The school day ran its usual course. Ren attended every class with the outward focus appropriate to his role as a student and the internal attention of someone managing a growing project list.
The moment the final bell rang, he was through the gate.
He had materials to buy, an apartment to evaluate, and a client to serve.
The girls had decided to shop together. He'd finished buying everything he needed for his own Array by the time they'd presumably started debating quality tiers on magic stones, and he walked back to his apartment alone.
He set the materials down and looked at his living space.
This place is not good. The lease was expiring soon anyway, which he'd known from his predecessor's memories. He'd been planning on finding something better — he just hadn't gotten around to it.
Setting up a personal Array here, only to dismantle it and move in two weeks, was inefficient.
He looked at his wallet and experienced a familiar sensation.
After the materials purchase, he had roughly a thousand Valis to his name.
The timing was what it was. He pulled up his conversation with Asuna.
Ren: [You there? Done with the materials? If you're ready, I can come by and set it up now.]
The message went through. A reply came back quickly.
Asuna: [I'm still shopping with the others, but I'm coming back now. Meet me downstairs at my complex?]
He sent an OK and started packing his installation tools.
The building Asuna had pointed him toward last night was exactly the kind of place that looked better up close than it did from the street — proper building management, maintained common areas, the particular atmosphere of a place where people expected their environment to be looked after.
The leasing office was right there in the lobby.
Ren poked his head in.
The unit below Asuna's floor was available. One bedroom, one living area, kitchen, bathroom — the exact same standard footprint as every unit in the building, since the design was uniform. Monthly rent: over two thousand.
He didn't have two months' rent and deposit in his account right now.
He looked at the apartment for a few minutes anyway — natural light, clean finishings, the kind of space that was functional enough to be excellent. He was deeply satisfied with everything about it except the current state of his bank balance.
"I'll come back to sign the contract shortly," he told the leasing agent, and meant it.
He texted Asuna for her room number.
The elevator opened in the fourth-floor corridor just as Ren arrived at the staircase landing from below, and the three girls stepped out.
Asuna looked at him with genuine surprise. "How are you already here?"
"I was looking at an apartment downstairs. If everything goes through, we'll be upstairs-downstairs neighbors."
Her expression went from surprised to pleased. The prospect of having someone she knew in the building clearly appealed to her.
"When would you move?"
"Today or tomorrow. My lease is expiring anyway, and since I'm doing an installation here, it makes sense to just make the move."
She unlocked her door and let them all in. The layout was immediately familiar from the unit below — same floor plan, mirrored orientation, different personal touches.
Megumi and Yukino looked around with the evaluative interest of people who have strong opinions about interior space.
"Bedroom installation," Ren confirmed, "covering the full room?" He was already noting the dimensions.
"Exactly. Living room doesn't need one." Asuna had done the math herself — she spent most of her time at school or in her room. The common area was a bonus, not a necessity.
"We need to clear the floor first." Ren glanced at Yukino and Megumi.
The two of them understood the implication without needing it spelled out, and moved into the bedroom to start shifting furniture. Asuna joined them. All three of them were martial artists who'd been training their bodies since early childhood, and Asuna had barely unpacked — within five minutes, the room was bare.
Ren surveyed the empty space and felt something loosen in his chest that had been tight since he'd first calculated his finances.
This is going to be fine.
He held out his hand. Asuna passed him the materials bag.
He opened it, reached the magic stone she'd chosen, and immediately had to take a moment to control his expression.
It was beautiful. Smooth, deeply translucent, the kind of stone that cost several times what he'd estimated and was worth every single Valis. The quality was so far above the Goblin stones he'd collected last night that the comparison was almost funny.
It is so good to be rich.
He thought it with complete, unself-conscious sincerity, and then got to work.
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