“Hey Dad, we’re getting listed on the stock market, so live another three years.”

Do you remember those words I blurted out in the hospital room two days before you passed away?

I just wanted you to live as long as possible. But sorry, the truth is I wasn't thinking at all about getting listed at the time.

It seems I have a habit of saying wild things and throwing wild pitches.

Remember when we used to play catch when I was little?

It wasn’t even “catch,” was it? From the very first pitch, I’d throw the balls way off target, and you’d go somewhere looking for them. I keep thinking about that recently for some reason.

"Don't just start a business.” That was one of your favorite phrases.

It’s no wonder, since the company that both you and mom’s grandparents founded went bankrupt.

You wanted me to study so that I could get into a good college and a good company, so you made me stay in the study room.

I guess you thought I would study since there was no TV or video games, but I'm sorry to say I read books instead of studying.

But because I got into the habit of reading books back then, I was able to enter Takasaki High School. That's how I got to where I am today.

I am grateful for that. Thank you.

I ended up quitting the listed company that I had joined after graduating and then leaving Gunma Prefecture.

For all that time afterward, I'm sorry I never told you I quit. But you knew, didn’t you.

I was surprised when Mom told me, "Your father knows everything. He knows you quit that company and then started up your own.”

There’s one more thing I must apologize for.

When I heard that you’d had an aortic dissection, what I felt was relief.

I had to give a talk the next day in front of a large audience for the first time, and I was so nervous about it. I thought I’d found a reason to cut it short.

I'm sorry for being such a miserable son.

I ended up giving that talk. I was supposed to speak for 2 hours, but I finished it in 30 minutes.

I had nothing to say, so I just talked about you and how you’d fallen ill the day before.

Some people listened to me with tears in their eyes.

Thank you for making it through a condition with a low survival rate and living for 15 more years.

That day I blurted out to you that we’d get listed, both my mindset and my company's situation changed forever.

Now I have 74 colleagues working with me and we’ve developed into a company selling over 500 million yen of protein a month.

We’re all working hard to get listed in the next two years.

Mom said that, after I graduated, you always bought shares in the company that I worked at but isn't it exciting to be able to buy shares on the stock market in a company that your son made?

On the day we get listed, I'm going to ring that bell as hard as I can so the sound will reach you.

I don't think you can buy stocks in heaven, but if I see you there, I want to take you on a trip and drink protein with you as my way of saying thanks for investing in me for all these years.

Masayuki Tadaishi, Representative Director, VALX