He was in no hurry to scratch it open.
The reason Higashino Akira had bought a scratch-off ticket was merely to test whether the way he received the system’s daily money reward could be influenced by his own actions.
Over the past two days, he had already received ten thousand yen twice.
The first time, a senior from his university club messaged him to say one of his works had sold.
The second time, a middle school classmate he had not contacted in seven or eight years—and honestly had never been that close with even back then—suddenly added him as a friend and transferred him ten thousand yen, saying it was money he had borrowed long ago and forgotten to repay.
Back in middle school, Akira had not even owned a phone, much less a social media account.
Who knew how many people that classmate had asked before finally finding his account and adding him?
After all, even Akira himself could barely remember ever lending that person money.
Once or twice, these methods were fine.
They also gave reasonable explanations for the source of the money rewards.
But if coincidences like this kept happening, outsiders might eventually notice something strange.
As long as he did not expose himself, Akira did not think anyone would know he had a cheat.
Still, it was necessary to take the initiative and make some attempts of his own just in case.
When he returned home, the living room lights were still on.
Before he even reached the entrance, he could already hear the sound of a television program playing.
After walking in, he saw a girl in pajamas sitting on the sofa, hugging a cushion while her head nodded up and down as she dozed off.
“If you’re sleepy, why didn’t you go to bed?” The sudden voice instantly startled the drowsy Yotsuya Miko awake.
She turned her head and saw Higashino Akira casually draping his long windbreaker over the sofa.
“Welcome back, Onii-chan.
There’s still hot water in the bath, and the food is in the fridge.
You can heat it up in the microwave and eat…” Hearing that, Akira suddenly looked at her a little more seriously.
“So you were waiting for me to come back?” Yotsuya Miko did not answer.
She was afraid he would think she was trying to claim credit, or that she was like an immature child who could not handle being alone without an adult nearby and wanted to act spoiled.
Looking at the girl silently watching him with that anxious expression, Akira paused for a moment, then said, “You don’t need to wait for me to come back in the future.
I’m only staying here more often recently.
I have other places to stay too.
If I have something to do outside, I might directly sleep at the school dorm or somewhere else for the night.
Even when I do come back, it won’t necessarily be at a fixed time.” “Sorry.” Yotsuya Miko’s voice was low, and her mood seemed to sink.
Sure enough, getting along with him would not be that easy.
Sorry for disappointing you, Mom.
“Go rest early.” “Mm.” Yotsuya Miko obediently stood up, put the cushion down, and walked toward her bedroom.
“Oh, right.” The voice of that “brother” suddenly sounded behind her.
“Thanks.” Yotsuya Miko’s eyes widened at once, and she turned back in disbelief.
Higashino Akira was holding a cup of warm water and taking a small sip.
“If you don’t sleep soon and end up late for school tomorrow, I’m not helping you fool them if the school calls home.” Could he be a tsundere?!
Yotsuya Miko secretly retorted in her heart.
The gloom from a moment ago vanished from her face, and her whole mood lifted considerably.
Praise Mom!
“See that?
Miko and Akira are both good children.
As long as good children are a little more honest with each other, they can get along just fine.” “Miko did very well.” The certain lady in the house, invisible to ordinary people, also smiled in relief.
She watched gently as her daughter walked straight through her body and into the bedroom.
In the living room, Akira looked at the two muscular men with full beards wrestling on the television and immediately felt speechless.
He could barely control the urge to comment.
What even is this?
Do high school girls these days secretly like watching such hardcore programs?
After turning off the television, Akira went into the bathroom to wash up.
Honestly, he had already slept enough during the day, so he did not feel sleepy at all now.
At exactly midnight, Akira scratched open the scratch-off ticket he had bought and checked the information on it.
Money +20,000 yen.
Once morning came and he went out to handle business, he could exchange it along the way.
Almost immediately after, his phone rang with a transfer notification.
[Dreaming of Becoming a Rich Tokyo Lady: That underclassman came again and bought another one of your copybooks.
Congratulations, kouhai.
Your worth has skyrocketed and doubled in one go!] [Higashino: I still had copybooks?] [Dreaming of Becoming a Rich Tokyo Lady: It was the practice paper you didn’t throw away before.
She bought it.] [Higashino: …] [Dreaming of Becoming a Rich Tokyo Lady: By the way, she really seems to have taken a liking to you, Higashino.] [Higashino: Why do you always contact me in the middle of the night?] [Dreaming of Becoming a Rich Tokyo Lady: Because I’ve already sold my daytime hours to life.] [Higashino: Good night.] [Dreaming of Becoming a Rich Tokyo Lady: You clueless man!] Twenty thousand from the lottery, plus twenty thousand from the copybook.
Forty thousand yen gathered.
Although the latter was a little subtle, the idea of actively expanding his income channels and giving the system more room to choose how it exerted its influence did indeed have some effect.
After all, he could not sell practice drafts every day, right?
Where would he even get that many drafts?
Besides, those things were supposed to be thrown out regularly.
If she really wanted them, she could have just said so and taken them directly.
There had been no need to spend money at all.
What a strange underclassman!
The next morning, Higashino Akira woke up early and left the house almost right after Yotsuya Miko went to school.
Since it was still early and there were not many people handling business, Akira went straight to the bank to apply for a mortgage loan.
He used the house he had inherited from the old man as collateral and borrowed seventy-five million yen from the bank.
The house itself was not important.
But land had to be bought!
Even if he could not snowball, buying even a little was still buying something.
After all, land in Higashino Akira’s hands could genuinely make money.
After completing his preparations and contacting a real estate agent about a meeting place, Akira bought a few things along the way and first went to the hotel to visit Kongming.
When he arrived at the hotel and knocked on the door, it opened very quickly.
Kongming had already dressed properly and seemed to have been waiting for quite some time.
“Greetings, my lord.” “No need for so much ceremony.
It’s already this late, so eat first.
I brought you breakfast, Kongming.” Akira handed over the packed breakfast, then placed the other bags on the bed and opened them one by one.
“This is a phone.
In this era, it’s a tool used for contacting each other.
You can understand it as a carrier pigeon, except it has more functions and is far more convenient.
I’ll teach you how to use it afterward.
And these are two sets of clothes to change into.” Holding the meal box, Kongming asked, “Does my lord have something to do next?” “I’m going to expand my territory.” “Are we going to war?” “Not to that extent.
That’s too barbaric.” Higashino Akira shook his head.
“We’ll use money to buy it.” “…” Even someone as wise as Zhuge Kongming failed to turn that corner for a moment.
He fell silent for quite some time.
“Then shall I accompany my lord?” “No need.
I have other arrangements for you, Kongming.
In the future, there will be many places where I’ll need you to exert your strength.
Before I need you to emerge from seclusion, you only need to wait patiently.” …
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