"How did things go?"
In a Japanese-style house in Tokyo, an old man knelt before a low table, looked at the bowing and respectful Aizawa Satoshi in front of him, and asked.
"It may not have gone smoothly, Nagasawa-sama."
"Oh? How did it not go smoothly?"
The old man put down the cup in his hand, looked at Aizawa Satoshi with sharp eyes, and asked.
He was the overall person in charge of the Unification Church in Japan, responsible for all matters related to the Unification Church in Japan.
Aizawa Satoshi did not dare neglect anything and reported in detail everything that had been said in Toru's Western-style house.
He said, "Nagasawa-sama, Fujiwara Toru is very resistant to us and has no intention of working with our Unification Church. I can feel his dislike for us."
The old man did not care. He merely chuckled and said, "From a politician's perspective, he is too young, just a fledgling child."
"Young people are always full of vigor and always have their own ideas. They are like newborn calves that are not afraid of tigers, fearless, confident in their own abilities, and unconcerned with the rules people have followed for a long time."
"Young people always think they can break all common sense and conventions, and think they are different. However, history has proven that in the end they cannot accomplish anything. Only when they grow older and hit walls everywhere do young people truly grow up and mature."
Seeing that the old man was not angry over his failure, Aizawa Satoshi finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Then, Nagasawa-sama, what should I do? Should I continue to approach Fujiwara Toru and persuade him to work with us?" Aizawa Satoshi quickly asked.
"The more outstanding young people are, the more self-centered they are. It is useless for you to go to him. You cannot persuade him, and in the end it will only make him more annoyed."
The old man spoke lightly.
"Please guide me, Nagasawa-sama." Aizawa Satoshi lowered his head and said respectfully.
"It's very simple. Stop him when he runs for district mayor. He boasts about his appeal and thinks he can easily win the position of district mayor with the support of the Fujiwara family and the Ōoka family."
"Then let him have a taste of failure and let him understand how politics in Japan really works."
"Smart young people will definitely change their thinking and ideas after suffering a setback, and understand the benefits of working with us."
"If he is still stubborn, then continue making him fail and let him understand that without working with us, he cannot do anything."
The old man said slowly, "…The Reverend is currently in America. He thinks highly of this young man, Toru."
"The Reverend said that if things are handled well, Fujiwara Toru will be the most important figure in the future of Japanese politics. As long as he can be brought into our fold, we can go even further in Japan and gain even more benefits."
"So many prime ministers have worked with us, and so many Diet members have worked with us. How much trouble can one Fujiwara Toru cause?"
"Under this overall trend, Fujiwara Toru has no choice."
Aizawa Satoshi said in surprise, "I didn't expect even the Reverend to be paying attention to matters in Japan."
The Unification Church's base was in South Korea, because it was a very suitable environment for cultivating religion, and most South Korean officials worked with the Unification Church or similar religious organizations.
In addition, back when Nixon was President of America, the first Reverend of the Unification Church had already seen the upper limit of the denomination's development, which was America.
Only when the Unification Church also had a large number of followers and believers in America, and thereby influenced American politics, could the Unification Church reach its peak.
So at that time, the Unification Church went to America to develop and supported Nixon.
It had to be said that the first Reverend had good foresight. The Unification Church had been cultivating itself in America for nearly fifty years.
As for the results, perhaps there had been some culture shock. Compared with its influence in South Korea and Japan, the Unification Church's development in America had been somewhat slow, perhaps because there were too many similar organizations and groups in America and the competition was too fierce.
Especially in America, the largest similar denomination was actually the Squid Church. Many Americans chose to convert in order to gain the support of the Squid conglomerate or marry into the Squid family.
The daughter of a candidate for American president was one of them.
"The denomination's progress in America cannot be stopped, but South Korea alone is not enough for us to rest easy. Only by bringing all of Japan into the denomination's sphere of influence can we have more energy to preach in America."
"The Reverend said that the most important person in Japan is Toru. He has sufficient appeal, the Fujiwara family's background, and he himself is smart enough. That is why I entrusted you with the task of contacting Toru. You must not let down my trust."
The old man's tone was somewhat stern as he lectured Aizawa Satoshi.
Aizawa Satoshi quickly said, "I definitely will not let down the Reverend's and your guidance."
The old man nodded in satisfaction. "Good, go and prepare. Block Fujiwara Toru's election and let him know how to make the right choice."
"He is still young, and he can afford to experience failure. It will be fine for him to run again in a few years."
...
"Who was that person?"
After Aizawa Satoshi left and Haibara returned to the living room, she saw that Toru was deep in thought and softly asked.
Toru came back to his senses and smiled. "A bunch of rats crossing the street. You don't need to worry. Compared to the Organization you were once in, these rats are much easier to deal with."
"However, rats have their own trouble too, which is that there are too many of them. If you're not careful, it can easily turn into a rat infestation."
A trace of coldness flashed through Toru's eyes.
He stood up and said, "Haibara, I need to make a call home."
