After being elected as the governor of Tokyo, he will debut as a band!

"It seems that Hiroto Kawashima forced him to continue using this name. After all, compared to the unknown 'Toyokawa Kei,' the name 'Toyokawa Kiyoko,' which shows the family lineage, is more suitable for using as a pretext."

Immediately afterwards, Komekado took out several bills from the file bag.

"These are the water and electricity bills for the Toyokawa family within the past six months issued by the water and electricity companies, as well as the rental contract signed three months ago. We can see that the signature on these documents is 'Toyokawa Kei'. In other words, Mr. Toyokawa himself does not consider himself to still have a patriarchal identity at this time, and is no longer suitable to use the name 'Toyokawa Kiyoko'."

"Please take a look at this next. The company involved, 'Shimakaze Financial,' is the company where Hiroto Kawashima serves as general manager and is actually in charge. It is also one of the organizers and major beneficiaries of the counterfeit currency gang... At least 60% of all the external contracts produced by this company in the past three months are signed by 'Kiyotaka Toyokawa.' In other words, Shimakaze Financial believes that Mr. Toyokawa still has a patriarchal status, which means that they do have the motivation to hire Mr. Toyokawa as a senior manager of their company."

It's like a certain internet celebrity who was banned and is now nothing. Normally, he would only be fit to do a job with a monthly salary of 3000. However, a company believes that he still has positive influence. Even though this former internet celebrity clearly stated that he no longer has any influence, they still hired him as the company's general manager and partner with a high salary of 50 per month, plus a 10% share of the company's net profit.

However, after he actually joined the company, they discovered that the former internet celebrity's reputation was completely worthless. They stopped paying him and refused to sign a labor contract with him. Instead, they used the internet celebrity's reputation as a gimmick to swindle and deceive people. The former internet celebrity had no choice but to continue working for the company and was often brought out to maintain appearances.

So now the question is, if this former internet celebrity were to request payment of her wages and related compensation from the relevant authorities, should it be settled based on her monthly salary of 3000 yuan, or on a monthly salary of 50 yuan plus a 10% share of profits?

Now it's time to settle the account.

That depends on whether the court can determine whether this "former internet celebrity" is the company's general manager and partner.

The same applies to Toyokawa Kiyoshi.

Kensuke Komikado continued, "According to Mr. Toyokawa's testimony, during the three months he worked at Shimakaze Financial, he received a total of 17 yen in compensation... In addition, he also took advantage of his position to steal some counterfeit money, but he didn't dare to spend a single penny, and has now turned it all over to the police. In short, all sorts of miscellaneous money added up, our Mr. Toyokawa received a total of 19.3 yen in profits from Shimakaze Financial and Hasegu Logistics."

Hearing this, Aoyama was speechless.

人家冒着风险跟你干了三个月，你就给人家17万日元的报酬……要知道现在哪怕是一个勤俭节约的人在东京的月度花销都要在14万日元左右上下，就连广井菊理住的那间房龄52年、没有浴室空调、还闹鬼的破房子月租金都要2.5万日元了（此事在孤独摇滚漫画83话中亦有所记载）。

So you think honest people with no connections deserve to be bullied like this?

Toyokawa Kiyotaka's life these past few months has been absolutely miserable. He's been doing a job that risks his life every day, earning less than 7 yen a month, living in a cold, cramped, and dilapidated house, and having to listen to his drunken neighbor's rants in the middle of the night. He tried to drown his sorrows in alcohol, but a few bottles of Asahi beer with only 5.0% vol were enough to knock him out...

In this life.

"How much money can you help the Toyokawa family get back?"

Qingshan asked.

He arranged for Komekado to handle this case because Komekado was good at helping clients recover money. If it was about upholding justice, then finding another friend from his legal career, Phoenix Wright, would be the most suitable.

"Mr. Toyokawa would be satisfied with 700 million yen, but I would prefer at least that amount."

Kensuke Komikado smiled and held up four fingers. "Forty million."

"...As expected of you."

"I apologize for making you laugh. But there's no other way. I have a principle: I don't take cases under 3000 million. Besides, I can't let this case go to waste, can I? So, 3000 million goes to Ms. Toyokawa, and 1000 million is my fee for my hard work. It's all reasonable."

As Komekado spoke, he tilted his chin up, looking just like a rooster that had won a cockfight.

"I don't care how much you want, I just want to hear how you're going to do all this."

Judges aren't stupid. You think they'll just award you 40 million just because you say you want 40 million?

Shimakaze Financial, an insurance company, would be lucky to earn 5 million yen if they actually offered two months' salary to a senior executive. Keep in mind that in all of Japan, no more than 960 civil servants earn over 1 million yen, and those who do are long-serving employees with over 30 years of experience.

