June 10, 1991, 2:00 PM.
Kojimachi, Kujo Family Tokyo Annex.
When Satsuki got out of the car, the head of the Kujo Family was already standing under the porch waiting.
He was not wearing a formal montsuki haori today, but simply a dark-coloured kimono. Seeing Satsuki approach, he took the initiative to step down one step and slightly bowed to her.
"Miss Satsuki, thank you for coming in person."
"It was the Kujo Family who specially sent someone to deliver the letter, so I should be the one thanking you."
Satsuki returned the bow, her gaze passing over the porch and looking into the house.
The corridor behind the entryway had already been changed to summer bamboo blinds, and the shoji doors of the distant Japanese-style room were half open, inside which a glass bowl filled with ice could be faintly seen. The tea set was also neatly arranged, with a plate of uncut mizu yokan placed beside it.
Clearly, the Kujo Family had indeed originally prepared a tea gathering.
The head of the Kujo Family noticed her gaze.
"The tea is ready."
After he finished speaking, he did not immediately invite her inside, but merely glanced at another sedan parked aside.
"However, before that, there is a place I would like to ask you to accompany me to see. It is not too far."
Satsuki looked at him.
The head of the Kujo Family did not put on the posture of an elder waiting for a junior to obey arrangements, and his tone consistently carried a sense of consultation.
"Some words spoken while sitting in a tea room ultimately lack enough weight."
Satsuki thought for only a moment before nodding.
"Let us go then."
After the sedan left Kojimachi, it drove south along the western side of the Imperial Palace.
Tokyo in the afternoon was somewhat sultry. The rainy season had not truly begun, yet the sky was already covered by a very thin layer of grey clouds; the leaves by the street were motionless, and even the occasionally passing wind carried the dampness of impending rain.
The head of the Kujo Family sat across from Satsuki, not rushing to discuss the matters mentioned in the letter.
He only said that the destination was an old residence whose owner had some dealings with the Kujo Family and was currently sorting out their family assets.
The car drove for about twenty minutes, finally turning into a quiet street not far from the main road.
Both sides of the street were mostly detached residences.
One of the residences covered a large area, but its walls were already somewhat old. Beneath the black tiled eaves remained several traces washed away by rainwater, and the two neatly trimmed pine trees in front of the door remained verdant, yet near their roots stood several wooden boxes filled with old books and sundries.
The main gate stood wide open.
A moving company truck was parked inside, with thick felt laid out at the back of the compartment. Several workers were jointly lifting out a Western-style cabinet, the surface of its wood wrapped in anti-collision burlap, exposing only two tarnished brass handles.
The Kujo Family's attendant stepped forward a step earlier to state their purpose.
Satsuki followed the head of the Kujo Family through the porch.
The interior of the residence was even quieter than outside.
The spot by the entryway where the family crest should have originally hung only had two copper hooks left. The wall had been exposed to the sun for many years, leaving only a darker circular trace preserved between the copper hooks.
A white-haired old steward was registering the items being moved out. Seeing the head of the Kujo Family, he hurriedly put down the pencil in his hand and bowed deeply to the two of them.
"Pardon the intrusion."
The head of the Kujo Family returned the bow, then introduced to Satsuki:
"The former Marchioness of this household has a marriage tie with the Kujo. The family head is in poor health, and the children all live outside, so the matters of the past few months have been primarily handled by the old steward."
Satsuki gave a slight nod toward the old man.
The old steward clearly recognised her.
His gaze lingered on Satsuki's face for half a second, and quickly lowered respectfully again.
"Miss Saionji."
"Please continue with your busywork."
Satsuki finished speaking and looked at the register behind him.
The paper was densely written with the names of items. The destinations listed beside them, however, only fell into a few categories: bank safekeeping, auction houses, acceptance by relatives, and temporary retention at the Kujo Family.
"The calligraphy, paintings, and old documents have not finished being sorted."
The head of the Kujo Family said, following her line of sight.
"Banks only recognise appraised values and do not care much about the difference between a family letter from two hundred years ago and ordinary paper. If they are all handed over to auction houses, they will probably be sold off piece by piece in the end."
The two continued walking further inside.
Passing through the Western-style living room, a very large oil painting had already been taken down from the wall, leaving a very light-coloured rectangle on the wall surface.
Several chairs that had not yet been moved were placed by the window, one of which had a bank's blue identification number sticker on its armrest. The piano beside it had already had its legs detached, and a yellowed children's sheet music still lay on the piano lid, as if the person sorting things temporarily did not know which box it should be classified into.
Further inward, two workers were dismantling a gold foil folding screen.
