[Internal Ledger: YUTO_KUROSAWA (Admin)] [Total Liquid Assets: 75,000 Vita-Fragments, 1 Mythic Chest, 1 Hydro-Core, 1 Tear, 3 Dev-Strings.] [Multiplier: 1.65% (Locked - Real World Physics overriding server tension)] [Environmental Impact: High. Localized electromagnetic disruption radiating 50 meters.]
The Sector 4 slums were a maze of rust, neon, and perpetual rain. After leaving the crushed billion-dollar Omni-Corp mech in the alleyway, Yuto led the Vanguard up a crumbling fire escape to a tiny, drafty apartment on the fourth floor of a decaying building.
He kicked the door open. It was exactly as he had left it three years ago when he dove into the Tower: a single mattress on the floor, a dripping sink, and a mountain of unpaid bills on a cheap plastic table.
"Home sweet home," Yuto grunted, his violently glowing right arm illuminating the dark, dusty room.
Isabella, who had spent her entire life in a hyper-rendered, pristine digital Colosseum, looked around in absolute horror. "Yuto... you're carrying four trillion dollars' worth of corporate assets in your central nervous system. You are literally a god of wealth. Why do you live in a trash can?"
"Rent control," Yuto replied flatly, securing the deadbolt.
Rin sat down on the edge of the dusty mattress, clutching a blanket Kurenai had scavenged for her. She looked at her older brother, then at the glowing golden barcode on his palm, and finally at the four incredibly dangerous, impossibly beautiful women standing in his living room.
"Yuto," Rin started, her voice trembling slightly. "The succubus is eating the drywall."
"There is no ambient mana in this dimension!" Shion sobbed, gnawing on a piece of peeling plaster in the corner. "The real world has terrible latency! I'm starving! Master, please, just spend one Fragment to buy me a burger! I'll do anything!"
"No," Yuto said, sitting cross-legged on the floor to minimize his caloric output. "If I convert a Fragment into real-world currency, it registers as a transaction. I'd lose my 1.65% compounding interest rate. We have a half-empty box of stale crackers in the cupboard. Ration them."
Ayase nodded solemnly, retrieving the incredibly stale box of crackers. "Such discipline. To hold the wealth of an empire, yet sustain oneself on dust. The Alpha's asceticism knows no bounds."
"He's not ascetic, he's just a cheapskate!" Kurenai laughed, leaning her massive nodachi against the rusted refrigerator. The Oni didn't seem to mind the squalor at all; she was just thrilled to be in a world where things actually broke when she hit them.
Rin stared at Yuto. "You endured three years of torture... you broke the Babel System... you dragged an entire digital party into the real world... just so you wouldn't have to pay my medical debt?"
Yuto looked at his sister, his bloodshot eyes softening just a fraction. "They tried to charge me a convenience fee, Rin. It was the principle of the matter."
Before Rin could process the sheer, psychotic depths of her brother's frugality, a loud, aggressive pounding echoed from the apartment door.
"Kurosawa! I know you're in there!" a raspy, nasal voice yelled from the hallway. "The power grid on the whole block is glitching because of whatever illegal rig you're running! Open up!"
Yuto sighed, the localized gravity in the room spiking slightly. "The landlord."