“Of course, Your Honor won’t rule that way, but we can settle this privately.” Kensuke Komikado downed his glass of wine in one gulp, then elegantly placed it on Hattori’s tray, looking confident. “Think about it, what evidence do we need to provide to get the court to recognize Mr. Toyokawa as an executive of Shimakaze Financial? It’s known that there was no employment contract between the two parties.”

"...Just tell me directly, there's no need to keep me in suspense."

"Of course it's a fact of employment! Every company has confidential documents and business memos that can only be accessed by senior executives and above. As long as Mr. Toyokawa can prove in court that he is very familiar with the contents of some of these documents of Shimakaze Financial, wouldn't that prove that he is an executive and that he has indeed worked for the company?!"

"Most importantly, a tax audit is currently underway in Tokyo. I think there must be some content in Shimakaze Financial's confidential documents that is closely related to several companies that are the focus of this investigation. Do you think they are willing to submit these confidential documents to the court to deny Mr. Toyokawa's status as an executive, or will they settle with us to avoid trouble?"

"That's why I said the key to this case lies in your brilliant leadership, and that's no exaggeration at all."

The explanation of the name Toyokawa Kiyoyuki in the text is purely a far-fetched attempt to patch up the previous text and make the plot more reasonable. Just read it for fun.

Regarding the character “告”.

こく【report】

1 つげる.知らせる.

2 The one who goes down is the one who goes up.

つげ【report げ? report】

1 知らせ.

2. To proclaim.

Make way for me: 072 One Night at the Starlight Performance Hall

After leaving Komekado Law Firm, Aoyama saw that he still had time, so he changed into a Hack vest and asked Suzumiya Hyakubi to take him to the Starry Night Performance Hall.

Although it was quite late, the Starlight Ballroom was still open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., but it was a bit deserted compared to the peak hours from 9 to 11 p.m.

As Aoyama walked down the stairs to the entrance, he saw Iji Tomoka lying on the bar, looking completely exhausted.

"Good evening, Mr. Huck. It's rare to see you at this hour."

The PA girl, who was idly scrolling through her phone behind the bar, greeted Aoyama with a cheerful smile.

Good evening, is there any performance going on now?

"Well, the next show is in fifteen minutes, it's a really energetic heavy metal band, Mr. Hack, would you like to see it? If you buy a ticket now, it's only 2000 yen, and you'll get a free soft drink."

"...Alright, give me one."

2000 yen was just a small amount of money for Aoyama, but it would allow the band performing next to him to order a couple more beers at the after-party.

The bands scheduled to perform at this time are unlikely to be very famous, so even just being able to get an extra beer is a consolation for them.

"Okay, here you go."

"Thank you..." Aoyama took the soft drink but didn't drink it. He just placed it in front of him, watching the bubbles rise to the surface. "By the way, what's wrong with Itachi?"

"The store manager went to the library this afternoon and came back looking like this... He probably realized that he's past the age where he can still enjoy reading, so he's feeling a bit lost."

When Ms. PA finished speaking, Aoyama noticed that Hoshika's shoulders twitched a few times.

So this person was still awake!

But if he's still awake, why hasn't he paid any attention to me after I've been here for so long?

"Miss PA, is Ijichi asleep? To be able to sleep so soundly in such a bright environment is truly enviable sleep quality."

"She probably wasn't asleep, after all, she was still chatting with me with a straight face just a minute before Mr. Huck came in."

"Cough cough..."

Xingge let out a faint cough. Ms. PA looked in the direction of the sound and found that although Xingge was still lying down, she was tilting her head and giving her a warning look.

"Oh dear, it seems I was too talkative... Well then, I'll go check the stage equipment first. You two have a good chat."

Miss PA slipped away, and Xingge couldn't stay still any longer. After fidgeting for a while, she straightened up, looking somewhat surprised.

He looked at Qingshan with those eyes.

"Oh, it's you. When did you arrive? You didn't even call to let me know before you came. Weren't you worried about being photographed by reporters?"

“Reporters need to sleep too,” Aoyama waved his hand dismissively. “Besides, what reporter would go to a live house to find gossip about the Governor of Tokyo? If they did, their colleagues would laugh at them the next day and tell them to go to a few high-end clubs in Ginza or Roppongi with a minimum spend of 1000 million yen, saying things like, ‘Only in heavily guarded places like these can you find your prey.’”

“…Is this what they call ‘the most dangerous place is the safest place’?” Hoshika sighed, but immediately became alert. “It sounds like you’re quite familiar with places that have a minimum charge of 1000 million yen.”

"Ah."

"You admitted it so quickly!"

"There's nothing to hide. Sometimes, you have to work with people you don't like, and even clean up the messes of some idiots for the sake of the overall good... If you knew what these people had done, you'd probably want to kill them all."

