May 18, 1991, Saturday, evening.
The trains bound for Seibu Stadium Front Station had not truly been empty since 3:00 PM.
A batch of spectators had just poured from the platform toward the exit, and the next train soon rolled in along the Sayama Line. Young people made up the majority; some rolled up record promotional brochures in their hands, some carried paper bags just bought from the station counter, and more people looked up for the stadium entrance after getting off, their footsteps moving forward along the temporarily set-up guide rails.
Built against the terrain of the Saya Hills, Seibu Stadium had its station name, railway line, and the stadium itself practically bound together ever since it opened in 1979. Walking from the platform to the entrance took only a few minutes, with the railway delivering people beneath the stands, while shops, stalls, and ticket windows lined up sequentially along the flow of people.
Today, this traffic flow was even more crowded than during a baseball game.
Satsuki sat inside the VIP room, looking through the glass at the crowded infield stands and turf seats below.
The glass blocked out most of the clamour, but it could not isolate the restless heat generated by tens of thousands of people gathered together. Staff members were guiding late-arriving spectators in the aisles, and long lines were still forming in front of the distant merchandise counters.
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki sat beside her.
A small table was placed between the two of them, holding drinks, tonight's program, and the newly delivered admission data. Chizuru and Shimada stayed at the back of the VIP room respectively, each with a few staff members around them, and would not proactively step forward unless they needed to deliver a message.
Satsuki only looked at the first page of the admission data before placing it back on the table.
Her gaze crossed the front railing and quickly found Takahashi in the affiliated personnel seating diagonally below.
Eight people sat together in a very good position. Kojima was holding a program and arguing with the person next to him about the stage direction, and the girl who had complained a few days ago about not being able to grab tickets already had binoculars hung in front of her chest, holding a paper bag printed with Sakai Izumi's name in her hands.
Sensing the gaze from the VIP room, Takahashi looked up.
Satsuki raised her hand slightly toward him.
Takahashi bowed slightly. Kojima was still waving at the VIP room with movements so large he almost hit the person next to him. Takahashi turned sideways to remind him, and only then did he sheepishly put his hand down.
"It seems your research department really likes my stadium."
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki looked over following her gaze.
Satsuki found it somewhat amusing.
"Uncle Tsutsumi has handed all the management rights over to me, so someone has to check for me whether the seats here are comfortable."
"The tickets were given by you, but the seats belong to Seibu."
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki picked up the program on the table and casually turned to the page printed with the seating chart.
"How did all this favour end up credited to you?"
"Then I will remind them later."
Satsuki finally withdrew her gaze, her expression looking very serious.
"Before the show ends, remember to thank Chairman Tsutsumi."
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki glanced at her and threw the program back onto the tabletop.
"You are certainly generous with such useless favours."
The opening act on stage was already singing their last song. Several college students were obviously still a bit nervous, their movements uncoordinated when bowing around, and one of them had his guitar strap slip down a bit from his shoulder, only to be hurriedly pulled back up.
Looking at the equipment being removed one by one, Tsutsumi Yoshiaki suddenly brought up a place very far removed from tonight.
"Gokurakukan is still operating at a loss."
Satsuki turned her head.
"Seibu has already bowed its head once according to your conditions."
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki withdrew his gaze, his fingers pressing against the edge of the program.
"Station commerce, the surroundings of the stadium, and the cooperation in Hokkaido—whatever should have been handed over, I have handed over. Saionji has indeed helped Seibu reconnect its business in other places."
Speaking of this, he paused.
Outside the VIP room, staff members were rearranging the stage for the formal performance. The spot that belonged to the college student group just minutes ago was soon replaced with Sakai Izumi's instruments and lighting equipment.
"But that nail remains in place."
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki looked at Satsuki.
"Is there any way for the person who hammered it in back then to pull it out now?"
Satsuki looked at the setup on the field, tapping the table in front of her idly.
She reached out and picked up the admission data on the table, casually turning a page, as if confirming how much of a plea for help and how much of a probe was hidden in his words.
"Is Uncle Tsutsumi asking the person who administered the poison for the antidote?"
"You administered the poison; we made that clear long ago."
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki was not led astray by her banter. He leaned back into his seat, his gaze still lingering on Satsuki's face.
"I did not plan to make you take the blame for Seibu's past accounts either. But now that we are doing business together, letting Gokurakukan continue to bleed is no good for you either."
Satsuki put the documents back on the table.
"Those 350 billion yen are not coming back."
This remark did not surprise Tsutsumi Yoshiaki. He merely raised his hand slightly, signalling her not to repeat a fact they had both already accepted.
"I am asking about next year."
Satsuki looked at him for a moment and looked back down at the stage below.
"You must admit one thing first."
She watched the staff remove the warm-up equipment, leaving only what was needed for the official performance.
"What we manage in the future can no longer be that original Gokurakukan."
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki frowned slightly.
Satsuki raised her hand to signal him to look down.
"What does Uncle Tsutsumi think this place is right now?"
"A concert venue."
"And tomorrow?"
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki's gaze crossed the temporary seating and fell upon the pitcher's mound and home plate covered by a protective layer.
"Still a stadium."
"Gokurakukan is the same."
Satsuki picked up the program and tapped lightly on the stage layout diagram on the back.
"The hotel continues as a hotel, villas are rented out as usual, and ski resorts, hot springs, and catering settle accounts separately. For the profitable parts, we will not use our own cash to fill the glass dome anymore."
"Then what about that dome?"
"Shrink the range of maintaining a constant temperature normally. When someone is willing to pay for it to light up, start up all the large-scale equipment."
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki's gaze fell back onto the stage.
"Performances?"
"And corporate buyouts, television recordings, and winter events."
Satsuki stopped here.
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki waited for a moment, and seeing she did not continue, had to press on himself.
