The smile on Satsuki's face did not disappear.
However, the atmosphere in the room changed slightly.
"For me?"
She looked at Takahashi with interest.
"Yes."
Takahashi placed the second document bag on the desktop.
"Ever since the first research meeting ended, I have been thinking about a question."
"Why is it that you can use the same public data as me, yet see so much more than I do?"
Takahashi untied the document bag and took out the materials inside.
At the very top was a chronological timeline.
From 1985 to 1991.
Almost all important decisions of the Saionji Group that could be confirmed from public channels were marked on it.
Satsuki glanced down.
Takahashi continued:
"At first, I thought the answer might come from more complete internal information within the group, or perhaps Saionji had a better financial, industrial, and policy team than I did."
"Both of these reasons hold true."
"Yet they cannot explain everything."
He turned to the first page.
"In 1985, many export companies were expanding their production capacity for the US, but the Saionji Family gave up the expansion of the Osaka factory, and subsequently gained enough profit from exchange rate changes to alter the family's financial situation."
"This was the first turning point where Saionji began to change."
"After that came Tokyo land, retail, and overseas technology investments."
"Before Black Monday broke out, the core members of The Club had already begun to shrink their risk exposures. Later, as Japanese land prices rose all the way, Saionji took advantage of the market still having ample buyers to gradually dispose of non-core heavy assets and withdraw the funds, while preserving transportation nodes, storage facilities, communication lines, and those odd parcels of land that were not valued at the time."
"Before the implementation of the consumption tax, the group had already finished adjusting its pricing system and settlement methods. When total volume regulation took effect and banks began to tighten credit, the cash, employment system, storage capacity, and overseas credit in Saionji's hands could precisely provide financing, orders, and opportunities to continue operations for those companies whose loans were being pulled."
Takahashi's speaking speed gradually increased.
He had repeatedly organised these contents in his mind many times, and now he had finally found the only person who could understand them.
"Looking at any single decision by itself, it could be explained as luck, information, or excellent management."
"Yet these decisions spanned foreign exchange, real estate, retail, agriculture, information technology, politics, and the labour market."
"It is difficult for different departments to repeatedly make judgments with the same boundaries within a few years."
"Exiting the most crowded trades in advance, retaining cash and channels, and entering again after the market lost buyers; every time an asset was acquired, procurement, logistics, customer flow, or settlement would be arranged simultaneously, allowing a single investment to repeatedly generate returns among different companies."
Takahashi turned to the middle page.
Pinned there were a few photocopied photos from old newspapers and financial magazines.
In some photos, Satsuki stood beside Shuichi; others only captured her back as she passed through a venue or boarded a vehicle. Next to them were records of her age at the time, her public itinerary, and the subsequent decisions made by the Saionji Group.
"I have investigated Mr. Shuichi's public remarks, and also checked the resumes of Managing Director Endo, President Yanai, and other heads."
"They are all very excellent, and they did indeed complete these plans."
"But at the most critical turning points, there are always traces of you."
Takahashi raised his head.
"Sometimes it is a visit, sometimes it is a photo, and sometimes it is just a certain executive using an expression in an interview that had never appeared before."
"I tried attributing these decisions to different people, but the conclusion still could not hold. The same method of judgment appeared far too frequently."
Satsuki did not speak.
She began to leaf through that document.
Takahashi watched her flip past Saionji's early industry map, and then turn to the parts about SIS, overseas investment, and the group's capital flows.
Speaking up to this point, the restraint he had originally prepared gradually loosened, and his tone became somewhat excited.
"For a person to continuously get things right a few times in a certain field can be explained as talent and experience."
"Yet the things the Saionji Group accomplished over the past six years, if placed in any economics textbook, would only be treated as hindsight summaries."
"Exchange rates, stock market crashes, real estate bubbles, consumption taxes, total volume regulation, retail supply chains, industrial restructuring..."
"Before these things happened, no one could be certain of the outcome."
Takahashi's finger pressed down on the timeline.
"Yet you completed your preparations in advance almost every single time."
