“So, here’s what happened yesterday…!”
There were no young people among those entering the Starlight Building. It was an obvious fact, really. It was too much of an adult space for kids to be hanging around a high-rise building, not an apartment or villa. But it didn’t matter to me. This building was practically my home.
“Hello-ooooo!”
“Hello!”
Jiyu, Yumi, and I now came and went like it was our own place. At first, Jiyu and Yumi were a bit intimidated by my overwhelming home, but now they didn’t show any of that. We chatted in front of the elevator with our bags slung over our shoulders. As we were talking, the elevator doors opened.
“Yahp!”
I pressed the button for my floor. The elevator slid upward. Every time I rode it, I felt this subtle floating sensation—it was thrilling. It was like being in zero gravity for a moment. The elevator stopped at my floor, and the doors slid open to reveal a special guest waiting for me.
“Meow!”
Nabi was waiting in front of the elevator. It was one of her mysterious abilities. Somehow, she always knew when I was coming and would sit there waiting for me every time I got home. Honestly, I sometimes wondered if Nabi had superpowers. I reached out to her, and she immediately understood my signal, jumping into my arms.
“Good girl, Nabi!”
As I was petting Nabi’s head, Jiyu and Yumi looked at us with shocked expressions. I tilted my head, confused. There was nothing strange going on, right?
“Hana, is that really Nabi? She’s so big!”
“Right? Is she a different cat wearing Nabi’s disguise?”
Well, Jiyu and Yumi had only seen Nabi when she was abandoned in a box. Nabi had been growing like crazy, thanks to her special food and water infused with my hair. Since the office staff and I saw her every day, we were used to it, but Jiyu and Yumi hadn’t seen her since then, so their surprise made sense.
I held Nabi and said to Jiyu and Yumi, “Nabi, these are my friends!”
Nabi’s momentary “thug cat” glare disappeared, replaced by a gentle look. Of course, I didn’t see that glare. Jiyu and Yumi petted Nabi with fascinated expressions.
“Kittens grow fast, but I didn’t know they could grow *this* fast!”
“Nabi is so cute!”
“Meooow!”
Nabi meowed happily as Jiyu and Yumi petted her. I set her back down on the floor, and she started circling around me, meowing. It was her signal for food. I nodded and headed to my room. Jiyu and Yumi followed me in, and we all sat on the bed after taking off our shoes at the entrance.
“Yumi, wait a sec!”
I rummaged through the storage room to grab some food for Nabi. There was enough cat food in there to last her a year. The packaging had Nabi’s photo on it, which was kind of amusing. I grabbed an open bag and headed back to Nabi.
Nabi paced excitedly in front of her food bowl. I poured the food into the bowl, and she immediately started eating. Jiyu and Yumi watched her and commented.
“She eats so well!”
“Right? My cat at home is such a picky eater!”
Yumi’s cat seemed to be quite the gourmet. Normally, cats go crazy for food. I handed Yumi an unopened bag of cat food.
“Yumi, here’s the food you wanted earlier!”
“Thanks, Hana! I’ll make good use of it!”
Yumi tried to give me money, but I politely refused. I had plenty of cat food to spare, and I didn’t need to take money from a friend. But since Yumi kept insisting, I told her to treat me to a meal later. Cat food wasn’t cheap, so I was planning to get a fancy meal out of it.
“Let’s play that Super Mario game we played last time! It was so fun!”
Jiyu turned her attention to the game console. Nabi was cute, but we had things to do, right?
“Okay!”
I put Nabi, who had finished eating, on the bed. She meowed and tried to cling to me. I had no choice but to place her on my lap and start playing the game. Nabi was still young, so she couldn’t sleep alone yet.
I petted Nabi while Jiyu and Yumi…
They started playing the game together.
“By the way, it seems like the typhoon caused massive damage.”
As Kim Sehee mentioned, Japan is a country with a rice self-sufficiency rate exceeding 100%. The fact that Japan is considering importing rice suggests that the damage was indeed severe.
“That’s correct. I heard this from an employee working at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries.”
Karasushi’s information network seemed quite impressive. After all, maintaining the top position alone speaks volumes about their management capabilities.
“Then it seems like our Starlight Food’s rice will be needed.”
Kim Sehee aimed for export without discrimination. In other words, she had no intention of refusing to sell to Japan. Rather, she saw it as a golden opportunity to earn yen. However, Tanaka spoke cautiously.
“That may be true, but the plan is to import rice from multiple sources…”
Japan’s decision was to import from various countries rather than relying on a single source. It was like declaring they’d spread their eggs across multiple baskets. Still, from Kim Sehee’s perspective, it wasn’t a bad choice.
“Even so, we’ll try to maximize the share of Starlight Food’s rice.”
At Tanaka’s reassuring words, Kim Sehee naturally smiled and nodded. Honestly, Karasushi didn’t need to work this hard. While they did import Starlight Food’s rice, going as far as involving the government level was a testament to their dedication.
Kim Sehee asked Tanaka directly. Beating around the bush wasn’t her style.
“By the way, is there anything else you want?”
If not, there wouldn’t be a reason for Karasushi to go to such lengths.
Hearing Kim Sehee’s question, Tanaka quickly got to the point.
“We also want to start importing various crops produced by Starlight Food.”
Currently, they only dealt with rice and a few other crops, but Karasushi had a burning desire to expand into various fields in Japan. Having topped the sushi market, they wanted to compete in other food markets as well. The internal reserves they had been saving while selling sushi nationwide were practically screaming to be used.
“What crops are you interested in?”
Kim Sehee spoke in agreement. Tanaka, with a bright expression, replied.
“Starting with coffee, I’d also like to import Tangle if possible.”
With the distribution network Karasushi had built, they could easily distribute any crop nationwide. And this wasn’t like the automotive or semiconductor industries. There was no need to tweak specifications. It was as simple as loading trucks and sending them across Japan.
And Karasushi could handle this simple task with ease.
Karasushi already had a firm grip on the food distribution network. Distributing fresh fish to chain stores nationwide was proof they could quickly distribute across Japan.
“We’ll do our best to increase production.”
“Thank you!”
As the approval came, Tanaka resisted the urge to bow deeply. Now, Karasushi had essentially gained the qualification to expand beyond sushi into other fields.
They had already tasted Starlight Food’s products long ago. Their addictive and unique flavors might just captivate Japanese consumers. From coffee to Tangle, and even beef, they had enough weapons to conquer the Japanese market.
The only question was how long the remaining forces in Japan could hold out. Or rather, it wasn’t about holding out. Consumers were fickle.
Soon, it would become clear that doing business without the coffee and other crops distributed by Karasushi was suicidal. All they had to do was wait for the companies to surrender graciously.
