Chiyoda Ward, Marunouchi.
Saionji Industries Headquarters, B4. Core Strategy Room.
On the giant LCD screen, Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office footage ran live.
"Currently, Parliament has passed the authorization resolution. The former secretary-general is suspected of seriously betraying national interests and has now been taken away by prosecutors under the law…"
On screen, Osawa Ichiro's head was covered by a dark-blue jacket. In a storm of camera flashes, two burly bailiffs shoved him into the backseat of a black police car.
Saionji Satsuki sat quietly in the leather swivel chair at the head of the table.
She'd come back to Seika Academy for the first time in a while today. She still wore the high school division's custom uniform.
The dark-blue blazer fit perfectly, silver-thread school emblem on the left breast pocket, dark red ribbon tied neatly at the collar. Below, the gray pleated skirt lay flat on the leather seat. Black calf socks, legs crossed casually.
Her long black hair wasn't pinned up. It hung soft over her shoulders and back.
She watched the opening seconds, then turned the TV off.
Click.
The strategy room went quiet except for the low hum of central air conditioning.
Satsuki set the remote on the table.
The giant black screen reflected her calm face like a dark mirror.
Osawa Ichiro's downfall was on schedule.
Soon, the media would paint him as a shameless politician who sold out national interests — a despicable man who traded the public for personal gain.
The hard landing the Saionji Family had forced for months had caused widespread corporate defaults and mass unemployment. If that anger didn't vent, it could get worse.
So, Osawa-san, I'll have to trouble you a bit.
For Japan's future, please sacrifice yourself gloriously.
After all… this counts as "leaving a good name for posterity."
The heavy blast-proof door opened. A staffer pushed it in.
Tadashi Yanai, Uniqlo and S-Mart's retail general manager, and Managing Director Endo, the group's chief financial steward, walked in side by side.
They stopped at the enormous black lacquer glass conference table, bowed slightly to the girl at the head.
"Young Miss."
Tadashi Yanai held a thick market research report in both hands. His eyes were bloodshot, as always, but his suit buttons were fastened precisely.
"The Special Investigation Department has closed the net. Osawa Ichiro is confirmed in custody. He's being questioned now."
Yanai stepped forward, set the report on the table, and pushed it toward her.
"Also, we just got confirmation from the Ministry of Finance. The repeal of the Large-Scale Retail Store Law has cleared all legal procedures. The official seal is stamped."
Managing Director Endo stood to the side. He adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and picked up the thread.
"In other words, local commercial associations can no longer legally restrict large retail floor space."
"The market's been falling. Domestic physical enterprises have no cash. They can't fund expansion. That creates a vacuum for foreign capital to enter."
He glanced at the report.
"Intelligence confirms it. Walmart and Carrefour advance teams are already in Tokyo. They're holding U.S. dollars unaffected by domestic credit. They've submitted site applications for super-large stores directly to MITI. They plan to use capital volume to dump goods while domestic players are starved."
Satsuki leaned back against the leather.
She didn't touch the report. She watched Yanai.
"How are the local giants reacting?"
Yanai lowered his head slightly, organizing intel from the field.
"After the Ministry of Finance's 'total volume regulation,' most traditional giants have their cash locked down." Yanai looked up, speaking faster. "Seibu Group is tied up with heavy assets in Hokkaido. They can't pull liquid funds for physical expansion. Ito-Yokado went full defense. They're scrambling to hold their convenience store base."
He flipped a page, finger on a red-marked dataset.
"However, the Daiei Group is the exception. Their moves are the most aggressive."
Yanai paused, expression serious.
"President Isao Nakauchi is under massive debt pressure. To hide losses on the books, he's opening new stores to pump turnover. He doesn't care about defense. Recently, he's been pulling the last reserves from Department Store."
"In Kanto and Kansai, small and mid-size shops are failing en masse from broken cash chains. Department Store's expansion team is watching this sell-off wave. They plan to grab it at scale."
Yanai pushed the report half an inch forward.
"Young Miss, the offline expansion teams for S-Mart and Uniqlo are assembled. Our cash is ready. Recent shop quotes are under 60% of last year's peak. I was going to request a special 50 billion yen fund to snap up failed shops in core districts first, block foreign capital and Department Store from the sinking channels."
He paused, brows knit.
"But after Legal did preliminary due diligence and cross-checked bottom-line lists with Mr. Saionji Masato's Intelligence Division, we hit a nasty legal blind spot."
Saionji Masato stepped out of the shadows by the console. He slid a blue folder across the glass table.
"Young Miss, this is the underlying property rights report SIS ran last night."
Endo leaned over, eyes scanning fast.
"Off-balance-sheet financing?" Endo looked at the nested equity charts.
"Yes." Yanai nodded. "This batch of bankrupt merchants, besides official bank mortgages, privately pledged shops to local credit unions, or underground banks disguised as 'financial consulting firms.' SIS shows over 70% of the cheap shops carry this kind of implicit debt chain."
