Work Text:
The dying city bustled with unrequited life. Gangs prowled the streets, hungry for their next meal. Parents made their way home from long night shifts to feed their starving litters. The sudden quiet from the next street over signaled the end of a bloody feud.
High above, atop the giant skyscrapers and among the AVs, corpos looked down upon their city. Watching from afar, without detail, the people flitting along the streets without purpose. They watched the sun set in the far distance. A sight lost to the common Night City citizen decades ago.
And then there was Kiryu Kazuma. Alone, wandering the streets. Flaunting a gaudy white suit that went out of style a century ago. Despite it getting him into trouble with punks on the daily, he refused to change to the more common style of a Tojo Clan bruiser. He looked like another out-of-touch corpo fighting desperately in the Night City rat race. Yet that was far from the truth.
A woman called out for help. She was pulled into a back alley by some common thugs. They had already stripped her of all valuables. No allegiance to the big gangs that Kiryu could discern. Just youngsters looking for their next violent high. He’d seen their type before and couldn’t stand the sight of yet another batch.
“Leave her alone,” he said.
One of the thugs—a scrawny kid with a bat hanging over his shoulder—broke from the rest of the group, “Who the fuck are you?”
Kiryu had found the ringleader, “Let her walk. You wouldn’t want me to intervene.”
“What you gonna do? You don’t even have any chrome on you, choom!”
The group of hooligans behind him chuckled as the big one in the back unhanded the poor woman from his grasp.
“You have one more chance,” Kiryu said, tightening his fist.
The leader slugged at Kiryu, his stance sloppy and uncontrolled. Kiryu stepped out of the way, entering Rush stance letting off a couple jabs into the thug and knocking him to the ground.
“What the fuck?” the little grunt near the front exclaimed.
“Must have a sandy!” said the big guy in the back, “Get him!”
The three other grunts spread out, two approaching Kiryu from either side leaving the big guy to attack from the front. He swung his fist haphazardly at Kiryu, who dodged it by ducking low. Another strong yet well-telegraphed hook followed. Kiryu dodged it. The third punch—an uppercut down the middle—tired him out. Kiryu took the opportunity after sidestepping backwards to move in and deliver a fast combination of blows to his torso, finishing with an uppercut to the head that knocked the big guy clean off his feet.
The two men from either side ran at Kiryu, fists armed. As they zeroed in on their target, each found their hand connect with a head. Only it was the head of their ally. Kiryu watched them both flop to the floor in pain.
The four of them struggled to the feet.
Their leader leaned on his metal bat, “What are you?”
Kiryu stared down the man, remaining on guard, “I’m someone you don’t want to mess with. Now beat it!”
The three underlings scattered through one of the alleys, leaving their leader behind.
“Fucking idiots!” the leader ran after them.
As he saw the four of them exit the alleyway onto the streets, Kiryu returned to a lax stance. He took deep breaths in and out to regain his composure.
“Thank you sir!” the woman called out from behind Kiryu.
Kiryu turned around, having forgotten the woman he had saved, “Oh, no problem ma’am.”
“I’m so sorry for all the trouble!”
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“No really!” she said, “It’s all my fault.”
“It wasn’t your fault ma’am,” Kiryu said, “Just some hooligans.”
“But if I wasn’t attracting them, then none of this would’ve happened.”
“Attracting them?” Kiryu asked, more to himself than her.
“I’d better get home quickly. It’s so late! But sorry for all the trouble again!”
The woman scurried off onto the main streets. Kiryu watched her go, his face a picture of confusion.
“Huh, what a strange woman” he said, before moving on himself.
The morning sunlight barely touched the Night City streets. Kiryu sat at the back of a local diner, a lit cigarette between his fingers. He’d barely slept the night before. His head too focused on the death of the former chairman.
“Here’s your pie, sir,” the waitress slipped a plate onto the desk.
“Thank you,” Kiryu said.
The cold breeze hit Kiryu as he left the joint. A stiff drink would do him good, but it wasn’t even midday yet. He started heading to Santo Domingo.
“What do your vibrations say about you!”
Another beggar looking to scam some poor fool out of his time. And maybe some ED’s too. Kiryu kept walking, keeping his head low to not call attention to himself.
“Hey sir!” the solicitor called out, “Hey! It’s you from last night!”
Kiryu stopped, turned around. He found a petite woman staring back at him, wide eyed with excitement.
“I think you’ve got the wrong guy, lady,” he said.
“No it’s definitely you,” she said, “I thought I recognized that suit from somewhere.”
Kiryu sighed. Yet another distraction.
“I’m so sorry again for what happened last night!” she clasped her hands together and bowed her head.
Kiryu turned to face her, “It’s alright. It’s not your fault…”
“Yes,” she said, “You keep saying. And I’ve been doing some thinking last night and realized that your interference was also my doing. I’m sorry for bringing you into it, but happy you were there.”
“Huh?” Kiryu said, “You didn’t bring me into anything.”
“Of course I did!” she said, “Because I attracted you.”
