Tokyo: Starting with taking on his wife's debts

After last night's strong winds and heavy rain, the air is fresh and cool, and large wispy white clouds, bathed in bright sunshine, drift in the blue sky.

Shota was dressed in a neat indigo suit, white shirt, black leather shoes and blue tie typical of office workers, and was carrying a black briefcase.

"Good morning, Shota-kun!" Hideaki greeted him early, shaking his hand warmly. "Have you had breakfast?"

"Huh? Hello, President," Shota paused for half a second, looking somewhat flattered, and bowed at a 45-degree angle, "I haven't eaten yet."

After a night of internal struggle, Shota looked at his messy and shabby low-rent apartment and compared it to his own situation. He decided to temporarily lock his "conscience" in a safe and then choose "money".

With this thought in mind, I suddenly realized that having a boss like Xiuming, who is heartless yet willing to take the blame, is really great.

"Let's eat and chat over there!"

Hideaki moved the long table in the shop to the entrance, then placed a box of bento boxes on it. He then took out a box of assorted bento boxes and handed it to Shota, asking Riko to put it on his tab.

With a grateful look on his face, Shota bent down at a ninety-degree angle and took the lunchbox.

After Shota wolfed down his food, Hideaki had Riko bring him a cup of instant coffee.

"Thank you, Mrs. Riko." Shota bowed ninety degrees again and accepted the gift with both hands.

Xiuming looked at him with a smile.

Shota was taken aback. He put the coffee on the table, hurriedly opened his briefcase, took out a black leather notebook, and handed it to Hideaki with both hands. "President, all the information I gathered yesterday is recorded in this."

Yesterday morning, he took the information Hideaki gave him, boarded the train to Chiyoda Ward, and went to Satoshi Tajiri's Game Freak game development studio to conduct a special investigation.

Of course, as we all know, programmers are very busy, especially in Japan today, where there is so much pressure.

Although he didn't get in touch with the core developers or even meet Satoshi Tajiri, his obsession with money outweighed his pride. He shamelessly spent a whole day at Game Freak Studio, gleaning a lot of information from snippets of conversation from passing programmers and cleaning staff.

Just as Hideaki predicted, the early development of the globally phenomenal IP Pokémon faced numerous obstacles. Not only was the game a large investment, but its development cycle was also very long. Nintendo wasn't optimistic about it and hadn't yet allocated development funds to the studio for Pokémon.

Even though Game Freak had developed Mendel's Palace in collaboration with Namco Entertainment, and its 24 copies sold were a remarkable achievement, it was still considered a small fry by Nintendo.

Even though Pokémon embodies Satoshi Tajiri's childhood fantasies and remains a cherished part of his life, financial pressure forces him to take on other game development projects, such as Mario and Wario, in order to keep the studio afloat.

The current Pokémon game is listed as a project at Game Freak Studios. Then, Satoshi Tajiri, along with a few people who still had some spare time, worked on the game intermittently in their spare moments.

“President, since you’re not short of money, I think you should go there yourself,” Shota said quietly after taking a sip of coffee. “I heard that we haven’t been paid for three months, and many employees have resigned due to family difficulties.”

"Really... Did you write down the contact information of all the departing employees?"

"On the last page."

Hideaki flipped to the last page of the notebook, which was full of unfamiliar names. However, he took over all the names of people who had come from Game Freak. He then tore off the paper and handed it to Shota along with the game company proposal he had just written. "Call these people one by one and tell them to come and work here. I just registered the company yesterday with an initial registered capital of 150 million yen. I'll add another 300 million yen later. Make sure the theme is 'The company is well-funded and can do whatever it wants.'"

Shota had just taken the documents when his legs trembled slightly, and his lips quivered as he said, "Okay, okay!"

The substantial financial resources demonstrate the boss's ambition.

He still remembered Xiuming's promise to give him a management position.

He never expected that a newly established company would require a starting capital investment of 450 million yen.

The generation that grew up during the bubble economy era has been corrupted by a distorted view of money. They are obsessed with money, believing that whoever has money is right and whoever has money is the boss.

