Chapter 235

“Okay I think I got the style right.” Hiromi whispered as she played with my hair.

“Hiromi, it’s just a hair piece.”

“It has to be perfect!” She argued, but I think she was just having fun playing with my hair.

 

I just let her. I wasn’t in a rush anyways, my Kimono was put on, and I was done up. It honestly was pretty cool. The fact I had a Katana lying beside me really made me want to draw it and see what my range of motion would be, but Hiromi would yell at me.

 

I wonder if I would get into a sword fight today. That’d be fun. I’ve never had a sword fight in a Kimono before.

 

“Ow!” I hissed as Hiromi thwacked me on the top of my head with a fan of all things. “Hiromi!”

“Uh-uh. I know that look. Everything is going to go perfectly! Remember you’re a Rockerboy now, with an actual contract, don’t let them push you around… But maybe talk to some of them about a TC deal. The Tygers could help set up concerts and distribution-”

“Hiromi.”

“Fiiine. Just ignore all that like you were going to anyway, and try to act composed. Hayato-Sama could be a very useful contact.”

“I’ll tell her you said that.”

“Don’t you dare!” She hissed and I laughed as I reached up and fought Hiromi’s hand for a moment before helping her finally push the hair piece in place, noticing in the mirror we were sitting in front of her, face going a bit red in anger.

 

“I’ll be careful, and as much as Hayato screams at me, we’re friends, so it’ll be okay. If anything goes wrong I’ll have a Katana, and more importantly, it’ll all go okay because no one at the party is going to want to cause trouble in front of their boss.”

“If you say so.”

“I do. Now, help me up?” I asked, holding my hands up, and she huffed and walked around in front of me, and I grabbed her hands and mostly just got up on my own, as otherwise I’d tug Hiromi right into me.

It’d be funny but she’d kill me in this big old Kimono.

 

“The car should be here soon.”

“Then get down there.” Hiromi said squeezing my hands for a moment, even if they were chrome I could still feel it.

 

“I’ll see you after?”

“Yes! You have to tell me everything! No better yet! Get a BD! No wait, don’t do that, they might get angry.”

“Bye Hiromi.” I called out as I moved away from her rambling. Okay, now the annoying part.

 

I looked myself over in the mirror for a second.

 

Flowery hair piece, it was kinda cute, but it hid my short hair by tugging everything back.

 

My dark blue almost purple Kimono looked nice, and the fancy Katana at my hip fit in well. I sighed and then moved, I had a set of geta of all things at the door to slip into, so I wouldn’t muss the white socks I was wearing.

 

“You got this Motoko!” Hiromi yelled as I walked out, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

 

By the time I made it to the garage a fancy car was in fact pulling in, and when it stopped in front of me, the door opened revealing Hayato herself.

 

Her Kimono compared to mine was night and day, but she looked me over with a blur of her eyes and then nodded.

 

“Accceptable.”

“Yeah yeah, you got me in this monkey suit, let’s go.” I told her, as I slipped in, the door closing on its own behind me.

 

“It is not a monkey suit! It is a-”

“Hayato.” I interrupted her, and smiled as I leaned in. “I’m just joking. It looks cute. I like yours too. The hair piece suits you.”

“Ah… It was my mothers.”

“It’s lovely.” I told her, reaching over and patting her hand, which she puffed up at but didn’t say anything.

 

The ride was quiet for a little bit as Hayato seemed to be a little distracted, but eventually she spoke.

 

“Stick close to me during the party. I wish to make sure everyone is reminded that you work for me.” She said, and clenched her hand around my own tight for a second.

 

Heh, what is it with Hiromi and Hayato, both holding my hand today?

 

“Sure… There will be a snack table though right? Cause-”

“Yes there will be snacks!” She snapped at me in a rush glaring and puffing up, and then getting even redder in anger as I was smiling brightly at her. “You are messing with me.”

“I am.” I assured her honestly. “Don’t worry. I’m here because you invited me. I’m not really a Tyger Claw, which you know. So I’ll hang around a while and do the show off thing.”

“You… You should be proud of being a Tyger Claw.” She grumbled at me, but I shook my head.

“I’m an assassin. I’ll do gigs for you, because you’re my friend, but I’m definitely not Tyger material.”

She took a moment, eyes narrowed at me before scoffing. “We shall see.”

The rest of the drive was mostly quiet, Hayato was breathing slowly, seemingly getting herself ready for what was coming and I didn’t disturb her, while I did something similar.

 

Ugh. This was going to get so awkward.

 

Finally we pulled into a garage area, and I noticed right away that the place wasn’t empty.

 

Tyger Claw motorcycles and vehicles littered every inch of the garage, and gang members sat on them, or hung around.

 

We joined a stream of vehicles that entered, and each stopped disgorging men and women in suits and fancy dresses.

 

When it was our turn, I stepped out, feeling eyes on me, I scanned around, but everything was clear, and I stopped and held out a hand for Hayato.

She took it and lifted herself out of the car.

 

She strode forward chin tilted up seeming confident and I followed. Up into the elevator, that was held open for us.

