At the moment, several homeless people had gathered around. One of them, as if he had found some priceless treasure, grabbed the cryo-container and bolted. Another homeless man immediately shoved him hard, knocking him to the ground in an attempt to snatch the container away. The first man desperately shielded the cryo-container with his body, refusing to let go even as the others kicked and punched him violently.
Bang! Bang bang bang—gunshots rang out suddenly. All the homeless froze on the spot, terror written across their faces as they turned to see Goro Takemura, his expression twisted in fury. Seeing that they still hadn't moved, Takemura, who had initially fired into the air, slowly lowered his gun and aimed it directly at them.
"Get lost!" he barked.
Only then did the homeless scatter in panic, abandoning even the cryo-container. The one who had fought so desperately to protect it didn't dare to pick it up again; soon, all of them had disappeared without a trace.
Takemura ignored them. He holstered his weapon, rushed forward without hesitation, trampling through the filthy garbage heap without a second thought, and retrieved the cryo-container.
That was when he noticed the bullet holes riddling its surface and the information displayed on its screen—chip integrity: 0%. His heart sank. It seemed Leo hadn't lied to him. If the container sustained damage and the chip integrity dropped to zero, then the data inside would be wiped as well, making it completely useless. Even so, clinging to a final shred of hope, Takemura slowly opened the cryo-container.
But inside, it was completely empty. The Relic was nowhere to be found. Takemura's mind went blank. His lord, Saburo Arasaka, had died at Konpeki Plaza, and now even the Relic was gone.
"No! This can't be!" Like a madman, he threw himself into the garbage heap, frantically rummaging through the filth without regard for the stench or grime.
Takemura searched for several minutes, digging through all kinds of trash and getting himself absolutely filthy, but he found no trace of the Relic. In the end, he collapsed amid the garbage, his mind empty, his figure suddenly looking as if he had aged ten years. It was a miserable sight, almost too miserable to look at.
Yet Leo hadn't tricked him out of malice—he truly had no good way to explain. After all, he couldn't tell Takemura that the Relic was now installed inside the Flathead's neural link. Otherwise, knowing Takemura's stubborn loyalty, Leo feared he might actually try to rip the chip out by force.
And who knew if Johnny Silverhand's engram could survive that? Don't forget, Johnny was Arasaka's mortal enemy. If not for Johnny and Morgan Blackhand detonating the two nuclear bombs—Samurai II and Samurai I—Arasaka wouldn't have been expelled from Night City and lost decades of influence. When enemies met, the hatred ran deep; bloodshed would have been inevitable.
Leo simply couldn't imagine a harmonious scene between Takemura and Johnny Silverhand.
"You plan on sitting there all night? We don't have time to waste," V said coldly. "Or should we leave you some private space?"
Only then did Takemura seem to snap out of his daze. He staggered to his feet from the trash pile. "No need. I'll come with you."
As he approached, both V and Jackie immediately covered their noses, and Leo frowned as well. "Don't get in the car yet. You reek. Go clean yourself up first."
.........
..
.
After Takemura found a small nearby motel to wash up thoroughly and scrub off the stench, Leo also bought him a complete new set of clothes—suit, pants, shoes, white shirt, and tie—and made him change before letting him back into the car. After a proper shower and change of clothes, Takemura gradually calmed down. He glanced at the composed Leo and started to suspect another possibility.
He wondered if the cryo-container had been deliberately left there by Leo. Even the bullet holes on the box—Takemura now suspected they might have been staged. The purpose was obvious: to make him give up his pursuit of the relic. Takemura wasn't sure if his guess was right, but after careful thought, he chose not to voice his suspicion. Instead, he buried it deep in his heart.
That decision came after a lot of painful reflection. He realized now that the Relic wasn't the most important thing. The biological chip, while a valuable asset for Arasaka's research, was not more important than building a good relationship with Leo. Here, in Night City, far from home, he had no family, no friends. His cyberware had been remotely disabled, and even his bank accounts had been wiped—not frozen, but completely erased. He didn't even have a single eurodollar to his name.
Takemura hadn't risen to be Saburo's personal bodyguard through strength alone; he had brains, too. Ritual suicide? No chance. Not now, not ever. He had to survive first—to live, regain his status, and reclaim his place. Even if he didn't like it, he had no choice but to cooperate with Leo and his team.
In the car, V finally asked the question that had been weighing on her mind. "You were Saburo's guard, then pledged loyalty to Yorinobu afterward. So why did you become a target for Arasaka?"
"I wanted to find out who really killed Lord Saburo," Takemura said. "But I didn't expect Yorinobu would mark me because of it. That only made me more certain—it was Yorinobu who murdered Lord Saburo."
Jackie looked puzzled. "But why be so loyal to Saburo? Did he give you that much?"
Jackie could understand loyalty between brothers, risking everything for each other, but he couldn't fathom why someone would give their life for a corporation. Since Yorinobu was now the new head of the Arasaka family, why didn't Takemura just switch sides? What was the point of being so stubborn? Even Yorinobu himself had moved on—what was Takemura still clinging to?
Takemura scoffed, his face full of disdain. "People like you, low-level thieves scuttling at the bottom of society, will never understand the loyalty of a samurai."
"Thieves from the slums like you could never understand the loyalty of a samurai." he continued. "Once, I was just like you, living in the sewers. But it was Lord Saburo who reached out to me, who pulled me out of the gutter, who gave me the best education and the finest cyberware. His kindness, I, Goro Takemura, will never forget for the rest of my life."
Leo, who had been silent, suddenly spoke. "Have you ever wondered why you were born in the slums in the first place? Ever thought it might be because the same Arasaka you serve had already stolen everything from you before you were even born?"
Takemura's eyes sharpened, like a wild beast ready to devour. "What are you trying to say?"
"You're grateful to Saburo for pulling you out, giving you education and cyberware," Leo said calmly. "But you never questioned that if Arasaka hadn't existed, maybe you would never have needed saving at all. Maybe you would've been born into a life where you didn't have to live in the slums."
Takemura roared, like a wounded beast, "Impossible! That's absolutely impossible!"
After that, the car ride fell into silence. Takemura sat facing the window, his expression unreadable, and no one knew what he was thinking.
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