Page 104 of Light Leech

She laughed. I was glad she, too, was using humor to cope with the stress of what might me a most unhumorous situation. “Did they pull your title from the Medislavian net?”

“With Cut–excuse me, the late President Cuttrin–and Pavtov in bed with each other over Arabasia, I bet they’ve been mashing all of the media together.”

She selected start.

An aerial view focused on me and Naoma as we stood before the Donki Tower. I wondered whose drone had lucked out on that shot, earning them vile amounts of violet lumens for a lucrative shot of what they might have assumed was simple pop-up coverage.

Two women narrated the broadcast with the energy to match Ralia and Kyo.

“After–how long has it been, three months?”

“No, I think it’s been a year.”

“No chance! She topped the charts like what, six months ago with Let’s Eat!”

“Let’s Eat, has been at the top of the charts since she played it live, even prior to release.”

“What we mean to say is that it looks like the Neon Idol is back! Despite a few weeks–”

“Months–”

“Whatever it’s been since Naoma’s recent release, she hasn’t had the weekly releases to match competitors like 3Rochi, whose pop-up she visited today in Chuyen!”

“You know they’re not competitors, right?”

“Of course they are. They’re not the same person.”

“But they’re under the same record label.”

“Didn’t you hear about her departure from Reef Records?”

“That was a fabrication. There’s no way she killed the Anton Jackson.”

“Because she didn’t, you shac. He went off the grid after some mess in the Red.”

“No way that’s real.”

“Jump into your neurospace right now!”

“Jump in yours you neurolove wannabe–”

“Violet whore!”

Naoma paused the playback, dying of laughter. “What is this guk?”

It was kind of funny, but her laughter amped it up to be a complete comedy act. “What?”

“They—they–” Looking at my dumbfounded chuckle, she started to cry laughing.

“No way you’re laughing this much.”

“It’s–”She clenched her stomach. “–I–”

“Are you on some kind of fix?”

She nodded, laughing. I felt a sting of fear, almost a need to reprimand her, but what did it matter? We were in a mess of social drama, so what damage did it do to boost her up a little if it earned some laughter like this?

It wasn’t the real Naoma.