Heat Waves

Monday, June 15th, 12:30 AM

Judy's house

Although it was almost noon, Judy was lying in bed with her eyes closed and a sad expression on her face. Today was Monday and she had school, but after the truck incident, Judy and Sora's grandparents decided that they would stay at home for a few more days until things calmed down. Although they only had a few weeks left of High school, both Judy and Sora had no problems with their grades.

As Judy was staring at the ceiling of her room with a blank expression, she suddenly moved and pulled something out from under her pillow. It was... the recording of Sora singing that she had made for him the day before.

She pressed the play button and the music started to play from the speaker.

[♪ Let it go, let it go ♪] [♪ Turn away and slam the door ♪] [♪ I don't care what they're going to say ♪] [♪ Let the storm rage on ♪] [♪ The cold never bothered me anyway ♪]

Hearing the song made Judy remember how much fun she had with Sora before their argument. She felt angry and frustrated as she remembered the hurtful words that Sora had said to her. 'Damn you, Sora, liar, bastard...' Judy thought to herself. She knew that Sora wasn't being selfish by not telling her his concerns and the reason why he wants to be a merc... but he also didn't trust her enough to tell her.

Pok pok.

There was a knock on the door and it opened a second later.

"Grandma!"

"What's wrong? I knocked."

"That's not the point, I didn't tell you to come in."

"When you pay the rent for the apartment, you can tell me what to do. Until then, shut up."

"What do you want, grandma?"

"You have a lot of explaining to do, young lady," said Ainara with a playful smile on her face, which confused Judy. "Come on, follow me," Ainara added, and left Judy's room without waiting for her.

When Judy entered the dining room, only Ainara was there with the TV paused. "Well, you see, the latest song from the singer you like so much just came out, and I saw the video they're talking about on the news programs because it's so different from Jackie's other videos. Do you know why, dear?"

"No, I don't know what you're talking about," said Judy.

"Ah, never mind. Pffhaha. Well, then watch," said Ainara, and pressed the play button. The video showed a short-haired, dark-skinned woman, the host of a news program, starting to speak.

[Hello, hello friends, how are you holding up in the heat of Night City's summer... Well, if the heat bothers you, think about the amount of Eddies we're saving on heating, compared to cities like Chicago, which are winter all year round. I have a friend there, and when I last spoke to him, I asked him when he had last seen the sun? And he responded by asking me "what is the Sun?"]

[Haha, can you believe it? I couldn't either until I read it in the script... you know the AIs we have as writers got you right and made you laugh, right?]

Suddenly, the presenter brought her hand dramatically to her ear as if she was being communicated something and stopped talking. After a while, she said:

[Apparently, they're telling me upstairs to inform our listeners that we don't use any AI as writers on this program. Channel 54 always hires as many humans as possible to help the community, it's not like they use whatever they can find to save a few Eddies, right Jazz? I'd like to introduce you to Jazz, friends.It's the robotic arm that controls the camera that's recording me, because no human could do this kind of work, right Jazz?]

She said this ironically, while the camera went up and down as if the robotic arm was nodding.

[Come on, Jazz, do you want to make our viewers vomit or what... tch, robots... I also have to add that we treat our writers almost like humans. We feed them and we barely mistreat them... but who cares, they're just writers, right!]

[Well, let's move on to the news. Today, singer Jackie Blackhand, famous for uploading his songs to CybertTube and raising his black finger to flip off corporations, I'd do the same if I didn't have them so far up my ass that I'd feel it when I sneeze... achoo!... almost! You know that feeling when you almost have it, but... AH! Where was I going? Yeah, my dear Jackie, well before I put on his latest hit, I want to tell you why it's causing controversy among the fans with this latest video... hold on, girls, but it looks like Jackie... has a girlfriend]

[WAWAWA] The presenter continued with a sad horn sound:

[I know, right? It's still a mystery what Jackie looks like, but that hasn't stopped many of his fans from filling in the blanks with their fantasies, and now in the latest video, Jackie... Jackie's figure is not alone... and by how they behave in the video... that bastard seems to be in love...]

[Surprising, right? I know, I know, I know what you're thinking...] The presenter said, looking seriously at the camera and said:

[I know it surprises you, but... if maybe you still have doubts and you're thinking that it's a fake girlfriend, just part of the video and the song that is part of the performance, but... we have proof, we have the exclusive].

The presenter nodded and the camera switched to a shot of the faceless figure typical of Jackie's videos with another feminine figure next to him... with the presenter's face crudely superimposed over the face of the feminine figure, creating a crude image to make a joke on the show, which when Judy saw the figure of the same style as Jackie's, it seemed familiar... almost as if it were

[Surprised, right? It's me, guys, haha. Putting aside the jokes, we may still have hope... It seems like something happened between them in the video, so don't give up. I know I won't... I'll always wait for you, Jackie! Haha].

