Maki looked at the pile of reports on the desk.
She did not speak up to argue.
Her gaze fell on the cover of the report at the very top.
It read Hasegawa Building Materials Co., Ltd. — Details of Bankruptcy Liquidation and Bad Debt Write-offs.
Seeing that familiar company name, Maki's fingertips tightened slightly on the edge of the paper.
So this company really did go bankrupt after all.
She flipped open the write-off sheet.
Rows of unrecoverable capital data matched the debt risk calculation model she had built three months ago at the quarterly asset valuation meeting.
That was the real reason she had been sent to this basement.
Back then, the branch had worked with an outside building materials supplier for years, and that supplier was Hasegawa Building Materials Co., Ltd.
The company was on the edge of bankruptcy.
To keep the traditional Japanese business practice of companies supporting each other, the president and several senior executives all agreed to use branch funds to give the supplier an interest-free bridge loan.
They believed that companies should stick together and help each other through hard times.
Maki remembered how she had ignored the nervous signals from the people around her and projected a debt risk calculation model onto the screen in the conference room.
Using cash flow data that was accurate to the single digits, she proved that the building materials supplier was already a zombie company.
Its core technology was outdated, its management was bloated, and its debt ratio had passed the point of recovery.
Once that bridge loan was sent, the money would never come back.
It might even drag down the branch's own cash flow.
At the time, she had suggested the choice that made the most sense for capital: refuse the rescue and let the other company go bankrupt.
Then, as a creditor, they could ask the bankruptcy court to freeze the company's property and take over its high-quality processing plants and warehouse land at a low price.
She recalled the president's extremely grim expression at that moment.
To those elders who were used to social courtesy and going along with the group, her plan to take advantage of an ally's crisis sounded crazy and unacceptable.
The president ended the meeting immediately.
After the meeting, the president called her to his office and harshly scolded her in private for losing the basic morality and team spirit of a Japanese company.
Then, using the excuse that female relatives from minor branches should not be too involved in operations, he took away all her auditing authority and sent her to this third-floor basement archives room.
Her thoughts returned to the present.
Maki reached out and opened the top report in the stack in front of her.
A flash of stubbornness and strong dislike showed in her eyes.
She hated this traditional corporate culture.
It ignored the facts in the data for the sake of saving face and so-called human kindness, and it was willing to go down with failing companies.
The movement of capital should follow efficiency, not these fake displays of group loyalty.
Just like the Eldest Miss.
These corrupt people are truly awful, she thought.
To damage the Eldest Miss's property like this is simply unforgivable.
But the work still had to be done.
Maki picked up her pen and began to look through the stack of purchase reimbursement forms that the Section Chief had just thrown down.
Less than ten minutes later, Maki's finger stopped.
She pulled out several consecutively numbered rebar purchase invoices and laid them on the desk.
Her eyes checked the invoice dates and the unit prices twice.
Maki's brow furrowed tightly.
These invoices were issued in May of this year.
The purchased items were high-strength threaded steel.
After the Ministry of Finance released its total volume regulation, the construction industry had many work stoppages.
Steel prices on the spot market had already crashed in May.
Yet the unit prices on these invoices were still at the peak quotes from the end of last year.
The price difference was as high as thirty percent.
If it were just one order, it could be explained as the purchasing department being slow to react to market changes or a contract that was locked in earlier.
But in this seemingly random pile of reports, Maki found twelve similar overpriced purchase orders in a row.
The supplier headers all pointed to a shell building materials trading company that had just been registered in Chiba Prefecture.
This clearly could not be explained by normal business costs.
Someone was using fake contracts to openly move tens of millions of yen in price differences into private accounts.
Even worse, this batch of high-priced, low-quality rebar had all been used in a core commercial office building project that was being built in Minato Ward.
This would directly weaken the load-bearing walls of the entire project.
Once safety and quality issues were found during inspection, the Saionji Real Estate brand would take a huge hit.
Maki gripped those documents, stood up, and pushed her chair back.
She had to make one last attempt.
The third floor of the branch office.
Maki pushed open the door to the Finance Section Chief's office without knocking.
Section Chief Takagi was sitting behind his desk reading a newspaper.
He looked up, and his brow immediately furrowed.
Maki walked to the desk and slammed the invoices down in front of Takagi.
She pointed her index finger at the unit price column.
"Section Chief Takagi," she said.
"The average market price for threaded steel in May was 42,000 yen per ton."
"Yet the settlement price for these purchase orders is as high as 55,000 yen."
"Twelve invoices in a row, and the suppliers all point to the same shell company in Chiba Prefecture."