Yanai continued.
"If we take delivery blind, those debt collectors — underground banks and yakuza — will block daily operations."
"We could use administrative power, or have Security force them out, but given current public security, the acquisition team thinks that's not in our interest. Backup plan only."
"So I suggest we drop shops with implicit debt from priority targets."
Satsuki listened quietly.
"President Yanai's judgment is correct."
"Eliminate them. Our expansion team only takes the 30% of high-quality shops SIS verified with clean property rights."
Endo looked at the report, thinking.
"Young Miss, if I may speak plainly. Daiei and foreign capital are grabbing aggressively. If we abandon 70% of targets, their density in Kanto will overtake S-Mart fast. Our fight in the sinking market will get harder."
"Who said we're abandoning it?"
Satsuki leaned back into the leather.
"Since Daiei and Wall Street capital are so eager to expand, let them."
"Uncle Masato. Find a few black-market asset brokers. 'Accidentally' leak this list of 70% — the toxic ones loaded with usury — to Daiei's market expansion department. Also send a copy to the American advance agents."
Endo frowned slightly.
Whether it's Department Store or Wall Street, they're not stupid. Doing this…
"Young Miss, this probably won't work." Endo took a breath. "Isao Nakauchi built Department Store from the post-war black market. Even Kansai's major yakuza have Department Store's shadow behind them. He knows yakuza usury better than anyone. As for Wall Street agents, they have top U.S. legal teams behind them."
"If we suddenly drop so many prime locations, they'll get suspicious. Once they dig into the underlying rights, this poison can't stay hidden."
The room went quiet for a few seconds. Yanai and Masato lowered their heads, silent.
Satsuki looked at Endo with approval.
As her authority grew, fewer people challenged her. That made execution strong, but it risked personal misjudgment.
Do I look that scary? Why are they so afraid of me?
Satsuki didn't think she was infallible. She had limits. Listening mattered.
Right now, only Shuichi and Endo still argued with her openly.
But she wouldn't make the mistake of assuming opponents are fools.
"Managing Director Endo, you're right. Of course they'll check."
"Those Wall Street investment banks and private equity agents have the best due diligence legal teams in the U.S. The Ministry of Finance's surface mortgage records can't hide the financial traces left by yakuza-backed private finance firms. If they dig one layer down, this poison shows."
Endo adjusted his glasses, doubt still there.
"Since they can find it, then this list…"
"They will not only find it." Satsuki picked up the bone china teacup, took a sip, and set it down. "When those Wall Street fund managers see bankrupt shops with yakuza usury attached, they won't pull back. They'll get excited."
Yanai sat by the long table, leaning forward.
"Excited?" Confusion crossed his face. His rough fingers rubbed the tabletop. "Young Miss, why?"
"President Yanai, American gangsters are more savage than Japan's yakuza. They have more experience handling gangsters than we do."
Satsuki sipped tea again, cup back on the saucer.
"On Wall Street, there's a type of institution that preys on toxic assets — 'distressed asset investment funds.' Vulture funds. New York and Chicago titans deal year-round with the Italian Mafia that controls construction unions and waste recycling. Their experience with low-level gangs beats Japan's Metropolitan Police."
"In their model, assets with gang debt mean they can use it to hammer bankruptcy courts and owners into extreme price cuts. They see it as a perfect 'bargain hunt.'"
General logic: buy distressed cheap → use top bankruptcy legal teams to litigate and force creditors to settle → clear legal defects → sell high at normal market value.
Satsuki looked at Endo and Yanai, fingers interlaced.
"They believe that with deep dollar capital and elite local Japanese lawyers, they can — like in North America — finish physical cleansing via aggressive court injunctions and forced evictions in a few months, then flip for profit."
The exhaust fan hummed low.
Endo's breathing slowed. A sharp glint hit his eyes.
"Court injunctions… time."
Endo looked straight at Satsuki, speaking faster.
"Young Lady, is your trap the judicial efficiency of Japan?"
Satsuki nodded slightly. Her smile deepened.
"Exactly. Wall Street funds, used to New York's fast commercial litigation, have one reflex when they hit grassroots disputes abroad: hire top lawyers and go through court liquidation."
"In their models, they throw these Yakuza-background bad debts to Tokyo District Court. With capital pressure, they think they'll get a forced eviction order in weeks at most. Then they cleanse the asset."
"But they don't understand Japan's Land and House Lease Law."
Endo caught on.
"This law protects actual possessors to a pathological degree. Those yakuza don't need steel pipes or red paint. They set up a broken table, put a thug there, claim 'historical lease dispute.'"
"When Wall Street's top lawyers walk into Tokyo District Court with an eviction order, judges — for 'social stability' — won't issue immediate enforcement. They'll start round after round of indefinite pre-trial mediation."
She tapped the leather armrest twice.
"Wall Street private equity has strict IRR and capital turnover demands. Assets they thought they could cleanse and cash out in six months will sit frozen on Japanese court dockets for three, even five years."
