How to Fix a Mistake (5)
How to Fix a Mistake (5)
The Lower Layer, the Citizen District, looked exactly the same as always.
The light of holograms faintly leaking from the Middle or Upper Layers stood in for the sun, illuminating the gaps between the old buildings. The faces of the people walking around were uniformly lifeless and hazy.
Of course, there were bound to be a few differences between the various sections of the Lower Layer, but all those details fell within the common baseline.
"It's been a really long time since I've been around this neighborhood."
I recalled the Lower Layer spots I had been visiting frequently lately.
Places like East Beverly, where No Answer was.
Or Little Shinjuku, home to Vanta Market.
Or somewhere like Cloud Park.
But because I had consciously avoided this particular area all that time, a wave of deeply nostalgic and bittersweet emotions washed over me.
Definitely.
It seemed the saying was true: people really do live on memories.
It was the same earlier when I met the Chairman at Monolith Tower.
Looking at this scenery for the first time in forever, the buried memories in my heart surfaced one by one.
[Questioning, I ask when you have visited this place.]
"It must have been a few years already."
I counted on my fingers at Eve's question.
Naturally, Eve, who had only come to be with me relatively recently, wouldn't know about it.
First, I pointed at the neon-sign fluorescent panels decorating the walls of the buildings and explained.
"Around here, if you install a hologram billboard, scavengers immediately tear it off and run. So most of the signs are that old-fashioned neon-sign type. They're probably more often LED or LCD panels, actually, but for convenience they just call them neon signs."
The types of advertisements differed greatly from what you'd see in the Middle Layer.
Since the selling points were different, they advertised cheap cyberware or food products.
Next, I pointed to one side of an alleyway.
"I lived in that little room in that alley for quite a long time. Since it was what they call a station influence area, the rent was horrendous. There were a lot of vagrants who tried to break the door down and force their way in, but Catherine went out a few times and straightened them out for me, so they disappeared fast."
For the record.
Even back then, we hadn't used the same room.
Leaving aside the expensive rent,
it was because the Confucian scholar-official—or rather, the Confucian Dragon inside me—had screamed out.
.......
But how in the world did things end up like this now?
Where ever did the phrase 'males and females must not sit together after age seven' go...?
I briefly lamented my circumstances.
Then, this time, I pointed at a restaurant visible on the street.
"Wow, that restaurant's still around. I got a huge amount of help from that place too."
It was a Michelin zero-star establishment whose cheap price and stimulating taste were outstanding.
So that place hasn't vanished with time either.
Not that I'd ever want to eat there a second time.
I never even knew if it was synthetic meat or cultured meat.
The owner lady, who never explained what animal the meat came from, still lingered in my memory.
As I walked along reminiscing like that,
before I knew it, I had arrived at the 'Fusion-Japanese Restaurant' I had been aiming for.
The wooden picture stickers attached to the entrance and walls were faded and peeling off.
They had fallen off in a few more places than I remembered, exposing the gray flesh of the concrete, but the appearance wasn't much different from when I'd seen it in the past.
[Is this the place operated by the human 'Maya' and her biological father?]
"Right."
Spanning many long years.
This was also the reason I had come back to this place.
The noise coming from inside was minimal.
Since it was still early for a meal, the inside of the shop seemed quiet.
I watched the shop, the Fusion-Japanese Restaurant, from a certain distance away.
About five minutes passed by my perception.
Unable to endure the wait, Eve asked me in a puzzled tone.
[...Are you not going in?]
"Hm."
Since earlier, I had been taking deep breaths.
I tried the 'hee-hee-hoo' like Lamaze breathing.
I even stretched to relieve the tension.
But getting my mind ready wasn't as easy as I'd thought.
"Should I just go back?"
[?]
Wouldn't it be enough that I'd come all the way here and seen it was clearly still up and running?
[Don't say strange things. Just go in—.]
While Eve, unable to sympathize with the I-type, was speaking to me,
several vagrants loitering in the alley came sauntering towards me.
