novelraw Chapter 194: The Sakurada Family's Shock! Nohara Semashi's Ambition! Akita Inu Prices Skyrocket!
Chapter 194: The Sakurada Family's Shock! Nohara Semashi's Ambition! Akita Inu Prices Skyrocket!
"And the other kind?" Sakurada Ikuna asked, her curiosity piqued.
"The other kind," Nohara Semashi's lips curled into a confident arc, "is what our Nohara Kabushiki Gaisha defines as a 'purebred Akita Inu'!"
"We have the most authoritative 'Bloodline Evaluation Standard,' personally drawn up by Hiroshi! We have Hachiko Monogatari, the film that bestowed upon them a unique 'cultural identity'! And we have the Mayor, the Governor, even those big shots in Tokyo Metropolis, all lending their 'social standing' to back them up!"
"So, Ikuna, do you understand now?" Nohara Semashi's voice trembled with excitement. "What we're selling isn't the Akita Inu itself! We're selling a standard! An authority! The power to... name and set prices for the entire Akita Inu market in Japan!"
Sakurada Ikuna listened in stunned silence. Her clever mind, sharp as it was, simply couldn't wrap itself around what she was hearing.
All she could vaguely sense was that her seemingly honest and simple-hearted fiance was playing a game of chess — one she couldn't begin to comprehend, yet one that was unimaginably grand and breathtaking in scope.
"That's... that's incredible!" she murmured, her large, bright eyes now filled with nothing but bone-deep admiration and awe.
She gazed at Nohara Semashi, her expression brimming with reverence.
"And the Mayor also said he'd reserve a seat for you in the next city council election!" Sakurada Ikuna exclaimed, her cheeks flushed crimson with excitement. "Semashi! You... you're going to be a city councilman! This... this is simply unbelievable!"
Nohara Semashi broke into one of his trademark honest grins.He reached out and gently clasped his fiancee's hand, his warmth and steadiness calming her in an instant.
"It's all thanks to the Mayor's arrangements," he said softly, his tone calm and modest. "But this is something we absolutely cannot share with outsiders. Apart from our two families, no one else can know. Understand?"
"Yes! I understand!" Sakurada Ikuna nodded firmly. Her feminine intuition told her exactly how high the stakes were.
She knew that until something like this was set in stone, absolute secrecy was paramount.
The car eased into a quiet residential neighborhood and finally rolled to a stop in front of a house glowing with warm, inviting light.
"Vroom—"
The powerful rumble of the engine cut sharply through the stillness of the night.
"Brother-in-law!"
Before Nohara Semashi could even step out, a teenager of about sixteen or seventeen, clad in a tracksuit, shot out of the house like an arrow from a bow.
His face, bearing a faint resemblance to Sakurada Ikuna's but with a more boyish, sun-kissed charm, was practically bursting with uncontrollable excitement and enthusiasm.
It was Sakurada Ikuna's younger brother, Sakurada Ikuki, still a high school student.
"Ikuki." Nohara Semashi greeted him with a smile as he climbed out of the car, his tall frame radiating a reassuring presence that towered over the boy.
He casually reached into the back seat and produced an elegantly wrapped gift box, presenting it to the teenager.
"Here, brought you a gift," he said with a warm, almost brotherly smile.
"Wow! It's the newest Shiroi Koibito chocolate from Ginza! And the limited-edition Nenrinya Baumkuchen!" Sakurada Ikuki's eyes lit up like lanterns. He snatched the gift box with barely contained ecstasy, the joy practically radiating off him in waves. "Brother-in-law! You're the best! I love you!"
He tore into the wrapping without a second thought, an unabashed look of pure gluttony on his face that made Sakurada Ikuna shake her head in amused exasperation.
"Look at you! You're spoiling him rotten!" Sakurada Ikuna shot Nohara Semashi a playful glare, though her voice dripped with honeyed sweetness. "He's gotten so picky from all your treats that he won't even eat a proper meal at home anymore!"
Her lips may have been scolding, but the blissful smile on her face betrayed her inner delight.
"Oh my! Semashi, Ikuna, you're home."
Just then, the front door swung open.
A middle-aged couple, appearing to be in their fifties with kind, gentle faces, stepped out with welcoming smiles.
