“So this is the place? Doesn’t look like much… Why don’t we just go to Lizzies?” Ichi asked and I think all three of us stopped to look at him at that admittedly telling request.

“Ichi-” I started to explain, but the way his eyes widened at all of us looking at him showed that he realized what he had just admitted to.

“Nevermind! Always nice to check out new clubs! C’mon!” He called out as he quickly power walked ahead of us. Hiromi and I both broke into quiet giggles at the tension in Ichi’s gait, while Malcolm just shook his head while smiling and went to catch up.

You couldn’t even tell Malcolm had been shot earlier in the week. He moved without any sign of pain or issue.

Cyberpunk medicine was so crazy!

“The name is kinda bad though. Think they are riffing off the Afterlife?” Hiromi asked and I nodded. As we both looked up to the club's neon sign above the dingy door in an alleyway in the middle of Watson.

“Yomi. That’s kinda lame.” I agreed as I ended up shrugging. It wasn’t like I was here for the club itself. I was here to gather information!

I pulled Hiromi along as we slipped into the entrance and found there was a little lobby, with a woman behind the counter. Ichi and Malcolm were at the front desk apparently paying for their entrance fee.

“Jeeze Motoko. This place is expensive.” Malcolm whined to me as I walked up and looked at the numbers listed out and had to agree.

Most of the clubs we went to were BD bars, where the entrance was free, but they expected you to buy overpriced drinks.

This was more like a concert hall. To get in you had to pay a fee, and then the drinks and stuff would also be outrageously expensive.

I rolled my eyes.

“Entrance for four.” I informed the pretty saleswoman at the desk. The fact she was wearing an old school punk rock style was pretty cool.

“You got it.” And then we were waved through. Down a set of barely lit stairs and into a large room. It was similar to most clubs I had been into, A stage straight across from the entrance, and booths all along the edges, with a dance floor in front of the stage.

Up on the stage there wasn’t a live band, but the large screen showed a previous live show that was pretty good.

We ended up wandering around trying to find a booth but all of them were taken.

Mostly filled with Tyger Claw thugs. I suddenly realized that for all the aesthetics this was definitely a place owned and operated by the TC. For the TC.

I sighed. Of course the girl that lived on the same floor as Jun and I had some TC connections. Of course she played at a TC club.

I shook it off, it wasn’t like Ho-Oh wasn’t just as bad, and we hung there a lot.

In the end we did find a table and not a booth that we were all able to fit around with some difficulties.

“I hope the music is good.” Malcolm eventually grumbled to us and I nodded. The seating was kinda shit, and I had noticed the prices at the bar as we were searching for a seat.

Expensive!

“Don’t worry about it Malcolm! This is a celebration! So get whatever you want I’ll cover it!” I told him and that earned me a happy smile and Malcolm going from being a little grumpy to looking around in a much better mood.

“Ichi what’s up?” Hiromi asked and I looked over to him. He was sort of placing himself behind a pillar. Almost hiding.

“Ah, just. I know some of these guys. Like that guy over there is Katana Hiroshi.” He said pointing to a man sitting at one of the booths with a Katana sitting between his legs ready to be used.

“Okay? Are they gonna attack you or something?”

“Well no… But I made deliveries for some of these guys during the war you know? I mean they might recognize me, and with Shobo-Sama getting flatlined and me leaving… I don’t know it’s nothing I guess I’m just being awkward.”

“You know Ichi. As much as I kinda hate it… If you want to join the TC again, you could always talk to Jun.” I offered despite how gross the words felt on my tongue.

Ichi was part of Section 9! I didn't want to give him up to some wannabe yakuza thugs!

“No.” He answered instantly firmly. “I won’t do that again. I’ll work as transport for myself if I have to before I go back in.” He said and I blinked in surprise at that.

“I didn’t realize you were so…”

“Motoko. After everything I went through during the war I was basically forgotten about afterwards once Jotaro died.” Ichi said and I could feel his frustration. “If it wasn’t for you dragging us into the Scav raids, I would have had to start as a fucking bottom rung shit boy again. Running drinks to people and stuff. No thanks.”

“Hey Ichi go get us some drinks.” Malcolm being the best friend that he was instantly chimed in. Hiromi and I were soon laughing as the two boys faux fought each other.

—--

An hour later it was time. The stage lights had shifted and there were some people up there setting up actual equipment.

