Digital Higanbana (Lycoris Recoil x Cyberpunk Quest)

Your eyes flashed with the personal connection request and Shuiwei's did as well when she accepted it to receive your contact details. "Let's keep in touch then," You smoothly suggested with a nod. "I think we can do some good business together not just this time, but for the future. I may very well need some mercenaries some day or another."

"Don't we all? Good thing there's so many Edgerunners willing to do anything for the right price." The one eyed woman flashed a grin and turned to the bartender. "A special occasion cause for our specialty, don't you think?"

That got not just you to perk up, but many others around the establishment. The bartender sighed, then reached down to pull out a crate of mismatched glass bottles of different makes, all of them corked with some sort of drink within. Even Mitsu couldn't help but pay attention now. "What poison is this?"

"Only the finest my folk can make on their boats!" Shuisei laughed and picked one up to pull the cork off with her teeth. She spat it out and then paused, looking at you first. "Go on, grab one. Let's see if you can handle a real drink now! First one to chicken out has to pay for a round!"

There was a round of cheers before you could say anything and you sighed, mentally checking your bank account. You glanced at Mitsu who took a bottle herself and sniffed at it before giving a slight nod, perhaps assured it wasn't going to just kill you in one go. As it was, when you uncorked the bottle, your nose scrunched up from how potent it was and you sucked in a deep breath, ignoring the conventional wisdom of avoiding alcohol with your rather frail body.

Hopefully, Mitsu could just drag you home if it really was that bad. You said your prayers, then downed the dirnk.

(Yuuki: 7 +5 (Body) = 12)
(Mitsu: 85 +10 (Lycoris Samurai) = 95)
(Shuiwei: 4 +15 (Wako Blood) = 19)

Your mouth was swiftly filled with the vilest of brews yet and you nearly choked, barely swallowing it down and slamming the bottle back on the bar, nearly cracking it in the process. Almost instantly already, your vision began to swam and you coughed, feeling dizzy and nauseated. But it wasn't just you.

"Holy shit!" Shuiwei, of all people, slammed her bottle down onto the counter as well with a near-identical expression of deep regret written in her face. "Fuck, I thought I- urk- told to toss this bad one...out. Oh. Oh kami."

Suddenly the enthusiasm around the bar died down quite quickly and many were slowly backing away, returning back to their regular drinks. Meanwhile, the niece of the bar owner let out another storm of curses before meeting your eyes with an apologetic look. Or the closest thing she could muster to it while looking very green. "I...gah...hope you'll forgive this mistake. Shit, I swear, it's normally better than this-!"

"It's rather mundane, don't you think?" Both you and Shuiwei turned slowly with wide eyes to see Mitsu sipping from the bottle nonchalantly, like it was just some common fizzy drink. "I do rather enjoy the tang of sea salt, but maybe a little less on the yeast, perhaps. Unless such bitterness was your intent." She sipped at it again and hummed thoughtfully, as if she were a sommelier.

The formerly cocky mercenary dealer stared disbelievingly and opened her mouth to likely protest, only for suddenly clam them shut and her cheeks to suddenly bulge out. Shuiwei all but leapt off her seat then and headed to the back, disappearing through a door and staying there for the rest of the night. The sounds of clear upheaval made the collected mercenaries in the bar wince, clearly counting their blessings in that somebody else drew the joker first.

For your part, you just stared in Mitsu, then was reminded that she was a young woman who regularly ate the greasiest foods from an English pub a few blocks down...for breakfast. She even called it a 'light snack.' Her stomach must be made of iron at this point, perhaps even more superior to a cyberware one at that. Yet her lean figure showed no signs of any of it, perhaps a little bonus from burning up so much energy when using her Sandevistan?

You wondered how much she just burned when she became a blur to catch you just right before you fell off, then realized the world was getting blurry around you. "Think it's time we go home," You managed to mumble out and Mitsu sighed.

"Indeed. Come, try to stay awake. Tell me what you wish to do next week.'

Choose up to four (4) actions you'll carry out through the week

Kagoshima Fragrance (Kaori)
-[ ] [Kagoshima Fragrance] Repair the Van: You've managed to pull apart a good amount of the damage and salvage what you can from the frame. Now it's just a question of if you're willing to pay out the money needed for the replacement parts that you need to finally get the thing at least mobile. (Estimated Cost: 5,000eb)

-[ ] [Kagoshima Fragrance] Manage the Cafe: Devote some time into properly working with your employees to make some extra money after breaking even, which adds to your bank account.

-[ ] [Kagoshima Fragrance] International Standard: To provide high quality authentic coffee, you've turned to rely on purchasing your beverage ingredients from a well-known corporation that specializes in imports. They surely should have an expert when it comes to picking specific ingredients, so pay them a visit to see if you can perhaps improve your blends.

