Chapter 173

Chapter 173

Late. Hayato snapped at me, her voice coming out too fast, in a rush. She was obviously getting antsy.

I nodded. Traffic was slow. I offered, as an explanation, although it didnt satisfy her.

Hayato, like me, already had a layer of sweat on her forehead. A Shinai in one hand that she was still going through a slow, set of motions for.

Sensei has you practicing super slow?

Yes. She snapped out, and I could see her face shift between irritation, before blanking. I would enjoy a spar.

Sure, want to do brawling, or Shinai? I offered pointing at her blade.

She reddened and reacted instantly.

Do not speak with such disrespect to the art of swordsmanship!

So you want to fight me with the Shinai? I repeated and she pointed the blade at me.

I nodded, walking over and grabbing one off the rack. As I walked back I noticed Sensei watching us both, only once I stood across from Hayato did I shift into an actual stance.

If I remember right, she had seen me doing forms under Senseis eye before, but hadnt seen me actually fight.

My Blades skill might not be as good as Street Brawler, but I wasnt a slouch.

Especially since Parry, my second Blades Perk was perfect for this sort of thing.

Nodding we both understood the spar was on, and she charged.

Once more relying on her Keren to be able to adjust to any incoming change I just breathed in and out, and started parrying.

Swing after swing, I guided Hayatos blade away from me. It wasnt easy. I think I was actually better skilled when it came to pure blade work, but she was so damn fast.

Still, I kept her back. The clack of Shinai that she continued to hammer against me, never reached its target.

I was really really good at deflecting blades. Parry coming in clutch, completely negating Hayatos speed and skill.

And she wasnt happy.

Stopthat! She yelled, speaking so fast her words blended in together.

So I did. Pushing her back after another parry, I activated my Sandevistan.

Time stopped. The warmth spread from my neck, and I moved.

I could see the moment Hayato realized what had happened, her eyes widening, but her Keren only gave her the chance to realize what was happening before it was over.

With a flick of my wrists her Shinai was launched out of her hands, and mine was thrust just past her head.

I turned off my Sandy, feeling everything go back to normal, even as the uncomfortable warmth continued to hold across my neck.

Wha-You got a Sandevistan! You should have told me! She broke out of her surprise quickly slapping my Shinai away and poking me. If I had known I would have held back less! So you chose a Sandevistan in the end?

I needed to get used to it. And the sooner I started. The more experience I would have. I offered and she nodded.

Good! Excellent! You have just become a useful sparring partner then! I need more practice against another using boosterware. She nodded, hands on her hip and nodding with an imperious look.

Honestly it just made me want to pat her on the head and give her a cookie or something.

Yeah. I could use more practice with the same. More Shinai work, or switch to fists?

Hmmph! I will strike you before I allow this spar to end. She decided, turning and stomping over to her Shinai.

I nodded, and we got back to it.

--

I dont want to talk to you. She argued as I offered her a drink.

Cmon dont be like that. Defense is something Im really good at with a blade. I offered, but she refused to talk to me

So I pressed the cold can against the side of her neck.

Eeee! She shrieked loud enough everyone in the hall jerked, and a man I noticed along the edges reached for a gun in his suit before calming as Hayato turned to glare at me. Don't do that!

I dont know. That was kinda cute. Ill have to do that more now. I decided and settled in beside her, popping the can of my soda as well.

You! Utterly outrageous! She snapped but grabbed the drink and popped it open to drink from.

Its your fault. I told you I was ambidextrous.

Outrageous! She repeated, and I had to smile. I had made a crack about how I was better with two Shinai and she had demanded that I did so.

Hayato hadnt done well after that.

How is your Sandevistan? You didnt use it again. She asked, and I felt my fingers reach up to my neck. Chrome digits touching against the chrome. I felt a bit of the heat still there.

Im not really used to it yet. I feel like I burn myself each time.

Hmph. That is normal. She offered and I nodded.

I know, my ripper said the same, but it makes me uncomfortable.

Especially since when I used a maxdoc it went away, which meant it was some sort of injury.

You will adapt, an-I have to leave. She said, her speech cutting off for only a millisecond as she changed what she was saying. Her guard along the walls was already moving over as well.

Sure. Chat with you later Hayato.

The three boys all looked curious, and Yuto smiled. Help me flatline the gonk fuck that stabbed me in the back and got me sent to the slammer eh?

I watched on as the three boys all reacted. Jun didnt say much. Just sort of frowning seriously, while the other two were a bit more argumentative.

Fuck Yuto, we cant do that shit. One of them offered, and the other nodded along agreeing.

