Chapter 30

Under the powerful offensive of money,

Record stores in Tokyo were filled with the sound of "sakurasakuraaitaiyo~" every day recently.

Even students going to and from school would hum a few lines from time to time.

This song had already rushed into the top ten of the Oricon chart in its second week, and ranking in the top three was also worth a try.

Thanks to the popularity of this song, Yoshie Kashiwabara was also invited to "THE BEST TEN," which was quite a big deal for a newcomer.

There were also programs that wanted to invite Naoki Nagayama to appear, but they were all turned down.

Whether as a lyricist, composer, or record producer, it was quite rare for him to truly show his face in front of the screen. Old-school people believed that the singer was the primary protagonist in presenting the work.

As for Naoki Nagayama, he simply found it troublesome. Isn't it better to make a fortune quietly behind the scenes?

The share from his part as an actor had already come down; this time, the acting fee alone was 15 million, and there were subsequent song copyright fees, record shares, and so on.

Although the producer's share this time needed to be split with the agency again, after calculating it, the final profit from this wave would definitely exceed 100 million.

The wallet that had been empty just a moment ago was suddenly full again.

Suppressing the urge to buy a house slightly, Naoki Nagayama decided to let Keiko Fujita-san wait for a while, at least for another half a month.

The next commercial was in April, which meant there was at least half a month left to rest.

After a period of tension, Naoki Nagayama returned to his decadent daily life after a long absence.

But this time it was more like a university student, with two lessons per week at Sachiko-sensei's place—one for music theory and one for an instrument.

The instrument he chose was, of course, the piano. Although he didn't have one at home yet, he definitely had to buy one; otherwise, wouldn't Naoki Nagayama's future seaside villa look very empty?

Dressed, Naoki Nagayama put on a pair of light-colored non-prescription glasses, wrapped a scarf around his neck, and went out.

With the airing of the commercial, more and more people had seen Naoki Nagayama. Walking on the street, he was recognized by young girls quite a few times, who would then come up to chat, which made Naoki Nagayama a bit overwhelmed.

Now he had to cover up a little when going out. If it weren't for the fact that wearing a mask would make people think he was sick, he would have wanted to wear a mask to go out.

A few days later, Naoki Nagayama found Genta Nakai again.

"Nani? You want a loan again? Naoki-san, have you done something illegal?"

"Kishou, I'll sue you for slander. This is clearly legitimate income." Naoki Nagayama was almost choked.

The two met at an izakaya. After Genta Nakai came in, Naoki Nagayama was surprised: "Genta-san, did you go to Africa? Why are you so dark and thin?"

"Thanks to you, I'm out there working hard running after clients every day now, so of course I'm thin..." Although it sounded like a complaint, Genta Nakai's face was full of smiles.

After introducing Naoki Nagayama's loan order to his senior, Masayuki Ito at the bank, Genta Nakai clearly began to get involved in business. Lending was just one item; going out to run after clients was the beginning of accumulating connections.

While drinking, he chatted: "Naoki-san, do you have any other needs? Do you want a loan?"

"Actually, it's nothing else. I recently created another song, and the share should be quite good, so I want to mortgage the contract and take out a loan to buy a house."

"Ha, didn't you already buy a house?"

"For investment."

"Didn't you also buy a plot of land?"

"Who would complain about having too many houses?"

"Ha? You have to pay taxes, you have to pay back the loan~"

"Kishou, of course I know that, that's why I came to find you. As such a good friend, shouldn't you give me the lowest discount?"

After Genta Nakai learned of Naoki Nagayama's thoughts, he had nothing else to say. After all, buying a house is the most correct thing for an ordinary person to do after making money.

"Then, how much do you want to borrow this time?"

"I still want to borrow 100 million yen!"

"Ha??? Are you crazy? Do you think the copyright of every song makes as much money as the previous 'Cherry Blossom'?" Nakai almost jumped up.

"Baka, haven't you heard the recent 'Sakura~Anata ni Deaete Yokatta~' (Cherry Blossom, Cherry Blossom, I'm Glad I Met You)?" Naoki Nagayama looked at him as if he were ignorant.

"It's already in the top ten of the Oricon chart. Although this isn't a top idol's record, I am the producer of the record, so the share is higher."

"That song was also created by you?" Genta Nakai didn't pay much attention to the entertainment industry, but he had heard this new song.

"Hai hai~"

Genta Nakai exclaimed: "I didn't expect you to be a creative genius~"

"Hahaha, do you want me to sign an autograph for you? It might be very valuable in the future~"

"No thanks, don't get too cocky, you guy."

There are not many evergreens in the entertainment industry, but under the lifetime employment system, being a bankman is a profession that gets more valuable with age, so Genta Nakai was not very jealous.

After joking around for a bit, Naoki Nagayama asked: "How is it? Can you open an order by yourself now?"

"I can, but I haven't tried such a large amount."

"Hurry up and try to apply. Apply in the name of a personal studio, and with the copyright share and record share as collateral, a business loan should still be approved, right?"

"Have you already registered a personal studio?"

"Hai, the name is Halo."

"In that case, I can try to apply to the manager." After all, a 100-million-yen order was a performance achievement for the branch office, and it was also good for Genta Nakai's career development.

"Then I'll leave it to you!"

Afterward, the two started drinking.

"How is Reimi-san doing lately?"

"She's graduating next year. We plan to get married after graduation!"

"Pfft~" Naoki Nagayama spat it out. "Marriage? Is it that sudden?"

"What's so strange about that? I'm already 23! Reimi is also 22."

Currently, there is indeed a phenomenon in Japan where female university students get married directly after graduation, but Naoki Nagayama is only 19, and this matter is too early for him...

"It's a bit sudden... Genta-san suddenly talking about marriage and such, it feels like you've suddenly become part of the middle-aged generation!"

"Kishou, I'm older than you to begin with, okay!"

Afterward, Naoki Nagayama contacted Keiko Fujita again.

"Nani? You want to buy a house again?"

Keiko Fujita felt that she had been serving Naoki Nagayama for the past six months, but it was okay; two consecutive orders also earned her quite a bit of commission.

It's just that colleagues in the company would sometimes discuss behind her back whether she had any special relationship with a certain handsome guy, or if it was some kind of pillow service.

"Didn't you just buy one a month ago?"

"Hai, by chance I made some more money, so I want to buy another one."

"Does Naoki-san's money fall from the sky?" Keiko Fujita couldn't help it.

"Hahaha, Keiko-san, you really know how to joke~"

"Then what kind do you want to buy this time?"

"The same as the previous two times."

"Two times?"

"Hai, this time I want to buy a residential property and a commercial property."

"Aleh?!!!"