"Haruka... what the bloody devil are you thinking?" Kaito slammed the black sedan car door behind him after he stepped outside. Haruka sauntered around the driver's side of the car and stopped to stand next to him. Kaito was staring at a small building in the middle of nowhere.

This place was the opposite of Queenstown. Queenstown was a large urban city full of skyscrapers and busy streets filled with tons of cars. This place was out in the countryside. Next door was a barn, and he could smell the horse crap from the parking lot.

There were a few other small shops within the area, one was a farmer's market and the others were a few small diners, and restaurants with limited cars. The street was nowhere as busy as they were in the city, and there weren't any sounds of trains or buses nearby.

I guess the only good thing that came out of the trip was that this place was a lot quieter.

"Welcome to the Bunnies Barista." Haruka gestured at the building in front of them. "One great coffee is only one hop skip and away." He smiled at Kaito.

"You're joking. You have to be. You want me to work here at this dump?" Kaito eyed the shop in disgust. "What kind of childish girlish name for a store is that?"

"I thought you liked coffee." Haruka shrugged teasingly. "Don't worry, with a few renovations and decorations, this place will be a hotspot in no time."

"Don't make me kill you, Haruka." Kaito spat venomously. He was highly irritated that Haruka drove him 1 hour out of the city and dragged him to some cutesy cafe with a bunny rabbit on the cover. He was holding back at reaching his hand over to Haruka and snapping his neck.

"Follow me." Haruka rolled his eyes and walked inside. Kaito flung the door open and prowled behind him angrily. The inside of the building was worse than the outside. He couldn't believe Haruka was expecting him to run this trash hole as an undercover job.

The place was a bakery slash coffee shop and in the lounge area was a bookshelf full of books. Kaito assumed they were romantic novels, erotica even. This place just seemed to attract a lot of women, and gay men.

"You expect me to bake too?" Kaito snorted ferociously.

"All you have to do is make the coffee. There's something I have to show you behind the counter." Haruka strolled behind the working area and looked under the surface of where coffees and freshly baked treats would be served. He tapped something underneath, and the wall behind him was traced into a doorway.

The wall opened slowly, revealing a secret room full of weapons and other combat equipment. Kaito smiled wide and jogged over to Haruka happily. "That's what I'm talking about!" He picked up an assault gun and cocked it at Haruka. He pretended to pull the trigger and made a clicking sound with his mouth.

Haruka rolled his eyes. Kaito was playing with the weapon like it was a toy. Kaito's specialty we're throwing knives and he was extremely skilled with Japanese blades. He's trained with a Katana for years. But there was a sacred place in his heart for guns.

Killing people with them was quicker and more efficient. It was a lot less clean up too.

"She's beautiful." Kaito placed his lips against the rifle.

"Don't get carried away. We're hoping you won't have to use the heavy stuff." Haruka crossed his arms. He pulled a notepad and pen and shoved them in Kaito's free arm. "Take notes, I'm about to give you a lot of information."

"Don't worry about it old man." Kaito chuckled. "I've done this before. Asuka is not that hard to find—"

"You're not working on this case as a regular Assassin. We will not play dirty." Haruka intervened. "Right now, Asuka knows that we are after him. He's all over the news in Japan, which is why we are conducting this investigation here in America. He's hiding somewhere. Your job is to help locate him and find Katashi, then you'll leave the rest to us."

"Aw, you're no fun." Kaito rolled his eyes. If things were handled his way, he'd get the job done much quicker than the police. It would take 10 days, tops. But working with the cops could bring this case to as much as a 5-year wait.

"Take notes." Haruka pointed at the notepad and pen.

"I have a good memory." Kaito tossed the notepad and pen back onto the counter. "It's all up here." Kaito tapped the side of his head with his index finger.

"In the day, you're Leonardo Takemi, Leo for short." Kaito snickered at his newly given alias. It was so American sounding. "You're 25 years old, and you're a barista who's a huge bookworm."

"That's ironic, I hate reading books."

"If you need to fake it to make it, use SparkNotes." Haruka shrugged. "Now that I think about it, we need to change up your look. You look too..." Haruka trailed off, eyeing Kaito's body up and down.

"Handsome?" Kaito smirked and twirled around slowly.

"You look too dangerous, like a creep." Haruka finished. Kaito huffed in annoyance at his reply. Whatever, it didn't matter to him. Kaito was confident in his looks and didn't think she should have to change his appearance.

Haruka pulled out a small crate full of coffee bean packages and dug his hands through them before pulling out some clothes. "Put the gun away and take this." He balled up the clothes and pressed them against Kaito's chest. Kaito grabbed the ball of clothes and flicked it open.

It was a black long-sleeved turtle neck and pants, along with an apron. "You want me to wear this? I can't get any better clothes?"

