The study in the mansion was so quiet it felt frozen in time.
A desk lamp cast a cold white glow over a single document on the desk. Seiji Fujiwara tapped his fingers lightly against the surface, the steady tap, tap echoing in the silence. Standing across from him was his chief assistant and head of security, a man known by the codename Koles.
"So they've finally made their move?" Seiji asked.
His voice was soft, his eyes never leaving the document.
"Yes, boss."
Koles spoke in a low voice. "Ten minutes ago, Yuichi Toyokawa formally submitted an application to the court, requesting asset preservation on everything under Kiyotsugu Toyokawa's name. He's also initiated recovery proceedings over the sixteen point eight billion yen investment loss from five months ago."
"At the same time, several shadow lending companies have appeared on the creditor list. According to our intelligence, they all have underworld ties, and their actual controllers are closely connected to Yuichi Toyokawa. Their methods… are rarely clean."
"Sixteen point eight billion yen."
Seiji's lips curved into an amused smile. "That's a truly astronomical number. For Kiyotsugu Toyokawa as he is now, forget sixteen point eight billion. He probably couldn't even scrape together one point six eight million."
"That's correct. Our investigation shows he's been selling off his old luxury watches just to get by. He's also developed a gambling habit and owes quite a bit in outside debt."
Koles paused before continuing. "Yuichi Toyokawa is clearly trying to eliminate them completely. The legal recovery is just a smokescreen. Sending those shadow lenders to use violent collection methods to drive the father and daughter to death—that's the real goal."
"Drive them to death…"
Seiji closed the file, his gaze deepening.
In the original course of events, Sakiko had left with her father voluntarily after his investment failure dragged the family down. Even then, with her grandfather Sadaharu Toyokawa as a stabilizing pillar, she could return at any time as a young lady of the main house, and the collateral branches wouldn't dare stir up trouble.
But now, that pillar was about to fall.
Once Sadaharu Toyokawa passed away, Sakiko and her father, stripped of protection, would become nothing more than obstacles in the eyes of those greedy relatives scrambling for power.
"How interesting," Seiji murmured. "For me, this is a perfect opportunity."
He had no intention of stepping in right away.
For Sakiko, her body had already yielded, but mentally she still clung to a trace of stubborn pride. She believed this was only a temporary setback, that as long as she endured, she could still turn things around.
That pride was like a hard eggshell, protecting her last shred of dignity.
And Seiji's plan was simple: let reality become the iron hammer that shattered that shell, piece by piece.
"Boss, should we intervene?" Koles asked. "If those lending companies act, Miss Sakiko could be in danger."
"No."
Seiji raised a hand, stopping him. A cold glint flashed through his eyes. "As long as they don't kill her, let them cause trouble. Some things only make sense once you see them with your own eyes."
"Bring Sakiko here."
"Yes."
Koles bowed and left the study.
…
A short while later, there was a soft knock at the door.
"Come in."
The door opened, and Sakiko stepped inside.
She was wearing casual home clothes, her hair simply tied back. She looked much softer than she did at school. Life under Seiji's "care" had improved her complexion, though a lingering gloom still sat between her brows.
"You wanted to see me?"
She stopped in front of the desk without sitting down, her back straight. Her gaze deliberately avoided his, drifting instead toward a corner of the bookshelf.
"Sit."
Seiji gestured to the chair across from him, his tone as flat as if he were calling in a subordinate for routine business.
After a brief hesitation, she sat. Resistance was meaningless. In this room, in this mansion, Seiji's words were absolute.
"Look at this."
He slid the debt recovery document across the desk toward her.
She glanced at him, puzzled, then reached out and picked it up.
At first, her expression remained calm. But as her eyes moved down the page and landed on words like "Yuichi Toyokawa," "sixteen point eight billion," "asset preservation," and "joint liability," her pupils shrank sharply.
The study was terrifyingly quiet, broken only by the sound of paper crumpling in her grip.
After a long time, she finally looked up. Her face was pale, but her eyes were unnervingly steady, even hard.
"What does this mean?"
Her voice didn't tremble. There was no hysterical outburst.
