talking?
"Also, aren't you supposed to, like, catch me?"
"Huh?"
She looked up from her now one-eyed Pebble.
"Oh yeah. You are under arrest."
Then she went back to her work.
I frowned.
Then I shrugged.
And then I vaulted over the counter and ran.
"Oi! Mirror!"
I heard a startled shout from behind me, but I did not pause.
I ran into the street and located a good enough rooftop.
Shrouded step.
Darkness consumed me right as Clove emerged with her one-eyed Pebble in hand.
When the shadows cleared, I stood on a rooftop.
Perfect.
I did parkour for a few rooftops before doing another shrouded step and getting back down onto the street and running away.
Only after I was sure that I was not followed, I stopped to catch my breath.
I noticed Rocky in my hand.
Oh well.
I put him in my pocket.
Onto new adventures we go.
I casually strolled into a street, thinking about where I should go next. Should I maybe look for an Amish community? And what the hell did Clove mean by she just did what she would do and found me?
I was pondering over the various pros and cons of my various plans when I rounded a corner and came face to face with Viper.
"Viper?"
Both our eyes widened in recognition, and for a split second we both just stared.
I ran.
She ran.
I almost stumbled in my efforts to get away.
I used the wall for support and rounded the bend so fast I definitely broke a personal record. But four steps in, I skidded to a stop and turned around, perplexed. I walked over to the corner slowly to see Viper running away.
I'm supposed to be the fugitive, right?
I stared at her disappearing form.
Then why the hell is Viper running?