From when Yuhiro Inagawa started speaking until now, her sitting posture had not changed much at all.
Washio watched her lower her head to turn the page, and then glanced at the other side of the main table at the three men whose mere stomp could shake Tokyo's underworld, the corners of his mouth slowly tightening.
"Actually, inviting the three of you here today is precisely because of Mr. Ishii's matter."
Satsuki found the place she wanted to look at and raised her head, "Similar problems are likely to happen again in the future."
"Since this has already been laid out on the table, we might as well take advantage of everyone being here to clearly define the boundaries all at once, saving another Mr. Ishii from popping up in a few months and forcing us to schedule another meeting."
Watanabe Yoshinori put his teacup back on the saucer and leaned his body forward slightly.
"Since Miss Saionji has already thought it through, please go ahead and speak. We came here today originally hoping to discuss this matter clearly as well."
There was a smile on his face as he spoke, and his tone was so mild that it was hard to detect much of the flavor of a yakuza boss.
Washio's gaze lingered on his face for a moment.
It had been many years since he last saw Watanabe Yoshinori use such a tone to invite someone to continue speaking.
"Good."
Satsuki turned the document around and pushed it to a position convenient for all three of them to see.
"Then let us still start with Mr. Ishii."
Her finger stopped at the first item.
"From now on, regardless of whether the people under the three families invest in stocks, run companies, or borrow money from banks, as long as it enters the normal financial system, it must be handled according to normal financial rules."
"Securities account losses should be borne as much as they ought to be; loans that are due should be repaid as much as they ought to be; if collateral depreciates and additional guarantees are needed, it will also be handled according to the contract."
Watanabe Yoshinori looked down at the document, and Hoshino also picked up the copy in front of him.
Satsuki waited for them to look for a moment before continuing,
"If you want to talk to the bank about an extension, you can bring a lawyer. If you feel that the securities company has violated the agreement, you can also sue. How the contract is interpreted, how the interest is calculated, it does not matter if it goes all the way to court."
Speaking to this point, she raised her eyes, the trace of a smile still lingering at the corners of her lips.
"It is just that in the future, do not make people sit at the negotiating table and have to first think about how many people are standing outside the door."
Watanabe Yoshinori pressed the corner of the paper with his thumb and read those few lines again.
"Normal debt coordination is not included in this, right?"
"Of course not."
Satsuki raised her hand to tuck a strand of hair hanging by the side of her face behind her ear.
"You all have your own companies; it is impossible that just because you are sitting here today, tomorrow you will not even be able to collect a normal accounts receivable. Following the contract, whether finding a lawyer or finding a normal collection company, Saionji will not interfere."
Hoshino, who had been looking at the document all along, raised his head.
"What Miss Saionji cares about is people from the organization personally stepping into the fray?"
"Mm."
Satsuki nodded gently.
"Especially banks, securities, and insurance. Whenever problems arise in these places in the future, I hope the one sitting across from the other party is a lawyer, and what is laid out on the table is a contract."
"Your past 'collection methods' were a bit too 'uncivilized'."
Hoshino turned his face and whispered a few words with the cadre who followed behind him.
That cadre was initially whispering something into his ear; after listening, Hoshino only tapped twice on the first item of the document with his finger.
The other party glanced at Satsuki and quickly retreated to his original position.
Hoshino bowed slightly toward the main seat again.
"Sumiyoshi-kai can accept this."
Watanabe Yoshinori picked up quickly.
"Yamaguchi-gumi has no objections either. After going back, I will let those below know about the new rules."
Yuhiro Inagawa nodded again as well.
"Inagawa-kai will also execute according to this item."
Satsuki smiled and gave a "mm," lowering her head to make a mark on the edge of the document.
The first item passed just like that.
In less than ten minutes total.
Washio's palm pressed on his knee grew heavier and heavier, and his suit trousers had already been pressed into a patch of wrinkles by him.
He thought of Abe.
In the past, the group had chased down an old debt of nearly two hundred million yen for a construction company.
The other party admitted to owing money, but always claimed that their cash flow was tight.
Lawyer's letters were sent one after another, court procedures dragged on for several months, and not a single cent could be seen in the account.
Later, Abe went there with two young men.
The three men did not smash anything, nor did they touch anyone, they just sat at the company's front desk for an afternoon.
The next day they changed clothes and went to sit for another day.
On the third day, that money arrived in the account.
What would things like this count as in the future?
Find a normal collection company?
The corners of Washio's mouth twitched, as if wanting to smile, but he forced it back down.
Abe even needed others to read official documents sent by the court to him, and you want him to bring a lawyer in the future to argue contracts with debtors?
The document in Satsuki's hand had already been turned to the second page.
"And this part."
She lowered her eyes and scanned the few lines of words above.