Behind the screen was painted a patch of faded spring grass, with the family crest printed on the edges. The person in charge of moving saw the head of the Kujo Family, stopped their actions, and asked whether this item should be sent to the bank warehouse or placed together with the family genealogy.
The head of the Kujo Family did not make the decision on behalf of the owner, only having the old steward reconfirm the remaining inventory list.
Satsuki stood to the side, watching as the folding screen was closed back up.
The light on the gold foil narrowed accordingly, finally leaving only a very thin bright line.
"At the height of the bubble, this household acted as a guarantor for two companies operated by a collateral branch."
The head of the Kujo Family finally spoke.
"At that time, the valuations of the ancestral home, mountain forests, and several collection pieces were very high, and the bank even proactively suggested that they increase their credit line. Now both companies have collapsed, but the guarantee still remains under the main family's name."
"How much is owed?"
"The book debt is less than 12 billion yen."
The head of the Kujo Family paused at the end of the corridor.
"If it were three years ago, this mansion plus the mountain forests would have been enough to cover it twice over. But now the bank is only willing to calculate it at four billion. The remaining portion requires family members to make up for it with other assets."
12 billion yen.
This sum of money was nothing to Saionji.
But to a family that only had its social standing, mansion, and a small amount of old assets left, it was enough to completely tear apart the lives of several generations.
"Have they looked for Saionji?"
Satsuki asked very directly.
The head of the Kujo Family turned around and looked at her.
"Someone mentioned it."
"And the result?"
"The family head refused."
Satsuki's expression did not change.
"Finding the conditions given by Saionji too harsh?"
"Saionji has not even offered any conditions yet."
Speaking up to this point, the head of the Kujo Family's gaze fell on the cabinet being moved away by workers.
"They just heard your name and decided not to continue talking."
Outside the corridor came the muffled sound of a wooden box landing on a handcart.
Satsuki watched for a moment, then suddenly smiled.
"It seems Saionji's reputation is indeed quite terrible."
The head of the Kujo Family also revealed a very faint smile.
"If it were just reputation, it probably would not be worth my making a special trip to Tokyo."
After speaking, he led Satsuki into the innermost study of the residence.
This room had not yet been completely cleared out.
The bookcase against the wall was already half dismantled, and half-sorted genealogy records and old volumes were piled on the floor. A low table remained by the window, with two temporarily prepared teacups placed on it, and the water in the thermos still retained steam.
The head of the Kujo Family invited Satsuki to sit down and personally poured her a cup of tea.
The tea leaves were ordinary, and the water temperature was not as exquisite as that prepared at the Kujo Annex. It was probably just something the old steward usually used to entertain the moving personnel.
Satsuki picked it up and took a sip.
The taste was somewhat astringent.
"Have you already known the outcome regarding Sumitomo?"
After sitting down opposite her, the head of the Kujo Family directly uttered this name.
Satsuki's hand holding the teacup paused for a fraction of a second.
"Which part are you referring to?"
"The reorganisation of Hakusuikai."
The study fell quiet.
Outside the window, workers were dragging wooden boxes, the rollers grinding across the flagstone path and emitting intermittent friction sounds.
The head of the Kujo Family continued speaking:
"Masaaki Uragami resigned from his position as standing director of Hakusuikai last week. Yasui from the Sumitomo Bank Osaka Main Branch has also been transferred away from his original post; the new position does not look bad either, but he no longer touches intra-group credit and overseas settlements."
"The Sumitomo Main Family subsequently sent new coordination bylaws to major companies. Sumitomo Takamichi is responsible for presiding over industrial coordination, and Saionji Trading is given a permanent seat in overseas trade, joint warehousing, and major credit risk review."
"The joint custodianship of Nanko Warehouse No. 3 and Rokko Island Cold Storage has also been changed from a temporary arrangement to a long-term system. From now on, before important export goods of the Sumitomo group enter the warehouse, the seal of the Sumitomo Main Family and the confirmation of Saionji Trading are already indispensable."
The head of the Kujo Family's tone had always been very flat.
But the meaning within his words was announcing the power succession of a large zaibatsu.
From January to now, nearly five months had passed.
After the first batch of containers from Nanko entered the warehouse, companies such as Sumitomo Metal, Sumitomo Chemical, and Sumitomo Electric successively connected more overseas businesses to the joint custody centre.
Personnel dispatched by Saionji Trading to Osaka and Kobe constantly increased; initially there were only a few temporary wooden desks, but now they possessed a permanent office, dedicated fax lines, and an independent document archiving area.
At the same time, Itoman's black hole was also gradually moving from internal documents to public investigation.
The trade financing, bank credit, and personnel arrangements that Hakusuikai once used to maintain power were being exposed layer by layer in the hands of the Sumitomo Main Family and Saionji.
