Reborn in Tokyo: From Heiress to Global Tycoon

Chapter 59 False Fire

In November 1987, the wind in Tokyo carried a dry coolness, rustling the leaves of the plane trees along the roadside.

In the president's office at the headquarters of Saionji Industrial in Marunouchi, the heating was on full blast.

"President Saionji, please do me this favor!"

The man sitting opposite on the leather sofa was Yamamoto, the head of the financing department at Sumitomo Bank's Marunouchi branch.

He was probably in his early forties, with a receding hairline, and was currently wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. In front of him was a thick asset appraisal report, with a red "Top Secret" stamp on the cover.

Xiu Yi picked up his teacup and gently blew on the floating tea leaves.

"Section Chief Yamamoto, if I remember correctly, we just paid off a short-term loan last month."

Xiu Yi put down the teacup, and the porcelain bottom collided with the tray, making a crisp sound.

"Saionji Corporation currently has very ample cash flow. Absolutely ample cash flow."

He emphasized the word "very".

This is not just polite talk.

After last month's frenzied looting on Wall Street, SA Investment has nearly 100 billion yen in cash in its accounts. The Saionji family has no shortage of money now.

"I know, I know!"

Section Chief Yamamoto was so anxious that he leaned forward, his buttocks almost leaving the sofa.

"But boss, this quota was specially approved by our branch! The interest rate... the interest rate can be as low as 2.5%! This is already a loss-making deal below the benchmark interest rate!"

He opened the assessment report, his fingers trembling as he pointed to the lines of data.

"Look, this is the revaluation of your company's... cough, those small plots of land, by our appraiser."

Shuichi followed his finger and looked.

It was a table listing the hundreds of "junk land" plots that the Saionji family had acquired in various corners of Tokyo over the past six months, ostensibly to "promote the 'Karaoke Box' project."

These sites are mostly located under overpasses, beside railway tracks, or at the end of dead ends. They are small in area and mostly triangular or irregular polygonal in shape.

Two months ago, when Satsuki let Shuichi buy them, the average price was around 300,000 yen per tsubo (approximately 33 square meters).

But now.

The evaluation section of the form clearly states:

Price per ping (3.3 square meters): 1.2 million yen.

"Four times?"

Xiu Yi raised an eyebrow, a hint of absurdity flashing in his eyes.

"Section Chief Yamamoto, is your appraiser drunk?"

Xiu Yi pointed to one of the rows of data.

"This plot of land in Adachi Ward is right next to the Joban Line railway. Water spills from cups when trains pass by. You're valuing this kind of land at one million yen per tsubo (3.3 square meters)?"

"This is the current market situation, boss!"

Section Chief Yamamoto looked completely at ease.

"Although prices fell in the US last month, it's different in Japan! The central bank just announced that it will maintain its loose monetary policy and will even cut interest rates! There's an abundance of money in the market right now!"

"Those big real estate developers, like Mori Building and Mitsubishi Estate, couldn't buy large plots of land with their money, so they started sweeping up these scraps."

"Any soil in Tokyo, even the covers on manhole covers, is now worth gold!"

Section Chief Yamamoto pushed the loan contract over, his eyes filled with fervent longing as if he were looking at a benevolent savior.

"President, you can mortgage this land to us, and we'll lend you two billion. You can use that money to buy more land, or buy stocks—it's up to you!"

"The Nikkei index has now rebounded to 23,000 points and is about to break a new high!"

"This is a golden opportunity to make money!"

Shuichi looked at the contract.

Just a month ago, these people were worried about the end of the world and were holding onto their money, refusing to lend.

Now that the US stock market has just stabilized, they're like sharks smelling blood, frantically trying to stuff money into other people's pockets.

"Just leave it there."

Shuichi neither signed nor refused.

"I'll consider it."

"Alright! Take your time to consider it. If you're not satisfied with the interest rate, I'll go back and apply to the bank manager again!"

Section Chief Yamamoto, feeling as if he had been granted a pardon, withdrew with profuse thanks.

The office door closed.

The air became quiet again.

Xiu Yi picked up the assessment report and walked to the desk in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.

Satsuki was sitting there, holding a red marker, drawing circles on a huge map of Tokyo.

"Did you hear that?" Xiu Yi waved the report in his hand. "The price of garbage land has quadrupled. Our balance sheet looks three times better."

"False heat"

Without even looking up, Satsuki pressed the red pen tip heavily on the "Odaiba" location on the map.

"What?"

"I said this is false heat."

Satsuki turned around and threw the pen on the table.

"Black Monday terrified those bureaucrats. The Ministry of Finance was afraid of an economic recession, and the central bank was afraid of businesses going bankrupt, so they acted like quack doctors who were scared off, giving patients a super-dose stimulant regardless of whether the patients were actually sick."

"Interest rates have been lowered to historic lows, and the money supply has been increased to its maximum."

"This money flowed into the market, only to find that the real economy simply couldn't absorb it. Factories didn't need to expand production, and shops didn't need to stock up."

"And so, the money started to scatter."

Satsuki pointed to the report in Shuichi's hand.

"They infiltrated the stock market, pushing up the Nikkei index. They infiltrated the real estate market, turning garbage land into gold."

"That's why that piece of land next to the railway tracks is worth a million."

"It's not that land has become valuable, it's that money has become worthless."

Shuichi looked at the report, his brows furrowed.

"Should we sell it?"

This is a businessman's instinct. A fourfold profit is an enormous windfall in any era. If they were to sell these hundreds of plots of land now, the Saionji family could immediately recoup billions of yen in cash.

"Sell?"

Satsuki laughed, as if she were listening to a joke.

"Father, selling now is like selling a gold mine as scrap metal."