"Saionji is willing to send people over?"
"This winter, S.A. can arrange an event to try it out."
Satsuki nodded slightly.
"SIS will be responsible for the control system, and the construction department will reorganise the equipment and traffic flow. First, let the dome learn to wake up only when needed; as for whether it is worth continuing to invest, we will look at the accounts from that single event."
"What about the money?"
"Renovation costs will be negotiated project by project."
Hearing this, Tsutsumi Yoshiaki instead let out a laugh.
"I thought Miss Saionji was prepared to show great benevolence."
"Content, technology, and renovation funds will be provided by Saionji, while Seibu will bear the original debt and asset liabilities. Future management rights will be re-divided according to both parties' actual investments."
Satsuki tilted her head slightly, looking at Tsutsumi Yoshiaki with some confusion.
"Is this not kind enough?"
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki stared at her and suddenly let out a cold snort.
"First of all, no matter from which angle, you have nothing to do with the word 'kindness'."
"Secondly, you will not touch a single yen of those old accounts."
Satsuki was already used to Tsutsumi Yoshiaki's "attacks" and continued to play dumb.
"Eh? Did I remember it wrong?" She had a distressed look, "I clearly remember that it was Uncle Tsutsumi who insisted on buying Gokurakukan back then..."
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki suddenly took a deep breath, and Shimada behind him skillfully handed over a bottle of stomach medicine.
He poured out the stomach medicine in one go, swallowed it down with tea, and then let out a long breath.
"Fine, fine, I cannot argue with you."
"Uncle Tsutsumi, what is wrong with you?"
Satsuki looked at him with worry, her eyes full of concern.
"You must pay attention to your health."
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki put the medicine bottle back on the table, completely disbelieving the concern she was showing at the moment.
But Satsuki seemed to suddenly think of something, her eyes lighting up slightly.
"By the way, Saionji is preparing to establish a medical institution recently."
"How so?"
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki looked at her warily.
"After finishing with hotels and railways, are you preparing to change careers and sell medicine?"
"A medical institution certainly will not just sell medicine."
Satsuki counted on her fingers, introducing it to him seriously.
"In addition to physical examinations, specialised diagnosis and treatment, and rehabilitation services, we will also provide emergency medical support to a small number of members."
"Whether someone is at a company in Tokyo, a hotel in Hokkaido, or on a business trip to other places, as long as they dial the dedicated number, the doctor on duty, ambulance vehicles, and cooperative hospitals will begin preparations simultaneously."
She paused and added:
"In extremely urgent situations, helicopters can also be mobilised. We will try our best to arrive in the shortest possible time after a person collapses, and then send him to the most suitable hospital."
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki slowly narrowed his eyes.
"Why are you suddenly telling me all this?"
"I want to invite Uncle Tsutsumi to become our first member."
Satsuki glanced at the stomach medicine on the table, and the smile on her face became even more cordial.
"Look, the service target and usage scenario are already here."
The VIP room fell silent for an instant.
Shimada lowered his head, as if carefully checking the instructions on the medicine bottle. Chizuru turned her gaze toward the stage outside the glass, her shoulders moving ever so slightly.
"Sai-on-ji Sa-tsu-ki."
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki called out her name word by word.
"You first make me have a stomachache from anger, and then you want to earn my medical fees?"
"How can Uncle Tsutsumi say that?"
Satsuki's concern on her face did not diminish in the slightest.
"Precisely because I might be one of the sources of risk, I should take responsibility to the end."
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki stared at her for a long time.
"How much is the initiation fee?"
"It can be waived for the first member."
Satsuki answered very readily.
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki was just about to nod when he heard her continue:
"But the annual fee will be charged as usual."
"..."
"But do not worry."
Satsuki smiled exceptionally sweetly.
"Stomach medicine can be free, and I will prepare the best stomach medicine for you~"
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki pinched that medicine bottle, not putting it back on the table for a long time.
"Should I still thank you?"
"For the first member, there always has to be some preferential treatment."
Satsuki answered as a matter of course.
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki handed the medicine bottle back to Shimada, no longer intending to argue with her. If they said a few more words, he suspected that the medicine he had just swallowed would also be in vain.
At this moment, the lights in the VIP room dimmed by a level.
The screen behind the stage suddenly lit up, and Sakai Izumi's name appeared completely over the stadium for the first time. The cheers from the audience passed through the glass, briefly overpowering the sound inside the VIP room.
The smile on Satsuki's face faded slightly as she turned her head to look outside the glass.
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki was still looking at her.
Putting aside the fact that this girl's skill in making people angry was growing day by day, her willingness to help Seibu deal with the mess of Gokurakukan was beyond his expectation.
Saionji agreed to send artists, technical personnel, and construction departments, and was also willing to put up renovation funds. Even if the old debts were still borne by Seibu, this far exceeded an ordinary commercial cooperation.
"After all, why are you willing to care about Gokurakukan?"
He spoke again after the cheers outside subsided slightly.
Satsuki's gaze still lingered on the stage.
"Hokkaido's hotel supplies, tourism routes, and cold chain business have all been connected with Seibu. If Gokurakukan continues to run at a loss, it will sooner or later affect our joint projects."
She spoke very naturally, as if this were the entire reason.
Hearing this, Tsutsumi Yoshiaki did not immediately look away.
"Turns out you were just afraid of soiling Saionji's accounts."
"Uncle Tsutsumi should be happy instead."
Satsuki turned back to glance at him, a faint smile still lingering on her lips.
"At least your health and Seibu's assets are both being looked after by someone now."
Tsutsumi Yoshiaki let out a soft huff.
The words were still spoken like business, but he had already obtained the answer he wanted. Given Satsuki's personality, her willingness to take over an old asset known to be troublesome was in itself more credible than any comfort.