[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Different customs, I suppose — around here, we don't call it a con. We call it a tip.]
A cyberpunk female ghost, leading astray an innocent, pure-hearted young man.
Truly a heinous crime.
Anthony, completely unaware that he himself was trending toward becoming a cyberpunk male ghost, thought this with great, heartfelt indignation.
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Don't stress about it too much. It's not as serious as Carmen made it sound — at most, it's just mutual aid.]
[Let Night City Burn: Is that right?]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Yeah. It comes down to how you pitch it to her. She'd probably be willing to do something for the sake of helping you come back to life, right?]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Everything we're doing here still serves this group's shared goal — and my own goal too, of course. Resurrection.]
[Let Night City Burn: Understood. What exactly do I need to do?]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Just ask her for anything, really. The key is that ownership of whatever she gives you transfers to you.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: After that, you should be able to use the chat group's only currently functional feature — the recycle function — to convert those items into Points. The more the better. Scrape together 100 and unlock Check-In, and things should start looking up from there.]
So that was the goal.
David suddenly understood — and then noticed that Anthony's messages were still coming.
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: I can't evaluate it from her perspective, but I think — maybe this is actually a good thing.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: At the very least, it gives her something to hold onto. The knowledge — the confirmed knowledge — that there's still a chance she'll see you again someday.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Bit of a tangent there. Anyway — you have one minute. Got it?]
[Let Night City Burn: Yeah. Got it.]
David snapped back from his daze and quickly typed his reply.
Out on the Primordial River, Anthony gathered his thoughts and swung the fishing rod out once more.
A remarkably shameless justification, that.
The thought crossed his mind — but he felt no particular guilt over it.
He was no saint. Of course he had selfish motives.
He'd never been in the habit of hiding his desires. Just as he'd told David — he was persuading David to do this for his own sake too. Flatly denying one's desires was just another form of dishonesty. Anthony didn't do that.
So instead, he chose to make his desires into something everyone could live with.
He'd never quite understood people who stepped on everyone around them for personal gain. Wasn't there a better option right there in front of them?
Was mutual benefit somehow not appealing anymore? Did they think they'd earn more alone than everyone would together?
Cooperate once, earn once. Keep cooperating, keep earning.
Like right now. He had only started persuading David after confirming there was a path where he'd benefit and David would too.
And beyond that — taking the cost of this onto himself. That was the necessary price of pursuing his own ends.
So Anthony cast the rod forward.
"Give me something good, David!"
As his form grew faint and translucent once more, a silver-white flash swept along the length of the fishing rod.
[Remaining Lifespan: 17h 23min]
............
Aboard the return rocket.
Lucy closed her eyes, turned her head to one side, and sat in silence, replaying the trip to the Moon in her mind.
Ah, it was wonderful. Fulfilling. After all, it had been her dream for years — the moment it was achieved, she must have been incredibly happy.
Even with her eyes closed, Lucy couldn't help but—
Let her brows sink.
Of course. Telling herself things like that…
Completely, completely failed to fool herself.
Her lashes trembled weakly. Her eyes opened slowly, fixing on the space drifting past the porthole. The rocket's PA system droned in her ears, but she couldn't absorb a single word — just a distant murmur, like insects whispering somewhere far away.
Lucy had always believed that in this moment, she would feel joy.
She'd also believed that when she saw David's apparition before the sun, she would finally feel at peace.
But it turned out — she couldn't.
When the dream of a lifetime was finally fulfilled, the one person she'd most wanted there beside her was already gone without a trace.
Gone. Just gone.
And in an instant, everything had lost its flavor.
Without that one person — no matter where she went, no matter what she tried to say — there was always the feeling that someone was missing.
Lucy pulled herself inward without thinking, curling up in her seat.
Then — all at once — she thought she heard a voice.
"Hey, Lucy. Lucy!"
Another hallucination?
She blinked, slightly dazed, and turned her head partway around. David's face appeared before her. When he saw her look back, he let out a breath — as if he'd been holding it.
