Chapter 1015

On the day Mayor Jefferson Peralez was sworn in, the sunlight seemed brighter than usual. Maybe out of basic respect for the new mayor, the city council didn’t switch on the plaza’s colorful decorative spotlights. Because of that, the natural light looked especially clear and unforgiving.

The number of Night City citizens who showed up at the ceremony site far exceeded projections.

Maybe because the new mayor had broken years of precedent by opening the inauguration to the public—people came either with expectations, or just to see a spectacle. The crowd was denser than anyone had anticipated.