Chapter 71 End

――Former Pacifica District, now the Zipang District.

――Delamain Universe Headquarters, Underground Sector.

――Sometime in 2079.

That day, after my other half—my big brother—took down Arasaka, a lot of things happened.

The incident that was labeled the “Machine Dragon Attack” didn’t mention Jugra Kagura or the Delamain Corporation at all. It was clearly a biased report, but no one seemed to complain.

…Well, I guess no one wanted to oppose what they saw that day. So with Arasaka’s fall, Delamain took over the reins of Night City.

When I woke up in the recovery pod, I apologized to David-kun and Vincent-san for not being able to stop my brother.

They apologized right back, and I was confused, but according to Delamain, my eyes looked empty like a dead person’s.

Everyone had been pushed to their limits. My brother was just several steps ahead and outplayed everyone—that’s how they explained it.

――『If you're watching this footage, then I guess everything’s already over. Sorry. I caused you a lot of trouble. First of all, let me say thanks.』

My brother left a will chip at the secret base he only told David-kun about. It contained all kinds of final messages.

――『Sorry, David. I understood how you felt, but I was never meant to exist in this world to begin with. You’ve probably figured it out by now, with all the hints I dropped—I was what you’d call a “reincarnated person.” I realized it later, but it was more like possession.』

He explained that twelve years ago—yeah, twelve, not ten—on the day when Mom and I were attacked by that Adam Smasher doll, the “brother” who had been sleeping deep in our mind woke up and took over from there.

――『There was this god-tier game called Cyberpunk 2077. The story it told… it was harsh, unforgiving. It taught me life is a series of choices. As you’ve probably guessed, Vincent—V—is the protagonist. And you? You were the protagonist of the prequel anime. That’s why I trusted you unconditionally. …I mean, how was I ever supposed to explain that?』

He went on to excitedly describe David-kun’s story and how he died in the anime, in such vivid detail.

…It was supposed to be a will, but he talked for thirty minutes just on that part.

David-kun could only laugh awkwardly, realizing why my brother had looked at him like he saw someone else through him.

――『Sorry for rambling. But I had to get it out—if I waited, I’d probably forget. I already can’t remember who I used to be in my past life. Honestly, even what I just told you might all be delusions I made up. …Though, for some reason, I can remember all the subculture stuff perfectly. Why is that, seriously?』

He must’ve really loved Cyberpunk 2077 and Edgerunners to have it all burned into his episodic memory like that.

Thanks to that, we’ve been able to live every day with hope for the future.

――『Well, anyway. Since the day I saved your life, I’ve lived every day feeling fulfilled. The fact that I could change the future where you were killed by Adam Smasher inside that cyberskeleton… it gave me real confidence. You showed me that fate can be changed by our own hands. Thank you, David.』

Everything meant for individuals was directed at David-kun.

Then came Delamain. He spoke to him more like a head giving final orders to his trusted subordinate, asking him to take care of various things.

――『You helped me a lot, Delamain. I never thought a day would come when I’d be loved by a machine, but I respect your feelings. Live however you want. Be yourself, Delamain. …If possible, I’d like you to look after Watashi-chan too, but I won’t force it. She’s probably grown up quite a bit inside me, after all.』

…And with that one line, I somehow became CEO of Delamain Universe, which manages all Delamain-related business.

Honestly, I’m more of a figurehead—Delamain still handles all the actual decisions…

Well, thanks to that, I can study and experiment down here in the underground sector, so I’m grateful. I’ll thank him in person.

――『Anyway, I’m leaving everything I had to Watashi-chan. It’s my first and last gift to you. It should be enough to live out your life comfortably, but don’t get lazy and go down a weird path, okay?』

Everything that had been under my brother’s name was inherited by me, who is technically the same person. Just like he’d say—starting over strong, like a New Game+.

――『Alright, that’s all I had to say. Live well. Be happy.』

But you know, big bro… I’m still super bitter about how you locked me away during the big showdown.

For my happiness, I want you to be there too.

So, just like how you had your secret base under the Food Factory, I made my own secret base in the underground of the Universe.

Inside, I’m cultivating a clone of myself, adjusted using the biometric data Delamain used when healing you.

Waiting there are Adam-san—whose 《Relic》 was transferred into a male-type Kite Series body created with Diva tech—and Saburo-san, placed in a boyish clone body of Yorinobu.

Both 《Relics》 were secured by my brother, so naturally, they were passed down to me.

Adam-san serves as my bodyguard in his young man form, and Saburo-san, as part of his punishment, helps me with my research in his boy form.

Saburo-san was Dad’s killer, but once we talked, he sincerely wanted to atone.

My brother’s charm rate is just too high…?

He’s less of a lady-killer and more like a people-killer, in a weird way.

『Oh, Lady Kagura, you’ve arrived. We just finished the final adjustments. The simulation results came out to be over 80 percent. Are you really going through with this?』

Saburo-san’s mind seems a bit influenced by his younger body—his speech sounds youthful.

Adam-san, who’s in a replica of his former flesh body, often chooses silence—maybe it’s the soldier in him or maybe he’s just bad at communication.

"I am. I’ve kept him waiting for two years, after all."

Strictly speaking, my brother’s personality hasn’t vanished.

I still feel connected to him. Since about a year ago, he sometimes appears in my dreams to scold me about my poor eating habits.

Apparently, he just switched places with me—he had been sleeping there originally, and now he seems to be doing pretty well.

…He’s like a dad in mom’s role—way overprotective—but he’s the best big brother in the world, so I’m really glad he’s still with me.

I wonder if Vincent-san and Johnny-san were like this too. I’ll ask him next time.

