"I am a passenger." Tilting his head in confusion, John replied to the frightened man with a seemingly obvious answer.
"W-w-w-hat?"
"Why else would I step onto the bus with a ticket in hand if I wasn't a passenger?" Looking at the busdriver squirming around in panic, he could not help but question the intelligence of the middle-aged man in front of him with a sarcastic and condescending tone.
"B-but what about the r-red l-l-l-light"
"Ahem... W-what red light"
'Shit... fuck... fuck.. fuck.. No wonder he freaked out.' Realizing that he was the cause of his current predicament, John quickly began to reign in the slight bit of killing intent that he had accidently released.
Although he previously had managed to increase his control, It seemed like he had over exhausted himself by running here, causing him to briefly lose concentration and subsequently control of his killing intent.
"W-where did t-the light go?"
"Huh? what light... Are you okay Sir? You're as pale as ghost." Seeing that the driver was only briefly exposed to a small amount of killing intent had made it clear to John that he could potentially get out of this situation without casing another murder scene.
This was also the reason why he pretended to care about the driver's wellbeing instead of stabbing a dagger through his heart, something he actually might have done if he had known how to drive a bus...
"Here, take my hand." As John reached out his left arm to help the man get back on his feet, the driver hesitantly but quietly accepted it.
"Thank you"
"Your welcome, but what was that light you talked about?"
"Oh, I'm not sure... all I know is that it was truly frightening." While talking about the crimson light, a visible shiver travelled through Henry's body, serving as a reminder of the terrible shock it had caused him.
"Well... Henry you might have just imagined it, seems like you've also had a long day... multiple shifts, lack of sleep, dehydration? Nothing unusual to have a few delusions or tricks played on you by your eyes."
As he spoke the soft, persuasive and even outright manipulative words, Henry's breathing calmed down as he began to collect himself.
"You're probably right.. there's no way a human could exude anything close to that crimson light... but wait, how do you know my name?" Having recovered from his violent stuttering Henry finally managed make some sense of the current situation.
"How do I know your name? From your nameplate of course."
"Oh, right. Of course"
"Well, Henry. Don't you have a bus to drive? It seems like our departure has already been delayed by two minutes."
"Oh right, sorry about that."
'Urgh... Finally' As Henry returned to his driver seat with slow steps, John exhaled a big breath of air and sank down in a seat at the back of the bus, wanting to stay as far away as possible from Henry as to not create any more unfavorable situations that could interrupt his final hours.
'Uhm, display-thingie, how much time until termination?' As he thought of the question, the familiar floating words appeared once again, showing him the remainder of time before his impending doom.
[2 hours and 11 minutes until termination]
'Hmm... From here to Santa Monica is 1 hour and 21 minutes, which means I will have 50 minutes to get to my "home", break in, torture and kill three people...'
Although 50 minutes might be insufficient time to subdue three people as well as "take care" of them, John a card up his sleeve that elevated him from even professional hitmen.
By releasing his killing intent and aiming it at his targets, John could instantly stun, or even paralyze the recipients permanently. This would of course save a lot of time but more importantly, prevent any resistance which might alert the neighborhood security or the local police department.
His innate ability 'Tangible Killing Intent' therefore suited the situation perfectly despite it being nowhere near its full potential, since it was quick, quiet and deadly.
---
[1 hours and 3 minutes until termination]
*Sigh...*
Tilting his against the window whilst looking at the surroundings pass by, John released yet another heavy sigh.
A sigh that conveyed no real emotion and only seemed to serve as a simple exhale,
A sigh that only seemed to contain apathy,
A sigh he had noticed had become a common habit of his after he learned how to contain and release his killing intent.
'People usually sigh when they are disappointed, exhausted or in pain... but, my sighs don't feel like anything... do I... even feel anything at all right now?'
'Anxiety, anger, regret, pain, resentment, sadness... nothing's there... what... happened?'
'The timing suggests that it is related to the increase in my killing intents control, something that was a direct result of the "mechanism" I created by pressurizing a certain spiritual vein.'
John's previous hypothesis was that the spiritual vein he pressurized was only used to convey emotions through his eyes, but it now seems like it was in actuality the main vein responsible for everything regarding his emotions.
And by pressurizing it to contain the killing intent, John had accidently cut of all of his emotions thus becoming completely apathetic.
'Though I lost my emotions, the scarier part is how I didn't even notice it. Especially since everything now seems so... objective?.. and surprisingly calm.'
'It's almost like I'm in a dedicated mode where I can hyperfixate on anything without having any distracting thoughts or interrupti..'
*Next stop Santa Monica, Next stop Santa Monica*
"Oh? We're already here..."