A RANDOM WORLD

The rooftop belonged to a half-abandoned megabuilding overlooking the city center.

Ren'ō sat on the edge with one boot hanging over six hundred meters of open air. His cloak pooled around him, black against wet concrete. Orange patterns glowed beneath the fabric whenever the neon signs changed.

He held a paper bowl of tonkotsu ramen in one hand and chopsticks in the other.

Below, Night City moved like a machine dreaming it was alive. Advertisements covered entire buildings. Sirens braided through music. Rain turned every street into a river of broken color.

Ren'ō ate slowly.

The broth was too salty.

It was perfect.

He thought of the first bowl on Citadel Nine. Laana stealing the egg. The blackout sky. He allowed the memory to exist without trying to change it.

"You would complain about the sodium," he said to the city.

A drone passed close enough to scan him. Its screen flashed an advertisement for combat insurance.

Ren'ō stared at it.

The drone reconsidered and left.

He smiled into his noodles.

The anchor crystal at his neck pulsed.

Closer.

Ren'ō looked toward the northern skyline. He could feel Izanara moving through the new multiverse, following the impossible gaps he left in prophecy.

He considered making himself easier to find.

Then he took another bite.

She was an oracle. She could work for it.

A gunfight erupted three rooftops away. Ren'ō lifted one finger without turning. Every weapon involved became a bouquet of plastic flowers.

Confused shouting followed.

Ren'ō continued eating.

A young mercenary climbed onto his rooftop several minutes later, soaked and furious, holding a pink plastic flower where a rifle had been.

"You do this?"

Ren'ō looked at the flower. "Seasonal upgrade."

"That gun cost twelve thousand eddies."

"The flowers were free."

The mercenary stared at his glowing eyes, then at the city far below.

"Who the hell are you?"

Ren'ō lifted the bowl.

"Off duty."

The mercenary decided that was enough information and left.

Ren'ō watched the rain.

He had defeated a god, survived the end of creation, and restarted the multiverse with every memory intact.

The first thing he truly wanted was to sit somewhere no one knew his name and finish dinner while it was warm.

For twelve peaceful minutes, he succeeded.