"It's seriously been such a long time since I've had proper meat... This feels incredible! Man was truly born to eat meat!"
Hayashi was currently in the middle of a literal feeding frenzy.
He truly hadn't touched a single piece of meat in what felt like forever, having survived almost exclusively on bread and basic ramen noodles recently.
Every now and then, he would toss a piece or two of succulent grilled meat to Pochita, who was waiting patiently by his side.
The BBQ restaurant hadn't voiced any objections to them bringing the puppy inside, likely because Pochita was still so small and well-behaved.
Unlike Hayashi and Ayumi Ito, who were both laser-focused on their food, Tachibana Akane's mind seemed to be elsewhere.
"Miss Akane... is something bothering you?"
Ayumi Ito noticed Akane's somewhat distracted state and asked tentatively, sounding a little concerned.
"Oh, no, it's nothing like that... and please, just call me Akane."
Akane waved a dismissive hand and offered a helpless, sheepish smile.
"Alright then. By the way, Akane, have you known Aoyama-sensei for a long time?"
Ayumi asked carefully.
In the back of her mind, she was incredibly curious about how someone like Tachibana Akane had ever crossed paths with Hayashi Aoyama.
After all, the two of them didn't exactly seem like they belonged in the same social circles. Furthermore, it was fairly obvious that Akane was either still a university student or a very recent graduate.
She lacked that tell-tale look of exhaustion and professional cynicism that usually accompanied a few years in the corporate workforce. Plus, her style of dress and overall aura were much more in line with a university student.
"We've actually only known each other for about a month," Akane replied after a moment of thought.
"Only a month?"
Ayumi blinked in surprise.
Hayashi, who was currently struggling to swallow a particularly large piece of grilled meat, nodded vigorously. He managed to force out a few muffled, incoherent words: "Th-thas ri-! Wa-! Wa-! Water!"
"Water... here, take this!"
After a frantic few seconds of handing Hayashi a glass of water and helping him successfully swallow the meat, the situation finally returned to a state of relative calm.
"We primarily met due to a series of... unusual coincidences," Akane explained with a shake of her head. "By the way, Ayumi... you're Hayashi's primary editor, right?"
She had intended to address Ayumi more formally, but then remembered that she had just insisted that Ayumi drop the professional honorifics with her as well.
"That's correct. I'm currently a full-time editor in the Editorial Department at Manga World Publishers, and I'm officially responsible for Aoyama-sensei's serialization."
Ayumi confirmed.
"I actually knew that much already. I've been following Hayashi's debut serialization quite closely, you see."
Akane leaned over and pulled her copy of 'Manga World GoGo' from her bag.
It was clear that she had already finished reading the first chapter of the new serialization.
"Speaking of which, how was the initial reception for 'Edgerunners'? Was it popular?"
She asked, her eyes sparkling with genuine curiosity.
"Well... we won't actually have the finalized survey results until next Thursday," Ayumi replied honestly.
Now that they had found a common topic of interest, Akane and Ayumi began chatting animatedly with one another.
Hayashi, however, showed absolutely zero interest in joining their conversation. He was far too busy devouring as much grilled meat as humanly possible.
"I see... By the way, Hayashi mentioned that you've already read the first six chapters of the story. How exactly does the plot begin?"
Akane asked, her expression filled with anticipation.
The first chapter of 'Edgerunners' that Hayashi had published only provided a broad overview of Night City and the general world-building, with a heavy emphasis on the concepts of Cyberpsychosis and Cybernetic Augmentation. The protagonist, David, had only just made his debut, and it was impossible to tell where the story was heading.
However, Akane had witnessed the drafts for Chapter 26, where David, Lucy, and Maine all appeared together. She also knew that Maine eventually ended up... well, dead.
Naturally, she was incredibly curious about the early history between David and Maine.
"The first six chapters? Well, it starts with David being relentlessly bullied in Night City, and then he and his mother are accidentally caught in the crossfire of a brutal gang war..."
Ayumi found that specific sequence to be incredibly memorable.
In her mind, those first few chapters did an exceptional job of establishing Night City as a cold, heartless, and hyper-capitalist dystopia. In that world, if an ordinary person doesn't have the money to pay for premium medical services, they literally don't even have the right to be rescued.