"Nice outfit you got there—you a tourist?"
They naturally slung their arms around my shoulders in a buddy-like fashion.
"Looks like you got a lot on you, so how about sharing some with the less fortunate folks here, eh."
Whatever was so funny,
they snickered amongst themselves with a 'heh heh heh.'
"Looks warm—that coat is mine."
"First time in the Lower Layer? You'll get used to it now."
The cyberpunk communists (vagrants).
Really, this place is exactly the same as always.
Even though the monorail station was right nearby, here they were committing robbery out in the open street.
In the meantime,
a good idea flashed through my head.
"What are you doing? Hurry up and take off what you're wear—."
"Let me borrow your clothes for a moment."
"......?"
The vagrants flew several meters up into the air from the sudden gust of wind through my mana.
23. How to Fix a Mistake (5)
Since I had no intention of wearing blood-stained clothes, I helped with their landing.
But perhaps because I stopped them just a few dozen centimeters before they hit the ground, after going through that process, not a single vagrant was left in a clear state of mind.
I snatched the coat and hat from the one whose build was closest to mine and wore them briefly.
Even as a nose-piercing stench and the unpleasantness of used clothing wrapped around my entire body, there are bound to be sacrifices one must make for the greater cause every once in a while.
Maybe because I had recently visited the sewers,
it wasn't unbearable.
Since it would be pitiful to strip just one,
I used the wind to roughly strip off the clothes of the other vagrants too, like spinning a washing machine.
Finally, I tossed the stark-naked men, at whom frowns instinctively formed, to one side of the alley.
Since they were people realizing communism in the cyberpunk world, they couldn't possibly have complaints about my actions.
Let all become empty-handed....
Having blown all the unnecessary clothes off somewhere, I calmly inspected my outfit.
I projected my appearance on a hologram screen.
With this level of disguise, it seemed like no one would be able to recognize me, no matter who came.
I'd looted just like in a game, too.
If only an inventory had existed, that would've been great.
Unfortunately, since even in the cyberpunk world subspace was nearly impossible, I neatly folded the coat I had originally been wearing and hid it in the alleyway.
"They won't be able to recognize me at this level, right?"
Finally, I got Eve's confirmation too.
[...Shaking my head, I ask if this really needed to be done to this extent.]
It wasn't the answer I wanted, but I took it as meaning I couldn't be recognized.
Alright, let's go.
I opened the door of the Japanese restaurant with a sauntering motion, just like any other vagrant.
Completely opposite to the cold air of the Lower Layer,
warm heat flowed out from inside the shop.
At the same time, a familiar voice was heard.
"...Welco—, me."
She—Maya—greeted me at the entrance.
I was ever so slightly bothered by how unnaturally her speech had broken off in the middle, but I didn't let it show much.
"......."
Because if I opened my mouth, my voice might be heard and my identity could be discovered, I kept my head down and maintained my silence.
I could use the mask's modulation function, but,
honestly, that would look even more suspicious.
Maya blandly stared at me.
...Was I caught?
Perhaps that worry had been needless.
Maya slightly lowered her head and guided me to the counter.
"...Meals are this way."
Good—seems I wasn't caught.
I followed Maya and sat at the counter seat.
Honestly, I would have preferred a corner seat, but in this situation where I couldn't speak, it was harder to refuse her suggestion.
"The owner ajusshi will take your order."
Bringing out a teacup, Maya disappeared somewhere with a business smile.
Only then could I let out a big sigh.
"Phew."
With some composure recovered, I looked around out of nostalgia.
Though it was a fusion-Japanese restaurant mainly selling Western food,
as the signboard still carried the name 'Japanese Restaurant,' the interior had an atmosphere similar to any other ordinary Japanese restaurant.
The interior didn't seem to have changed much from the past either. Each and every decoration there stirred my sense of longing.
Of course, it wasn't completely identical to before.
Surveillance cameras had taken a place in every corner.
