Chương 211

"She's okay." Hiromi assured everyone as I sat face down on the table in the back of the club. The cool towel over the back of my head helped, but… AAAAAAAAAAAAH! What had I just done!?

"Well, normally I don't let randoms steal my stage, but damn if that wasn't an act. Hell, pretty funny to be playing some amateurs songs only for her to be there." The owner of the club mentioned laughing a bit.

"Well if she's on the radio, and she sent your club pounding, she's not an amateur is she?" Hiromi argued a bit hotly.

"Heh, maybe, maybe not. Solo act didn't do her any favors, but she at least knows how to play and sing. Wish I could say the same for most of the live bands I pull in."

"Well maybe we can talk about another gig, say next friday night?"

"Hmm. I might be tempted."

"Hiromi." I said rising up and rubbing the damp towel over my head.

"Leave it."

"Okay Motoko, but think about it." She needled just a little and I nodded… Honestly other than the embarrassment, and the desire to curl up in a ball and scream… I felt better than I did after finishing with Violent Hemorrhage. At least, at least I could admit I felt some pride from the songs now. And not just a bitter boredom.

"I liked the new song." Malcolm offered, as I took in the fact both boys were sitting across from me. The first time I realized they were even here. Jeez. I'd really been freaking when I finished up.

"Yeah it's… Well I played a more acoustic version, but it's a rock song actually." I stood up.

"I'm gonna head out. I'm tired." I decided, and Malcolm and Ichi sort of checked each other before shaking their heads.

"I think I'm going to stay for a bit."

"Me too." Both boys confirmed, and there was definitely a hint of excitement.

"Don't get robbed or worse." I ordered and then picked up my equipment, and headed for the back door.

"Hey wait up!" Hiromi called out and I hummed as she held the door open for me which did help out. The parking lot was half full, people hanging out doing drugs that would get them kicked out, or just saying goodbyes, but I ignored that and popped the trunk on the Quadra to throw my equipment inside.

"Hey, Motoko." Alice called out, the boys with her just outside of her little van as they both walked over as they saw me.

"Jesus what is all that?" Jared asked as he looked into the trunk and saw my ordinance.

"Work equipment." I answered jokingly, as I threw everything inside and closed up.

"What's up Alice?"

"Fuck, just… Let us work with you." She asked, begged, and kinda demanded. All of it was there. A need.

"What?"

"You need a band, you've got the songs, you got the talent, but solo acts aren't gonna get you what you need. We got a drummer, a Bass, and I play guitar… You can sing. Better than me, I'm fucking done playing… I want to be more than just some scop no life band. We're all dedicated, we all play." I realized that these three were serious.

"Listen that-" I started off uncomfortable at the idea of what Alice was saying.

"We can talk about it, but now isn't the best time." Hiromi called out saving me like usual.

"Here's my number. I'm Hiromi Mitsunashi, Motoko's Manager. I'm sure we can have a few practice sessions, see if you're a good fit for Motoko's songs and style before we lock anything in." I turned to look at my corpo, and couldn't help but relax a bit. Of course Hiromi would see the situation and just hammer through it in her most corpo style.

"Ah." Alice muttered as she reached out and took the card.

"Preem. I'm getting out of here." I decided and started to do just that. Heading straight for the driver seat. I wanted to get far away from this club.

"I'm coming too!" Hiromi called out and I just shrugged as she climbed in.

"I'm not really heading home, want me to drop you off?"

"No way!" She cheered, smiling and I just shrugged.

"Wherever you're going is fine with me!" Alright, I guess… Yeah that works. —--"When you said you were tired, I wasn't expecting this." Hiromi muttered.

"I am tired, but I feel… Too wired to really relax, so I'm doing this." Then I struck and she deflected the blow and retaliated. I'd ended up at the dojo, figuring that swinging a stick around for a while would help me calm down. Hiromi had followed me inside, and now I was facing her with shinai in both our hands. It had been a long time since I've seen her really use a sword.

I struck out a few testing pokes, and she retaliated, and then responded in kind, the clack of the shinai filling the empty dojo as only a few people were still around exercising at this time of night. Hiromi responded competently, but I recognized quickly that despite her practice with a blade, she wasn't a Musashi. She was competent enough though, and so I decided to enjoy the motion of my body. I felt my shoulders relaxing from the tension I'd had on them, and my face broke into a smile.

"Don't smile like that while whooping my ass Motoko, it's making things difficult!" Hiromi eventually gasped out, and I chuckled as we stopped clashing.

"You're doing fine. When's the last time you really practiced?"

"It's been a while. Too long obviously, if you can beat me now. Ugh."

"That was fun, thanks Hiromi."

"Yeah yeah, you seem better… Want to talk about it?"

"I-" I started only to stop so I ran my fingers through my hair scratching at my scalp.

"I don't know. It was unexpected. Jumping up onto that stage, no time to plan and just playing… It felt good. Better than playing for VH. Better than playing some boring song that had no soul. Eh. I was being a bit toxic, the VH songs were still songs, still written by a bunch of young musicians wanting to play through soul out. It just kinda wasn't good. Ugh, I felt like some stuck up asshole. Maybe I just wasn't into whatever genre VH played.

"You were amazing up on stage you know?" Hiromi offered and I just… It was nice to hear. I liked being good at things, but it felt so weird to do musician stuff.

"Thanks." I decided to say but then held out my Shinai.

"But you need some practice." Hiromi looked from me to the Shinai and her shoulders slumped.

"Go easy on me."

"Never!" I cheered and we began again. The movement and action, carefully tracking Hiromi's attempts to bat my shinai away from poking her continuously, was quite fun. It… Was a nice stress relief. I could be good at this without the feeling of anxiety. I could just let my body move, my brain didn't need to worry. I saw it, Hiromi was tricky.

She lashed out with her blade below my vision, well it would be if not for my Kiroshi, and I tapped it twice, once on the top to knock it away and then another lower done causing her to stumble. Then tapped my blade on top of her head.

"Boop." I laughed at her stupified look as she glared at me for a moment. And then I stilled. 100 Reflex XP Gained Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Reflex Leveled up! I felt my muscles tense and relax, a shift in how I held myself, and Hiromi seeing me stalled out for a second lashing out.

I bent backward almost casually, and then stepped past her, my shinai not even raised as I spun with her as she tried to swing down on me, Another duck to the side and the blade went past without even ruffling my hair. And then again.

"Okay, now you're just being mean." Hiromi huffed out as she stopped swinging. I reached out before she could react and lifted her up and spun around.

"Hahaha!" I cheered happily ignoring Hiromi's squeak of surprise before setting her back on the ground.

"Hiromi, you're the best." I told her. Reflex 10 was… Huge. I'd finally done it! I could grind out Handguns, or Blades! And all the other skills! Maybe I'd finally take the time to grind out Driving as well, that skill had been on the back burner for a while… Hmm Blades first.

"Again?" I asked eagerly as I took a few steps back and held my shinai out, but Hiromi just huffed and hugged herself. Her face was a bit red, did I surprise her that much? Was she angry because I had beaten her?

"I'm good for now Motoko. You seem to have cheered up." She said, and I blinked… I guess I had. —-- We left the Dojo not long after and I drove Hiromi around to grab some food and we just ate it while parked laughing at drunk people stumbling out of clubs and puking all over the sidewalk ruining any hope of them being cool.

"Look at that one!" I cheered as a lady completely bent over in half, her massive stilt heels keeping her upright and she puked basically backwards through her own legs.

"Gross!" Hiromi cackled as she stuffed some fries in her mouth. I grabbed some and joined her, both of us laughing at the disaster people.

"Thanks Hiromi." I said after a while as we ate.

"What?"

"For saving me when Alice asked to join 'my' band. I don't even have a band!"

"I thought you wanted to be called Stand Alone Complex?"

"That's!" I looked away. I had said that.

"It's different when it's just like a solo band name, and an actual band name."

"Honestly Motoko I don't really get your discomfort. I mean it's funny, and cute, but you have nothing to be embarrassed about. You rock." I didn't know how to explain it. I had no talent with music before. In my last life, I was tone deaf. I mean sure I wanted to play the guitar or something as much as the next teenager, but I was no good.

"I just… You remember when you first heard me sing and I was super bad?"

"Yeah! That was hilarious!"

"... Mean." I mumbled and Hiromi just laughed for a moment as she leaned over and poked at my cheek.

"It's funny because you got good so quick. Don't pout."

"Yeah, but whenever I sing, whenever I go up on stage I feel like that person that couldn't sing. I know up here, I can do it." I said poking at my head for a moment, and then I looked over and caught her eyes.

"But I feel like I'm about to sing my heart out and show my emotions and just end up laughed at."

"That'll never happen. You're so good now, no one will laugh at you."

"Yeah I know… But my heart doesn't. When I played with Violent Hemorrhage it was like… I didn't care, it wasn't my music, I had no attachment, so I didn't care that it kinda sucked, and I didn't feel much. But then I played my songs and I felt so much more. It was better, I liked it, but it also makes me feel anxious."

"But you liked it?"

"Yeah. A lot more than playing for VH."

"Well I'll never stop trying to get you to play more. You're too amazing. I want to see your name right there." Hiromi said, pointing out the window. There in the distance at the top of a building was one of the giant ads. Right now it was playing an ad for Lizzy Wizzy.

"Right there?"

"Right there. I'll make sure of it. When it happens I'll bring you right here and we can watch it together." Hiromi said confidently, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"I'll cry."

"I'm willing to accept that." Hiromi said almost stuffily, so I poked her just below her ribs making her squeal.

"Nooo!"

"I guess I'll just have to keep playing music so your little idea comes true."

"That's right! I promise! So you can't make me a liar Motoko!" Hiromi offered back and I couldn't help but laugh at her.

"You're such a corpo! Making me live up to a promise you made."

"I'm your manager, that's my job. Gotta whip the talent into action." She teased me and I just laughed along with her. It was… Nice. To think about the future like that.

"Well you'll have to schedule stuff around my mercenary contracts."

"Pfft. They won't be able to afford you, once you get going."

"I like doing it though." I countered, and she scoffed.

"Fine, I'll just set up a group to watch your back. We can call them Section 9, or something, a couple idiots, one with a car, the other with a car that he doesn't know how to dri-" We both stopped and started cackling wildly, as Malcolm still had a tendency to lose control of his Caliburn.

"Really need to get Malcolm some lessons."

"Yeah really." Hiromi agreed.

"Oh look! He's losing it!" We both turned to watch another drunk or drugged guy stumble out of the club and after a few moments blew chunks over his expensive boots. Hiromi and I laughed at his misfortune. —--- With Reflex complete, I had a new grind to get through. I had a goal, one I'd wanted to do since I first picked up a Katana. I was gonna deflect bullets. I was gonna do it!

The dojo had been fun the night before, but it was empty even Sensei wasn't around, but today was a bright day and I was going to get this shit done. I drove the Kusanagi out of the apartment's garage enjoying the feel of her under my legs as I cut into an empty spot in traffic, my signals alerting everyone which way I was going, and I accelerated to the speed limit. Yeah, a nice morning drive was perfect. It felt like it had been a while since I just drove my Kusanagi around.

I was always in my Quadra for the extra space for everything. The californian wind in my hair felt great even if it was more chilly than normal since winter was definitely here. Stopping at a red light, I sat up and stretched a bit as I waited, looking around as I took in all the people living here in NC. The sidewalks were packed, and I had to wait a long while even after the light had changed for people to finish crossing. Lot of people wandering around today. I guess it just meant it was a good day.

No gang wars or the like heating up. The 6th Street, TC thing had calmed down and so NC was… Well as peaceful as it ever got right now. The way cleared I hit the gas accelerating faster than I would since I was at the front of the pack. Shooting off until I hit the speed limit and I matched it, still more than enough to fly down the tight NC streets. The dojo came up sooner than I would have liked.

If not for my eagerness to jump into a grind I'd have just driven past and continued on, but it was time to work not play. I parked next to the other batch of Kusanagi, all of them with the stupid upgrades, or alterations. Why they'd destroy a beautiful Kusanagi with all that junk I will never know. I headed inside, and quickly found what I came here for.

"Sensei." I greeted the stoic man as I headed straight at him.

"Kusanagi."

"I need a sparring partner, someone to push me to my absolute limits for as long as I can take it. Please." I asked, actually giving him a bow as I did so. He was quiet as he seemed to consider what I'd just said.

"Very well. Gather your blades." He ordered before turning to the room, and releasing a single shout. Not a word but just a noise that stilled everyone even me for a moment at it's force.

"A challenge has been issued. The one who cut down Musashi will be faced. Come forward." He called out his voice loud enough to echo around the entire room. Well. I had wanted a challenge I took the shinai and gave them a single flourish to feel their weight before approaching the mats. Already not just students but some of the Tyger Claw full gangers that hung around walked over to join. Time to get to work. —--"Do you need a rest?" Sensei asked as another of the students stumbled away.

I'd learned quickly that this was full contact sparring not kendo. The Shinai were struck full force and I'd matched it, quite a few bruised limbs or faces had stumbled off the mat away from me over the… I focused on my system. Been about an hour and a half? Not bad. But to answer Sensei's question I shook my head, I was sweating from the exertion, and my chest was working faster, but I was controlling my breathing, and my body was more than ready for more.

"No. Next." I demanded and he nodded looking pleased as the crowd that had only grown larger as I continued to beat every challenger. There had been some trouble. Some had their feelings hurt, but sensei had been quick to fix that, and some of the TC guys had shut up the rest. I was known well enough now that what I was doing was seen more as something cool, than as insulting.

The crowd was quiet for a moment as everyone seemed to try and figure out who to bring out next, but then Sensei himself stepped forward and faced me. We began without a word, his single shinai against my dual wielding. He stepped forward and struck and our match began. I'd fought him before, but I was much more competent now. My body easily deflected his quiet powerful blows, and my skills were high enough that he wasn't just teaching me but actually facing me fully.

The clack of our Shinai was quite loud, a repeated noise as I swung and stabbed and deflected. Forced back, before shifting my style a bit to focus on more fast paced swings. Back and forth, and neither of us actually got a hit on the other. Sensei was truly a skilled Swordsman. It made me wonder what he was doing at this small dojo instead of as some Arasaka ninja or something, but then again. Who says he wasn't? I wasn't the only person that moonlighted as something else.

But I was also tired, hours of fighting was enough to drain anyone, and I miss timed a defense and got a bonk on the head that sent me stumbling back a bit.

"I believe that is my win." Sensei offers out, noticeably more out of breath than normal.

"Heh!" I offered him with a smile because he'd gotten me another XP alert.

"Seems so… Again?" I offered and I noticed he actually seemed surprised.

"Still more?"

"Yeah? I'm close. I can feel it." I told him, lying, but it was accurate enough.

"I see. Then you will face the challenge again." He called out and everyone looked surprised but eventually one of the first boys I'd fought stepped forward and bowed to Sensei and then me. Oh we were going through the whole thing again? Okay. I grinned and raised my blades. The other guy swallowed and raised his. —--- A towel dropped over my face wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing.

"Thanks."

"You hit your limit. There is no shame in it, but do not overdo it again. You gain nothing from this."

"Oh, I gained a lot." I spoke through the wet towel. I felt rough. Muscles in my chest and back that were attached to my arms were really sore. I reached up and dragged the towel off. The cool towel was actual heaven as I ran it over my forehead and across my cheeks. Couldn't run it over the back of my neck for relief as that was all chrome now. I hadn't reached the level up I'd sought, but swinging my sword until I dropped put me a good way towards it.

"But not what you came for." He stated, and I looked up. I sat up with a groan, my abs were killing me.

"No. I'm close though."

"Then you will come back when you have recovered." He demanded and I couldn't help but smile at his words.

"Yeah I'll do that." I agreed as I slowly rose back to my feet. Ow. I still felt like I had a big bump on the top of my head. Sensei really had to strike the same place twice in a row?

"Recover before you attempt to drive. I will not condone you dying in such a way." He told me, surprising me as he turned and walked away. Huh. I think… He kinda liked me?

"Finally up Motoko?" One of the boys I'd fought twice called out as I stared at Sensei's back.

"Uh, yeah, not feeling so overheated anymore."

"C'mon then, we're grabbing some lunch from the stalls. It's on us, as thanks for the lessons." The much older guy smiled at me happily and I had a serious sense of disconnect because usually the TC guys were glaring at me at this point.

"Sure?"