Chapter 124: Akatsuki Trading Company (2)

In 1913, the dinner tables of the vast majority of commoners in Japan were beyond modest—they were impoverished.

In an era when eating white rice was difficult and simply eating one's fill was a luxury, meat was a precious ingredient that could only be seen during major holidays.

No matter how much Japan was called the strongest power in East Asia—holding colonies, engaging in exploitation, and waging wars—the lives of the common people remained unchanged from the past. In some cases, they became even more impoverished due to the requisitioning of military rice. If they were exploiting food from other countries, why wouldn't they take it from the commoners right in front of them?

At the time, Japan's class system had technically been abolished, but invisible tiers still divided people, much like India's caste system. It was an era where cases of people voluntarily enlisting in the military just to eat white rice were frequent.

The middle class ate and lived well, but the commoners did not.

However, as transport vehicles bearing the red moon logo of the Akatsuki Trading Company began to navigate the alleys, the culinary culture of the Japanese archipelago was completely overturned.

In a family home in Nagoya, a housewife preparing dinner took out a secret weapon from the cupboard.

A heavy, rectangular metal tin. On its surface, gold-foiled letters spelling 'Akatsuki Ham' shone next to a picture of an appetizing pink block of meat.

“Hey, is that the ham I’ve been hearing rumors about?” her husband asked, his eyes gleaming as he returned home from work.

“Yes, they were released at a special price today at the company’s distribution center. I heard this is incredibly delicious.”

“Don’t even get me started. Kim-san at the factory brought some for lunch today, and just smelling it made my mouth water. They say it’s meat ground up and mixed with spices—a taste usually only meant for Western nobility.”

At that time, the first commercial canned ham wouldn't be developed for more than a decade. Meat that was affordable, convenient, and long-lasting was an innovation not just for Japan, but for the entire world. Due to the lack of transportation and refrigeration technology, meat remained an expensive luxury for commoners worldwide.

As the housewife pressed down and turned the lid with a can opener, a sharp *hiss~ sounded, and the rich aroma of sealed meat filled the small kitchen.

Akatsuki even introduced the innovation of one-touch ring-pull technology, allowing the can to be opened without any tools. In an era where some people once had to shoot cans with guns just to open them, this one-touch form was a technology decades ahead of its time.

The salty, greasy smell of smoked meat... To those living through an era of poverty, it was the very scent of abundance.

As she sliced the ham into thick pieces and placed them on a heated cast-iron plate, the fat melted with a sizzling sound, and an ecstatic aroma rose into the air.

That wasn't all. A silver pouch was submerged entirely in boiling water in a pot. It was the world's first retort food, developed by the Akatsuki Trading Company: 3-Minute Curry.

“My goodness, to be able to eat curry so simply...” Emiko marvelled as she tore the pouch and poured it over rice. It was a thick brown sauce filled with large chunks of ingredients.

“Let’s eat!”

The children chewed happily with their mouths full of ham. The harmony of salty ham and smooth curry was a shocking taste that advanced the palate of 1913 by several decades.

“Thanks to the Akatsuki Trading Company, commoners like us can eat meat every day. The chairman must surely be possessed by a god of food.”

Akatsuki’s canned and retort foods were not just simple groceries. They were a lifestyle revolution that gifted time back to housewives who previously labored all day over fires, and they were a source of hope that brought the joy of eating to the common people.

As the sun set and darkness fell, the dominance of the Akatsuki Trading Company became even more solidified. Akira thoroughly destroyed the existing unhygienic and violent entertainment districts, building his own empire of the night upon their ruins.

In a back alley of Ginza, in a first-floor basement where colorful neon signs flashed—technology that had only recently been developed in France and was not yet even commercialized in America—stood a building used to house a women-only host club, similar to those found in Yoshiwara but modern.

From the entrance, tall, handsome men in uniforms bowed 90 degrees to welcome the customers.

“Welcome, Princess. We’ve been waiting for you.”

For women who lived suppressed in a male-centered society, this place was a sanctuary of liberation.

