Why Are You Doing This to Me? (1)
Why Are You Doing This to Me? (1)
"You're just leaving?"
I stood at the front door, seeing Natasha off.
"Today was just a quick drop-in to see your face—a housewarming thing. Besides, I've got some No Answer business to handle later."
It really did seem like she'd come purely "just to see my face."
Natasha, who had been gazing intently at me, answered with a smile.
"I'll be seeing you again soon, so I'm off now."
Natasha stepped toward the elevator.
Behind her, the massive Orc, Smith—whom I hadn't even realized was there—fell into step.
...He was already discharged?
Seeing Smith made me reflexively frown.
No matter how impressive cyberpunk medical science was, his injuries were absolutely not the kind you heal in a single day.
Even if it's his own body.
Isn't he being way too reckless with how he throws it around?
Maybe he noticed what I was thinking.
After a brief nod in my direction, Smith fled into the elevator as if making an escape.
...Ah, whatever.
He works in security anyway.
He must know his own body better than I do.
I saw them both off until the very end, watching their figures disappear between the closing elevator doors.
After confirming the elevator's floor number was going down, I closed the front door and went back inside.
...Hm.
If even Natasha had moved in, that made how many people by now?
I calmly sorted them out, one by one.
Eve, who had essentially been living with me from the start.
Catherine, who followed me and moved in next door.
Julia, who had moved into the front unit before I knew it.
Andrea, who moved into the unit Bill had vacated.
And Natasha, who—though I didn't know exactly which unit—had said she'd moved in and then vanished.
Ah, come to think of it.
The Chairman had also mentioned, half-jokingly, that they'd secure a unit here.
What the hell.
I started to wonder how on earth my blissful studio apartment life had gotten so tangled up like this.
Was it a mistake to have given Catherine my address?
No, even if I hadn't given her my address back then, the result would have been the same.
She would have found her way here somehow.
"Agh."
What was the point of agonizing over it?
I shook my head lightly and cleared my hazy thoughts.
No matter how much I agonize over it now,
it's not like I can change the current situation anyway.
Let's just think positively.
Since things have already flowed this way, there's no way the situation could get any more tangled from here... right?
"......."
There really isn't, right?
Probably not.
I erased the ominous premonition rising in my heart.
25. Why Are You Doing This to Me? (1)
...Was she a mercenary or a jobless bum holed up in her room?
Catherine asked me from where she lay on the sofa.
"What about Natasha?"
"She said she just dropped by after moving in."
"Hmm, I see."
At my words, Catherine rolled her body over.
She shifted her position as if looking up at the ceiling. Naturally, her feet came up over the back of the sofa.
It looked like the same posture I'd seen last time.
Given Catherine's exceptionally outstanding sense of balance, it didn't seem any different from her just sitting normally.
For reference, since her light attire remained the same, I was struggling with where the hell to rest my eyes.
I watched Catherine's bare feet move as if walking on air and asked a question.
"You're not surprised?"
At my question, Catherine answered while fiddling with her vision interface.
"It's not like this is the first or second time something like this has happened."
She wasn't wrong.
Feeling that her explanation was insufficient, Catherine continued.
"Andrea moved in too, and that girl—Julia, was it?—is living in the front unit. So it's not exactly something to be surprised about."
It was a sound argument.
Catherine spoke while looking at Andrea.
"Right?"
I followed Catherine's upside-down line of sight.
I looked at Andrea, who was sitting in front of the old-school computer enjoying her hunt.
"Huh, what?"
"......."
And this one—was she a famous singer or a gaming addict?
I shook my head without realizing it and lamented.
Maybe it looked the same to Catherine, the bum (guilty as charged), because she stared at Andrea with cold, icy eyes.
From where I was standing, they were both pretty much the same, though.
Catherine turned her head back toward me.
"Anyway, I'm saying we're already past the point of being surprised by every little piece of news like that. Unless, of course, someone like the Chairman of Monolith moved in."
Maybe she found what she said funny herself.
Catherine laughed softly and sought my agreement.
And as for me.
"......."
Naturally, I couldn't answer.
Growing anxious at my reaction, Catherine glared at me and pressed again.
"...No way, right?"
"......."
When I couldn't answer.
Catherine raised her body from the sofa.
She quietly approached Eve, who was acting as a game guide (newbie host) beside Andrea, and asked.
"...Seriously?"
"Well, you see─."
Right as Eve was about to continue her explanation.
- Ding-dong.
The front door's intercom bell rang once more.
"I'll get it."
Without waiting for an answer, I quickly stepped toward the front door.
I didn't know who it was,
but it was a guest with pretty damn good timing.
First, before opening the door,
I checked the outside through the intercom screen.
I saw the solar plexus of a muscular man.
"?"
I looked a little more closely.
I could also make out a neatly braided gray beard.
A gray-bearded man with muscles, tall enough to make this the viewing angle.
His head was probably bald.
It was someone I knew.
I immediately opened the front door and greeted him.
"Drex!"
It was my friend the Dwarf (2m, fashionably bald).
Drex lowered his head and pushed down his black cyber sunglasses slightly. His green cyberware eyes met mine.
"I was passing by and thought I'd drop in for a moment."
Drex greeted me with a cliché phrase.
Drex came to visit me. How long had it been?