What Uragami and the others lost was never just a matter of public opinion.
Sumitomo group manufacturing companies had already grown accustomed to contacting the joint custody centre first when encountering problems, and overseas clients also began directly accepting the document formats proposed by Saionji Trading.
In the end, even if Hakusuikai could still sit in the rooms in Kitahama to hold meetings, the people truly driving goods, letters of credit, and funds forward had already been replaced by a new batch.
This power transfer did not hold a press conference.
The signboards of each Sumitomo company still hung in their original places, and Sumitomo Bank did not change its name.
Yet by now, if the Sumitomo Main Family wanted to maintain order within the group, it needed to rely on the US dollar channel, warehousing system, and review capabilities provided by Saionji; if Saionji did not agree, the people left behind by Hakusuikai would find it very difficult to return to their original positions.
The old lineages of Tokyo and Kyoto might not necessarily understand all trade documents, but they understood who had taken away the real power.
"Some people outside say that Saionji has already taken over Sumitomo."
The head of the Kujo Family looked at Satsuki.
"This statement does not hold up legally. Sumitomo's equity, family name, and company registration have not been handed over to your hands."
"Yet what the various families care about has never been company registration."
He paused slightly before continuing.
"Sumitomo still bears the Sumitomo name. When real matters are encountered, however, decisions must first go through Tokyo."
Satsuki lowered her head and glanced at the tea in her cup.
"So, are they afraid?"
"Yes."
The head of the Kujo Family answered very crisply.
"When Seibu bowed its head, many people could still understand it as a commercial victory or defeat. Tsutsumi Yoshiaki made investment mistakes, and Saionji happened to have enough cash on hand; the two sides finally exchanging interests was not difficult to understand."
"But Sumitomo is different."
"Sumitomo is not a company, nor is it a group maintained by a certain strongman. That is a family name accumulated over four hundred years, and in the eyes of many old households, it is the thing closest to 'never falling down'."
The head of the Kujo Family's gaze passed over Satsuki and landed on the bookcase suspended in mid-air.
"Now even Sumitomo can retain its own nameplate while handing over the keys to Saionji."
"Others will naturally wonder how much Saionji will leave behind when their turn comes."
His gaze returned to Satsuki, as if looking at some indescribable thing.
"They are afraid of you."
"The entire Kazoku world is afraid of you."
"Afraid that you will, on a whim at some point, devour them clean as well."
The air indoors grew heavy, and Satsuki looked at the bookcase in mid-air, deep in thought.
The head of the Kujo Family also quietly looked at her.
After Saionji took over Sumitomo, what the Kazoku world saw was not just the result of a financial world struggle.
Sumitomo possessed a history of several centuries, controlling banks, trading companies, and a large number of manufacturing companies; its strength far exceeded the vast majority of the Kazoku, and it was definitely a veritable "colossus."
Yet even such a family, after losing the original coordination system of Hakusuikai, had no choice but to rely on Saionji to provide overseas credit, warehousing, and risk review.
Even if Hakusuikai failed under the backstabbing of the Sumitomo Main Family, no one dared to bet whether there would also be "progressive forces" seeking independence within their own households.
Therefore, other Kazoku would naturally harbour the same concerns.
Since Saionji could intervene in Sumitomo today, tomorrow it might also utilise debts, financing, medical care, or the employment issues of family members to intervene in their internal affairs.
Some families in difficult situations had already begun to show this phenomenon—before the family head had made a decision, the younger generation had already taken the initiative to inquire about positions in Saionji-affiliated companies;
when someone in the family fell ill, the first thing they thought of was the soon-to-be-established Saionji medical institution; when the ancestral home needed repairs, someone also suggested contacting Saionji Construction directly.
Viewed individually, these matters were all very normal.
But when all problems could only be solved by Saionji, how much authority the family head could still retain was hard to say.
After a while, Satsuki looked back at the head of the Kujo Family.
"So, they are preparing to unite to prevent Saionji from continuing to enter the interior of the Kazoku."
"Yes."
The head of the Kujo Family answered very directly.
"After the news of Saionji taking over Sumitomo spread, the few families that were previously on the fence also began to state their stance. Some believed that if this continued unchecked, in another few years, any problem encountered in the Kazoku world would require consulting Saionji first."
"By then, the heads of various families would still sit in their original positions, but the person truly able to mobilise funds, arrange positions, and solve problems would have become you."
Satsuki's fingers paused on the rim of the cup.
"It sounds like they think quite highly of me."
"They indeed think very highly of you."
The head of the Kujo Family looked at her.
"And precisely because of this, they decided to unite."