Night City, Arasaka Tower.
Six years ago, this world-class skyscraper had been rebuilt on top of nuclear ruins.
Now it stood facing Militech Tower, as if reviving the shadow of the past.
Bringing up that history in front of Kai, Little Michiko clearly seemed to have some deeper purpose.
Her tone remained calm and unreadable as she spoke to him openly.
"I once considered returning to the Kyoto estate. After all, that is where the true core of the Arasaka family lies."
"But the Arasaka family today can no longer hide away in one corner, dreaming of the return of past glory."
"We have to face our enemies more directly. Truly face them, and acknowledge them."
Listening to Little Michiko's "candor," Kai found it increasingly strange.
From the meaning behind her words, she had clearly already begun to see herself as the hope for restoring the family.
There also seemed to be a trace of dissatisfaction toward Hanako and Yorinobu, both of whom remained in Kyoto.
Kai could not fully judge how much of what Michiko was saying was true, but one thing he was sure of: in terms of raw power, she was no match for the other members of the Arasaka family.
Trying to use her role as mediator with Militech to secure a higher place within the family was obviously not a good strategy.
The conflict between Arasaka and Militech was irreconcilable. Their core interests were determined by their main businesses in military industry, weapons, and security.
The market pie could no longer expand.
The only way either side could continue growing was by devouring the other's share.
In a competitive world like this, whoever stood still would end up being trampled underfoot.
Once the two megacorps openly clashed again, Michiko's role and position would vanish.
And beyond that, the Arasaka family still had cards left to play. It was nowhere near as fragile as Michiko made it sound.
Kai remained silent.
By now he had already guessed most of what Little Michiko was after, so he simply waited for her one-woman performance to continue.
Michiko did not seem to mind his silence. She kept speaking as if talking to herself.
"After the nuclear blast, reality proved there were no winners."
"Even though we found evidence that Militech had secretly supported the nuclear terrorist attack..."
"Things did not develop the way we expected. Instead of triggering a wave of opposition against Militech, it created an even greater opportunity for them."
"The rulers of the NUSA used the impact of the nuclear incident to force Militech into nationalization."
"After that fusion of state and corporate power, Militech ceased to be merely an arms corporation. It became a true military-industrial complex."
"Power, resources, money, technology, and armed force were concentrated together, integrated into the monstrous entity it is today."
"That giant emerged from the ashes of the Fourth Corporate War and has now grown into the most terrifying single-pole power on the planet."
"Arasaka is not ready to go to war with it again."
By the time she got that far, Kai began to suspect that Little Michiko might already know what had happened in last night's deal.
The Arasaka elite team had killed Caitlin, then reached an agreement with Meredith Stout from Militech to cover up the truth behind the deaths of the Arasaka Special Ops personnel.
If that truth ever came out, the entire Arasaka Tower would erupt.
Not only would all of Michiko's years of restraint, mediation, and maneuvering with Militech be rendered meaningless, but it would also hand Yorinobu the perfect excuse to personally come to Night City and launch a direct offensive against Militech.
Even if a full-scale war did not break out, smaller conflicts would definitely become more frequent and more violent.
And if, by some chance, Kai got slapped with the charge of secretly colluding with a Militech Special Ops executive, then getting fired would be the least of his problems.
With that in mind, Kai decided he still needed to steady Michiko for now.
It was not time to slip away yet.
Since Michiko was probing him, he could also make a statement of his own and probe her in return.
"I work in Counterintel, so at least when it comes to intelligence, I have a decent grasp of the company's internal situation."
"Militech's intelligence penetration into our side has been intensifying the entire time."
"The Maelstrom attack on the Special Ops teams this time definitely couldn't have happened without Militech support behind it."
"That alone is enough to show that Militech holds the upper hand in intelligence channels, and may even have already infiltrated certain departments. That's something we can't ignore."
Michiko frowned slightly. She naturally already knew all this. Someone had already raised the Militech angle during the board meeting.
Kai did not mind using this chance to rub a little more salt into Susan's wounds, then smoothly shifted the topic.
"Six years ago, for Arasaka to return to Night City and withstand the Metal Wars launched by Militech, the company even brought an aircraft carrier in to hold the line."
"That was the price paid to regain the chance for Arasaka to return to Night City. Right now our foothold still isn't stable. If we openly clash with Militech, it will only force Arasaka into a more passive position in the Americas."
"I assume that's not something Arasaka wants to see."
When Kai saw that Michiko still had no reaction, he knew she was waiting for him to go further.
She was not going to commit until she saw the rabbit.
So he continued.
"To be frank, after today's board meeting, I have a much clearer picture."
"A lot of the board members are extremely dissatisfied with Militech. They believe it was backing Maelstrom from behind the scenes and are demanding retaliation."
"The calls for retaliation are too strong. If you forcefully suppress them, it'll only make things even harder to handle."
"So some form of countermeasure is necessary. It has to achieve the goal of retaliation, but without creating an open and direct conflict."
"That's the only way to satisfy both sides and keep the overall balance."
Kai did not say it outright, but the hardest part of the whole matter was Michiko herself.
If the retaliation went too far and angered Militech, they would pull in their own backers, the elite politicians of the NUSA, and pressure Michiko Arasaka directly.
And many Militech executives were themselves already part of the NUSA's upper political structure.
At that point, Michiko would be squeezed from both sides and pushed into an extremely awkward position.
Back then, to preserve her American citizenship, Michiko had no doubt visited and lobbied an untold number of politicians and executives.
It had taken immense effort for her to secure the position she held today.
If she disappointed Saburo in Kyoto, she would lose everything.
At last, Michiko relented.
She seemed satisfied with Kai's answer, and the aperture of her artificial eye rotated as it sent out a command.
On the empty silver floor, one square panel sank down, then rose again, lifting a chair up from below and setting it in front of the table.
"Sit."
After saying that, Michiko walked back to her desk and took her seat.
Only after standing there for a while did Kai finally move closer and sit in the chair opposite her.
Michiko tapped the surface of the table lightly with her fingertip. Immediately, various suspended image files appeared in the air, all of them intelligence on Militech, including recent developments and portions of future plans.
"I will give you advanced access to this intelligence on Militech."
"Once your appointment order is officially generated today, you need to quickly find a suitable point of entry and produce a satisfactory result. The details are up to you."
"You will report only to me on this matter. Once the task is complete, it will go before the board for review."
"Mr. Kai, dual deputy director... do you understand?"
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[+500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[Thank You For Your Support!]