It’s a rainy evening in Tokyo.
Unlike most other districts, SUGINAMI-KU is relatively quiet as always. A home away from home.The Party has ended most of their daytime activities, their alternate lives if they have one - involve a time-clock. They’ve collected their meager payments and paid their utilities and have entered the streets of the Tokyo Mega to indulge in their vices, see friends, and make much more Won than the next guy but they always come here, like other wayward souls before they dive into the endless depths of Tokyo, to decompress.
A Human. Two Synths and an infamously wealthy Wormer relax at Nakahara Peace Garden, an out of the way eatery and public onsen after 10pm, eating their fill of ramen and Soy based Duck and Tofu and relaxing in the warm baths that they previously had all to themselves until the door opens.
Three women garbed in traditional kimono - monochromatic gold, red, and black - entered into the establishment and quietly ordered food and drinks not too far from the table possessing our party. Sef -the human and the only flesh and blood local at the table- thought they looked to be suspicious. Suginami-Ku was a more traditionalist district with the disdain for technology and the general technophobia present could speak volumes for any local trying to tote cybernetics around proudly. The Wormer, Ard, was purely a tourist and hadn’t seen nor heard of such garb before, nor did the shorter synth who went by his “free name” of Lumos. Only the more stoic of the group, the janitorial worker synth named Haru understood that these women were either going to or coming from a Yamaguchi-Gumi related induction ceremony. Time passes and our party gets to know one another a little better. Sef is a rising member of the Izumi-kai as a Scoundrel, a gutterpunk bosuzoku, a Japanese Motorgang who specialize in winning illegal street races. Haru is an isolationist, in theory and practice but he is obviously a synth with a sword. He keeps mostly to himself and is very observant. Lumos, the other synth of the group, is older than Haru by decades and frequently calls out the younger synth for being ‘a baby’. Lumos specializes in Street Medicine as a Doc. The tallest member of the table is Ard Hana, a respectable Wormer from off-world and apparently Sef’s proof that alien life does indeed exist. He is just vacationing after leaving his occupation of fifty years on this ball of a planet called Earth, and loving it so far. As a Wormer on the planet, being able to exist as a tourist, Ard Hana is the most wealthy Wormer on the island.
The three women leave. Another rowdy cadre walks in and forces their way right through the group of formal women who all give a glare to the raucous individual who bogarted past them. This individual looks far too young to order any type of alcohol and resists the hostess’ instructions for him to leave with a simple black card printed with a Dragon on the facing side. The card is a physical credit card, with probably a large amount of won on it already. This card would be the target for Sef who, with the careful eye of Haru, deduces that the loud and obnoxious young man belongs to the Konami Kids, a sub-sect of the Konbawa Kids. A gang that is much smaller than the others and much younger too but mysteriously just as intimidating. They specialize in assassination and the Konami Kids have a working relationship with the Izumi-Kai as coordinators for illegal street racing events. Sef proceeds to make merry and steal the card for himself but not before the Konami Kid, identified as Chojiro (Choji) imparts Sef with a flash tattoo on the palm of his hand before leaving as abruptly as he came in with a mass of gathered friends and associates. Claiming to be going to where the real fun is starting. Upon closer inspection of the card Sef sees that it is unmarked and contains no identifiers other than the ornate design that has been laser cut into the surface of the card. A Dragon curling around it’s pearl. The Pearl seems to be a separate piece and made of the same metallic material as the digital strip used to fulfill transactions. Sef decides to take the card with the group to a more quiet place in order to get to the bottom of this card and fish out that datachip masquerading as the pearl. Upon exiting the eatery the group sees the retreating Choji party is being followed by four mysterious men in black and while debating if they should alert Choji or not the group of teens are sprayed with silenced automatic gunfire.
Our Cyberpunks spring to action and run to attempt to save whomever was still breathing as the four armed gunmen begin searching the bodies. They were quick work for our seasoned veterans of the violent underworld humanity had to offer. During the fight, Haru outed himself as a former Yakuza Assassin and Bodyguard, being branded a Ronin by one of the members of the kill squad who focused onto the sword wielding man with his uzi. For naught as Haru swiftly demonstrated his skill with the katana by executing his assailant.
The tussle in the street was very short lived and Choji wouldn’t make it through two rounds of questioning by Sef as he lay dying in a pool of his own blood. Imparting that he was only passing along a message by giving Sef that tattoo and then whispering for Sef to go get scanned. Sef removes Choji’s hand - the one that flash tattooed him as it was discovered that it was a custom cybernetic augmentation but the group didn’t do more than scavenge some silencer attachments and the supposed payment to the kill squad by what appears to be the Wazinami Gang. Forgoing the Izakaya Sef opts for a Love Hotel which he gains entry into for free, allowing the group to recuperate and sort themselves out. The short reprieve allowed Lumos and Ard to travel across the street to the 24/7 Convenience store - an evolution of the 7/11 Stores that were popular at the turn of the century- to stock up on necessary supplies of laffy-taffy and vodka.
Haru washes and patches himself up with Lumos’ assistance and changes into a new set of clothing while the group determines the custom origin and use of the cybernetic hand. Afterwards they hack the black card and begin transferring huge amounts of won to scavenged credit chits but not before triggering a trace program that prompts the group to abandon the love hotel entirely and the hacking device as well as the card. Next they decide to go find somewhere to scan the flash tattoo and have been given the advice by Lumos to travel to a Synth Shop. Something Sef is apprehensive of. Understandably along the way the group shops at a weapon’s dealer and snags a couple of silencers for their weapons as the police set up more secure perimeters down the street from them.
The nearest Synthstore lies at the joining of three roads in SHINEGAWA-KU and the group chooses one after showing off their pseudo-celebrity status with Sef toting a noteworthy amount of clout with his bike and Ard for being so god damn tall. ‘The Early Bird’ is a small Synth Aug-station. They specialize in installation and maintenance and their mascot and logo happens to be a cutely illustrated bird. The counter is manned by a Synth, female in appearance, who has a lack-luster attitude about her new visitors and doesn’t greet them. But she does make overt sexual remarks towards Lumos’ and gives Sef a taste of the more common human medicine by deriding his human-ness and poking fun at his aversion to the Synth culture. After some pleasantries the clerk agrees to scan the code and the group learns that the code contained within the flash tattoo is an address to a popular establishment in this very district, just a block away.
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