They were Sakurada Ikuna's parents — Sakurada Ken and Sakurada Yoshiko.
Their faces beamed with genuine warmth at the sight of Nohara Semashi and Sakurada Ikuna.
"Dad, Mom." Sakurada Ikuna greeted them sweetly.
"Uncle, Auntie." Nohara Semashi bowed politely, his respectful and courteous manner earning another approving nod from the Sakurada couple.
"Come in, come in, it's cold out here." Sakurada Yoshiko ushered them inside warmly. She held her daughter's hand and stole another glance at the tall, composed young man beside her — her future son-in-law — her eyes gleaming with the unmistakable satisfaction of a mother-in-law who liked everything she saw.
Hot tea and snacks were already waiting in the living room.
The whole family gathered around, the atmosphere warm and harmonious.
"Dad! Mom!"
Before the Sakurada couple could even open their mouths to ask, Sakurada Ikuna launched into a vivid, animated retelling of that evening's "dreamlike" family banquet.
"You have no idea! Tonight, we had dinner with the Mayor of Omagari City and his wife! A private family dinner! Just the four of us!"
The moment she finished, absolute disbelief crashed across the Sakurada couple's faces!
"What?!"
"You... you had a private dinner with the Mayor?!"
Sakurada Ken's eyes went wide as saucers. He instinctively set down his teacup, the shock enough to crack even his usual composure.
The last time he'd heard the Mayor of Omagari City had visited the Nohara family, he'd been stunned enough. But now, learning that his son-in-law Nohara Semashi had actually been personally invited to the Mayor's private dinner — and had even brought his daughter along — it was beyond anything he could have imagined!
It sounded like something out of a fairy tale!
Sakurada Yoshiko was so overcome that she sprang to her feet, one hand clasped over her mouth. Those normally gentle eyes of hers were now wide with sheer, unfiltered shock.
"Ikuna! Is... is everything you're saying true?!" Her voice quavered, as if she'd just woken from a hallucination.
"Of course it's true!" Sakurada Ikuna nodded vigorously, clasping her mother's hands, her pride and happiness overflowing. "The Mayor and his wife were so kind to us! They didn't talk about official business at all — just casual conversation. They even asked us all sorts of things about the wedding!"
She paused, then dropped the bombshell — one powerful enough to petrify her parents on the spot.
"And the Mayor even said that when we get married at the end of the year, he... he'll personally officiate our wedding!"
"What?!" The Sakurada couple's minds detonated like a thunderclap!
The Mayor — personally officiating their wedding?!
That... that was the kind of supreme honor that would make their ancestors weep with pride!
They stood frozen in place, every expression on their faces crystallized in a single instant, replaced by nothing but the headlong rush of overwhelming joy.
"This... this is wonderful! Just wonderful!" Sakurada Ken stammered, too overcome to speak coherently. He looked at Nohara Semashi with eyes brimming with indescribable satisfaction and pride.
"Yes! Yes!" Sakurada Yoshiko nodded repeatedly. "Semashi! You truly are... remarkable! Our Ikuna is the luckiest woman alive to be marrying you!"
Nohara Semashi's cheeks flushed crimson under their praise. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, his sincerity and humility only making him more endearing.
"Uncle, Auntie, you're too kind," he said softly, his tone calm and modest. "It's all because the Mayor thinks highly of our Nohara family."
Yet his humility did nothing to quench the fire of excitement raging inside the Sakurada couple.
"And also, Dad, Mom!" Sakurada Ikuna spoke up again, a cunning grin spreading across her face as she watched her parents teeter on the edge of losing their composure entirely. "The Mayor also said he's going to reserve a spot for Semashi in the next city council election!"
"What?! A... a city councilman?!"
The Sakurada couple jolted once more, their eyes flying wide, faces ablaze with euphoria!
They stared at Nohara Semashi as if he were a hero straight out of legend!
"The Mayor only nominated me. The election hasn't happened yet," Nohara Semashi said with an honest smile, trying to temper expectations.
But his attempt at "cooling things down" couldn't even begin to dampen his in-laws' fervor.
