Westbrook.
Japantown, Akagi Market.
The gurney rolled off the ramp, and Lucy brought it to a stop with her foot.
“We made it out alive.” Lucy looked down at him.
“You’re pretty lucky.” David stared up at the neon signs gliding past above.
Maybe because he had been street-racing all day and experienced even crazier thrills—plus Viktor had already given him a dose of stabilizer—he didn’t feel much other than dizziness.
David pushed himself up and moved over to the nearest lounge chair.
“Feeling better?
Do you need a ripperdoc?” Lucy sat down beside him, pulled a long, slender lady’s cigarette from her jacket pocket, popped it between her lips, and fished around in her pocket for a lighter with her other hand.
“No need.
I can manage.” David closed his eyes.
“Though…
I guess work is over for tonight.” “Yeah.
I don’t feel like babysitting a cyberpsycho either.” Lucy leaned in to light her cigarette, took a deep drag, and tilted her head back to exhale a plume of white smoke.
“You should only use the Sandevistan when absolutely necessary.
Better watch yourself.” *When necessary?* David opened his eyes.
After that guy installed the cyberware, he activated it right away without a second thought just to see what it could do.
He didn’t look like the kind of person who would “only use it when necessary.” “After everything that happened tonight…” David turned his head to look at Lucy’s profile.
“Are you still willing to work with me?” He didn’t want the connection between them to end here.
“At least until I earn back what I spent today, right?” The corner of Lucy’s mouth curled up slightly, her meaning self-evident.
“Then it’s a deal.” David smiled along.
Lucy suddenly stood up and crushed her cigarette out on the ash receptacle at the top of the trash bin.
“Follow me.” …
Watson, Charter Hill.
“Over here.” The two arrived at an apartment building covered in colorful graffiti.
“You live alone?” David asked hesitantly.
“Yeah.” “I see…” David looked up, his face serious.
Lucy turned to catch his expression and smiled subtly.
“Are you nervous?” “No.” “Is it your first time?” “?” David’s posture went rigid.
What did she mean by ‘first time’?
“It’s not!” he denied.
Lucy didn’t seem to believe him.
She didn’t press further, just chuckled and pushed open the apartment door.
“I’m not nervous!” David called after her back.
He had watched plenty of videos!
Nervous?
Not a chance!
Lucy’s apartment layout was similar to his.
A sunken living room, with a sofa pressed against a giant glass window.
The difference was a dive tub sitting in the corner, filled with ice cubes used to cool off a netrunner’s body.
A standard netrunner setup.
“Make yourself at home.” Lucy pulled two bottles of beer from the fridge.
“I only have beer.
Is that fine?” “Sure.” David took a beer and sat on the couch in front of the window.
Lucy grabbed a cushion from the window terrace and reclined behind him.
They didn’t turn on the lights, letting the moonlight spill in through the window, mixing with the glow of distant neon signs.
“Cheers.” *Clink.* Lucy didn’t drink.
Instead, she took out another slender cigarette, stuck it between her lips, and flicked her lighter, the flame illuminating half her face.
David, on the other hand, took a big gulp.
The harsh liquid rushed down his throat, making him cough uncontrollably.
“Wait?” Lucy exhaled a puff of smoke, watching his greenhorn reaction with a chuckle.
“Is this your first time drinking, too?” “I’m fine with alcohol,” David muttered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“I just…
don’t like soda or cigarettes.” “People like you still exist?” The smile lingered on Lucy’s lips.
She realized she rather enjoyed teasing the kid.
“I’m not lying to you.” David turned to look at her, his eyes serious.
“So old-fashioned.” Lucy avoided his gaze, looking over his clothes.
“Your clothes are old-fashioned, too.” David’s Arasaka Academy uniform was still wet from being washed.
Before he was possessed, he was only wearing a plain black t-shirt without any outerwear, running around outside all day.
Lucy stood up and pulled a deep charcoal-black unisex utility jacket from her closet.
It was her usual style for fieldwork.
“This suits you.” She helped David put it on, her fingers inadvertently brushing against his shoulder.
David caught the faint smell of tobacco on her, mixed with a subtle, indescribable scent.
He reluctantly spun around in front of her.
Lucy leaned against the closet with crossed arms.
“Now you actually look a bit like an edgerunner.” “An edgerunner?” “Another name for a cyberpunk.” Lucy curled back onto the couch, resting her chin on the cushion.
“You want to become one, don’t you?” “…” David fell silent.
Before today, yes.
But after being possessed by that evil spirit and personally living through what ‘cyberpunk’ really meant, he wasn’t so sure anymore…
Inadvertently, David noticed a faded travel poster on the wall.
It was a moon colonization poster printed with retro-styled English text: [A New Life Awaits You] “What about you…” He looked at the poster.
“What’s with that old-fashioned poster?” “…” Hearing David call it old-fashioned, the smile on Lucy’s face vanished, her tone dropping several degrees colder.
“Got a problem with it?” David froze.
He hadn’t expected such a strong reaction from her.
“Ah…
no, no.” He quickly tried to smooth things over.
“Advertisements always portray it as a glamorous paradise, but I know how many people died just to develop the Moon.” “Rather than a paradise, it’s more like hell.” “You know quite a bit.” Lucy put away the jacket and sat back down by the window sill, her tone softening slightly.
David explained, “At the academy, they told us everything the commercials didn’t say.” “As expected of a young master from Arasaka Academy,” Lucy said indifferently, taking a sip of her drink.
“I’m not.” “Being able to attend Arasaka Academy is proof enough that you’re a rich kid.” “I’m not!” David took a heavy gulp of beer.
“I don’t have a father, and my family has no money.
We’re not the kind of family that can afford the academy.” Lucy lit another cigarette without replying, letting the smoke drift slowly in the moonlight.
“My mom pushed herself too hard just so I could go there,” David’s voice grew quiet.
“But once I got in, I realized I was nothing like them.
I could never fit in.” “If you knew that, why did you keep going?” Lucy asked softly.
“I had no choice.” David stared at the beer bottle on the table.
“Going to the academy, getting a job at Arasaka, climbing to the upper management…
that was my mother’s wish.
Or rather, her dream.” Lucy suddenly leaned closer.
David turned his head, close enough to see the moonlight reflecting off her eyelashes.
“But isn’t that someone else’s dream?” “Someone else’s?” “You and your mother are two different people.” Lucy placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Why are you living for her dream?” Having been controlled by others since childhood, she knew better than anyone.
People don’t live for others.
“Is there something wrong with that?” David was taken aback.
He had never thought about what his own dream was.
“A dream isn’t something that belongs to someone else.” “You talk like you have a dream of your own,” David muttered defensively.
Lucy didn’t answer.
Her gaze bypassed him, landing on the faded Moon poster.
“No way…” David followed her gaze.
Going to the Moon?
“Even though you call it hell…” Lucy looked out the window, her lowered eyes reflected in the glass.
“To me, this place is hell.” “This place?” “I want to fly far away.
Leave this city…” Lucy’s voice was soft, dispersing in the air like smoke.
David didn’t know how to respond.
The two sat quietly, each gazing out at the same night sky beyond the window.