In an office building not too far from the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the lights on the seventh floor were still on.
This place was originally the Tokyo office of a trading company.
After the other party went bankrupt last year, Saionji rented the entire floor, without even replacing the tables and chairs.
They only removed the original company logo and temporarily connected a few telephone lines.
The regulations of the former trading company were probably not very strict, and the room still smelled of a mixture of old tobacco and fax paper.
Just past 7:00 PM, the office door was suddenly pushed open a crack from the outside.
A young clerk squeezed in sideways, holding two bulging convenience store plastic bags in each hand, with a third bag tightly wedged under his armpit.
The topmost bento box had already tilted toward the edge of the bag, swaying precariously with his movements.
"Someone give me a hand—"
Before he finished speaking, his foot tripped over the threshold, and he stumbled forward by half a step, quickly using his wrist to hook back the bag that was about to fall.
"It is going to drop, it is going to drop!"
The person checking the client list near the door was startled, quickly put the cards in his hand on the desk, and hurried over to meet him.
"How much did you buy?"
He first reached out to support the most dangerous-looking bag, and looking down to see layers upon layers of bentos, rice balls, and drinks inside, his expression suddenly turned somewhat peculiar.
"Wait."
He looked up again at the remaining bags in the young clerk's arms.
"Are you planning to move the entire convenience store shelves back?"
"Less nonsense, take it first."
The young clerk finally managed to free a hand, shook his fingers which were marked red by the plastic bags, and let out a long breath.
"I almost died at the elevator entrance downstairs."
He finally pulled the last bag out from under his arm, put it on the desk, and shook his fingers reddened by the plastic handles.
"Phew—I am exhausted."
The clerk who had just helped him take the things had not even had time to sit down when he saw him fish out an excessively long receipt from his shirt pocket.
"However, the funds provided by higher-ups today are really generous."
The young clerk slapped the receipt onto the desk, and his mood immediately improved.
"During the operation, buying meals at any convenience store is reimbursable. I even asked specifically, and the funding standard does not say bentos can only be bought for under 500 yen."
"So you bought this much?"
"We have so many people here."
As he spoke, he scooped out a black bento box from the very bottom of the bag.
The packaging was obviously in a different league from the other items, and it even had a gold-foil paper seal wrapped around the outside.
2,980 yen.
The person helping him hold things had originally been putting drinks on the desk, but upon seeing the price, his movements stopped.
"...What did you buy this for?"
"What is wrong?"
"Last week, you stood in front of the shelves for a long time looking at the 700-plus-yen eel bento and could not bear to buy it."
"That was spending my own money."
The young clerk stood up holding that box of bento, answering with righteous confidence.
"Today is the company's money."
The person organizing fax documents nearby was clipping the freshly printed thermal paper into folders chronologically, and did not stop their hand movements upon hearing this.
"Which store did you buy it from?"
"Huh? 7-Eleven, of course."
The young clerk had already taken that 2,980-yen bento box out of the bag, looking down and studying the high-end-looking photo on the packaging.
"The one two blocks down downstairs. Things are a bit more expensive than the other two nearby, but it is reimbursable anyway—"
"Oh, 7-Eleven."
The person organizing fax documents finally raised his head.
He glanced at the bulging plastic bags, then at the bento in the young clerk's hands, a strange smile gradually appearing on his face.
"Then how about this, Sato-san."
"Huh?"
"Please repeat the three core contents of the Supply Chain Custody Agreement."
The young clerk froze for a moment.
The person next to him who was unboxing a rice ball also paused, obviously already knowing what this guy was about to do.
"Now?"
"Right now."
"I am not an S-Food person..."
"Did not you all take the test during the group's internal training last year?"
"..."
The young clerk held the bento and thought for a moment.
"First, the real-time POS sales data of 7-Eleven is open to S.A.."
"Second..."
He frowned as he recalled.
"In-house fresh food production is gradually phased out, and items like bentos and rice balls are entirely integrated into S-Food's production system."
"What else?"
"Logistics..."
The young clerk's voice slowed down a bit.
"The logistics subsidiary is merged into S.A. Logistics, and distribution and replenishment also follow the group system."
Saying this, he stopped himself.
The office fell quiet for a brief moment.
