Server Name: Theta Yellow.
Starting Location: Tokonatsu City, Peninsula District.
Log-in credentials accepted.
Welcome to Money (Game) Master, Kaname Suou.
The spiked peninsula they call the Shark’s Tooth is the heart of Tokonatsu City. Stunning tropical beaches, world-class casinos, and a financial metropolis divide the land into three sectors, and the streets are paved with proverbial gold. The palm trees and hibiscus flowers sway in the breeze, and blue butterflies flit alongside birds with feathers of green and scarlet. In stark contrast to this natural beauty, rows of skyscrapers tower overhead, gleaming like mirrored pillars.
There, in a parking lot reserved for beach-going swimmers, sat the mint-green coupe. Kaname stood outside it, leaning against the driver’s side door, a bottle of soda touching his lips. He could feel the blistering heat of the sun on his skin, the refreshingly cool bottle, and the drops of condensation that formed across its surface. He felt its weight in his hand, the tingle in his throat as he drank, as if it were all real. In fact, when was the last time a cheap soda from the real world tasted as good as this one?
Money (Game) Master technically had food and energy gauges, but because the values were reset upon logging out, food items were unnecessary if you were planning on staying for only a couple of hours. On the other hand, logging in for days at a time could lead to malnutrition in the real world. Unless you were one of those people who got addicted to the point of skipping meals, you usually picked a good spot to log out.
The fact that you could taste food and feel full, however, helped aid focus and kept your emotions in check. In addition, since the food was zero calories, it was a dieting hack of sorts.
Meanwhile, Tselika was sunbathing on the hood of the car as usual. She appeared to be trying to take another selfie with the dashcam, but under the searing heat of the sun, she looked not unlike a lamb chop sizzling in a pan of oil.
“Are you okay there?” Kaname asked.
“Of…of course I am. Do I look like anything other than the most elegantly reclining demon you ever did see?”
The loud, booming stereo blared through the car’s open window. In Money (Game) Master, you could basically either listen to loud Western music or financial news (so there were celebrity guests in the game who commented on these things, like in real life). Sometimes a channel would be flooded with anime songs, so it was easy to guess which sponsors had temporarily bought out the rights to the station.
“White Queen Tourism announced that their owners are moving forward with online meetings to bring together their assets, including their airlines, ships, and hotels. No need to bother with AGMs when you’re a massive financial conglomerate, I suppose. The company is calling this the Surf Riding Project, and its advantages are…”
“A follow-up on the satellite industry. Communications across the peninsula are currently handled by undersea cables, but some reports have suggested that these would be replaced by radio base stations. It is now possible that the information in these reports was fabricated by a group of Dealers. According to the blogs of several AI analysts…”
“Based on official announcements regarding the volume of trading in weapons and ammunition, life insurance companies such as Tokime Life, Mistress Inc., and Tarot Girls 22 are on the rise. Even according to our limited data, the numbers are up massively compared to last week. We could soon be looking at a huge…”
“Boooring.” Tselika pouted as she simmered on the hood of the car. The logos and stock prices of White Queen Tourism and various life insurance companies appeared and disappeared across her pit-babe outfit.
“Boring, boring, boring! If you’re going to put trash on the air, then have a beautiful woman reading smut out loud! In fact, just whisk me away to Prostitute Island or even just a strip club or something! A demon queen needs a little excitement in her life, for crying out loud!”
“Why do you want to look at other nude women? I mean, you’re supposed to be a woman yourself.”
“Why, simply to capture with my own eyes the beautiful sight of a woman at work! (Starry-eyed.)”
“Cut it out. When you take it that far, you sound sarcastic. Are you trying to kill them with kindness?”
“Whoa, is that a trace of classism I hear, My Lord? Dancers and sex workers do perfectly legitimate work, I’ll have you know! Prostitution is the world’s oldest profession! If you feel pity for them, that’s discrimination!”
It’s a waste of time to lecture a demon on morality, thought Kaname with a sigh. Magistelli included an auto-investment program that could handle ten thousand transactions a second, trading everything from wheat, to stocks, to gold, to weapons. But they were also meant to provide many other services such as navigation, assisted driving, and combat support—so many powerful features that it could be overwhelming.
While this was going on, the person they were waiting for appeared. Long black hair cascaded down to her waist, and her bangs were swept completely back, held in place by a band made of thin gold, braided into shape. The pair of glasses sitting on her nose added to the determined look in her eyes. She was tall for a woman, buxom, and the holster beneath her arm doubled as a smartphone case and stood out like the suspenders on a waitress’s outfit. She wore a stark white blouse and tight black skirt, topped off with a dark tie around her neck. Her slender legs were covered with stockings, and on her feet were a pair of mismatched boots. Overall, she looked not unlike a military officer who had taken off her jacket, sweltering under the sun and northern winds. Her belt was loose at the back, probably for holding an extra weapon.
It wasn’t uncommon for players to adopt a more casual look in the game—not to be gratuitously flashy but simply because of the heat. The more conservate Dealers settled for taking off their jackets, while most walked around in swimsuits. Even though the city was nothing more than digital data, in some respects, it could be frustratingly uncompromising. There was even a saying that the best way to sabotage one of the unbeatable PMC armies was to cut off their water and air-conditioning.
“It’s time. You must be Kaname Suou, I take it?”
“And you are…?”
“Lily-Kiska of Ag Wolves. And from now on, your teammate. I suppose that means I outrank you, though not by much. In any case, it’s nice to meet you.”