Chapter 49

It had been almost an hour and a lot had happened. Three more patrol cars had arrived, an EMT ambulance. The guys inside were wearing that high visibility Jacket like Gloria and David.

 

It was kinda cool to see, but I was getting annoyed. The cops hadn’t uncuffed us yet, but they had put all of our weapons to the side, but had left them together. No signs at least I was going to lose my iron.

 

Finally Detective Stints arrived, conversing with the other officers, and doing general police stuff but ignoring us.

 

Jerk.

 

I mean my wrists couldn’t get sore anymore, but this was still not the most comfortable position. Plus I was bored. So bored. Omega bored.

 

Jun had literally fallen asleep.

 

Hours passed. The sun was rising up before Stints finally seemed to wrap up the hurried exploration of the farm house the NCPD were doing.

 

I was so ready to break out and leave by then. Hours of just sitting there!

 

But finally Detective Stints walked over to me.

 

“I don’t suppose you can uncuff me now? It’s been an hour.” I said before he could say anything but the man just chuckled.

 

“Maybe I shouldn’t? Hauling the Oni of Japantown in would be a good deed. Plus… Motoko Kusanagi. Mostly on record for petty theft, a bit of Breaking and Entering. Grand Theft Auto…”

“Wait, I stole a car? That’s pretty nova!” I muttered the last bit to myself. Old Motoko had definitely been a hellion.

 

“But I’ll give it to you. Everything we’ve pulled out of here confirms this was the Meat Man. Even found DNA from some of his confirmed victims. So congratulations kid. You killed a confirmed bounty target.”

 

“I’ve actually killed a couple of those before. This is just the first one I’ve ever actually called the NCPD with… Well, other than the scavs.” I muttered but while that earned an eyebrow Stints didn’t say anything more about it instead moving on.

 

“Go ahead and uncuff them.”

“Sir?”

 

“They may be lowlives, but they took out the real scum today.” Stints offered and I was frowning a bit.

 

I wasn’t a lowlife! Just because I killed and stole for a living…

 

I guess that’s fair. Still a jerk thing to say!

 

A few moments later after Jun was startled awake we were uncuffed, although all the officers still looked twitchy as Jun and I recovered our weapons.

 

“Kid.” Stints called out as I finished sliding my Burya back into the holster.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“You did okay tonight. Not the best way to go about it, but at least this piece of shit is off the streets. Think about where you want to be in the future. NCPD could use someone with the skill to find the Meat Man.”

 

I opened my mouth, closed it and then decided to say it anyway.

 

“Thanks but no thanks. I don’t think I’ll ever be on the side of the law.”

 

“Figured. But I tried anyway. Go on. You and your brother get lost. Oh and kid?” His eyes turned gold, and to my surprise I got a text from the NCPD confirming a Bounty assignment.

 

A couple thousand eddies were available to be claimed.

 

“Good work.”

 

—–

 

Jun slept most of the way home. The sun was fully up when we got there and Jun crawled into his bed like a zombie only seconds after entering the apartment.

 

I, on the other hand, had a date.

 

Once Jun was tucked in, I headed back out. Stopping only to fill up the tank of my car which as always was a monstrously large amount of eddies. I drove over to pick up HIromi.

 

I was just on time, as I was pulling into Hiromi’s garage, I got a text from her.

 

*Hiromi: You didn’t forget right? Motoko? Choom?*

 

I chuckled as I drove around the garage until I came to where Hiromi parked her bike. Finding her already waiting down there sitting on it and looking nervous.

 

Her face changing to a happy smile was all I needed as I parked in front of her popping the passenger door. “You called for a ride?”

 

“Yeeees!” Hiromi cheered as she leapt into my passenger seat with a laugh. She settled in, but I was frowning at her after a moment.

 

“Seatbelt.” I reminded her, earning a roll of her eyes but she did realize I was being serious and put it on.

 

“Okay seriously Motoko. That BD was absolutely Preem! The first three were okay, interesting I guess. I mean it was weird doing things, but knowing you were the one that did them you know? But the Maelstrom BD? Eeee I was so excited! You were so in control! Motoko! You’re so cool!” She said, winking at me as she said Cool.

 

I puffed my cheeks at her because I knew she was only saying that to tease me.

 

“I’m glad you liked it. I did some work last night, but hopefully I can get another Gig soon and get some more.”

 

“Oooh Yeah, definitely pass them my way.” Then to my surprise Hironi settled back into the Quadras seat and went quiet for a bit. “You really are fearless.” She offered quietly. I noticed she was also doing everything but looking at me.

 

“You don’t… You don’t need to compare yourself to me, Hiromi. I’m scared a lot too. Didn’t I tell you? After that first gig with Ichi after I killed those Tino thugs, I hid in the apartment. Jun had to force me outside with a ramen bribe. I was scared of going outside again.”

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“You got over it. You go out and do amazing gigs and-”

“And you are super smart, You make friends everywhere you go, and you go to Arasaka Academy, so you’ll be some super important Corpo Executive someday. I’ll be doing gigs for you soon, so Hiromi just… Be happy? Okay? If you aren’t I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you get to be happy. Just…”

 

“You are such a gonk.” She whispered laughing a bit and I smiled as her smile was back. “Fine. I’ll be happy if that is what you want.” She said, laughing at me, but I was just glad she was back to normal.

 

Sad Hiromi is a no-no.

 

“Aww. This sucks.” Hiromi said instantly doing a 360 on her previous mood.

 

Mood Whiplash her name is Hiromi.

 

I was pulling into the front of Arasaka tower and Hiromi was glaring at the stand of people gathering up and heading inside.

 

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just don’t want to deal with Tomaru.” She sighed as I pulled into a space in front of the building. There were actually a lot of vehicles stopping and going along the bit of circular road. Although rarely did I see parents, usually, it looked like Taxi services, or personal drivers, dropping off the kids. My vehicle actually stood out quite a lot from the array of high end expensive executive cars.

 

Not that I cared.

 

“Will you be okay?” I asked as Hiromi was pouting but she looked at me and laughed.

 

“Tomaru is a gonk, but I can handle him. No worries.” Then as I was parked she turned in her seat and threw a hug around my shoulders. “Thanks for the ride Motoko. See you later this afternoon?”

“Yep. Gotta pick you up after all.” I agreed and she was smiling as she nodded, stepping out of the car and sending me a wave as she walked backwards.

 

Then as Hiromi started walking amongst the array of students I saw it.

 

A yellow beat up Thorton.. Galena? I think the name was. The exact kind of car you would never see someone drive to Arasaka Tower.

 

But there it was. And I knew who was in it. I remained parked for a minute as I watched it pull up as David Martinez stepped out.

 

He was… About the same as he looked in the anime. Same hair. Same uniform. No Jacket of course.

 

“-Love you Mijo!” Gloria Martinez called out from the drivers seat waving at her son like it was his first day of school. Which I could see was causing David to start growing red in a blush, and worse causing the other students to glare at him.

 

But there they were.

 

A part of me. The one that loved anime and wanted to dress up as my favorite characters…