Finally I would get to see Rockerboy Neighbors set.

I recognized her instantly, she was basically wearing the same style that she had when I saw her on the elevator. She stepped out with a pretty expensive Orphean. They made some of the highest quality guitars. I only recognized it because I had seen them at the music shop.

They were the ones behind bullet proof glass.

I was instantly jealous.

“This is Violent Hemorrhage!” She called out as her band all started playing and I nodded. It was good.

Her guitar skill was real. I grumped. She attacked the guitar. She opened her mouth and instantly I was kinda disappointed.

Artificial.

Of course. She had throat chrome. The voice that came out wasn’t real. It was a digital controlled autotune.

I could hear where the chrome altered her voice on the fly, pitch correcting.

I don’t think Rockerboy Neighbor was very good at singing. I think she had probably gotten the chrome to try and overcome her issue.

“Burn it all!” Malcolm called out shouting along with the song as she repeated the chorus. The crowd was enjoying it. Although as I looked around I noticed some people obviously noticed the issue and weren’t getting as involved.

I felt bad. She played well. The song was catchy. Her band was good.

Her singing just had some issues.

“What’s wrong?” Hiromi asked, pushing herself against me and speaking into my ear so I could hear her over the music.

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I returned the favor leaning in. “The singing is artificial and the front woman is struggling. If it wasn’t for the chrome she would sound… Pretty awful.” I told her and Hiromi frowned, listening but not seemingly catching it.

Made sense. If it wasn’t for Rockerboy telling me so much about music I wouldn’t have noticed it either.

I shook it off. Being picky and not enjoying music just because it wasn’t perfect was something that always annoyed me. So I ignored it just getting into the rhythm and enjoying the lyrics for what they said.

“Hey Motoko! So when are we going on another raid anyways?” Malcolm asked, suddenly startling me. “I could use some extra eddies for the Caliburn when I get one!”

“Wait, you're still trying to get that super car?” Hiromi asked, sounding amused. “Are you sure?”

“Listen just because I got shot doesn’t change that it’s my dream car Hiromi.” He answered with a shrug. “I mean I had to spend some money on the healing that Dr. Vik gave me, so I figure an extra gig will help.”

“I… I don’t think I’m hitting any Scav dens for a while.” I admitted my voice was mostly cut off from the thumping of the next band getting up and starting to sing.

Annoyed, I quickly called my chooms throwing all of us into a conference call.

*I’m not going to raid the Scavs again for a while. I’m hoping that if I stop here, they will just assume it was all the work of the TC and let it go so they won’t retaliate.*

*Wait but what about our eddies!?* Ichi asked *We were using the raids as our income Motoko.*

*Forget that for a second! Why are we worried about Scavs retaliating! We’ll just kill them all! Right?* Malcolm added.

I shook my head. *I let my anger get the better of me after the apartment was attacked guys. It’s one thing to raid a new den every once in a while. The remaining Scavs won’t even care, but what I did was hit them really hard over and over. If they think I’ll come after them next, they will try to remove me… Or you, or our family.*

*Motoko… You don’t have to be afraid! We’ll beat them if they try it!* Hiromi offered and I smiled at her, but I shook my head.

*I can’t just think like a child about this. I do want to destroy the Scavs. Make no mistake. I’ll still raid them when possible, but I’m going to take a break. Give them space, let them think things have gone quiet… And all the while I’m going to plot how to completely destroy them. Utterly.* I said with all the conviction I could muster.

*Alright. We can take it easy from that then… But what about-* Ichi started asking, but I cut him off.

*Right. Eddies. I didn’t forget Ichi. I know how important it is for you to have some income! Just because I’ll avoid Scavs for a bit, doesn’t mean we don’t have other targets we can hit! I can still do some gigs for Wakako that might end up with lots of loot! I promise It’ll be okay. I just… Have to balance what we do so retaliation isn’t smacking us in the face constantly.*

*Yeah… Yeah that’s fair. I don’t want Scavs hitting my home or something either.* Ichi agreed, and I nodded.

“Right! That’s enough of that stuff! Let’s enjoy the show! We are celebrating tonight! To Malcolm!”

—--

“Well that was an interesting night.” I muttered as we walked out of the club. The live bands had all finished up and it was getting late. I was feeling sort of tense, but not tired.