"Even the way you obtained profits was close to the best possible outcome achievable under the conditions at the time."
There was a hint of hard-to-suppress excitement in his voice.
"This already exceeds my previous understanding of genius."
"Many of those things were fundamentally impossible for anyone to accomplish even in theory."
"Yet they actually happened."
Satsuki's page-turning motion suddenly stopped.
She saw an incomplete overseas relationship chart.
Marked on the chart were several investment institutions registered in Cayman, New York, and Europe, as well as the tech company financings, securities transactions, and asset acquisitions they had participated in, except that the account balances and bank transactions were still completely blank.
Several dashed lines eventually converged toward a circle labelled "S.A."
"Where did you find this part?"
This was the first time Satsuki took the initiative to ask about the contents of the materials.
Takahashi's breathing slowly stabilised.
"Public filings of US companies, aircraft registrations, the law firms used by several investment institutions, and contact numbers in older documents that were not updated in time."
"One of the materials came from the commercial information room of the US Embassy. The public contact address of that Cayman company is the same as the accounting firm that S.A. Investment cooperated with in its early days."
"This cannot prove that it belongs to Saionji."
Takahashi immediately added.
"Nor can I confirm the scale of the funds."
"However, the domestically disclosed cash flow of the Saionji Group cannot simultaneously support overseas tech investments, domestic acquisitions, and the large-scale project investments of the past year."
"Therefore, I believe Saionji should still have a very large pool of funds overseas."
Satsuki looked at the chart and asked after a moment:
"Are there any other copies of this material?"
"No."
"Has anyone else seen it?"
"No, either."
Takahashi answered quickly.
"Speculations without evidence are not suitable to take to the club for discussion, and I only prepared this single copy before coming."
From the moment he took out the second document, Satsuki's expression had been very calm.
She stared expressionlessly at Takahashi for a long time, until cold sweat broke out on Takahashi's forehead, before she lowered her head again.
She continued flipping backward.
On the last page of the document, two lines of text were written.
[Hoping to enter before decisions are formed.]
[Hoping to verify how far one can see.]
Satsuki paused on those two lines of text for a moment and closed the materials.
Takahashi's originally excited emotions gradually subsided as the office grew quiet again.
He suddenly realised just how much nearly fanatical talk he had just uttered.
In front of a young girl who had just reached adulthood, he used dozens of pages of data to review the past six years of her life, and told her that those actions had exceeded his understanding of genius.
This kind of performance was very likely unsettling.
It might even make people doubt whether his motive for approaching Saionji was normal.
But it was pointless to try to remedy it now.
The words had already been spoken, and trying to cover them up with a few feigned calm explanations would only make him appear even weaker.
He sat on the sofa, waiting for Satsuki's judgment.
On television, Isomura's victory speech had ended, and the program began to analyse the structure of the Metropolitan Assembly that the new governor was about to face. The host mentioned that the governor could directly appoint certain special positions, but needed to win assembly support on budgets, ordinances, and important personnel matters.
Time ticked away minute by minute.
Satsuki's fingers pressed gently on that overseas relationship chart, as if pondering a question that momentarily had no ready answer.
For the first time, Takahashi felt that this office was a bit too quiet.
Just as he began to doubt whether he had truly acted too aggressively, Satsuki finally raised her head.
"Senior Takahashi?"
"Yes."
"Do you know how to lead a team?"
Takahashi was stunned.
"I have been in charge of thematic investigations in the Economics Research Department, but formal team management—"
Satsuki had already picked up a sticky note from the desktop.
"Never mind."
She uncapped her pen and lowered her head to write down a few names.
"Even if you do not know how, you will have to learn."
Takahashi watched her write line by line.
The sticky note was not large, but in the end, it had six people written on it.
Satsuki capped her pen and handed the sticky note to him.
"From now on, these people report to you."
Takahashi took the sticky note.
His gaze fell on the first name and stopped.
Saionji Maki.
This name had appeared in the public registration of the Group General Affairs Office and several acquisition documents. When Takahashi was investigating Saionji's capital structure, he had repeatedly reviewed internal audit notices signed by her.
