Tokyo, 1991: Starting as a bank clerk.

What will it be?

I'm really looking forward to it.

……

Friday, April 19th.

9:30 a.m., underground parking lot of Mitsubishi Bank Osaka branch.

Kiryu Yaya stood at the exit, watching a dark blue Toyota slowly drive out of the parking space and stop in front of him.

The car window rolled down, revealing Chihaya Yuri's unsmiling face.

"boarding."

Kiryu Yaya opened the passenger door, got in, placed his briefcase on his lap, and fastened his seatbelt.

In Japanese workplaces, it's not uncommon for managers to personally drive their subordinates to visit clients, but it's definitely not a regular occurrence.

Typically, either a subordinate drives, or they go separately.

Having the department head as the driver, with a newcomer sitting in the passenger seat, is somewhat against the rules if word gets out.

Unfortunately, Kiryu Yaya doesn't have a driver's license.

The car drove out of the underground parking lot and merged into the morning rush hour traffic of Midosuji.

In late April in Osaka, the cherry blossoms along Midosuji have all fallen, leaving only dark brown branches and a few scattered, late-blooming petals.

The new leaves of the ginkgo tree are just right, tender and green, almost transparent in the morning light.

"Kiryu-kun."

Chihaya Yuri's voice rang out in the quiet carriage.

"Yes."

"You did a great job with yesterday's data."

Kiryu Yaya turned his head slightly.

Chihaya Yuri was still looking ahead:

"The section chief showed your cash flow chart to the branch manager."

"Huh? When did this happen?"

Kiryu Yaya was stunned for a moment, not expecting his path to fame to be so rapid.

"At yesterday's mid-level management meeting, the branch manager said that after the rotation period ends, he will personally review your evaluation report."

Kiryu Yaya understood the weight of those words.

Every year, the Osaka branch hires about twenty new employees, but only a very few are remembered by the branch manager.

Even fewer branches specifically request to see the evaluation report.

"Thank you for your guidance, Section Chief Chihaya."

Kiryu Yaya didn't say much.

In the Japanese workplace, excessive humility and honest admission are equally important.

People like Chihaya Yuri don't need you to be grateful and pledge your loyalty; they just need you to remember what she teaches, apply it, and achieve results.

"You don't need to thank me."

Chihaya Yuri tapped her fingers lightly on the steering wheel.

"If the suspicious point you discovered yesterday is true, it's equivalent to saving the financing review department 30 million euros in bad debt. The department head will remember this, and the branch manager will remember it too."

She paused.

"So today is the key day."

Kiryu Yaya nodded.

The discrepancies in the documents only indicate that there are problems, but what can truly confirm this loan fraud is the result of the on-site investigation.

Chapter 14 The Manager's Obsession

April 19th, Higashi-Osaka.

The car traveled eastward from Midosuji.

The view outside the window resembled a fading old Showa-era photograph.

The roadside signs were faded, and behind the metal fence were piles of waste bins half a person high. Occasionally, a truck would rumble over the narrow road, and the dust it kicked up would linger in the sunlight for a long time.

In Osaka in 1991, the chill of the bursting bubble had already seeped from the electronic screens of the stock exchange into these most humble town workshops.

Just one glance at the half-open roller shutters on the street, and one glance at the windows with "Closed for the Day" signs, is enough to understand what "the end of the Heisei boom" means.

The gates of Fuji Metal Industries soon came into view.

Kenichiro Nomura stood at the door, his hair neatly combed, but the collar of his shirt was a little wrinkled, and his suit looked less presentable and more strained than yesterday.

As soon as he saw the two get out of the car, he quickly walked up to them and said repeatedly:

"Chihaya-kun, Kiryu-kun, welcome, welcome."

Without exchanging pleasantries, Chihaya Yuri's high heels tapped crisply on the factory's concrete floor.

"Let's look at the production line first, then the warehouse. Is that alright?"

Nomura's smile froze for half a second before quickly returning to normal.

"Of course, of course."

The factory was filled with the roar of machines, the smell of cutting oil mixed with metal dust, and an indescribable burnt smell, as if some equipment had overheated but had not been stopped for maintenance.

CNC lathes, grinding machines, and stamping machines are lined up in rows. Workers wearing blue overalls are staring down at gauges and drawings. Their movements are skilled, but they can't hide their fatigue.

A young worker was loading material onto the stamping machine, but his wrist was clearly not strong enough, and he almost let the steel plate slip. An older worker saw this, reached out to help him, and didn't say anything.

Kiryu Yaya glanced at it and already knew what was going on.

It's not that the factory is completely without work, but there's a lot of work and very little pay, which is why the workers look exhausted.

The factory still has orders, but profits are being squeezed little by little.

If production was expanded blindly in the previous two years, and then the bubble burst, a cash flow crisis would be almost inevitable.

Chihaya Yuri stopped in front of a CNC lathe, her gaze sweeping from the control panel to the pile of chips on the floor, and asked casually:

What is the monthly output?

"If things go smoothly, we can make 2,500 pieces a month."

What about inventory turnover?

"This... will take about forty days."

Forty days isn't a good time in the precision machining industry, but it's not too bad either.

Chihaya Yuri didn't reply, but simply nodded, then suddenly turned around.

"Go check the warehouse."

Kenichiro Nomura paused noticeably.

"Warehouse? Of course, no problem."

But that moment of hesitation was noticed by Chihaya Yuri and Kiryu Yaya.

As soon as the warehouse door opened, a damp, rusty smell wafted out.

Bundles of steel were piled on the shelves, with labels neatly affixed, and at first glance, there seemed to be no problem.

Kiryu Yaya only glanced at it twice before his brows furrowed slightly.

wrong.

The books say "special steel bars," "high-tensile steel plates," and "raw materials that can be put into production immediately," but what I see in front of me...

Some of the materials were of significantly lower quality than advertised, while others had damp and soft outer packaging, and some bundles of steel even had red rust on their edges.

In the steel market of 1991, the "present value" of raw materials was not calculated based on the purchase price on the invoice, but rather on their actual disposable value.

Ordinary carbon steel already has a 70% discount, and if special-specification alloy steel is not sold, the discount is even more severe; once it rusts, deforms, or is mixed with other batches, the liquidation price is almost only the value of scrap.

more critical.

He saw several places labeled "materials supplied by customers".

Customer-supplied materials: materials provided by the customer.

This material is not a factory asset, cannot be included in inventory, and cannot be used as valid collateral in loan reviews.

Kiryu Yaya's eyes turned cold.

"President Nomura."

He picked up a label next to a bundle of materials, frowned, and asked: