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Chapter 69 c
🕑 Added 2025-03-14 16:42:54 +0000 UTCChapter 69 c
Kidnapping, torture, and murder were nothing more than small pleasures in their depraved lives.
There were always some young, hotheaded, and reckless Tiger Claws—especially those who got drunk—who liked to bully others on the streets. They never cared about any so-called gang principles. Although most of the Tiger Claw’s higher-ups despised such behavior, they would still protect their own whenever someone fought back.
Take Lizzie’s Bar as a living example.
Back when Lizzie’s Bar wasn’t yet under The Mox, its owner, Lizzie, took great care of her employees. But one day, a certain Tiger Claws member beat one of her girls half to death. In retaliation, Lizzie castrated him.
Even though this incident started with the Tiger Claws, and the blame lay entirely on them, any other gang in Night City would have settled for demanding Lizzie pay more eddies and then let the matter drop. Instead, the Tiger Claws stormed in the next day, destroyed Lizzie’s Bar, and brutally killed Lizzie.
Because the Tiger Claws were so brash and protective of their own—and served as Arasaka’s black-gloved enforcers—most people who faced their provocation knew better than to fight back.
Yet when the masked man and his companions went to visit Viktor’s clinic, they were coldly turned away. So the masked man asked Masafusa Jotaro, the leader of the Masafusa-gumi, how to handle the situation.
To the masked man’s surprise, Masafusa Jotaro seemed unusually calm.
“Watson isn’t entirely under our control,” he said. “Don’t go overboard. As for that ripperdoc… once things settle, give him some money. If any Tiger Claws women try to run to him again, have him let us know first.”
…
In a small, unremarkable apartment building in Kabuki, Watson, a little girl named Ryoko was sitting obediently on a chair. Her short legs dangled, unable to touch the floor.
After a while, Ryoko hopped down, held up her workbook, and proudly waved it in front of her mother.
“Mom, look! I finished this entire page.”
Chihiro took the notebook and looked through it carefully, then nodded.
“Great job, Ryoko. Take a little break, and then you can keep going.”
“Yay!” Ryoko cheered, her face full of excitement. “Can I watch cartoons?”
“You can, but don’t turn up the volume.”
Ryoko switched on the TV in the room.
A short while later, she suddenly said, “Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Why do you want me to study? Keiko said her mom never makes her do any of this. She said as long as we grow up, we just need to find a man and get married.”
Chihiro sat down beside Ryoko and gently patted her little head. Ryoko closed her eyes, enjoying the gentle touch.
“Because studying hard is the only way you can get into college. That’s how you can change your fate.”
“My fate?”
Ryoko blinked in confusion, her big eyes filled with questions.
“If you don’t study, you’ll always be stuck doing the hardest, most exhausting jobs for the least pay,” Chihiro explained. She picked Ryoko up and carried her over to the window. Pointing at the looming corporate towers in the distance, she said, “You can only work in those buildings if you have the right education.”
Ryoko tilted her head slightly in her mother’s arms. “But, Mom, I’ve heard people say that working for a corp is like selling your soul. It’s not really any better than being out on the streets.”
Chihiro wasn’t angered by her daughter’s objection. She gently stroked Ryoko’s hair and placed a loving kiss on her forehead.
“People who say that usually can’t get into any corporation and have to scrap by on the street. If a corp offered them a chance, they’d push anyone aside to get in. They’d leap at the opportunity like moths to a flame.”
Ryoko responded with a vague “Oh,” still not entirely convinced.
Chihiro put her down. “All right, back to your homework.”
Ryoko puffed out her cheeks like a hamster with its mouth full. “But, Mom, I just turned on the TV. I haven’t even watched anything yet.”
“I know, sweetie. But when you’re older, you can watch as much TV as you want. Right now, you need to study. If you miss this opportunity, you’ll regret it later.”
Ryoko didn’t fully understand why she would regret it, but she still nodded sensibly. “Okay.”
She returned to her desk, and seeing her daughter so well-behaved warmed Chihiro’s heart. At least her efforts weren’t going to waste.
All she needed now was to get to Europe. Then, using her skill set, she could find a suitable job and support her daughter through college.
Chihiro knew corporations were far from paradise, but it was still better than doing dirty work for a gang. She had spent years risking her life for the Tiger Claws and wanted to ensure her daughter wouldn’t fall into the same pit.
Besides, compared to Night City, the European corporations were a bit more restrained. In this rotten world, expecting true goodness was a pipe dream, but at least a corporate job offered a higher baseline than running the streets.
If Ryoko could finish her studies and join one of the big corporations, then find a dependable boyfriend and split the mortgage and car payments, Chihiro could die happy.
Just then, a sudden knock on the door echoed through the small apartment.
Ryoko startled like a frightened animal. Chihiro motioned for her to keep quiet, and Ryoko nodded quickly, pressing her tiny hands over her mouth.
Chihiro stepped lightly, making no sound as she approached the door and flattened herself against the wall. The person outside knocked for a while longer before their footsteps retreated down the hallway, as though giving up.
Chihiro exhaled in relief, but a chill of foreboding ran through her. She was an ex-military soldier and had worked as an assassin for the Tiger Claws, performing countless dirty jobs. Her body was covered in scars, which was why she always wore a trench coat—to hide them.
She quickly signaled Ryoko to grab their emergency bag. Once her daughter had it, Chihiro slammed her elbow into the door with all her might.
The flimsy wooden door burst into shards, pelting the three Masafusa-gumi members standing outside with splintered debris. Shocked, they could only watch as steel glinted in the air.
Chihiro pulled a tactical knife from a sheath strapped to her thigh. The blade flashed like a butterfly in flight—swift, beautiful, and deadly. When that deadly dance ended, the three members of the Masafusa-gumi collapsed. Each had wounds at the throat or heart, slit or stabbed, with no hope of survival.
Out in the stairwell, more Masafusa-gumi members saw her and opened fire. Bullets riddled the doorway as Chihiro ducked back inside. With the door destroyed, she yanked a storage cabinet onto its side and pushed it against the entrance for cover.
Then she scooped Ryoko into her arms.
“Ryoko, hold on tight,” she whispered.
“Okay,” Ryoko replied, burying her face in her mother’s chest, clutching her clothes with trembling fingers.
Chihiro raced across the room and crashed right through the window. She used the outdoor AC units of the apartments below to slow their fall before landing on the ground.
Pedestrians on the street panicked, screaming and fleeing in every direction.
“What the—?!”
A small group of Masafusa-gumi members was already waiting outside the apartment. They startled for a moment, but quickly recovered when they saw who it was—and the frightened little girl in her arms.
“That’s the one! Move in!”
“Masafusa Jotaro said there’s a big bounty on her, dead or alive!”
They closed in from all sides, leaving Chihiro seemingly with no options.
At that moment, the back of her trench coat suddenly tore open.
Several metallic arms, glinting under the sunlight, extended outward. At the tip of each arm gleamed a razor-sharp blade.
