Chapter 94: The Third Movement: March (V)

Raindrops struck the steel car body with force, making a noisy sound that woke her from a brief dizziness.

"Gil, are you okay?" Squinting, in a haze of grogginess, someone called her name softly.

"V?" She rubbed her head and looked toward the source of the voice.

The heavy rain rode the slanting wind, shoving against each other, desperately trying to squeeze in through the tiny gap left open in the car window.

V lit a cigarette, leaned back in the car seat, opened his mouth slightly, and slowly exhaled a ring of misty smoke.

"What just happened?" Gil shook her head; even with V's early warning, she had managed to brace herself in time, yet she was still knocked unconscious by the violent shockwave of the explosion.

"Welcome to Night City... Gil." V murmured softly, and with every breath in and out, he inhaled and exhaled clouds of smoke.

"Several explosions in one day, worse than I imagined..." Gil sighed, slumping back into her seat, feeling that her future life would be shrouded in a pure darkness with no light to be seen.

"Ha, relax..." V rubbed Gil's purple long hair as a simple comfort.

"I have a feeling you're not in a good mood?" Gil glanced at the constantly burning spark in V's hand and asked softly.

"Just while you were unconscious, I witnessed the tragic curtain call of a play..." V shook his head and casually tossed the still-burning embers from his hand out into the raging wind and rain outside the window.

That flame struggled a few times before finally going out.

◎

"Haiji!"

He repeatedly called out to that figure sitting by the window.

That violent and lonely woman, as usual, did not immediately respond to him.

"Shall we go back?" Mu Lin scratched his head. "The rain outside seems to have lightened a bit... I've contacted the driver; he can take us each back home."

Haiji sighed, her consciousness slowly returning from the boundless void.

"Haiji..."

This was the fourth or fifth time he had called her name; he couldn't quite recall the exact count.

"Shut up, Mu Lin." Haiji gazed out the window and said softly.

Thus, the repeated noise and clamor in his ears vanished.

"Please get me a day off tomorrow... I have something to do, I won't be going to work." She added another sentence.

It was like dropping a pebble into a calm lake, sending ripples spreading out in layers.

Mu Lin's mouth started moving flexibly again.

"Tomorrow? Why? A date? Shopping? Can I come along? I've installed some strength cyberware..."

"Shut up." She said helplessly again, and the gloomy mood in her heart had unknowingly dissipated a bit. "Tomorrow I'm going to attend a friend's funeral."

"Isaac?" Mu Lin instinctively replied, then realized his mistake and slapped himself hard.

"Mm." Haiji acknowledged with a sound and then ignored him again.

Mu Lin opened and closed his mouth, wanting to speak but holding back.

In the end, he just silently watched Haiji's increasingly lonely and cold back, not disturbing her further.

◎

"Are you going to sleep?"

Yahweh looked at Hita's figure draped in a bath towel and asked softly.

"Hehe, tonight I'm going to sleep with my good sister..." Hita stood on her tiptoes, swaying her body left and right.

"Very happy?"

"Don't you think she's gradually becoming more sociable?" Hita hopped over to her boyfriend's ear and whispered in a low voice.

In the Bathroom, Lucy was humming a gentle melody while taking a shower.

The water droplets sliding over her skin blended with the sound of raindrops falling outside the window, singing together.

"Mm." He replied, took a clean towel, and gently wrapped it around his girlfriend's wet hair.

His fingertips pressed gently through the towel, softly massaging the silver hair that resembled cool moonlight.

"You've worked hard, little angel." Yahweh said softly, put down the towel, and picked up a hairdryer from the table.

The warm sound of the wind rose, and Hita comfortably squinted her eyes, quietly enjoying this warm moment.

Until only a trace of cool dampness remained on her hair, he turned off the warm wind and tightly embraced her, whose whole body had become soft and limp.

The water drops in the Bathroom also stopped falling just then; a head of short hair with brilliant colors, wrapped in a hazy mist, wearing a bath towel, slowly walked out.

Hita, with some strength she didn't know where she got, raised both hands and covered Yahweh's eyes.

"What comedy are you two putting on?" Lucy walked out of the Bathroom, saw a big person and a small person sitting together in a ridiculous pose, and asked with some amusement.

"Yahweh said his eyes hurt, so I'm helping him rub them..." Hita wrinkled her nose and told a lie that would be exposed with a single poke, speaking very seriously.

"I'm wearing clothes underneath..." A moving smile hung at the corner of her lips; Lucy raised an eyebrow and threw the bath towel draped over her shoulders into the laundry basket by the door.

"A fish has taken the bait." Yahweh closed his eyes, rubbed his chin against someone's head, and softly added a sentence.

"I don't care..." Hita glanced at Lucy's outfit before slowly lowering her little paws that were blocking her boyfriend's view.

"Don't care about what?" Lucy picked up the still-warm hairdryer from the table and started drying her hair.

"Nothing..." Hita's mouth, which had just puffed up, became flat and deflated again.

"Can I open my eyes now?" Yahweh asked.

"Yes... yes..." Hita said impatiently, pretending to be annoyed, her head leaning against her boyfriend's chest, her whole body curled up, sitting in his warm embrace.

"I warn you in advance, do not laugh at my clothes." Lucy said indifferently, with no emotion detectable in her tone.

Yahweh slowly opened his eyes, saw Lucy's outfit, and almost laughed out loud.

"Is this yours... or Hita's?" He held back his mouth, feeling the muscles on his face stiffen from holding it in.

"Mine..." Lucy looked down at her fluffy pajamas. "Is there a problem?"

"No..." Yahweh shook his head seriously. "I've already considered buying one for Hita too..."

"Good eye." Lucy nodded, paid no further attention to their reactions, and swayed her way over to the bed in the bedroom.

"What's this? A Lucy Rabbit?" Only after seeing Lucy had already lain down did Yahweh lower his voice to ask the girl in his arms.

"Hee-hee, I recommended it to her a few days ago. Cute, right?"

"Mm-hmm..." Yahweh nodded perfunctorily, earning himself a furious beating from his girlfriend.

"Do you have anything planned for tomorrow?"

After a bout of horseplay, Xida, panting, lay across Yahweh's chest and asked softly.

"Probably nothing? I'm not sure either. What's up?"

"Gloria just sent a message; take a look." Xida pulled a mobile phone from her chest and held it up before Yahweh's eyes.

"The school is holding a parent-teacher meeting?" Yahweh asked in return.

"Mm, keep reading," Xida said, scrolling down the message. "She also said she has to attend a work-related funeral tomorrow; since the times conflict, she's asking us to attend on her behalf."

"So she wants us to go to the funeral? What does 'work-related funeral' mean?"

"Sigh..." Xida let out a sigh. "It's just a formality: saying a few nice words about a deceased colleague you've never met; it's even better if you can squeeze out a few tears..."

"Truly the style of Night City..." Yahweh rubbed Xida's drooping head. "Let's just go; it'll only take a little while."

"Now we might even get to hear the third movement of the Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor live..." Xida frowned, making an unfunny joke.