I’ll Take On The Modern World—And Dominate It—Relying On No One But Myself. - Chapter 4: Kagetaka’s Ambition.

Kagetaka’s Ambition.

“Technically, Hiiragi-san is older than me in terms of perceived age, so I suppose I should speak formally—”

“We’re closer than family. Let’s just drop the formalities with each other.”

“Okay!”

With the shared understanding that their conversation needed to remain private, Kagetaka brought Hiiragi back to his home.

“Is it alright if we stick to using each other’s last names?”

“Yeah, that’ll sound more natural, especially when others are around.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve been here…”

Hiiragi said it with a tone of nostalgia.

To Kagetaka, it felt similar to revisiting the house you grew up in after many years.

“So, about what I want to do…

If you already know what’s going to happen in the future, work should get a lot easier, right? Like it did today.”

Kagetaka believed that with Hiiragi’s advice, he could handle almost any job with ease.

“Yeah… but there’s something you need to be careful about.”

“What is it?”

“Has Shiratori ever solved a problem as suddenly as you did today?

It was that firmware-related issue.”

“Oh—! Wait, don’t tell me…”

“That was my advice.”

“What?! You knew Shiratori?”

“No, today was the first time I met her as Hiiragi Shouta.

But… someone Shiratori knows came to me for help, and I ended up giving them the solution.”

Hiiragi hesitated slightly when referring to the acquaintance.

“She didn’t leak any confidential info, did she…?”

“She didn’t mention any product names, so it should be fine.”

Hiiragi paused, his expression thoughtful.

“And… I think that’s what led to you and Shiratori meeting today.”

“What do you mean?”

“In my memory, you two weren’t supposed to be assigned the Astral Telecom case until later.”

“So Shiratori’s success brought Astral Telecom into the picture earlier than expected?”

“Most likely. Because I interfered, your life has started to diverge from the one I knew.

If that’s the case, my ability to give you accurate advice might become limited going forward.”

“I see…”

“You don’t sound too disappointed.”

“Well, I kinda figured meeting you was going to change my life plans in a big way anyway.”

“As for work—let’s revisit that later. For now, the goal is world domination.”

Kagetaka said it as casually as if he were buying a radish along with carrots.

“…Huh?”

Hiiragi thought he’d misheard, but Kagetaka’s eyes were dead serious.

“Come on, you’ve got a cheat code now: future knowledge.Can’t you do pretty much anything?”

“Whether I can is another story, but I’m not interested in military conquest.”

“Neither am I.What I’m talking about is economic dominance—hegemony in a financial sense.”

“Well… I guess when I was around your age, having that kind of ambition wouldn’t have been unusual…”

“So? You think it’s possible?”

Kagetaka leaned in, clearly intrigued.

“The problem is that the definition’s too vague… Was I always this imprecise…?”

Hiiragi, being an author with several published works, had a natural dislike for ambiguous language.

“There are a few ways I can think of to make money.

So yes, dominating a specific industry or domain might be possible.”

“Alright! Let’s start with that, then!”

“Just make sure you’re the face of it all. I’m staying behind the scenes.”

“Why?”

“As Hiiragi Shouta, I’d rather not draw attention.”

“Ah, got it.”

Kagetaka thought about it for a moment before nodding in understanding.

Hiiragi was probably concerned about potential trouble if he crossed paths with someone who actually knew the real Hiiragi Shouta.

“But still… with everything we’re planning, I’m going to end up relying on you for everything. Is there anything I can do?”

“There is something I’d like you to handle.”