Chapter 97: Joining the Real Estate War

While Tao Zhiming was lost in boundless amorous delight on his side of the world, Ueda Natsuna had only just returned home.

In truth, it was a little later than her father had said, but she was not at all flustered.

After all, she had no guilty conscience tonight. She had merely... spent a long time practicing swordsmanship.

She did not really know what the sword training was for, just as her father believed it was pointless for her to want her name on a paper.

She was sitting at the edge of her bed, dazed, when there was a soft knock at the door.

"Natsuna?"

Natsuna got up and opened it. "Mom, what is it?"

Looking at her daughter, Ueda Haruko, who had taken her husband’s surname, asked softly, "May Mom come in and sit for a while?"

"…Okay."

Natsuna returned to the bed and sat down. Haruko gently closed the door and sat beside her.

At first she said nothing. Then she took Natsuna’s hand and laid it across her own lap, putting an arm around her shoulder as she leaned against her. "How time flies. The little girl who used to tell Mom everything under the sun now has troubles of her own, and would rather tell a sword about them."

With that, she opened Natsuna’s palm and stroked her fingertips and the hollow of her hand. "You have been pushing yourself to exhaustion with practice for days on end. What has happened? Mom is worried..."

Nestling into her mother’s warm embrace, Natsuna felt a sting in her nose. "…Nothing. I like kendo."

"You... do not like it at all." Her mother sighed. "When you were little, you would always cry until your eyes were red, and yet you still had to take up the bamboo sword..."

She sighed again. "Your mother was young once too, so I can probably guess what is going on. Your father spoke to me about it the day before yesterday as well."

Natsuna murmured, "Father is overthinking things."

"Perhaps it is because I only have you as a child. Your father’s hopes for you come from his worry about your future. Beneath that stern face of his, there is really a gentle heart. Your father and I both love you dearly."

Natsuna’s eyes reddened, but she said nothing.

"How about Mom sleeps with you tonight? I want to hear about that boy."

"What boy? There is no such thing..."

"Then why has our cheerful Natsuna been so down these past few days? It became even more obvious after you went to the Mori house."

Natsuna only grew more irritable. She sat up straight and said, "It is really not what you all think! Mom, let me sleep on my own!"

Haruko pressed her lips together and looked at her for a long while, then simply reached out and gently stroked her hair. "Good night, Natsuna."

Natsuna nodded. After her mother left, she lay down and pulled the blanket over her head.

A little while later, soft sobbing drifted out from beneath the covers.

There had truly never been anything like that in the first place.

If a seed had no hope of growing, then it was enough not to let it sprout.

...

"Get off to a good start at your new school, Miko," Tao Zhiming said with a cheerful smile before heading out.

"Mm! I will do my best!" Iiyama Miko was also looking forward to the beautiful new school.

Besides, with the new clothes they had bought earlier, and the new satchel on her back, she felt even cuter than before.

Tao Zhiming affectionately patted her head, then said to Onodera Runa, "After you take Miko to school and attend the entrance ceremony, come straight back home and wait for my call."

Onodera Runa said softly, "I understand."

After seeing Tao Zhiming off, Miko suddenly asked, "Mom, Big Brother Daiki said we would go see the cherry blossoms on the weekend. Is that true?"

"It is true." Onodera Runa crouched down to straighten her clothes, then said, "Miko, from now on... you should call him Tao-san."

"But... Daiki... Didn't Tao-san say before that I should keep calling him that?"

"That was before." Onodera Runa thought for a moment, then said, "Mom is going to resign from my current job soon, and work for Tao-kun with all my heart. You see, Tao-kun is my... boss, and he is above Mom in the company. If you call him big brother, it will get very confusing."

"Oh..."

"Do you remember?"

"I remember."

"Then... let's get ready for your new school!"

"Yay!"

Onodera Runa smiled as she watched her run back into the room to get her bag, then picked up the lunch she had prepared, still smiling.

Seeing her daughter come out full of anticipation, looking much more polished from head to toe, Runa was filled with emotion.

Her daughter was now able to attend such a fine school, and the places she herself went in and out of every day were becoming more and more upscale.

She really was starting to feel like a proper lady of means.

And yet, what she enjoyed most were still those late-night hours.

Only at that time did this identity, this feeling, become whole.

...

After sending Miko to her new school, Onodera Runa had gone to register her, while Tao Zhiming made his way directly to the University of Tokyo.

In the kendo club’s finance-and-swords laboratory, the Bloomberg terminal was already open.

Looking at the market on the screen, Tao Zhiming could not help but curl up the corners of his mouth.