The young clerk looked down at the bento in his arms, then at the plastic bag bearing the 7-Eleven logo at his feet.
"...Right."
"Remembered?"
"Does not this basically leave only the signboard and storefront as their own?"
The person organizing fax documents then let out a laugh.
"Pretty much."
He reached into the bag and took out a box of tonkatsu bento, flipping it over to scan the production label on the back.
Sure enough, he saw the familiar supplier name again.
"Fresh food is made by the group system, many ingredients come from S.Farm, delivery is by S.A. Logistics, and after selling, the data has to come back to us."
He flipped the bento back over.
"Come to think of it, it is not much different from the company cafeteria."
Someone nearby chimed in.
"The cafeteria does not even require payment."
"And today's dishes in the cafeteria might even be better than this."
The person organizing fax documents looked at the tonkatsu in his hand, pressing it with his finger through the transparent lid.
"At least the cafeteria's food does not sit on the shelves for hours."
The young clerk also looked down at his box of 2,980-yen high-end bento.
The packaging that had looked so valuable no matter how he looked at it suddenly lost its sacredness.
"Ah..."
He finally reacted.
"Is not this just passing from the left hand to the right hand then."
A few chuckles instantly erupted in the room.
Someone took a rice ball and patted him on the shoulder casually.
"Congratulations."
"Taking Saionji's operation funds, going to buy food at a convenience store supplied and delivered by Saionji, and then coming back to have Saionji reimburse you."
"Your trip has made a huge contribution to the group's capital circulation."
The young clerk thought for two seconds.
Then hugged the high-end bento in his arms even tighter.
"But we should still buy the expensive one."
"Why are you back to this again?"
"This is company welfare!"
He righteously tore open the plastic wrapping outside the bento.
"It would be a waste not to eat it."
"Yes, yes, yes."
The person organizing fax documents had already lowered his head again, clipping those sheets of paper into the file.
"Who is fighting you for your bento."
He reached out and pushed aside a plastic bag blocking the fax machine.
"Eat quickly. Get to work once you are done."
The others then continued to take their own items from the bag.
Some took fried chicken, some grabbed only two rice balls, and another complained that the drink was too ice-cold, searched for a while, and stuffed it back.
The bulging plastic bags quickly deflated.
The young clerk also finally hugged his box of 2,980-yen "company welfare" and began looking for a place to sit.
The office was temporarily rented from a bankrupt trading company after all, so desks were scarce, though telephone and fax lines had been added later.
A dozen people had been crammed here standing by for the past few days, files had already taken up most of the space, and now with a pile of bentos, even finding a place to eat required figuring out a solution first.
The young clerk walked around carrying his most expensive bento.
He had not felt anything when the things were in the bags, but when he was actually ready to sit down and eat, he discovered that there was not even a stable spot in the office to put a lunchbox.
Finally, he set his sights on the outer corner of the long table.
Only a stack of corporate client cards was pressed down there.
It should be movable.
The young clerk carefully nudged it aside with his elbow, but the top few cards slid out along with it.
"Hey, hey, hey!"
The person opposite had not even had time to put down their chopsticks, reaching out to press down on them, but one card still fell to the floor.
"If you are going to eat, eat, do not send my clients away along the way."
"I did not step on it."
The young clerk bent down to pick up the card and glanced at it casually.
"Is this one that important?"
"Over four billion in securities accounts."
That person pulled the card back from his hand and re-inserted it into the newly arranged sequence.
"If there is really movement tomorrow, I will have to call them in the first round. If you mess up the numbers, check them yourself for me tonight."
The young clerk immediately withdrew his hand.
"Fine, fine, fine, I will not touch yours."
He carried his bento and moved two steps to the side, seeing an empty space at the corner of the table, and was just about to put it down.
"Do not touch that side either."
"What is it this time?"
"Nikko's."
The young clerk looked down.
An opened folder was pressed underneath, and a few newly supplemented corporate lists still had their edges exposed.
He had no choice but to keep moving forward.
This time, before the bento even landed, someone opposite had already raised a pair of chopsticks across the files.
"I am going to use that spot immediately."
"And what are you?"
"Daiwa."
"..."
The young clerk stood in place holding his bento, looking around left and right.
