"Of course it's important."
Though Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was impatient, he still explained and answered his younger brother's question.
"Every year, many children from prestigious families and many politicians attend Private Hyakkaou Academy. The combined power of the families behind them controls even a quarter of the votes in the Diet.
To gain more votes, several years ago, the Liberal Democratic Party forces behind this school began vigorously promoting gambling and accumulating wealth at the school.
In recent years, it has become even more extreme, allowing Diet votes to even become stakes on the gambling table, making this a place to contend for votes. It can be said that whoever controls this school possesses the leverage to negotiate with other factions."
Ayanokoji asked a question: "Brother, you also said that only children from families attend school here. They shouldn't be able to influence their family's decisions, right?"
For politicians, choosing who becomes the Prime Minister in the Diet is a matter of utmost seriousness; they shouldn't just let their children squander it away.
"That's where you're mistaken," Ayanokoji Kiyotaka shook his head.
"Every year, there are hundreds of votes in the Diet. To secure the Prime Minister's seat, you don't need all the votes; you just need to exceed your opponent. At most, you only need half of the votes to firmly secure the Prime Minister's position.
Therefore, many politicians, especially those in the opposition party, know that their votes are actually not very useful. But at Private Hyakkaou Academy, votes can be put on the gambling table. If they are not absolutely confident of victory, many politicians will hand over their voting rights to their children, letting them use them as leverage to exchange for immense wealth."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was still trying to persuade him, but Kiyotaka seemed not to have listened, merely nodding and continuing to ask a question.
"Brother... will the family forces behind the students not get involved in the conflict?"
"The ruling party secretly established a rule: school matters are resolved by the school, and children's matters are resolved by the children. Any family forces can only provide money and cannot interfere directly."
"That sounds like a 'proxy war,' just fought through gambling..." Ayanokoji Kiyotaka laughed.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka looked at his younger brother's smile and suddenly had a bad premonition: "...Kiyotaka, you're not thinking of getting involved, are you?"
"Precisely."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka smiled and nodded: "As long as I gain enough status in this school and acquire others' votes, won't I be able to influence Father? Instead of relying on those opposition parties to graciously protect us, it's better to rely on myself."
"I've decided, I'm going to become the Student Council President of Private Hyakkaou Academy," Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said with a smile.
"Become the Student Council President...? Kiyotaka, are you serious?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had actually guessed his thoughts, but when he actually said it, his heart still sank.
"Yes, Brother, it's not me talking, but my gambling skills are actually quite good..." Ayanokoji Kiyotaka couldn't explicitly state that he had an absolute certainty of victory, so he could only subtly hint at his skills.
"Kiyotaka, I know you've been smart since childhood, but this isn't just about gambling skills."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka shook his head and said earnestly: "Kiyotaka, putting aside your gambling skills, to gamble with others and acquire votes from them, you must first have a large amount of capital to sit at the gambling table. Do you have enough gambling funds?"
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka lightly coughed and said seriously: "Actually, I do have some spare money on hand."
"How much?"
"One hundred million..."
Before Kiyotaka could finish, he said: "One hundred million Japanese Yen is far from enough."
"Let's put it this way: participating in a Diet member election in Japan requires one hundred million Japanese Yen, and you're not even guaranteed to become a member. Once you fail, that money will be completely lost. Do you think you can do anything with one hundred million Japanese Yen? Even if you become a member, you'll only get one vote. What use is that?"
"Then... one hundred million US dollars?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka thought for a moment and said.
"...Where did you get so much money?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka looked at his younger brother with great surprise.
One hundred million US dollars, even if simply invested in an election, would be a huge sum. Where did he get so much money?
Since it had come to this, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was not going to hide it from his brother anymore.
"Actually, a few years ago, I felt that bitcoin had development prospects, so I invested all my money into bitcoin. Now it's worth about fifty million US dollars, and if it continues to rise at this rate, one hundred million US dollars will be within reach."
He spoke, revealing his investment in bitcoin.
Because Ayanokoji Kiyotaka also didn't know when bitcoin would crash in this world, to prevent an early crash and heavy losses, he cautiously invested the remaining fifty million US dollars into the stock market.
Although the growth momentum was not as fast as bitcoin, it should be no problem to increase tenfold in a year.
Adding the money from bitcoin, that is to say, in one year, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka would have at least one billion US dollars.
It's worth noting that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's initial capital was only a few million Japanese Yen, and in just three and a half years, his net worth reached one hundred million US dollars. This speed of making money would surely astound many people.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka did not tell Ayanokoji Kiyotaka about his "future vision," nor did he mention the money in the stock market. It wasn't that he deliberately wanted to keep something from him; it was because he couldn't explain why these stocks would definitely make money in the future.
Even if he was a manufactured genius, he couldn't predict the future – but Ayanokoji Kiyotaka could.
Of course, no matter how much money bitcoin earned, it couldn't compare to the speed of making money through gambling.
As long as Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was willing to put all his assets into gambling, within a month, he could turn money into more money and become the richest person in the world.
But there was still that problem: if he did that, his personal safety might not be guaranteed.
So, for now, it's better to just make money through discreet methods like stocks and bitcoin. He has plenty of time; he just needs to continue developing steadily and not be reckless.
Hearing that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had actually earned fifty million US dollars with bitcoin, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was genuinely happy for him, in addition to being surprised.
He was naturally aware of bitcoin's surge in recent years, and he also believed that bitcoin would continue to rise in price, but because he was constantly monitored by his father, he didn't have the freedom or pocket money like Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. Even if he knew, he couldn't invest money into it.
Those ten million Japanese Yen were all his hidden savings.
Amidst his happiness, he once again poured cold water on Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
"Kiyotaka, I didn't expect you to have so much money on hand, but to be honest, even if you have one hundred million US dollars a year from now, it's still far from enough compared to the required funds."
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