“Wow,” Kiryu said, “Listen lady, it isn’t like that…”
“No, no!” she said, “Not like that!”
“Then like what?” Kiryu asked.
“Have you ever heard of the law of attraction?” the woman fished through her handbag for a piece of paper.
“No?” Kiryu said.
“It’s an old philosophy that states each person exudes an energy. Either positive or negative. And whatever energy they put out into the world, they attract similar outcomes.
“Here take a look at this,” she handed Kiryu the paper.
It was unlike anything he’d seen in his lifetime, and everything like what he’d heard about the world a hundred years ago. It felt flimsy in his hand. Delicate to hold. On it were words printed in ink. A plain typeface that was easy on the eyes. The header read:
Law of Attraction
The main text beneath it was long and boring, explaining the work of some people he never heard of—Phineas Quimby, Napoleon Hill, Norman Vincent—and the basics of some woo-woo theory. Kiryu didn’t believe this sort of Old Thought stuff that seemed to be gaining popularity in certain sections of the Night City population. Though you’d be hard pressed to find documents like this on the Net.
“I don’t understand…” Kiryu said.
“Don’t worry!” the woman said, “I didn’t when I first started either. Take yesterday for example. I was holding negative thoughts as I was passed for a promotion at my job for the third time. Holding those negative thoughts meant I was manifesting negativity around me; and, it got so bad that it ended up attracting those thugs last night. Are you following?”
“I think so,” Kiryu said.
“But then I thought about it last night. In order for you to arrive when you did and save me from those horrible men, I must have been channeling some positivity for the world to respond with such a dashing savior!”
“So you thinking bad thoughts caused bad things to happen?” Kiryu asked.
“Basically yes,” she said, “But it’s a lot more complicated than that in reality.”
“I think I’m understanding now,” Kiryu said, “But I don’t quite understand how that would work. Thoughts are just thoughts.”
“Yes and no,” the woman started again, “Thoughts may just be ideas floating around our heads, but they also affect the energy we put out into the world. That’s why negativity begets negativity.
“Think of negative energy like blood in an ocean. It will attract a hungry shark. Our thoughts are the same.”
“So thoughts have energy?”
“Not necessarily,” she said, “More like thoughts are an output of our energy, both positive and negative. If you’re interested in hearing more, you can come to the lecture downtown! The details are on the leaflet I gave you.”
“I’ll have a think about it,” Kiryu said.
“I’ve got to run now. Hope to see you there!” the woman said before running off down the street.
“What a strange coincidence,” Kiryu said to himself before continuing on with his day.
The streets were filled with people around midday. Running from place-to-place. Never a quiet moment in Night City.
Kiryu watched the streets from the window. Looking out for informants and spies. He’d been lying low for a few days. After being implicated in a conspiracy he knew nothing about going back home was unsafe. Instead, he had been staying at the one place they wouldn’t expect: a ripperdoc’s.
“One of these days I’m going to get some chrome on ya!” the doc would say every time he’d see Kiryu.
Kiryu’d ignore it every time. He’d never let a butcher touch his body.
The waiting was starting to give him cabin fever. Kiryu always thought himself to be in touch with the city. A part of it even. Being trapped away from it was not doing any good for him.
He ruffled through his suit jacket pocket and found a crumpled piece of paper in there. It came to him all of a sudden. The memory of that strange woman he’d saved from those thugs; her weird Old Thought philosophy. All of it. A meeting was happening this week. Perhaps he should go? After all, it’s not like any Tojo Clan or Arasaka goons would be at some crank meet. And he could get out of the apartment for a bit and socialize with other people. Even if they were all brainwashed.
Kiryu exited the apartment still wearing his white suit. No matter what, he would never abandon it. The venue was over in Haywood. Kiryu walked over there without much hassle. He had to take an elevator up to the 12th floor of some apartment complex. The meet happened in some small communal area usually reserved for residents. No doubt the organizers hired it out, but where did they get the ED’s for it?
The place was quaint. A small hall with some chairs laid out. There was a podium for a speaker to talk. Some more pamphlets laid out on a table next to some little snacks and beverages.
“Hey!” a woman’s voice came from behind as Kiryu entered, “You came!”
Kiryu turned and found the same woman he had saved a couple of nights ago standing in front of him. She was wearing the same outfit as before and looked just as unnaturally cheery.
“Hey,” Kiryu said, “Thought I might as well check it out.”
“You won’t be disappointed, sir!” she said, “Why don’t you grab a seat or something to eat and it’ll start shortly.”
Kiryu sat down near the back of the room. He watched as more people filtered in and took their seats. Most of them knew one another and talked among themselves.
A woman entered from the back of the room. Kiryu saw her appear, seemingly out of nowhere, and take to the podium at the front.
“Hello everyone,” she said, “And welcome to the biweekly meeting of the Believers of Old Thought. I’m Aubrey, your host tonight. Nice to see a lot of familiar faces as well as some new ones.”
Kiryu noticed the speaker staring straight at him.
“Today, we’re going to be continuing our discussions on the mechanical nature of our modern world and how it is suffocating us.”
