Acquisition
8:47 a.m. A bench by the sea.
“Riko,” Tenga’s voice came out rough. “I…”
The words would not follow. For seventeen years Tenga had been quantifying emotion. This moment was, completely and utterly, “incalculable.”
Riko watched him quietly. In her brown eyes lived not expectation, not anxiety — only pure understanding.
“Tenga,” she said softly. “You don’t have to force it into words.”
Her hand was still resting against his cheek. Its warmth went on dissolving the boundary between his reason and his feeling.
“But I…” He tried again, and at that moment a voice from last night surfaced in his mind.
‘Can a person controlled by emotion truly have value?’
Tenga’s expression grew complicated. What he felt for Riko was unmistakably real. But was it “romantic feeling”? Or something else?
“Riko,” Tenga said, searching for a new form of words. “I have been… ‘acquired’ by you.”
“Acquired?” Riko looked puzzled.
“Yes.” A certainty settled into Tenga’s golden eyes for the first time. “‘Falling in love’ is not the precise expression. I have been completely ‘acquired’ by your purity.”
Tenga rose and stood before her.
“You, as an entity, have taken all my shares. Voting rights, management rights — everything is yours.”
Riko smiled at his idiosyncratic declaration of love, even as she was bewildered by it.
“But I don’t want to control you…”
“This is not control,” Tenga interrupted. “It is a ‘trust.’ I have placed my emotions in trust with you.”
His voice softened.
“Being acquired by a company need not be a bad thing. Acquired by an excellent manager, a company can grow further.”
Understanding lit Riko’s expression.
“So you mean, Tenga…”
“Acquired by you, I can become a better person,” Tenga’s declaration was a perfect fusion of logic and feeling. “Under your management, I want to grow this ‘company’ called me to its fullest.”
Tears came to Riko’s eyes. But they were not tears of sorrow — they were of deep emotion.
“Tenga,” Riko rose. “I have been acquired too.”
“You as well?”
“Yes,” her voice shook. “Your sincerity and kindness have completely acquired my heart.”
They looked at each other. The sea wind wrapped around them gently.
At that moment, hurried footsteps came pounding down the walkway toward them.
It was Yuki. Her face was clearly frantic.
“Tenga! Riko-chan!” she called out breathlessly. “This is bad! Sou’s gone missing!”
Tenga and Riko turned at once.
“Missing?” Tenga asked.
“He went back to his room after breakfast and nobody’s seen him since,” Yuki explained. “But that’s not even the worst part…”
She held out her tablet. A breaking news alert filled the screen.
【BREAKING NEWS】 International Consortium for Emotional Economics: Emergency Statement “Joint Research Programme Toward Commercialisation of the Shironami Riko Phenomenon Commences” Participating companies: Global Emotion Technologies (USA) / Future Love Systems (Germany) / Emotion Innovation (China) / Affection Development (UK)
Riko went pale.
“Commercialise…?”
“Sou was working behind the scenes,” Yuki’s voice trembled with anger. “He’s planning to analyse Riko-chan’s ability and sell it to the world.”
Tenga’s expression changed entirely. The face of the cold analyst was back.
“In other words, Riko has become the target of a hostile takeover.”
“Exactly,” Yuki nodded. “And the opposing party is four of the biggest companies in the world. Capital power, technical power — they’re in a different dimension.”
Riko looked up at Tenga, unease in her eyes.
“Tenga… what should I…”
Tenga took Riko’s hand. His own was not trembling. He was completely calm.
“Riko,” something Tenga had never heard in his own voice before lived there — strength. “To protect you, I will become the most powerful investor there is.”
“Investor?”
“A transformation from emotionally bankrupt to ‘love investor,’” Tenga’s golden eyes sharpened. “If we can’t win on capital, we win on strategy.”
He took Yuki’s tablet and began working.
“First, let’s analyse the enemy,” his fingers flew across the screen. “What weakness do all four companies share?”
