HBWnovel Chapter 11 The Plumber's Miracle
Chapter 11 The Plumber's Miracle
In mid-August, the air in Akihabara was filled with a burnt smell.
The static smell emanating from thousands of CRT televisions running simultaneously mingled with the smell of solder, cheap plastic, and the smoky aroma of grilled scallions.
At this time, Akihabara was not yet the holy land later known as the place dominated by anime and manga characters. This was the "Electronics District," a jungle of radio components, vacuum cleaners, and the burgeoning personal computers. The narrow streets were lined with bright red and green signs, and banners proclaiming "Big Sale" and "Cash Back" hung limply in the sweltering breeze.
Satsuki was wearing a sun hat with the brim pulled low, and a plain white T-shirt and denim overalls.
She stood by the railing of Wanshi Bridge, holding a can of chilled oolong tea. Water droplets slid down her fingers, dripping onto the scorching asphalt and evaporating instantly.
"Nishi...Saionji-kun!"
I heard hurried footsteps behind me.
Suzuki Amy came running up, panting, carrying an oversized backpack. Her bangs were damp with sweat and stuck to her forehead, and her glasses were fogged up.
"Sorry! The tram...the tram is late!"
Amy apologized while frantically wiping her glasses.
Satsuki handed her a handkerchief.
"It's okay. I just arrived too."
She glanced at the bulging backpack behind Amy.
"Did you bring the things?"
Amy glanced around warily, then nodded vigorously. She pulled Satsuki along and slipped into a nearby alleyway filled with cardboard boxes.
The alley was dark and damp, and several stray cats, startled, jumped onto the rusty air conditioner unit.
Amy put her backpack on the ground and unzipped it.
Inside wasn't any contraband, but a bright yellow plastic shell.
There were no stickers, no circuit boards, just an empty shell. But on the back of the shell, there was a line of inconspicuous small print: Nintendo 1985.
"Dad said this is scrap; the color was a tiny bit too dark during injection molding," Amy said in a low voice, as if showing off a rare treasure. "But Saionji-kun, that game is seriously amazing! I secretly peeked at the test footage once, and when that little bearded guy ate a mushroom and grew bigger, it made a 'ding' sound!"
Amy gestured wildly, indicating her name.
"My dad's factory received an order for 300,000 of these casings. And I heard this is just the first batch. They're in Kyoto, pushing like they're going to kill someone. Trucks are waiting at the factory gate, and the injection molding machines are still hot when they're loaded onto the trucks and driven away."
Satsuki reached out and took the yellow plastic shell.
A rough texture came from my fingertips.
This is the armor of the plumber who is about to rule the world.
September 13, 1985. This date is considered the first year of the gaming era in later generations.
But at that moment, apart from Nintendo itself and a few contract manufacturers, no one knew that this tsunami was about to erupt from there. Most distributors were still trembling in the shadow of the Atari crash, harboring deep skepticism about video games as "electronic heroin."
"Well done, Amy."
Satsuki put the outer shell back into her bag, a slight smile curving her lips.
An initial order of 300,000 units. For Nintendo, this was just a trial run.
"Did you make plans with Uncle Itakura?"
"Hmm!" Amy slung her backpack over her shoulder. "Uncle Itakura is an old friend of my dad's, he lives behind the radio club in front. He seems to be in a bad mood lately."
……
In the back alley of the Radio Club, there is a shop called "Itakura Trading Company".
The roller shutter door was half-closed, and the store was dark, like a cave, with no lights on. The shelves were cluttered with calculators and digital watches of various brands, as well as several boxes of dusty Atari game cartridges.
A middle-aged man in a t-shirt was sitting behind the counter, a cigarette between his fingers, staring blankly at a payment reminder in front of him.
The cigarette ash had already fallen on the table, but he was too lazy to wipe it up.
"Uncle Itakura..."
Amy leaned halfway in and called out timidly.