"Exactly what it says."
Seiji leaned back in his chair, fingers interlaced on his knees, studying her at his leisure. "Your uncle, Yuichi Toyokawa, has formally filed a lawsuit. The claim is that your father's investment four years ago caused massive losses to the group and constitutes gross negligence, requiring compensation."
"Of course, that's just the legal explanation."
He smiled, but there was no warmth in it. "Put more bluntly, your grandfather is on his last legs. Once he falls, the best way to eliminate your branch as a threat to the inheritance is to saddle you with a debt you'll never repay, then erase you from this world entirely."
Sakiko stared at the document as if she could burn a hole through it.
Sixteen point eight billion.
A number heavy enough to crush anyone.
Yet she didn't panic the way Seiji expected. She didn't collapse into tears.
Instead, she took a deep breath, set the document gently back on the desk, and even smoothed out the creases.
"Debt recovery has procedures," she said, lifting her head to meet his gaze. "From filing to trial, then judgment and enforcement, it takes at least half a year, if not longer. A lot can happen in six months."
"And this is corporate debt. My father bears responsibility, but tracing it to personal assets, let alone implicating me, isn't that easy under the law."
She paused, then gave a faint, confident smile. "You don't need to scare me with half-true information. I may not understand business, but that doesn't mean I lack basic common sense."
It was an instinctive reaction.
Deep down, she still refused to believe things were truly beyond saving.
"Common sense?"
Seiji chuckled as if he'd heard something hilarious. He stood, walked around the desk, and stopped behind her.
Her body tensed instantly.
He didn't touch her. He only leaned down slightly, hands braced on the back of her chair, and whispered near her ear.
"Sakiko, your common sense only applies to civilized society."
"In the primitive accumulation of capital, or during a family purge, the law has always been nothing more than a toy for the victors."
"Do you really think Yuichi Toyokawa is stupid enough to follow a long legal process with you?"
"Look at the last page."
Almost reflexively, she flipped to the end.
Attached was a debt transfer agreement.
Part of the group's debt had been sold at a low price to several obscure asset management companies.
"You've probably never heard of these companies," Seiji continued. "But I can tell you this: they're very efficient. They don't need court summons or lawyer letters. They have more direct, more effective ways to collect what they're owed."
"For example… paying a visit."
Her hand trembled, the document nearly slipping from her grasp.
She had never dealt with that side of the world, but words like "loan sharks" and "violent collection" were everywhere in the news and on TV dramas.
If those people really went after her father…
Just imagining it sent a chill through her bones.
"Even… even so," she said, turning to look at him up close, frowning. "There's still the main family. Grandpa is still around."
As long as her grandfather lived, the Toyokawa Family wouldn't fall into chaos.
"Is that so?"
Seiji straightened, the distant calm returning to his face. He didn't argue or press further. Instead, he turned back to the desk and took out a new document from a drawer.
"Since you're so confident, how about we make a deal?"
He placed the new agreement beside the debt file.
She glanced at it.
The title read Special Care Service Agreement. In the attachments, however, was a list of terms so explicit they made her heart race—things that were humiliating, degrading, and utterly unacceptable to her.
"You—"
Her eyes filled with shock and indignation.
"Don't rush to refuse," Seiji interrupted calmly, as if discussing tonight's dinner. "You're free not to sign. I won't force you."
"But in exchange, you handle this yourself."
He pointed at the debt file. "Go verify it. Check on your father. See whether those collection companies really follow the law as strictly as you think. Or go see if your grandfather can still protect you the way he used to."
"If you can resolve it, great. This agreement becomes void, and I'll never mention it again."
He paused, his gaze sharpening as it pierced straight into her heart. "But if you can't…"
"You're welcome to sign."
"I don't believe you," she said through clenched teeth.
She stood, her movements stiff but resolute. She didn't touch the shameful agreement, only stared at him, defiance burning in her eyes.
"I don't believe Grandpa would abandon me. I don't believe Yuichi would dare go this far."
With that, she turned sharply and strode toward the door.
She didn't look back. The door was yanked open and slammed shut behind her.
