Chapter 54

Jig-Jig Street, often introduced as the heart of Japantown.

Just past sunset, when the red-light district began to come alive, the group arrived.

From a custom Delamain stopped at the street's entrance, a young-looking man and woman stepped out, followed by a strange girl dressed in a butler’s uniform with a maid’s skirt emerging from the driver’s seat.

As Jugra, adorned in a night-themed dress and a red stole around her neck, began to walk, ten identically dressed girls followed behind—suddenly appearing as their optical camouflage disengaged, revealing their armed AV gear.

The regulars of the red-light district trembled at the sight.

It wasn’t the armed girls that scared them—it was the expressionless, void-like face of the jewel-like Jugra that did.

With her shoulders held in quiet anger and a stride as though she knew the place by heart, Jugra entered a pachinko parlor and marched straight to the back. The scene resembled one from a famous painting.

Seeing David, who chased after her in a suit, more than a few people guessed that something must’ve happened between the two.

Thanks to the 《Delamans》, the pachinko players began to be driven out—no one dared resist the tech shotgun in their hands.

As the fully armed 《Delamans》 with visors hiding the upper half of their faces took position at the entrance, most people caught the scent of something about to explode.

Standing in front of Wakako Okada’s office—the fixer representing Japantown—Edmond froze at a single word: Move.

But having once known the bark of a young Wakako, he barely managed to stay standing.

"Don't make me say it twice. I'm seriously at my limit here."

"But, milady…っ!? I-I understand. Miss Wakako is inside."

Yet, Edmond noticed the shift in Jugra’s expression as she said those threatening words and quickly stepped aside.

Wakako, who had been admiring a bonsai on her shelf, let out a sigh at the sound of approaching footsteps without even a greeting. As she turned around to demand an explanation, her words caught in her throat.

Jugra stood there, tears rolling down her cheeks—her beauty undimmed even by the veil of night.

Without hesitation, Wakako dropped her grooming tools and approached. She didn’t avoid the embrace Jugra leaned in for.

Without trying to hide her sobs, Jugra clung tightly to Wakako’s thin frame, crying softly as she spoke.

"Tell me the real cause of Dad’s… no, Mom’s death…"

Wakako’s expression shifted instantly at those words. She exhaled quietly, solemnly.

Then, placing a hand on Jugra’s trembling shoulder, she faced her and spoke.

"……I see. So you figured it out. You were always a sharp one, Jug. To think that girl managed to hide it for ten years… Just like you guessed—she wasn’t killed in a robbery. She blew her own brains out with a Burya. The watchers told me there were signs she was about to lose control. Rather than be put down as a cyberpsycho… I think she wanted to die as a parent. As a person."

"So you found someone to take the blame instead…"

"I couldn’t exactly go around saying she killed herself, now could I? Luckily, there was a bunch from Six Street we were planning to take out anyway. I pinned it on them so your anger had somewhere to go… right?"

"It was all meant to… protect me…"

"That's right. ……Well, I’ll admit, when you went and started acting like some up-and-coming elite solo, I thought, ‘Damn, we messed up.’ But even so… I figured, if that was your path, then so be it. That’s why I never stepped in. I wanted to see it, you know—what kind of person you’d become. ……To think you’d rise up not just in the district, but carve out a place in Night City itself—I was honestly floored."

Wakako gave a bitter smile and held Jugra’s small body in her arms.

They weren’t bound by blood, but something deeper, like an unseen cup shared between them.

David, watching from the side, finally understood why Delamain had deployed the 《Delamans》.

He realized they didn’t want this sacred scene to be seen by just anyone—and more importantly, they couldn’t risk damaging Jugra’s image.

"When she—Miyabi—came running here, I heard everything. I always planned to tell you when you were grown up. ……I was going to say it on your eighteenth birthday. That’s the age she and I agreed on. ……Everything I’m about to say comes from her. I’ve never verified any of it."

With that preface, Wakako began stroking Jugra’s head and continued.

Ten years ago, Miyabi Kagura had come to her, carrying an unresponsive girl in her arms, offering Arasaka’s confidential data in exchange for protection.

At first, she’d tried to disappear into Jig-Jig Street as a prostitute, but couldn’t let go of her loyalty to Masahiro. So she used her engineering expertise to become a ripperdoc instead.

Sensing the risks of a life on the run, she quickly altered her face and body, disguising herself as Masahiro.

Her official records listed her as dead. By taking on the face of the already-dead Masahiro, she hid her identity.

"Looking back, that was the mistake. When you woke up, Jug, you mistook Miyabi for your father. From then on, she started imitating the man you remembered. You know everything else… except the end. She often lamented how your personality changed after you ran away. ……Well, about a hundred times more than that, she’d brag about how smart, cute, and angelic her daughter was."

"……I see. I wish… I could’ve called her ‘Mom’ just once."

"Yeah. Maybe go visit her grave all dressed up like this. She’d cry from joy in the afterlife, for sure."

"……Yeah."

They weren’t truly grandmother and granddaughter, but the way they embraced spoke of a bond no less strong than family.

"Originally, we’d agreed to look after you until you turned eighteen. Keep you close as a ripperdoc and let you live in peace… How the hell did we end up here?"

"……Well, see, I’m the male personality of a split identity, so unless I’m told stuff ahead of time, I kinda don’t pick up on it…"

"Aah… I see now. So that’s how it was. And if you’re aware of it, then that means the female personality’s the original, right? No wonder you were so different from the lovey-dovey stories Miyabi told me."

Meanwhile, David—standing behind—had widened eyes and a stunned expression at that sudden confession.

The Delaman in a butler-maid outfit gave a mischievous grin and patted David’s shoulder as if to comfort him.

