Chapter 228

I got home and flopped on the couch. That netdive had taken a lot out of me, and I honestly felt ready for a nap, but first.

 

I looked at my stat screen.

 

During the dive I’d destroyed so many Daemons I’d actually hit a level up.

 

*Level up achieved!*

 

*One Stat Point Gained.*

 

*One Skill Point Gained.*

 

Heh. It made me kick my feet a bit as I stretched out on my stomach on the couch.

 

Levels levels levels!

 

And it was time to put the point into my stats as well, so what did I want to level?

 

Intelligence again? Very tempting. 16 in my netrunning stats sounded pretty strong, but…

 

It was also a lot already. Maxing out a stat probably was a smart thing. If I could get my Netrunning maxed out, I’d be… Scary.

 

But… Was that what I wanted? Body, and Reflex were both maxed out, and ready for a level up… Ugh I really needed some Cyberware to add some Cyberization to Cool. Otherwise I’d pick that in a heartbeat. Stealth was still my favorite thing.

 

So… What do I choose? Try to maximize Netrunning? But with Sasha’s thing done, I was free to do my own thing for a while…

 

Or I could max Netrunning to try and get more Daemon hunting grounds for more XP.

 

Blegh. I hate making decisions!

 

I perked up as the door opened and I pushed myself up looking over the back of the couch as Jun walked in.

 

“Hey Jun.”

 

“Motoko.” He greeted as he dropped off his stuff, his jacket thrown at me, and I reacted, rolling forward and dodging it.

 

“You were supposed to grab it.” He grumbled at me.

“No I wasn’t, you were trying to cover me with your stinky jacket.”

“It’s not stinky!” He snapped instantly, sounding actually offended.

 

“Stinky Jun~”

 

“Oh you’re in that sort of mood.” He grumbled, as he hit the fridge and pulled a beer out and then walked over to flop on the couch.

 

“What kind of mood? I’m not in a mood!” I hissed at him, my fingers itching to start poking him for daring to say I was in a mood!

 

“That kind.” He pointed out which was really offensive! As he fended off my fingers. “Not right now Motoko. I’m tired.” He groaned as he put his feet up on the living room table and I did stop but not because he asked or anything! He just looked done.

 

His beer ran up and rested against his forehead for a second.

 

“Something going on?”

“Nothing crazy. Just had to run around a lot. Fujimura is running us all a little ragged… It’s nothing you have to worry about. I see that look.”

“Is it some gonk klepping shit again? I can kill them.”

“Heh. Not this time. We’re getting close to the end of the year, so the numbers for everything are being double checked.”

I blinked. I guess that made sense?

“What is he worried about Taxes?”

“Taxes?” Jun asked almost tasting the world as if he couldn’t quite figure it out. “Where do you get these things? No, the end of the year is when the bosses meet up and hold a big party. All the numbers everyone ran through the year get brought up.”

“Ah. Christmas Bonuses.” I whispered, and Jun sent me another funny look before chuckling.

“I guess you could call it that. Or Christmas beheadings… You know?”

“Does that happen?”

“Not unless people haven’t been reporting things. Which is why I’m double checking all the little side work that Fujimura runs.”

“Makes sense I guess.” I whispered, and then since Jun was relaxing.

 

“What do you think is the most important? Being Strong, being quick, or being smar-” I of course didn’t get to finish my question as Jun simply brought up his arm at the first question and flexed showing off his stupid fake muscles.

 

Which… I guess I should have expected that.

 

I rolled my eyes and instead turned towards the TV as he flipped the channel on.

 

“Ugh I hate this show.” I whined, but Jun just scoffed at me.

 

“Then go somewhere else.”

“I was here first!”

 

“I’m older, so I was here first.”

“Fuck off!” I hissed, sticking a heel right into his side as he dared say that shit to me.

 

He winced and soon he was grabbing at my foot as we dueled.

 

Him picking me up and throwing me across the room was totally uncalled for.

 

——

 

“So you think that’s good for the set list?” I asked the band.

