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

"Furthermore, according to what Sister Hiroi said yesterday, Brother Caishen also has a collection of high-end basses, so his bass playing skills are probably extraordinary. He might be responsible for both drums and bass in the band. If that's the case, then his band is basically his personal fiefdom! No, in this case, it should just be called 'his band'!"

"Ryo, what nonsense are you talking about? How can one person be both the drummer and bassist? Do you think Yoshizaki is Tien Fan with four arms?!"

Hong Xia complained.

“No, wait a minute,” Xingge suddenly straightened up, “If it were him, he might actually be able to play the drums and bass at the same time…”

"Huh? Manager, are you serious? I was just joking."

Liang panicked a little when she heard this.

She had long realized that the God of Wealth was no ordinary person, but she never imagined that he might actually be a monster.

Xingge blushed slightly and said hesitantly:

"No... Although I haven't seen him many times, Yoshima does have a special skill of playing the guitar with his tongue, so I think it shouldn't be a problem to use that skill to play the bass?"

"???" x4

Not only the three people, including Hongxia, who were gathered around the bar, but even Xiaogudu, who was still lost in her beautiful fantasy, looked over with a "you have a problem" expression.

The PA staff even pulled out a "No Racing" sign and placed it in front of Xingge with a smile.

"...What kind of look is that?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing... But sister, won't you get all your saliva on the guitar or bass strings when you play with your tongue?"

Hong Xia complained.

"Suddenly I don't want to look at that Almabic bass that Brother Yizhen has in his collection anymore. I feel like it must have been drooled over a lot..."

Liang also looked troubled.

“I can’t really explain the specifics,” Xingge said somewhat awkwardly, knocking down the standee that Ms. PA had set up, but she immediately put it back up. “But I remember he used a special pick, so he wouldn’t leave saliva on the strings… Besides, that was a skill he used more than ten years ago, and I don’t know if he can still do it now that he’s older. Wait a minute, Ms. PA, what are you doing? Why do you insist on putting that random stand up?”

"Because I couldn't listen to it anymore."

The PA (Patrol Assistant)'s smile seemed a little forced.

What kind of rich woman's "happy tongue" special skill is this? That senior, Yizhen, must have a lot of incredibly powerful wealthy woman friends, right?!

……

"Your Excellency, you have two meetings scheduled this afternoon. One is a state consultation with Secretary Kazama Nosuke of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and the other is an oral questioning session with three members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly."

As Chief Secretary Takuya Utsunomiya spoke, he handed Aoyama the detailed documents outlining the two meetings.

Aoyama frowned after quickly flipping through the pages.

"What is the meaning of this parliamentary question? I have not received any official letter from Speaker Shinohara, meaning he has not approved any member to initiate the questioning procedure. Furthermore, it is not currently a parliamentary session, and there are no routine questioning arrangements. So, where did this oral question from the member you submitted come from?"

"Your Excellency, this is an inquiry submitted by three members of parliament to the Metropolitan Government Office in their capacity as members of parliament, without going through the Diet. According to regulations, they have this right."

Takuya Utsunomiya explained.

“If it’s this type of questioning, then I have the right to refuse. Utsunomiya, turn it down.”

"This... Your Excellency, please reconsider. Although you do have this power, this behavior may not create a good impression on the Metropolitan Assembly. If the Metropolitan Assembly thinks you are difficult to get along with, it may cause setbacks in subsequent political work."

"

"Then let's find a suitable reason to refuse."

Aoyama flipped through the meeting details for a while, then, as if he had discovered something, he pointed to one of the pages with his finger.

"Well, according to the details, the focus of these three councilors' inquiries is on the specific measures of the 'Draft Implementation Plan for the Cultural Promotion Project'... I think I already had you hand over this part to the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Culture and Life three days ago, right? Use this as a reason to tell the three councilors to go directly to the Bureau of Culture and Life."

As the chief secretary to the governor of Tokyo, Takuya Utsunomiya also serves as the managing deputy director of the Policy Planning Bureau, a department under the governor. His primary duties include planning and formulating important measures and promoting projects across various bureaus.

If the problem lies in this area, causing the work that should be handed over to the Bureau of Culture and Lifestyle to remain stuck with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, then Aoyama can hold Utsunomiya accountable and push him to take the blame in the Diet.

Make him go to those congressmen, bow deeply, and shout, "Red Bean Paste Secret Marseille!"

However, as a senior public official, Utsunomiya would certainly not allow Aoyama to find fault with her in this matter.

"Yes, but they also need to hold meetings to discuss it. Currently, they are in the stage of inviting professors from Musashino University and Toho Gakuen to conduct seminars, and they may not be able to answer the members' questions."