"Nominated?!" Sakurada Ken slapped his thigh with a resounding clap, his voice ringing with absolute certainty. "If the Mayor himself has personally nominated you, then it's practically a done deal!"
"Exactly! Exactly!" Sakurada Yoshiko chimed in. She looked at Nohara Semashi, her eyes overflowing with pride. "Semashi! You truly are... incredible! For our Sakurada family to have a son-in-law like you — our ancestors must be smiling down on us!"
They gazed at Nohara Semashi, their eyes brimming with indescribable satisfaction and pride.
They knew their daughter had found a man truly worthy of entrusting her entire life to.
They also knew that their Sakurada family, because of this man, was about to enter an era of glory unlike anything they'd ever known.
...
Nohara Semashi didn't linger long at Ikuna's home. After about half an hour, the imposing Land Cruiser carved a steady arc through the darkness, heading toward Nishi-Omagari Village.
Outside the windows, the familiar country roads unwound before him. The ridges between the rice paddies still held the warmth of the day, and the air was thick with the scent of earth and green grass mingling together.
This tranquility, unique to his homeland, gradually soothed his heart — still humming from the Mayor's banquet — back to a grounded, warm equilibrium.
The Nohara family's old homestead stood like a silent sentinel beneath the night sky, only the amber glow of a single window betraying the vigil kept within.
Nohara Semashi parked the car and pushed open the front door.
A wave of warmth washed over him — the mingled aromas of home cooking and a faint whisper of sake.
But what greeted him wasn't the warm welcome he'd expected. Instead, it was a scene that was... rather pitiful.
His father, Nohara Ginnosuke, sat alone at the low table. Before him lay a small sake cup and a single dish of pickled vegetables.
His signature bald head caught the lamplight with a forlorn gleam, and that face — usually so full of mischievous energy — now wore an expression of pure, wounded dejection, like a stray dog whose bone had just been snatched away.
He half-heartedly tossed peanuts into his mouth, occasionally lifting the sake cup for a tiny sip, then releasing a long, mournful sigh.
"Haah—"
The sound stretched on forever, heavy with self-pity.
When he spotted Nohara Semashi come in, his eyes brightened for a fleeting moment — only to dim again almost immediately, replaced by an even deeper melancholy.
He raised those ever-scheming, beady eyes of his and fixed his eldest son with the most pitiful gaze he could muster, then heaved another theatrical sigh.
"Haah... Semashi, you're back." His voice was hoarse, as though burdened by some monumental injustice. "Look at me! Your poor father! I have absolutely no standing in this house anymore! I can't even enjoy an extra cup of that Juyondai sake my own son brought home! Your mother has become an absolute tyrant!"
As he spoke, he sneaked a furtive glance toward the kitchen from the corner of his eye — the picture of a man desperate to tattle yet terrified of being caught. It was impossible not to laugh.
Nohara Semashi took in his father's ridiculous performance and could only shake his head with an amused sigh.
"Dad, what happened?" He sat down across from Nohara Ginnosuke.
Just then, the kitchen curtain was swept aside with a sharp rustle.
Nohara Tsuru emerged carrying a bowl of steaming rice and several delicate side dishes, her face set in a look that screamed 'I expected better from you.'
She placed the food gently before Nohara Semashi, then shot the still-performing old man a withering glare.
"You've got some nerve!" Nohara Tsuru's voice rang out, crisp and cutting as a blade, slicing straight through Nohara Ginnosuke's flimsy facade. "If I hadn't dragged you home this afternoon, were you planning to spoil Hiroshi's entire movie for every single person in the village?! Look at yourself — strutting around like a peacock, tail feathers practically scraping the sky! Practically begging everyone within earshot to know how successful your son is!"
"I... I wasn't showing off!" Nohara Ginnosuke sputtered, his old face flushing scarlet as his cover was blown. He puffed out his neck to retort, but his voice lacked all conviction. "That was... that was sharing! Sharing our family's happiness! Letting the neighbors enjoy the good news too! What's wrong with that?!"
"Sharing?" Nohara Tsuru's brows shot up in fury. She planted her hands on her hips. "When 'sharing' becomes excessive, it becomes insufferable! Didn't you notice how those old chess buddies at the village entrance scattered like they'd seen the plague the moment you showed up?! Keep going, and by tomorrow the entire village will be taking detours around our house!"
