Chapter 39

Being seen off by Susanna, I entered the tech room and found a girl with punk-styled hair and a techie look.

She eyed me warily at first, but maybe because I didn’t act like some thug, she gradually settled down.

"You're Judy Alvarez, right? We're 《Jackals》—raised by Jugra Kagura herself."

"Huh? That kid’s underlings…? So, you’re here to take care of Evelyn? Too bad, she’s not here. Already skipped town, left Night City behind."

"That’s not it. If anything, running would only make her easier to find. It’s the opposite—we’re here to protect Evelyn Parker. We’ve got questions about the 《Relic》."

"…What do you mean? If you’ve got the 《Relic》, doesn’t that mean the job was a success?"

"Let’s match up some facts. You saw the news from nine days ago, right? The 《Mech-Dragon》 incident. That happened while we were infiltrating. We did recover the 《Relic》, but due to various complications, we couldn’t make the handoff. Evelyn probably saw that news and thought we failed—so she went into hiding."

"Huh? And now you suddenly show up with this? That’s awfully convenient. I don’t buy it."

"…Alright, I’ll swallow my pride. I was shot straight through the heart by Adam Smasher that day and had to recover."

"…Normally, getting your heart blown out means you’re dead, you know?"

"Yeah, probably faster to just show you."

He unbuttoned his shirt and exposed his chest.

Where his heart had been blown apart, a patch of synthetic realskin was crudely grafted on like some kind of patchwork. The bulge around the wound was still visible, an uneven mess.

His back was in a similar state, the bullet clearly having gone clean through the heart.

"Ah… yeah, okay, sorry. Being a cyberpunk must be hell."

"We’re actually the lucky ones. A normal ripper would throw in the towel at wounds like this, but Jug fixes us up no problem. Normally, yeah, getting your heart blown out is a one-way ticket to the afterlife."

"So basically, unless you die a proper death, you just get brought back… huh. Well, fine. I’ll believe you. As for Evelyn’s whereabouts—I don’t know either. If I had to guess, she might’ve gone back to her old place. There’s a high-end dollhouse called Clouds—Evelyn came from there."

"A luxury dollhouse… makes sense why Yorinobu would let his guard down. He must’ve customized her to his liking—that explains his behavior."

So Evelyn had used her background as a doll and acted her way into that room.

Normally, dolls going on a job are already in their trance state before meeting the client, with internal safeguards to prevent them from recording personal data.

Evelyn had modified that—she brought in a memory implant and created a detailed BD.

That means she had either a skilled netrunner or a techie backing her who could pull that off.

"Alright, I’ll head to Clouds and check it out. Thanks, Judy. I’ll let you know if there’s any progress on Evelyn."

"…Hey, Evelyn will come back, right?"

"Who knows. If it were just a job, maybe. But I can’t promise. I don’t make promises I can’t keep."

"…Yeah, fair. I might ask for help depending on how things go."

"Sure, if that time comes, leave it to me. Later, Judy."

"If the worst happens, you can count on me. I won’t let some playboy lay a hand on her."

"That’s harsh… huh!?"

I looked at what Judy had thrown me—it was an overly flashy cigarette case.

On the back was Clouds’ address—saved me the trouble of looking.

I gave her a wink in response to the hopeful look she gave me, tucked the case into my jacket, and left the room.

I got in the Thorton and drove toward the H8 Megabuilding.

"So, what kind of place is Clouds? You mentioned dolls—are they like roleplayers or something?"

"Dolls go into a kind of trance. Depending on the chip inserted, they can be used to either embrace someone or be embraced themselves. The client connects via port beforehand to select preferences, and the doll takes on that role. While in trance, they retain no memory. Some are neat freaks who end up in the industry, others just find it easier to deal with that way."

"Huh. Fancy that."

"Women use it too. Dolls come in both male and female. Though, mostly just pretty faces."

"Vitt never really liked dolls, huh. Said they weren’t worth hitting on."

"…Yeah. In the end, satisfying yourself with a doll is no different from masturbation. Just like moving a machine while watching a BD. Why spend money for that?"

"…Didn’t know you had such principles."

"Sort of. I mean, if you meet a perfect partner that fits your type, wouldn’t you want to take them home? A doll’s just a meat puppet—you have to give them back after the fun. Sigh."

Getting all sweet with them and walking out arm in arm, then suddenly they drop the act and say goodbye? That kills the mood.

【You know, you might be even more messed up than I am.】

(I want to sleep with a woman I’ve genuinely won over—not one doing it because it’s her job. You get me, fanfucker?)

【…Yeah, I kinda get it. Just doing the deed and ending it right there—that’s not classy.】

With Johnny backing me up, it was two against two.

…This was getting a little depressing. Let’s get back on track.

"So yeah. Clouds is one of those dollhouses, but it deals in high-end dolls. Great looks, high-performance chips—the whole nine yards. That’s their selling point."

"Makes sense. So Yorinobu was a regular. Enough to bring her into his bed, even."

"From the way they talked, I bet they met a bunch of times—probably even in private…"

If, by some slim chance, Evelyn and Yorinobu had a real relationship—what then?