"You're supposed to look like some nerd. This isn't Ralph Lauren. You're gonna have to hide those tattoos. Now try them on, and wear this." He tossed Kaito a pair of glasses with no prescription. Kaito groaned and changed out of his T-shirt before placing the turtle neck and the rest of the clothes on.

He hated the wool fabric, it felt itchy on him. He despised the entire outfit. Black was his favorite color but the style just wasn't for him. He placed the glasses on and Haruka chortled.

"I look horrible." Kaito snapped at him. "Don't rub it in."

"The only thing left..." Haruka reached for Kaito's long hair and touched a strand of it. Kaito swung his arm up and snatched Haruka's arm away from his face. He narrowed his eyes at Haruka and cast his arm aside.

"The hair stays." Kaito hissed.

"It's too long."

"Then I'll tie it back. I'm not cutting it."

"Fine, keep your hair." Haruka took a step back. "Only at night is when you can take all these things off. The shop opens at 9 AM and closes at 5:30 PM. Your assigned missions are mostly going to happen during the night. I'll contact you through this," Haruka took out a smartphone and handed it to Kaito. "If I call you, that means you are to look at the coordinates I send you and meet up at that location. This is so my team and I can make sure you aren't acting wreck full."

"I'm not a child, I don't need a babysitter."

"No, but you're an ex-assassin who lacks self-control. You get angry too easily, I know you."

"You don't know crap about me, and don't act like you do." Kaito spat viciously. He was reminding him of the fact that he abandoned him back in Japan all those years ago. "I'll be able to handle it. Don't worry about me." He picked up one of the guns again and eyed the room one more time. "How am I going to run the shop, close it, and head out to my missions all at once? What if there are lingering customers?"

"Leave that to me. You'll be assigned to work with Nina Shinji. She's one of our best Japanese undercover agents. If there are issues and we need you urgently, she will be in charge of running the shop while you are gone."

~

It had been about 2 weeks, and Samantha was getting the hang of things. She was able to locate necessary items in the office, find her way around, and even finish revising all the paperwork she was given more efficiently. Mr. Giles began commending her for her job improvement after noticing that her hard work was finally starting to pay off.

With a little help from Oliver, their company was now ahead of schedule. When she finished her part of the job, she often helped the other staff members by setting interviews with local influencers. Key witnesses to crime scenes and other stories were easier to make appointments with after she and Oliver set up a system to ensure the safety of their clients.

Oliver was a tremendous help. It wouldn't be long before she got the promotion she wanted, and it was thanks to him. Lately, she thought of sending him a gift to show her thanks, but she didn't know what he would've liked. The next time she stopped by the local farmer's market, she'd buy a gift basket for him.

Samantha yawned and grabbed her things. It was time for her to clock out and head home. She gathered the list of news articles that were supposed to be revised because they were due soon and shoved them in her bag. Then she put on her jacket and grabbed her laptop.

However, before she could step out of her workstation, her boss, Mr. Giles called out to her. She internally groaned, regretting that she didn't rush out of work as quickly as she could. Samantha wanted nothing but to get off of work and head home.

"Yes, sir?" She stopped at his office door and straightened her back. Mr. Giles sauntered over to her with a grim expression. Samantha noticed there was another staff member inside. She was a Hispanic woman, with long dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail. She was looking at the floor with a frown on her lips.

"Come inside for a moment. There is something I want to bring to your attention." Mr. Giles motioned her inside with his fingers. "This young lady is Isabella Garcia. She's one of our writers who's in charge of sending in newly created reports to the publishing team."

"Hello, it's nice to meet you." The woman waved at Samantha awkwardly. There was an odd aura in the room, and Samantha suspected that Mr. Giles just had an angry confrontation with her. It wasn't like her boss to introduce her to someone from a different department.

"It's nice to meet you too Isabelle." Samantha waved her hand back.

"Recently, we've been a bit behind schedule in publishing articles because Isabella here refuses to give up on her sloppy crime investigating project."

"Sir, it's not just some sloppy project. I've been telling you that this case it's going to make us rich!" She huffed and snatched up a small stack of paper from Mr. Giles's desk. "If you would only stop to listen to me!"

"I've heard enough of your nonsense, Isabella." Mr. Giles rolled his eyes. "I don't want to listen to any more of your foolish quacks. That's why I'm introducing you to Samantha Johnson here. She's part of our editorial staff, but hey, didn't you want to work to become a journalist? You wanted to write stories, correct?" He glazed his questioning eyes over Samantha.

Samantha nodded in response. "Yes, I'd like to earn a promotion and work full time as a journalist."

"Well now is your chance to show off some stuff. If you can help Isabella here with her work, and successfully publish an absolutely stunning report before our next deadline, I'll think about granting you your wish." He pushed his glasses against the bridge of his nose and turned to face the back wall. "You're both excused."

"Yes sir."