“And that’s it for our meeting. See you all in two weeks. Feel free to hang around, get something to eat and have a chat.”
Aubrey concluded her speech. The rest of the room rose from their seats and moved to grab some coffee. Kiryu remained sitting, pondering everything he’d just heard about. Was Night City really doomed? Did this technologically advanced society destroy the last vestiges of humanity? Did cosmic energy exist?
“Thought I saw a new face around here,” Aubrey appeared next to Kiryu, “How did you find your first session with us?”
“I found it very interesting, but not quite sure I followed everything.”
“That’s ok,” she said, “Not many people do on their first session. It’s a lot to take in.”
Aubrey slid into the seat next to Kiryu, leaning in uncomfortably close.
“What are you confused about?” she asked.
“Uhhh,” Kiryu leaned back a bit as he could smell her minty breath, “You talk a lot about energy but I’m confused on what that means.”
“Well, Kiryu,” she said, “Energy is the life force behind every living thing. It comes from our souls and governs everything we do, think and feel. Every action we take is a manifestation of that energy. And so we can manifest and use that energy to benefit us, wouldn’t you agree?”
Hmmm, strange, Kiryu thought, How did she come to know my name?
“I guess so,” Kiryu said, “But how can you be so sure it exists. I can’t see it.”
(Name TBD) chuckled, “Of course we can’t see it. But that’s not the point. We can see the effects it has on use everyday. Understand how we can control it and use it to change the world around us. Once you start noticing it, it becomes hard to think otherwise.”
“So I just have to think positively?” Kiryu asked.
“That’s the idea!” she said, “Your thoughts can be expressions of your energy. If you exude the energy positively, then you will attract positivity back.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Kiryu said, “But I still cannot imagine it would be that easy, you know? Just think good things and good things happen.”
“Well, it’s not as simple as just thinking a few good things,” she said, “It’s also about changing how you think about the world completely. Refocusing your entire mind into the positive.”
“So I have to think positively all the time?”
“Not necessarily,” she said, “You need a positive mindset. That doesn’t mean never being negative. Everyone has a bad day. Take this synthetic world we live in. I don’t think it promotes a positive mindset. But, I am positive we can change it to be better. Does that make sense?”
“I guess,” Kiryu scratched his chin, “How do I start to think more positively about things?”
“Well, to start,” she pulled something out of her black purse, “You can use this.”
(Name TBD) held up a necklace. Dangling from the wire was a silver plate with a blue bead in the middle.
“What is it?” Kiryu asked.
“It’s something that will help generate a positive outlook,” she said.
“But how?”
“Do you see the blue gem? Do you know what that is?”
Kiryu squinted his eyes, leaning closer into it, “No.”
“It’s a stone called Lapis Lazuli,” she said, lowering her hand, “It’s was once coveted for its bright blue color. No one back then even knew it had the properties to convert negative energy to positive energy. Luckily, we do now.”
“So what?” Kiryu said, “I just have to wear this and it will make good things happen?”
“No, no,” She tutted, “You also have to put in the effort and actively change your mindset. But it will help you in doing that and give your positive energy a boost.”
“Cool,” he said, “I guess I could give it a try.”
“Then that’ll be 50,000 eddies, please.”
“WHAT?” Kiryu blurted out.
“You thought a priceless stone like this would be free,” she giggled, “Oh Kiryu! You are funny.”
“That’s quite a bit you’re asking for,” he said.
“Now, now,” she said, “That’s a negative mindset. If you think the necklace will help you then it will be worth it.”
I guess she’s right, he thought.
“Ok,” he said, “I’ll take it.”
Light barely touched the streets of Pacifica by early evening. Gunshots sounded in the distance as gangs engaged one another. Kiryu walked through the streets, shards of shattered glass crushed beneath his feet. His white suit jacket protected him from the cold breeze. The blue stone hung from his neck.
“Hey!” someone called out from the alley around the corner, “It’s him again!”
A group emerged from the darkness. Four men—from the same group a few days before—approached with malice in their eyes. Each one sported a few bruises on their partially cybernetic faces.
“It’s the huscle that bitch hired,” the leader said, the bat resting on his shoulder, “Can spot that preem jacket from a mile away.”
“Come back for another beating?” Kiryu smirked.
“You little shit,” the leader said.
He approached Kiryu, drawing his bat back telegraphing a heavy swing. Kiryu waited for the strike to almost connect before dodging out of the way adopting his rush stance. Within a few seconds the gang leader landed on the floor again. Kiryu took the bat from the floor and pointed it at the lackeys.
“Do you want this?” he asked.
The three men looked at one another before immediately scattering.
“Wait you gonks!” the leader shouted, sitting up from the floor.
He turned to see Kiryu standing over him, bat slung over his shoulder. It didn’t take long for him to take off as well.
Kiryu ripped the necklace with the Lapis off his neck. He stared into the shiny blue surface, “Huh, guess you ain’t lucky after all.”
He left the bat and the stone on the side of the street, walking away from the heart of Night City.