Chapter — 23
"Excessive biological fluids detected in the cabin. The cost of sanitation will be billed to your SolBank cVault. Should the passenger perish, yet another bill will be provided, and the corpse will be dropped off at one of EasyRide's retrieval stations for next of kin.
"Do you wish to provide information on next of kin should those services be needed? Your response to this question is crucial for us to ensure the smooth operation of our services."
Rei barely registered the deep voice of the auto cab speaking, but some of what it said made it through the haze clouding her thoughts.
I'm bleeding out.
Gathering her strength, she sat upright before taking a look at her wounds. Her whole body burned with heat and pain, so she hadn't registered how bad a state her shoulder was in.
"C-Cab, lower the cabin temperature as much as you can."
"Clarification: Do you want to set the cabin temperature to zero degrees Celsius?"
"Yes, do it."
"Confirmed. Lowering temperature."
Blasts of chilly air immediately started blowing through the cabin, doing their best to ruffle Rei's wet, filth-streaked hair. It was an immediate relief against her hot skin, but she didn't luxuriate in the feeling.
"Please provide an answer to the previous query."
"No," Rei said, barely remembering what the question was.
Taking a closer look at her shoulder and seeing the absolute mess of bone fragments that had pushed through her flesh and skin to leak blood down her chest, back, and arm, she winced slightly. Seeing a wound often worsened the pain, and it was no different in this case.
Seeing no other option, Rei tore her t-shirt apart down her front. The lousy quality worked in her favor in this instance.
Hissing between her teeth, she pulled her damaged shoulder out of it. Next came the left, undamaged shoulder, and she was left bare-chested with a dirty piece of cloth.
Having no idea what she was doing, she tried her best to tie the cloth around her shoulder in a makeshift bandage. Even with her [Pain Tolerance] skill, she had to grit her teeth as the bone fragments moved and jostled flaming and torn nerve endings.
She chalked it up to the damage being self-inflicted while her whole attention was focused on it.
The bleeding has slowed somewhat, but-
「Notice:
New skill learned.
[First Aid, Level 1]
Governing attribute: Mind, Ego
Description: Bleeding, torn muscle, and broken bones aren't healthy for oneself or others. Sometimes, even the mind can be in a perilous state. This skill helps with correctly identifying the cause and most effective emergency treatment.」
With the skill came the knowledge of how poorly she'd bandaged the wound, and she set to correct it. She removed the cloth before rebinding and tightening it further with another hiss between clenched teeth.
That should suffice for now, but I need something like the nanite injector I found on one of my assailants.
"Cab, are there any stores or vending machines on the way that sell emergency healing supplies?" she asked into the empty air.
"Searching. Destination found. Do you wish to reroute our current path to include a stop at the specified destination? Additional payment for reconfiguring the route will be incurred."
"Yes."
"Confirmed. Additional payment requested."
Rei's eyes flashed gold as she paid the added fee without hesitation, and the cab swerved off the skyway on the next off-ramp. She also requested the cab to return the temperature to normal levels as her previously overheating body had cooled enough that goosebumps had begun to cover her nude upper body.
It took a minute to go through ground-level traffic before the cab stopped beside a sidewalk.
"Cab, wait for me."
"Acknowledged."
Stumbling out of the cab, Rei didn't see any storefronts that could fit a place selling medical supplies, but there were four vending machines against a wall. Pushing through the people in her way, she approached them.
The most reinforced-looking one held guns and ammunition, while two others held food and drink. The last one, though, had the logo of a stylized heart with a star on it.
Rei quickly reviewed its offerings and saw two versions of the nanite injector. She didn't buy one immediately; instead, she went to the vending machine selling food.
Breaking through its security, she started dispensing food bar after food bar, stuffing her face with them with her good arm as she ate as fast as possible. Getting a drink to not choke, she chugged it down between bites before she started feeling her nausea grow to unbearable levels.
People were staring, and she had no doubt that some were even recording her half-nude self acting like an animal, but she didn't have the mental capacity to care about modesty. She did, however, have the mental capacity to recognize the danger of any footage of herself appearing on the public mesh.
Hence, one part of her mind breached everyone around her and turned off the agents of the two people who were, in fact, doing as she'd thought.
Returning to the Ultra Life Medicals dispenser, she also tried breaching that. She was immediately rebuffed and had to disconnect hastily to not kill herself. The ICE was on an entirely different level compared to the vending machines providing food and drink.
Not seeing another option, she paid the ludicrous cost of two ULM MedJec Zeta Reconstructive Nanite Injections — the same as she'd used previously — before jamming one of them above her right breast, feeling the swelling of her flesh as it disgorged its payload.