The second name was Gondo.
Executive Director of Saionji Construction, responsible for special facilities and large-scale projects. Even earlier, he was also the president of Daito Construction.
Further down were Sasaki from the group's legal department, and Saionji Masato in the SIS system.
For the remaining two people, Takahashi could not find corresponding data for the time being, but their current departments were marked after their surnames.
Financial Settlement.
Metropolis Politics and Public Affairs.
The sticky note was very light.
But Takahashi's fingers holding it trembled slightly and uncontrollably.
"These people?"
He raised his head.
"Me?"
Satsuki did not seem to think there was anything surprising about this matter.
"Oh, do not get me wrong, this does not mean that a superior-subordinate relationship exists between you."
She put her pen away again.
"They will not leave their original posts, but they have an obligation to cooperate with your work."
"In the special mission projects I hand over to you, you can directly arrange their work. When you need other departments to cooperate, you provide the reasons, and Chizuru will handle the permissions for you."
Takahashi lowered his head and looked through the list again.
He had imagined many outcomes.
Interning in the group's investigation department, working under some executive, or getting a promise of priority employment after graduation.
The best outcome he had imagined was getting an internship quota in a core department of the group, being allowed to audit one or two business meetings, or securing an informal offer to enter the General Planning Office after graduation—any of which would be enough to make anyone in the Economics Research Department envious.
No matter what, he had never expected that Satsuki would let a junior student from the Faculty of Economics directly mobilise a batch of personnel sufficient to single-handedly complete the restructuring of a large company.
"However, will they really listen to the commands of a university junior?"
"The people on the paper will receive my orders."
The smile returned to Satsuki's face.
"If anyone refuses to listen, tell me their name."
Takahashi nodded silently. He could not think of anyone who would be willing to let their name return to Satsuki's desk a second time in such a manner.
"One-year probationary period."
Satsuki stood up from her chair.
She walked over to the television, picked up the remote control, and enlarged Isomura Hisanori's image again.
"On the group roster, your identity will be written as Special Commissioned Officer of the Head of Household Office."
"This team reports directly to me."
Satsuki thought for a moment.
"Consider it... a private staff."
Takahashi stood up immediately as well.
His brain was still processing the position he had just obtained, but his body had already subconsciously entered the state of accepting a mission.
"What is my first job?"
Satsuki raised her hand and pointed to Isomura on the screen.
"Investigate him."
She pointed nonchalantly at the newly inaugurated Governor of Tokyo, and then ordered a college student to investigate him.
"I need to know his administrative capacity and execution capability."
"Which departments he can directly command on his first day in office, which matters must go through the Metropolitan Assembly, which bureaucrats will execute them, and who will use procedures to stall."
"How much time each of the thirty-day settlements, accounts receivable financing, and resumption of work arrangements promised during the campaign will take to become official systems."
She turned her head to look at Takahashi.
"Also, tell me under what circumstances he will go against Saionji."
Takahashi looked at the screen.
Isomura was still wearing that red flower symbolising victory, accepting a remote interview from a TV host. He looked serious when talking about responsibility, and seemed to have already begun adapting to his identity as the governor-elect of Tokyo.
"When should it be submitted?"
Takahashi asked.
"Ten days from now, give me your first judgment."
"What about data permissions?"
"Those people in your hands will open the doors you need."
"For parts that exceed their permissions, state the reasons and send them to me."
Takahashi nodded.
"Understood."
Until this moment, he vaguely sensed just how strange the whole matter was.
An undergraduate junior who had yet to graduate, holding a newly written research report, was going to command a group of famous elites featured in financial magazines, and then investigate the Governor of Tokyo whose election had been confirmed just minutes ago.
Could this possibly be taken for granted in her eyes?
"Alright, Senior Takahashi."
Takahashi raised his head.
He saw that familiar smile once again.
Just like a few days ago in the school auditorium, gentle and natural, like a college freshman who had just met a senior.
"Welcome to Saionji."