Chapter 375
Finding something for myself, chek? I didn’t even know how to approach that in the first place, so I did what I was best at—avoid it. I had other things to do, anyway. For instance, I needed to head to the Aether soon. It was about time for more Kinetic tutoring.
I dropped by the apartment first, though. Luna hadn’t left for the hospital this morning yet. She’d spent every hour next to Iris, so it was a bit weird. I couldn’t help feel paranoid. I mean, there was a relative stranger in my home without any supervision. I didn’t actually know much about the girl given our quick meeting and circumstances since.
I unlocked the door and slid into the BC apartment. The lights were dim—what happened to the strips of holo adds along the crown molding? “Luna?”
“H-hey!” She sat up on the couch. My blanket spilled off, and her white, snow-like hair billowed out around her.
“You alright?” I eyed the girl. This was one of the few times that I’d seen her unplugged from tech entirely. She was usually jacked into her deck even while doing other things.
“Why wouldn’t I be—?” She abruptly cut off into a sneeze and rubbed at her puffy eyes.
“Are you… sick?” I eyed her flushed face. Woah, was there something going around?
“N-no…”
“You totally are, aren’t you? Catch a virus while running the net?” I snickered and moved toward the kitchen to start boiling some water. I totally forgot what it felt like to be sick thanks to Quick Healing.
“Har har.” She shot me a deadpan stare. Her hazy eyes really sold the whole ill look.
“You sound like me now. Trust me, it isn’t a good look.” Only I, the fabulous Present Shiro, could pull it off. Ignore Past Shiro. She was a bitch… I really do need counseling, huh…
“I-if you must know, I have a weak body.” Luna sighed and waved a hand. “Thats why you’re taller.”
“And it’s so glorious.” A bolt of satisfaction radiated through me, and I added one more reason to keep the runner around. I finally wasn’t the shortest one. Was this how it felt to be tall by comparison? “I’ll make you some noodles.”
Her expression twisted and she sneezed again. “Even a streetcat looks tall compared to a rat.”
“Oh Little Lulu, don’t call yourself a rat.” I laughed—and abruptly went silent when my vision went out. Or, at least, my HUD filled with a dark color to the point of blindness. “D-did you just use a quick hack on me? How? You don’t even have your deck with you.”
“Oh Shrimpy Shiro.” Her voice filled with a disgustingly sweet tone. “I have an internal one.”
Right, I should've seen that coming. What self respecting runner didn’t have an internal deck loaded with all sorts of nasty surprises? It was, like, running 101.
I shrugged and lifted a hand to a port on the back of my neck. It slid open with a soft click, revealing my trump card against runners—the manual killswitch. Runners were useless with nothing to hack. My vision snapped back as my Neural System Interface shut down. My entire body felt a little drained and stilted without it, but it was manageable.
I raised my hand like a peace offering and went back to making her some noodles. As much as I wanted to pursue her calling me a shrimp, I could be the taller person here. “I might’ve deserved that, but don’t hack me again.”
“S-sorry.” She sighed and wiggled back into the couch. “Your ICE will overcome it in a minute.”
I subtly summoned the canteen and poured a bit of Shiro Slurpie into the noodles… I really needed to find a better name than that. It made me feel like a creepy pervert drugging some innocent girl. Saying it was my blood wasn’t much better. How about… Cold Moon Colder Brew? Or… Healinator 5000! Maybe just Heal Pot? I’d have to workshop it a bit more.
“How’s that work?” I flicked the switch on my neck and my HUD popped back up. “Quick hacks, I mean.”
“It’s… how can I dumb this down for you? It’s like casting a spell.” Luna waved her hand like an Adept.
“You’re a lot more playful when you’re sick.” At least, I hoped it was just playful and not her actually insulting me.
“S-sorry.” She suddenly turned much more mellow like how she usually acted. “It’s the fever.”
“Nothing to apologize for.” I handed her the bowl and sat down on the couch across from her. Honestly, it was kinda nice to see her cut loose a little. I didn’t know much about her, but she seemed like she’d develop stress ulcers at any second.
She sipped at it and her nose scrunched up. “This tastes weird.”
“It’s medicine.” I wasn’t necessarily lying to her. Once the regenerative nature of Perfect Donor kicks in, it really would be medicine—wait, did the Perk work through digestion? Or was it purely through IV? I should’ve thought this through more.
She downed the rest of it without complaint. Luna set the empty bowl down and burrowed back into my blanket. “Are you trying to drug me? Take me to dinner first.”
“You’re literally living in my apartment.” I sighed and shook my head. “Speaking of, I finally got paid. We can look for a place of your own.”
“Oh, right.” She shifted and brushed a hand through her hair. “When am I going to be paid? Top runners make upward of three hundred thousand, you know.”
“Iris is going to cost six hundred thousand.” Assuming she stayed in Medtech. I, ‘course, wanted her to wake up. A pragmatic outlook, though, suggested that might never happen. “I’ll give you ten thousand a month. If you need more, just let me know.”
“Fine.” She slumped into the couch like I’d just killed her dog right in front of her eyes. “I-I’m going to need help getting my gear back.”
“No problem.” I was already planning on doing that. The stronger she was, the better off I'd be in the long run. It was pretty simple logic. More than anything though, I was a bit surprised she proactively asked for help.
She peeked up out of my blanket and her expression shifted to a shy one. “H-hey, c-can you do the thing?”
“I have literally no idea what you’re talking about.” I had so many things that she could be reaching for.