She walked to the window and looked down at the bustling street below.

"This fire has only just been lit."

"Those banks with lots of cash in hand, those insurance companies rushing to do their accounting, and those companies wanting to write 'asset appreciation' in their annual reports."

"They're like a pack of starving wolves now; they'll pounce on any meat they see."

"We have to wait."

Satsuki reached out and pressed her hand against the glass, as if trying to suppress the pulse of the city.

"Wait until this fire burns away all of people's reason."

"When a piece of land the size of a toilet can be sold for 100 million yen."

"When they kneel on the ground, crying and begging us to sell them the land."

"That will be the best time to sell."

Shuichi watched his daughter's retreating figure.

Despite being only fourteen years old, he always seemed like a seasoned veteran when discussing businesses worth hundreds of billions.

However, he had already gotten used to his daughter's genius.

"Okay. Not for sale."

Shuichi threw the evaluation report into the drawer.

"Then let them continue to grow grass."

……

Four o'clock in the afternoon.

Setagaya Ward, Shimokitazawa.

As dusk fell and the streetlights had not yet come on, the ambiguous atmosphere of the night began to permeate the streets.

A long queue had already formed in front of the row of yellow shipping containers located next to the railway tracks.

The group consisted mostly of college students who had just finished school, as well as some young office workers carrying briefcases who wanted to shout a few words before heading home.

"Make way! Make way!"

Itakura was directing two security personnel in uniform.

After spending these past few months with Satsuki, he's become much more composed. He's finally starting to resemble a member of the Saionji family's upper echelons.

Several security guards, each carrying two heavy canvas bags, were carrying them from the management office behind the container to the armored truck.

That's today's revenue.

They were all 100-yen coins.

Because it was so heavy, the bottom of the canvas bag dragged on the ground, making a dull metallic scraping sound.

Although he was nominally the president, he didn't actually have any real presidential work to do. He would just stamp whatever documents Satsuki threw at him. To avoid appearing too useless, he would sometimes personally lead a team to collect some spare change.

"Hey, Mr. Shuichi!"

Itakura looked up and saw Shuichi standing by the roadside inspecting the area, so he quickly ran over.

He was wearing a fairly decent-looking suit today, and his face showed undisguised excitement.

"Business is booming today! The coin acceptor in box number three even jammed just now, it was overflowing with coins!"

Itakura rubbed his hands together and pointed at the armored truck.

"This truckload is worth about two million yen! And that's just the revenue from this one point!"

Shuichi looked at the bags being loaded onto the truck.

It's a substantial amount of real money.

This is hard-earned money from providing services and meeting needs. Behind every coin is a song shouted out, an emotion released.

This is real industry.

He turned his head and glanced at the ground beneath his feet.

The ground was overgrown with weeds and littered with pebbles, and the noise from passing trains was deafening.

In Section Chief Yamamoto's report just now, this piece of abandoned land, which is less than 50 tsubo (approximately 33 square meters), was valued at 60 million yen.

If we don't do business here, the price increase from just leaving this land here for two months would be equivalent to the coins that Bancang and his family painstakingly collected over two years.

"Itakura-kun".

Shuichi suddenly spoke.

"Huh? Yes!"

"Which do you think is more valuable, these coins or the land?"

Itakura paused for a moment, then scratched his head.

"These... are all quite valuable, right? Coins are like cash, and land can sell for a lot of money too. But... I prefer coins, which are something I can touch."

Xiu smiled.

His smile was tinged with bitterness.

"Yes. The coin is real."

He patted Itakura on the shoulder.

"Do a good job. Count all these coins."

"This might be the only real thing in this crazy Tokyo."

Itakura nodded as if he understood, but not quite. Has the big boss been influenced by the little boss lately and started saying things that are hard to understand?

He apologized and then turned back to directing the security personnel who were carrying the money.

……

It's late at night, 11 p.m.

The main family of Saionji Temple.

Shuichi stood on the second-floor terrace, holding a glass of whiskey, but didn't drink it.

His gaze passed over the layers of rooftops and looked into the distance.

That's the construction site of Da Dong Construction.

Since Gondo signed the contract last week, the project that had been stalled for a long time has been restarted.

The searchlights on the tower crane pierced the night sky. Even from this distance, the roar of the concrete mixer trucks could be faintly heard.

That was the sound of money burning.

It is also the sound of inflated desires.

"Is this what they call 'false heat'...?"

Xiu Yi swirled the glass, the ice cubes hitting the side of the glass.

The United States has just experienced a catastrophe, and its wounds are still bleeding. Meanwhile, Japan seems to be on steroids, dancing a celebratory dance on the edge of a cliff.

Land prices are rising, stock prices are rising, and wages are rising.

Everyone felt that tomorrow would be better.

This is a dead end with only a beginning and no end.

Once the bubble starts to inflate, the only outcome is that it will burst into pieces.

"Father."

The sound of a sliding door coming from behind me.

Satsuki came out wearing only a thin coat.

"Aren't you going to sleep yet?"

"I can't sleep." Xiu Yi pointed to the lights in the distance. "They're too bright."

You'll get used to it.

Satsuki walked to the railing, and in the early winter night, her eyes were colder than the darkness.

"This light will stay on for a long time."

"It was so bright it blinded everyone."

She stretched out her hand, palm up, as if catching a snowflake that seemed to be nothing at all.

"Wait until then."

"Let's turn off the lights again."

Shuichi looked at his daughter.

Under the illumination of the searchlights at the construction site in the distance, the outline of her profile appeared exceptionally clear.

"it is good."

Xiu Yi tilted his head back and drank the wine in his glass in one gulp.

The spicy liquid slid down my throat, like a fire burning in my stomach.

"Then let it burn."