Sit Next to Me

"Have you started on the essay?" Katsuo asked as they walked down the many halls of Arasaka Academy.

"Yeah… Managed to get two pages done. I feel like I could've done more, though, if it weren't for the homework. Really dragged me down," David answered tiredly. A small grin formed on his face. "Good thing you called, too. Might've had to pull an all-nighter if I didn't remind you."

Katsuo scoffed. "I would've managed fine, Martinez."

They continued walking until they exited the Academy, Katsuo leading them in the opposite direction of the main exit that David normally took. He hadn't been in this part of Arasaka Tower before.

"Where exactly are we going?" David asked in a confused tone, looking around at the new area they were in.

"The AV parking zone," Katsuo responded flatly, hands casually resting in his pockets.

David sharply turned to Katsuo, eyes widening at the words. "Woah, seriously?!"

The blue-haired boy gave him an annoyed look. "Calm down, choom. It's just a car that flies. Nothing crazy," Katsuo commented, rolling his eyes.

"That's your point of view—I've never seen one up close, yet alone been in one," David shot back.

Katsuo side-eyed him, but didn't say anything. Upon going through two large sliding doors, they were met with the sight of the large parking zone. David stared in awe as they passed the many AV's parked in their designated zones, all of them polished to perfection, not one dent or scratch in sight.

They stopped in front of Katsuo's own aerial vehicle, the blue-haired boy scanning his hand.

"Greetings, Katsuo Tanaka." The doors opened automatically when it recognized its owner. "Guest detected."

Katsuo stepped aside, looking at David. "After you."

David stepped inside, excitement very evident across his face. He sat down on one of the luscious seats, surprised that a vehicle of this kind could have so much spacious room. It was almost like a transportable living room. One of his hands ran through the armrest's fine material, memorizing the feel.

"Preem…" David whispered with a grin on his face. He heard the AV's AI ask something, to which Katsuo replied back to it. The AV then began its ascension.

David turned to Katsuo. "Shouldn't we be wearing seatbelts?"

"No…?" Katsuo replied, raising an eyebrow. "That's only if we're in danger, you gonk."

"How was I supposed to know?"

"It's common sense, Martinez." The rich boy crossed his legs.

David watched from the window as they exited Arasaka Tower, looking out past the many corporate buildings and the people down on street level. "Woah…"

Katsuo suppressed a smile at David's innocence. Before, he never thought about it—using the AV to go to school and back. It was always part of his life, but now, his classmate was giving him a new perspective. He sat back in his seat, head perfectly cushioned. He'll let David enjoy this special moment.

From his view, David could see the AV heading to a rooftop of a large building—corporate most likely by the looks of it. The AV slowly descended on the designated pad.

"You have arrived, Katsuo Tanaka," the AI announced. David heard his classmate give his thanks, the doors opening.

That was it? David thought, surprised at the short ride.

"Come on," Katsuo said as he stepped out, David following suit. The rich boy led them into an elevator stationed atop of the building. He selected the correct floor number, the grand elevator beginning its descension.

"So… is your family strict when it comes to greetings and customs?" David asked, trying to kill the silence.

Katsuo pinched the bridge of his nose. This idiot…

"Hey, I'm just sayin'! I don't wanna make a bad impression," David stated. His gut was writhing with anxiety.

"You'll be fine, Martinez. It's not like you're meeting my father—which I already reminded you twice," Katsuo said. "My housekeeper is ok with almost anyone I bring over."

The elevator stopped. Walking out, David noticed that they were in some sort of large waiting area, a main sliding door on either side of the room, and another up ahead, each of them with an advanced security panel on the side.

Katsuo led them to the door on the right side, and David watched as the blue-haired boy went up to the security panel, an LED display scanning his retina and hand simultaneously. Not a moment too soon, the door slid open.

"After you," Katsuo said again, stepping aside and gesturing his hand. David mentally prepared himself. This was it. He was about to step foot inside his Corpo classmate's home.

Walking inside, David's eyes settled on the framed paintings hanging on the walls of the entrance hallway. They all had the similar theme of black and white with a few strokes of red. There were also cultural artifacts displayed on glass cases.

Katsuo walked forward until the hallway led to a large living room. David could also see a very fine and modern kitchen area.

"Ok, no shoes past this point. Hope you don't mind," Katsuo explained, stepping out of his dress shoes.