What if the one who commissioned the theft of Yorinobu’s 《Relic》 was someone fleeing without looking back? What if Evelyn realized the danger her lover was in?

If that BD was recorded while she was sober… then maybe Evelyn wanted to steal the 《Relic》 to protect Yorinobu.

If she realized the threat was someone with no regard for rules, of course she’d fear for his life. Especially in Night City.

And if that’s why she asked Little Boss, with her perfect job completion record, to take it on…

Then this job has to succeed—otherwise, we’d never be able to live it down.

We returned to Japantown and parked near the towering H8 Megabuilding.

"…Hey, Jack. Just remembered something."

"…Yeah, Vitt. Me too. Come to think of it, this turf…"

Seeing the Tiger Claws coming in and out of the entrance reminded me—most of the local businesses here are sex work fronts.

Could Clouds be in Tiger Claws territory?

It wasn’t even speculation anymore—it was plain as day. We both scratched our heads.

Johnny, watching us, tilted his head like, what the hell’s with these guys?

【Trying to do gorilla comedy in public ain’t a good look, Vincent. You two here for a skit or something?】

"Not even close."

(…Damn, almost slipped. Little Boss’s guardian is Wakako Okada—she’s the shadow figure behind the Tiger Claws. That connection’s why they cut us some slack.)

【Heh. So you gotta keep in your employer’s good graces, huh? Rough life, lapdog.】

(Says the mangy stray. Bet you stink like wet dog when it rains.)

【Tch, like I need to hear that from Mr. Collar-and-Leash. …Well, just keep your manners in check and it’ll be fine, right?】

(…Yeah, guess you're right.)

Sitting on the Thorton’s hood, Johnny mimicked a dog to tease me—but that calmed me down a bit.

We weren’t kicking down doors here—it was just a job. I could afford to relax.

Though I wouldn’t go full Sherlock Holmes and start tripping on chems.

"What if we go in as regular customers and talk to the doll directly?"

"Yeah, safest bet. Alright, get to it, Vitt."

"Don’t keep us waiting too long."

"Relax, I’m not a quick shot. And even if I was, I wouldn’t do it on the job."

Shrugging his shoulders as the two saw him off, he was carried by elevator to his destination: Cloud on the twelfth floor.

He was greeted by a pink neon-decorated entrance and approached the receptionist to enter as a guest.

"Welcome to Cloud, the place where beautiful dreams await. Is this your first visit?"

"Yeah, I heard the rumors and thought I’d check it out. Got any cute blue-haired girls?"

"Ah, um, here at our main branch we use compatibility matching via personal links, so if you’d like, we can also change your assigned Doll’s hair color."

"...Huh? Jacking in with anything but dedicated equipment is off-limits. Is this place really legit?"

"A-ahaha… well, I’m just working the front desk, so, yeah. Y-your exit is that way."

"...Haa, well, whatever. Got it, got it. Guess I’ve got no choice…"

Muttering, he extended the jack cable from his left arm and jacked in.

A warning tone echoed in his mind, indicating it had blocked a private code attempting to read internal data.

…Looks like this receptionist was moonlighting by tampering with the shop’s devices to skim information.

When he shot her a glare with a smirk, she blinked in panic and, tearfully, appeared to shut down the program herself.

Only the legitimate scanning system proceeded as intended, showing compatibility with all women except males.

Upon seeing this, the receptionist looked back and forth between the monitor and him—twice, three times—before covering her mouth and letting out a creepy grin.

Yeah, working in a place like this has clearly messed with her kinks.

If this weren’t work-related, he might’ve used that earlier stunt as leverage to take this receptionist out with him, but instead he picked Sven, who caught his eye.

Since Evelyn wasn’t on the matching list, that meant she wasn’t working as a cast member here.

"Sir, bringing weapons into Cloud is—"

"Relax, I left them in the car."

"M-my apologies. Um, what would you like your emergency stop safeword to be?"

"...Johnny."

"Understood. Please wait just a moment... Yes, registration is now complete. Please proceed with payment... Thank you very much. Your booth is... Booth number six. Please enjoy your stay."

…Pretty pricey, huh. Well, guess it’s a necessary expense.

Booth six was where Sven was located… Entering, he walked along while eavesdropping on the idle chatter of other guests.

One booth had a KEEPOUT tape on it, suggesting some sort of incident had occurred.

Johnny peeked into that booth with a curious expression, stroking his goatee with amusement.

【Hey, V. Take a look inside. Smells like trouble. Try solving it.】

(I don’t remember signing up to be a detective… Bloodstains, huh. Might as well take a look.)

Taking Johnny’s bait, he used a quickhack to open the booth.

He slipped inside quickly and closed the door behind him.

It looked like the NCPD’s prosecutors had been there recently, with their gear still left behind.

Not being here now likely meant they were off playing with a Doll.

That works out for him—might as well borrow their equipment.

"This is a BD tech adaptation… Monitoring data from the store—wait, no, this is from the client’s side. No camera footage. Let’s check it."