Among ordinary people, and among the smaller institutions that had followed the crowd into the foreign exchange market, there was of course a shared belief: the yen would appreciate.

After all, this was what the Americans wanted.

For the common people, that was actually welcome news, since the yen’s purchasing power would rise.

It was only manufacturing and exports that would suffer.

But exactly how far would it appreciate? Who could truly say?

Under the deliberate guidance of many experienced large players, the yen had begun to weaken slightly, but steadily.

A great many retail traders were starting to panic. Had the appreciation already reached its limit?

A rate around 190 might be acceptable, but now that it was around 170, was it really going to slide to around 180, just as some people on television were saying?

There was no news of another interest-rate cut yet.

Some people clung to their own judgment and, gritting their teeth, poured more capital into positions they had already built, still betting that the yen would rise.

Others began to stop out in terror.

The sudden little wave of depreciation was gathering speed.

This time, Tao Zhiming, who understood the larger trend and knew the tricks of the great market makers, had skillfully guided the emergence of this move.

It also made him alert: from here on, the movement of his capital in and out of the market would already begin to draw a little attention.

The stage where one could make a killing in the foreign exchange market could not last forever.

Tao Zhiming was fully aware of that. It would be impossible to keep growing his fortune into billions of dollars purely through financial markets while hiding within the roaring tide of the broader market.

It was time to prepare a team for more professional operations. Besides, if he wanted to do many things in the future, he would need a team of his own.

Once the school term began, he would see whether the University of Tokyo had any promising talent.

There was another matter troubling Tao Zhiming as well.

Wandering around the Shiodome freight transfer area did not seem to have much effect.

It looked as though he would need to raise his vantage point a little.

The conglomerates and various powers all wanted a hand in this grand plan, becoming shareholders in the railway subsidiary that was soon to be carved up, and then dividing the spoils according to their respective influence.

In Tao Zhiming’s memory, by the time of the later JR East Japan, shares were held by all the major conglomerates.

Then perhaps Kinoshita Hidefumi’s plan was not simply to sell that plot of land.

As he watched, Tao Zhiming muttered to himself, "Hidefumi, my little brother... could it be that you want to use this matter to get involved as well, and join one of the conglomerates?"

He murmured it over, feeling the direction was already clear, and there was no need to think too much.

After all, this was the last major undeveloped tract of land in future Tokyo, worth trillions of yen.

Moreover, the parcel Kinoshita Hidefumi currently held would sooner or later have to be sold.

Though the Shiodome site might still, just as in his memories, remain undeveloped until the late 1990s, any real estate beside it, if sold at the bubble’s peak, could certainly fetch a splendid price.

What Kinoshita Hidefumi’s real plan was, he could probe from that side later.

As for the locations of the bookstore and dance hall, the range could be made much clearer.

He would make his move right around that Shiodome land!

Having made up his mind, Tao Zhiming checked the time and called Onodera Runa.

"Runa, Miko has arrived at school, hasn’t she?"

"Yes! Miko-chan is very happy." Onodera Runa had indeed already returned home, and her voice was bright with happiness.

Then she turned serious. "Tao-kun, is there something you need me to do? You specifically had me come back and wait for your call."

"That’s right. Start looking in the direction I told you for real estate that can be sold. As long as there is an intention to sell, and the price is no more than three times the current land value, buy it!"

"Three times?" Onodera Runa gasped over the phone. "Isn’t that a little too..."

"It’s fine!" Tao Zhiming was brimming with confidence. "Of course, if we can close at a lower price, that would be best. In any case, start helping me find that sort of real estate."

After he laid out the area and the requirements in some detail, Onodera Runa could hear the expectation in his voice, and her own spirit lifted. "Understood! I’m leaving right now!"

"Be careful. I’ll reward you properly when I get back."

"…Mm!"

After putting down the phone, Tao Zhiming leaned back in his chair and gave himself a relaxed shake.

Being involved in Tokyo’s real estate war was rather exhilarating.

At this point in time, when it came to acquiring real estate, unless one was dealing with a fool, any seller’s asking price would be well above market value.

After all, prices were rising too fast.

But in some areas, land values would climb faster than anyone expected. Snatching them up quickly could mean a tenfold or greater increase compared with the peak prices later on.

Tao Zhiming would not lose out, and once purchased, the land itself would be top-tier collateral.

The banks were already beginning to panic, after all. Interest rates had been cut twice already.

Very soon, it would be time for all kinds of financial specialists to run around the world begging quality clients to take loans.