"That's the lethal poison. Time will drag dollar capital that chases extreme efficiency to death in the quagmire."
Endo nodded repeatedly.
But then he asked, "Young Lady, Wall Street might fall because they don't know Japanese law. But… President Isao Nakauchi of Daiei?"
"Isao Nakauchi came up from the post-war Kansai black market. He knows the Land and House Lease Law and yakuza tactics better than anyone. If he saw the hidden risks, he wouldn't go through long court procedures. With Department Store's Kansai underworld ties, they'd go straight to yakuza leadership, negotiate privately, settle it."
"He would do that." Satsuki's gaze was calm.
"If it were a boom, with Department Store's scale and reputation, Isao Nakauchi would pay a small settlement fee and the low-level finance firms would back off."
"But he overlooked that the Ministry of Finance's 'total volume regulation' cuts off more than real estate developers."
Satsuki leaned forward slightly. "The principal for yakuza high-interest loans mostly comes from secret bridge loans from formal institutions like 'Jusen' (Housing Loan Companies). Now banks are calling loans. Jusen is dying and demanding principal back from yakuza."
"The Kanto yakuza face a life-or-death crisis. Capital chains broken. Organizations near bankruptcy."
"In survival mode, Isao Nakauchi's reputation isn't worth a yen. These shops are the last collateral Kanto yakuza can squeeze. Anyone who takes over will get bitten like a starving wolf. No compromise."
The room went dead silent.
Department Store's private talks would fail. Wall Street's legal evictions would stall. These 70% of shops were untouchable minefields.
Masato, in the console shadows, spoke. "Young Lady, if we hand over prime-location shops for nothing, they'll suspect a trap."
He looked to the head seat. "We need a reason. A perfect excuse for why the Saionji Family 'has to' give up this meat."
Satsuki leaned back. "Uncle Masato, forgot our New York bill?"
Endo stood to the side. The recent international case flashed in his mind.
"Salomon Brothers did help us unfreeze that capital through Washington connections. Department Store and Wall Street intel must know the money's unfrozen."
"However, a full billion dollars in offshore bridge capital was frozen by the Americans for so long." Endo's pace picked up, eyes sharp. "For any firm expanding fast, that level of cash interruption devastates group finances and payment rhythms."
Satsuki nodded slightly.
Reading her, Endo continued.
"Plus the Ministry of Finance's 'total volume regulation,' domestic bank credit is shut. And the deep-sea caisson for Saionji Tower in Odaiba is a cash black hole. Tons of special concrete poured into the sea daily."
Endo looked at the blue folder. "Let a few lower employees — ones missing commissions because acquisitions stalled — 'privately' go to black-market brokers and leak the list. Add complaints."
"Just say the billion-dollar freeze hurt cash flow badly. Now banks won't lend, and Odaiba burns money daily. Saionji Family can't raise liquid cash, can't even make prepayments for this batch of shops, so they have no choice but to give up…"
Satsuki nodded slightly from the side. "Yes. President Yanai, execute it like that."
Tadashi Yanai stood and bowed slightly. "Understood. I will arrange the team immediately."
Regarding the poison pill plan in this chapter — using Japanese law and the yakuza to 'drag' Wall Street capital to death — this isn't a conspiracy theory. It's real financial history from 1990s Japan.
After the bubble burst, Western 'vulture funds' — Lone Star, Cerberus, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley special opportunity funds — poured into Japan. They tried to buy ultra-cheap non-performing loans and bankrupt properties with U.S. dollars.
But Wall Street elites, used to U.S. efficient commercial litigation and forced eviction, hit a Japanese gray industry that caused massive pain: senyuya — professional occupiers.
At the time, Japan's Land and House Lease Law and Civil Execution Act had huge loopholes that protected actual possessors (tenants). Yakuza and deadbeats would put a broken table in a bankrupt property or station a thug there as a 'legitimate tenant.' When foreign capital bought the rights and went to court with an eviction order, judges — citing 'social stability' — often required long, indefinite pre-trial mediation.
If foreign investors wanted physical control, they faced 3–5 years of judicial quagmire plus exorbitant 'relocation fees' (tachinokiryo) to gangs.
In real history, giants like Goldman Sachs and Lone Star survived the pain by burning parent-company cash, though early IRRs were ugly. But many small-to-mid Western real estate PE funds and speculative groups that rushed in to 'bottom-fish' in the early-mid 90s couldn't survive multi-year capital freezes.
Their cash chains broke in Japanese court mediation. IRRs went negative. They took losses, sold cheap, and withdrew from Japan in pain — truly 'dragged to death' in the quagmire.
This gang-legal-blackmail problem got so bad in 90s Japan that trillions of yen in bank bad debt rotted because foreign capital was too scared to touch it. Japan was forced to amend the Civil Execution Act in 1999 and 2003, killing the short-term lease protection loophole. That ended the senyuya era.