“You know.” Her voice turned quieter. “T-the thing with the f-fox.”
“Oh…” Right, Saint and Luna were both there when I transformed into a fox down on that underground road below East End. Neither of them had approached me about it, though. The fact neither of them wanted to pry into my secrets made me trust them ever so slightly more. Likewise, I would try pry into theirs.
Should I pretend she was crazy? That I had nothing to do with a fox? I had a feeling she wouldn’t push if I just glazed over it.
“I-if you don’t want to, you don’t have to.” She reached out a weak, trembling hand and let it drop lifelessly to the couch. “I’m only dying of fever.”
Ugh, guilt tripping. I rubbed at my arms uncomfortably. Why was everyone around me so good at it? Or was I just weak to guilt in general? No, surely not. Right, Present Shiro had nerves of steal, and a mind like a steel trap. Guilt was nothing…
“Fine. Only this once. And you better not tell anyone.” I was worried about her telling Mira more than anything. I’d stonewalled her last couple attempts to strangle me ‘with love’, as she put it.
“Scouts honor.” She perked up and lifted two fingers into a perfect salute. “‘Sides, I haven’t shared any of your other much more damning secrets.”
She had a point there. I had a feeling she knew much more about me than she let on, too. I couldn’t blame her for it. If I was a Netrunner, I’d absolutely check everyone that worked alongside me out. Then again, that might’ve just been Paranoid Shiro sneaking out of her cage.
I sighed and summoned out Fox’s Fluffy Cloak. The silver fabric wrapped around my shoulders, and my perspective abruptly shrunk until I was on all fours once more.
Luna picked me and pulled me into her chest. It was like slamming into a brick wall. “Who’s taller now, Shrimpo?”
“Yip!” A growl burst out of my chest and I tried to wiggle out of her arms. That's it! I’m going to beat some manners into her.
“Heh, even your barks are cute.” She ignored my attempts to escape and burrowed her face into my back. Is this the strength of a sick person?! “I’m feeling better already.”
“Yip!” That’s because it finally hit your digestive track. Now let me go, you fiend—wait, what are you doing with your hands—
W-why are you so good at this? Luna gently scrubbed just behind my ears. It was completely different compared to how Mira usually treated me like a stuffed plushie.
“I used to have a pet dog.” She shifted and brushed her hand through my silver fur.
“Yip?”
“Yeah… it was before Kaynis became like he is. Doubt he’d let me keep another dog around the house.” She sighed and her hand stalled on my head. “That was a long time ago, though.”
I sensed a story somewhere in there. I couldn’t ask like this, though, and she quickly shifted into a discussion about cyber security and net infrastructure for Cold Moon Solutions. She was designing the site, and needed my input. Or, as much input as I could give given my current vulpine shape.
——
A while later, I was back in the Aether. I’d left Luna behind, though kept up the fox form. I’d need it for what was to come later, anyway. No point wasting a ton of energy shifting back and forth.
“What’s the matter, Shiro?” Vulpes’s tail entwined around my own and pulled me closer to her. “Sad that milady didn’t come see you?”
“Maybe a bit.” I understood, though. The eidolon was probably busy, and I wasn’t so immature that I’d get hurt by that. “Just a lot on my mind.”
“Surprise, Sulky Shiro has a lot on her mind.” Vulpes bumped into my side lightly to let me know she was joking. Her tails wagged gently, and brushed my back.
What was up with all the nicknames lately? I already had a hard time remembering all my identities without the added confusion. What was I up to now? Three? Shiro Tsukuyomi, Zuku Ichima—though that one was basically dead after I told Hope—Nightshade, Equinox, and probably a dozen other ones I couldn’t remember.
”Is he here already?” I asked. We were headed to my Kinetic teacher. It was that time of the week for Akito to meet me in the Aether once more.
”Chek. Right here, actually.” Vulpes stopped in front of a particular door on Fifth Peak. She cast a magic spell, and the door pushed open to reveal the kinetic standing at the balcony.
”Lady Vulpes. Shiro.” He stood up and put out his cigarette. Without either of us saying anything this time, he waved a hand and the scent of smoke dissipated.
How did that work? Smoke lingered. Just ventilating a place wouldn’t get rid of that. There must’ve been more to it than just a wave of wind to clean the smoke out. Honestly, his control was so impressive he could very well be scraping every piece of furniture with wind to basically pressure wash it.
“Have you been keeping up with practice?” Akito directly jumped into things.
”Trying.” I summoned out a wave of electricity, and carefully looped it through the air. At first, it was an ionized flow that charged the air. A moment later, a stronger surge of electricity arced out into a spiked ring of lightning.
I’d been busy, so I hadn’t been able to give it as much attention as I would’ve liked. Still, I found a couple times here and there to work with it. I still had a long way ahead of me before I’d be able to turn it into anything outside of an auxiliary ability.
“Good.” He lifted a hand directly into the current and tested its power. It sparked sharply, and cut through him. “Stronger this time around. How’s it feel to control?”
”A little wobbly still.” The ionized path gave a lot of room for the electricity to move and jolt around, creating a bit of an unsteady current compared to my original method.
“Here, let‘s try this…” And so began another long, tedious day of training my Kinetic ability. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t give me a spike of dopamine, though. Actively improving and growing was just… maybe Nael was right. I needed to find a hobby… or dive I into work harder.
I shook my head and focused back on the lesson. One step at a time, though, just like I’d always done things. I had to walk before I could run.