Detective Conan: Becoming a Tycoon in Tokyo! [13]

Early the next morning.

After wriggling out of Shouichi’s arms, useless Haibara gave him a shove, inwardly cursing last night’s cowardice—willingly becoming his human pillow again.

She slipped out from under the covers and drew a hard line between them.

Last night was a stopgap.
Right now, I’m tough as nails.

Shouichi blinked sleepily and reached out to pat her head.

Haibara endured it in silence.

She didn’t push him away, but her expression screamed rebellion.

She hadn’t lost her fight.

Shouichi was pleased.

He stroked her hair a few more times, testing her obedience.

She didn’t snap, but she definitely wasn’t tamed.

...

After breakfast, feeling fresh and relaxed, Shouichi didn’t go to work. He headed instead to a gated villa community—to visit his biological father under “house arrest.”

Sumitomo Saburou was watching TV, unhurried. When Shouichi came in, he merely signaled the butler to pour his son a glass of juice.

“How’s the bank?” Saburou asked lightly.

“Mind-numbing. It’s either laundering someone’s money or lining up IPOs—utterly pointless.” Shouichi shook his head.

Bored out of his skull.

Saburou stroked the kitten in his arms, thoughtful.

Wasn’t this leisurely life exactly your thing before?

“I’ve decided—I’m starting my own company,” Shouichi said suddenly.

“Starting a business? Wonderful,” Saburou said with a smile.

The kitten gave Shouichi a lazy glance and went back to grooming itself in Saburou’s lap.

“I’m going to start a construction firm,” Shouichi went on.

“A construction company?” Saburou kept smiling and nodded. “Construction is… good.”

With real estate in the gutter, you’d have to be business-blind to pick construction.

Even if I’m rich, it doesn’t mean you can burn cash.

“You’re not planning to invest in me? Not even a little?” Shouichi asked, shameless.

“Investment is good, investment is good,” Saburou murmured, continuing to play senile.

Shouichi looked down his nose at him, fully aware his father had no intention of backing his “venture.”

He lifted his chin stubbornly. “I don’t need your money—just your support. A construction company needs tons of cement and steel. I want our family’s companies to sell to me cheap.”

“And it’d be great if the family’s construction equipment could be rented out to me on the cheap too.”

Saburou shot him a look. “All the family businesses are professionally run now, with clear divisions. I can’t just make those calls.”

I don’t hold any official post anymore. Asking me is useless.

“Besides, do you even have enough cash to set up a construction firm?”

“I’ve still got Sumitomo Bank, don’t I? I’ll borrow from there,” Shouichi said, confident.

“Don’t even think about it!” Saburou barked.

Starting from zero—on a suicide track, no less—have you lost your mind?

“Dad,” Shouichi said earnestly, “right now is the perfect time to buy at the bottom.”

“Real estate won’t recover for at least ten years,” Saburou said flatly.

If real estate won’t recover, construction is even worse.

He took out a bank card and handed it over, face stern. “If you want money, say it straight. Don’t use ‘starting a business’ as leverage.”

Does this old man think I care about that pocket change?

“I don’t want your money. I’ll have plenty of my own soon,” Shouichi said, curling his lip.

“You’ll have money soon?” Saburou narrowed his eyes, suspicious.

Setting the cat aside, he asked, serious now, “You haven’t teamed up with outsiders to short copper, have you?”

“How could I!” Shouichi protested. “I’d never do that. Uncle’s pushing copper prices up—I wouldn’t directly fight him.”

“Hard to say.” Saburou shook his head.

Everyone knows your uncle chewed you out last time when you warned him. You’ve never had a big heart—would you really let it go? And our families have other grudges.

“You really haven’t?”

“Really haven’t. I’m just shorting on my own,” Shouichi admitted in a whisper.

No outsiders involved.

But copper’s going to crash sooner or later—I’m just sneaking a little sip of soup.

Saburou nodded, satisfied.

Fine. As long as he isn’t colluding with outsiders, he’s not a disgrace.

“Why not change your business plan?” Saburou suggested carefully.

Better to keep him busy than let him blow up the family.
But construction is out of the question.

“Trust me!” Shouichi slapped the table, fired up. “I’m a once-in-a-century startup genius!”

...

In the end—

His father agreed to support him.

Since Shouichi claimed he had his own funds, the family wouldn’t invest directly, but the group’s construction-related companies would cooperate closely.

However, borrowing from Sumitomo Bank—forget it.

Until results showed up, not a single yen in loans.

Go harass your uncle if you want, but don’t endanger our own assets.

Just after Shouichi left, Saburou glanced at the TV and saw breaking news.

A former Sumitomo Corporation employee had revealed that Nakatao, head of the metals trading division, had engaged in massive unauthorized trading in international copper futures.

Leveraging Sumitomo Corp’s huge market sway, Nakatao had tried to rig copper prices for huge gains, piling up physical stockpiles and huge long futures positions, artificially pushing prices up.

It didn’t take a genius to see what was coming: copper would nosedive.

International short-selling syndicates would pile in.

Saburou’s mouth twitched.

That little brat.

...

With his uncle about to take a bath, Shouichi mournfully bought a party popper to celebrate at home.

Bang!

Haibara, bent over her homework, jolted like a startled cat.

Seeing the harmless popper in Shouichi’s hand, she exhaled, plucking the streamers from her hair one by one.

“Haibara, I’m so sad,” Shouichi declared, theatrically.

Haibara stared back in silence. The massive grin on your face doesn’t look sad at all.

“My uncle’s company ran into trouble. He’s going to lose a fortune.”

Wonderful news.

A zaibatsu heir tied to the Organization losing money—that’s sweeter than honey.

“I resigned. I won’t be working anymore.”

Good news really does come in waves—another delight.

Shouichi ruffled her hair and went on cheerfully, “But here’s the bad news—I’m going to make a lot of money off my uncle’s loss.”

Truly depressing.

“And another piece of bad news—I’m starting my own business.”

When it rains, it pours. Bad news always comes in bunches.

---

This is a fan translation of 柯南：我在东京当财阀 by 倒霉的菜狗. Rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!