The man looked up, his eyes somewhat cloudy. Seeing it was Amy, he forced a smile onto his stubble-covered face.
"Oh, it's Amy. What, here to deliver invoices for your dad again?" Itakura sighed, stubbing out his cigarette in the overflowing ashtray. "Go back and tell your dad to give him a few more days' grace on the injection molding payment. In this awful weather, there's not even anyone buying a radio."
"No...that's not it."
Amy turned to the side, making way for Satsuki behind her.
"I have a friend who wants to talk to you about... that yellow cassette tape."
Itakura paused for a moment, his gaze falling on Satsuki.
A little girl. Although she was dressed plainly, those shoes… Itakura narrowed his eyes. They were Italian calfskin shoes, a pair worth half a month's revenue for his shop.
"Kid, this isn't a toy store." Itakura lit another cigarette. "If you want to buy a game console, go to the department store up ahead."
Satsuki did not speak.
She walked straight to the counter, where there was a worn-out folding chair. She took a handkerchief out of her bag, placed it on the chair, and then sat down.
"Mr. Itakura is a first-tier distributor for Nintendo, right?" Satsuki asked, her clear voice echoing in the dimly lit shop.
"That was true before." Itakura snorted. "If you're here to talk about that damn Famicom, then please leave. Those guys in Kyoto are crazy. They demand full cash payment for everything and won't allow returns. The 'duck-catching' consoles I ordered last time are still gathering dust in the warehouse."
He pointed to the pile of boxes in the corner, looking gloomy.
"I heard there's a new game coming out next month." Satsuki ignored his complaint and tapped her fingers lightly on the glass counter. "Code name: 'Mario'."
"That's true." Itakura scratched his hair in frustration. "Nintendo's salesmen call every day, urging me to buy this 'groundbreaking masterpiece.' Pshaw! Every salesman says that. If I can't sell another batch of stock, I'll have to jump into Tokyo Bay."
He took an order form from the drawer and slammed it on the table.
"Five million yen! The minimum order quantity is one thousand trays! And it's cash! Where am I supposed to get five million for them?"
Satsuki glanced down at the order form.
It reads: Family Computer Cassette "Super Mario Bros." - 1000 Units.
Shipping date: September 10th.
"What if I give you this money?"
Satsuki's voice was soft, yet it was like a flash of lightning, instantly illuminating the dimly lit shop.
The cigarette in Itakura's hand fell and burned his thigh. He jumped up abruptly, patting his pants, but his eyes were fixed on Satsuki.
"What...what did you say?"
Satsuki took out several thick brown paper envelopes from her canvas bag.
She untied the string from the envelope and emptied its contents onto the counter.
One bundle, two bundles, three bundles... five bundles.
Fukuzawa Yukichi's serious face exuded a captivating scent of ink in the dim light.
A full five million yen.
In an era when the average salaried worker earns only 200,000 yen a month, this is undoubtedly a huge sum of money.
Itakura's Adam's apple bobbed violently. He instinctively reached out to touch it, but stopped mid-air.
"You...whose child are you?" Itakura's voice became hoarse. "This money..."
"This is my New Year's money." Satsuki lied without batting an eye. "Mr. Itakura, I have great confidence in this game. I'd like to make a deal with you."
She stretched out her finger and pressed it on the pile of money.
"I'll lend you this five million to purchase goods. In exchange, I want 70% of the profits from the sale of these one thousand cassette tapes."
"Seventy percent?!" Itakura exclaimed. "You're robbing me! The distribution channels are mine, the stores are mine..."
"But the risk is mine."
Satsuki interrupted him.
She looked up and gazed into Itakura's eyes with a smile.
"Mr. Itakura, you just said that you dare not place an order. If I don't pay this money, you won't even make a 10% profit, and you'll lose your primary distributorship because you won't meet Nintendo's quota. At that point, your losses will be much more than just that profit."
Itakura opened his mouth, but found himself unable to refute it.