Fuck you both then! No wonder you gonk fucks arent anything but lackeys still. Jun-Chan. Bro. I need this.

You know I cant. Kisaru is high up. The whole reason you got pegged with it, was because he had the power to get out of it. Jun said softly, uncomfortable at what he was saying.

Exactly! He thinks hes all that hot shit! Made me take the fall for the drugs! Just because I was carrying them to the fucking buyers! If the fucker had just kept his mouth shut, thatd be one thing, but he fucking squealed. You know he did!

Kisaru was cleared of that. Besides, Kisaru is a Lieutenant now. We are honor bound not to touch him. You know what happens if we do. Theyll kill you. Us. Jun offered weakly.

Very weakly.

Dont fucking-No, you know whats up. Jun. Im calling in the favor. You owe me for this! You come with, I can get to Kisaru easy as shit and flatline that gonk.

Yuto.

You fucking owe me Jun! You dont have a choice! So dont be a bit-Fuck! He squealed when I came up behind him and stuck my knife right into his trachea.

If youre dead, then Jun-nii wont owe you shit. Cant owe something to a corpse. I explained simply.

The room went silent, and I was getting looks from everyone, but I wasnt playing this game.

Motoko. Jun said, but I ignored him, because was about to be talked into stupid shit by a fucking gonk ass old friend.

Shit like this was how everything always went wrong.

H-hey, Little Motoko, we don- I jabbed a bit harder.

You shush. Listen to me now. Jun is doing better, but his life doesnt need this sort of shit. He is way too connected to the TC to go murder someone high up and not have some shit fall on his head. So no, Jun isnt going to help you get revenge. If you ask him again, I will remove you from the entire situation. Permanently.

Motoko. Jun muttered, but I noticed wasnt actually trying to stop me.

Do you understand Yuto?

Yeah, yeah I hear it. He said a little strained. For a guy that went to jail he wasnt really all that strong willed.

Good. Jun, having chooms is good, but you arent allowed to ruin your life because of revenge. We both We both had to put revenge behind us yeah? I told him seriously, then I let go.

Fuck. Holy shit. Yuto muttered rubbing at his neck, checking for blood.

Which was silly, I didnt want to cut him, so I didnt.

Then fuck was that? He demanded, and I just stared at him blankly.

A warning? I answered truthfully wondering how that had somehow gone over the guys head. Deciding that my point was made I spun the knife on my fingers and then holstered it away before stretching out a bit. Gonna do some more programming, have fun with your friends Jun Just not too much fun.

Motoko. Go to your room. Jun said grumpily and I nodded, yeah that sounded good.

I really wanted to do some work on my net hacks.

--

I looked at the code as I did a final scan.

Overheat was a pretty common online hack. There were a few different versions. Some were a virus causing Cyberware to basically go crazy overclocking themselves, and some like this one, dumped a huge amount of junk data into the netrunners connection making their system overheat them and lag out at the same time.

The original one Yoko had given was pretty terrible. Large RAM cost, Slow upload rate, easily stalled out.

I needed a hack I could use on a netrunner so it had to be more than just a baseline hack.

So I had sat down and decided to improve on every aspect of the hack.

Reducing its size with a few alterations to the code. Massively lowering the RAM cost. I was pretty proud of that one.

Instead of sending a large packet of data over with the upload to lag the system, instead what this version did was alter some of the configuration settings of the enemy netrunner.

It caused their own system to fill with junk data on their own side. Much faster upload, much cheaper to do, and much more effective.

One small protocol alteration caused everything to come crashing down.

It was Well it wasnt amazing. I wouldnt call it anything more than a middle of the road hack.

It wasnt as powerful or effective as my Hell Flame hack.

But it was also much much smaller, and more focused.

And I could rapid fire the hack without nearly as many issues as Hell Flame gave me.

It was an easy go to hold out weapon. I stretched out satisfied as it finished and I installed it into my deck.

[HEAT Bullet Mk.01] Installed and looked like it would work just fine.

Stretching out I wandered back out of my room. The living room was still a mess. Empty cans, trash, and some what I think was leftover drugs?

Jesus Jun, this is way worse than my firearms mess.

I wandered around cleaning most of it, but leaving the drugs alone. Cant say I was happy about it, but I was assuming the boys would be back to get their shit.

I finished cleaning up and decided to test out my new hack.

Down in the garage, sliding onto my Kusanagi, I hesitated. Forgetting something important. I had promised to be more careful.

So I sent out a text and when I got a response I smiled and gunned it. Heading out into the city towards my netrunning lair.