Seeing the confusion on Roqi's face, Regina gave him a look that said, Just as I thought.
"Looks like you really don't know," she said after a pause. "Not many people in Night City do."
"Arasaka. Kiroshi Optics. Fuyutsuki Electronics. Kendachi Industries. Tsunami Defense Systems…"
She ticked them off on her fingers.
"Five of the top twenty megacorps in Night City are Japanese. These transnational financial giants have enough money to rival entire nations. But for their homeland, that isn't always a good thing."
Roqi listened in silence, puzzled by what seemed like a non sequitur—until a chill ran down his spine.
He looked up at Regina, eyes narrowing.
"You mean this Asuka Faction… they're not aligned with Arasaka?"
His brain shifted into overdrive.
Global capital and domestic capital might differ in form, but in practice, they weren't usually seen as two separate camps.
In 2077, with global trade so advanced, even companies with no overseas bases still had products distributed worldwide.
So who would be ideologically opposed to transnational powers like Arasaka?
"The Japanese Imperial Family," Regina said, nodding. "And the royalist factions still loyal to them."
Asuka Faction.
Roqi silently repeated the name.
This world's history was vastly different from his own.
Even though Japan, as part of the Axis, had lost WWII, its postwar capital rapidly transformed. Riding the waves of global upheaval, it evolved into a network of powerful financial empires.
That included companies like the one founded by Arasaka Saburo's father, Arasaka Senzai, and Japanese domestic capital rooted in old noble families and landowners.
Some fully embraced Westernization. Others fused Japanese tradition with Western systems.
Either way, Japan rose from the ashes of war to stand at the forefront of the new age.
So even if the Emperor had been reduced to a ceremonial figurehead, the old elite reemerged—reshaped and resurgent.
That was the Asuka Faction.
It wasn't exactly a secret. You could find this stuff online if you looked. Regina didn't mind giving Roqi the history lesson.
But in Night City, people mostly knew the names of the big Japanese corps.
As for their roots, rivalries, or internal politics? Total mystery.
"The Asuka Faction is no joke," Regina said with a shake of her head. "Sure, Arasaka seems like it rules the world—but don't underestimate the next-gen heirs of Japan's old guard."
Roqi tilted his head. "Don't they care about foreign markets?"
"Of course," Regina replied. "Just not the American West Coast."
Night City sat on California's coastline, under the Free State's loose governance. Further east was the Republic of Texas.
The East Coast, along with most of the central states, fell under the authority of the New United States of America—NUSA.
"Arasaka clashed with Militech. But the Asuka Faction is cooperating with NUSA? Did they just forget World War II happened?"
Roqi frowned.
"That's politics," Regina said. "Alliances change. Cooperation is just a means to an end."
Roqi nodded. He got it.
"So if Arasaka sides with Militech… then the Asuka Faction picks the other side?"
"Exactly."
The Japanese government. The Asuka Faction. The royalists…
Roqi tried to picture them, but it was pointless.
He barely knew anything about that distant island nation.
What he did know was this: in Night City, corporations shaped everything.
Politics. Society. Survival. All corporate.
The city was a closed ecosystem. Surrounded by Badlands and unreachable seas, Night City was practically a walled fortress.
Even in the information age of 2077, the outside world still felt distant.
"Oh! I just remembered something!"
Roqi slapped his thigh.
"The Fourth Corporate War in 2023—didn't the Japanese government force Arasaka to back down?"
2023.
A year that rewrote the world.
It wasn't history that caused the war—it was the war that reshaped history.
Afterward, to stabilize federal control, President Elizabeth Kress imposed martial law on NUSA states and nationalized Militech.
While the U.S. struggled with internal chaos, Europe and Japan mostly stayed out of it.
Same with China.
The distant Eastern power stayed largely unaffected by the war—focused instead on its own "internal affairs."
Not until the 2040s did Chinese corps like Kang Tao make global waves—exploding onto the world stage with shock and awe.
But that was another story.
Back in the 2020s, bioweapons used in the war ravaged farmland, spreading mutant crop plagues. The food industry was forever changed, and Biotechnica and Petrochem seized the moment to rise.
Human-targeted viruses wiped out cities like Busan, leaving them no time to react.
Rio de Janeiro was flattened during an Arasaka-Militech clash.
NASA's Explorer mission to Jupiter was abandoned in orbit.
The ESA's O'Neill Station revolted and declared independence.
From late 2021 to the end of 2023, the world underwent a radical reshuffling—etched forever into the history books.
That's when Johnny Silverhand blew up Arasaka Tower.
In Night City, it was earth-shattering.
To the rest of the world? Just another headline.
