Tokyo, 1991: Starting as a bank clerk.

Chapter 16 Excellent Bankers

After those words were spoken, the carriage remained silent for a long time.

It's like something is too heavy and needs time to slowly sink to where it should be.

The sound of the engine, the friction of tires rolling over the road, the sound of wind leaking in through the cracks in the car windows...

These things are still there, but they've all become very, very far away.

Chihaya Yuri turned her head to look at his profile.

Kiryu Yaya's expression didn't change much, not even his eyes showed any obvious fluctuation. But it was precisely because of this that one could feel the loneliness that had seeped into his bones.

Chihaya Yuri wondered how many times a person would have to chew over something until they couldn't even taste it anymore, before they could speak about it with such calmness.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but found herself unable to find any suitable words.

This is a rare moment in her career.

She has dealt with countless situations throughout her career.

Bad debts, collection deadlock, customer complaints, business owner breakdown, subordinate's mistakes, section chief's harsh criticism...

She can almost always find the most accurate words in the shortest amount of time to explain things clearly, smooth out relationships, and stabilize the situation.

Those words are like pre-categorized tools, neatly stacked in my mind, and I can reach out and grab whichever one I need.

But this time, when she reached in, she found nothing but emptiness.

That's too little comfort.

To say it's too light would be disrespectful to the weight he's accumulated over the years.

Sympathy is too cheap, like taking a coin out of your wallet and dropping it into someone's open wound.

So she could only grip the steering wheel, her knuckles tightening and loosening on the leather cover, remaining silent.

Kiryu Yaya continued:

"My mother passed away five days later."

Sometimes he can't tell either.

“She already had a heart condition. After her father passed away, she felt completely drained. During the days of the funeral, she barely ate or slept. Relatives came and went, neighbors spoke in hushed tones, and the sound of monks chanting sutras echoed in the house. I was no longer able to cry much at that time; I just mechanically did what I was supposed to do: sign documents, bow, and see guests off.”

"On the morning after the funeral, I opened her bedroom door, and she was no longer breathing."

Outside the car window, a truck carrying steel rumbled past, its body shaking the ground slightly.

The vibration travels from the tires to the frame, from the seat to the person's spine.

Chihaya Yuri's fingers, which were gripping the steering wheel, began to feel slightly numb.

"There was a piece of paper next to her pillow."

There was only one line of text on it.

"『ごめんね.€€€€って.』"

I'm sorry. Keep it up!

The air inside the carriage felt as if it had been gripped and then released.

That last message was too short.

It was so short it didn't seem like a deathbed instruction; it was more like someone using their last strength to scribble a couple of lines on a piece of paper before lying back on their pillow before running out of energy.

It's like leaving a seventeen-year-old child all alone in this world; all you need is an apology and a word of encouragement.

Kiryu Yaya lowered his head and looked at his palm.

It was like many years ago, when that piece of paper, which he had clenched so tightly, fell back into his hand.

"I held that piece of paper and sat on the floor in front of her bed for a long time. The window wasn't closed properly, and it was snowing outside. The wind blew the snow in and it landed on my knees. That day, I couldn't understand anything; I only had one thought in my mind."

He looked up and gazed again at the willow tree outside the window. The willow branches drooped over the water, swaying gently in the wind.

"why."

"Why did that reviewer agree to add collateral, and why did he withdraw the loan a month later? Why did the supplier press for payment at that time? Why did my mother follow him around? Why was the winter when I was seventeen so cold?"

This time, Chihaya Yuri finally understood.

She suddenly understood why he squatted down in Fuji Metals' warehouse and why he said those things to a company president who was kneeling on the ground trying to scam a loan.

He knew how heavy these things were, so he didn't want anyone else to carry them.

The carriage was so quiet that only the sound of the wind outside the window could be heard.

After a long while, Kiryu Yaya finally spoke again.

This time, there was a very faint, almost imperceptible sense of relief in his voice.

"Chihaya, the additional collateral that drove my father to his death back then and this loan from Fuji Metals today are essentially the same thing."

"By robbing Peter to pay Paul, all the holes are mortgaging on the next loan until the whole thing collapses."

"So what I said just now wasn't because I'm more noble than anyone else, nor because I have more sympathy for President Nomura."

He turned to look at her.

Her profile was reflected in the car window, against the backdrop of the gray sky over Higashi-Osaka and the willow branches hanging down from the embankment.

He looked at her, and also at her reflection in the glass.

His eyes were calm, as calm as a stone worn smooth by time.

"I just don't want another seventeen-year-old to open the door in winter and find the bathwater red."

"That's all."

Chihaya Yuri looked at him and remained silent for a long time.

The car drove onto a section of road near the river.

On the riverbank, an elderly man on a bicycle slowly passed by, his bicycle bell ringing once before being quickly blown away by the wind.

"...ごめんね."

("Feel sorry……")

She finally spoke.

The Japanese was spoken very softly, as if afraid of disturbing something.

It wasn't a superior's polite words to a subordinate, nor a woman's comforting words to a man. Rather, it was more like someone who had never learned how to comfort others but genuinely felt apologetic, awkwardly offering a word that was closest to their true feelings.

Kiryu Yaya was taken aback for a moment.

This was the first time he had ever heard Section Chief Chihaya speak in such a gentle tone.

Chihaya Yuri pursed her lips and gripped the steering wheel tightly again.

"Although I am not the staff member of the review department back then, I am not qualified to apologize on behalf of anyone."

She looked ahead, her tone still restrained:

"But even now, when I hear these things, I still feel... very sorry."

She paused, as if she were fighting against an emotion she wasn't good at.

"Perhaps the bank did not do anything wrong in terms of its system."

"Perhaps from the perspective of debt preservation, the withdrawal of loans and the use of collateral in those years had their reasons."

"But if a system ultimately forces people into the bathtub, then at least it means that something has gone wrong."

Kiryu Yaya didn't say anything, he just listened quietly.

This was the first time he had heard such an almost emotional judgment from Chihaya Yuri.

The silence lasted for a long time.

Then, as if she had finally made a decision, Chihaya Yuri's voice returned to its usual crisp and clear tone.

"Kiryu-kun."

"Yes."

"You'll stay in the financing review department from now on."

Kiryu Yaya turned his head and looked at her.

Her profile was backlit, with a very thin layer of shimmering edge on its contours.

Chihaya Yuri did not avoid his gaze and continued speaking.

“I will suggest to the section chief that he keep you on the rotation list.”

Upon hearing this, Kiryu Yaya's pupils widened slightly.

At Japanese banks, new employees typically rotate through different departments for two to three years, spending time in each of them—business, planning, finance, and logistics.

Finally, the Human Resources Department will allocate positions based on evaluations and available vacancies.

Being specifically named and kept on by a department is not unprecedented.

But that usually happens near the end of the job rotation, or to a very small number of newcomers with special backgrounds and outstanding abilities.