For money, people are willing to abandon propriety, morality, righteousness, and even kinship. Such behavior has gained understanding and even envy from some people due to changes in ideology.

However, the trend of the times is irresistible, and those who are out of step with the times will only be abandoned in the torrent of history.

Shota, his blood boiling with excitement, ran toward a public phone booth. Hideaki was about to return to the supermarket when five fair-skinned young men stood at the entrance of the financial building across the street.

They were all around twenty-four or twenty-five years old, some with long hair, some with short hair, wearing white vests under various styles of single shirts, some with blue checks, some with red checks, some with black checks... and some were wearing slippers.

All around were office workers in suits coming and going, but they didn't even glance at him, their eyelids drooping and their eyes unfocused, as if they had entered some kind of dream state.

Putting aside his sexual orientation, just looking at his clothes and appearance, he is definitely a professional programmer, making a very good impression on his boss.

Moreover, the state they exhibit reflects a phenomenon known as "technical stress" prevalent among software engineers.

Computers have become their lovers; they are not interested in anything except coding.

It is during long and lonely hours of coding that they ask and answer their own questions, reorganize the logic, and correct errors. This long-term solitary struggle is a huge challenge both psychologically and physiologically, but when the problem is solved, they will gain a great sense of accomplishment.

This sense of accomplishment can make programmers obsessed and addicted. In contrast, they may feel disgusted by the complex and ever-changing interpersonal relationships, and consequently dislike interacting with others.

Once they leave the terminal, their minds are filled with coding and bug finding; once they stop working, they become restless and daydreaming.

"Come, come, come here!" Xiuming raised his hand and shouted three times. They didn't turn around until they reached the asphalt road. Then, they crossed the road like ghosts.

Xiuming then brought out several bar stools from the shop, and everyone gathered around the long table.

Everyone brought a newly printed resume. None of them were good at conversation, so they just gave a brief self-introduction and seemed a little nervous about Xiuming's enthusiastic greeting.

Their voices weren't very loud; they bowed as if out of courtesy and each called out, "President Yamanaka."

Given their current state, they probably don't want to attend any gatherings.

"President Yamanaka, when do we start work?"

Keizo Mizuhara seemed to be the junior representative; after he asked a few questions, a glimmer of light appeared in the eyes of the other four.

"We haven't ordered the game development kits yet. What kind of equipment do you usually use? Write down a list of suitable machines, and I'll send someone to buy them immediately. Also, what kind of chairs and office environment do you want? Don't be shy, just write everything down."

The current mainstream development machines are the PC-9801 or SharpX68000 computer development kits.

Such people deserve to use brand-new machines. After all, in their eyes, second-hand development machines have been defiled by others and are no longer clean machines.

The five people took the paper and pen, their breathing quickening.

Inside the store, the phone next to the cashier rang, and Riko answered it.

After she finished greeting everyone, her expression suddenly froze. Then, holding the phone, she tilted her head and glanced over, seemingly wanting to say something but stopping herself.

Hideaki raised his hand to signal, and asked, "Riko-chan, were you looking for me?"

"Hmm..." Riko bit her lower lip and covered the microphone.

"Who's calling?"

Riko stammered, then whispered, "Honey...would you like to come in for a moment?"

"Why are you being so secretive again?" Xiuming said irritably. "Can't you see I'm busy? Just tell me who called."

“I didn’t dare ask her name,” Riko said, pouting and covering the microphone with both hands. “She said she was your girlfriend.”

"Oh, it must be Tachibana who asked me about stocks."

Xiuming walked into the store without changing his expression, and first hugged Riko's head and kissed her.

The phone number left for Tachibana was the landline number at Ayako's villa. The fact that she could call here must mean that Ayako gave it to her, since Ezaki had already gone to Yamagoi Foreign Trade and forgot to send him the money.

Riko's performance was fantastic—composed and poised!

Has Ayako's 8 million yen been transferred?

"Good morning, Hideaki-kun." Tachibana's voice was filled with joy.

"Tachibana-chan, good morning. Could you check my Matsuba Bank account to see if 800 million yen has been deposited?"

