After deciding to go to Kiwi’s place,
everyone had just one last drink,
then got up and left the bar.
Dorio took care of Maine and left with him.
I offered Pilar and Rebecca a ride,
but they both freaked out and fled like they were running for their lives.
That left only Kiwi and Sasha.
Kiwi was heading to the same place anyway, so she was no problem,
but I had no idea where Sasha lived.
"The three of us are headed the same way."
"Do you live in Kabuki too, Sasha?"
"No, I live in a different neighborhood.
I just have something to do in Watson."
"Then should I drop you off in Little China?"
"Yeah. And try to take it easy and obey the speed limit."
"This city has speed limits?"
"It does, so I’d appreciate it if you followed them."
"I’ll consider it at least once.
I mean, around eighty-five is the average speed here, right?"
"..."
Sasha gave me a dumbfounded look.
Her eyes seemed to be asking,
Just where the hell did this guy come from?
·
·
·
The drive from Little China to Kabuki
was surprisingly peaceful.
Peaceful enough to make Kiwi and Sasha,
who had been gripping the handles like lifelines, feel awkward.
I dropped Sasha off in Little China,
and Kiwi went into her home first.
Rather than following Kiwi inside,
I looked for a parking spot.
Maybe because the car was so big, there wasn’t anywhere suitable
to park it, but I somehow managed to squeeze it in
and headed for Kiwi’s place.
Kiwi’s home was a place I used to visit often
because of Edgerunners when I played Cyberpunk.
It was definitely familiar, yet it still felt new.
As an Edgerunners fan rather than a Cyberpunk player,
the first time I set foot in Kiwi’s home—
"Kiwi."
"What?"
"Your place is more..."
"What about my place? Is there a problem?"
"It’s so clean. Seriously, I’ve never seen such a well-organized home in my life."
"I-Is that so?"
"So what exactly am I supposed to do?"
"We’re hitting a corporation. You’ll assist."
"By assisting, do you mean assisting with the hacking?"
"No. Just mess with the ICE a little.
I’ll handle the rest."
"Then can I go get some equipment?"
"Go ahead."
It had not even been five minutes since I entered Kiwi’s home,
and I was already going back to the car.
If I’d known this would happen, I would have kept
my hacking gear ready beforehand.
It had been a while since I last used hacking equipment,
but if I was only messing around a little, it would probably be fine.
"Just be a little annoying around the ICE.
Don’t try to dig too deep."
Kiwi offered me that concerned advice
before immediately climbing into the bathtub.
How could someone be this kind?
Up until now, I’d learned the hard way,
throwing myself into the thick of things and engraving the lessons into my bones.
This was the first time anyone had given me such gentle advice!
And on top of that, if I did one simple job,
she was letting me stay at her place for three whole days.
If she kept showing me this kind of kindness,
then even if my skills were only mediocre,
I’d do my absolute best!
·
·
·
But I was always the one dying.
What on earth had she touched to draw
such fantastic, perfect aggro?
Times like this made me really envy netrunners.
Other than the possibility of having their brains roasted crisp,
they had nothing but incredibly appealing abilities.
But they were a pie in the sky for me.
No, instead of wasting time on these useless thoughts, I needed to deal with the aggro
as quickly as possible.
By now, Kiwi was probably leisurely
wrapping up her work.
I had to solve this fast, my fingers flying.
I pulled out my tail and got my brain working even harder.
Rather than dealing with them one by one,
I resolved it by blowing them all up at once. Boom!Boom!
Along with the sensation of my tail seeming to burn,
the aggro I had drawn vanished too.
"I burned it all to white ash."
"What did you burn?"
"!!!───"
I let out a soundless meow.
When had Kiwi come out?
I had my tail out right now.
Why was she just standing there,
staring at me without saying anything?
My heart wasn’t merely pounding anymore.
It felt like it was being smashed to pieces in real time.
"Kiwi, I won’t shed fur.
So please, just don’t throw me out."
"..."
"Kiwi? Please say something."
Kiwi still said nothing,
only staring at my gently swaying tail.
I couldn’t read her expression at all.
Her gaze was ambiguous too, so I had no idea what she was thinking.
Was I really about to get thrown out of the house over something this ridiculous?
It was entirely because I’d been careless
and brought it upon myself.
Should I leave right now and search Kabuki
for a safe place to sleep in my car?
"Cute."
"Huh?"
"Put your equipment away. Use the room at the end of the hall."
"Huh? Yes! I’ll put it away right away."
At least I didn’t need to find a place to sleep in my car,
so that was a relief, but had Kiwi always been this kind?
She suddenly called me cute and started acting strangely nice.
I didn’t know what was going on, but I needed to be careful.
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