Women dressed in the trendy 'Modern Girl' fashion of the time sat on velvet sofas, sipping champagne. Before them, host after host with beautiful features knelt, lighting their cigarettes or listening to their worries.

“Oh my, Kenji-san, you speak so sweetly. At home, my husband only ever says ‘Get me food’ or ‘Bring me water’...”

“To fail to recognize your beauty—your husband is truly indifferent. Tonight, I shall protect nothing but your smile, Princess.”

Cheesy but sweet words. However, there were strict rules here: no physical contact, no forced sales.

Akatsuki Trading Company’s surveillance network was everywhere, and they occasionally performed inspections by disguising staff as customers. Anyone caught engaging in low-quality behavior or harassing guests was immediately blacklisted by the company.

Right next door, a Hold'em pub—the likes of which shouldn't exist in Japan during this era—was operating successfully. Introducing Western poker, this place was closer to an intellectual sports club than a gambling den.

“All-in.”

Chips poured onto the table. Because rumors whispered that anyone caught cheating would have their wrist cut off instantly, the games were exceptionally fair and clean. It was a social lounge for gentlemen, on a completely different level from the dingy gambling houses run by the Yakuza.

“The places managed by Akatsuki have good quality and are safe. You don't have to worry about being extorted by the Yakuza.”

Customers willingly opened their wallets for the safe and glamorous nightlife Akira created. Thus, the massive cash flow from the night streets poured into the vaults of the Akatsuki Trading Company like a river.

But the biggest shockwave Akira sent through the Japanese archipelago was the culture of play. In front of the Akatsuki Department Store annex in Asakusa, Tokyo, a long line stretched from dawn before a building with a sign that read 'Akatsuki Arcade Room.'

“What on earth is that, for people to be so crazy about it?” an elderly man from the countryside asked with a click of his tongue. A student waiting in line answered excitedly.

“Grandpa, don’t you know? It’s Pong! It’s a machine that lets you play tennis inside a machine!”

In 1913, even television didn't exist. Akira had fully utilized his Perfect Being brain (7 brains) and combined the knowledge of his Servants to create the first arcade gaming machines.

Inside the building, under dim lighting, dozens of large machines hummed with electronic sounds, emitting a pale blue light.

Beep... Beep... Tok!*

Every time a white dot (ball) bounced off a bar (paddle) on the screen, cheers and sighs of disappointment from the crowd overlapped.

“Whooa!! I blocked it! Did you see that? See how I curved it!”

“Damn it! One more game! Bring me more coins!”

People were thrilled by the fact that they could manipulate the light on a screen at will. It was magic and science combined. Children would throw down their schoolbags and run here after school, and even adults would loosen their ties on their way home to grab a joystick.

On one side of the arcade room was a manga corner. A crowd gathered to read the weekly manga magazine *Weekly Akatsuki, illustrated by the genius artist Hokusai (Oei). In particular, the most popular serialized work, Teito Seigai Kitan*, was the talk of the town.

“Hey, did you see the latest chapter? The character called Demon King Archer... isn’t his charisma insane?”

“I like the swordsman called Sakura Saber. Fighting while coughing up blood is so heartbreaking.”

In reality, the characters in that manga were modeled after Akira’s Servants, Nobunaga and Okita, but the readers had no idea and were simply enthusiastic about their heroic tales. Moreover, the magazine was sold within the company and in various shops across the country.

The Akatsuki Trading Company was not just a place that sold simple goods; it was a cultural power that dominated the dreams and fantasies of the people.

“A demon lives in the Akatsuki Trading Company.”

This was an open rumor circulating among the people. And with good reason—their delivery speed was at a physically impossible level.

Fresh horsehair crabs caught in Hokkaido in the morning appeared alive on dinner tables in Tokyo by evening. If you ordered pottery specialties from Kyushu, they were sitting at your front door the next morning. How was this possible in 1913, when roads and railways were mediocre at best?