With that, Toru walked back to his bedroom, took out a laptop, and made a video call.
In the video, the old master of the Fujiwara family was sitting at the entrance basking in the sun. Seeing that Toru had actually video-called him, the old master chuckled and said, "Toru, what made you think of contacting this old man? Did you run into trouble?"
Toru asked, "How much do you know about the Unification Church?"
The old master sat up straight, his expression turning serious. "They really came to find you."
"You knew they would come to find me?"
"No, I was only guessing. Before, when you were at Tokyo University and Shuchi'in Academy, you mentioned that you wanted to enter politics or even become prime minister in the future, but at most those could be taken as jokes."
The old master said, "…But you said the same thing in Chiba, at the competition venue, in front of so many people. Everyone knows you weren't joking. You genuinely intend to enter politics."
"Toru, you are outstanding and you want to enter politics, so the Unification Church would definitely come looking for you. It's just that I didn't expect them to come so early. After all, you are still too young."
Toru asked in a low voice, "Does the Fujiwara family cooperate with the Unification Church?"
"There is some cooperation."
Toru was startled. He had not expected the Fujiwara family to actually have dealings with the Unification Church. Then perhaps it would be better for him to cooperate with them too?
The old master sighed softly and said, "The existence of the Unification Church has become too big to fail. Not only our Fujiwara family, but even the Ōoka family has cooperation with the Unification Church."
"All the major kazoku throughout Japan have more or less had contact with them. It's just that some cooperate more deeply, while others cooperate more superficially."
"For old political families like our Fujiwara family or the Ōoka family, the relationship with the Unification Church is relatively shallow. If you want to gain the Unification Church's support, you must pay a sufficient price, and we old political families are unwilling to pay too high a price."
Toru asked doubtfully, "Is the Unification Church really that powerful?"
If the Unification Church was really that powerful, Toru actually would not mind cooperating. In any case, a cult causing trouble in Japan had nothing to do with him.
"It's not a matter of whether they're powerful. Toru, it seems you dislike the Unification Church very much."
"Because I don't trust them. Any talk of cooperation is nonsense. I'm not an idiot. I can tell they're trying to get leverage over me and then control me."
Toru spoke honestly.
The old master smiled and said, "This is also why we old families are wary of the Unification Church. So-called cooperation is a joke. What they want is simply too much."
"We are wary of the Unification Church, but among the many politicians in Japan, many are far more willing to work with them."
"Otherwise, a former prime minister was assassinated and died, and it was related to the Unification Church, so why did the matter simply fade away without anyone pursuing it, and why did not a single official mention it? Because the Unification Church is involved in too many things."
Toru sat up straight and humbly asked for guidance. "Please explain it more clearly, Grandpa."
The old master considered his words and said, "This is actually the trouble brought by voter politics. Voters seem democratic, but democracy itself has never truly existed."
"Political participation in Japan is actually not high. During elections, only a small portion of Japanese people actually go to vote. Most people are too lazy to vote, or they vote with their feet."
"You and I both understand that so-called elections are actually completely unrelated to ordinary people. For example, if you want to run for district mayor, are all the people running against you commoners?"
"Of course not. They are actually, like you, representatives of other political families, and they themselves are part of our shared community of interests. No matter how the voters choose, in the end they elect one of us."
After pausing, the old master continued, "…And it is precisely because of this voter politics, and because Japanese people vote with their feet, that the Unification Church has been given the soil to grow and develop, allowing them to intervene in politics."
"Religion's brainwashing of its followers is very powerful. I do not know the exact number of people in the entire Unification Church in Japan, but there are at least nearly a million."
"As long as the Reverend of the Unification Church says a word, those nearly one million people will all vote for one person, and those million people also have all kinds of relatives and friends."
"Under their influence, their relatives and friends will also vote for that one person. They do not care about their voting rights anyway. Voting for anyone is all the same to them."
"In that situation, even if there is a huge gap between you and your opponent, you might still be overtaken. And if the race is close, you will definitely lose."
"It is precisely because of this that many politicians work with the Unification Church, just to get their votes."
"At the same time, those who lack sufficient political resources, in order to contend with old political families like us, will also borrow outside forces, namely the power of the Unification Church, to compete with us."
The old master's words also carried an indescribable helplessness. "…That old man from the Omikado family was shot in the chest and died. The Omikado family is also an old political family, so why did they not even make a sound about the Unification Church?"
"That's because the Unification Church promised them that it would fully help other members of the Omikado family run for positions such as councilor. With that kind of exchange of interests, they naturally would not become hostile to the Unification Church."
"Toru, this is politics. Everything is decided by interests!"
Toru remained silent.
He understood.
This damned thing was a problem with Japan's system.
Toru thought further. America and England also had similar systemic problems.
Why did America's Democratic Party strongly support illegal immigrants? It was to get the votes of those illegal immigrants, playing the game of ghosts crossing the border.
This was actually quite similar in effect to the Unification Church.
Perhaps only some decisive and ruthless methods could be used.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
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