Lady Joker, Volume 1 by Kaoru Takamura (lightest ebook reader .txt) 📕

and Shiroyama wondered if by bringing up the story of Sugihara and his daughter, who were his relations, Shirai had meant to pin his own wings as well.

The blowfish himself might have had no such intention, and now he lightly scratched his head of abundant gray hair, then with the same hand tapped Shiroyama’s desk as he sat upright in his chair. There were many employees who, whenever Shirai adjusted his position like this, felt compelled to straighten their own posture.

“You know, Shiroyama-san, even supposing this tape was just a prank, if someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes, I feel this problem needs a bit of attention.”

What Shirai was trying to say now was probably similar to what Shiroyama had been thinking as he listened to Tsukamoto’s version of the story. Shiroyama sensed this was not a conversation he should ignore, so he prudently kept his personal feelings to himself for the time being.

He looked at the clock. Eight-fifty.

“Please go on,” Shiroyama succinctly encouraged him.

“The Okada Association is behind this,” Shirai said. Just as Shiroyama had expected.

Known as an enterprise composed of corporate extortionists, corporate raiders, loan sharks, and financial brokers, among others, the entity known as the Okada Association was in fact the corporate underling of a large crime syndicate known as the Seiwakai, or so Shiroyama had heard from top officials at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Ultranationalist bigwigs guarded access to Seiwakai, granting entrée to various politicians, followed by a trail of government agencies and financial capital from commercial banks and securities. Among Hinode’s board members and the representative from general affairs whose job it was to deal with such corporate extortionists, they were referred to simply as “Okada.”

Confidentially Shiroyama had been informed that both Ogura Transport, a company affiliated with Hinode, and Chunichi Mutual Savings, its main creditor, were currently facing loan problems, and that Okada was secretly and intricately entangled in the situation. He immediately understood that this situation must be connected to that one.

Hinode was not directly involved in the matter with Ogura and Chunichi, but as long as Okada was involved, it was hard to deny an indirect connection. Moreover, since this was by nature a world in which people got away with offering their right hand to shake while making threats with their left, it wouldn’t be out of the question for Okada to use Hinode’s years of loyalty against them and launch a new attack. Shirai’s remark—The Okada Association is behind this—implied all of these circumstances. Nevertheless, Kurata was the one who had managed the company’s relationship with Okada for years, and Shirai still had no business offering his opinion on the situation.

“So, what kind of moves have they made?”

“Neither Chunichi nor Ogura will be able to avoid an investigation at some point. Having anticipated this, Okada has probably started taking precautions.”

Sure, but just how accurate is this story? Shiroyama wondered as he nodded cautiously.

“It means Okada is also getting nervous. It’s a good time to strike,” Shirai pressed on, his speech now progressing to the pet theory he had been hinting at for quite some time. “I’ve made the same suggestion to Chairman Suzuki, but we should wait and see how the situation may change before intervening in the management of Ogura Transport. If we were to pursue things now, the public would say Hinode has bought up stolen goods. That would give Okada even more leverage against us.”

“Yes.”

“Our main issue is Limelight. As the executive in charge, I’m most fearful of the JFTC exploiting our weakness. They might leak the story of our joint venture with Limelight to put pressure on us. Then again, Okada might also leak it. You can’t deny that we are walking through a minefield right now.”

“Right.”

“And I know you have no objection to the assessment that Okada is a malignant tumor for Hinode. There is a right time for settling accounts. Luckily for us, this time Okada has exposed its tail in a completely unrelated matter. Now, about this tape with the reading out of Okamura’s letter—wouldn’t it be fine to notify the police about how the tape was sent to us by the student’s father, at least?”

“What?”

“I’d like to figure out a way to file a claim with the police, without naming that dentist Hiroyuki Hatano as the sender of the tape. I also want to include the second letter where he assumed the BLL’s name.”

“—Perhaps you’re right.”

Shiroyama looked at the clock. The minute hand read five to nine. Time was up.

“I understand what you’re saying. I’ll talk it over with Kurata.”

“Please let me know your decision as soon as possible. It’s already been five days since we received the tape.”

“Indeed. Personally, I can’t help but feel we did wrong by that student Hatano, so I’m reluctant to involve a grieving father in a police matter in addition to all that’s happened. At this point, it’s not as if we’ve suffered any actual damage.”

“Once we do suffer damage, it’ll be too late. To be honest, I have a bad feeling about this,” Shirai said as he stood up.

“What do you mean?”

“There is no such thing as a premonition without a cause. Just like there can be no revelation for those of us who don’t pray.”

Every so often, Shirai made reference to the fact that Shiroyama was a Christian and he himself non-religious, but each time he did so he looked like a young man weary of debating conceptual matters. There was no time, however, to respond to his remark. Shiroyama also rose from his seat. Outside the thirtieth-floor window, the morning cityscape emanated a faint glow as it basked in the thin sunlight of late autumn.

“By the way, which board members know about the tape?”

“You, me, and Kurata,” Shirai replied. The executives in charge of general affairs and human resources, who ought to have been informed in cases like this, were kept out of the loop. Well, well, Shiroyama thought. Shirai had also stabbed a pin through Tsukamoto from human resources.