The secret lay in Nakime’s Blood Demon Art, the Infinity Castle. There were disguised Akatsuki logistics warehouses all over the country, and the doors of those warehouses were connected to the interdimensional space of the Infinity Castle.

It was a system where you opened the door of the Hokkaido branch warehouse, put the goods in, and they would pass through a sorting center inside the Infinity Castle to immediately exit through the door of the Tokyo branch warehouse. A so-called 'Dimension Jump Logistics System.'

Akira referred to this as 'Amazoness.com style Subspace Delivery.'

“Hey, Kim-ssi. This goes to Osaka. Be careful.”

“Got it. Open the door!”

The logistics center employees simply opened the warehouse doors and pushed the cargo in. They thought it was a high-tech conveyor belt, but in reality, it was spatial teleportation. Thanks to this, the Akatsuki Trading Company achieved a miraculous logistics revolution with zero transport costs and zero delivery time.

It was an overwhelming gap that competitors could never follow. Industrial spies trying to figure it out would die without a trace because they were enemies, and insiders had no intention of digging. Since they were already happy and living well, it was considered bad manners to pry into the secrets behind the method.

Of course, where there is bright light, there are dark shadows. However, uncontrolled shadows were not permitted in Akira’s empire. The Yakuza organizations that ruled Tokyo’s back alleys had felt a sense of crisis at the rapid rise of Akatsuki and formed a union, as Akatsuki was sweeping away everything from the red-light districts to the gambling dens.

On a rainy night, at a secret meeting place of the Yakuza Union...

“Those Akatsuki bastards—invading our territory with no business ethics? Let's burn down their logistics warehouse tonight!” A hulking Oyabun shouted, throwing his sake cup to the floor. Hundreds of gang members cheered, holding weapons.

At that moment, the closed door opened soundlessly, and pitch-black darkness poured in.

*Thump, thump.

Appearing with the sound of dress shoes was Ushigozen, dressed in a suit that looked like black armor, along with her Moon Flower Squad.

“W-Who are you! How did you get in!”

“I came to clean. I heard a lot of non-recyclable trash had gathered here.”

Ushigozen’s eyes flashed like lightning. Before she could even draw her sword, she waved her hand, and invisible lightning swept through the room.

KABOOM—!!*

The roof of the building was blown away, and hundreds of Yakuza were slammed into the floor without even having a chance to scream. Overwhelming martial force. Against a mystery that transcends the human realm, numbers were meaningless.

Ushigozen stepped on the head of the trembling Oyabun and whispered coldly.

“Choose. Will you become a faithful dog of Akatsuki and serve as a guard dog maintaining order, or will you be cleanly incinerated right here?”

“P-Please spare me!! I will be loyal!! Please, just my life!!”

After that night, all Yakuza organizations in Tokyo took down their signs. Using the spatial movement of the Infinity Castle, the numerous Yakuza in Tokyo had been cleaned out in a single night.

And they were forcibly absorbed into service companies, security firms, and cleaning companies under the Akatsuki Trading Company. Now, no punks extorting civilians or selling drugs could exist in Tokyo's back alleys. Under the grand order of Akatsuki, a perfectly controlled society had arrived where even the shadows were managed systematically.

Citizens brushed their teeth with Akatsuki toothpaste in the morning, ate Akatsuki ham and curry, took an Akatsuki bus to work, shopped at the Akatsuki Department Store, and enjoyed games at the Akatsuki Arcade Room at night.

“I can’t live a single day without Akatsuki.”

“The Chairman really has eyes that see the future.”

The people now worshipped Akira more than the Emperor. Japan in 1913 was practically the Akatsuki Empire.

At that same time, Akira, whom the people praised so much...

“Please let me hug her just once too!”

“Get lost, Mukago. I finally feel like I’ve found a real daughter. I’m not going to let this child become corrupted like the Kocho kids or Kanao.”

“Just because I hug her doesn't mean she'll be corrupted!?”

...was becoming a doting father completely captivated by Nezuko’s charms.