Chapter 376: Hachiman's Ambition
"When do you plan to marry Kotonoha?"
Surprised by Manami's direct question about marriage, Kotonoha blushed.
"Mom, what are you talking about? Marriage is still too early for us."
Though shy, Kotonoha couldn't help but feel a hint of excitement. After all, as a girl, she did dream about marriage.
Ignoring her daughter's reaction, Manami continued to gaze earnestly at Hachiman sitting across from her.
Without hesitation, Hachiman shared his thoughts on the matter.
"While I do intend to marry Kotonoha, it's still too early for us. We're only high school students, after all. My plan is to get married after graduating from college. Plus, Auntie, I'm sure you wouldn't want Kotonoha to marry so soon either."
Though the government in Japan didn't oppose high school students marrying due to population decline, it was rare for couples to marry right after high school.
Graduating from high school was just the beginning. Even if they didn't plan to pursue further education and were ready to start working, how could two young individuals afford to support a household?
Basic necessities cost money, and even though they seemed trivial, they added up to a significant expense. Plus, accidents happened, especially among young couples. If they had children, it would only complicate matters further.
Despite Hachiman's financial success, he wasn't ready for marriage yet. And it wasn't just him— the girls felt the same way.
Sure, Hachiman was successful, but the girls didn't want to be mere accessories. If they married right after high school, wouldn't they just be relying on Hachiman for support? Some prideful girls didn't want that. They wanted to achieve something on their own, rather than be kept at home like pet canaries.
However, those are stories for another time.
...
Upon hearing Hachiman's words, Manami nodded.
In her mind, she had no intention of letting Kotonoha marry right after high school.
"As you said, getting married right after high school is indeed too early. It's good that you have such thoughts."
Looking at Hachiman's serious expression, Manami understood that he did indeed have the intention of marrying her daughter, at least for now.
As for the future, it would depend on whether her daughter could handle it.
Turning to look at Kotonoha, who was currently wearing a happy smile, Manami sighed inwardly.
"Furthermore, I'd like to hear about your plans for your future career, Hikigaya-kun. I know you've already achieved tremendous success in the light novel field, but do you plan to continue developing in this area?"
In response to this question, Hachiman smiled and spoke, "Rest assured, Auntie, I won't stay in the light novel field forever. Ultimately, light novels are just a hobby for me. Recently, I made an investment."
"An investment?"
Hearing this, Manami was somewhat surprised because she hadn't heard about this before. Moreover, investments were no trivial matter; one wrong step could lead to massive losses.
While Manami was surprised, Hachiman simply nodded faintly.
"Yes, recently I and the Totsuki Group each invested $150 million, totaling $300 million, in the American company Facebook."
$300 million...
Hearing this figure, Manami couldn't help but choke. While she managed a medium-sized food ingredient company, its annual profit was barely reaching a billion yen, which was less than $100 million when converted to dollars.
Although this $300 million investment also involved funds from the Totsuki Group, the amount contributed by Hachiman alone exceeded the annual profit of her entire company.
Before she could fully recover from her astonishment, Hachiman continued speaking.
"In addition, I've also ventured into the culinary industry. I collaborated with the Totsuki Group to open a restaurant, which I believe you've heard of, Auntie."
Upon hearing this, Manami nodded.
She was aware of the restaurant opened by Hachiman in collaboration with the Totsuki Group. Although it had only been open for a short time, it was highly favored by the upper class, and the prices of the dishes inside even surprised her.
"Not only that, but I also plan to enter the gaming industry in the future," Hachiman continued.
"Auntie, as you know, I've had some success in the light novel field, so I intend to adapt my novels into games."
After all, when talking about Japan, one couldn't ignore its unique ACG culture, which stood for Anime, Comics, and Games.
He had already ventured into anime and manga with his novels, so how could he overlook the gaming industry?
This idea had been on Hachiman's mind for a long time, after all, he was a transmigrator, and before his transmigrated, the gaming industry was one of the most profitable.
Moreover, he didn't aim for PC gaming but rather mobile gaming.
Nowadays, smartphones had become widespread, but there weren't many people exploring the mobile gaming market.
This was an untapped goldmine.
Hachiman had also done some research and found that some big IPs had yet to appear, such as the famous Type-Moon.
Even in his previous life, Type-Moon was a long-lasting big IP, and the mobile game "Fate/Grand Order" derived from it often dominated the top of the spending charts.
So Hachiman had already decided that the next novel series he would write would be the Type-Moon series.
As long as he firmly held onto the Type-Moon IP, then the game FGO would be within his grasp.
However, the development of mobile games still needed careful consideration. First of all, he needed to write several installments of the Type-Moon series.
"Kara no Kyoukai," "Tsukihime," "Fate/Zero," "Fate/stay night"...
So far, his "Sword Art Online" series sales were approaching twenty million, and "That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime" had nearly fifteen million in sales.
But "Sword Art Online" could still be stretched for some time, while "That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime" was about to face its conclusion.
Hachiman decided to speed up the conclusion of "That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime" in the near future and then start the serialization of the Type-Moon series.
Who knew if some unexpected event would disrupt his plans one day, so he wanted to act early.
However, Manami was taken aback by Hachiman's words.
She didn't expect Hachiman's ambitions to be so grand, actually planning to diversify.
Light novels, anime, cuisine, games...
If he could really succeed, then in less than ten years, he could build a huge business empire.
Looking at the determined Hachiman, Manami became even more worried.
Could Kotonoha really hold onto such a man?