When a person's consciousness and personality formed an "imprint," being trapped inside Mikoshi left them completely unable to perceive the outside world, like falling into an eternal sleep.
After all, without a body, there were no sensory organs. Without sensation, there was no way to perceive the world. Subjectively speaking, time and space no longer existed—or at least, they no longer had any meaning.
For Johnny Silverhand, his memories still stopped in 2023, when he was pinned to an operating table and erased by Soulkiller.
In the darkness, a tiny point of light appeared. It was somewhat like a bioluminescent creature in the pitch-black deep sea, incapable of moving on its own and merely drifting with the current.
But then, an invisible giant hand seemed to stir the seawater. The point of light began moving faster and more erratically, like a tiny steel ball bouncing wildly around a casino roulette wheel.
Its own light gradually grew denser, as though something inside it was about to break through its shell.
And that was Johnny Silverhand's consciousness—or rather, the personality imprint called consciousness. Never mind what he truly was for now. At this moment, Johnny felt wind, warmth, heartache, and fear.
He struggled, as if trying to wake from a nightmare. Using every ounce of his willpower, he opened his eyes and let out his own roar—the words he had failed to say before dying all those years ago.
"Fuck you, Saburo Arasaka!"
His body abruptly sat up from the floor as well. That was usually how corpses rose from the dead.
Then he saw another "himself," smoking a cigarette and smiling at him. When the other man opened his mouth, some very pleasing words came out:
"Congratulations, asshole. The surgery was fucking successful. You're a girl now!"
"???"
Johnny Silverhand had