【Enemy Company Analysis】
GET (USA): High stock-price dependency, prioritises quarterly earnings
FLS (Germany): EU regulatory risk, GDPR compliance concerns
EI (China): Government entanglement, lack of transparency
AD (UK): Financing difficulties post-Brexit, talent drain
“I see it,” Tenga murmured. “Their weakness is ‘short-term profit seeking.’”
“What do you mean?” Riko asked.
“They want to commercialise Riko’s ability ‘immediately,’” Tenga’s analysis sharpened. “But genuine love takes time to nurture. A forced commercialisation will inevitably collapse.”
He stood and looked out at the sea.
“Our strategy is ‘long-term investment,’” certainty filled his voice. “Riko’s true value lies in the ‘purity’ that cannot be commercialised. Protect that, and the enemy destroys itself.”
Yuki was amazed. “As expected of Tenga. But how do we fend off attacks from four companies?”
A cold smile touched the corner of Tenga’s mouth.
“Simple,” he turned. “We stage our own acquisition.”
“Acquisition?” Riko and Yuki spoke together.
“A ‘counter-acquisition’ to protect Riko,” Tenga’s strategy crystallised. “If four companies are targeting Riko, we simply acquire the hearts of the people they’re targeting first.”
“But,” Riko said, worried, “to start such a huge fight for my sake…”
Tenga placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Riko, this is not only your problem,” warmth entered his voice. “If they succeed, the ‘pure love’ of people everywhere will be commercialised. That is a desecration of human emotion itself.”
Something like a revolutionary’s fire burned in Tenga’s eyes.
“Being acquired by you made me understand it for the first time,” he continued. “Love cannot be quantified. Cannot be commercialised. Cannot be controlled. That is the very essence of love.”
Riko’s expression brightened.
“Tenga…”
“So I will fight,” his declaration was firm. “I will stand at the summit of emotional capitalism — and from there, defend the essence of love.”
At that moment, several black limousines came into view approaching along the road to the Training Centre.
“Oh no,” Yuki went pale. “They’re already here.”
The people who stepped out wore expensive suits. They were plainly representatives of the four companies from the news.
“Miss Shironami Riko?” The man at the front bowed politely. “I am Jonathan K. Smith, President and CEO of Global Emotion Technologies Japan. I hold a doctorate in emotional engineering from MIT and spent fifteen years in AI development in Silicon Valley.”
Riko drew slightly closer to Tenga’s side.
“We have come to speak with you,” Smith continued. “Would you be willing to collaborate with us in joint research concerning your special ability? We have already concluded a comprehensive partnership agreement with the Japanese government.”
“Declined,” Tenga stepped in front of Riko. “Riko is not a research subject.”
“Oh?” A suited woman stepped forward. “You must be the famous Kurose Tenga. I am Dr. Elizabeth von Müller, Chief Operating Officer for Future Love Systems’ Far East Division — doctorate in cognitive psychology from Heidelberg, and chair of the EU Emotional AI Development Committee.”
Dr. Müller gave a cold smile.
“An emotionally bankrupt student, speaking so boldly. Our consortium of multinationals commands an R&D budget totalling eight trillion yen, you know.”
Tenga’s expression shifted — not to anger, but to calculated calm.
“Emotionally bankrupt?” Tenga let a smile play at his lips. “That was in the past.”
He took Riko’s hand.
“Now I am a ‘love investor.’ And Riko is my finest partner.”
At Tenga’s declaration, the four representatives stirred.
“Investor?” Smith looked confused. “What are you investing in? We are a global leader with annual revenues of two trillion yen.”
“Emotional investment,” Tenga’s answer was clear. “Something organisations like yours, who think only of short-term profit, will not understand.”
He took a step forward.
“True love is cultivated only through long-term investment in trust. Your attempt to commercialise it is certain to fail.”
“Brave words,” a Chinese man scoffed. “I am Professor Chen Wei, representative director of Emotion Innovation Japan — doctorate in computational psychology from Tsinghua University, and director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Emotional Engineering Institute for ten years. Do you honestly think students like you can defeat companies ranked in the global top 500?”
Tenga’s golden eyes sharpened.