Maybe I should go do some gigs? My week of peace was over… Even if with Malcolm’s shooting it hadn’t lasted the whole week.

“Going home?” Hiromi asked and I shrugged as I turned around. Hiromi was wearing more black recently. It was still Street Kid Chic in a lot of ways, but she had bought a new jacket that was all black with just some of her favorite green in lining around it.

Which now that I thought about it, was probably a custom job.

“Well we should go for a ride then! I’m finally free for the weekend. Motoko! Let’s go on a drive!” She called out thrusting a fist into the air.

“Sure.” I agreed easily as Hiromi smiled bright and happy as she ran over and grabbed my arm. “C’mon my Kusangi is parked over here you can drive since I know how tetchy you get about drunk driving.” Hiromi offered, and Hiromi and the rest of my chooms had a few things to drink tonight.

“It’s okay, we can take mine.” I offered, pulling her in a different direction.

Of course only after I heard Hiromi make a noise that was similar to a tea kettle overflowing did the two brain cells in my head finally connect.

I had bought the Kusanagi right before everything happened. I hadn’t used it much after the attack because I needed my gear and the Quadra was better protected.

I had promised to take Hiromi out when I finally got a Kusanagi.

I hadn’t told her I had bought a Kusanagi yet.

“Oops.” I whispered as I turned to my choom who was practically bouncing.

“Eeeeee! You bought one!” She called out happily, grabbing me tightly and refusing to let go.

“Yeah. It’s not a Mizuchi either so it’s-”

“Let’s go! I demand a ride Motoko! You should have told me you were buying a Kusanagi! After what happened to Malcolm as well! They probably over charged you too! You are so bad with money! I would have helped!” Hiromi rambled as she pulled forwards. Funnily enough we ended up walking past my bike in her rush since she didn’t know where it was.

I adjusted her course and dragged her over and she instantly started looking over the bike. Hands wandering as she checked things.

“Someone messed with the brakes!” She called out and I laughed.

“Yeah me. They were trash when I bought it. I had to replace them.” I told her, and she glared at me. “What?”

“That’s the sort of thing you can demand a discount for when buying something Motoko, did you haggle the price down because of the bad brakes?”

The urge to look away and whistle struck me, but I remained firm.

Hiromi noticed anyway.

“Ugh! You are the worst with money forever!”

“Yeah that is true. What did Motoko do this time?” Ichi said as he and Malcolm walked over

“Oh Ichi look! Motoko bought a Kusanagi! Without telling anyone, and she had to do repairs on it. I bet she paid full price!”

“I don’t want to say how much I paid for it now… Because someone will yell at me.” I answered mechanically.

Malcolm was just laughing a bit as Ichi and Hiromi both teamed up to yell at me for wasting money.

“Banned from spending money forever!” Hiromi yelled at me with a pointed finger.

—--

A bit later after finally calming my best choom down I was driving down the road with Hiromi gripped onto my back tightly as my Kusanagi took a turn.

“It feels so weird compared to my bike!” Hiromi called out. “The lack of a back seat isn’t as comfortable… But it gives me an excu-” Hiromi’s voice lowered at the end until I couldn’t hear her. I would have asked her to repeat it, but I was instantly breaking a moment after to avoid some asshole driver who cut into my lane.

A waved middle finger in his direction settled that matter as I put myself back into traffic.

Hiromi of course wasn’t done.

Practically standing up on the Kusanagi she was flipping off the driver and cussing at the top of her lungs.

I just snorted and took a gentle right on the next street to move away from the other car.

“Why’d we turn! Motoko! Take me back I haven’t finished yet!” She demanded, dropping back down from where she had been practically standing on the seat.

“It’s okay Hiromi. Besides, I'd rather spend the ride with you than dealing with some gonk.” I told her happily and she instantly settled back down and wrapped herself back around my back.

Hiromi and I drove around the city for a long while that night. Just enjoying the roads. Honestly my Kusanagi was a much smoother ride than the Mizuchi that Hiromi had. Without the overturning that came with that variant the much smoother and deeper rumble of the engine was nice instead of ear splitting.

In the end we ended up on the mountain paths in Westbrook. And there I let it out. Letting my bike roar over the roads with Hiromi hollering her enjoyment into my ear.

—--

I woke up the next morning with a grabby Hiromi gripping onto me.

