The exchange students received exceptional treatment. Tokyo University placed great importance on them—after all, they'd been lured from Stanford. The university couldn't afford to disappoint.
Each exchange student received their own small villa. Tuition was fully waived, and each received a scholarship besides—the administration feared any dissatisfaction with Tokyo University.
Japan's educational institutions were wealthy! The scholarship was pocket change to them, deposited in full on the first day of registration.
University staff visited regularly, asking whether they'd settled in comfortably, always bearing various gifts. Their attitude was impeccable—even Bella couldn't find fault.
She soon threw herself into her studies.
Japan's supernatural forces were neither powerful nor unified—a hodgepodge of Shinto elements, scattered remnants of Chinese mystical arts, various Esoteric Buddhist theories. Understanding all of it properly would take time.
She spent most of her hours in the library, absorbing texts on secret arts, talismans, sutras, and paper effigies.
The energy core Emma had extracted from that straw effigy proved valuable for research. It appeared somewhat chaotic but actually represented a synthesis of the era's various supernatural practices.
The candies from Senpou Temple held even greater significance.
She'd confined Doujun for research purposes—though "confined" wasn't quite accurate. The monk had no interest in going outside or pursuing hobbies. He only wanted to research.
The Rejuvenating Waters project had collapsed entirely thanks to the Divine Dragon. The mysterious energy in the water had vanished overnight, as if by magic.
This devastated Doujun, who'd devoted his entire existence to studying it. Now he could only continue researching the candies created by Senpou Temple's predecessors—what Bella called "Demon Candies."
Ako's Sugar, Ungo's Sugar, Gokan's Sugar, Gachiin's Sugar, Yashariku's Sugar.
These Demon Candies produced remarkable effects, but the damage to the human body was equally severe.
Ako's Sugar and Ungo's Sugar corresponded to the Nio guardian statues at temple gates. Gokan's Sugar corresponded to Vajrayaksa, one of the Wisdom Kings. Gachiin's Sugar corresponded to the Moon-Hiding Bodhisattva. Yashariku's Sugar corresponded to Acala, the Immovable Wisdom King.
According to Senpou Temple records, each candy contained a fragment of its corresponding deity's power. In reality... that was nonsense.
Ordinary humans couldn't withstand divine power. Someone at the Corrupted Monk's level might manage it, but how many monks could cultivate to that degree?
Senpou Temple had found a workaround. Using methods from Chinese ritual magic to channel divine power downward, combined with Onmyoji-style spirit-sealing techniques, they'd partially bound that power. After extensive filtering and experimentation, they'd created five Demon Candies.
Despite the processing—and the indirect nature of the divine borrowing—the candies still damaged the body significantly. Fine for one-time use, but if intended as a sustainable combat enhancement, further research was needed.
The bioengineered virus in Wesker's body and Senpou Temple's Demon Candies—both were strengthening methods Bella was preparing for her troublesome little sister.
Doujun experimented while simultaneously learning modern scientific knowledge. Occasionally he'd produce Demon Candies with drastically reduced enhancement effects but equally minimal side effects.
Bella tried a few. The drawbacks had indeed vanished, but the enhancement was barely perceptible. The only upside was flavor—a faint trace of divine power somehow infused the candy with a sense of happiness...
Too wasteful to discard outright. After repeated testing confirmed no harmful effects, Bella established a company specifically for this purpose in Japan.
Taking the Chinese homophone for "candy," she named it: Tanggu—Tanggu Corporation.
The company would manufacture and sell candy. For its initial launch, Tanggu Corporation planned to release red Ako's Sugar and blue Ungo's Sugar.
One boosted strength; the other enhanced defense.
The improvements were negligible, but she slapped a "sports nutrition" label on them anyway—claims about proprietary Chinese herbal formulas, cutting-edge American genetic technology, truth or fiction all mixed together.
Registering a company in Japan was straightforward. Bella had financial accounts here under names unconnected to her own, but after greasing the right palms, she could use them normally.
Victoria Hand personally flew to Japan to introduce Bella to the president, vice-president, and secretary-general of Keidanren—the Japan Business Federation. No one looked down on anyone; everyone understood that harmony meant profit. After the obligatory social niceties, Bella joined the federation, which promptly provided a list of potential managers for her company.
This carried more credibility than any headhunting firm and came with better guarantees. With Keidanren's backing, unless an applicant planned to abandon their career in Japan entirely, they wouldn't dare do anything outrageous.
After comparing candidates, Bella selected a man named Gavin Banks.
Gavin Banks was American but had grown up in Japan. He was fluent in Japanese, English, Italian, and Spanish, held an MBA from Osaka University, but lacked extensive management experience—having served only as deputy at two small enterprises.
Bella didn't demand impressive credentials. This wasn't a Fortune 500 company. Truly accomplished executives wouldn't come work for her.
Just a candy manufacturing and sales company. She didn't need a marketing genius—just normal operations to earn pocket money while laundering funds from several Weyland Company accounts in Japan. That would suffice.
Through Keidanren's introduction, Bella met Gavin Banks.
First impression: acceptable. Polite, articulate, clearly prepared. He'd already drafted preliminary plans for Tanggu Corporation—office leasing, food safety certification, sales team recruitment. Nothing brilliant, but nothing missing either. Comprehensive and competent.
Banks kept avoiding her gaze, which seemed slightly odd. But Bella didn't dwell on it. I'm this beautiful—he's probably worried about making a bad impression on his boss by staring. Deliberately averting his eyes was normal behavior.
Employees who constantly ogle their attractive boss? Those are the problematic ones.
"I won't waste words. I'm officially hiring you as president of Tanggu Corporation. I want the company operational within one month. Any questions?"
"None. I'll start today."
"Good. You'll have your work cut out for you."
Bella left the company seal and bank account information. Everything else was his responsibility. The account held $200,000—enough for initial expenses.
Pocket change to her. If he dared run off with it, his luck would turn very bad.