 

Klein, Alice, and Jared all considered what I had said.

 

“Are you sure we should do Everlong? Wouldn’t the other song, I Won’t be Ignored, fit better?”

“It’s called Faint. Are you sure?” I looked over the list. Hiromi and Alice of course had been working on the actual gig, and we’d gotten a gig from a rock bar. Not Red Dirt, but another of the bars that played that sort of music. A bigger club as well.

 

“I think it fits better. Everlong is more…” Alice started.

“It’s a rock song.” Klein called out spinning his drumsticks.

“It’s a love song.” Jared argued.

“It’s a breakup song!” I argued and Alice scoffed just laughing.

“Right. Anyway, while this isn’t the Totentanz, they’re looking for something harder. Heathens is already going to be a bit more low key.”

“Fine. We’ll cut Everlong for the set, and… Yeah we can do Faint. You got the backup vocals?”

“Yeah I got it.” Alice confirmed. She’d practiced Mike’s part of the song, while I would take the incredible burden of trying to bring Chesters sound back to life.

 

“Alright. We’ll add it in.” I confirmed, the set list was easy enough, no great story arc this time, which was a bit disappointing, but if we ever did an album I could set the songs up to tell a story there.

 

Either way. Faint… Yeah alright. Smells Like Teen Spirit, Rise, Heathens, This Fffire, and The Pretender, then Faint. Maybe Let You Down? Depending on how much the audience was into it. Similar to the normal set, but adding in the new music… Yeah that would work for now.

 

We hadn’t practiced No One Knows, enough to my satisfaction so that would have to wait.

 

And… Maybe I’ll do Everlong at the end, if an encore is called for, cause I really did want to play it.

 

“Everyone satisfied?”

“I’m good.” Jared said, tapping his bass. “I know you’re wanting shit to be perfect Motoko, but I just want to get back up on stage.”

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“I feel that!” Klein called out, smacking his sticks together. “We got this. Not our first gig. We’ll pull through.”

I nodded not wanting to admit I had more hesitation than they seemed to. But I looked at Alice, and she was in it. There was no doubt in my mind she wanted this.

 

Which did reassure me a little. “Alright, in that case. Let’s play through the set. Fair?”

“Yeah.”

All of us found a spot, and the sound of music began. The storage unit wasn’t the best place ever, but no one was complaining about the noise, and so we played through the night.

 

—–

 

“I swear it’s taunting me.” I grumbled, looking at the little stat in my character sheet. I just needed to pick. Just pick one. It was fine. I’d level all of them eventually. Just pick one.

 

I was feeling a little antsy the next morning. We’d practiced all night until the others had needed to stop and actually sleep. The gig was tonight.

 

And yet, despite that, the anxiety was seeping into other things. I should just pick an option. Live with it, and move on, but the point…

 

I should just go full Cold Blood, let everything become crystal clear, but I didn’t want to live my life like that.

Sometimes being anxious about a choice was okay, and I shouldn’t just control my emotions like that to dodge it.

 

Still sucked though.

 

Hiromi was at school, she wouldn’t get off until later, and Ichi and Malcolm were doing guy things today.

 

Fairly certain they were at Lizzies, but I wasn’t going to out them to Hiromi.

 

So I was just lonely today…

 

Huh.

Fine, instead of getting stuck in my head about this, I should go out and do something.

 

I pulled myself off the couch and grabbed my shoes. I had no idea where I was going, but I was going somewhere…

 

Right?

 

I took the elevator down, and stepped out into the cool December air. It was still California so it wasn’t really getting cold, cold, but it was cooler than it was.

 

To think, it had been almost a year since I woke up in Night City.

 

I headed for the garage, deciding to get on my bike. It was perfect motorcycle weather right now.

 

My Kusanagi rumbled to life, and I delighted in revving her up a bit as I pulled out of the garage and onto the street. Let’s see… Traffic wasn’t super good, so there wasn’t going to be any real speeding around unless I started really breaking traffic laws, and that wasn’t worth it.