Civil servants naturally have a well-established process to prevent politicians from quickly implementing their decisions. This certainly has its advantages, but the disadvantages are also obvious. Reasonable and compliant delays allow the interest groups behind them time to take countermeasures. On the other hand, it also allows them to do sufficient documentation and evidence collection so that they can absolve themselves if problems arise in the decision-making process.

A seminar is a powerful tool; it's a democratic process, and no one can find fault with it.

Make way for me: 018 Neon Purification Group

"It's ridiculous. This draft has only been out for about a week, and it will take at least another month before it's actually implemented. If the Cultural and Life Bureau can't give the legislators a satisfactory answer, do you think we can?"

After Aoyama finished speaking, he stared at Utsunomiya Takuya for a while and wanted to let out a cold laugh, but he pursed his lips and held back.

Although Takuya Utsunomiya was generally on my side, he also had his own thoughts.

“You should know about this, shouldn’t you, Secretary Utsunomiya?”

"I do know a little bit, but those lawmakers may not be aware of our progress. I am merely a humble public instrument to help you, Governor, communicate with the lawmakers. If I were to inject my personal political views into this process, that would be..."

Utsunomiya Takuya carefully considered his words.

"Immature".

"Okay, thank you for your assistance, Secretary Utsunomiya. You can now reply to those councilors as I suggested. Please proceed."

"Your Excellency, I may not be able to leave for the time being."

"what happened?"

"Since you don't intend to meet with the three councilors, then the free time needs to be used to arrange a new meeting... How about the representatives of the neon cleanup group? They want to communicate with you about the progress of the work to reduce the area under the bridges in the Tokyo metropolitan area in order to meet their request this year to reduce the number of homeless people."

"Neon Cleanup Group..."

Aoyama pondered for a brief moment.

Until last month, this social group was a political supporter of Aoyama Mukodo, because their platform—purifying the gray areas of Japan—overlapped to some extent with Aoyama Mukodo's campaign slogan, "Developing a bright cause that benefits more people."

So when Aoyama gained the upper hand in the election, the Neon Purification Group and its supporters joined his side, adding icing on the cake.

However, the group and Aoyama had significant differences regarding specific measures for dealing with the gray areas, and the two drifted apart after Aoyama's election.

Neon Cleanup Groups tend to demand that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government use coercive measures to crack down on gray industries and related workers within its jurisdiction, including but not limited to homeless people, foreign workers overstaying their visas, and underground sex workers. The goal is to pack up the homeless and send them to other areas, deport all foreign workers, and fine and imprison underground sex workers, thereby improving overall public safety and social atmosphere in the Tokyo area.

If you only look at their demands, there seems to be nothing wrong with them; in fact, many people see them as embodiments of justice.

But Aoyama knew that the reality was not so rosy.

Such social groups are backed by financial backers, and all their actions are aimed at protecting the interests of these backers.

For example, if investors take a fancy to a piece of land, they will reduce the eviction of homeless people on that land, while increasing the eviction of homeless people in other surrounding neighborhoods. Over time, the land value in that area will drop rapidly, allowing investors to acquire land ownership at a lower price.

For example, when foreign workers are deported, the labor demand of related companies does not decrease, and Japan is in dire need of local labor. As a result, these companies can only hire so-called "fully documented" workers from the labor dispatch companies of their clients. This makes them subject to the control of the dispatch companies, and some small companies may even become directly subservient to large labor dispatch companies.

Cracking down on underground sex workers can also bring in considerable profits.

It is well known that the sex industry exists legally in Japan, but it requires a specific license issued by the relevant authorities. In recent years, Tokyo has imposed strict restrictions on the issuance of these licenses, to the point that a new license will only be issued after a sex establishment closes down.

While the number of sex shops is strictly limited, the number of people who want to work in the sex industry is increasing year by year. This means that whoever has a sex industry license has a huge fortune to be made.

The financial backers behind the Neon Purification Group are targeting the licenses of brothels that harbor underground sex workers. Brothels that generate revenue for these backers, no matter how many underground sex workers they house, will not be targeted by the Neon Purification Group.

In fact, Aoyama has seen plenty of interest groups, and the financial backers behind the Japan Purification Group are not the most corrupt among them.

However, one must be mindful of the methods used to protect one's own interests. Groups like the "Neon Cleanup Group" are willing to push large numbers of people to the brink of despair for financial gain—even if they are just homeless people, illegal immigrants, or others. This is still despicable.

Aoyama could only say, "Those who walk different paths cannot make plans together."

Back to the point.

Aoyama had absolutely no interest in meeting with representatives of the neon purification group.

But the other party was, after all, a former supporter. Even if the cooperation between the two sides has now ended, or they may even become enemies soon, they should not openly turn against each other.

“Secretary Utsunomiya. I can set aside some time for them, but it won't be long. You can arrange the details.”

"Yes, Governor."

