Chapter 109

We went home to the apartment after and the whole time Jun was being insufferable.

 

“I told you you would like it!” he teased, smiling like the stupid gonk he is.

 

My desire to punch him was rising. Just because I had accepted that moving was what Jun wanted, and I shouldn’t hold him back didn’t mean I really wanted it.

 

But he was acting like I was super happy with it all.

 

“Jun shut up.” I told him simply as I walked around my room cleaning things up. Gathering up everything so we could start moving stuff.

 

“When do you want me to call Ichi with his truck? Wait, when does the lease and stuff actually go through?” How did leasing even work in Night City?

 

“What do you mean, it’s already ours.” Jun said as he popped his head around the corner from his room to look at me.

 

I narrowed my eyes.

 

“Fujimura already gave you the apartment before you ever tried to convince me to move didn’t he?” I accused him, eyes narrowed as I prepared for the answer I already knew.

 

Jun blinked realizing he was suddenly standing in the middle of a minefield.

 

“Nooo?” He said and I chucked an old shoe at him that I had found in a corner. Unfortunately he was pretty quick and dodged it.

 

“Jerk.” I grumbled as I continued to dig things out of corners. And finding bags and boxes to put them in.

 

I picked up another cardboard box that Jun had grabbed to stuff shit into.

 

Well it wasn’t actually cardboard. It looked like it, sorta felt like it, but it wasn’t. And I had long ago decided not to ask questions about what stuff in Night City was actually made of.

 

I should be killing Scavs right now.

 

Not dealing with moving.

 

I pulled out my little dresser, noticing a bunch of stuff that I had never seen before back behind it.

 

Motoko was kind of a slob…

 

Okay I was still kind of a slob, but I had a lot less knick knacks and junk…

 

Okay I still had a lot of junk, but it was all tech supplies!

 

“Huh.” I muttered pulling out an actual digital photo display. I switched it on and blinked.

 

“So that’s what I looked like before.” It was a picture of Motoko… Well older Motoko sitting on Jun’s Kusanagi. She was dressed up fully in Tyger Claw swag, hair done up in mohawk…

 

I guess HIromi and I used to share hairstyles? Although mine had been a shorter faux hawk.

 

I looked at it for a while. I had no real connection to it. Jun was younger. Probably fifteen? He looked hilarious with his tough guy wannabe looks…

 

No wait. That means he would be around Ichi and Malcolm’s age! He was a wannabe too! Oh man!

 

“Hey Jun, look what I found!” I called out smirking as I walked out of my bedroom to see Jun carefully disassembling the family shrine.

 

“What’d you find?” He asked solemnly as he slowly took down the picture of our parents.

 

“Nothing that interesting. Need some help?” I asked as I threw the picture frame onto the couch and moved to help Jun pack up our family shrine.

 

I’d tease him about the picture later.

 

—–

 

“So you’re really moving?” Ichi asked as I led him inside.

 

“Yeah. It was important to Jun.” I admitted as I pushed a box to the side to clear up some room on the couch. “Take a seat.”

 

“No I can help!” He offered doing the usual childish act of flexing an arm.

 

“If you want? But the guy who brings the truck can put his feet up if he wants.” I informed him which earned me a chuckle.

 

“Crazy to think last night was the last time we’ll ever meet up here.” He muttered, and I did my best to keep cool, to not let that thought strike my heart.

 

For Jun.

 

“Yeah, but starting tonight, You’ll be able to meet up and party at our new place.” Jun said as he appeared from around the corner, holding a box in one under and a long bag that I realized was acting as his gun bag.

 

Huh, I didn’t know Jun had a gun bag…

 

Wait fuck I don’t have a gun bag! All my guns were stolen from gonks! It’s cool. Just pretend I don’t notice and it won’t matter.

 

“Yeah that’s true. We’ll have a new meetup. Motoko’s fancy new place.”

 

“It is kinda fancy.” I whispered to Ichi as I walked by arms full of boxes. “Grab that one?”

 

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Yeah sure.” He hefted up another box and all three of us headed down towards his truck.

 

It was parked just out front of the apartment, and the guards were keeping an eye on it, so we wouldn’t have to worry about anything going missing while loading it up.

 

Pushing my box in, I stopped and headed over to the meat stick guy. “Gonna miss my usual.” I told him and he chuckled and passed me an extra large stick.

 

Thanks, Meat stick guy. You’re the best.

 

I paid extra though. I definitely had more eddies than the poor old man.

 

As I took a break and ate my last meat stick skewer I looked around. Mostly because I was still on edge and expecting to see a Scav hunter group or something barreling down the road.

 

But there was nothing.

 

Just a quiet day on the streets.

 

In the end, despite my fears there hadn’t been a second Scav attack. No bomb, or trick. It made me nervous because I thought there would have been and yet.

 

Nothing.

 

I didn’t know why though. Then again what I had done could have been completely covered by the acts of the Tygers.

 

Considering how Scavs act. We could have killed the Scavs that knew about where I lived. Or killed all the Scavs that cared.

 

The whole thing was a massive mess, and unlike in a video game that would always have a helpful conversation shard sitting on the side of a table or something, there wasn’t anything that helpful for me to figure this out.

 

I still really wanted to kill them. Just to make sure, but the whole thing was weird.

 

In the end the real world wasn’t a game, or an anime. I wasn’t the main character of Night City.

 

Well…

 

Not yet.

 

—–

 

“Well. This is it.” Jun said as he dropped the last box of stuff into the middle of the living room.

 

We were completely moved out.

 

Our entire apartment, our entire life, had fit in the back of Ichi’s truck. It had only taken one load to move everything over.

 

Our vehicles were now parked in a garage under the building.

 

Our stuff was there on the floor. Malcolm and Ichi were watching the truck to make sure nothing went missing while Jun and I unloaded.

 

“Yeah.” I muttered before sighing and walking into my room. It had an actual bed. One of the weird future beds that were everywhere in Night city. Gently I pulled out a special object out of my jacket. Something I hadn’t trusted letting anyone else mess with. The bed had little drawers along the side of it, and for now that was good enough. I slipped it in.

 

“What’s that?” Jun asked, not quite startling me.

 

“A cyberdeck.” I explained. I just didn’t explain that it was Rache fucking Bartmosses deck.

 

“Okay?”

 

“It’s rare, one of a kind, so I kept it on me.” I told him and then shrugged heading back out to the apartment. “I’ll go get the boys.”

 

“Yeah, sounds good.” Jun said looking at the pile of junk that we had stacked up on the floor. He sighed and grabbed the first box.

 

That’s right Jun! Suffer at the knowledge that moving sucked!

 

I headed out. The hallway as usual was so fancy it almost made me uncomfortable. I kept checking my boots to make sure I wasn’t tracking mud on the carpets.

 

But as I walked past the apartment right next to ours, I heard something that halted me in my place.

 

Music.

 

Not recorded sound, but someone actually playing an instrument. I stopped to listen for a moment as the tune came through the walls.