"I..." Nohara Ginnosuke was rendered completely speechless, his weathered face turning a deep shade of crimson.
He knew every word she said was true.
That afternoon, the tidal wave of joy had indeed swept away his reason. He'd cornered every single villager he could find, regaling them with breathless, spit-flying accounts of his younger son Nohara Hiroshi's "glorious achievements" — the pride practically oozing from every pore of his body.
Only after every last person had made a hasty escape did his wife finally manage to drag him home.
Seeing that logic was a losing battle, Nohara Ginnosuke swiftly pivoted strategies, turning those wounded, beady eyes of his toward his one and only "savior."
"Semashi..." his voice transformed instantly — pitiful, trembling, dripping with the loneliness and helplessness of a man abandoned by the entire world. "Look! Just look at your mother! This... this is how she treats me now! I... I truly have no standing left in this household!"
Nohara Semashi took one look at his father's Oscar-worthy performance and couldn't help but burst out laughing.
He shook his head in helpless resignation, his sun-darkened face full of fond indulgence for his impossible old man.
"Alright, alright, Dad, Mom, enough bickering." He chuckled, playing peacemaker, then turned a placating look toward his mother.
Nohara Tsuru looked at her eldest son's steady face, tinged with a hint of fatigue, and felt most of her anger melt away.
She sighed softly and sat down beside Nohara Semashi. Her usually stern expression gave way to a blend of concern and curiosity.
"Never mind your father, Semashi." Her voice gentled, laced with care. "Tonight... how did dinner with the Mayor go? Nothing went wrong, did it? He didn't... give you a hard time?"
In her mind, dining with the Mayor was tantamount to walking through a dragon's lair — one wrong step and you might invoke his wrath.
At her question, Nohara Ginnosuke's ears perked up immediately. His beady eyes locked onto his eldest son without blinking, curiosity practically exploding out of him.
"Mom, don't worry. Everything went smoothly," Nohara Semashi said with an easy smile. He picked up his chopsticks and sampled a bite of his mother's cooking. The familiar flavor settled him with a wave of comfort.
Between bites, he recounted the evening's events.
"I did as Hiroshi instructed and delivered the twenty-five finest Akita Inu to the Mayor. He was thrilled — decided on the spot to treat me to dinner at Shofutei."
"Shofutei?!" Nohara Tsuru gasped, her gentle eyes going wide with shock. "That's the most expensive ryotei in all of Omagari City! I've heard a single meal there costs several months' wages for an ordinary person!"
"That's right!" Nohara Semashi nodded, a swell of pride rising in his chest at his parents' astonished reactions. "And when the bill came, the Mayor insisted on paying himself. He said it was a gesture of his goodwill and told us not to even think about arguing."
"What?! The Mayor paid out of his own pocket?!"
Nohara Ginnosuke's eyes went perfectly round. He slapped his thigh with a crack loud enough to rattle the walls.
His sake-flushed face blazed with incredulous euphoria!
"Ha ha ha ha! I knew it! I just knew it!" He threw his head back in roaring laughter, every note ringing with vindicated triumph. "Even the Mayor is treating my son to dinner now! And paying for it himself! What does that tell you?! It tells you our Nohara family has risen to a whole new level! We... we're big shots now! Ha ha ha ha!"
The sheer, bone-deep satisfaction made him feel as though he were floating on clouds, gazing down upon all of Omagari City.
Nohara Tsuru, however, still wore a trace of worry.
She furrowed her brows, her face etched with unease. "Semashi, tell me the truth. Isn't there... something behind all this? All we sent were a few country dogs — no matter how well-groomed, they can't be worth much. Yet the Mayor is wining and dining you, offering to officiate your wedding, talking about city council seats — good heavens. It's... it's too unusual. Something about this doesn't sit right with me."
The old woman had lived long enough to know that favors without cause always came with a price.
This sudden flood of generosity made her deeply uneasy.
"Oh, you old woman, the trouble with you is a sharp tongue but a short vision!"
Nohara Ginnosuke waved his hand dismissively, his lips curling. Yet behind those beady, scheming eyes of his, there now glinted a shrewd, worldly intelligence.