To be precise, it seemed like the first time since he had come to kidnap me under the pretense of cyberware scaling.
Having followed my thoughts that far, I fell silent for a moment.
"......."
Was my cyberware implant scaling inspection cycle still not due yet?
Hm.
I pondered briefly and then welcomed him again.
Come to think of it, it wasn't time yet.
"Come on in. There's not much here, but come inside."
"...I'm curious about what that brief silence just now was for."
I ignored his unnecessary remark.
If he had come looking for me again because of cyberware scaling, I'd been prepared to slam the front door shut right then and jump out the window to escape.
I was glad that wasn't the case.
A friend was always welcome.
Drex came inside our home.
"Oh, hi."
"......Huh, what the—. Thought it was someone else. It's Drex."
Catherine and Andrea, lounging about as if they were in their own homes, greeted Drex.
Catherine had already thrown on a coat to cover her tank top. When did she even put that on?
Drex looked around the state of our home.
Then he looked at me and said.
"...Wasn't this your place?"
"......."
Not anymore....
I replayed that famous line from some shooter game's former hero, current gay man, in my head and answered with silence.
"Ah, take your shoes off when you come in."
"I know without you telling me."
Drex took his shoes off with practiced movements.
"The Dwarf 'Drex.' A pleasure to meet you."
"Yeah, nice to meet you too."
"You can leave your shoes over there."
"Will do."
Eve also helped me guide Drex in.
Aside from the two bums, Eve was the only one in this house who helped me out.
I guided Drex to the guest chair.
"This one should hold up just fine even with you sitting on it."
Since Drex's entire body was composed of cyberware prosthetics, his body weight was naturally not "ordinary."
For reference, this part was probably the same for Catherine, Andrea, or even Eve.
Though they'd likely gone for lightweight materials,
they'd still weigh at least a little more than my scrawny ass.
Of course, my life is precious,
so I'd never seriously asked about that part.
Leaving Catherine and Andrea, who flinched slightly at my words, behind, Drex expressed his thanks briefly.
"Appreciate this."
Drex sat down on the chair with his body of thick muscles (and chrome).
"Should I get you some cola or something?"
"Mix in some oil too."
"I don't have that."
I don't have that kind of thing....
Drex, buddy.
Cyberware users who had replaced their entire bodies with machines often "drank" special beverages to maintain their physical bodies.
You could say it's like engine oil for an engine.
Of course, that doesn't mean they absolutely can't consume regular food.
Usually, the majority of them installed an implant like an "organic matter reactor" internally, allowing them to generate sufficient energy from normal food.
I poured ordinary cola for Drex.
"...And what kind of cola is this?"
"Mint-flavored cola."
It's a new product from Company P.
His expression having turned twice as menacing, Drex slowly set the cola glass back down.
I asked Drex a question.
"So, is there something going on? What's the occasion? Spare me the bullshit about just passing by."
"For me, it's always the same. Running the shop, handling cyberware. Unlike someone, I don't have any incidents to get caught up in."
"......."
Maybe it was because I'd given him the mint-flavored cola.
He was lobbing some pretty sharp facts my way.
With a menacing smile (his natural face is just intimidating) on his lips, Drex continued speaking.
"But that doesn't mean I stopped by without any real business."
Drex manipulated his vision interface.
"This is the sort of thing you should hand over in person."
Simultaneously, on my vision interface,
a message notification sent by Drex appeared.
The content was....
An RSVP card.
"Ah."
RSVP card.
It is widely used to inquire about attendance at weddings, and usually also serves the function of an invitation.
I had heard the news itself last time.
I'd heard it at Drex's place when I was practically kidnapped and dragged there.
I offered Drex a handshake.
"Congratulations, once again."
"Ha, never thought this day would come."
Accepting my handshake, Drex answered.
And that moment.
"...What's this, an RSVP? Drex, you're getting married?"
Catherine got up and asked.
"For real? Who's the lucky person? Ah, you had a girlfriend, right."
Andrea, who had been focused on the computer, also quickly rose from her seat and approached us.
Both of them knew about Drex's girlfriend, "Lorenda," of course.
When we first rescued Drex from the scavengers,
"for the time being," we'd gone to save him because his girlfriend had asked us to.
Hearing the two's questions, Drex turned to look at me.
"What, you didn't tell them? I already tipped Si-un off one step ahead, you know."
At that.
Catherine and Andrea's gazes shifted toward me.
They were looks that demanded an explanation.
Hm.
In turn, I looked at Eve with eyes asking for help. However, since Eve hadn't actually been present at that time, it seemed she also had no way to bail me out.
I swallowed dryly.
I slowly picked out the words to say.
How should I phrase this
to get out of this situation?
Eventually, I cautiously opened my mouth.
"I forgot."
""......."
I decided to just brazen it out.
What are you two gonna do about it?
* * *
After hearing the date, Catherine asked Drex again.
"...Next week? Why are you doing it so soon?"
"Well, about that."
Drex continued with a brief explanation.
"Pregnant? Miss Lorenda is? A natural pregnancy, not even an artificial womb? Why didn't you tell us that news!"
"I told Si-un, so I figured you two would have naturally known as well."
Their gazes gathered on me once more.
I calmly offered my excuse once again.
"I forgot that too."
And in my own house, I nearly got kicked out.