"......."
Maya's father's face came to mind.
I felt it was the result of paying even more attention to security after his daughter had been kidnapped.
...Right.
I hadn't come here to eat something.
I had come to check if the two of them were doing well.
"...Hm."
At that moment, the Owner walked out from inside the counter. An electronic menu board was in his hand.
Though a few more wrinkles had formed on his face, fortunately, he still seemed as healthy as I remembered.
The Owner handed me the electronic menu board without any question.
I lowered my head to cover my face a bit more with the hat. Extending only my hand, I received the electronic menu board he offered.
Since the risk of being caught if I drew attention was high, I quickly flipped the pages of the menu board and pointed at the recommended set.
"......."
"...Hm."
Is there something that connects silences to each other?
I don't know, but the Owner, letting out a short nasal sound at my silence, prepared the food from inside.
Still a man of few words, I see.
Using a translation module through a neural computer chip—
he was a rare human figure in the cyberpunk world, which could translate many kinds of foreign languages.
"Oh, it's really Maya?"
A loud voice echoed inside the shop.
Just hearing the voice, a thick scent of alcohol could be sensed.
A customer who had been raising his glass from this early hour roughly opened his mouth.
"Haha! I thought the Owner had brought over some maiden from somewhere!"
As if he hadn't even had the basic drinker's preparation—the ethanol combustion implant—installed, the man's face was red, a sure sign of intoxication.
He raised his voice to the drinking buddies around him, asking about her identity.
"Huh? Who's Maya? Didn't I tell you guys before? The Owner's daughter here who went missing a long time ago."
"...Excuse me, sir, you're too drunk. You're making the other customers uncomfortable, so please quiet down a little."
Hearing Maya's answer,
I was certain that she had definitely escaped the symptoms of Chrome Psycho.
Wow, she's letting that slide so smoothly.
I thought she'd smash him with the serving tray she was holding.
Actually, even before Maya was kidnapped, she would have answered a troublesome person of that level with violence.
Even despite Maya's gentle restraint, the man continued his shouting and racket without a care.
"Still, coming back in one piece at all is something! No, actually, didn't she get corporate implant surgery and return after doing some mercenary work somewhere? She was kidnapped by scavengers—is it even common sense to come back fine—."
Ugh, I can't listen to this.
My ears feeling soiled, I secretly gathered mana and fired it at the man.
The mana, having left my hand and coming to exert physical force,
detonated directly against the back of the man's head.
- Kwang!
"Ah."
The man spun around together with the food on the table.
I'd gathered too much mana.
Thanks to that, a big commotion broke out.
"Wh-what!! He suddenly collapsed by himself!"
"C-call emergency services!!"
"No, what nonsense is this guy spouting. Do you know how many credits it costs to call emergency services out here?"
The people drinking with him exchanged opinions as if in a conference.
"Get a hold of yourself!"
"It's over, looks like he just got really solidly drunk."
"Saw him spouting that bullshit and I just knew this would happen."
In the end, their opinions converged into one.
"If we just put him to sleep outside, he'll probably get up soon."
"Well, doesn't look like he broke anything anywhere either."
With practiced motions, they heaved up the fallen man and then tossed him outside the shop.
The bloodless and tearless cyberpunk world....
If you let your guard down, even your drinking buddies abandon you.
Still, you shouldn't litter on the street.
I briefly reflected while watching that scene.
"...Thank you."
"Huh?"
At the Owner's completely unexpected thanks,
unable to maintain my silence concept, I answered.
I turned my head and looked at the Owner, but as if the fact that I'd opened my mouth was a lie, he was quietly focusing on the cooking.
......Did I hear wrong?
If not that, then no way.
"...Dad! I was pretending not to know too. What are you doing saying something about it?"
"...Hm."
At Maya's scolding, the Owner let out a short grunt.
And me.
.......
Anyway, seeing as I'd been caught now anyway,
I took off the hat I was wearing first.
My head had been itching for a while now anyway.