Then he pressed his palms together in a pleading gesture, though his eyes drifted involuntarily to one side, like he was embarrassed by what he was about to say and wasn't quite sure how to get the words out.
The hallucination was getting more vivid.
Lucy thought that, somewhere inside herself.
Was her longing for David getting worse?
Then… maybe she'd just go along with it for now. Being able to see him again — even in a hallucination — would hurt at least a little less.
She pressed her lips together.
"Ah… so, Lucy — do you have anything on you that you don't really need? Could you maybe spare some?"
About five or six seconds passed before David finally spoke — in the tone of a man who found this profoundly awkward to say out loud — while giving himself a constant internal pep talk all the while.
He didn't know how to put this — but David, you have to be brave about it.
One minute. Anthony had paid a steep price. He couldn't drop the ball now.
Lucy blinked, mildly caught off guard — and then, involuntarily, raised a hand to cover her mouth and let out a quiet laugh.
"The very first thing you do when you see me is ask for something? David, what exactly have we become to each other…"
She said it, laughed a little more, and watched David's expression grow steadily more awkward. But in the next moment, he blinked — and noticed the faint glimmer of tears rising at the corners of Lucy's eyes.
Lucy's laughter seemed to stop all at once.
Somewhere deep inside, she felt a genuine, wholehearted pity for herself.
Lucy, have even your hallucinations gotten this pathetic…?
She was actually, involuntarily imagining what David might ask for if he came back — just to ease, just a little, the guilt pressing down on her heart…
Truly. Utterly pathetic.
She thought it — but her hand had already moved on its own, finding the earring on her left ear, unclipping it, and then, with the helpless conviction of someone acting on a one-sided wish, tossing it toward the David before her.
Whatever. If it's just a hallucination, it doesn't matter, does it?
Acting like a madwoman — that's fine too.
"Take it," she said, with a smile.
David blinked. Then he glanced at the timer in the group chat.
[Time Remaining: 6 seconds]
[Item detected — from the world of Cyberpunk 2077]
[Lucy's Earring]
[Effect: Carries moderate hacking-assist capabilities… (details omitted)]
[Recycle Value: 124 Points]
[Initiate recycling?]
Oh — oh no, time's almost up! No time to think!
In that instant, David hit the recycle button without hesitation — and then looked up at Lucy, opened his mouth—
But in that moment, time hit zero.
In the blink of an eye, Lucy watched the apparition before her dissolve. She stared, momentarily stunned.
The hallucination — was it over already…?
Even now, at a moment like this, she couldn't hold him back even a little longer.
Lucy reached forward — and felt nothing where her earring should have been. She froze.
Then her eyes went wide.
Wait. The earring was gone?
Was it because she'd actually given it to David just now? But wasn't that supposed to be a hallucination?
All at once, a flash of memory hit her — the moment before David disappeared, a black-hole-like shape materializing over the earring, and a split-second burst of brilliant blue light—
"No way."
She was on her feet before she'd even decided to stand, mind racing, eyes wide. "That… that wasn't a hallucination?"
Was it really him?
Then — that silhouette before the sun, earlier — had that been him too?!
In an instant, Lucy felt as though this entire journey had finally, finally gone the way she'd wanted.
In the very last moment of the return trip.
It was just that — all of a sudden — she was desperately, frantically impatient.
"Don't disappear — why did you vanish again so suddenly?! Don't go, please don't go!"
Would he come back?
The anxious thought flashed through her — and then she answered it herself, without waiting.
Whether or not he came back, at least there was hope now. So one earring was nothing. Even if it meant giving up everything—
She would bring him back.
............
Out on the Primordial River, Anthony's hand gave a jerk, and the fishing rod snapped back. He turned to look at the group chat.
[Group Member "Let Night City Burn" has contributed 100 Points. Main Quest — Stage One: Complete.]
[Check-In Feature has been unlocked.]
____
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