Takuya Utsunomiya wasn't particularly fond of this group either. He only arranged the meeting to protect Aoyama's image and didn't actually want Aoyama to have much connection with the group.

……

The afternoon meeting ended quickly.

The Ministry of Culture's message was quite clear: Tokyo must submit to the overall development of Japan's arts and culture industry, and at least invite cultural figures...

There should be a sufficient number of celebrities in the arts and national/international cultural events. As for the specific content, you can decide for yourself. It would be even better if you could produce tangible results.

The neon purification group brought news that Aoyama found very interesting: they were very satisfied with the so-called "purification" work done by the Yokohama branch and hoped that the Tokyo branch could also take it as a reference.

Connecting this to the secret operations of the Shijo family and the Strange Star Dragons in Yokohama, Aoyama suspected that there might be some kind of connection between these three forces, and that Yokohama might be the place to make a big deal out of it.

Since all the suspicious points have been focused on Yokohama, relying solely on Suzumiya Hyakubi and Yagami Takayuki might not be enough; I'll have to get involved myself.

After returning to his official residence, Aoyama took out his personal cell phone and called Hiroi Kikuri.

"Hiroi, would you like to hold a concert in Yokohama?"

"Why are you calling me all of a sudden to ask me this? But unfortunately, no one in Yokohama has invited us Sick Hack to hold a concert recently."

"If you're going to Yokohama for a concert soon, I can go on stage with you."

"Are you serious?"

Do you think I would call you specifically to make this joke?

"!...Shima-chan! Shima-chan, do you know anyone in Yokohama?"

Make way for me: 019 Folt Performance Hall

A few days later, one afternoon, after finishing his work and instructing Utsunomiya to postpone all official arrangements, Aoyama put on the mask he had prepared and took a car to the Folt performance hall in Shinjuku Kamurocho to meet the three members of the band Sick Hack.

(The Folt performance hall is modeled after Kabukicho in Shinjuku, which is Kamurocho in the Yakuza series.)

The driver was still Takumi Suzumiya, one of the few people Aoyama trusted and would unconditionally support him on the rock stage.

If it were anyone else, even his father, Yukio Aoyama, would probably not understand his decision.

"Thank you for your hard work, Uncle Jiang... Please come pick me up in three hours."

Aoyama bowed slightly to the Liang Palace craftsman.

"Be careful, young master."

Liang Gongzhao pointed to the mask on Qingshan Xiang's face.

That was a Peking Opera mask that wasn't very common in Japan. Because it was too recognizable, it would increase the risk of Aoyama being recognized. Ryoumiya Takumi also suggested that he change it to a fox mask or a Ōtengu mask, which were more common in Japan.

However, Aoyama rejected him.

Although he could only temporarily reside in the political quagmire of Japan for the rest of his life, he still wanted to leave as many traces of his past life on himself as possible.

Seeing that he insisted, Liang Gongjiang did not try to persuade him any further.

After watching Suzumiya Takumi drive away, Aoyama Mukai walked into the Folt exhibition hall.

This is a large performance hall that can accommodate 500 audience members. The distressed wooden floors and black and white checkered floor tiles, the nostalgic sky blue walls and yellowed Western-style decorations, and the warm-toned combination of red and blue-green light spheres allow everyone who enters this performance hall to feel the nostalgia for the golden age of rock and roll.

Aoyama recalled the information he had seen about the Folt showroom before he came here. The showroom's manager was Yoshida Ginjiro, who was also an acquaintance of his when he was young.

Back then, Yoshida was a rebellious and handsome guy with dyed blond hair who liked to ride his Beast Motorbike around town. I wonder what he looks like now.

"Good evening, guest. Is this your first time at Folt?"

While he was pondering, a middle-aged man with long hair and an effeminate appearance appeared in front of Aoyama.

He was wearing a purple and pink outfit, with a loose jacket on top and surprisingly tight pants on the bottom, and he also had earrings and eyeshadow on.

If we disregard his age, he's somewhat like a spirited young man.

"Sir, your suit vest is very high-end, and you're even wearing a mask. Are you trying to hide your identity while visiting Folt? Haha, our showroom always welcomes mysterious guests like you~ Are you interested in rock music? That's such a coincidence! Tonight, we've arranged a performance by the super popular indie bands Sick Hack and SIDEROS!"

Although Aoyama had dressed up specially for today's "audience" for Sick Hack, and the clothes and shoes he chose were relatively low-key styles in his mind, even so, his shirt, vest and leather shoes still exuded a kind of understated luxury in the eyes of worldly people, like a piece of walking gold.

Aoyama was slightly offended by the man's enthusiasm, and he instinctively wanted to back away, but the familiarity he saw in the man's eyes made him hold back.

"Wait... Could it be that you are Yoshida-san?"

"Oh my, do you know me, sir?"

The man tapped his chin with his finger, a look of reminiscence on his face.