We had a sleepover again at my place cause Hiromi didn’t want to just go home and be alone. I gently tried to escape her grip, but that wasn’t happening. So I was stuck.

With nothing to do but think.

No. I shook that away. I’d been doing that too much. Overthinking. I always had a path forward.

I just needed to improve my stats.

Body and Reflex first. I’d been napping on both of them too long, and both were easy enough to grind out. I just needed to dedicate the time for it. To stop coasting and start grinding out everything again.

So I relaxed and just waited a while. Dozing a bit as I waited for Hiromi to wake up and let me go.

“Toko?” Hiromi mumbled a bit as she finally started waking up a while later.

“Hey Hiromi. Morning.”

“Mornin.” She mumbled back again and then she just buried herself into my shoulder and mumbled something nonsensical.

I laughed a little at how cute she was being. “Hey I’m going to hit the gym, and then… A gun range, Yeah a gun range after. You want to join me? Get some exercise?”

“Hmm?” She made an interested noise before suddenly opening her eyes. “Yeah! I want to see! I mean go. I want to go!”

“Cool. C’mon let’s get up and get some good in us then.”

—--

“Hiromi you okay? You keep stopping your workout.” I called out as I did another squat with the weights on my shoulders. I was sweating like crazy at this point considering how much effort I was putting into the exercise.

I wanted that Body 10. Give me the perfect abs! I demand it!

But my choom kept stopping and staring. Hiromi, I wasn’t squatting all that much weight, you could do this even! Well at least a few times, and you don’t exercise. It wasn’t that surprising.

I grunted as I rose up again. My core burned from the crunches I had finished before, and my thighs felt great considering how long I had been doing this.

Sure I hated the pain, but the XP!

Do it for XP.

“Ah!” She said and that was all that came out of her mouth for a bit before she shook herself. “I think I’m done is all!” She offered standing up from bar bells she had been using for like… A minute.

Hiromi, you can’t get gains that way!

I shook it off though. I had sort of surprised her about all this after all.

“Okay. Let me finish this, and we’ll get a shower before hitting the range?”

Hiromi nodded her head up and down a little too fast. I didn’t know Hiromi was that into shooting. Maybe something we could do when we hang out now? Go to a gun range?

—--

So Hiromi didn’t like gun ranges? We had gone to a nearby gun range I found online. I had spent a lot of money on ammo so we could shoot as much as we wanted, and so I could train my reflexes.

The gun range had electronic targets, and difficulty modes. So I had ramped that sucker up and started training. My Lexington getting a real workout for the first time since I had picked it up. As I shot target after target, as fast as I could.

I had already started getting alerts. Simply from how many fast twitch shots I had been making.

Hiromi wasn’t having as much fun.

“You okay Hiromi?” I asked and she gave me a wilted smile. She wasn’t nearly as accurate as I was, and was struggling with the targets.

Ah. I knew exactly what was happening. Hiromi was comparing herself to me.

I canceled my targets, and walked over to her aisle. Moving up behind her as I pressed myself against her back.

“Like this.” I told her, as I reached up and overlaid my hands on hers. “You’re doing fine, but you are pulling the trigger too hard.” I helped her pull the trigger back and the bullet hit on target. “I think your chrome is giving you trouble.”

“Yeah, my hands feel a little different. I didn’t realize it was messing with my aim this much.” She said, sounding frustrated.

“It’s okay. That just means it’s a good thing we hit the range. So let’s practice those pulls so we don’t have to worry about it. Gentle pulls, there we go.” I told her as she managed to hit the target again with a smooth shot.

I didn’t get much shooting done after that, as I helped Hiromi work on a quick draw using my knowledge, but the way her face was lit up compared to how sour it had been at first was worth it.

Eventually good things had to end, and Hiromi headed home, her parents wanted to see her on the weekend after all.

I ended up turning around and going right back to the range.

I had thousands of rounds to pump through. I ran through the gamut of my skills to get more XP. Quick Drawing. Rapid firing. High speed adjustment using the electronic targets.

I did it all.

And Reflex XP started flowing in. It was actually a relief. I had done a lot of shooting on gigs, but hadn’t really been getting much XP for it, I guess I just needed to keep actually pushing myself instead of just doing a few shots and being done.

I worked through until I had to stop to cool off my Lexington. Then packing up all the ammo I still had and heading home.