Chapter 20- Holding A Country By Its Balls

Akeno noticing the seriousness of the situation, need more information in order to protect both herself and Sakura. She asked, "Lord Clan Head, would you please let us know all you know, so we can prepare ourselves for tomorrow onward?"

The Clan Head nodded his head, the last thing he needs is for either his children or the heir of an allied clan to unknowingly bring a disaster upon themselves.

"Alright, please have a seat, some of the things I will tell you, might make you weak in the knees… I know it did to me, when I first found these things out" The Clan Head pointed at some chairs nearby and motioned for them to bring them in front of his desk. They went, brought the chairs over and sat.

The Clan Head cleared his throat before he began, "First thing you need to know, is that you only learn of them when you have certain amount of influence, that's why you guys never heard of them.

As for their wealth, they are unimaginatively rich because I believe their wealth comes from their business… Pandora." Clan Head just dropped the first bombshell of the night just like that.

Pandora, the world's number one, leading in every field from medical to military, they are decades ahead of the competition.

They are 5 headquarters spread out throughout the world, China, Japan, Italy, South Africa and the U.S. No one knows when they began the business worlds conquest, but records show they have been around for at least 200 years, dominating the market for at least 50 years already.

He saw the trio's eyes turned wide and before they can even comment, he stopped them with a wave of his hand. "Listen, don't say anything… Yes, they do own the world's number one corporation, Pandora.

They don't have shareholders, so the business completely belongs to the family. I did the numbers a couple of years ago, what they make in 1 year, we would make in 10."

The trio could only try to process his words, Saegusa Conglomerate is a multi-billion-dollar company, the profit they make every year is in the billions, to think they were making at least 10 times more than them.

"Do you know the CEO of Pandora? Have you ever heard his name? In the news or on TV? Has he ever showed in public?" they shook their heads at his questions.

The CEO's of Pandora have always been a mystery to the world, is as if they don't even exist but someone should have at least taken a picture at some point.

They felt an uncomfortable feeling all of sudden, something is bugging them, but they can't quite put their finger on it.

"Strange isn't it? No picture, not one! You know what that tells me?... someone out there doesn't allow it!" They finally realized why they felt this sudden chill, these people could be controlling the media, those that control the media, controls the people.

What lies have been fed to us? or what hasn't been reported? Shouldn't the government put a stop to this? Unless…

They all paled at the sudden conclusion they came up with, if the government isn't doing anything about it, it means that the government is could also be controlled by them or are in cahoots with them.

"You have realized it, haven't you? The power they hold, they somehow control our country's higher ups and the vast majority of the citizens has no idea. But you wonder how can the government just let it happen? That's because they have Japan by the balls!

Our economy! It took some time, but I was finally able to piece together some things about their dealings over the years, they slowly and legally seeped into our infrastructure and before the government could do anything about it… we had a secret ruler.

At this point, if Pandora pulls out of Japan, its enough to cripple us, setting us back at least 50 years, at that point they can just come sweeping in, and taking full control of everything."

He looked at their faces, their unwilling faces, trying not to believe what the Clan Head was saying.

It couldn't be true; how can a whole country just be under a company's thumb just like that? What would happen to their freedom? Would other countries let this happen?

Thinking of that, a glint of hope glimmered in their eyes, but was soon extinguished by the Clan Head's fallowing words.

"We are not the only ones... At least, I'm not entirely sure but i hope we are not the only ones" the more he said, the more he visibly got depressed taking slight comfort at the possibility they weren't the only ones.

Sora couldn't contain himself any longer, he spoke out, "There is NO WAY that what you are saying is true! How can 14 people just control one the world's most powerful countries?!?! Hasn't someone tried to assassinate these people?!"