Night City.
North Oak, Westbrook. Stone Hill.
This was a newly developed luxury residential district funded and backed by Arasaka. Even executives who did not live here often still tended to buy property in the area.
North Oak gathered together the highest concentration of high-income residents in Night City. The greenery was pleasant and well-maintained, the villas were spacious and standalone, and the district attracted wealthy investors, elite executives, celebrity musicians, and plenty of others looking to buy real estate.
On Stone Hill, outside a Japanese-style estate, a high-end black Arasaka sedan sat parked in the driveway. The driver and bodyguard, Maxim, stood outside the car door waiting for his employer, looking thoroughly annoyed.
Maxim checked the time.
It was already seven in the evening.
The fight he had booked tickets for had long since started, and he had already missed the entrance window. But all he could do was suppress the irritation and keep waiting for his boss to come out.
Tonight was the usual dinner between his employer and his only son.
Because of work and school, the two rarely had time to see each other, so once a week they made a point of having dinner together and catching up.
Finally, the wooden doors of the estate opened, and a servant pulled them apart from inside.
A father and son stepped out.
The older one was a heavily built middle-aged man wearing narrow black sunglasses.
The younger son had shoulder-length hair and followed beside him with perfect politeness.
"Mr. Tanaka, the car is ready."
Maxim hurried to open the rear door and usher both his employer and the young master inside. Then he jogged around the front, got into the driver's seat, shut the door, and prepared to depart.
"Mr. Tanaka, which restaurant would you like for dinner tonight?"
"Embers."
Embers.
After Kai said he wanted to talk about something privately, Gloria lifted her head slightly and looked at him in confusion.
Other than the matter of the stolen implant, she could not think of anything that needed to be hidden from David and discussed separately.
So she put a piece of sushi into her mouth, using the motion to cover the unease in her voice as she asked,
"About what?"
Kai picked up a wet towel, wiped his hands, and said flatly,
"Your future."
Gloria's pupils widened instantly.
She still had sushi in her mouth, but the moment she heard that, she stopped chewing entirely.
She had never expected Kai to want to talk about her future.
But very quickly her eyes settled again, even dimming a little, and she forced a smile.
"You're overstating it, Mr. Kai. What future could I possibly have left? As long as I can keep taking on more jobs and get David through Arasaka Academy safely, I'll already be satisfied."
Unless some miracle suddenly dropped from the sky and landed right in her lap, Gloria no longer believed she had any real chance to turn her own life around.
And even if such a chance did appear, she would rather give it to David.
Kai could tell that she had already stopped believing in her own future.
The endless fatigue and setbacks had worn away all sense of possibility.
All she could do now was try to pour the good career she had once dreamed of for herself into David instead, helping him walk the road she had once longed to walk.
But when people sank too low, they often lost the ability to see themselves clearly.
From Kai's point of view, Gloria's ability and character should have taken her much farther than this.
When she argued her case against the principal of Arasaka Academy, when she found a way to get hold of the Sandevistan, when she dealt with edgerunners and completed the transaction, she had shown exactly the kind of independence and nerve that mattered.
She had managed to move among multiple complicated forces on her own and still make money. She had even supported David's tuition at Arasaka Academy by herself.
If not for the crash, that deal would have gone through cleanly.
That was why Gloria had won Kai's attention.
Compared with her, David was still only an unripe future legend.
So Kai decided to offer Gloria a chance.
A chance big enough to change both her life and David's.
"Any interest in becoming a fixer?"
Kai went straight to the point and extended the olive branch.
If Gloria showed even the slightest sign of shrinking back, that branch would snap right there.
In his view, life was one long gamble. Chances passed in an instant. No one stayed in place forever waiting.
That applied to Gloria too.
The moment she heard the invitation, Gloria was stunned into silence.
Her hand flew up to cover her mouth so she would not gasp aloud.
She had never imagined that what Kai wanted to discuss privately was an offer to work with him as a fixer.
She understood very well what a fixer meant in Night City.
They lived on information, survived through connections, and stood on the foundation of reputation, navigating both the light and the dark.
At the highest level, a fixer could become a legend like Rogue herself, a person who truly held power in Night City and sat steady at the top.
And this invitation came from Kai, Arasaka Counterintel's Deputy Director.
That meant backing from Arasaka, the single strongest corporation in Night City.
Intel, money, resources. Everything would be top tier.
But Gloria also understood the danger.
If she accepted, then as a woman with no power or protection of her own, she would become his dependent completely.
If he prospered, she prospered.
If he fell, she fell.
At any moment, she could become a disposable piece on his board.
Whether this path led to heaven or hell would depend entirely on a single thought in his mind.
Even so, when Gloria looked at Kai, she answered without hesitation.
"Yes. I want it."
That took Kai slightly by surprise.
He had originally intended to give the cautious Gloria some time to think, but her answer came fast and firm.
It did not sound like gambling.
"You can take some time to think it over."
Gloria rejected that immediately and, instead, looked at him with serious resolve.
"I trust you."
"And if that day ever really comes..."
"I believe you'd spare David."
Kai laughed quietly.
So deep down, the woman still feared him after all.
Then again, that made sense.
No corpo ever tossed out free meat without hiding a hook inside it.
And honestly, that suited Kai just fine.
A fixer's cooperation should not be mixed with extra emotion anyway.
The only true standard was whether the job got done.
A fixer who could settle things was a good fixer.
Now that Gloria had shown her stance so clearly, Kai no longer tested her.
He raised the cocktail on the table and offered it toward her in invitation.
Gloria raised her glass too, elegant and composed.
The glasses touched.
Clink.
"Pleasure doing business."
"Pleasure doing business."
They drained them both in one go, officially sealing the partnership.
Meanwhile, at the self-serve dining area, David glanced toward them from the corner of his eye. Seeing that the conversation seemed peaceful enough and that his mother was not begging Mr. Kai over his problems, he felt a little relief.
He did not want to owe Kai one favor only to pile another on top of it.
If that happened, he would never be able to lift his head in front of him again.
"At least he accepted the gift box..."
Just as David was wondering how he was supposed to face the man who had saved them, he accidentally noticed a very familiar figure walking in through the restaurant entrance.
And that figure, the instant he stepped inside, almost as if by instinct, casually swept his gaze around once and immediately locked onto David in the self-serve dining area.
Two startled gazes collided at once.
Katsuo?
David Martinez?
Neither of them had expected to see the other here, and both were visibly shocked.
Katsuo kept both hands in his pockets, but the surprise in his eyes slowly turned into delight. Even a smile started spreading across his face, and he raised his right hand and waved.
The heavily built middle-aged man beside him noticed his son's reaction and followed his line of sight.
He saw a boy about the same age sitting in the self-serve area with a plate in hand, staring back in stunned silence.
The man had no memory of him at all.
"Someone from your academy?"
Mr. Tanaka asked in a low, weighty voice behind his narrow sunglasses.
Katsuo smiled brightly, clearly excited, and answered his father,
"Yeah. We're actually very good friends at school!"
(End of Chapter)
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