“Whether we can win or not remains to be seen,” Tenga’s voice was unwavering. “But there is one thing I can say with absolute certainty.”
He looked at Riko, then at the schoolmates gathered around her.
“We have something you can never obtain.”
“And what is that?”
Tenga took Riko’s hand and raised it.
“Genuine bonds,” he said.
The last representative — an elderly British gentleman — looked on with interest. “Affection Development Asia Pacific, Chairman Sir Robert Edward Hamilton. Honorary doctorate in behavioural economics from Oxford, life fellow of the Royal Academy of Emotional Science. What sort of ‘genuine bonds’ do you mean?”
Riko stepped forward.
“Love,” Riko said. Her voice was quiet, but filled with absolute conviction. “Pure love that has not been calculated.”
She looked at each of the four representatives in turn.
“You are trying to turn love into a commodity. But the moment it becomes a commodity, it is no longer love.”
The representatives were shaken.
“Love,” Riko went on, “is something you give. Not something you sell.”
Hamilton’s expression grew complicated.
“A beautiful idealism — but reality is different,” Sir Robert said. “We hold pipeline access to every G20 government, influence over the UN AI Ethics Committee, and a special credit line from the World Bank. In this age, emotion and love are traded on the market like everything else.”
“Then,” Tenga spoke, “we will change that reality.”
Every eye turned to him.
“I clawed my way up from emotional bankruptcy,” Tenga continued. “What that taught me was this: true value cannot be measured in numbers.”
Tenga took Riko’s hand and raised it high.
“We declare war on you,” Tenga’s voice rang out over the whole Training Centre. “In defence of the freedom of emotion, and against the commercialisation of love.”
From the windows of the Training Centre, other students were peering out. One by one, hearing Tenga’s words, they came outside.
“Tenga!” Haruka ran to them. “We’ll fight too!”
“That’s right!” Other students raised their voices. “Let’s protect Riko!”
Saionji Reika appeared as well.
“Tenga,” Reika smiled gracefully. “Please use my financial resources too. The full force of the Saionji Group will protect Riko.”
The four representatives looked at one another in dismay. In place of the “isolated girl” they had expected, they were confronted by the entire school united.
“I see,” Smith gave a wry smile. “A more troublesome opponent than anticipated. A scenario our think tanks didn’t model.”
“We will have to get serious,” Dr. Müller warned. “The four companies’ combined market capitalisation exceeds eighty trillion yen, and our lobbying budget alone runs three hundred billion yen per year. We cannot lose to students.”
Tenga answered with composure.
“On capital, we will certainly lose,” he acknowledged. “But we have something you don’t.”
“And that is?”
Tenga looked at Riko, then at his schoolmates around him.
“Genuine bonds.”
In that instant, something like warm light seemed to pour down around Riko. It was not an illusion. It was an invisible radiance, created by the pure feelings of the people there.
＊
9:15 a.m.
After the four company representatives had driven away in their limousines, Tenga stood alone by the sea.
Riko came to stand beside him.
“Are you all right, Tenga?”
“Yes,” Tenga nodded. “If anything, now I can see the way forward.”
He looked at her.
“Riko, I’m glad I was acquired by you,” something in Tenga’s voice now — pure happiness, for the first time. “Because of you, I’ve understood what truly matters.”
Riko smiled.
“I’m happy to have been acquired by you, too.”
＊ ＊ ＊
(End of Volume One)
Economic Data
LVT Balances
Kurose Tenga: 3,492 (from -127 — a record rise of +2,745.7%)
Shironami Riko: Unmeasurable (system error ongoing)
Saionji Reika: 12,847 (from 8,956 — +43.4%)
Tsukishima Sou: Unmeasurable (evaluation suspended pending identity disclosure)
Mizuno Haruka: 891 (from 285 — +212.6%)
Market Conditions
Love Value Index (LVI): 2,847.3 → 2,156.8 (-24.3%)
Total trading volume: 3.2× normal
New couples formed: -45% month-on-month
System confidence rating: 78% (all-time low)