Bang.
The study fell silent once more.
Not long after, Koles returned. "Boss, you're really letting her handle this alone? Those lending company people don't know restraint. What if—"
"Send two people to follow her from a distance," Seiji said calmly. "As long as she's not beaten to death or taken away, don't interfere."
…
…
By the time Sakiko left the mansion, the sky had grown dark and heavy with clouds.
She didn't call a taxi. She walked for a while, only letting out a long breath once the hillside mansion vanished from sight.
In the study, she'd been firm and righteous, even mocking Seiji's dire warnings in her mind.
But the moment she closed her eyes, the words "sixteen point eight billion" and "asset preservation" leapt from the document like a nightmare, wrapping tightly around her nerves.
"It's fine… it has to be fake."
She kept repeating it, trying to calm herself.
"Father may be useless, but he's still Grandpa's son. Grandpa won't let him be driven to death. Seiji Fujiwara is just exaggerating things to force me to give in."
To prove herself right, she pulled out her phone and called her father.
Beep—beep—beep—
Only a dull busy tone answered.
No response.
Her heart sank slightly.
"He's probably asleep. Or drunk."
She took a deep breath, forcing down the unease, flagged a taxi, and gave an address she loathed but couldn't avoid—an old, cheap rental in Adachi Ward.
That was where she and her father had been living since being driven out of the Toyokawa Family.
…
The taxi wound through narrow streets as the surroundings grew increasingly run-down.
It stopped in front of a gray, aging apartment building.
She paid and got out.
The moment she stepped inside, a foul mix of mold, cigarette smoke, and cheap cleaner hit her face. She held her breath instinctively and climbed the slightly sticky stairs.
Her father lived on the third floor.
Just as she reached the turn near the second floor, a strange noise came from above.
It wasn't shouting or screams.
It was a dull sound, like something heavy striking flesh.
Thud.
"Ugh…"
A man's muffled groan followed.
Her steps froze.
That was her father's voice.
Weak, but unmistakable. She had heard his drunken muttering too many times over the past months to be wrong.
Her heart leapt into her throat.
Instinct screamed at her to rush up, but reason doused it like cold water. She gripped the stair railing tightly, not making a sound.
Slowly, she leaned out and looked toward the third-floor corridor through the gaps in the railing.
What she saw made her pupils shrink.
There were no hulking thugs with tattoos.
Standing outside her apartment door were two men in suits, clean-cut and refined.
They even wore proper ID badges and carried folders, looking like ordinary salesmen or bank employees.
Their actions, however, were anything but.
One of them, broader and stronger, was gripping her father's hair, smashing his face against the dust-covered wall.
Her father's face was swollen, blood at the corner of his mouth. His glasses were gone. He sagged like a heap of mud, barely able to whimper.
"Kiyotsugu Toyokawa, you're making this difficult for us," the man holding his hair said with a cold snort. "We're just here to carry out a debt confirmation procedure. Sign this Supplementary Asset Mortgage Agreement, stamp it, and we'll make some technical adjustments to the interest. Isn't that a good deal?"
"I won't sign…"
Kiyotsugu shook his head desperately, his voice hoarse. "That's my retirement money… you can't…"
Thud.
The man slammed his head into the wall again.
The force was perfectly controlled—enough to cause pain and dizziness, but not enough to knock him out or leave obvious fatal injuries.
In the stairwell, Sakiko clamped a hand over her mouth, not daring to make a sound.
"Retirement money?"
The man laughed. "According to documents provided by Mr. Yuichi Toyokawa, that money was originally misappropriated from the company. Returning it now is only fair and legal."
"You should be grateful," the other man added mockingly. "If real underground lenders were collecting this debt, you'd be losing more than just money by now."
"There are plenty of buyers for human organs in Japan, you know."
"No—!!!"
At the word organs, the limp Kiyotsugu suddenly struggled as if jolted back to life. "I'll sign! I'll sign!!!"
"That's more like it."
The broad man released him and even brushed the dust from his clothes. "If you'd cooperated earlier, we could've saved everyone the trouble."
…