Chapter 19: Butterfly

January 12, 2074, 20:20

"Time to go home!" Xida skipped and ran home, opened the door, kicked off her shoes with both feet, and sent them flying to the doorway.

Yahweh bent down, placed both pairs of shoes back into the plastic shoe cabinet, and shook his head helplessly.

Xida was always like this; her moods came quickly and left just as fast.

"I'm going to take a shower..." she called out, walking toward the bathroom with a step-and-pause gait, imitating a rusty robot, her silly antics comically cute.

"You didn't bring your clothes!" Yahweh, sitting on the sofa in the living room, casually turned on the home heating and shouted toward the bathroom.

"Just pick a set for me, okay?" With silver hair cascading down, the girl poked her head out from the shower stall, smiling mischievously.

"Oh..." Yahweh responded, stood up, selected a set of pure white underwear from the wardrobe, and prepared to place it on the sink beside the bathroom.

"Want to come in and wash together?" Xida turned on the hot water, tossed her discarded clothes into the laundry basket nearby, and the rising steam blurred her teasing smile.

"Careful you don't catch a cold!" He rolled his eyes, pushed that mischievous little head back into the shower stall, and adjusted the heating temperature higher.

"So fake!" Amidst the sound of the falling hot water, her faint mutter was audible.

Yahweh smiled helplessly, turned around, walked back to the living room, and turned on the radio.

Life always needs a little sense of ritual.

Sitting on the sofa listening to the news while waiting for his beloved girl to finish her bath creates a taste of home.

Thinking this, he casually tuned the radio to a news channel.

"Good evening, Night City! Yesterday's Dead Man's Lottery has been tallying since morning, and the result is... no result! Too many unlucky souls couldn't even be found as corpses! Haha! As per the rules, all bets go to the house! Friends who have lost everything, please line up, choose your time, and come one by one! Your deaths will be counted in tomorrow's Dead Man's Lottery!"

In Night City, human life is that cheap.

The only ones who might care whether you live or die are the gamblers of the Dead Man's Lottery and the Scavengers who sell human organs.

Yahweh sighed lightly; good people like the Martinez family were ultimately a minority in Night City.

He grew annoyed by the host's nagging voice, reached out, turned the knob, and switched to another channel.

"... Net Watch publicly declared recent disturbances at the Black Wall..."

"... numerous unidentified outsiders have flooded into Night City..."

"... Hackers... transnational criminals..."

"... Night Corp... meeting... aimed at raising Night City entry fees and tightening the vetting system..."

"... Korean Zhang Corporation recently exposed for using pregnant women in drug experiments..."

"... Biotechnica held a press conference, claiming to have developed a groundbreaking Nanobot... life-span defects..."

Yahweh tilted his ear to listen to the fading water sounds from the bathroom and quietly lowered the radio volume.

"Why are you sitting here listening to the news broadcast?" Xida sneaked out of the bathroom, hugged the man's neck from behind, and whispered softly into his ear.

"Doesn't this feel a bit like home?" He smiled.

"Hmm..." Xida kissed him with a smile, gently climbed over the sofa backrest, and fell into his embrace, "Clean my ears for me, okay?"

"Where are the cotton swabs?"

"In the second drawer below."

"Little lazy bug, you didn't even dry your hair..." Yahweh gently flicked her rosy nose.

"Hehe..." She smiled foolishly, deliberately pretending not to hear.

"... Arasaka Corporation, in conjunction with multiple companies... relaunching the Moon travel program..."

The radio continued to faithfully broadcast the news.

"Yahweh... one day, let's travel to the Moon... okay?" Xida leaned against Yahweh's chest, listening to the broadcast, and whispered softly.

"When?" He asked while gently and meticulously using a cotton swab to kiss the girl's delicate ear canal.

"So ticklish..." Her ears felt itchy and sweet; she squinted comfortably, "I haven't thought about the time yet..."

"Little dummy..." Yahweh stood up, fetched a clean towel from the bathroom, and gently wiped her wet silver hair.

"Hug me..." She spread her legs, sat on the man's lap, enjoying the gentle caress on her head while tightly hugging his waist.

"Little clingy bug..." He stroked her smooth silver hair, lowered his head slightly, and silenced her chatter with his lips.

"Night City Mental Health Center! Feel with true emotion, work with understanding, make friends with sincerity, serve with love!... Come quickly..."

Casually turning off the noisy advertisement, Yahweh stood up, carrying the cute girl clinging to him, and walked toward the bedroom.

"Yahweh..." The words on her lips came too late to be spoken, blocked again by his lips.

"What's wrong?" Yahweh heard the heavy breathing of the person in his arms and asked with a light laugh.

"Nothing... you go take a shower quickly..." Xida hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping.

"Okay..." He didn't press further, simply placed the girl gently on the bed and turned toward the bathroom.

Xida sat on the bed, lifting her head to gaze out the window.

The heavy rain was ruthlessly torn apart by the wild wind.

Its corpse scattered and danced across the sky and earth, mixed with whistling wails.

On the elevated highway not far away, countless streams of traffic flashed with scarlet light together.

As if mourning the death of the rain.

Xida sighed lightly and hid under the covers.

She was afraid of losing him, afraid that the events of a few months ago would repeat themselves.

She didn't want to wake up, open her drowsy eyes, and suddenly realize that the whole world was once again just her alone.

Yahweh was hiding something from her; she knew it perfectly well.

With a mere wave of his hand, miracles occurred; what price must he pay?

How could she...

"Xida?" The man's low voice drilled into her ear, interrupting her wandering thoughts.

"Mm..." She kept her eyes tightly shut, daring not to meet his gaze, unwilling to let him see the lingering mist of tears in her eyes, and merely responded in a low voice.

"Don't be afraid..." He burrowed under the covers, forcefully breaking into her world, and pulled her frail form tightly into his embrace.

She drowned in his warm affection, actively leaning her head forward to seek his lips.

She greedily drew from him until she could barely catch her breath.

"Xida... do you remember that pinky promise? That vow?" A smile played on his lips as his fingers brushed the graceful curve of her back.

"The vow... we vowed... to live together, to grow together, to realize our dreams together!" Xida smiled, gazing deeply into his eyes as they recited the promises they had once made.

The illusory him had once ignorantly longed to become human.

The tangible him was now gradually becoming human.

She too should not remain stuck in place, wallowing in the shadows of the past.

"Xida..." he whispered close to her ear.

"What is it?" she responded softly.

"... I love you, Xida..." This was the longing he had once been unable to speak.

"I love you too, Yahweh."

Outside the window, the fierce wind and the torrential rain shouted in unison, offering blessings to the two locked in a kiss.