"...That sounds so heavy."

Xingge knew nothing about politics, but just from his tone and voice, she could hear the helplessness and suppressed anger in his voice.

"It's not easy for you either."

Xingge didn't know what to say to comfort him; after all, she wasn't the kind of person who was good at understanding others. She could only sigh after a brief silence.

"What's so difficult about it?" Hearing Xingge's sigh, Qingshan Xiang laughed instead. "Don't sympathize with people like us, it's not worth it. As the manager of the performance hall, you should care more about those who are working hard on the stage."

"I know it without you having to tell me."

"Oh, by the way, I heard from Ms. PA that you went to the district library this afternoon?"

“Hmm…” Xingge seemed to get nervous when this was mentioned. “I only went to take a look for a little while. I’m going to a seminar now, right? I just wanted to write a speech or something. Even if I can’t help promote ‘Fanxing’ at the seminar, I can’t tarnish ‘Fanxing’s’ reputation.”

"Has it been written down yet?"

“…No,” she scratched her head in frustration, the triangular tuft of hair on her head spinning in response. “I finally managed to read two pages of the book, but as soon as I picked up a pen, I forgot everything. I wrote a title, I wrote the first word, and then I couldn’t write a single word.”

"As for the speech draft, I happen to have a few discarded copies here. Would you like to borrow them?"

"Doesn't 'invalid' mean 'bad'? Then can it still be used?"

"Although it's a draft that was rejected, it was written by graduates of the University of Tokyo and Musashino University, so the quality is still guaranteed..."

"Forget it, I still want to talk about what I have actually come into contact with and what I can truly understand. What the top students write may be very rigorous and correct, but it cannot represent the true situation of Shimokitazawa and Hansei, nor can it convey the feelings of those performers who have stood on this stage."

Ijichi Seika turned to look at the stage. The next band to perform was a five-member group, so five microphones and two drum sets were already set up there. After all, it was a heavy metal band, so having multiple drummers was quite normal.

Below the stage, several audience members had already gathered and were chatting and laughing. Aoyama could hear their praise in their conversation, such as, "This band is really energetic!" and "Especially the lead singer, the way he flips his hair while strumming the strings is so captivating."

“Yoshima… Hakusan, you may not be able to feel it, but I’ve been sitting in this position for many years, and I know what the audience likes and what kind of performances they want to see on stage. That’s what I want to talk about at the seminar.”

"You're much more serious than before, after all these years."

"Long-winded!"

"However... I might have to pour some cold water on you. For someone like you who isn't well-known in the field, attending such a seminar would just be a formality, and no matter how well you prepare, it would be meaningless."

"I know."

To this, Ichika Hoshika was quite frank, "But even if it's just going through the motions, at least some sound will be left behind. A little more sound is always better than a little less. If you do nothing because you're too weak, you'll regret it in the future."

"I see."

Aoyama nodded, then thought for a moment. "Ichichi, I remember you like surprises?"

"Why do you say this suddenly?"

"What I mean is, you might encounter some surprises at this seminar!"

Let's add more scenes for the eldest sister~

Make way for me: 073 So arrogant... So charming

"A surprise? What kind of surprise could there be..."

Ijichi Hoshika looked at Aoyama Muka with hesitation. Perhaps because she had been reading all afternoon, her brain was still fogged up. It took her about ten seconds to react.

"Wait a minute... coming from your mouth, does that mean you instructed this seminar to be held?"

"I don't have time to deal with these trivial matters; the people below me handle them themselves."

Aoyama spread his hands.

"Then why did you say that..."

"At most, I just help them with the selection process."

“Uh,” Xingge patted his head, giving a “my head hurts” look, “I can’t stand this kind of bureaucratic talk…you can just say that you have the final say on the seminar.”

"You can't say that. I'm just offering some suggestions from a holistic perspective, while ensuring that my subordinates can give full play to their initiative and professionalism. It's just that there's a principle of the part serving the whole, so they will value my suggestions a little more than their own ideas. Just a little bit."

"...I feel like what you're saying is even harder to understand than the sentences in the book I read in the library this afternoon."

In short, just do what you want to do, and as for what happens next, leave it to fate...

"Are you going to say that you yourself are 'God' next?"

"I wish I could really have my words become law like 'heaven,' but that's very difficult for me."

"Didn't you just tell me not to empathize with you?"

Just as their conversation was starting to drift into something pointless, a figure that looked like a zombie, twisted and stiff, rushed out of the bathroom, pounced on the bar, snatched the untouched soft drink from Aoyama, and downed it all in one gulp.

"I almost died of thirst... hiccup..."

The "zombie" burped, and the smell of alcohol hit you.

"Hiroi, you smell terrible. Did you sleep in the toilet just now?"

"Ichi Hoshika said with disdain."