"It's ok," David said, slipping off of his own worn out sneakers. The respectable thing to do was to respect Katsuo's cultural customs, especially in a place like Night City, with its wide diversity. His mother would most likely scold him if she found out he hadn't followed cultural customs. And in Spanish too.

"You can just leave them here—next to mine," Katsuo said, suggesting at the shoe rack.

"Welcome home, Mr. Tanaka," a woman's voice said from behind them. David turned around to the woman in kind, who bowed down in respect to his classmate.

"Hi, Shira," Katsuo said, smiling. His voice held a kind tone, something David has never heard from the rich boy. He gestured to David, introducing him in his native tongue. "Allow me to introduce to you David Martinez, my classmate from Arasaka Academy."

Turning to David, he reverted back to English, saying, "David, this is Ms. Hamasaki, long-time caretaker of the Tanaka household… and family friend." His voice held so much warmth that David was sure he was short-circuiting. Was this the same Katsuo from five minutes ago?

David's face began to feel hot, and he bowed down in respect to Shira. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Hamasaki," he said in Japanese. No pressure like being put in the spot without warning.

"Likewise, Mr. Martinez," she said in turn, but in fluent English, also bowing down. "Please, feel free to call me Shira."

Pretty name, David thought, smiling.

"Do we have any extra house slippers?" Katsuo asked.

"We do, Mr. Tanaka. I'll go get a pair," Shira replied.

David watched as she went to another part of the grand luxury apartment. It was all too much to take in; everything was so clean and elegant. And positively expensive.

"She's gonna bring you a pair of slippers," he heard Katsuo say. David nodded—as if he needed the translation anyway.

A few seconds later, she came back with a fresh pair. "Do let me know if these fit well."

"Thank you very much!" David said, head bowing down again and smiling. He slipped them on. They were simple grey slippers, but they were surprisingly comfy. "They're perfect! Thank you!"

The blue-haired boy said something again, and David watched as Shira bowed down in confirmation, starting to head back to some other part of the household.

"Let's go," Katsuo said, leading David to the very modern staircase. His tone went back to distant, but not cold. So he can be nice, David thought.

As they were walking up, Katsuo commented, "Your Japanese pronunciation is very proficient. How come I've never heard you speak it before?"

David pressed his lips thin. "Dunno. Maybe 'cause I've never had the chance to speak it to someone who is naturally fluent…" he answered with a sarcastic expression.

"Well that changes today, if you're up for the challenge, that is," Katsuo stated, giving David a small challenging smile.

"Oh, you're on." David didn't worry. He was confident, having aced every test based on the Japanese language that Arasaka Academy threw at them.

The door to Katsuo's room slid open, David's eyes sparkling at the interior. Just by the size, it was bigger than his whole apartment back in Santo, maybe more.

Nova, he thought, staring at the bed. It was huge. It looked like a standard king size. No wait, maybe Cali King. He didn't know for sure, but it was definitely spacious. He was just surprised that the whole room wasn't all blue.

"Let's proofread what we got first," Katsuo said. They walked to his study area. There was a large modern desk with a three-monitor computer in the center, but it wasn't turned on. Instead, there were two portable computers—or 'laptops' as they call it. With the desk were two modern ergonomic chairs, one blue—of course—the other light grey.

Setting up both of the computers, Katsuo sat down, David doing the same and accessing his interface school files. From the corner of his eye, he saw Katsuo jack into the computer. Doing the same, he immediately received a notification.

"Just accept it. This'll let us share our work automatically," Katsuo explained. And he was right. There was a single file under Katsuo's name and vice versa.

"Mine's spotty, right now. So don't be surprised," David mentioned jokingly. He heard the blue-haired boy chuckle.

"Same here, Martinez."

Their eyes changed to the default red holo color as they transferred their documents, eyes quickly and efficiently scanning each other's work, thoughts making notable comments on certain sentences and paragraphs.

Katsuo was impressed by David's work. The style was different from his own, but it had flow, catching the reader's attention and getting straight to the point without having to drag useless details.

David held high respect for Katsuo's own take, noting how concise and efficient his sentences were, each paragraph having its own meaning and how it approached the reader.

It was a good start. It wasn't perfect, per say, but they would both eventually tune it better later down the road. Right now, Katsuo was glad he actually invited David over. For school work purposes. Nothing else.

He hid a smile as he finished reading David's work, looking over at his classmate who was still proofreading.

"Don't forget: we have homework too," David reminded Katsuo, not taking his eyes off the holo file. Gazing at him, Katsuo's face felt warm.