The presenter spoke exaggeratedly, acting like the worst kind of fan, laughing at people who left comments like that on Jackie's new video.

`Who does this b**** think she is?´ Judy thought, annoyed by the presenter.

[No more jokes, here's Jackie BlackHand's latest hit, Heat Waves]. After the insufferable presenter spoke, the video began. It was unusual for Jackie's videos, where the figure of Sora always appears playing the guitar with a different computer-altered background in each video. But this one seemed to have pixel art animation on a road, with Nc's skyline in the background.

[♪ Road shimmer ♪]

[♪ Wiggling the vision ♪]

[♪ Heat heat waves ♪]

[♪ I'm swimming in a mirror ♪]

The song starts with an animation the car and the Nc skyline and disappears when starts singing, replaces the animation with the lyrics that appear in different forms on the screen

[♪ Sometimes, all I think about is you ♪]

[♪ Late nights in the middle of June ♪]

[♪ Heat waves been faking me out ♪]

[♪ Can't make you happier now ♪]

[♪ Usually I put ♪]

[♪ Something on TV ♪]

[♪ So we never think ♪]

[♪ About you and me ♪]

[♪ But today I see ♪]

[♪ Our reflections ♪]

[♪ Clearly in Heywood ♪]

[♪ Laying on the screen ♪]

The song talks about the difficulty when you hurt someone you love. The animation changes again and Jackie is shown playing the guitar and singing.

[♪ You just need a better life than this ♪]

[♪ You need something I can never ♪]

[♪ Fake water all across the road ♪]

[♪ It's gone now, the night has come, but ♪]

[♪ Sometimes, all I think about is you ♪]

[♪ Late nights in the middle of June ♪]

[♪ Heat waves been faking me out ♪]

[♪ Can't make you happier now ♪]

Then, two featureless figures, one of them supposedly Jackie and the other a woman, are shown submerged in water.

[♪ You can't fight it ♪]

[♪ You can't breathe ♪]

[♪ You say something so loving, but ♪]

[♪ Now I've got to let you go ♪]

When the song reaches a certain point, the animation changes again and a woman's profile is shown. This surprises Judy, as she does not know how Sora reconstructed her figure and included it in the video. The figure has no features, but has the same shape and hair as Judy. When shown in the video, Ainara smiles at the sight of her granddaughter on the screen.

[♪ You'll be better off in someone new ♪]

[♪ I don't wanna be alone ♪]

[♪ You know it hurts me too ♪]

The song continues, and Judy's figure is shown crying in a position that reminds Judy of her last conversation with Sora while he was on his motorcycle.

[♪ You look so broken when you cry ♪]

[♪ One more and then I'll say goodbye ♪]

[♪ Sometimes, all I think about is you ♪]

[♪ Late nights in the middle of June ♪]

[♪ Heat waves been faking me out ♪]

[♪ I will make you happier now ♪]

In this part he returned to the usual figure of Jackie sitting down playing the guitar, while the new figure appeared and sat next to him, as if the rest of the video Jackie was singing to the figure while they gently pushed each other's shoulders and laughed from time to time.... looking happy....

[♪ Sometimes, all I think about is you (jud) ♪]

[♪ Late nights in the middle of June ♪]

[♪ Heat waves been faking me out ♪]

[♪ Heat waves been faking me out ♪]

While he was singing in certain parts it seemed that he was saying ``Jud´´ instead of you and the lyrics of the song changed.

[♪ Sometimes, all I think about is you (jud)♪]

[♪ Late nights in the middle of June ♪]

[♪ Heat waves been faking me out ♪]

[♪ i will make you happier now ♪]

[♪ Sometimes, all I think about is you (jud) ♪]

[♪ Late nights in the middle of June ♪] ♪]

[♪ Heat waves been faking me out ♪]

[♪ i will make you happier now ♪]

When Judy heard the song that Sora uploaded, Judy felt moved by the song, like if the song is Sora's way of talking to her. But despite that, she still had doubts about his decision to become a mercenary. She wanted to talk to Sora again to understand him better.

"Grandma, can you take me somewhere?" asked Judy, trying to contain herself.

"Of course I can, dear. But first, stop crying, okay?" replied Grandma warmly.

"Y-yes," Judy replied, taking a deep breath to calm herself.

Ainara drove her to Japantown, When Judy arrived in front of the door of Sora's apartment she remembered how excited and nervous she was the previous time. When Sora showed her the place for the first time, how it was full of the things Sora liked, for Judy that apartment was like a small window into Sora's mind, without filters, which made her feel like she was getting to know a part of Sora that she didn't know about him.

With a deep breath, Judy knocked on the door and Sora opened it for her. She could see that he had dark circles under his eyes from not having slept all night. Seeing him, she figured he had been up all night working on the video he had uploaded.

