June 21, 1991, Friday.
8:42 AM.
Kenjiro was already sitting in the waiting room outside the head of household's office.
He had arrived eighteen minutes earlier than the agreed time.
This was not because he was nervous.
At least, that was what he thought.
When they returned to their rented apartment in Minami-Senju last night, it was already very late.
When his wife first heard that they could move back, she froze for a full half-minute, and the first thing she did afterwards was actually run to the kitchen to turn off the gas.
Then she went to collect the laundry.
Halfway through collecting it, she remembered the towel hanging outside the window; after taking the towel down, she stood in the middle of that six-tatami room in a daze.
In the end, it was the people sent by Saionji who helped them pack their things into boxes one by one.
The things that truly belonged to the two of them were fewer than Kenjiro had imagined.
A few sets of clothes, some old books.
The ledgers his wife had kept over the years.
And that hard hat of his that he had used for a very long time.
When the staff asked if he still wanted that hat, his wife answered for him first.
"Yes."
Thus, the old hard hat with "Tanaka Ken" written inside also returned to Saionji together with them.
Lying in the bed of his new residence last night, Kenjiro took a long time to fall asleep.
It was not because the bed was too soft; he was not so pretentious as to suffer from insomnia just because it was too comfortable.
He just suddenly felt a bit unaccustomed.
He woke up once at two in the morning, listening to the sound of the central air conditioning in the room, and even subconsciously wanted to reach for the electric fan beside the tatami mat.
In the end, he touched nothing.
At six in the morning, he got up.
His wife was even earlier than him.
The two of them sat by the breakfast table, neither mentioning yesterday's events.
It was not until Kenjiro was ready to go out, when his wife straightened his collar, that she smiled and said a sentence.
"Do not be late."
Therefore, he arrived here at 8:42.
Kenjiro lowered his head and glanced at his watch.
8:47.
The day's Nihon Keizai Shimbun was placed on the table, alongside several financial magazines.
He picked one up, flipped through two pages, and put it back down.
Today was his first day of work after becoming Saionji Kenjiro once again.
A three-month probation, with no position arranged for the time being.
Satsuki only said yesterday that she would pick some things that required cross-departmental handling for him.
As for what it actually was, she did not mention an extra word.
Kenjiro himself had guessed quite a bit.
Perhaps some company's operations had run into problems recently, perhaps it was factory orders and production capacity, or perhaps there was some disconnection between warehousing, logistics, and stores.
To be even more complex, it might even involve the large-scale projects under construction in Odaiba, or the increasingly troublesome financing and debt issues after the bubble burst.
These were all things he had more or less come into contact with over the past six years.
Now that he had returned, Satsuki surely would not let him sit in the head of household's office drinking tea on his very first day.
Therefore, Kenjiro had prepared himself to be submerged by dozens of pages of reports and contracts, stuffing his briefcase with a calculator and a notebook, as well as several long-used reference materials.
At 8:55, footsteps finally came from the other end of the corridor.
Chizuru appeared first, carrying only Satsuki's small handbag in her hand.
Satsuki followed behind, raising her eyebrows slightly when she saw him.
"Uncle came so early?"
Kenjiro stood up.
"On the first day, I have to perform a bit better, lest you really drive me off to mix cement after three months."
Satsuki smiled slightly.
"What a pity. It seems Saionji Tower is missing a very enthusiastic worker today."
Kenjiro could not even be bothered to retort to such jokes.
He glanced at the head of household's office; the door was still closed.
"Where are we talking today?"
"In the car."
"In the car?"
Satsuki had already turned and walked toward the stairs.
"Let us go."
Kenjiro quickly picked up his briefcase.
"Where to?"
"The hospital."
His footsteps paused for a moment.
Satsuki turned back to look at him.
"What is wrong?"
"I just did not expect that the job on the first day of work would be visiting a patient."
"What did Uncle originally think it would be?"
"At least give me a company."
Satsuki did not stop her steps, only turning her face slightly to glance at him, her gaze falling back onto the bulging briefcase in his hand.
"Uncle only returned on the first day, and you are already prepared to take over a company for me?"
Kenjiro heard the teasing in her words, but he did not feel embarrassed.
Instead, he patted his briefcase.
"It is fine if you do not give me a good company. Pick one that is about to collapse, and I must let you see whether these six years were spent in vain."
"Quite well-prepared."
Satsuki extended her finger and gently tapped the side of the briefcase, as if checking how many things were actually packed inside.
"Then I will have to trouble Uncle to carry it all the way."
Kenjiro looked down at his bag.
"It will not be used in the hospital?"
Satsuki had already turned around and continued walking forward, her long hair behind her shoulders swaying gently with her steps.
"It should not be needed."
After the sedan left Hongo, it drove toward Minato Ward.
Kenjiro had originally thought Endo would stay in some university-affiliated hospital related to Saionji.
Until the car turned into a relatively quiet street and finally stopped in front of a white building of about ten stories, he realized he did not recognize this place.
The building was not very new, and the exterior walls had obviously been renovated in recent years.
People constantly entered and exited the general outpatient clinic, and several white ambulances were parked nearby.
After getting out of the car, Kenjiro looked up for a few seconds.
"Is this also Saionji's?"
"The hospital belongs to the medical corporation."
Satsuki walked toward the main entrance.
"If we really wanted to hang Saionji's name directly on it, it would not be impossible. Coordinating with the Ministry of Health and Welfare for a few rounds and having the Cabinet help out, we could always find a way."
Kenjiro caught the meaning in her words.
"Then why take such a roundabout way?"
"Because there is no need."
Satsuki turned back to glance at him.
"How long can the Kaifu Cabinet back up Saionji? Three years, or five years? But a hospital might have to operate for decades."
