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Chapter 017 Arasaka Academy
🕑 Added 2025-10-03 10:57:41 +0000 UTC"Hello, Director Russell, I'm Marcus."
"Director Russell, I'm Sugihara."
"I'm Hoyle."
...
Run-of-the-mill introductions, just like all the other guests: formulaic pleasantries, small talk, and greetings. After a few minutes of casual conversation, Vera was ushered inside by Arasaka Academy's senior staff.
"Director."
Following Vera's orders, the security team that had arrived at the academy earlier now regrouped around her.
"Bryan, Laurie."
Vera's trusted black and white bodyguards – 'Black Devil' Bryan and 'White Devil' Laurie – led the additional security personnel assigned after her promotion, automatically taking over perimeter duties.
Though Vera didn't necessarily need their protection (combat capabilities aside, this was an Arasaka academy, not some community college that just anyone could waltz into), they still served a purpose. Sometimes, putting on a show really does provide extra benefits.
Surrounded by her bodyguards and subtly occupying center stage, Vera stepped foot in her so-called "alma mater" for the first time in over a year.
Full name: Night City Arasaka Tower Academy.
Just as Arasaka Tower wasn't unique to Night City, Arasaka Tower Academy wasn't either.
Arasaka Corporation's regional headquarters around the world were all fairly similar, but only Night City's North American headquarters, Paris's European headquarters, and Tokyo headquarters could be called Arasaka Towers.
Other regional offices were mostly called buildings.
Some branches had Arasaka Academies for company employees' children, others didn't. Those with "Tower" in the name ranked higher than other branches.
Click-clack—
Stepping inside, vast areas of ornamental natural vegetation clearly displayed Arasaka's power. Many Night City residents probably hadn't seen this much natural greenery in their entire lives.
As for what Vera was feeling right now?
Nostalgia? Longing?
Bullshit!
Vera wasn't in the mood for that.
Back when she was at Arasaka Tower Academy, having just lost her parents, she'd worked her ass off grinding, just wanting to advance quickly, get into Arasaka, and cash in on her late parents' "inheritance." She didn't have time for sentimental spring melancholy or soaking up campus atmosphere.
Besides, the school culture and academic environment of 2074...
Heh heh heh...
Classes were AI-taught, instruction was through braindances, and many courses were simply chip downloads or direct data transmission.
What teacher-student bonds or classmate friendships were there to speak of... well, you can't say that absolutely. Maybe there were some, but Vera never saw them.
That ancient mode of human-to-human teaching was incredibly rare in the cyberpunk world of 2074. Only a handful of world-class institutions like Tokyo University, Berlin's Humboldt University, Paris's Sorbonne, Moscow University, and the New United States' UC Berkeley had the resources to maintain it.
And the tuition... broke people simply couldn't afford it.
Even second-tier schools like Arasaka Tower Academy weren't accessible to ordinary citizens without parents working stable, high-paying corporate jobs.
Think you could graduate and land a job at a major corporation, working in Arasaka Tower? Dream on!
Social classes were clearly defined, and even more so within the academy!
In today's world, kindergarten, elementary, and even middle school – this kind of pre-school and age-appropriate education was completely irrelevant to the lower classes. The mixed-bag community colleges were perhaps the only place most people could access even a little knowledge, and there wasn't much valuable knowledge to be found there.
Trying to learn online was a dead end.
The internet had been blown up by some idiot calling himself the "God of Hackers" [referring to Rache Bartmoss]. Now it was all corporate intranets – no access without credentials. Want to try your luck on the old net? Forget about getting past the Black Wall [cybersecurity barrier] – even if you made it through, you'd probably get your brain fried by one of the rogue AIs running wild in there.
Even if you managed to get into a proper academy through your parents' open-mindedness and financial sacrifice, by the first year many would feel the world's inequality. Those with solid foundations had already tested up and advanced, while those without continued remedial work. After evaluations and tracking, those who couldn't afford it transferred to comprehensive academies.
What's "comprehensive"?
High EQ answer: Teaching and cultivating students' all-around development, with strong institutional teaching capabilities covering everything.
Low EQ answer: Jack of all trades, master of none. "Comprehensive" in name, mediocre in reality.
As Night City's top-ranked institution, Arasaka Tower Academy naturally had places that taught cutting-edge knowledge and even offered live instruction in advanced courses – but those were in specialized schools like Military Administration and Law, Information Communication and Intelligence, and Bioengineering.
Tuition and admission requirements were several tiers above the comprehensive academy.
Graduating from comprehensive academy and getting into Arasaka Tower? That probably wasn't their destination. Arasaka's manufacturing floors, automated factories, waterfront ports, badlands farms... isn't that employment too?
"Tsk... this world."
Vera sighed inwardly.
Soon, the group was guided by reception staff into the closed venue for the new student orientation ceremony, entering the VIP waiting area.
Watching more and more enthusiastic new students gathering in the venue below, accompanied by their parents, Vera felt like she could already see their futures.
She unconsciously pulled out the elegant metal case containing her cigarettes from her pocket.
Ding—
The black bodyguard Bryan perceptively produced his lighter, and with the crisp sound of it opening, flames rose. Vera held the cigarette between two slender fingers, brought it to her lightly glossed red lips, and took a drag after lighting it.
Let's just get this over with.
Go through the motions, say some toxic inspirational bullshit [empty motivational platitudes] as an outstanding alumnus, pump them up a bit, and maintain her persona: "Loyal Arasaka second-generation," "Grateful," "Outstanding senior leadership maximizing corporate interests."
...
In the ceremony venue.
"..."
The new student David didn't like it here.
He didn't like the atmosphere.
Because this place was completely at odds with his world.
His little home was in the Santo Domingo super-skyscraper H4 apartments – there, rusty elevators, hallways with half the paint peeling off, outdated decor everywhere, stairwells littered with needles and piles of stains you didn't want to think about too hard, and his home was always dim.
Here, close to Corporate Plaza, you could look up and see that suffocating black tower.
The skyscrapers here were like weapons of war: aggressive, heavily fortified, arrogant. Clean yet cold. Standing here, he felt like he'd arrived at the city's heart, even at the center of the universe, and they might devour him alive at any moment.
Including his mother...
"David."
A gentle call. Seeming to sense the depression and panic in David's heart, Gloria lightly patted her son's shoulder. "Now that we're here, face it. In the future, I hope you can live like a human being, not like your mother, not like your dead father." As she spoke, Gloria's eyes seemed to moisten.
"Mom..."
David was speechless.
Just as he prepared to respond to his mother's expectations and reassure her, his vision was caught by a bright flash of color in his peripheral vision.
Following his mother's bright red hair tips, David looked toward the high platform at the front of the venue. There, behind the railings, a large group of intimidating Arasaka bodyguards surrounded a stunning silhouette.
Brilliant and radiant.
Neither quite gold nor silver, her pale golden hair flowed like ribbons of silk, dancing in the wind, unforgettable at first sight.