Nintendo's domineering attitude is notorious in the industry. "If you don't complete the task, you're fired"—that's Hiroshi Yamauchi's logic.
He looked at the five million in cash on the table, and then at the order form that seemed like a death knell.
If you don't stock up on inventory, you lose your distributorship, and the store goes out of business. If you stock up on inventory but can't sell it, you also go bankrupt.
But now, a little girl runs over and says she'll cover the cost of the goods.
"What if... what if we can't sell them?" Itakura asked cautiously.
"If they don't sell, these cartridges are mine. You don't need to pay me back a single penny," Satsuki said calmly.
Itakura gasped.
This is like a windfall! Aside from earning slightly less profit, he faces absolutely no risk!
"make a deal!"
Fearing she might change her mind, Itakura grabbed the pile of money with astonishing speed.
"Little girl... no, young lady! Great! I'll call Nintendo right now!"
Half an hour later.
Satsuki walked out of the shop with a handwritten purchasing agreement bearing the official and private seals of the Itakura Shokai.
The sunlight outside was still blinding.
Amy followed behind her, still completely bewildered. Looking at Satsuki's back, she felt that this girl, who was even smaller than herself, was now as tall as a giant.
"Saionji-kun..." Amy stammered, "That's five million... What if nobody buys the game?"
Satsuki stopped in her tracks.
In an electronics store by the roadside, a concert by Seiko Matsuda was playing on a TV screen, and the loud music filled the street.
Nobody's buying?
Looking at the flickering noise on the screen, Satsuki imagined a plumber in overalls carrying gold bricks on his head, making a crisp "ding-ding" sound.
This game isn't just going to sell. It's going to sell forty million copies. It's going to save the entire North American gaming market. It's going to make Nintendo's stock price skyrocket in the coming years.
These thousand cassette tapes were just the first batch of seeds.
When the shortage hits, the price of these 1,000 lots of spot goods will be driven up to three or five times the original price.
"Amy."
Satsuki turned around and pressed the jar of oolong tea, which had gone lukewarm, against Amy's face.
"Don't worry."
She pointed to the sky above, which was fragmented and torn apart by power lines.
"This world is about to become like that plumber's."
"And we bought tickets."
……
It was already evening when I returned to the Saionji family home.
Shuichi hasn't returned yet.
Satsuki returned to her room and locked the agreement in the deepest part of the safe.
This five million was the first "secret stash" she earned by completely breaking away from her family and father, using her own judgment and skills.
Although this is just a drop in the ocean compared to the billions of dollars that will be shorted next.
But this is a form of proof.
Although such an investment with a foresight advantage is as easy as cheating in real life, for Satsuki, it was a chance to prove herself—to show Shuichi Saionji that her talents were not limited to theoretical knowledge.
"Young Miss, dinner is ready."
A maid's voice came from outside the door.
"They're here."
Satsuki responded. She walked to the mirror and tidied her slightly messy bangs.
The girl in the mirror still looked well-behaved and sensible.
At the dinner table.
Xiu Yi looked somewhat tired. He had basically completed his position building in the foreign exchange market, and now every daily exchange rate fluctuation was affecting him greatly. The dollar was still consolidating at a high level, which put him under tremendous psychological pressure.
"Satsuki, where did you go today?" Shuichi put down his chopsticks and asked casually.
"I went to Akihabara with my classmates." Satsuki picked up a piece of tofu with an elegant movement. "There are a lot of interesting electronic parts there."
"Akihabara..." Shuichi smiled, "It's best to avoid that messy place in the future. Just have the servants buy whatever you want."
"Understood, Father."
Satsuki nodded obediently.
She hasn't told her father yet that in that chaotic place, she just planted a landmine that will blow up the entire Japanese entertainment industry a month later.
The sound of cicadas chirping outside the window gradually faded away.
The summer of 1985 was drawing to a close in a restless manner.
And after that end, an even more frenzied autumn will follow.