The stack of Nomura materials in the center of the long table was the thickest, and the client cards he almost knocked out of order earlier were pressed right beside it.
The materials for Nikko, Daiwa, and Yamaichi were scattered in a few other places; although noticeably thinner, they were still enough to occupy seven or eight tenths of the remaining space.
Further in, there were settlement materials, telephone directories, and a few brown paper bags that had not been put away in time.
He was silent for a few seconds.
"I bought a bento close to three thousand yen, and as a result I do not even deserve a desk?"
The person eating nearby did not even raise their head.
"There is one."
The young clerk's eyes lit up.
"Where?"
That person pointed behind him with their chopsticks.
"The windowsill."
"..."
"Turning your nose up at it?"
"This thing is worth 2,980 yen!"
"That is all the more reason to eat standing up."
The other person finally raised his head, seriously sizing up the black bento box in his arms.
"Stand up straight."
"Eat it with the vibe of a French restaurant."
Someone nearby instantly burst out laughing.
Just as the young clerk wanted to curse back, the fax machine against the wall suddenly rang.
The laughter subconsciously quieted down a bit.
The person closest stuffed the remaining half of a rice ball into his mouth and got up to walk over.
The machine was still spitting out paper, and he was already looking down at the first page.
When the last one came out, he casually tore it off and flipped through a couple of pages while standing in place.
"Nomura's post-market summary."
The young clerk, who had just been looking for a place to put his bento, raised his head.
"Anything?"
"Nothing."
That person walked back and handed one of the pages to the colleague in charge of settlements.
"Corporate operations are normal, and no anomalies are seen on the settlement end. The last round of updates in the afternoon is still the same; none of the clients we are closely watching have moved."
The settlement lead took the fax.
The bento beside his hand was only half-eaten, with his chopsticks still resting horizontally across the edge of the box.
After scanning his gaze all the way down a few lines of numbers, he flipped it to the back.
"At least no one withdrew money in advance."
He finished speaking and pressed the paper next to Nomura's stack of materials.
"If big news had really leaked out, it is unlikely to be this quiet. Not all major clients need to know; as long as two or three move first, the settlement end will leave traces."
The person in charge of corporate clients was using a pencil to add marks to the last few cards and chimed in upon hearing this.
"The business end is the same. I tried contacting three peripheral contacts this afternoon; no one re-inquired, nor did anyone suddenly ask about conditions from other brokerages."
"Either the news has not leaked yet, or the point we have been guarding has not run into any trouble at all."
The young clerk finally found a spot for his bento by the windowsill, just unwrapped his chopsticks, and turned around when he heard the last sentence.
"You mean Nomura is out of trouble?"
"When did I say that?"
The corporate lead did not even raise his head.
"I am just saying, there is currently no evidence proving it will get into trouble tonight."
"Is not that pretty much the same?"
"Not even close."
He gathered the newly arranged cards together.
"Doing this kind of work, the thing you fear most is believing the answer yourself first. Eldest Miss told us to watch Nomura, so of course we watch. But Nomura having no movement today only proves there is no movement today."
Hearing this, the young clerk nodded, noncommittal.
Near the door, the legal staff member had already successively packed the documents organized that afternoon into his briefcase.
Hearing them still discussing, he pulled the zipper halfway and looked up at the small office inside.
"The head has not come out yet?"
"Still on the phone with the main residence."
"Then let us wait for him."
The legal staff member lowered his head and continued packing things.
"Whether we stay tonight, and whether the targets need to be adjusted, we have to hear how Eldest Miss's side judges it. Just based on Nomura having no movement today, no one can draw a conclusion."
The young clerk held a piece of beef with his chopsticks and muttered vaguely.
"I just think it is spooky."
The person next to him ignored him.
He himself found it increasingly interesting the more he thought about it.
"Everyone on standby around the 20th, client lists sorted out in advance, not a single person from the legal, settlement, or corporate groups let go. When I came over yesterday, I thought I would see the Tokyo Stock Exchange on fire the moment I walked in."
This time someone raised his head.
"Say less."
"No, no, no, do not you slander me. I did not say Eldest Miss judged wrong."
The young clerk swallowed what was in his mouth and poked his chin toward the pile of Nomura materials on the desk.
"I just want to know where this fire is going to burn from."