"А?"
Judy looked at me in surprise.
"I just wanted to talk to you and give you a heads up."
"Yeah..."
I nodded my head.
"...but knowing you, she was either your ex, or at one time had the chance to be. And now we have to show her that you're happy."
"Ahem. not all the girls I've talked to have been my lovers."
"So this miko wasn't her?"
"Well, I was. but not for long!"
"Which is exactly what you needed to prove..."
I nodded.
"...and you had a pretty bad breakup, am I right?"
"Well..."
Judy looked away.
"And you know, knowing you, it's probably both of your fault."
"What?!"
"It's simple..."
I shrugged.
"...you... despite living in this town, you're still a good girl raised by your grandparents. Yeah, you've got a bit of a Knight City vibe, so you're comfortable going on missions, accepting the deaths of gangsters, a lot of things, but at your core, you're still the right girl. And Parker was a narcissistic, head-raising bitch. You don't stand for that. Knowing this town, Maiko must be an even more hard-core Knight City girl, and you wouldn't have gotten along with her. if she didn't make concessions.
"Tsk. But with you, with you, I can get along!"
"So we're not city dwellers..."
I shrugged.
"I was thinking of leaving before I met you. Panam is a nomad. Lucy. we all know her story and that she doesn't want this town. Kiwi's got her own story, but the result is the same as Lucy's. Becca is probably the only one of us who can really call herself a Knight City resident..."
"Hey! I'm in!"
"...With us, with us, you won't get anywhere from us as we are a good influence on you."
I smiled at our master of weapons.
"So we all have roughly the same way of thinking. And I'm not just talking about the fact that we're sick of Knight City or even that we don't strive to get to the top on the heads of others..."
I shrugged.
"...these are just the top layers that anyone who talks to us for a couple days can see. How many of these similarities are deeper?"
"Well, uh. I guess."
Judy nodded uncertainly.
"So how do you want to destroy your significant other?"
"А... can I make sushi?"
I blinked.
"Hmmm...never made them... but all in all, it's worth a try. I think I should do pretty well, especially if I follow the recipe strictly."
"Then don't... it's better not to experiment. Oh, let's have that whatchamacallit."
"Borscht?"
"Yeah. You made it once and we all loved it, and for the second course. I want steak and chips."
"Mashed potatoes or French fries?"
"Of course it's Free!"
"Great..."
I nodded my head.
"...now we'll check if we have all the food and if we have everything, we'll start cooking, and if not everything, we'll have to adjust the menu..."
Gathering the empty plates I put them in the hoist, after which I went down to the kitchen and started revision of the food...
"Judy, we're having a little trouble..."
"Uh-huh?
"There is no food for borscht, and the delivery of fresh natural products..."
"Yes, I understand... then what can you suggest?"
"Well, uh. I can start with a light salad. then like you asked for steak and fries, and then for starters."
I thoughtfully looked around the refrigerator and a few open cabinets.
"...I might suggest a light vermicelli soup."
"Hmmm..."
"Then it's best not to..."
Lucy shook her head.
"...such a light soup can blur the impression of a truly delicious meal."
"I agree..."
Judy nodded her head.
"Well, you're the main customers here."
I shrugged, and took out a knife and handed it to Lucy.
"Can you help me?"
"I told you I did..."
"Is there a job for me?"
I glanced at Judy and nodded, then pulled out another knife and held it out with the hilt facing forward.
"Okay, Lucy, look, uh."
I showed the white-haired woman what was required of her, and then I demonstrated the same to Judy, and only after that I could do the cooking myself...
*** A few hours later. ***
The doorbell rang...
"I'll get it..."
"Come on..."
I nodded Judy, Lucy and I, though more likely me, since all that was left was to put the food on plates and serve it and it didn't necessarily require the two of us to work together.
"Come on in..."
Judy slammed the door shut, however, and I saw a guest enter the kitchen, and she did so with an extremely confident stride.
"Hmm. I see you've moved up. you can afford to keep a boy chef."
"And you've completely lost your sense of humanity."
Judy, who had entered a little later than her acquaintance, was relatively calm, and only glanced at me with a touch of excitement. But I didn't care about the comments from a complete stranger, so I just ignored her.
"This is my boyfriend, David."
"Hrm?"
"No, I haven't heard that, my tastes have changed somewhat, however, I still like girls. So David and I have two girls in common."
"Hmmm..."
