A Haru-ing experience.

Haru was not happy. HIs sister just kept getting stranger, and even in Night City where people can be or do anything she was beginning to stand out. This morning he had to get his guys to dispose of a body out of a cryofreezer. He was all set to talk about that with her when he got home. It was somewhat understandable Cryofreezers were valuable even when they were already used, you can fix up an old one and resell it, it's not like cryotech had changed in a hundred years and it wasn’t like it was going to change in another hundred. A corpsicle machine is a corpsicle machine and liquid nitrogen is always going to be liquid nitrogen.

In fact it seemed like a good solid business deal if she got it cheap. By the time he got home he’d talked himself into the idea and it seemed like a nice safe hobby that could make her some Eddies on the side. That is until he saw the 2 remaining corpses still in their cryofreezers. One a little girl and the other a black mass with biohazard stenciled onto the container.

Firmly putting that tidbit out of his mind for the moment. Haru had decided that it was time they had a talk.

“J, where are you!?”

“Hey Haru, what’s up?”

“Can you come to the living room.”

“Sure what’s up?”

“J we need to have a talk.”

“Shit, Haru I am in no mood to deal with this.”

“Tough shit. You’ve been acting up since you got back from Atlanta, and the last couple days its getting worse, more erratic and somewhat disturbing.” Haru fought hard to not look at the cryofreezers.

“I have my reasons, I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“You still haven’t contacted Vik since you got back. It’s been months. You know he’s worried right? You are going to contact him to continue your apprenticeship right?”

A glance at J’s silence and her guilty look, pressed him to continue.

“You can’t drop this like you do everything else. How are you going to make it in the real world if you don’t focus on something! You are so close to finishing, Vik showed me the mock tests he had you take. Vik said you have a real gift. You could have installation and troubleshooting certifications at any time! This is your future, a future where you don’t have to be in the mud like I am. You could be free of all this free of the gangs, the turf wars. You could write your own check, you could be anyone or anything you want to be…”

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“I am who I want to be! You just want me gone don’t you. You just want me to leave so that you can’t have to think about me anymore, not have to look out for your strange bratty sister, or have her harm your rep with the Claws anymore.” J angrily interjected.

“Fuck the Claws, You know that’s not what this is about! One day, you're going to want your own space, your own freedom with your own friends. To make your own choices and succeed or fail on your own merits, and this path of always flitting from topic to topic, idea to idea, skill to skill.

Getting just good enough so that you feel you're actually good at something then dropping it quickly when it either starts to get tedious or you get bored, it's self destructive. Look I’m just worried you're going to go out there unprepared. Unprepared for what the real world has to throw at you when it comes swinging. I mean I lived that when our parents died and I was suddenly in charge of not just myself but you too. I made a lot of mistakes, and have a lot I wish I could undo, I wasn’t ready to be an adult let alone a parent. I just don’t want you to have to deal with what I had too.”

Haru took a deep breath to calm himself. “This conversation has gone off the rails. I didn’t come here to talk down to you, I came to find out if you are ok. Are you, OK that is?”

J just stared back at her brother. Shit, he’s worried and I have been a bit of a bitch to him recently.

But instead of appologizing and making it worse she responded with a flippant humorous question,“How long has that been floating around?”

“‘Chuckles’ Oh off and on for about 7 years or so, man I’m shit at this”, Haru reiterated.

“I get it, I think it’s sweet, you're worried Nii-san. I’ll find my way just give me some time, I’m kinda sorting some stuff out, and hey I don’t think you did such a bad job. You have great friends, a good paying job and a big apartment in the city.”

“My friends are mercs for higher who’s morels are questionable at best. I work as an enforcer at a brothel for a glorified gang pretending to be an ancient yakuza clan, and our apartment was bought by our parents before they passed.”

“You never told me they bought this place.”

“Oh, yeah never really came up. Yeah, they left me this and some other properties under a series of shell corps to hide the ownership.”

“Then you're rich too bro, and don’t talk shit about Jackie and T, you know they’d go through fire for you.”

“Yeah, yeah you're right.”

“I always am, now let’s go get something to eat.”

“‘Sigh’ lets go how. How did you turn this around into a pep talk about myself.”

“I have my ways. Bro. I have my ways.”

“Just promise me something, sis.”

“Yeah, sure what is it?”

“You won’t try to be a Legend.”

“Don’t worry brother, I don't plan on flatlining anytime soon.”

“And Haru, these things you're dealing with. You know you can talk to me about them right?”

“Yeah, Haru I know. If I need to talk about it I’ll come talk to you second”, J joked.

“Second?” Haru scoffed with mirth.

“Yeah, no offense but Jackie's mom is first.”

“Can’t blame you there. I’ve gone to her many times for advice. Especially about raising a far to smart little girl. That Mrs. Welles is wise woman rich with life experience.”