"Something to ask me?"
Aoyama tilted his head, curious.
"Yeah. My laptop died."
Akane pulled it out of her bag and held it up.
Aoyama raised an eyebrow. Laptops weren't exactly standard equipment for university students in this era; they ran two to three thousand at the entry level, and anything decent pushed five to eight. That someone owned one at all was already a statement about their situation.
Then again, this was Akane.
"I wouldn't know how to fix it," Aoyama said honestly, scratching his head. "Laptops especially; yeah, swapping out a hard drive or a memory stick is doable, but the rest of it's all precision components. If it's something delicate, you're better off going to a repair shop."
"That's exactly my plan. I wanted to take it to one of the tech shops in the district, but..." She paused. "I'm worried they'll see a girl walk in alone and immediately try to fleece me."
That was not an unreasonable concern.
Tech shops in this era operated without competition. No online stores undercutting them, no review sites to check, no price transparency. The unscrupulous ones charged whatever they felt like and talked customers into repairs they didn't need: swapping out a memory stick when a wipe and reseat would've fixed it, telling a customer a 200 chip needs 800-worth of labour, or pushing for a full motherboard replacement when the problem was a loose cable.
Female customers got the fastest and most aggressive version of this treatment. The con didn't even start with a trial balloon; some shops saw a girl at the door and skipped straight to the pitch.
Aoyama blinked. He understood now exactly why she'd come to find him on a Thursday.
He was her technical alibi. A male presence who looked like he knew what he was doing would make the shop think twice before going off-script.
He was a tiny bit amused.
"Though," he said, mouth already moving before he thought through the delivery, "would someone like you actually worry about that? A girl who could afford to lose a few hundred and barely notice?"
Akane's brow pulled together. She didn't deny the premise. But she said, clearly: "I can afford to spend money. I don't like being taken advantage of."
"Fair enough," Aoyama said, raising his hands. "Sorry, Akane. I get it."
He didn't really think before saying things sometimes. It wasn't malice; he just ran direct.
"To make up for it: I, Aoyama, fully place myself at Akane's disposal for the rest of today."
He made a little mock-salute.
Akane looked at him for a moment, then gave up and laughed. "Was that necessary?"
"...probably not."
He was already grinning at his own antics, and even Pochita seemed confused, tilting her head at both of them.
---
"Hey, Aoyama," Akane said as they walked, the shop district not far ahead. "The interview said cyber psychosis comes from social pressure. Does that mean... Maine is heading that way too?"
Aoyama had Pochita strapped to his chest in the carry pack, and was holding Akane's laptop bag as well, hands full but posture relaxed.
"Think of cyber psychosis like depression," he said. "The condition is in the person, but the main cause is external: the environment, the pressure, everything the world puts on them. So yeah." He exhaled. "Maine carries the whole crew. That's a lot of weight."
"...And leaders always end up paying for it."
Akane shook her head. "Honestly, after the last few chapters, I'm not ready to lose Maine."
She meant it. The man had proved himself over eleven chapters; he'd given David a chance when he hadn't needed to, backed the crew in tight situations, and never left anyone behind when things got bad. In Night City, that made Maine practically mythological.
The rest of the crew was a different story. At critical moments, most of them would choose themselves. Lucy had already proven that once. Kiwi would prove it again later and harder.
Set against that, Maine and Dorio were the exception, the closest thing the story had to people you'd actually trust.
"Maine is, genuinely, a good person," Aoyama said. "He kills people, sure. He's running a criminal operation. But he gave David a shot, he looks out for his crew, he's earned being called a real leader in every way that matters." He paused. "Night City just doesn't let good people retire."
"Exactly. Compared to all the predators out there..." Akane said, then trailed off.
"In Night City, the truly great ones all end up underground eventually."
Akane went still for a moment. Then she looked at him sidelong, brow slightly furrowed. "That line you just said... I don't like the feeling behind it. You're not going to write everyone on the crew dead, are you?"
Aoyama winced. "Do you want me to spoil it or not?"
Akane clenched her jaw, thought about it, and let out a breath. "Forget it. Just... tell me one thing. Lucy doesn't die, right?"
She wasn't too worried about David. He was the male protagonist of a male-oriented manga. That was basically narrative immunity.
But Lucy was another matter.
"Lucy lives," Aoyama said, giving her a thumbs-up. "Guaranteed."
"...Then I'm fine."
Akane let out a slow breath of relief. "Okay. You don't need to tell me anything else."
As long as the female lead made it out, she could handle the rest.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]