Oh yeah, Vincent-san married Panam-san and formed a new nomad clan called the Jackals. They’re living happily together.

They even shared drinks with the Aldecaldos, and now the two major factions rule the Badlands.

I built the Delamain Clinic’s Badlands Branch to celebrate their marriage, and I heard they’re still joyriding around in cars.

Victoria-san, with Jackie-san as her second, became a famous boxer and earned a fortune as Night City’s champion.

Now she’s the head of 《Dragon Tail》, spreading the legend of my brother, with Sasha-san serving as her secretary.

Valerie-san, through Claire-san’s connections, became a successful car racer, and she joined Vincent-san in reigning as the champion of the Badlands Wild Race.

Jackie-san married Misty-san and runs a massage shop at Esoterica.

Apparently, he learned all kinds of sports massage skills through his seconding work, and his spiritual-style massages are becoming secretly popular.

『Connect the personal link and put this on, would you? Ah, I used to be into model building, you know. Old habits die hard. I tried to recreate that device head we used back then. Not bad, right?』

With those words, Saburo-san handed me the device head with its four pairs of glowing eyes.

...Hey, looking at this thing from the front, it totally looks like the final boss’s mask or some kind of mastermind’s gear, doesn’t it?

My brother’s sense of style really is off in the weirdest ways—I smiled wryly, partly because of the nostalgia.

Over the past two years, my body’s grown up nicely... Just kidding, of course it hasn’t. Yeah, figures.

I haven’t really changed much, but to differentiate myself from my brother, I’ve grown my hair out down to my waist.

Every time I show up at David-kun’s clinic like this, he gives me the most serious look.

Ah, David-kun took over the clinic my brother used to run—《Glakker》—and works there now as a ripperdoc.

Apparently, he spent about a year apprenticing under Viktor-san, one of Night City’s most veteran ripperdocs, thanks to a connection through Vincent-san.

He said it’s because he wants to leave behind even the smallest trace of Jugra. If my brother heard that… I bet he’d be really happy.

On weekends, he’s been tinkering with a spaceship in the secret base of the Food Factory. Lately, he told me he managed to make an engine powered by an Arasaka gravity control core.

One day, he’s planning to go to the moon with my brother. Honestly, my brother’s really loved.

...By the way, it seems Rebecca-san still hasn’t given up on David-san. She’s working at the gun shop run by David’s mom as a gunsmith, along with his older brother Pilar-san.

And Lucy-san is casually working there as the receptionist, apparently selling demon chips or whatever on the side.

Man, David-kun sure is loved too.

Since parting ways with my brother, even just for a bit, David-kun’s started showing a more mature expression. Gloria-san even praised him, saying he’s starting to resemble his father.

“I hope it goes well…”

Murmuring that, I turned my gaze toward the cultivation pod.

From the neck down, it was blurred out just in case, but the inside of the pod was set up to resemble a placenta, so the body was suspended in liquid.

It was floating just like in that old anime movie where they had that strange creature called Mewtwo that my brother salvaged once.

Attached to its head were devices for brainwave regulation, and aside from that, it was completely nude.

Well, that’s just a precaution in case it turns out not to be my brother after all. Can’t be helped.

I lay down on the bed, jack in my personal link to the side console, and put the device head on.

To extract my brother from that mental space, we’d considered using Soulkiller—but it would tear me away along with him, so that plan was scrapped immediately.

After countless rounds of research and deliberation, progress stalled for about a year, until Jackie-san—after quitting his work as a second—gave us a good idea.

Apparently, in Kabuki, there were these weird twins who had the same brainwaves and ended up becoming two people from one.

We thoroughly studied the twins’ condition, and by the time we finally saw a glimmer of possibility, two years had already passed.

Comparing the brainwaves from the day my brother was using my body to the ones I have now revealed they were completely different.

As a result, we created a clone body that matches mine down to 99.9...% of my biometric data. The plan is to connect it to my brainwaves first, calibrate it, and then switch to my brother’s brainwave data—a pretty high-stakes gamble for this salvage operation.

“…Please, don’t turn into some messed-up fake version of my brother…!!”

『There should be no problem. Knowing that girl, she’ll probably just brush it off and say there was no other way to get out.』

“I’ve always wondered—why do you have such an absurdly accurate understanding of my brother, Adam-san?”

『...Well, that’s because I used to support Wakako Okada in return for her sheltering Masahiro’s wife and child. I received reports from her. I told her many times to stop because it hurt too much to hear, but that one just wouldn’t listen…』

Probably, those “reports” were just an excuse. Wakako-san probably just wanted to brag about her precious grandkid...

She used to dote on my brother, saying he reminded her of her younger self.

Looks like the adjustments to the cultivation pod were finished, as Saburo-san handed me a switch.

Once I press this, my brainwaves will transmit from here to there, syncing up, and then my brother’s brainwave data will be sent over.

“…Here I go.”

And then I reached for the switch—

Confused as my right thumb moved on its own, I realized what it meant and entrusted myself to it.

With no hesitation, the switch was pressed. Our brainwaves synced, my vision flickered, and my consciousness flew away.

Then, just like someone had gently pushed me from behind, I returned to where I had originally been—and in that same moment, I felt like whoever pushed me had gone in the opposite direction.

Back in reality—sane again—I looked toward the cultivation pod. I took off the device head and, tears spilling, smiled.

After all, there was my beloved brother, shrugging his shoulders, giving me a thumbs-up and a wink.

――Isn’t this kind of overly convenient reunion just a little too cheap?

He tried to quip something like that, but since he was surrounded 100% in liquid, no sound came out—just the movement of his lips.

“Fufu, I think it’s fine. Because—”

In this city—Night City—there are tons of hellos and goodbyes. That’s just the way it is here.