It would actually be hilarious if playing concerts gains her xp as well, with the more songs she sings and the more people that actually enjoy them netting her even more xp, just as much or more than her typical gigs. Motoko wants numbers to go brr, but not like that!
next thing you know Hiromi will be adding "girlfriend" then "fiance" and one morning Motoko will be waking up next to her "wife"
It had been six months since the first show, which was meant to be her last as well, but here she was being dragged around by Hiromi talking to all these big wigs from various corps, negotiating closing down Corpo Plaza to put on a full fledged concert. Some of younger ones, and a few of the not so young ones -ewww- were treading a little too much into Hiromi's personal space, so when she made eye contact with me, eyes slightly pleading for help, I let my merc skills come back into the front and made my way over to her. I slipped past them, well more like a barreled through some of them in a way some might misconstrue as rude if they lacked the tact to keep their mouth shut, and placed my arm around her shoulders drawing her to me protectively. I shot the men a grin, all teeth and menace. "Heya choom, all good?"
Hiromi gave a quick side eye before grinning in turn. "I was just explaining to these gentlemen the best place to set the stage for your act. After all, I'll only accept the best for my girlfriend," she added, her arm snaking its way across my sides drawing me closer to her.
Eh? Oh- well let it not be said I couldn't take a hint. She obviously didn't like these corpos hitting on her and needed a convenient excuse to slip off gracefully. Well, it was a small little lie to help out my bestie, I only hoped that the boys didn't catch wind of this, or they'd tease us mercilessly. Well, time to sell this properly. I gave her a quick smooch on the head and said, "That's my girl, always going above and beyond for me. That's why I love her!"
That seemed to do the trick, as the men smiled then politely begged off as quickly as they could. Still, it wouldn't do for another group of them make a move as soon as I left, so I decided to stay where I was, though I did rest my head against Hiromi's. I absently noted that her face seemed to be a lot warmer than normal. Ah, she might be worried that this was undercutting her stone cold corpo image. Well tough cookies Hiromi! You'll have to deal tonight, because Motoko was on the job to protect your honor!
I was on probably the most comfortable jet I could imagine, going over the last minute details of my NUSA tour with Hiromi. It seemed like out little ruse as a couple had worked out a little too well, and all of Night City now 'knew' that we were an item. Contrary to my expectations she hadn't seemed to bothered by it, though she still lit up like a tomato whenever the boys brought it up, especially Jun. It seemed like she was still crushing on him after all. Still, once we had decided to do tours out of the city, it seemed like degenerates of all sorts came out of the wood work, so we had to up our game. Hiromi 'proposed' to me rather publicly, so now as far as the public knew, we were engaged. That seemed to put a damper on a great deal of the men, and women, that would suddenly proposition either of us. My Burya helped deter the rest.
Still, Hiromi seemed to have gotten over her initial embarrassment of out little deception, but now I was worried she was taking it a little too far. Why, just the other week, she had done a piece on a talk show, promoting my upcoming tour, and gushing over the preparations for our upcoming 'wedding.' She'd had even forgiven Malcolm and Ichi, and had gotten them involved in the 'preparations.' Well, as much as their new schedules would allow. As I started doing more of the Rockerboy thing, they had also branched out doing their own thing. The times that Section 9 had to do gigs were few and far between now, though we still met up frequently, and they in fact had come along to join me for the first performance that would kick off the tour.
As Hiromi finished listing the locations and the riders associated with each venue, she then transitioned to talking about the 'wedding.' It was only Hiromi, Ichi, Malcolm, and I on the jet, and the guys were smirking at each other for some reason, so I didn't really see the reason to keep up the act right now, but if it made her happy, I'd play along.
Sitting on the balcony at the private villa we had rented in God's honest Japan of all places, I idly stroked Hiromi's hair as she nodded off next to me. The vista was breath taking, being one of the few natural sceneries preserved in this day and age. A small snore brought my attention back to Hiromi. It had been a busy day, and despite all the Gamer perks I had, I too was feeling the fatigue from having to deal with the media as much as I had. Honestly, the spectacle that was our 'wedding' had blown up a lot more than I was expecting. Jun had gone all out- that he had been brought up on the charade had surprised me. It had all the pomp and circumstance that you could be expected from a celebrity wedding, and Malcolm had somehow gotten copies of fake wedding certificates for us to sign to sell it even further. Even to my trained eyes, it had all seemed to be on the up and up.
A cool wind had Hiromi snuggling closer to me for warmth, murmuring "wife" happily in her sleep. That made me smile and caress her face. As the rays of the setting sun glinted off my wedding ring, I had a sudden startling thought. Did I just actually get married to my best friend?!