"What do you know!" He puffed out his chest grandly, looking for all the world like a master strategist surveying his domain. "Those politicians are all cunning as foxes — you think they'd make a deal that loses them money? The reason the Mayor is being so good to our Semashi is because... because our Semashi is valuable to him now!"
He paused, his tone swelling with greater smugness. "Didn't you hear what Semashi said? The Mayor wants to recommend him for city council! And what does that mean?! It means the Mayor wants to bring our Semashi into his fold — he wants the Nohara family on his side!"
Nohara Semashi watched his father's "brilliant deduction" routine and couldn't suppress an honest grin.
He knew that despite his father's seemingly scatterbrained exterior, the old man had a knack for hitting the nail on the head when it truly mattered.
"Dad's right," Nohara Semashi nodded. He met his mother's still-worried gaze with a reassuring smile. "Besides, Hiroshi had all of this calculated from the start. He said what we need to do now is start selling Akita Inu to the public."
He paused, then slowly, deliberately, let the number drop — one that would petrify his parents all over again.
"And each one... will sell for one million yen."
"Oh my—!"
Nohara Tsuru nearly leaped straight out of her seat, her gentle eyes now wide with utter disbelief. "One... one million yen?! For the... the same kind of dogs we raise in our backyard?!"
She felt her entire understanding of the world collapse and rearrange itself in that single moment.
"That's right. One million yen." Nohara Semashi nodded, barely suppressing a laugh at his parents' gobsmacked faces.
"But... but that's outrageous!" Nohara Tsuru murmured, her well-maintained face clouded with bewilderment. "What kind of person... would spend that much money on a country dog?"
Nohara Semashi regarded his mother's baffled expression and broke into a brilliant grin.
"People in Tokyo. They'll definitely buy them," he said quietly, his voice steady with conviction.
"People in Tokyo?" Nohara Ginnosuke and Nohara Tsuru exchanged glances, each finding the same confusion mirrored in the other's eyes.
"Are people in Tokyo... really that foolish?" Nohara Ginnosuke couldn't help muttering, his voice thick with the blunt, unvarnished skepticism of a country man. "Spending a million yen on one of our Akita country dogs?"
Nohara Semashi looked at his parents' adorably befuddled faces and finally couldn't hold it in any longer — he burst into hearty laughter.
"That's what my brother calls it." He scratched his head, a shy grin spreading across his sun-darkened face. Doing his best impression of his younger brother Nohara Hiroshi's "cryptically profound" tone, he slowly, carefully, delivered the term — one he himself only half understood.
"He says it's... 'the spending habits of Tokyo elites with a port-city premium.'"
"A port-city... premium?" Nohara Ginnosuke and Nohara Tsuru repeated the unfamiliar phrase, their weathered faces sinking into an even deeper fog of confusion.
They felt their already outdated brains completely and utterly short-circuit in that moment.
Seeing his parents' adorable bewilderment, Nohara Semashi gave up on being coy.
He laughed again in that good-natured way of his, then laid it out in the simplest, most direct terms possible.
"He means... 'more money than sense.'"
"Pfft — Bwa ha ha ha ha ha!"
After a heartbeat of dead silence, the room erupted into an earth-shaking roar of laughter!
Nohara Ginnosuke doubled over, tears streaming down his face. Nohara Tsuru covered her mouth, shoulders shaking, her usually dignified composure crumbling into helpless mirth.
Looking at their eldest son's honest face tinged with a hint of mischief, their hearts — numbed by one shock after another — were now flooded completely with the purest, simplest emotion of all: joy.
They knew that this family, humble as it was, overflowed with the most genuine affection and trust.
...
Two or three days slipped by. Inside the TV Tokyo Production Bureau building, in the office that belonged to Nohara Hiroshi — his own independent kingdom — the night had grown deep, but the lights still blazed.
Nohara Hiroshi sat behind his desk, cradling a cup of hot tea. His calm gaze swept over the faxed report that had just arrived — the first-week box office tally for Hachiko Monogatari.
The numbers on that report, every one of them staggering, blazed like brilliant stars, illuminating the entire night sky of Japan's film industry.
First-week box office: 3.5 billion yen!