It was lucky that she'd bandaged the wound, as otherwise, people would have seen the bone fragments poking out of her shoulder wriggle and move back into place before her flesh and ligaments began mending.
Rei also felt her ribs crack back into place and mend, her nose doing the same.
No way to hide my nose, but at least no one is recording at the moment.
Pushing through the pain with the help of her skills, she went back to the food vending machines, which had continued to eject parcels of edibles and two cans of drink. She scooped them up before moving back to her cab and entering it.
"Drive," Rei said simply.
"Confirmed."
The cab moved back into traffic before moving up onto the skyway again while Rei continued stuffing her face with food and chugging her drinks between bites.
"Passenger is informed that any spillage of consumables in the cabin may incur-"
"Yeah, I get it," Rei interrupted, not desiring to hear about how much this one trip would cost her.
The cab continued on its way as the minutes passed, and Rei finally finished all her food. Her stomach hadn't bloated much as the nanites had continued to gobble most of it up as she ate. Even with all she'd eaten, she still felt a tiny bit jittery, either from the trauma her body had gone through or simply from low blood sugar.
"We'll reach the specified destination in about thirty seconds. We at EasyCab Corp. would appreciate a review of our autonomous cab service. A positive review will give you a five percent discount on your next trip with us. Provide review?"
Rei ignored the cab as it swerved off the skyway and down a ramp leading into a highrise complex not that different from the one Rei and her siblings lived in. As it entered the parking lot at the middle levels, she remembered to call Ichiro again, but she was still not getting a response.
"We thank you for using our service and hope you'll have a pleasant day." The cab said as it stopped in an area clearly specified for cabs, and Rei exited.
A few people were milling about, one group even cat-calling her despite her filthy state, but she ignored everyone as she went toward the elevators and waited for one to arrive. As it did, she went in and finger-jabbed the floor number on which the address Miyo had provided was located, and it began to rise.
She exited onto a floor when it stopped and quickly moved down a corridor not as filled with litter as she was used to, quickly finding the apartment. She pressed a finger to the bell and waited.
And waited...
Finally, the door beeped before sliding open, and Rei met the surprised eyes of a completely naked young man. His eyes gained a lascivious glint as they focused on her chest before he seemed to register the bloody t-shirt she'd tied around her shoulder.
He backed away, his eyes going silver as the door began to close, but Rei would have none of it. She leaped across the threshold before it closed behind her with a click of the engaging lock.
He opened his mouth to perhaps shout, but Rei cut him off, "I'm Rei. Where's my sister?"
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
He paused, confusion on his face before he seemed to understand.
"In the bedroom."
Yeah, should have known.
Rei ignored the questions spewing from the man's mouth as she went through the apartment, looking for the bedroom. There were only two doors, one closed and one open, and she went toward the open door.
She didn't even have to enter the room before Miyo walked out as naked as the man.
"Rei! Rei?!" Miyo shouted, first in joy, then in alarm.
She ran over and embraced her before pulling away, her hands going everywhere in inspection as she blubbered, "What happened? You're bleeding! Are you okay? Answer me! Who did this?"
"Calm. Down," Rei said forcefully.
Miyo stepped back as if slapped.
"Wha-"
Rei stepped forward and hugged her sister, saying as soothingly as possible, "I'm fine, Miyo. Just take a deep breath. There we go. Another deep breath."
First hesitant, Miyo soon clung to her Imouto, her shoulders beginning to shake as she suppressed sobs.
"Um, I don't want to interrupt-"
"Shut the fuck up," Rei said coldly to Miyo's lover.
He thankfully did.
After a minute or so of calming Miyo down, Rei moved them both into the bedroom. As she shut the door behind them, she said to the young man, "I need to speak with my sister for a moment. Will you please just wait here? I promise it won't take long."
"A-Alright," The man said, seemingly overwhelmed.
"Thanks."
"Listen to me," Rei began as she put Miyo on the bed, sat beside her, and hugged her. "I need you not to mention that my breasts have shrunk, as it's due to cyberware I have. Don't worry; it isn't harmful. Then I need you to calm your boyfriend — or whatever — down so that he doesn't call for security or ask too many questions. You say we can trust him, but better safe than sorry. You understand?"
"Y-yes, Imouto. But what happened? Why are you injured?" Miyo asked, turning her face to meet Rei's eyes. Her voice showed genuine concern, and she looked scared when taking in Rei's emotionless expression and gaze.
"I was chased and had to kill the ones after me. I don't know why I was chased, but this is why it's crucial we remain hidden until I can figure it out."