"Shareholders' meetings, land acquisitions, and internal corporate disputes, these matters are a bit more complex than banks. Having done this for so many years, if we stop everything in a single sentence now, the subordinates will not have time to wrap things up."
Washio's originally tensed fingers relaxed a little.
"Therefore, I plan to leave three months."
Satsuki reached out and gently tapped the date marked in the upper right corner of the document.
"Matters that have already been accepted must be processed within three months. Those who have taken money must finish what they promised others; those halfway through discussions must also tie up the loose ends cleanly."
"After the end of September, sokaiya are prohibited from accepting new business, and the parts within corporate disputes and land acquisitions that require relying on organizational identity to pressure the other party will also be stopped together."
Washio's fingers, which had just relaxed, slowly curled up again.
Separated by several rows of people, he could not see the small print on that piece of paper clearly.
But those few words were heard very clearly.
Jiage, sokaiya, corporate disputes.
The thumb of his right hand was already pressing into his palm.
Washio-gumi also collected protection money from casinos and shops, but what truly supported more than eighty people was never the money handed over every month by a few small shops in Kabukicho.
When the bubble was at its craziest, by the end of a real estate project, as long as there were still a few households unwilling to move, the money developers were willing to give could reach tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of yen.
Although land prices had already begun to fall, Tokyo still had a large batch of projects stuck on land relations.
Needless to say about sokaiya.
Usually those companies could not wait to walk around them when they saw them; when the shareholders' meeting was about to open and someone was needed to hold down the making-trouble shareholders, the phone calls coming in were more polite than the last.
Now these things were only allowed to exist for the last three months.
Hoshino read the second page from beginning to end, his brows furrowing slightly.
"Miss Saionji, the people involved under this part will be numerous."
Washio raised his eyes.
Could Hoshino be the first person to resist this witch's tyranny?
Satsuki was gently tapping the edge of the document with her fountain pen, and upon hearing these words, she merely looked over toward Hoshino.
"I know, that is why I left three months."
Her tone even seemed very relaxed.
"Having already collected the money, one cannot just turn around and tell others not to do it. Leaving things halfway through discussion there would also look bad for the reputation of the three families. Three months to clean up the old ones, and no longer accepting new ones after the end of September, I think it should be enough."
After finishing, Satsuki tilted her head slightly.
"Does Mr. Hoshino feel that more time is needed?"
Hoshino looked at her, and then lowered his head to glance at the date on the document.
After a moment, he still withdrew his hand from the paper surface.
"Three months is enough."
Having said that, he bowed slightly toward Satsuki.
"Miss Saionji has already considered the wrap-up of the old business for us, Sumiyoshi-kai has no other requests. After going back, I will have those below report all the things currently being done, and end them before the end of September."
Washio lowered his eyelids, trying his best to conceal his disappointment.
Watanabe Yoshinori also closed that page of the document, the expression on his face even more relaxed than just now.
"What Miss Saionji says is right. The people who are still doing this kind of thing should have taken this opportunity to pull back anyway."
Yuhiro Inagawa nodded subsequently.
"Inagawa-kai is the same."
He even smiled at Satsuki.
"Ishii has just added trouble for everyone, we on our side should manage things even more strictly."
"Then that is it."
Satsuki made another mark next to the second item and casually turned to the next page.
The paper flipped past her fingertips, making a very soft sound.
Washio raised his eyes slightly and stared at Hoshino for quite a while.
Three months is enough.
That sentence from just now was still clogging his ears.
For the few people sitting at the very front, perhaps it really was enough.
Stopping the troublesome business, keeping the companies that could be kept, cutting off the people that should be cut off, and the matter would just pass.
But what about Abe?
What about Ono?
And what about those people who had followed him for more than ten or twenty years and knew nothing else besides these matters?
Washio's back molars clenched bit by bit, and his right hand hidden under the table had already clenched into a fist.
In the end, he only lowered his eyes and pressed that hand back onto his knee.
This table left no position for him to speak.
His function in coming tonight was just to sit in the back and listen clearly, and after Hoshino went back, to pass these words on behalf of the upper echelons to the people even further below.
Washio slowly rubbed his thumb.
That man hidden in the old office a few days ago appeared in his mind once again.
"They will sign."
The other party smiled very faintly at the time.
"You think they are still the same as you guys? You are no longer the same kind of people."
At that time, Washio asked with a cold face, "How are we not the same?"
"You guys eat by relying on the yakuza."
That person replied.
"They eat by relying on companies."
At that time, Washio almost stood up and left.
Now, sitting behind Hoshino and watching that agreement turn to the second page, he felt for the first time that those words stung a bit.
The third item discussed was organizational responsibility.
Satsuki placed her fountain pen next to the document and tapped her fingers lightly on the desktop.
"This clause, I want to handle it a bit more simply in the future."
She raised her eyes to look at Watanabe Yoshinori.
