 |
Published In:
|
| Publication Date: April 5, 2023 | |
| Pages: 4 (full color) 28 (black and white) | |
Anime Adaptation:
| |
Notes:
| |
Manga
The Power of Money
金の力
Kane no Chikara
Happily relaxing in retirement, Nakahira says farewell to his wife as she takes a trip to the hot springs after being cooped up due to the Coronavirus. Having gotten her vaccination she can now make plans for a fun trip with her friends. This leaves her husband at a home to take care of their dog, Kaiser. Out for a walk, Nakahira plans to visit the dog park and hopefully see a young woman his wife told him that frequents the dog park. Nakahira seems certain that the woman at the dog park is Shinobu Sagashita, a retired teen actress from the 1970s who he was a big fan of in his youth. Still, it is difficult to be certain given how long ago she was last on television and that everyone is still wearing masks due to the Coronavirus.
While sitting the park daydreaming about speaking to Shinobu Sagashita, Nakahira suddenly notices Kaiser, his dog, humping the little dog that Shinobu was holding in the photograph. He hurries over to get his dog but is puzzled when an old, fat man named Tono calls out to Tiara, the little dog he believed belonged to Shinobu. Over the next few days Nakahira never sees Shinobu, but he continues to encounter Tono who also recently retired. Tono explains that he has had difficulty meeting new people after his retirement and invites Nakahira to hang out with him. Much to Nakahira's surprise a limosine pulls up and takes the two men to an upscale hostess club in Ginza. After he returns home Nakahira thinks to himself how odd the day was and hopes not to have to go through it again. He searches the internet for information on Tono, who all the hostesses called "chairman" and realizes he is the retired boss of the "Tono Group". The search results also mention that he is married to "Shinobu Tono". Reading on it says that his wife is a former actress and Nakahira becomes enraged, realizing that Shinobu retired to marry Tono all those decades ago. Furiously, Nakahira attributes all this to the power of money. Days later at the dog run Nakahira is grousing over someone like Tono being married to Shinobu Sagashita when Tono suddenly invites Nakahira to his wife's birthday party. Nakahira is thrilled and happily accepts, hoping to get to meet Shinobu in person finally.
The day of the party arrives and Nakahira is stunned by the size of Tono's mansion and the sheer amount of food that is being served at the party. He is stunned to see an older, but still beautiful Shinobu Sagashita at the party along with her adult children. Sitting along Tono thanks Nakahira for coming, explaining that everyone here are his wife's friends and he has no one to talk to. Nakahira asks Tono how he met Shinobu and to which he is told "the power of money" which infuriates Nakahira, however his mood improves when Shinobu comes over and thanks him for spending time with her husband. Days later at the dog walk Tono suddenly asks Nakahira if he'd like to go on a vacation with him. Tono explains he'll pay all the expenses and ensure Nakahira has a fantastic suite as well.
Nakahira is stunned when a young woman joins them on the trip and he soon realizes he was invited to create an alibi so that Tono could cheat on Shinobu. Nakahira is furious that Tono would treat Shinobu so terribly. Sitting alone in his room Nakahira is wondering if Shinobu really would marry someone like Tono just for his money. Just then there is a knock at the door and Tono's mistress asks Nakahira to switch rooms with her. Confused, Nakahira wanders over to Tono's room where the pudgy man tells him the woman suddenly got her period. Tono says that he has often tried to have a mistress but for some reason they break things off for it ever goes anywhere. He presumes someone in his old company had told his wife and she would pay the women to go away. Nakahira only becomes more frustrated that Shinobu would do something so kind for someone like Tono who hardly deserves her. With the girl from the snack bar staying in Nakahira's room he has no choice but to share a bed with Tono. Later that night there is a pounding at the door and a hand jerks back to covers, startling Nakahira as Shinobu looms over him. She suspected her husband was cheating on her, but when she finds Nakahira she believes she was mistaken. Tono gestures for Nakahira to cover for him and Nakahira dejectedly agrees that it was just the two of them here together. That night Shinobu tells Nakahira the story of how she met her husband but everyone at his company assumed that she married him for his money and slowly he lost his confidence. As a result he started trying to have mistresses to make it look like he was still popular, but Shinobu always paid them off to leave him alone. She explains this is the real "power of money". Nakahira wonders how Shinobu discovered this trip after all the precautions Tono took. When he gets home his wife says she told Shinobu since they're friends on Line.