That figure had already surpassed the total box office of Seven Samurai after a full month in theaters!
It didn't merely set a new record — it shattered the ceiling of Japan's domestic film industry, hoisting it to a height so unprecedented it was almost terrifying.
"Not bad."
That was all Nohara Hiroshi said, his voice perfectly level. He set the report down, not a single ripple stirring in those clear eyes of his.
His composure was absolute — as though the number before him wasn't one that would drive anyone else mad with excitement, but merely another routine work update.
But then, the office door was flung open with a bang.
Kitagawa Yao — the liveliest and most inquisitive young staffer in the Nohara Independent Production Department — stood breathless in the doorway, her face ablaze with irrepressible excitement and elation.
She waved a document in her hand as if it carried the fate of the entire TV Tokyo network.
"Department Manager! Department Manager!"
Her voice trembled — the quiver of someone pushed to the very peak of excitement. "Something huge! Something huge has happened!"
Nohara Hiroshi raised an eyebrow. He took in Kitagawa Yao's near-hysterical state and couldn't help but be amused.
"Oh? What happened? Did Hachiko Monogatari break another box office record?" he asked lightly, playing along.
"No! No! No!" Kitagawa Yao shook her head furiously, her bright, wide eyes now blazing with something close to frenzy. "This is a hundred times more explosive than breaking a box office record!"
She sucked in a steadying breath, forcibly tamping down her euphoria, then spoke in a tone bordering on reverential awe.
"Department Manager! The Akita Inu from the Nohara Kabushiki Gaisha... they're selling like crazy!"
"What?!"
Even Nohara Hiroshi — who'd had expectations for the Akita Inu market — felt his unruffled heart skip a beat at those words.
He looked at Kitagawa Yao, a flicker of surprise passing through those clear eyes.
"Selling like crazy? Tell me the details." His voice dropped, steady and probing.
"Yes, sir!" Kitagawa Yao responded with a sharp nod, her young face gleaming with vicarious pride. "Department Manager, you have no idea! Ever since Hachiko Monogatari hit theaters, the phones in our department have been ringing off the hook! Everyone wants to know where they can buy an Akita Inu! They all say they want one just like Hachitsutsu — adorably goofy and lovable!"
She paused, her excitement ratcheting even higher. "And then, this very morning, your brother — President Nohara Semashi — followed your instructions and released the first batch of fifty Akita Inu for sale! And the price... one million yen each!"
"And?" Nohara Hiroshi pressed, his own pulse quickening just a fraction.
"And..." Kitagawa Yao's face burst into a radiant smile, joy practically erupting from her pores. "In less than one hour, all fifty Akita Inu — sold out! And there are still countless people lining up, hoping to get their hands on the second batch, the third batch!"
"Some are even offering two million, three million — even five million yen — just for a single Akita Inu with the purest bloodline!"
"Oh? That well?" The corner of Nohara Hiroshi's mouth twitched upward.
He'd anticipated the Akita Inu market would do well, but never imagined it would be this explosive.
Akita Inu at one million yen each, sold out in under an hour?!
People offering five million yen?!
'Celebrity endorsement plus hunger marketing really is unbeatable,' he mused.
"And, Department Manager!" Kitagawa Yao's voice surged again, her excitement threatening to lift the entire office off its foundations. "You have no idea what's happening out there! The wealthy and the famous — they're treating ownership of a Nohara Kabushiki Gaisha Akita Inu as a badge of honor! They're saying it's not just a pet — it's a symbol of status! A mark of refined taste! It's... the ultimate expression of 'loyalty' and 'family bonds'!"
As he listened to Kitagawa Yao's account, the surprise on Nohara Hiroshi's face gradually melted into deep, genuine satisfaction.
He knew he'd succeeded.
He had taken the Akita Inu — an ordinary dog breed — and forged it into a coveted cultural icon.
He had taken the Nohara Kabushiki Gaisha — a previously unknown agricultural company — and thrust it onto the stage of all Japan, and perhaps the entire world.
He had placed a critically important chess piece for the Nohara family's future — and for his own.
"Department Manager! Department Manager!"
While Nohara Hiroshi sat deep in thought, Kitagawa Yao's face had taken on a sheepish, hesitant look — the classic expression of a girl with something on her mind.
