Digital Higanbana (Lycoris Recoil x Cyberpunk Quest)

(Advertise Word: 24 +15 (Empathy) = 39)

You sighed when your call to La Peste went unanswered again and shook your head. When the prompt to leave a voicemail came up, you reluctantly accepted and left a brief message describing your cafe's Grand Opening coming soon. Perhaps they'd see it and pass word along the Vendetta, but the question was if it was going to be in time, or if they were interested at all. That final thought had your shoulders slump for a moment, perhaps slightly dreading that your little business was, in fact, not going to draw local eyes. That could certainly be a problem.

After a moment of fretting, you shook your head and refocused yourself. It didn't matter if things started out slow at the start, so long as word eventually got round after opening and customers began to steadily trickle in, that was what mattered most. To help keep your mind off the worst case scenario, you surveyed the hidden basement of the shophouse, something that certainly hadn't been in the actual plans from the rental company.

(Architecture Study: 56 +15 (Intelligence) +6 (Rank 3 Geology) = 77)

It was certainly an unexpected boon, and one that must have been dug out and built after the initial foundations were laid down. The fact that the structural beams were in an awkward place gave evidence to that theory. More than that, you suspected it certainly was done in secret, as a little place to conduct business in the dark. The extensive soundproofing on the walls was certainly conducive to that.

The question now was if you wanted to make use of it so. You had already cleared out and tidied up the formerly occupied space, getting rid of all the grim operating equipment and properly storing the useful stuff like clean body bags in a more discrete location. Now came the question of if you needed to do any more work before the space was ready to be furnished.

(Shophouse Repair: 62 +14 (Tech) +12 (Rank 6 Repair) = 88)

There were a few bullet holes left for you to patch, ones you vividly remembered Mitsu putting into the walls in her anger when firing at the Scav RipperDoc, but it wasn't anything too bad. As it actually was, you were sure you could actually already begin furnishing the place with something...different. Hm, you honestly hadn't thought this far so far.

While it would cost a pretty penny, it was perhaps worthy doing so given the secret construction of this basement. It was possible to setup something here that nobody on the ground floor would see or even hear, thanks to the soundproofing walls. Idly, you wondered if it was actually good enough to perhaps muffle the sounds of gunshots, or at least reduce them to sound quite far and distant that few would care about. A hidden gun range did sound like something that could work down here. The image of Mitsu's face suddenly flashed before your eyes and you mentally added 'secret dojo' to the list of possibilities.

Though speaking of weapons, you did have an odd cordial relationship with Shinohara Security that could be useful here. When you had visited their armory, you observed how in addition to weapons on display, they also had a variety of weapon modifications to customize each piece with to fit the user's personal preferences. It would be rather cumbersome and awkward to visit them each and every time to do so with every gun or person in your care, so perhaps having a dedicated space could work for the best. This underground room certainly did the trick there, in addition to having a quiet show of all your collected tools of battle.

Alternatively, there was also your dream little side venture to consider. The very much discrete location was perfect for hosting private meetings as a Fixer, either between clients and you or as just a middleman yourself. You didn't even need to furnish that much in that case, perhaps just some tables and chairs for the participants to sit at. Maybe some basic security features such as bug-scanners to make sure all were honest, or a separated network system to keep nosy Netrunners out.

Then there always the idea that you could just open the space up and expand the customer area down here as well. A bit more space couldn't hurt, and the soundproofing could still help in keeping sensitive conversations private. Maybe something like a private or reservation-only booth area. You'd of course have to buy and install matching furniture in such case.

There was even more that flashed through your head. A secret garage. A full service kitchen. So much more, but you had to restrain yourself, you didn't have the right contacts to make those happen yet. You'd have to expand your list of contacts and relationships to make new ideas come to be.

You hummed and wondered if it was worth making a decision now, or if you should just leave it be for now. It wasn't a critical space like the others to the shop's operations, but setting it up now would certainly save you the hassle of reconsidering the option in the future. You drummed your fingers against your arm in thought and noticed that the space could accommodate a combination of the options, if you so wanted. However, each option would increase the price, and rather obviously, some combinations were going to turn out very awkwardly.

A gun cafe...now that was an interesting idea for another idea.

Choose up to two (2) options. Each option costs 1500 eb each.

-[ ] [Basement] Cafe Extension. Throw open the doors leading downstairs and extend the cafe above to reach below, revealing the area for all the risks it may have.

-[ ] [Basement] Secret Range. With the excellent soundproof walls, one could fire anything short of explosive weaponry and the noise would be greatly reduced, if not outright eliminated for the already quieter firearms.

-[ ] [Basement] Tool Shop. Convert some space into a weapons tool shop for basic maintenance and modification of your collection, with some purchased supplies and aid from your security contacts.

-[ ] [Basement] Underground Gathering. The off-the-books space along with all the other improvements make it perfect for those that need considerable discretion for whatever business needs carrying out, so long as you install the necessary protections.

-[ ] [Basement] Training Dojo. As there was a rather enthusiastic melee specialist living in the building, it would make sense that they would love a special place to hone and further their skills in a properly outfitted setting.

-[ ] [Basement] Blank Space. Leave the area blank for now, and return to this question in the future.

- You can choose only one option if you'd like to leave a blank half space in the future. This is just your option to get it over with now if you so wanted.
- Some of these options do have synergy, but some have the opposite. I'll leave it to you to decide what to do.