The girl's hum was a little shocked this time, and her appraising gaze traveled first to me and then to Lucy, who didn't think to leave me in the kitchen. She was watching my actions carefully.
"No, she's not our girl yet..."
"Bye?"
"Uh-huh. she and another one claiming to be in our relationship.
"Yeah. you've changed more than I thought."
"We all change."
Judy shrugged nonchalantly, I was already forcing the elevator with food.
"Shall we go up to the dining room?"
"Judy. your boy doesn't know the rules of decorum?"
"Her boy doesn't care about your rules. And common decency rules say that when you are a guest, you should show at least visible respect to those who invited you. But apparently you don't know that...what else would you expect from someone like you..."
I shrugged my shoulders and closed the elevator door, pressing the button before turning around and walking toward the stairs. Maiko was gulping for air at the same time.
"Maiko, if you don't stop provoking everyone, you should remove yourself."
"You're the one who called me!"
"I suggested that you come because I have important data for you. I emphasize that the data is important for you, especially given your desire to reach the top and your unwillingness to leave your current position."
"Okay..."
From the sound of it, Maiko flicked her cigarette.
"We don't smoke..."
"Hey!"
"Like I said, we don't smoke."
"But you yourself."
"Not for a long time. Now, go upstairs, luckily for you we are good and hospitable hosts and dinner was prepared with you in mind."
When Maiko got up and sat down at the table all the plates were already set out and she looked at the abundance of delicious and natural food with amazement.
"Is that, uh. natural?"
"Uh-huh...
Judy answered her with apparent indifference.
"And you decided to go to this much expense for me?"
There was a sound of surprise in Maiko's voice.
"For you? No... we always eat organic. Since I joined David's team, I haven't even eaten a vending machine burrito."
"Ahem... а... ahem. you're lucky."
There was silence in the dining room for a while, during which we began to eat. That's when Judy started talking.
"Actually, why I called you here. they're trying to move you out of your seat."
Maiko continued to chew and only raised her eyebrow upward questioningly.
"And no, it's not some idealist. It's the Parker you know."
"Pfft..."
With that sound, Maiko expressed her entire attitude towards such a candidate for her position.
"And she wanted to use us to do it..."
"You?"
"She meant me, or rather my working role as... The quiet one."
"Kha..."
Maiko choked and coughed for a few minutes from the crumbs in her throat. But none of us thought to get up, we just watched her. Eventually she managed to cough it up.
"Are you Quiet?!"
"Yeah. (chuckles)"
"Fuck..."
She looked around in a huff.
"Don't worry, if we wanted you to do that. we would have done it right in your office. But here you are, sitting at the same table with us, thanks to David."
"А?"
"The thing is, when I pulled Ava out of Dubman's room where he'd raped her after the Cloud hack had burned out her dolly chip, I had similar thoughts. And David was even willing to help me, but asked me to think about...what difference would it make?"
"So what would that change?"
"And nothing..."
Judy shrugged.
"...they'll put someone else in Dubman's place who's probably even worse than he is. And you. We'll take you out, you don't really matter."
"I?"
Maiko jumped up.
"You're, uh. you're a shadow queen, but only as long as Dubman's in charge. The next caretaker will just relegate you to a regular puppet. That's if you're lucky."
"Ahem..."
Maiko was clearly very uncomfortable hearing this.
"I guess the current head of the clouds doesn't even know you exist..."
"I..."
"In short, there is no point in organizing a coup, it will not change anything, unless I am at the helm, and I do not want to rule the Clouds, it's not my ..."
"You. don't change."
"Uh-huh...
Judy nodded.
"In short, I'm sure Parker won't leave this thread, so watch out there..."
"That's, uh. thank you. Do you know who she might hire?"
I shrugged.
"Who knows? No, I mean, I have one option. but if she goes for it, it would be really stupid."
"You mean Vee?"
"Yeah. (chuckles)"
I nodded.
"She's got enough problems in her life already, and if she's going to take this gamble..."
I shrugged.
"I see. so you don't know who she can count on?"
"In the current climate in the city? Even us kinda good solos have been asked by our fixers to sit tight and keep our heads down."
"Wouldn't you like to work in cloud security?"
I sighed.
"Do you want that kind of trouble?"
"А?"
"You know, Claws can't keep his hands off me. and then I'll just cut the bastard who starts groping my girls."
I look carefully into Maiko's eyes.
"Yep...and this will get them to start acting already..."
"Exactly. We warned you, and now you're on your own..."
"I see..."
Maiko.