Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 617: A single Text Away.

Each year, rich people from all around the world gather in Vetrogard to flaunt their wealth by participating in a series of auctions that take place during the last week of July. The biggest of those auctions was the Winter House.

"If memory serves me right, most of the items that had been on display in Klaus Stahlwölfe are worthy of being entries." Mr. Pike said. "In fact, some of those item had been obtained through the Winter House. If you choose to participate as a consignor, you will be able to profit much more than what you might get from just selling them."

Dante didn’t even need to give the matter some thought.

"Let’s do it."

That earned him a narrow eyed look from Vik.

"What?" Dante let the corners of his mouth drop.

"Just out of curiosity, you don’t plan on attending yourself, right?"

That alone was enough for Dante to understand what his fixer was worried about.

"You have a point."

Dante hadn’t even considered whether he would be attending or not, but when he thought about it, the realization that it was the last place he wanted to be dawned on him. The place was bound to be full of the most insufferable people in the world, an dropping him there was like asking for a disaster to happen. Just when he was about to make up his mind, Mr. Pike offered a counter.

"I believe it would be better if you did attend personally." He said. "I... heard a few things about what you have been up to since we last met. You might want to be there, even if it’s just to show off what you have, and that you aren’t scared of anything."

When he put it that way, Dante gave the matter a second thought, holding his chin as he looked.

"Dear fucking god..." Vik covered his face with both hands. "This will definitely blow up in our faces."

"No need to worry," Heaving a sigh, Dante shook his head. "I don’t think I will attend."

The finality in his voice drew relieved sighs out of both Rose and Viktor. Catching on to that, Mr. Pike seemed to understand that it might not be good to press the matter anymore.

"In that case, allow me to handle the matter for you." The smartly dressed stood up and produced a phone from the inner pocket of his jacket. "We have about two months to make our preparations. It will be tights, but I believe I can make it work."

~[ ]~

The four sat well into the night discussing the details of auction and what needs to be done, and by the end of it, Dante came out knowing a lot more than what he did before.

It was already past midnight by the time the reunion ended. Viktor left soon after, and Mr. Pike followed. Dante wanted to do the same, but Rose asked him to keep her company. Saying her apartment was close by, she suggested that they take a short walk.

"Didn’t know you were originally from Vetrogard." Rose asked.

"Hm? Oh, right..."

The topic came up while they were discussing the auction. Viktor just had to ask one more time if he really wasn’t interested in going, and Dante said that he wasn’t interested in returning to that place.

"I lived there until I was about fifteen." Dante said.

"Then you ran away from home." Rose said.

"Then I ran away from home."

Dante tried recalling those days only to notice how blurry they were. At the time, he kept drifting from one place to the other, his mind a foggy mess that prevented him from thinking about anything. He came close to starving a number of times all because he forgot to get something to eat. It was the same reason why he almost got caught as well.

"I’m guessing there is a lot more to it than that." Rose said.

Dante gave her a glance, raising an eyebrow.

"A kid from the top 1% ending in the streets? Without his top 1% family coming to look for him? Doesn’t sound very top 1 % to me."

"You really focusing on that part, huh?" Dante sighed.

"Well, finding out was kinda wild. You seem to be made for the streets way more than I am."

"Now, hold on a second!"

A chuckle escaped Dante, and Rose let out another one. The two were laughing before long, losing control over it. Rose might have been under the effect of alcohol, but Dante was entirely sober. It felt a little weird that laughter came to him so naturally, even though a big part of him believed he shouldn’t be.

Rose let out a sigh just as he forced himself to stop, and the two of them walked side by side, enjoying a moment of silence. Dante could tell that his purple haired friend had something she wanted to tell him. It was likely the reason why she kept some distance between them instead of clinging to his arm like she usually does.

"I will be leaving the city." She said after a while.

"I see..." Dante replied. "When?"

"Next morning."

"I see..."

Another moment of silence passed, then an annoyed sigh broke it.

"And here I thought you would try to stop me." Rose gave him the side eye. "You aren’t even going to ask where I’m going?"

"You’re a grown woman." Dante shrugged. "Why would I stop you?"

"What!? So what we had meant nothing to you!?"

"I like to keep things like that casual casual."

The two had another round of laughter, this one much shorter than the last. Soon after, they stopped at the entrance of some building. Rose turned to face him, but it seemed like she was struggling with whatever she had left to say. Dante found himself looking back at everything they went through. He had something to say to her. It came to him naturally, just like the laughter they shared, and yet...

"Doesn’t matter where you go. If you ever need something, I’m a single text away."

Rose held his gaze for a long moment, her smile faltering a little. Looking down, she took a deep breath then moved closer, sliding her arms under his and squeezed him into a hug.

"Say hi to Finn for me, okay?"

"Yeah..."

Doing the same, Dante wrapped his arms around her. Seconds passed, then minutes followed. When she finally had her fill of his scent, Rose backed away. Her smile carried a hint of sadness as she looked at him one more time.

"Thank you, Dante." She said. "I’m glad that I met you."