Her bright, wide eyes swept carefully over Nohara Hiroshi's expression like the most sensitive radar, looking for all the world like a kitten hoping to sneak a dried fish while praying its owner wouldn't notice.
Nohara Hiroshi noticed her adorable fidgeting and felt his amusement grow.
"What is it, Kitagawa?" He set down his teacup, his tone warm. "Judging by that look on your face, do you have another 'big scoop' to report?"
"Oh, please don't tease me, Department Manager." Kitagawa Yao's cheeks colored ever so slightly. She stuck out her tongue and said with an air of conspiratorial mystery, "Well, the thing is... there's something I'm not sure if I should tell you."
Her bright eyes darted about, her professional keenness and love of gossip lending her an especially animated charm.
"Oh?" Nohara Hiroshi raised an eyebrow. This hesitant, coy routine was decidedly out of character for Kitagawa Yao.
"Go ahead, what is it?" he prompted.
Kitagawa Yao took a deep breath, as though steeling herself, then spoke in a rapid, hushed undertone. "It's... it's Deputy Director Asumi, and Executive Director Takada, and... and a whole bunch of Production Bureau executives! They all want to ask you if... if there are any Akita Inu left?"
Having delivered her message, she immediately ducked her head — the perfect image of a reluctant little spy, terrified of getting caught in the crossfire of some high-level "war."
Nohara Hiroshi smiled knowingly.
He understood perfectly. These high-and-mighty figures, who ordinarily looked down from their lofty perches, had finally been conquered by the Akita Inu's irresistible allure.
But their dignity wouldn't allow them to approach a "subordinate" directly. So they'd used Kitagawa Yao as their go-between to test the waters.
The vanity of those in power — it amused him to no end.
"I thought it was something serious," Nohara Hiroshi said with a calm smile, not a ripple in those clear eyes.
He raised his teacup and took a leisurely sip, as though what he'd just heard wasn't a delicate web of social maneuvering, but merely another routine work update.
"Of course," he said simply. "I had my brother set aside a batch of the finest Akita Inu long ago. They were always intended as gifts for the executives here at TV Tokyo, as well as the seniors who've supported me."
"What?!"
Kitagawa Yao's head snapped up. She absolutely couldn't believe that Nohara Hiroshi had... already arranged everything?!
"Department Manager! You're... you're absolutely amazing!" she stammered, her eyes blazing with fervent admiration. "You're practically a god! How... how do you manage to think of everything ahead of time?!"
Nohara Hiroshi merely shook his head with a smile. "It's nothing special. Even if they hadn't asked, I'd already prepared everything."
"Social etiquette is the most vital part of any society. Since we're part of this world, we naturally play by its rules."
He also knew that what he was sending out wasn't merely Akita Inu — it was goodwill, connections, the very foundation upon which his Nohara Independent Production Department would stand at TV Tokyo and across all of Japan.
All of this, he saw with perfect clarity.
Nohara Hiroshi continued with a smile. "And it's not just the people at TV Tokyo. For the leaders in Tokyo Metropolis — the Director of Public Relations, His Excellency Fujiwara, even Governor Koike — I've prepared a 'modest gift' for each of them as well."
"What?!"
Kitagawa Yao's eyes went wide again. She felt as though her heart might leap straight out of her throat.
Sending gifts to Tokyo Metropolis officials?!
That was... that was incredibly bold!
"Department Manager! You can't do that!" Kitagawa Yao cried, nearly in tears, waving her hands frantically. "This is the most critical period of the Tokyo gubernatorial election! If you go sending gifts now, that's... that's basically bribery! If the opposing candidates catch wind of this, the consequences would be catastrophic!"
Nohara Hiroshi looked at her adorable, panic-stricken face and couldn't help but laugh.
"Relax, Kitagawa, don't worry." He smiled, his voice brimming with confidence. "Of course I know this isn't the time for rash moves. That's why this 'modest gift' will wait until the public's Akita Inu fever has cooled a bit, and until the gubernatorial election is settled and done."
He paused, a faint arc forming at the corner of his lips, his composure and confidence making him almost luminous. "By then, what we send won't be a bribe but rather... icing on the cake, a timely show of goodwill — a perfectly measured social courtesy."