【You sure got a taste for watching other people screw. Real classy.】

"Says the guy jerking off in a box seat inside my head."

Exchanging banter, he activated the equipment, and a projected hologram began revealing the details of the incident.

The Doll… was Evelyn. The client, he didn’t know.

It was when they were transitioning from a foot-licking scene to a dominatrix play that Evelyn started acting strangely, violently trying to bang her head against something.

The footage ended as the client fled the booth.

"There she is—Evelyn. That was a remote hack. I’ve seen it before. Classic move from my former boss."

【Knew you had a sharp nose. You should be grateful, V.】

He wanted to punch Johnny’s smug face, but it would just be shadowboxing, so he let it go.

But this pretty much confirmed that the person behind Evelyn was a netrunner.

A remote hack targeting only Evelyn among all the Dolls in Cloud would require serious skill.

A netrunner—one with access to a setup that allows netdiving. …Plenty of them out there, honestly.

It was going to be hard narrowing it down. After copying the data from the equipment, he left the booth.

He then came face to face with the Doll named Sven, who had probably been kept waiting in booth six, and immediately spoke the safeword.

"...Eh? Was there some kind of problem?"

"Sorry, I came here as a customer, but not as a man. I’m following up on the Evelyn Parker incident. How’s this for a retainer?"

Like an undercover NCPD officer, he slipped her five hundred eddies and sat down next to her.

He handed her the money upfront so she’d take things seriously—and wouldn’t bolt.

Sven rested her chin on her hand, thinking for a few seconds, but ultimately chose the lucky gig money.

"Evelyn. Evelyn Parker, huh. Technically I’m not supposed to talk about what goes on in the Dollhouse, but if she’s not here anymore, it should be fine."

"She’s gone? Cloud processed her resignation?"

"Yeah, yeah. You saw that shut-down booth on your way in, right? Sounds like she got into some trouble there. …Between you and me, rumor is she got sold off to Fingers."

【This story’s getting darker by the second.】

"This place belongs to the Tyger Claws, right? So when they’ve got troublesome clients or girls with no connections, they ship ’em off to Fingers. He removes their cyberware, collects a ‘nuisance fee,’ and if the body’s useless, it gets passed along to scavengers—or so they say."

"...You sure it’s okay, saying all this?"

"Yeah, I mean, you’re with Jugra-sama, right? I didn’t recognize you right away, but when you mentioned the Tyger Claws, it clicked. If you’d just said so from the start, I would’ve told you for free."

Jugra...sama?

That suffix didn’t sound like it was used out of respect or seniority—it sounded like something else entirely.

While chuckling to himself, Sven lit a cigarette and kept talking.

"Aww, you don’t know? About the 'Dragon Tail'? That means... you're the secretive type, huh? Kuu~! So cool! That’s Jugra-sama for you, always going beyond what us mere mortals could imagine!"

【...That one's not in your memory, huh? First I’ve heard of it too.】

"...So, this 'Dragon Tail'—what the hell is it?"

Sven smiled with blissful joy, bringing his clasped fingers down to his chest like he was offering a prayer to a god.

"『Dragon Tail』 started out as an unofficial fan club, but now it’s happily been recognized and even gets paid jobs. It's an organization that just reports minor rumors and happenings around town to Jugra-sama. Members don’t carry membership cards, but they’re given a member number. There are all sorts of ways to report, but when you input your member number and the info, it gets reviewed, and then a hundred eddies get deposited. Of course, doing bad things is off-limits—that just becomes another thing to report."

"...And what happens then?"

"Beats me. They’re just gone by the next day, so I wouldn’t know."

Sven laughed like it was the most natural thing in the world.

...No, not like it was natural. His expression carried the cold finality of of course they're gone.

A very bad feeling was creeping in.

But Johnny didn’t seem inclined to let this go, prompting more with a jerk of his chin.

"How many people are in it?"

"Dunno? Homeless folks, street kids, neighborhood children, parents... I’d say most of the lower-income crowd is in it. So yeah, better not do anything shady, big bro. Everyone’s watching, and anyone could be the one to report it."

【...This is already a cult. That little girl’s the central deity, and the believers are just the folks next door. We had something like this during the Third—no, the Second Corporate War. She treats people better than anyone else, so everyone starts to cling to her with this faith-like reverence. Then they get handed drugs and strapped into machines... She’s gathered a web of informants out of regular citizens, weaving a spider’s web of micro-level informants into a macro-level big data network. ...She understands how to use citizens better than any mayor does. And she’s using money in ways far scarier than any politician.】

After that, I handed Sven the tip and stepped out of the booth, involuntarily glancing around.

Not many eyes on me. I thought that as I took the elevator down to the entrance.

I flipped on my danger sense and stepped out—only to see that everyone in view lit up red.

My breath caught. They were all there—the hidden informants lurking in daily life, exposed by their glowing outlines. I felt a chill of sweat down my spine.

"...This is just in Japantown... right?"

I muttered the obvious, despite knowing the answer.

Of course it couldn’t just be here.

That invisible, everyday fear creeping in—it was making me sick.

Now, I finally understood how an investigator feels when they fail their SAN check.