Cyberpunk: XYZ

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Chapter 23: Home II

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You'd expect the apartments in this kind of place to be extraordinarily expensive, but there is a specific apartment complex that's cheaper than usual... For quite the dark reason.

The apartment complex lies in the far west of Japantown, near the beautiful streets of the subdistrict.

It looks down on a nearby body of water though that doesn't say much considering the state of pollution in Night City.

Very few bodies of water in Night City are safe to swim in, and those are specialized areas created specifically for those willing to pay for the experience.

Otherwise, the bodies of water in Night City are so polluted that they look like the muddy waters of swamps, with the stench of a dead body.

However, everything else in Japantown is extremely beautiful, reekin' of an air of technological advancement, neon lights and signs everywhere.

The buildings, roads, and ground were painted with a balanced mixture of red green, and cyan.

There were even some trees here and there, Japanese maple trees with a bit of grass around them, giving some life to the place.

The area was gorgeous... Then there was the building, the apartment complex. Its walls were nice, although filled with graffiti.

To be fair, the graffiti didn't take away much from the place's beauty, the trash around did.

There was a lot of garbage around the building, making it clear that it wasn't well taken care of.

X stayed away from the alleyway and headed straight to the buildings. He had heard some bad things about the alleyways around here.

In fact, the reason why the rent of the apartments here was relatively low is due to the news of many individuals dying strangely around here.

There is plenty of news, including sightings of ghosts, and word around is that the area is haunted.

Of course, the reality is that there is a serial killer nearby who targets the residents of this area.

X went into the building, and the first thing he noticed were two individuals sitting around a table.

The table had dozens of cigarettes on it as well as two bottles of liquor. Their conversation attracted his attention.

"Hah! Your eyes are fucked up man, hah!"

"Rough night," The other man responded before coughing back liquor, seemingly quite sick... He didn't stop smoking though.

"Too loud for ya? Just slot in some earplugs and nighty night!"

"It's not that..."

"Well, what is it? The smell? Since ya'll in that room like sardines."

"One guy in the room... Choom... He died." Said the man, reeking of depression.

"What? Which one?"

"Gray-haired guy... Slept under all them rags... We thought he was sick or somethin' but then we opened his sleeping bag, and Phewww... Bleccch," The man almost puked.

That's the state of most civilians in Night City, renting an apartment together to barely be able to afford other essentials... Even that's not enough.

The place wasn't clean, plenty of garbage about.

X though turned his attention to the receptionist, an old man paying no heed to anything but the magazine of sex toys in his hands.

"Wanna rent," Stated X, not willing to waste the old man's last moments of pleasure.

"Which one?" The old man pointed out to the four monitors above him.

There were five computer monitors in total, one in front of him. He tapped the keyboard, and it showed the vacant apartments for rental.

There were three in total. X directly chose the studio apartment on the highest floor, "That one."

X needn't be told about the price, already having done his due diligence as he brought out a credit shard and handed it to the old man.

The old man verified the amount of money in the shard and transfered it to the corp he works for; before handing back the empty shard to X.

He then generated the room card and handed it to X, "You can swipe the card directly, or use the code on the card."

He then lied back in his chair and continued surveying his magazine.

"Can I change the code?" X asked.

"The studio's personal computer," The old man was brief, too focused on something else.

X nodded and made his way to the elevator, taking it to the specific floor. The card had all the information necessary to lead him to his studio apartment.

The apartment was a perfect representation of what a studio apartment is, a bed, a bathroom with a mirror and shower, a computer, a radio, and weapon racks.

It's quite crowded though studios in Japantown have something that the majority of studios don't have, a kitchen, a very small one, but a kitchen nonetheless.

The corpos behind apartment complexes and megabuilding hotels made it a mission to not build kitchens in studios, forcing people to eat out.

It's a scheme to make people eat only their products which are more expensive than making food yourself.

All of that, plus the killings around the area made the studio apartment worth around 1500 eddies for rent a month.

It's not a bad deal considering the apartment comes fully furnished and with a personal computer.

Admittedly, the computer is a few generations old, but it's not bad at all.

There were many posters about, a very nice couch, and a section specifically for Japanese culture.

It includes a cabinet with a Japanese accent, black and gold. On it were several accessories, including an exceptional Asian dragon statue.

That along with the several used candles makes it clear that it's a very ritualistic place, a spot to burn incense.

The place was lovely... Until X breathed in its scent, or rather, the stench of old food.

And if you look about, you'll clearly see that the place hasn't been taken care of at all, likely from its last resident.

Trash that wasn't thrown out, food that had been there before the coming of Christ, and stains of something so abhorrent that its name cannot be spoken.

The corp behind the apartment complex clearly didn't give a fuck, thus leaving the cleaning to X.

That he did for the rest of the evening, being very careful lest he catches a disease that can infect even the gods.

The Toilet could only be described as such... 𒀭𒄑𒋀𒌋𒆠 𒄷𒈨𒋗𒋼𒅆𒇻𒋢 𒄭𒉆𒁉 𒀭𒆠𒄬𒁉 𒉺𒇬𒋢𒄑𒁉𒉺 𒆤𒅖𒈾𒋢.

X had to take a long long shower afterward, scrubbing himself thoroughly until he finally felt human again.

"For fuck's sake, we should've just hired someone to clean the place up," X breathed out as he said with mixed emotions.

"We already started the task before realizing the severity of the situation in the toilet... We couldn't stop anymore," Stated Z.

"I didn't know we have OCD?" Y wondered, "Did one of you program it onto yourselves?"

"Z?" X raised a brow, awaiting an answer.

"I have not," Z denied the accusation.

"Let me take care of this first," X regained his focus as he sat down before the studio's computer and started cleaning it up.

If the apartment was like that, then the computer must also be 𒀭𒄑𒋀𒌋𒆠 𒄷𒈨𒋗𒋼𒅆𒇻𒋢 𒄭𒉆𒁉 𒀭𒆠𒄬𒁉 𒉺𒇬𒋢𒄑𒁉𒉺 𒆤𒅖𒈾𒋢.

It was indeed a wise move not to directly link himself to the computer as the thing was a fucking paradise for viruses... Porn, no doubt.

X then slotted in a shard which seemed to be programmed to automatically start uploading something to the computer, "Joi, do your thing."

It wasn't the complete Joi, but a part of her, exactly how much data the shard could handle.

Only once he was done did he change his studio code, just for additional security.

X stood up, walked to the couch, and freely fell back to it, basking in the comfort of his new cozy and lovely home.

X felt safe for the first time in a while. His roof home was cozy, but he always felt exposed... Not anymore.

It started raining, he could hear it clearly, so he pulled the clean blanket nearby and he felt it.

He felt that comfy feeling when you snuggle into the blanket, feeling the coldness in the air, and hearing the sound of rain... Oh how quickly it sends you off to the lands of dreams.