"For that sign at the door, owing a circle of favors to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and handing the opposition a handle of 'zaibatsu-controlled medical care,' no matter how you look at it, it is not worth it."
She walked toward the lobby again.
"Leave the doctors and hospitals to the medical corporation. Saionji is responsible for money, equipment, pharmaceuticals, testing, logistics, and the subsequent support system."
"Not a single thing that should be grasped is missing. Why does Uncle think I must grab that signboard?"
Kenjiro nodded thoughtfully, "Indeed, you are right."
"Squandering our strength for a signboard that is merely a title is indeed not worth it."
Satsuki glanced at her uncle with some surprise.
Did the experiences of these six years teach him when he should appropriately restrain his sharpness?
Satsuki smiled slightly.
It seems Endo-san can hope to have someone share the pressure for him.
The right side of the lobby was the general outpatient clinic, and the left side was separately partitioned into a physical examination area.
Satsuki walked into the lobby a step ahead.
Several nurses pushed blood collection carts past, and Kenjiro's gaze swept along the sample boxes on the carts, quickly recognizing the lettering on the side.
"BML?"
He looked a couple of times more.
"I remember it used to be called the Mutual Biochemical Research Institute. This company has expanded quite fast these years, even taking on testing items that hospitals themselves are unwilling to maintain."
"The name was changed in 1989."
Satsuki did not stop.
"Saionji participated in a capital increase last year, and the medical business company now holds over thirty percent of the shares. The management has not moved; they continue to run the laboratories, and we are only responsible for connecting the necessary things into our own hospital system."
Kenjiro was somewhat surprised this time.
"Over thirty percent?"
He quickly understood again.
"That is enough. A company like clinical testing relies on doctors and laboratory networks. Forcefully replacing all the original management would bring no benefit other than looking for trouble for oneself."
"So after Uncle comes back, you can give me fewer suggestions like 'buy everything out'."
"I do not like buying things as much now."
Satsuki glanced at him.
Kenjiro laughed first himself.
"At least I will not borrow five billion to buy it."
The two passed by the department of clinical laboratory.
Behind the glass, a row of samples was being automatically fed into the equipment.
The side of the white machine body was printed with the name "Toa Medical Electronics."
Kenjiro recognized it again.
"Is not this that testing equipment company in Kobe? Their blood cell counters are very famous."
"Oh? Uncle actually knows."
"Libraries do not just put financial textbooks."
Kenjiro looked through the glass for a while.
"This kind of company is really suitable for Saionji. Hospitals can buy equipment, BML can use equipment, and Yamanouchi cannot do without testing for drug trials in the future."
"I had also conceived before, if Saionji wanted to enter the medical system, which companies should be controlled."
Satsuki looked at him and nodded approvingly.
"Participated in their capital increase last year, and currently it is also around thirty percent."
"Did not continue buying?"
"There is no need for now."
Satsuki walked forward a few steps.
"The most valuable part of a technology company is that original group of people. If Saionji suddenly sent a group of directors who do not understand blood analysis to go in and teach them how to make instruments, I am not that idle."
Piled next to the nurses' station ahead were newly delivered consumables.
The infusion apparatus from Japan Medical Supply took up the majority, while another packaging box was printed with the logo of Nipro.
The electric hospital beds on both sides of the corridor came from Paramount Bed.
These companies were all quite well-known enterprises within Japan.
Japan Medical Supply was long a listed company, making disposable infusion, blood, and medical devices; Nipro was equally famous in the fields of dialysis and injection infusion; while Paramount was almost the representative manufacturer of hospital beds in Japan.
"Do these also have Saionji's shares?"
"No."
Satsuki shook her head.
"'Medical Supply' and Nipro are currently mainly long-term procurement, and Paramount is also a supply contract. If we truly encounter a suitable opportunity, we can buy shares, but there is no need to stuff every medical company we see into Saionji's roster."
Kenjiro let out a chuckle.
"Who was it just now that said they would invest upon seeing a suitable one?"
"Suitable."
Satsuki deliberately repeated it.
"Uncle's biggest problem in the past was that he often only heard the second half of a sentence."
The elevator had arrived.
After the two entered, Satsuki simply wrapped up the things they had seen along the way.
"Yamanouchi manages drugs, BML supplements testing, and Toa Medical Electronics is equipment. Consumables and hospital beds do not need to be produced by ourselves; establishing stable procurement is enough. Then, connecting rehabilitation, pharmaceutical distribution, and emergency transport, this hospital truly has value."
Kenjiro reached out to hold the closing elevator door, letting a nurse go out first.
Waiting for the door to close again, he said:
"What you want to do is actually not just hospitals."
"Has not Uncle already figured it out?"
"Yes, over these years I have observed that if you want to develop a certain direction, you usually implement it systematically."
Kenjiro watched the rising floor numbers.
"First set the general direction, then distinguish which things must be directly controlled and which only need indirect influence."
"Once these are all in hand, stringing the related industries together little by little, this direction can be considered truly established."
His gaze turned to Satsuki.
"Hokkokuya's beef bowl is indeed very delicious. The selection, transportation, and supply of rice and beef are all well-controlled."
"Although I am not yet clear on what you have done in agriculture, I suppose you must be involved from breeding to production to processing and output, right? Just like the medical industry."
After listening, Satsuki's eyes held a bit more amusement.
"Uncle's first day back, you are performing quite well."
The floor number in the elevator had jumped to eight.
"You will come into contact with more in the future. What you see now is just a part of the medical system that has already been implemented."
Kenjiro nodded and did not pursue the question further.
Accompanied by a soft click, the elevator doors opened to both sides.