———

What they started in the study area now shifted over to Katsuo's bed. The rich boy was getting tired of staying in the same spot for too long, noticing David was shifting in his seat from time to time whilst reading and typing away at his user interface, a leg coming up to rest on his seat as well. Eventually Katsuo got up, telling David that the bed would serve better.

Katsuo was lying down on his stomach, laptop in front of him as he read an Arasaka article. David was sitting down cross legged, too shy to actually lay down on the bed, considering it wasn't his home and didn't want to be perceived as a freeloader.

He looked over to the blue-haired boy, whose face was furrowed in concentration and focus. David's eyes gazed at Katsuo's face, taking in his facial features; sharp jawline, dermal cybernetic implants, blue eyes with matching blue eyebrows. Looking closer, he noticed that even his eyelashes were blue. His nose still looked the same, though, except for the small pale scar above the bridge.

Wait— David blinked. If he recalled correctly, that wasn't there before. Then again, it may be why he had that thin bandage covering that area when he kissed him—

"David!" he heard Katsuo call out, snapping him from his thoughts.

"Huh?" He blinked again.

"You're staring at me like crazy," Katsuo pointed out with a wary look. So he did notice… fuck. David could feel the blood rushing to his face, thoughts scrambling. "The hell's that about? Are you getting tired?"

"No! I uh—," David began. Come on, think! His eyes settled on the rich boy's nose again. "I-I just noticed the scar on your nose." Katsuo's face relaxed at the words. Crisis averted.

"My scar?" the blue-haired boy questioned, completely unfazed.

"Y-yeah… I've never noticed it before until now," David quietly explained. These were treacherous waters he was trekking in, given their past bad history. His knuckles got bruised by the powerful punch he gave him. He could still remember that day like it was yesterday… A somber feeling wrapped around his heart, and his head stooped low. "I'm really sorry…"

Katsuo's face softened, not expecting David to apologize. "Don't sweat it, Martinez. You've already apologized to me." He said it in a soft and quiet tone. Their day was going good so far, and he hoped none of their past would be brought up, not wanting to risk ruining their good mood.

Neither of them knew how to steer past this barrier, and the room was now beginning to fill with that awkward tension, school assignments momentarily paused. Katsuo blankly stared at his laptop screen, eyes not reading anything.

"Are you still able to—y'know—smell?" David asked sheepishly, trying to lighten up the mood somehow. It was a stupid question, he knew that, but he would be lying if he didn't want to find out what kind of procedure Katsuo had to go through to get a replacement nose… or whatever the protocol was for that kind of injury.

"'Course I can, ya gonkbrain! Nothing the Platinum Package can't handle," Katsuo shot back, shooting David a quirked eyebrow.

"Did they… fully replace it?" David asked cautiously, quickly adding, "If you're comfortable talking about it! I don't wanna offend you."

Katsuo let out a breath through his nose. "Yes, David, they did. There's no point in fixing something that is fragile and that can break again." His eyes turned to his screen again, skimming through paragraphs. He hesitated before speaking again. "They fully scanned my nose and managed to replicate it."

David was intrigued. "What material did they use?"

"A titanium mesh. The outside is synthetic skin—they replicated the flesh from my old nose to fully match the color of my face. It may still feel like a regular nose, but it's gonna take a whole lotta punches to actually dent this one," Katsuo explained, brushing his nose with a finger. He quietly mumbled, "So don't try anything…"

"What?" David didn't hear that last part, and Katsuo quietly chuckled.

The rich boy continued. "As for the scar, they mentioned two alternatives: depending on how they installed it, I can have a whole scar around the perimeter around my nose or just have the one above the bridge. I chose the more attractive appeal," Katsuo mused.

That David agreed with, even though Katsuo did get a lot of worried looks from the other classmates when he still had that thin bandage. The scar was barely noticeable from afar, unless someone was using Kiroshi optics.

Mesmerized by Katsuo's narrative, David's eyes were still fixed on the blue-haired boy's face, but this time lower. Katsuo swallowed—he knew that kind of look all too well, and he quickly cut the tension. "You're staring again…"

David shyly averted his gaze. "Sorry…"

"I'm gonna pretend that never happened," Katsuo said sternly, focusing his attention back to his reading. "Let's get back to work."

"Right."

As David scrolled through his device, he shot another look at Katsuo from the corner of his eye.

… It's just… you're very attractive…