Idiot, why do you have to do things like that, and make me worry.... if I worry just because of some dark circles under my eyes...imagine if he works, like merc.... shaking her head at those thoughts Judy walked into the apartment.

When Sora saw Judy he was happy for a moment until he remembered Judy's broken face before entering his house, he felt guilty and sad about the argument they had. Of how he hurt Judy with his words.

"Well?" asked Judy, with a tone of frustration in her voice.

"What do you mean?" replied Sora, confused.

"Aren't you going to tell me anything?" asked Judy, angrily.

"Yes, I still think the same thing," said Sora, determined.

"Sora, are you going to keep being so stubborn? At least tell me why you uploaded that song if you haven't changed your mind?" exclaimed Judy, exasperated.

"Because I don't want to hurt you and watch you cry FUCK! But I don't want to put you in danger either. Part of me still thinks you'd be better off with someone else... but I'm a selfish piece of SHIT! who doesn't want to lose you, even.." said Sora, his tone altered and charged with helplessness towards himself for his conflicting feelings

"Sora..." said Judy, touched as she listened to Sora and understood the reasons why he didn't want to tell her his concerns. "You treat me like I'm made of glass, like I'm going to break. Like whatever might happen to me, it's all going to be your fault. How long have you been so weak?"

"...!!!..."

"Heh..Hehehehe you're right!"Sora realized he was acting like a coward, he couldn't help but laugh at the thought that he had found the answer..... so simple that he was surprised he hadn't noticed it

"JUD....." said Sora looking seriously at Judy".... MY FATHER IS JOHNNY SILVERHAND"

"WHAT?" exclaimed Judy, surprised.

"Hey! Wait, Jud! dont leave!, It was a joke.... more or less" yelled Sora as Judy turned around to leave the apartment, as if what Sora had said was one of her silly jokes.

"Jud, I'm sorry. it was a joke! and at the same time no(whisper). But what you said is true. I'm weak, too weak. That's why I want... I want time to make me stronger. I promise I will tell you everything when I have the confidence that I can be responsible for my actions and tell you everything without filters. But I promise I won't get lost and I won't get full of Chromo," Sora said, trying to explain herself with a determined look.

Judy listened to what Sora said and, seeing his determined look, sighed. She knew that, with how stubborn Sora was, if he refused, they would just continue arguing. And knowing that, even though he was stubborn, the reasons Sora had for not revealing his secrets were to keep her safe, Judy felt the love and appreciation that Sora had for her.

"Hmm, men can be so stubborn. You're making me reconsider going out with you, you know? I think it would be so much easier with another girl."

"If you want, we can add one more girl anytime."

"Sora! You're BASTARD!" Judy exclaimed, frowning in anger.

"What? You started it...! So, what do you say, Jud?" Sora asked, trying to calm her down.

"What am I supposed to say, Sora? At least one of us has to be mature and know when to step back. And even though it annoys me, I'll give you more time. But Sora, when we have this conversation again... it's better if you tell me everything, okay?" Judy spoke while frowning and pulling out a small silver rectangle near Sora's leg. "You'd better tell me everything!"

Sora, recognizing the silver rectangle that was near his crotch, began to nod several times with a worried expression on her face, Sora said, "Y-yes, don't worry."

With that said Sora put on a smile and gave a kiss to the violent judy who was threatening the mini-Soras,

"Look jud I have something else to show you, I haven't been up all night to upload the song, the song was my way to say sorry, this..."

Said Sora as he led judy to a monitor where there were several designs....

"This is my way of showing you MY FULL support with your company plan, COF(cough) not like other COF(cough) COF(cough)."

"Are you done with your nonsense?" said Judy rolling her eyes.

"Tch what little sense of humor..... I have designed 3 different types of pets two of them are basically redesigns of Eco, in which Gua.mk1 has no problem because his movement is not very complicated but, Kat.Mk1, it's another story."

With what Sora said Judy started to look at the designs on the monitor in which there were 3 of them open, one of a cat in which there was a small window that showed a preview of the design and how it would move, making it look like a cat that moved without its characteristic delicacy looking a bit clumsy as if its body did not fit with its gait.

The other was an iguana that moved very slowly but gave a much more realistic feeling than the cat.

And the third one ...." Sora about the third one?"

"Hehehe that one is not going to be for the public but what do you think they are awesome right?"

"Yes!, we have to improve the way the cat moves but I think we could start to create some different models during the holidays, to see if we can find some sponsors".

Listening to judy Sora smiled and went to get something from a nearby table " Jud I take this is for you" He said giving Judy a black card.

"This is?"

"It's the key to the apartment, so you can come whenever you want and use it for your projects too."

"Sora.... are you sure"

"Of course" said Sora with a big smile.

"Thank you Sora!"