Making It in Night City

Everyone stood there in awkward silence. I stood there looking at Yumi while she just stared back motionlessly. Misty stood off to the side and slightly behind Yumi. She was grinning smugly like she knew something no one else did.

Yumi was no longer wearing the hoody that she had on when I met her. Instead, she now wore a pure black sweater and a red plaid skirt, probably something spare Misty gave her. That made sense since she had fought, bled, and sweat in her old get-up. Nice of Misty to have lent her some clothes.

Before the silence went from slightly uncomfortable to outright unpleasant, Yumi suddenly bowed and placed her hands on her knees.

"My name is Tabata Yumi. Thank you for helping me. I am in your debt."

Yumi suddenly bending over caught me off guard, and the formality and how serious she said those words weirded me out.

"Uhhh. Don't sweat it."

If you are reading this, it means that you are reading a novel stolen from the original author. If you want to support me, the original author, and read ahead for free, you can find me on scribblehub under SPS4.

While we had our uneasy standoff, Misty had walked over and was rummaging through the crate. A frown was on her face, which was understandable since most of the merchandise was missing. When she was done giving it a once over, she stood up and turned around.

"What happened to my stock? Almost hal- Oh my god! What happened to you!? Are you ok?"

Before Misty could finish asking me where the missing parts of her shipment were, she noticed the wounds all over my body. They've mostly healed by now, but the closing gash on my shoulder, blood-stained clothes, and the red skin where I was burned made me look in a worse condition than I was. After hearing Misty, Yumi squinted before looking surprised, then concern showed on her face.

Before anyone could get the wrong idea, I explained the situation.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Promise. Would I be here casually talking to you guys if I wasn't? How about we all sit down, and I'll tell you what happened. Trust me, you'll want to be sitting down anyway after you hear what I have to say."

Misty still seemed unsure of the situation but decided to trust me enough to believe me when I said I was ok. She sat Yumi and me down before running into the back to grab the tea she and Yumi enjoyed before I barged into the shop. After taking a few sips of the calming tea, I started recounting what had happened.

"So there I was. One man against an army of evil cultists..."

While Yumi leaned in, grasping onto my every word like I was reciting the gospel, Misty quickly caught onto my bullshit and smirked while rolling her eyes.

"Ha Ha," Misty faked, "Very funny. Now stop wasting our time and get on with it."

I spent the next twenty minutes going over today's events. I went over how I bribed the port authorities to winning a fight against a cyberpsycho. By the end of the tale, Yumi looked at me as if I was a superhero. In contrast, Misty looked slightly guilty, probably from unintentionally sending me on such a dangerous quest.

"And don't feel bad for me, Misty. After I beat Zaria, I got in contact with people doing research to help people with cyberpsychosis, and they paid me for incapacitating Zaria. I'm alive, helped someone, and even got paid. And it's not like I did all this for free since you promised to care for Yumi."

I won't lie. I initially did feel a bit pissed about the job being turned into me fighting for my life. But Misty had no idea it would turn out like this, and getting mad at her would just be me projecting my anger onto someone undeserving. If there was anyone I should be angry at, it was a society that allowed something like this to happen.

Misty still seemed hesitant to accept not bearing any responsibility, so I decided to change the topic to lighten the mood.

"So, how're you, Yumi? Well, you're better, obviously," I gave Yumi's shoulder a pat and smiled at her, "Did you give Misty here any trouble?"

Yumi quickly shook her head.

"No, I was very good."

Misty perked up again when her focus shifted from what happened to me to Yumi and her recovery.

"Yeah! Yumi over here woke up around noon and was a real doll to care for. I took her to Vic's in the afternoon and had her checked up. Vic only had to let a little bit of liquid out. I was too squeamish to look, but apparently, she's recovering well, and Vic thinks she'll be back up to speed by the end of the week!"

"That's great! So, Yumi. What's your plan from here on out? I'll be out of the City for the next week or so. Do you want Misty to care for you for a few extra days? I'm sure we can work something out if you need it."

After hearing that I would be away for a while, Yumi looked up at me like a dog when it realized its owner was leaving for work.

"Can't I just go with you?"

Seeing someone with a rap sheet looking at me with puppy eyes was weird. It was cute but also really weird.

"Sorry, but I'll be out on some pretty serious business. And even though you're recovering faster than Vic thought, you're still not in good enough condition to be out and about doing crazy things."

Yumi crossed her arm and pouted, puffing her cheeks out. The juxtaposition between the violence I've seen her commit and her acting like a cute child confused me, but I couldn't help but laugh a bit. Misty also smirked before placing her hand on Yumi's cheek and gently caressing it.

"It's ok. I'll take care of you while Basil's out. You can sleep in the shop if you need to, and you can help me out while you wait for him to come back. How does that sound?"

Yumi thought about it for a second before silently nodding to the arrangement. Seeing her recover and settle in, at least until I returned from dealing with the Shivs, was a load off my shoulders, but I still needed to clear a few things up with her. Ordinary people don't walk around at night swinging bats into the side of Tygers, and there was also her criminal record to be concerned about.

My gut tells me that Yumi has a few screws loose, but she won't cause any trouble to my friends or me. But it's better to be safe than sorry.

"Thanks, Misty. Do you mind leaving us alone for a bit? I need to clear some things up with Yumi."

Misty looked at the two of us before nodding and getting up.

"Uh, sure. Take your time. I have to drop some pills with Vic anyways. Just give me a call when you're done."

Misty walked across her store, the silence only broken by the stomping of her boots. The bells ringing told Yumi and me when Misty had exited the building. When it was just the two of us again, we sank back into an uneasy stillness.

I wasn't sure how to broach why Yumi was where she was and why she was doing what she was. Before this, I worked a regular internship and a corporate job before returning to school. Interrogation tactics were not in the training pipeline. Suppose Yumi was a former criminal trying to do good in the world. In that case, I don't think she would appreciate someone else questioning her about her past.

Eventually, I decided to just be direct and throw my questions out.

"The NCPD database says you have affiliations with the Tyger Claws..."

Yumi froze. She didn't speak or move and just stayed perfectly still.

"So my question is this, why were you attacking those Tygers?"

"I... They did something to me. Something that ruined my life. Those people had information on someone I've been tracking down. I would prefer not to go into further detail, but I promise that life is behind me."

Revenge. She was probably telling the truth. Being burned and seeking payback is a common enough tale, after all. And it's also something I can use as well. I needed someone to watch my back in the city. Yumi could be the perfect candidate if she proved herself capable and trustworthy.

What Yumi said made something click in my head. Once the Shivs are taken care of in the Badlands, the Aldecaldos will have free reign and defacto control. I needed something similar in the city proper. The problem is that many factions exist in the concrete jungle, making maintaining peace more complex.

But someone with the correct background and the right mentality in control of a large chunk of the criminal world could be the perfect start to introducing some order. I'm already trying to overthrow the leader of the world's most prominent megacorp. Why stop there. I already know how to trigger an event to make the Tyger Claw bigwigs meet in one place.

"I believe you, and I won't dig any deeper until you decide you want to tell me more."

Yumi raised her hands to her chest and visibly let out a sigh of relief.

"In return, how about we make a deal?"

SPS4

I'm not going to lie to you guys. The time and motivation to write have been slipping out of my hands recently. School's been demanding more of my focus, and I started a project unrelated to writing that I've been telling myself I would do for a long time. I'll probably be moving to a non-regular schedule and releasing chapters occasionally. Don't worry, I already have the roadmap written to the ending, and I intend to finish this web novel eventually. It just might take longer than expected.

Later