Kitagawa Yao stared blankly at Nohara Hiroshi. Her clever mind simply couldn't keep up.
All she could dimly sense was that her absurdly young Department Manager was, when it came to social finesse and political strategy, frighteningly... masterful.
"Department Manager... you truly are incredible," she murmured, her bright eyes now filled with nothing but pure, heartfelt admiration.
"Alright, Kitagawa, you can head out now." Nohara Hiroshi smiled lightly, glancing at his watch. "I still have a few things to take care of."
"Yes, sir!" Kitagawa Yao bowed once more, then strode out of the office with a spring in her step.
As the door clicked shut behind her, the smile on Nohara Hiroshi's face gradually faded.
He knew Kitagawa Yao's concerns were far from unfounded.
Politics was, and always would be, the most complex and dangerous game in the world.
Though he'd already stepped into this arena, he had to maintain the utmost vigilance. Not a single moment of carelessness could be afforded.
He picked up the phone on his desk and dialed his brother Nohara Semashi's number.
He needed to share his next plan with him.
He intended to open several dedicated Akita Inu pet shops across Tokyo.
He would take the Akita Inu — a cultural symbol that had belonged solely to Akita Prefecture — and weave it permanently into the lifeblood of Tokyo, this international metropolis.
He would make the Nohara Kabushiki Gaisha the biggest — and only — winner in this grand feast of culture and commerce!
The call connected quickly.
"Hello, Hiroshi?" Nohara Semashi's honest, slightly excited voice came through the receiver. "How are things on your end? I heard your movie's first-week box office already broke 3.5 billion yen!"
"Yes, that's right, brother," Nohara Hiroshi replied with a soft chuckle.
Nohara Semashi's excitement surged. "Hiroshi, you really are incredible! Our Nohara Kabushiki Gaisha's Akita Inu have gone absolutely crazy too! A million yen each, and people are still fighting over them! These past two days, my hand's practically gone numb from answering the phone!"
"Indeed, brother. Everything is going exactly as I predicted," Nohara Hiroshi responded quietly, his tone measured.
He then laid out his plan to open pet shops in Tokyo, along with the full scope of his future vision, in meticulous detail.
Nohara Semashi listened in silence, his honest face radiating absolute trust in his younger brother.
"Got it, Hiroshi! I understand!" he responded firmly, his voice ringing with resolve. "I'll follow your instructions to the letter! You can count on me — I won't let you down!"
He paused, a note of pride slipping into his voice. "Oh, Hiroshi, I've got some good news for you too. A few days ago, Mayor Ito Kenji of Omagari City personally invited Ikuna and me to his private family dinner! He also said he'd save me a seat in the next city council election! And when Ikuna and I get married at the end of the year, he's going to officiate our wedding himself!"
A satisfied smile spread across Nohara Hiroshi's face.
He knew his brother Nohara Semashi was no longer the simple farmer who only knew how to till the soil.
Step by step, he had grown into a partner capable of standing on his own — someone worthy of fighting side by side with.
"Well done, brother. You've done very well." Nohara Hiroshi's voice was soft, laced with encouragement. "But remember — city council seats, wedding officiants — these are just titles. What the Nohara family truly needs is a solid foundation."
His tone sharpened, growing more solemn. "So what you need to do now is keep your head down and press forward. Keep acquiring Akita Inu. Keep breeding them. And at the same time, keep buying land! As much as you can! Don't worry about the cost! If possible, I want you to become the JA Chairman — not just for Omagari City, but for all of Akita Prefecture!"
"JA Chairman?!" Nohara Semashi's voice spiked with surprise.
"Yes. JA Chairman," Nohara Hiroshi said, calm and resolute. "Only by controlling the land, by commanding the local prestige and resources, by wielding the JA Chairman's power over farmers and agricultural products — only then can our Nohara family stand unshakable against the tides of this era."
Nohara Semashi listened in silence. His heart — weathered and numbed by one staggering revelation after another — ignited once more with a fire he'd never felt before: the blaze of raw, unbridled ambition.
"Yes, sir, Hiroshi! I understand!" he declared, his voice thundering with fighting spirit and passion.