Clearly, even then, Arasaka and the Asuka Faction were already drifting apart.
And fifty years later, the Asuka Faction still hadn't gained ground in Night City.
"This city's like a cake," Regina said, gesturing. "But not just cut into pieces—stacked higher and higher by corps until it became a fortress. A haven for monopoly and corporate gluttony."
"Anyone who tries to cut in… becomes an enemy."
The room fell silent.
Many in this age walked blind. But not everyone.
When you shift your focus from daily survival to the world's true shape—
Things get heavy.
Like you're taking on the whole damn planet.
"So what?" Max suddenly said.
Same scornful tone as always.
"Submit to the corps? Join them just 'cause we can't beat them? Become their lackeys and sell out the world?"
His voice was steady, calm—but rock-solid.
No dramatic speech. Just a simple truth.
"One day, I'll dig up every dirty thing those corpo bastards ever did."
Roqi looked at him—and laughed.
Yeah. Resistance might be useless.
But that doesn't mean you stop resisting.
If your country's under attack and you can't win, do you just bow down?
Most people aren't Johnny Silverhand. Or Karl Marx. They can't articulate resistance with manifestos.
They can't lead revolutions.
But they can still fight back.
"You know… you kind of remind me of Johnny," Roqi said.
Looking at Max's dead-serious expression, that feeling grew stronger.
One man nuked Arasaka Tower. The other exposed the corps with scandals.
Different tools. Same rage.
They might've damaged the corps—but never broke them.
They didn't stop the wheel of progress, no matter the direction.
But even "pointless" resistance is part of this world's reality.
Max sounded naive. Reckless. Like a fresh-faced punk rushing into his first fight.
But his words lit a fire in the room.
"Don't rush it. Burning down a corpo ain't a one-day job. Stay true, chooms," Roqi said, clapping his hands with a grin.
Everyone understood what it meant:
If the Asuka Faction—based in Japan and NUSA's East Coast—was now sticking its nose into Night City business…
Something was coming.
A quiet war on the surface.
A bloodbath in the shadows.
Because Regina's new job?
Was targeting Arasaka.
"You know the client, Lucky," Regina said. "Natsuko Asō. Ring a bell?"
Roqi's brow twitched.
Deputy Director of Health and Human Services.
A fringe position in Night City's political system.
Her daughter overheard Arasaka secrets—and got killed for it.
At first, Roqi thought the job was simple revenge.
But then the woman—stoic, composed—tried to recruit him.
It felt wrong.
Now, Regina's explanation made it all click.
Asuka Faction.
"They're trying to expand into Night City…"
He said it politely.
But "trying" was an understatement. They were walking straight into Arasaka territory with purpose.
Roqi caught a whiff of something in the air.
Not just cold and bitter—but heavy. Like a storm about to break.
"You sure you wanna take this job?" he asked, remembering Rogue's warning:
Never get too involved with corps or governments. And if you do, keep it transactional.
"Selective jobs only," Regina said with confidence. She was clearly ready.
"We're only hitting Arasaka. The usual—kidnapping, theft, sabotage, assassination."
She didn't need to say more.
When it came to politics, just shut your eyes and pretend you saw nothing.
"If we don't take the job, other fixers will." Regina smirked like a fox. "Word is, half the city's fixers already got approached by the Asuka Faction."
So blatant. There could only be one explanation.
"They're declaring war?" Roqi asked.
"Maybe. Or just showing force," Regina said. "More like… making a statement."
Like sending warships to another nation's waters.
No actual battle—but a clear warning.
That's when it hit Roqi.
Natsuko Asō's flattery. The compliments. The 'you're so talented' speech…
She never saw him as one of them.
If he'd accepted, he'd be cannon fodder.
And once things got messy? Discarded.
"The Asuka Faction's roots are in Japan. If they want influence, they'll go through the East Coast and NUSA. Even if they push into Night City, Arasaka won't just let it happen."
"So… do we keep going?" Roqi asked, frowning.
"Of course. Why not?" Regina grinned. "We're not dumb enough to be someone else's frontline pawn."
"The Asuka Faction might not expand directly into Night City, but you can bet they've got eyes here."
"Helping Arasaka's enemies is still hitting Arasaka. Why not profit from it?"
Roqi stared at Regina's sly smile, stunned—then shook his head with a laugh.
Hit Arasaka. Sell intel. Earn eddies.
A win-win-win.
And if things went sideways?
The ones getting wrecked would be the dumb grunts charging in first for the Asuka Faction.
When that happened, Night City's underworld—mercs, fixers, all of them—would get reshuffled.
And the top-tier fixers?
They'd just watch from above.
Smiling.
And raking in the cash.
Fixers really are sly old foxes.
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