The plot point where David's mother tragically passes away right at the beginning of the story was particularly shocking and unexpected.
After all, how could the protagonist's only remaining family member, the person who was his entire world, be killed off so quickly and so senselessly?
Even now, Ayumi felt a lingering sense of melancholy whenever she thought about it.
However, the subsequent plot featured a satisfying "underdog's revenge" moment that helped alleviate some of that sadness.
Specifically, when David finally receives his Sandevistan implant and uses its power to give that arrogant rich kid a much-deserved beatdown, Ayumi had found it incredibly cathartic.
"Actually, wait..."
Akane suddenly cut her off. "I think I'd rather wait and read it all for myself as it's published..."
Hearing Ayumi summarize the plot points made it feel a little less impactful. She felt she would enjoy the experience much more if she experienced the story through the manga panels themselves.
"By the way, Hayashi..."
Akane turned her attention toward the still-eating mangaka.
"Huh? What's up?"
Hayashi blinked and finally set down his chopsticks.
"In the world of Cyberpunk, is the primary source of power strictly limited to cybernetic augmentations?"
Akane asked. "If that's the case, wouldn't that mean the massive corporations with all the wealth would simply have an army of the strongest and most invincible fighters?"
"Well, yeah," Hayashi replied with a shrug. "But it's not quite that simple."
"Not that simple?"
Ayumi chimed in, "I assume it has something to do with the Cyberpsychos, right? After all, Aoyama-sensei's setting establishes that if you modify your body too much, you'll eventually lose your mind and turn into a Cyberpsycho, right?"
"No, no, no. It's not just about the amount of chrome you have. Even a single implant can trigger Cyberpsychosis if it pushes a person's nervous system beyond its absolute breaking point."
Hayashi explained. "The Sandevistan is a perfect example of that. But the truth is, everyone's individual tolerance for cybernetic modification is different."
"So, in other words, David is one of those classic protagonist types who just happens to have an incredibly high natural tolerance for cybernetic implants, right?"
Akane's eyes lit up as she processed the information.
"Yeah. His natural tolerance for modification is indeed off the charts. He can handle things that would make an ordinary person lose their mind instantly."
Hayashi replied after a moment of thought.
"What's the absolute limit for cybernetic modification then? Is it possible for someone to replace everything except for their brain?"
Ayumi asked, her curiosity now fully piqued.
Hayashi thought for a moment. That was a tough question to answer definitively. In the original game, a character like V could practically have their entire skull modified.
In reality, the 'Netrunner' or 'Gunslinger' playstyles in the game, which relied on a Neural Link, actually represented some of the lowest levels of physical modification. A Neural Link was primarily an interface for the brain, and its modification level was likely only around 1% or 2%, roughly equivalent to a frontal cortex implant.
Essentially, by the time a character reached the level of modification seen in high-end game builds, there was so little organic tissue left that you probably couldn't even scrape enough meat off them to make a decent stir-fry...
"Technically, the Cyberpunk world even allows for modifications to the brain itself. Everyone has an integrated Neural Link. In the most extreme cases, a person can have their entire body replaced with specialized machinery, leaving only a tiny fraction of their original organic self behind."
Hayashi explained.
"I see..."
Akane and Ayumi both fell into thoughtful silence as they considered the implications.
"Alright, alright. Let's stop with the questions. I'm starting to feel like hearing all this from you, Hayashi, is just going to ruin the fun of discovery later."
Akane said, deciding to preserve the mystery.
"Fair enough. Well, I'm pretty much stuffed. How about you two?"
Hayashi asked, leaning back and patting his stomach with satisfaction.
"We're finished as well," both women replied simultaneously.
"Great... time to head out then!"
Hayashi stood up, cradling the equally satisfied Pochita in his arms as the group prepared to leave.
(End of Chapter)
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]
T/N: Spoilers (剧透) - The core theme of the chapter title.
T/N: Full Body Conversion - A high-level concept in the Cyberpunk lore mentioned by Hayashi.
T/N: V - A subtle meta-reference to the protagonist of the 'Cyberpunk 2077' video game from Hayashi's past life.