"Chased? By whom? Why?"
Rei stood, leaving her sister looking scared and confused on the rumpled bed covers. "I need to see to my wound and get a new shirt. Do you have one I can borrow?"
Miyo didn't force Rei to elaborate even though her expression indicated that she really wanted to. Instead, she nodded before leaning down to pick up an article of clothing lying on the floor and handing it to her. Rei thanked her, saying, "I'll be in the bathroom. The wound is small, so there's no need for you to worry; I just need to clean it before rebandaging it."
To emphasize the point, Rei showed Miyo the medical injector she'd kept in her pocket. Not that she was planning to use it.
Miyo stood again as she practically leapt at Rei to embrace once more, "I was so scared, Rei!" she cried, "You promise you're alright?"
"Yeah, I'm just as overwhelmed as you are," Rei answered with as soft and caring a tone as she could summon, rubbing Miyo's back. "I'll probably crash when the adrenaline leaves me and be a real emotional mess, so wait for me until then, alright?"
Miyo nodded, sniffling, as she released Rei.
She bent down toward the floor and picked up the remaining clothes belonging to her before pushing them into Rei's arms. "Take all these as well. You need a shower, not merely to clean your wound."
Rei thanked her and left, ignoring the still-naked young man standing outside as she went to the bathroom.
***
Tears joined the flowing water as Rei sobbed silently, her fist hitting the ceramic tiles as she stifled the cries of despair. The trauma coursed through her veins like poison, making her want to let her voice out and scream.
The betrayal, the chase, the killing, and what she was reasonably sure was actual murder on her part looped in her head like a horror film — her mind trapped in an abyss.
The fear, anxiety, and self-loathing were compounded by her crashing adrenaline as [Merciless] was kept inactive. She wanted to reactivate the perk so badly that the self-inflicted psychological torment of keeping it off made her feel even worse.
There was a way to just make it all go away, to drown herself in apathy. Yet, she didn't take it.
「Notice:
Ego attribute has increased.
Ego: 8 → 9
Received: 500 Experience」
She needed this. She knew that, and if nothing else, she felt somewhat deserving of the pain for the horrific act she'd committed:
She'd murdered what was most likely a rare good person. A stranger who'd only shown concern for her wellbeing.
Not managing to keep it all contained, she let out a howl of misery before stifling it again, going back to trembling whimpers as her body shook like a leaf beneath the cascading water.
The second stream of consciousness granted by her mind perk went to work unbidden, searching for another perk for that attribute that she could use to dampen the agony. She found one that she thought might help and wouldn't make her a complete psychopath like the [Ego] variant did.
Not picking it outright was more difficult than she could ever put into words. Yet, she stopped herself — if barely.
Rei didn't know how long she'd stood there, but eventually, after most of the internal torment had left her, she gathered enough of her faculties to turn the shower off and step out.
She looked into the cracked mirror as water dripped onto the bathroom floor.
Her cybernetic eyes were mostly made of synthetic flesh; hence, the blood vessels within made them red from all her crying. There were no more tears now, though. Rei was emotionally spent and just felt like going straight to sleep for a week.
Instead of just collapsing, she took in her physical state.
Most of her fat reserves had dwindled, her breasts shrunken, and her musculature highly visible beneath her skin. She didn't even want to consider how low her BMI — Body Mass Index — was at that moment.
I'm honestly surprised that my bust isn't just flaps of skin with how often they've grown and shrunk. More System shenanigans at work, no doubt.
Her shoulder looked mostly fine, but there was some unevenness to it, and even though [Pain Tolerance] blocked most of the pain, she still knew that many of the bone fragments hadn't wholly moved back into position and healed.
There was only so much the System and the medical injector could do in conjunction when the whole intricate structure of her shoulder had been blown to bits.
I'll have to keep the movement of my shoulder to a minimum until I've slept. [Self-Repair] should be hard at work as it is, considering that I'm starving.
Rei accepted the ego attribute recalibration she'd briefly put on hold. The process was no longer as odd to her yet still as mysterious. It helped center her mentality somewhat as it increased.
Drying her hair and putting on Miyo's clothes, she braced herself for questions before walking out of the bathroom and into the combined living room and kitchen.
Miyo looked relieved upon seeing Rei. She'd also put on some clothes evidently borrowed from the likewise clothed young man next to her on the couch.
"Had a good cry?" the man said before Miyo hit him hard in the shoulder. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Insensitive jerk, don't say that."
"I did," Rei interjected, seating herself on the opposite couch with a coffee table between them. "I would appreciate it if you didn't make light of it, though, as this has been quite the harrowing ordeal."