"what?"

Chapter 109 Four Hundred and Fifty Million Yuan Income

When Hideaki mentioned 800 million yen, Tachibana suddenly recalled the scene from the last phone call.

Because Hideaki and Tachibana had just confirmed their relationship last night, she was so excited that she couldn't sleep at all.

As soon as I got to work this morning, I couldn't wait to call Xiuming.

After all, if you're going to do a futures transaction, it would seem unreserved and clingy if you didn't have a good reason to approach Xiuming.

The dating guide says that girls should never lower themselves too much; they should learn to keep their boyfriends interested...

After the call connected, before Tachibana could even introduce herself, Ayako spoke first.

"Oh, is this Tachibana-chan? I know you. You're Hideaki-kun's new girlfriend, right? You can call me Ayako."

Ayako's voice had a frivolous tone, and it didn't sound like that of a proper woman.

"Oh... Ms. Ayako, hello, excuse me... is Hideaki-kun here?"

Xiuming had previously said that this phone number was his home landline, so how could there be a woman in his home... He was filled with doubts but dared not ask.

"She just went out~" Ayako giggled. "She probably went to 'Miyamoto 100 Yen Department Store'! Should I give you her number?"

"Okay, thank you for your help..."

Ayako's strange, coquettish laughter made Tachibana feel a little dizzy. As she was writing down Miyamoto's 100-yen supermarket phone number with her pen, her heart suddenly tightened: This Ms. Ayako must have an unusual relationship with Hideaki-kun...

After writing down the phone number, Tachibana held the phone, reluctant to hang up. She really wanted to ask Ayako what her relationship with Hideaki was, and why she was at his house... But she had too many questions, didn't know who to ask, and was afraid of hearing answers she didn't want to hear.

"Tachibana-chan? Is there anything else? If not, I'll hang up now~"

Ayako still spoke in that flippant tone, and Tachibana suddenly felt disgusted with her. She steeled herself and asked, "What...what is your relationship with Hideaki-kun?"

"Oh ho ho ho~" Ayako let out another string of light and flirtatious laughter, and Tachibana's mind conjured up an image of a woman with a bewitching appearance and flamboyant attire.

After a burst of laughter, Ayako said, "I gave him 800 million yen~ Guess what our relationship is?"

"Ah!" Tachibana was first stunned by the eight hundred million yen, and then startled by the question that followed, she dropped the microphone on her desk.

Ayako's flirtatious laughter came through the microphone again. Tachibana hurriedly picked up the microphone, her voice trembling as she said, "I... I can't guess..."

She subconsciously assumed that Hideaki was being kept by Ayako.

But then I thought, Xiuming probably isn't short of money either! After all, he's so good at making money.

Could it be that the girlfriend I just got last night was stolen by her with her money...?

"If you can't guess, then don't. Tachibana-chan has such a great boyfriend, I'm so envious! Bye~"

Tachibana held the microphone, which had become a dead tone, and stood there for more than ten minutes, carefully recalling every word Ayako had said and her flippant tone.

Ultimately, a barely acceptable conclusion was reached:

Since Hideaki is so good at making money in the stock market, Ayako may have seen his potential and become his partner.

And then Ayako envies her for having a good boyfriend, even saying it in that flippant tone. Does that mean Ayako also likes Hideaki? No wonder he's my abstinent male god.

It's even possible that Xiuming has already rejected her?

At that time, Ayako might have been holding Hideaki's hand and saying, "Hideaki-kun, you're so good at making money, I like you so much, I'll invest 800 million yen in you, please go out with me!" Although Ayako just said on the phone that she gave Hideaki-kun 800 million yen, how could she give it away for free? It must have been an investment, using money to tempt him.

Hideaki-kun flung her hand away and said in a cold and arrogant manner, "Do you think I'm short of money? You shallow woman! What I lack is a soulmate. Money can't buy love. I already have a girlfriend. My girlfriend is Tachibana. She's not only cute, but also very outstanding. I will always love her..." Hideaki-kun is a cold and abstinent male god.