Gift

<Active.set.1 > I uttered as I finished my cringe-worthy moment.

I noticed the area above my nose and ears stiffening, making it harder to pull down the scarf/mask to hide my face. It appeared as if there was light emanating from the scarf around mouth level.

When I glanced at Judy for a response, she was smiling and spoke.

"Hahaha, it works great, Sora. Connect to Eco's communications ChipID and look through their cameras."

Upon hearing this, which I wasn't aware Eco had installed, I noticed a communication request from 000023123441-ECO in my IDn. That explained how she could communicate with me. It made me wonder how much and how many private things that traitorous dog must have disclosed to that stalking woman.

Eco had always been capable of receiving messages to accept commands, but Judy had installed a chipID with the ability to receive and send data in various file types to IDns.

I accepted, and a small window appeared in my field of vision, showing my reflection as if I were looking into a mirror. I was surprised by the scarf Judy had given me.

It bore a drawing of maw lights with an open mouth full of teeth, which looked quite intimidating and reminded me of Eco's robotic mouth when not covered with the hologram.

Observing my surprise at the scarf/mask she had bestowed upon me, Judy contentedly remarked, "Okay, Sora, pretend to laugh or make some exaggerated expression at the moment. The facial recognition tech by touch is in its infancy; its code still requires a lot of improvements."

I followed her instructions, opening my mouth as if I were laughing loudly. I could see from the real-time video Eco was sending me that the jaws changed, and the corners of the mouth lifted up, making the jaws appear as if they were laughing. It brought to mind old cartoons from my previous life of dogs, where they laughed with closed snouts while their mouths smiled, displaying their fangs. I continued experimenting with different expressions: sadness, anger, surprise, etc., and each one caused the maw drawing to change, matching my expression with some animation that reflected the emotion I was portraying.

"Judy, sorry for the earlier joke. It's great! I LOVE IT!" I exclaimed, excited about the gift.

Upon hearing me, Judy smiled proudly and said, "I'm glad you liked it. But it's not just a scarf with lights. I asked Grandpa for help, and the scarf is made of elastic ballistic fabric that provides bulletproof protection and can adjust to fit. The fabric coats a filament of thermo-absorbent alloys. While you wear it, it will absorb some energy from your body heat and the environment to replenish its energy."

"I don't know what to say, Judy. But why did you give me such a cool gift? I have nothing to give you," I remarked.

Noticing my tone, Judy laughed and replied, "Haha, don't worry about that. You've already helped me so much, with Cortana, helping me with the truck without hesitation or asking for anything, even during high school with the whole Mini-Mox and Tiger Kubx thing... You're also the first friend I made when I came to Night City. I wanted to thank you for all that. When I asked my grandparents, they told me to give you a gift. That's why it's the scarf, to thank you for all that, just that... Not that I care about you or anything... for being my best friend for these 7 years."

Unable to hear the end of her sentence, which was barely a whisper, I could only smile at the gift Judy had given me.

<Disable.set.1 > With those words, the lights on the scarf went out, and the fabric relaxed on its own, revealing my nose as the top came down, partially covering my chin.

"Judy has more sets ready?"

"I thought about filling them in together. I didn't know what more animations to put, so I left them empty. There are 2 more set holes to add."

"Great. Thanks for the scarf, Judy. Really," I said, halting my body's inclination to perform a bow of gratitude for Judy's gift. I could almost hear my grandparents laughing as if they were watching me.

"Should we continue with the red giant?" I suggested, tilting my head several times, gesturing towards the truck we were finally about to set rolling, changing the subject to conceal my emotions.

As it approached 6:30 PM and dusk began to settle in

Judy's Perspective:

"HAHAHAHAHAHA," I laughed proudly.

FINALLY, at last, at last, at last! We are finally done with the beauty. It must have been abandoned for at least 10 years. When I found it, I imagined myself going to high school with it, leaving the other kids impressed. I even envisioned Sora in it too. I know it's silly to bring it to high school, a thought a little girl would have, but... there is something about that place that scares me. I thought that with a fire truck as property, I would gain something, even if it was a childish sense of safety.

For me, the transition from middle school to high school was immense. Previously, there were only boys and girls of different races with different features or colors. But now, everything had changed. They started forming groups, bringing weapons to school. Firearms were prohibited, but that was all that was forbidden. So, all these groups that formed in high school carried bats, knives, pipes, and some even carried hammers or swords.

It wasn't just the weapons and the friends you lost because they acted like they didn't know you when they joined these gangs seeking safety and new friends. It was also the looks they gave you. There were all kinds of looks: the ones from most girls of superiority, as if you were inferior to them; the ones most guys and some girls gave you, as if you were a piece of meat or plastic. That's why I became friends with the Mini-Mox. They still had those looks, but at least I could tolerate them, well, for that and another reason, a guy from high school named Shirō Ishii, the head of the teenage gang, Tiger Kubx.

Four months after starting high school, Ishii, two years older, grabbed my arm and said, "You're pretty, cute. Why don't you become my doll or baby, and you'll never have to worry about anything else in your life?"

It still makes me want to puke remembering it. Apparently, there were some girls who liked that stuff, but I just gagged.

I can only be thankful that I became friends with Sora. When he saw my scared and disgusted face, he went over and broke Ishii's nose and head-butted him.

"FUCK, it's about time, you know? I thought this shit was eating up all the repairs we were doing, this damn trash," said Sora, his voice gruff, almost angry at the truck as he kicked a wheel.

"Oi, Sora, don't say anything about this beauty, or I won't let you get on. It's true that it cost us a lot to drop it off, well enough to get it started."

"You're serious... 6 MONTHS, 6 MONTHS OF WORK to fix this damn truck, only to realize just now that we can't change the ignition battery without lifting the whole engine. I DIDN'T KNOW it was so beat up. If it holds for the first ignition... when it fries again or gets too hot, it will most likely break or explode."

CRASH (shattering glass)

When he said that, I swear I could hear something breaking within me with the sound of broken glass. It can't be. Is the ignition battery really that bad?... My dream of going to high school... No, it can't be... I thought as I kicked the other wheel of this damn piece of junk that has stolen my dream.

"Oi, Judy, what are you doing? You wouldn't be thinking of something silly like coming to my house to pick me up or going to school with the truck, would you?" said Sora, causing me to freeze my tantrum against the truck.

Feeling embarrassed that he noticed, when Sora smiled and said, "All we have to do, if we can get the engine started, is to make that trip THE BEST OF OUR LIVES!" His words sketched a somewhat maniacal grin.