Chapter 61

Rebecca had also been hurling her guts out.

If Leo hadn't called, she would have stayed in bed all day, playing dead. The moment she got his call, however, she jumped right up, brushed her teeth three times, and took two showers—terrified that any lingering alcohol smell might give Leo a bad impression. Then she hopped on the air rail and rushed over.

Leo had asked her to contact Maine as well, because he had a present for him. But Maine was still nowhere to be seen.

Rebecca had left in such a hurry that she hadn't even grabbed a burger or a breakfast wrap on the way. She was still young and, being in her growth spurt, tended to get hungry easily. The faint aroma of food drifting by made her mouth water even more. Still, she glanced at Leo sitting beside her, feeling a bit awkward about leaving to buy something.

Noticing this, Leo stood up on his own. 

"I'm getting a little hungry. Want something? I can pick you up something, too."

"Yes, please!" Rebecca's eyes lit up, and she nodded eagerly.

Leo told her to wait on the bench and headed for a mobile food cart in the park. He checked the bilingual (Japanese and English) menu on its display. It served only noodles—no burgers or wings.

"I'll take two bowls of curry tempura udon," he said, then added, "and could I get one fork and one pair of chopsticks?"

The owner bowed efficiently. "Sumimasen, we only have chopsticks—no forks. Is that still okay?"

Leo glanced around. Concord Park was huge, and this was the only food cart in sight. He was unfamiliar with the northern part of Heywood Vale and wasn't sure how far he'd have to go to find another place serving breakfast.

"All right, chopsticks it is."

…

Carrying two steaming bowls of curry tempura udon, Leo returned to Rebecca. 

"This is all they had—hope you don't mind noodles. Think you can handle chopsticks?"

Rebecca had already been salivating from the smell, but at that question, her face stiffened. "I can sorta use them."

"Kinda? If it's too difficult, I can go somewhere farther to find a burger."

"No, no, don't bother." She felt guilty enough already. Leo had gotten her a smart pistol and a tech pistol, plus a brand-new third-gen implant. On top of that, he was letting her pay in twenty-four installments, interest-free. Now he was buying her food. She couldn't possibly ask him to go even further out of his way.

"All right," he said. "Give it a try. Careful, though—it's hot." 

He handed her one of the bowls as gently as possible. 

"The golden-brown stuff on top is tempura—it's got shrimp inside. You can eat seafood, right? If you're not allergic, you can just bite right in—no bones or anything."

After explaining, Leo turned to his own bowl and dug in; he was famished, too. He'd gone straight to the Afterlife early that morning to split the earnings with the others and hadn't grabbed a bite since waking up. He first sipped some broth, enjoying the rich curry flavor, then slurped up a large portion of noodles. The cart owner's cooking was surprisingly good—Leo figured he could open a proper shop in Japantown and still have lines out the door.

"Yah!"

A sharp yelp from beside him made Leo look over. He saw a piece of perfectly golden tempura shrimp tumble to the ground. Rebecca, holding her chopsticks awkwardly, hung her head, clearly avoiding his gaze. After a moment, she risked a glance upward, as if afraid he'd be angry over such waste.

"You really don't know how to use chopsticks, huh?"

"I—I do," she insisted.

Rebecca turned down Leo's offer to help and instead tried to imitate the way he was holding his chopsticks, determined to make it work on her own. Seeing her "I can do this" resolve, Leo said nothing more, simply slowing down his own movements so she could observe.

Steam curled up from the noodles as Leo stirred them in the savory broth. He gazed at the towers looming around the park, deep in thought. 

They'd finally gained a foothold at the Afterlife and had good working relationships with three top fixers in Night City. They'd established themselves, but it was nowhere near the point of resting easy. At best, they were somewhat well-known in Watson, Japantown, and parts of Heywood. They were still far from being names on everyone's lips across the city, never mind becoming legends.

Even then, in a megacorporate world, "legends" like Morgan Blackhand and Andrew Weyland were ultimately nobodies in the eyes of the corps. Only a corporation could bring down another corporation.

Still, while the goal remained distant, Leo felt confident. He hadn't imagined doing it all in one go; he was ready for a long campaign. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, after all. Right now, they were just a tiny spark, but one day, that spark would become a wildfire.

"Eek!"

Her cute, distressed cry shattered Leo's daydream. Another tempura shrimp had plummeted to the ground. For all the hype about "everything can be tempura," not everyone enjoyed it—or could manage to eat it gracefully with chopsticks. Then again, it might just be user error.

"So…do you not like seafood or fried stuff?" Leo asked.

"No, I do—I just think the shrimp might still be alive. It ran off from my mouth…twice."

Leo: "…"

Each bowl came with only two shrimp tempura, and she'd dropped both. She hadn't gotten a single bite. Leo sighed.

"Hand me your chopsticks."

He took them from her and picked up one of the shrimp from his own bowl—the one he'd been saving to savor with the curry and soup at the end. He dipped it in broth and curry, then unceremoniously popped it into Rebecca's mouth. She froze, then began chewing instinctively.

Seeing her close her eyes as she savored the flavor, Leo couldn't help thinking of a newborn chick that still didn't know how to eat on its own.

"See? Not alive after all."

Rebecca nodded, then opened her mouth like a little bird. "More."

"Nope, I'm eating the rest," he replied. At her disappointed look, he softened a bit. "If you're still hungry later, I'll take you to Japantown once we're done with the whole Maine situation. You can have all the tempura you want."