Miyo left her lover's side to sit beside Rei, arms going around her as she hugged with all she was worth. It added to the grinding in Rei's shoulder, but she didn't protest — Miyo needed the physical reassurance.
She did, too, for that matter.
"So, anyone gonna tell me what's going on?" The man said, sounding a bit irritated.
Rei didn't know if it was due to the situation or merely from Miyo now clinging onto her instead of him.
Rei nodded. "I'm Takeda Rei, Miyo's sister."
She waited but sighed after a few seconds of silence as he kept looking blankly at her. "And who are you? Except for my promiscuous sister's 'friend'?"
"Promiscuous?" The man muttered under his breath in confusion. Rei couldn't tell if he didn't understand the word's meaning or hadn't considered that Miyo might have other partners besides himself.
Shaking it off and looking back at Rei, he introduced himself, "I'm Derek Hansen."
"Well, Derek, Miyo says we can trust you, so I'll just believe in her assessment and share some of it as a courtesy."
"Some of it?" Derek interrupted, annoyed. "Lady, you practically force yourself into my home looking part nJoy addict, part psychopath having just escaped from Memtech security forces after murdering their CEO. I'll need a bit more than some of it."
Rei studied him. He was a beautiful man. Really beautiful — if a bit too effeminate for Rei's tastes.
Wait. Do I actually have tastes in men? Something to shelve for later.
It was the kind of appearance one might expect from a model or someone doing commercials for sheer sexual appeal.
He had shoulder-length white hair and blue eyes that sparkled like sapphires from the glittering azure eyeshadow highlighting them. His build was slim and athletic, and large, delicate hands peeked out from each sleeve of the dark blue shirt with white trim.
He looked really annoyed. More so than Rei expected from someone Miyo was at least somewhat close with.
"I can share a bit more if you really want to know. But you must understand that it will put you in danger. There is no danger in the information I originally planned to share."
Like hell I'm going to share more than I have to with a stranger, even if Miyo vouches for him.
His annoyed expression softened slightly, but according to Rei, there was still some annoyance remaining that didn't seem to fit.
Is this feeling I'm getting from the increase in the social aspects tied to [Ego]?
"If I may ask," Rei said. "You seem annoyed at something else as well. What is it?"
He looked away for a second, grumbling incoherently before looking back at Rei. "When Miyo said that her sister would be coming by, I was expecting something else. Not you stumbling in like you did."
Miyo rolled her eyes. "Not satisfied with one of us?"
He huffed. "Well, what can I say? Sisters are always fun together."
Is this guy for real?
Forcefully ejecting all the accompanying images from her mind, Rei pushed forward with the conversation, doing her best to ignore his renewed grumbling.
"So? Do you want to know more, or will the information I was originally going to share suffice?"
He threw his hands into the air. "Yeah. Whatever. As long as that information isn't dangerous as well. You can trust me to keep quiet, but I don't want any part if it will put me personally in someone's crosshairs."
"Good," Rei said as she patted Miyo's head, reassured by her body's closeness and warmth.
Rei went on to explain the bare basics of their situation. She kept anything out regarding her being hunted, only explaining that she had connections with the top members of the Cyber Fangs.
Derek had obviously already heard of the bombing of the Cyber Fangs HQ, and his mood grew a bit more somber as she talked. He didn't seem worried, though.
"If I understand this correctly," he said after Rei had finished, "You want to completely cut ties with the Fangs now that it looks like they'll be wiped out. And you're worried that someone might come looking for you at your old apartment due to those connections of yours. What you're asking of me is to host you here for a short while until you can find somewhere else to stay?"
"That's correct."
"And you have an elder brother who might also come to stay?"
Miyo's arms tightened around Rei at the mention of Ichiro.
Rei had tried calling Ichiro during the conversation but had yet again been left hanging. Now that she didn't have [Merciless] active, her anxiety was mounting with every passing minute. Miyo was even worse off but kept herself together with admirable willpower.
"Yes. But as I haven't gotten hold of him yet, it might well be that he will only rejoin us when we've gotten out of your hair. Will you be okay with him staying here if he does respond soon?"
Derek put his face into his hands and sighed. "Fine. But you can't stay for long. Miyo is one thing, but if you're not interested, then your being here will just become annoying in the long run."
He's more sleazy than I thought...
"Not to mention a cat and another man," he continued.
"A cat?"
Rei flinched as an indignant hiss came from the hitherto invisible void beneath the table.
"What?" Miyo asked, "You said to only bring the essentials."