Maki stared into Takagi's eyes as she spoke quickly.
"Where did this price difference of 60 million yen go?"
"And where are the physical quality inspection reports for this batch of steel?"
"I understand that some friction costs are necessary."
"But that is only true when it does not harm the company's interests."
"Your current behavior will create structural safety hazards in the Minato Ward office building project."
"That will cause massive damage to the company's reputation."
After Takagi saw the invoices clearly, his face instantly darkened.
He stood up suddenly and swept his broad palm across the desk with force.
Several invoices flew off and landed roughly on the carpet with a crash.
Takagi walked around the desk to stand in front of Maki.
He looked down at her, and his quiet voice was filled with open malice.
"Saionji Maki," he said.
"You don't seem to understand your own position yet."
Takagi raised a finger and poked the air twice in front of Maki's shoulder.
"You're just an outsider from a minor branch who lost her auditing authority long ago."
"What right do you have to come here and tell me what to do?"
He gave a cold laugh.
"Headquarters has ordered an audit, and the branch is under financial pressure."
"Every department needs some flexibility to get through this winter."
"The president has already signed off on these accounts."
Takagi lowered his voice and gave a final warning.
"If you dare to dig through these ugly drafts again, the family will push you out even further."
"When that happens, you won't even be able to keep your desk in that basement."
"An abandoned warehouse in Hokkaido will be your home for the rest of your life."
Maki stood still.
She looked at the Section Chief's face that was twisted with anger, and then she looked at the documents scattered on the wool carpet.
"I understand," she said quietly.
She slowly crouched down.
One by one, she picked up the invoices from the carpet and straightened them.
Facing this corrupt workplace that ran on personal connections, the actuarial skills and logical thinking she was proud of felt useless.
A deep sense of helplessness and frustration came over her.
Holding the documents, she turned and walked out of the Section Chief's office.
She walked down the chilly stairs step by step, leaving the bright second floor and returning to the musty third-floor basement.
Maki pushed open the door to the archives room.
It was still dim inside.
She stopped in her tracks, and her heart felt lost and helpless.
At a time like this, what would the Eldest Miss do, she wondered.
Would she use outside power to bring in the Special Investigation Department to seal the building?
Or would she use smarter financial methods to remove these corrupt people from the game?
She didn't know, because she was Saionji Maki, not Saionji Satsuki.
Maki slowly raised her head and looked toward her narrow desk.
Her breath caught in an instant.
A figure wearing a fitted, deep black long dress was standing quietly in front of her workstation.
That figure was holding the scratch paper she had just used to work out the cross-industry strategy.
In the faint light of the incandescent lamp, the figure was quietly reading the parabolas and calculation formulas on it.
Although she had only seen her from a distance a few times at the family's annual ceremonies in the past, Maki would never mistake that silhouette.
That was the symbol of the highest authority in the entire Saionji Group.
Maki's brain went blank for a moment.
She never expected that the supreme leader of the family would appear without warning in the basement of this forgotten building.
Hearing the noise at the door, the figure turned around.
It was her.
It really was Saionji Satsuki.
Those clear, black-and-white eyes looked calmly at the stunned Maki.
Satsuki lightly shook the scratch paper in her hand.
The paper made a crisp rustling sound.
"The logic is very solid," Satsuki said.
"The way you connected the inflation transmission mechanism with the rental default rate of commercial real estate is just right."
"You even considered the market vacuum after the Ministry of Finance issued its total volume regulation."
Satsuki looked at Maki and did not hold back her praise for the calculations on the paper.
"With only a few incomplete old reports and scattered rumors, you were able to completely recreate the joint strategy between S-Food and the Real Estate Department."
"Your numerical intuition is very sharp."
She placed the scratch paper carefully back on the desk.
"Saionji Maki," she said.
"Twenty-four years old."
"Graduated from the Faculty of Economics at Kyoto University."
"Earned dual qualifications as a Certified Public Accountant and an Actuary while still in school."
"You should have been working in the core auditing department."
"Yet, because you used data at a budget meeting to expose executives who tried to use company funds to prop up zombie companies, you lost your auditing authority and were sent to this archives room."
Maki's fingers trembled slightly as she held the invoices.
The Eldest Miss has been watching me, she thought.
Am I also someone she notices?
Maki tried to say something, but the words caught in her throat.
Satsuki looked quietly at the stunned Maki.
She looked at this girl from a minor branch who was held down within the family, yet had such strong data skills and pure financial logic.
The corners of Satsuki's mouth lifted slightly into a gentle, faint smile.
"Saionji Maki," she said.
"Are you willing to work for me?"