-[ ] [Kagoshima Fragrance] Firing Range: You've got private gun range in the soundproof basement of your shophouse. Put some time there and try to hone your skill with firearms.
--[ ] Pistols
--[ ] Assault

Kagoshima Fixer
-[ ] [Kagoshima Fixer] Gather Information: Go out and listen to the streets, see if there's any big event about in the city that you could muscle in and make an independent gig out of.

-[ ] [Kagoshima Fixer] Offer Consultation: Reach out to one of the many factions in Kagoshima and idly offer your neutral services. See if any of them have free gigs that they are willing to hand over to you to manage, with a cut to them but the freedom of execution to you.
--[ ] Write-in a faction.

-[ ] [Kagoshima Fixer] Media Rumors: So it seemed like the media industry had blacklisted your fellow Lycoris. You weren't going to let that stand. Start putting out feelers and try to find a way to break into the industry as need be.

-[ ] [Kagoshima Fixer] Lycoris Sighting: Out of all things, a Lycoris First had been sighted shopping at your business. Thing was, this wasn't Kyoto, so what was she doing here? You're eager to look for your possible sister in arms and connect with her.


Flower Cultivation
-[ ] [Flower Cultivation] Ocha Plantation: A tea plantation that supplies your cafe with seasonal flowers in bulk, one of your shop's main products. Take a visit to see if you can buy some new flower seeds from them.

-[ ] [Flower Cultivation] Sow Seeds: You've got your hands on some seeds that you want to begin growing! Take some time to till the soil, plant the gardens, and watch new life being to sprout.
--[ ] You currently have no seeds.

[ ] [Flower Cultivation] Tend to Gardens: Devote a part of your week entirely to making sure you tend to the gardens as diligently as possible, plucking out weeds and making sure each sprout gets just the right amount of water and conditions to grow splendidly.


Shinohara Securities
-[ ] [Shinohara Securities] Visit the Office: You've made a contact in the form of Security Chief Azumi, the leader of an elite corporate police task force. Pay her a visit to chat and see what opportunities she can offer you.

-[ ] [Shinohara Securities] Part-Time Patrol: As Shinohara Securities was perpetually shorthanded, they didn't have enough security patrols going around to keep the neighborhood safe. They've offered to pay you a fair sum to do so in their place. It'd be like a Lycoris patrol, but this time, you get paid!

Secondborn Ronin
-[ ] [Secondborn Ronin] Visit the Pauper: The Pauper is the Fixer of the Secondborn Ronin and is a bridge between the corporate world and streets. Go to the public library to chat with them about what opportunities they can offer you.

The Vendetta
-[ ] [The Vendetta] Schedule a Ripper: La Peste is a mysterious but talented RipperDoc who has offered their expertise if you wish to see them for a health checkup or discrete cyberware surgery. See if they have an opening in their schedule to meet them.

Lycoris Graduate
-[ ] [Lycoris Graduate] Call a Lycoris: There's times where you miss the organization, as unbelievable as that might sound given their grim task. You certainly don't hold it against any of the other Lycoris and want to have a chat with them to see how they're doing.
--[ ] The Commander
--[ ] Misaki Arisu
--[ ] Nakaiji Momiji

Living Life
-[ ] [Living Life] Browse the Library: The public library in your neighborhood has a wide selection of information datashards covering a variety of topics. You can read them to your heart's content in the facility, or you could pay a fee to make a copy and take it home to study.

-[ ] [Living Life] Find a Black Market: As so many things are restricted from sale or possession in Japan, you can only find these prohibited items at a black market somewhere. They're surprisingly common enough if you know where to look, though having some caution about the quality of their myriad of wares is a smart idea.

-[ ] [Living Life] Go Clubbing: Risk the nightlife of the city and visit one of the many neon hangouts around the city to experience something new, maybe even meet some new folks or have magical encounters.

-[ ] [Living Life] The Way: Mitsu's offered to take some time out of her week to help train you in the sword and by extension, other melee weapons. You even had a great dojo to practice in, so it was time to spar to your heart's content.

Miscellaneous
-[ ] [Miscellaneous] Scrap the Van: It's not worth your time or effort to patch it up anymore. You've got a good frame worth a nice penny, go and sell it off.

Available Bouquets

- Yuuki is a very frail flower. Just a strong gust of wind, and she'll be knocked over. Good thing then that you've got Mitsu to keep you rooted.
- Note that at this stage, repairing it is just getting the van mobile with a working engine. It does not include any sort of renovations or interior retrofitting, so it'll be able to get you somewhere (very noisily and slowly), but aside from raw storage space, not much else for the moment. Going further is going to require somebody with a lot more tech know-how regarding vehicle modification.

Well, given the occasion an idea popped into my head and I figured I could make a little bit out of it. It's not much, but maybe it can be a nice little get well gift.