The "Super-Mart" in Sector 4 was a chaotic, fluorescent-lit warehouse of discounted produce and bulk goods. For a normal person, it was a chore. For Yuto Kurosawa, it was a psychological battlefield.
Yuto stood at the entrance, staring down aisle four like it was a boss room. He was holding Kurenai's canvas bag of yen so tightly his knuckles were white.
"Alpha, what are the mechanics here?" Kurenai whispered, crouching behind a display of watermelons. "Do we engage the cashier first, or do we gather the loot and kite them to the exit?"
"No kiting," Yuto muttered, sweat beading on his forehead. "If we leave without engaging the cashier, it's considered a 'Theft' event. The local Enforcer Guild—the police—will aggro."
"Understood," Ayase nodded solemnly. "We shall gather the loot with honor."
Isabella and Rin took the lead, tossing vegetables, noodles, and a few packets of cheap meat into the shopping cart. Every time an item hit the metal basket, Yuto physically flinched.
"Rin," Yuto gasped, pointing a trembling finger at a bottle of soy sauce. "That brand is 400 yen. The generic brand is 350 yen. We are losing 50 yen of potential value!"
"Yuto, the generic brand tastes like salted battery acid," Rin sighed, dropping the 400-yen bottle into the cart.
"Value is subjective, Master!" Shion chimed in from the cart, where she was currently trying to chew on a plastic-wrapped cucumber. "But you must admit, the lack of an exit tax in this establishment is quite generous."
They navigated the aisles, surviving the treacherous traps of "Buy One, Get One Half Off" (Yuto nearly short-circuited trying to calculate the real-world arbitrage) and avoiding the "Impulse Buy" checkout racks entirely through sheer ascetic willpower.
Finally, they reached the cashier.
The teenager behind the register looked incredibly bored as he scanned the items. Beep. Beep. Beep. Every sound was a dagger to Yuto's hoarding instincts.
"That'll be 3,450 yen," the cashier droned.
Yuto froze. The Vanguard tensed, ready to draw their weapons in case the Alpha decided this was an extortion attempt. Yuto looked at the bag of money Kurenai had earned. Then he looked at Rin, who was smiling at him, holding the bags of food that would feed them for the week.
For three years, money was a weapon. It was mass, it was gravity, it was a shield against a cruel, systemic god. Spending meant dying.
But Omni-Corp was gone. The Chairman was deleted.
Yuto reached into the bag. His hand shook as he pulled out three crisp 1,000-yen notes and a 500-yen coin. He placed them on the counter. He didn't try to vault them. He didn't try to compound their interest.
He just paid for his groceries.
The cashier handed him his 50-yen change. Yuto took the small silver coin. It didn't glow. It didn't whisper promises of infinite power. It was just a piece of metal.
"Quest complete," Yuto whispered, letting out a breath he felt like he'd been holding for three years.
Ten minutes later, the Vanguard was sitting on the roof of their apartment building under the gray Neo-Tokyo sky. Isabella was cooking the ramen on a portable camp stove, and the smell of actual, non-digital broth filled the air.
Yuto sat on the edge of the roof, flipping the 50-yen coin over his knuckles.
Rin sat down next to him and handed him a steaming bowl. "You survived."
"Barely," Yuto grunted, taking the bowl. He took a sip of the broth. It was warm, salty, and utterly imperfect. It was the best thing he had ever tasted.
He looked at Kurenai laughing as she arm-wrestled Isabella, Ayase peacefully meditating by the AC unit, and Shion successfully hacking into a neighbor's Wi-Fi.
Yuto smiled, tossing the 50-yen coin into the air and catching it. He was stat-less. He was broke. But as he ate his ramen with his family, the ultimate hoarder finally realized he had everything he would ever need.