Having calmed down after learning the truth, Jugra tried to pull away, her face slightly awkward—but Wakako, smiling from ear to ear, pulled her back into a hug, and she gave up.

"So then, I guess… there’s no reason to keep being protected as a ripperdoc under you anymore."

"True. You’ve grown far more independent than we ever imagined. Being a fixer is tough work too, so I won’t force you anymore. Do whatever you want, Jagg."

"……Got it. I’ll crush the entire Pacifica District, turn it into a medical special zone, rename it to the Zipangu District, cage the 《Machine Dragon》 under my control, and run Night City from behind the scenes through medical economics."

"Now hold on—I didn’t say do whatever you want to that extent! So it was you behind 《Machine Dragon》 after all! No wonder their ops felt like guerilla tactics!"

Grabbing Jugra’s shoulder with a deeply troubled and now also dead-serious face, Wakako pressed a hand to her stomach.

But the truth—that Jugra had already nearly achieved this—couldn’t be undone. So Wakako, not as Tiger Claws, but as herself, decided she’d involve herself in the plan personally.

Wakako took her usual seat, and Edmond brought over a guest caster chair for Jugra to sit in.

"First of all, Voodoo in the Pacifica district is gonna be wiped out by Vitt through one thing or another, so that'll come first. Right about now, they’re probably preparing to secure Anders Hellman—the guy who designed the 《Relic》—so maybe in about two weeks."

"Wait, wait, wait—what's the story there!? This is literally the first I’m hearing about any of this!?"

『So noisy, David. Hmph, and that’s exactly why you always lose to me.』

"I haven’t lost yet, alright!? And for the record, you haven’t won either!"

"...? Well, I guess getting along is a good thing. Anyway, the Voodoo Boys may look like the remnants of some Haitian religious group, but in reality, they're basically cyberterrorists-in-training. To get beyond the Blackwall, they were trying to make contact with Alt, who fell into the data storage known as 《Mikoshi》 deep beneath Arasaka Tower half a century ago."

David gave a look like, “Who the hell is Alt?” so Jugra added an explanation.

"Alt is the Soulkiller. To summarize, it's a device that can rip out someone’s biological data and create a copy of their personality. Just like the netrunners who got stranded behind the wall during the Bartmoss Chaos, Alt got stuck inside the storage of that Soulkiller program, in a place they call 《Mikoshi》—whether that's the official name or not, I don’t know. It was considered more stable than entrusting things to janky, malfunctioning AIs. And Alt’s ex-boyfriend is Johnny Silverhand. That’s the guy inside Vitt’s 《Relic》. The Voodoo Boys were trying to use him to get in touch with Alt."

"...I want to question how the hell you even know all this, but I know you'd just dodge the answer, so I won’t bother… Just don’t push yourself too hard, alright?"

"Ah, don’t worry. All the reckless stuff’s already done. We're in the endgame now."

"Whoa, HEY!?"

"Ahahaha! Man, David, your reactions are so over-the-top, it’s hilarious!"

"Don’t think you can just laugh it off!?"

『Tch, you’ve gotten pretty thick-skinned, haven’t you, David? Still… I’m glad I tried so hard…』

"You're emotionally unstable or something...? Is this because of the whole personality split thing?"

Jugra, who had been smiling just moments ago, suddenly started to tear up as she looked at David.

While David gently patted her back, thinking how easily she cried, Delamain joined in from the side and started patting her too.

"Hey, I’m not a cat, you know! …Sigh. Though, I guess you’re not wrong. Maybe I should start calling the female personality ‘Watashi-chan’. See, I’m me, and Watashi-chan is me too—we were never really separate. Everyone has duality in them, right? That’s all it is. That duality got split by some kind of yin-yang trigger, and now we’ve got separate personalities. I’m her, and she’s me. It was the threat to our life that caused the split in the first place, and up until now, the main personality—Watashi-chan—has been holed up inside our mind, leaving everything to me."

Claiming something like “I’m a reincarnator” wasn’t an option, so Jugra made up a plausible reason and hid the parts she didn’t want known.

With a convincing explanation like that, Wakako and David seemed satisfied. Only Delamain stared silently, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"So yeah, that’s how it is. When Watashi-chan throws a tantrum inside me, it affects me too. And now she’s holed herself up again..."

"Bottom line is, you’re okay now, right?"

"Pretty much."

"...Sigh, well, anyway, sounds like Jugra hit puberty or something. Should I cook some red rice or what?"

"Not necessary, and besides, it hasn’t come yet! Ugh... Anyway, I guess that makes me independent now. I don’t care about the Tyger Claws, but if it’s a request from you, Wakako-san, I’ll take it. So yeah, I’m off."

"That’s it? You're fine with leaving like that?"

『Heh, it’s fine. We’re family, after all. …Well then, kid, keep working at it. You’ve got your hands full, I bet.』

"...Got it."

David nodded seriously at Wakako’s sly smile.

Delamain looked a little down, but when Wakako gave them a wink and a smile, they perked up again.

Wakako had a hunch that the reason Jugra hadn’t gone completely rogue was thanks to these two.

After witnessing how Masahiro—no, Miyabi’s—death had knocked loose one more gear in Jugra’s conscience, she could only see these two as her final safety valve.

Still, she had her doubts. Was it really okay to entrust Jugra to a lovestruck teenager and an emotionally fragile AI?

But in the end, since Jugra was emotionally stuck in kindergarten when it came to romance, Wakako figured there was no real risk. So she decided to support them.

Honestly, she even hoped the two of them would keep a tight rein on her, pulling hard from both sides.

...The fact that Jugra's earlier plan had been so oddly specific lingered in Wakako’s mind, leaving her with a sense of unease.