Tokyo, 1991: Starting as a bank clerk.

Chihaya Yuri sat down and placed Nomura Kenichiro's folder in the center of the table, parallel to the edge of the table.

Then she turned to the first page and started reading from the beginning.

Kiryu Yaya returned to his seat.

He took out the business manual that he had read countless times from the drawer, turned to the second section of the third chapter, spread it out, and placed it on the table.

About fifteen minutes later.

He stood up and walked to Chihaya Yuri's seat.

"Chihaya, the section chief."

Chihaya Yuri raised her head.

"Regarding President Nomura's loan documents... could I take a look at them?"

Kiryu Yaya held up the business manual in his hand:

"I want to look at the liability recognition criteria in the manual and compare them with actual cases. That way, I can get started sooner when I encounter similar applications in the future."

His expression was serious, as was his tone.

That's exactly how a studious new employee on rotation should be.

Chihaya glanced at him for a few seconds.

Then she picked up Nomura's folder from the table and handed it to him.

"All the information is here. After you've reviewed it, tell me your thoughts."

Kiryu Yaya accepted the folder with both hands and bowed slightly.

"Thank you, Section Chief Chihaya."

He carried the folder back to his workstation, took out the documents one by one, and spread them out on the table.

Copies of Fuji Metal Industries' business license, financial statements for the past three years, tax payment certificates, transaction records of major customers, equipment supplier quotations, property registration certificates for the factory and its own residence, loan applications...

Each document was stamped with a bright red seal, neatly arranged and meticulously crafted.

Kiryu Yaya didn't rush to look for loopholes.

First, categorize all the documents. Place business licenses in the top left corner, financial statements in the top right corner, guarantee documents at the bottom, and application forms on the far right.

Then I took out a sheet of A4 white paper and a pencil from the drawer.

Start doing something.

He had done this countless times in his previous life working in a bank.

Hand-drawn chart of fund flow.

Fuji Metal Industries' annual revenue, raw material costs, labor costs, equipment depreciation, loan interest, taxes, and net profit.

He broke down every number in the financial statements, recombined them, and recalculated them.

He's been looking at these things for almost ten years.

He can tell at a glance which companies are truly profitable and which are just paper tigers.

Fuji Metals' financial report appears to have no problems at first glance.

Annual revenue of €240 million and net profit of €18 million. Gross profit margin of 20% and net profit margin of 7.5%.

This figure is not impressive for small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in precision machining.

But it's not shabby either.

It's enough to cover the interest from both Sumitomo and Mitsubishi.

Kiryu Yaya put down the financial statements and picked up Nomura Kenichiro's personal asset declaration form.

The factory land was valued at €60 million, and the residence was valued at €40 million.

He drew two boxes on another piece of paper, one with the word "factory" written on it and the other with the word "home".

Then he drew an arrow below each of the two boxes, labeling them "Mitsubishi Bank – Business Funding 5000 million" and "Sumitomo Bank – Business Funding 2500 million" and "Mitsubishi Bank – Housing Funding 1200 million".

Bank liabilities of €87 million.

The corresponding real estate collateral is €100 million.

The guarantee coverage rate exceeds 100%.

Based on this number alone, the loan is safe.

Even if Fuji Metals cannot repay the loan, the bank can still use the guarantee disposal process to reclaim the real estate.

But this coverage figure is fake.

Because Kenichiro Nomura still owes another number.

Thirty-one million.

Salad gold.

アイフル、プロミス€€€€

These consumer finance companies don't offer real estate as collateral. But that doesn't mean they don't pursue debts. Quite the opposite. Their methods are far dirtier than those of banks.

phone.

Door-to-door service.

They blocked the factory gate.

Go to your home in the East District.

If Nomura's funding chain were to completely break down one day, the first to rush in wouldn't be the banks, but these people.

They would snatch away every last piece of meat like stray dogs.

By the time the bank realizes it needs to go through the guarantee process, those properties may already be labeled with someone else's collateral.

Moreover

Why would the president of a legitimate company get involved with Sarakin?

Kiryu Yaya took a pencil and wrote a few lines on the blank space of the white paper.

First, the company has insufficient cash flow and needs to borrow money at high interest rates to keep it afloat.

Second, individuals have huge hidden expenditures, such as gambling, speculation, keeping mistresses, or other activities.

Third, he has other debts that other banks are unaware of, which he needs to repay with new loans.

Fourth, all of the above.

Regardless of which one.

Thirty million yen in usurious loans means that Kenichiro Nomura's cash flow is already riddled with holes.

He's in a hurry to get this 30 million yen equipment loan from Mitsubishi Bank, probably not to buy any equipment.

It was to fill that hole.

The price quote from the equipment supplier might also be fake.

"Finally found it."

He took a deep breath, stood up with the A4 paper full of annotations, and walked back to Chihaya Yuri's workstation.

"Chihaya, I've finished reviewing the documents."

Chihaya Yuri turned around and looked at him.

Kiryu Yaya did not hand the paper over directly.

He carefully considered his words.

“There’s a place that I feel… isn’t quite right.”

Chihaya Yuri's gaze sharpened slightly.

"explain."

Kiryu Yaya placed an A4 sheet of paper on her desk and pointed to the numbers he had circled.

"Fuji Metal Industries' turnover has been stable over the past three years, averaging around 240 million yen. But I looked at their raw material procurement records..."

He turned to one page of the financial statements and pointed to a company on the supplier list.

“This company, ‘Osaka Metal Materials Co., Ltd.’ has been Fuji Metal’s largest raw material supplier for the past three years, with annual purchases ranging from approximately 80 million to 100 million euros. But I noticed a detail: its purchases suddenly increased by 30 million euros in the fourth quarter of last year.”

Chihaya Yuri looked down at the number, her brows furrowing slightly.

Kiryu Yaya continued:

"Then I looked at Fuji Metal's sales figures for the fourth quarter of last year, and there was no significant increase compared to previous years. They purchased a large amount of raw materials, but the output of finished products did not increase. So where did all those raw materials go?"

"Moreover, Fuji Metals' loan amount this time is also thirty million euros..."

Such subtle clues would be impossible for the average person to find the problem without Kiryu Yaya working backwards from the data.

Chihaya Yuri picked up the A4 paper and read it from beginning to end.

The paper contains a hand-drawn chart of fund flows by Kiryu Yaya.