"How many groups are under Yamaguchi-gumi, Mr. Watanabe should be clearer about it than I am. Sumiyoshi-kai and Inagawa-kai are the same. If something really happens in the future, Saionji does not want to spend several more days investigating all the way from secondary groups to tertiary groups, and then still having to figure out whether it was someone who gave the order, or some individual who took on a matter outside on their own."
Watanabe Yoshinori leaned back in his seat listening, the smile on his face already fading a bit.
Hoshino flipped through the page in front of him and quickly raised his head.
"Miss Saionji's meaning is to directly look for the headquarters in the future?"
"Mm."
Satsuki nodded, her tone very natural.
"When a person hanging the name of Yamaguchi-gumi has a problem, I look for Mr. Watanabe. When someone under Sumiyoshi-kai has a problem, I look for Mr. Hoshino. As for Inagawa-kai, I will trouble Mr. Inagawa."
She said it nonchalantly, as if merely shortening a few steps of procedures that originally took a long detour.
But the other side of the main table fell silent for a moment.
Washio sat in the back row, his line of sight shifting from Watanabe Yoshinori's face to Hoshino's.
This clause was a bit different from the previous few items.
What was discussed earlier was which businesses could no longer be done in the future.
Now, Saionji began to ask who would take responsibility.
Yuhiro Inagawa spoke up first.
"If investigated and it really was done by the people below on their own?"
His tone remained polite, but his body had already straightened up slightly.
Satsuki picked up the teacup and took a sip.
"Then Mr. Inagawa will investigate it clearly himself."
She put the cup back and looked up at him.
"Who did the matter, why it was done, whether the headquarters knew beforehand, tell all of it to Saionji."
"Discipline the people who should be disciplined, handle the groups that should be handled well. As long as it can finally be confirmed that it has nothing to do with the headquarters, of course I will not implicate the entire Inagawa-kai just because someone below made a mistake."
After listening, Yuhiro Inagawa nodded gently.
Watanabe Yoshinori, however, let out a laugh and reached out to pick up his teacup.
"Sounds like the three of us will have to vouch for everyone below from now on."
There was a bit of joking in his tone, but his eyes still lingered on Satsuki.
Satsuki also smiled.
"Mr. Watanabe, this guarantee has been going on all along."
Watanabe Yoshinori's teacup, raised to his lips, paused for a moment.
Satsuki leaned back against the chair back, her expression still relaxed.
"A twenty-year-old young man on the street, why do others yield to him? Surely not really because he himself is that impressive."
She raised one hand and made a casual gesture.
"He says he is a person of Yamaguchi-gumi, but what others hear is actually not his name."
"What they hear is Mr. Watanabe."
Satsuki turned to Hoshino again.
"Sumiyoshi-kai is the same."
Finally she looked at Yuhiro Inagawa.
"Inagawa-kai is of course the same."
"Since usually you rely on the name of the entire organization to make others clear the way, when trouble really arises, you cannot suddenly say again that it was just some matter belonging to someone below."
Watanabe Yoshinori put the teacup back on the saucer and patted his palm lightly on his knee.
Satsuki regulating it this way was precisely to prevent them from casually pushing the responsibility onto a "temporary worker" when they were in trouble.
This was obviously a great restriction on the power of the yakuza, but they did not dare not agree.
This time Saionji not only represented more than half of Japan's financial circles to restrain them, but there was also the government's intention behind it.
All forces were beginning to intentionally restrict the development of the yakuza; this was the trend of the times.
"These words do block us off."
He smiled feigning ease and turned his head to look at Hoshino.
"Brother Hoshino, what about you?"
There was also a smile on Hoshino's face as he first bowed slightly toward Satsuki.
"Miss Saionji has already spoken to this point, for Sumiyoshi-kai to say anything like 'it was done by the people below themselves, unrelated to the headquarters' really sounds unreasonable."
He pushed the document forward a bit.
"This clause, Sumiyoshi-kai accepts."
Yuhiro Inagawa also followed up by saying:
"Inagawa-kai has no objections. Whenever something happens below in the future, the association will investigate it clearly first, and then send the results to Saionji."
Watanabe Yoshinori nodded.
"Yamaguchi-gumi is the same."
After listening, Satsuki picked up her fountain pen and gently drew a mark next to the third item.
"Then it is settled like this."
She quickly turned to the next page.
The expressions of the few people around the main table had relaxed again; Hoshino even whispered instructions to the cadre beside him, telling him to remember to pass this item separately to various groups below after going back.
Washio, however, kept staring at that page all along.
Just now someone in the room had also laughed along.
He did not laugh.
He raised his eyes to look at Hoshino in front.
Hoshino was whispering with Satsuki about the next item, and the expression on his face had already recovered that polite and relaxed look from just now.
Have these "presidents" ever considered the life and death of those brothers below?
Washio quickly retracted his line of sight again.
His fist was still pressed on his knee.
And never loosened.