“Nakagawa-Sama.” The man that was already inside with his date greeted us with a solid bow.

“Kojima. I wish you fortune.”

“And I you.” He offered back and I joined beside Hayato, noticing the girl the man had on his arm was a doll.

 

Poor thing she probably wouldn’t remember any of tonight when she got home.

 

“It is a pleasure to see you join us this year, Nakagawa-Sama. Will you be joining your Nakagawa-Sama for the declaration?”

“I will Kojima. Today I stand with Otou-Sama.”

“Excellent. I will look forward to seeing your flourish Oujo-Sama.”

“Hmph!” She huffed at the older man’s pretty words, and I had to fight to keep the smile off my face.

 

Heh.

He called her Princess! She totally was the Yakuza Princess!

 

The elevator pinged, and I noticed Hayato shift, standing straighter, her arms shifting those long kimono sleeves adjusted to practically flair around her as she looked at me for a moment and I nodded.

 

Then we stepped out, Kojima standing back as she stepped out first, and I followed.

This thankfully was familiar, it was the same high end apartment area that I’d been dragged to before, only this time everything was fancy and decorated. The security checkpoint was still there, and as we approached I grumbled a bit as I was obviously scanned, and I had to sigh and adjust myself.

 

It had taken a bit of work to get the Burya properly sandwiched but with a bit of work that had Hayato growing redder and redder, I pulled the heavy pistol out of where I had crammed it in, and then dropped it heavily onto the little bin that had been held out for me.

 

Everyone was looking at me, but I shrugged.

 

“A lady should always carry a weapon capable of dealing with a heavy cyborg.” I informed the attendant, who looked from me to the Burya before looking back at me, and bowing.

 

“Motoko.” Hayato said, her voice a bit quavering in anger, but I shrugged.

Stolen story; please report.

“I had to at least try.” I admitted to her as we walked past, only a glance given to my Katana as I shuffled after Hayato who was a bit huffy after that.

 

Then we walked into the main room.

 

The apartment had been done up like a ball room. Lights strewn above us, and beautiful women and well dressed men were in every corner.

 

Some of them weren’t even TC.

 

I think I saw a few semi-famous faces hanging around, which was a bit weird.

 

Hayato stepped forward and the crowd of course parted for her as she headed deeper in, and yet, she walked slow enough for me to keep pace. So I figured that was my role.

 

I shifted to be at her side, my eyes flashing over the crowd as if prepared to deal with any enemies. I could totally play the role of the loyal samurai bodyguard. At the least it was more fun than just hanging around doing nothing.

 

“Hayato.” The whiskey and smoke voice of Hayato’s father called out, and Hayato walked through the spread crowd to stand before the well dressed man.

 

Seriously, it was kinda unfair. The guy looked stupidly handsome.

 

“Otou-Sama.”

“Good, I am glad you arrived. Look Otowa, my daughter has truly blossomed, she will stand beside me tonight.” The man said, turning to the suit clad man he had been talking with. Not someone I recognized to be honest.

“We are honored by Nakagawa-Sama’s presence tonight.”

“Thank you Otowa. I wish you a pleasant Holiday.”

“Your words are too kind.” The man offered with a bow.

 

I just stood there, at least I could fall into the bodyguard role, it made this whole thing a little less embarrass-And now I was being spoken to.

“Kusanagi Motoko, I hope you find the party pleasant?”

“I know some people so it’s not terrible.” I admitted, probably a bit too bluntly as Hayato glared at me.

 

Shinobu just smiled, and damn was even his half smile handsome.

 

Stupid handsomes!

 

“You are here as a guest of honor, so I hope at least that our party will be more than not terrible. There is another matter, Hayato, show Motoko to the guest room. Hagihara-Sama is waiting.”

Hayato didn’t quite jolt, at the words, but I could see the way her body reacted under the Kimono like she wanted to.

“I understand, Otou-Sama. I will do so now. Come Motoko.” Hayato said, her voice blurring a bit as she was excited. She was so excited she actually reached out and grabbed my hand to tug me along.

 

I just rolled my eyes and let her, and waved to the men as I was pulled away.

 

I think I was surrounded by girls that really liked bossing me around.

 

“Who is Hagihara?” I asked, but Hayato just sent me a smug look and pulled me along. While there were a few stops, as men and women spoke to Hayato, she thankfully kept the conversations brief as she moved on.

 

Then we headed up a set of stairs to the next floor, which was set up like a quiet pavilion, and I noticed Wakako was sitting up here at one of the tables set out.

 

But Hayato just nodded at her grandmother as she tugged me along, and I just sent a helpless shrug.

 

Then we came to a door and Hayato stopped and knocked on the door.

 

A word in Japanese was called out, and Hayato opened the door carefully, in a very japanese style, as she guided me inside.

 

The room was mostly empty, but not bare. And a man sat in Seiza in the center, a very old man. I glanced him over. He had cyberware, but it was odd. Only one eye was an optic. One arm was entirely chrome and it ran all the way to his chest, just like my own.