Hold It Like Your Life Depends On It
I was right in the middle of the funeral tsuya when my grandfather, Taira Danzo, summoned me to his study. What could he want? Did he have more business with me already?
“This is the only legacy your father Saburo left behind.”
What Taira Danzo held out to me were several sheets of paper. I skimmed them and realized they were documents transferring stocks to me. Earlier he’d said there was nothing left, but apparently there was still a little something.
“One percent of Taira Bio and one percent of Taira Robotics. Our group’s ownership structure is complicated, but those two companies control most of the subsidiaries. In short, you now hold a one-percent stake in each.”
Whoa… How much was that actually worth? One percent sounded small, but if I sold it, couldn’t I live off the proceeds for the rest of my life?
“Didn’t I just tell you Saburo left nothing behind? These shares might as well not exist. If you want to stay alive, you must keep them. You are not to cash them out. You are not to sell them to any of your uncles. Consider them your lifeline and grip them with everything you have. Burn that into your memory.”
Right. This was a mega-corporation world without blood or tears. A world where becoming chairman meant you’d kill your own siblings, children, or parents without hesitation. If the old man was telling the truth, these shares were the only thing keeping me safe. If I sold my stake to one uncle, the other would never let me live. Even splitting them would invite accusations about why I hadn’t sold everything to one side. The only option was to do exactly as Grandfather said and hold them.
“By the way, Grandfather, how much of Taira Bio and Robotics do you need to control the entire Taira Group?”
“Gal!”
Taira Danzo suddenly roared at my question. Gal! I’d only ever seen that in internet chimp memes. This was the first time I’d heard anyone actually say it in real life.
“With your abilities, it is impossible. These shares are merely a mercy so that my bloodline does not die out. Do your job properly and stay in your lane. Understood?”
Of course the old man was right. I was just a kid who had graduated high school with nothing to his name. Asking that question probably came off as arrogant.
“I was only curious. Besides, shouldn’t I know how useful my one percent actually is?”
“Hahaha! Only curious, he says… It’s simple. Do you know how much ownership you need to move the company however you wish, even if everyone else opposes you?”
“…Fifty percent plus one share.”
“Correct. Your one percent is small, but if you hold it long enough, the day will come when it proves useful.”
The old man gave my shoulder a light smack, then walked out. When I returned to the tsuya room, Aris FitzGerald was staring at me with wide eyes, as if she’d seen me in a whole new light.
“You’re not scared of Grandfather?”
“Why would I be? He’s my grandfather.”
“He got angry earlier. I could hear that ‘Gal!’ all the way over here. Still, it’s impressive that he can shout like that at his age.”
“Well… it was a bit of a misunderstanding.”
“What? I’m curious now. Can’t you tell me what the misunderstanding was?”
This cousin of mine was adorable. She was only twenty-one—one year older than me—but her behavior was incredibly cute. The way she got scared of Grandfather and those little gestures that kept slipping out… they stimulated something distinctly male. Was a cool-beauty Caucasian model even allowed to be this cute?
“I’ll tell you next time we eat together—if you’re still curious by then.”
“Ugh, really!”
When I promised to tell her later, Aris FitzGerald put both hands on her hips, puffed out her right cheek, and glared at me. It was ridiculously charming.
The tsuya ended. The monk finished chanting the sutras, the mourners offered their final prayers with joined hands, and the farewell ceremony concluded. Taira Saburo’s body was loaded into an ultra-luxury limousine hearse and taken to the crematorium. Naturally, those of us with blood ties followed all the way there.
In Korea, many people cried when the coffin slid into the flames. Here, though, almost no one shed tears. Maybe it was because this was a cold-blooded chaebol family, or maybe it was a Japanese thing. The only person weeping was Taira Yukiko, Saburo’s widow. She looked truly pitiful.
Her husband was dead, and the woman who had given birth to his child was openly attending his funeral. After the cremation, Saburo’s ashes were brought back in an urn and placed on the family altar. With that, the funeral was over.
Japanese custom required visits on the seventh day, the thirty-fifth day, and the forty-ninth day, but for now the main ceremony had ended. Mother and I rode back home in the car driven by the men in suits who had brought us. Before we left, I waved at Aris FitzGerald, who was smiling brightly and waving back. I held my hand to my ear in a phone gesture to say I’d contact her. She nodded twice with an enthusiastic “Mm-hm!” It was unbearably cute.
“Mom, what were you talking about with my uncles?”
“They asked if I was inheriting anything and whether I would sell it to them.”
I caught the suited driver’s eyes in the rear-view mirror for a second, but I didn’t mention my own shares and kept questioning her.
“Are you inheriting anything, Mom? Technically you’re not even his legal wife.”
“That’s right. So I told them I had nothing to receive and therefore nothing to give.”
“I see. Still, I got a pretty good job, right?”
I showed her my employee ID from the Taira Human Resources Development Center. Mom let out a small laugh and smacked me on the back a few times.
“You got in because of your own merit, didn’t you? You little rascal!”
After that we rode home in silence. There wasn’t much left to say, and I was exhausted. At some point I fell asleep without realizing it.
Taira Danzo had been sitting with his eyes closed in the back seat. When he spoke, Fumimoto Takayuki—the chief secretary who also served as his driver—shook his head as if to say no.
“I doubt he does. Young Master Ryuta has only just graduated high school… It may be rude to say, but he’s still wet behind the ears. His grades weren’t good enough to get into university, either.”
“University doesn’t matter. What matters is what you’re born with. Taira Kiyotaka, the founder of our group, only finished elementary school before he built the Taira empire.”
Taira Danzo sounded as if he were rebuking Fumimoto, yet he knew the truth. Taira Kiyotaka had seized the chaos after Japan’s defeat in World War II and built his conglomerate from nothing. In the current era, a university education carried real weight.
“No matter how important innate talent may be, early education is still crucial. Haven’t all of Young Master Ryuta’s cousins and uncles been studying imperial governance since childhood?”
“Hm…”
The car fell into a brief silence after Fumimoto’s critical assessment.
“I wonder if that boy will even survive corporate life.”
“There are only two possibilities, aren’t there? He’ll either flounder in confusion or, convinced of his own bloodline, act like a complete fool.”
“Then that will be the end of him.”
“Still, isn’t life as Taira Ryuta better than the life Hata Ryuta was living?”
At Fumimoto’s question, Taira Danzo answered in a low voice, as if wondering himself.
“Even so, I don’t think it will end so simply. Perhaps it’s because I haven’t seen a member of the Taira clan who doesn’t fear me in a very long time…”
“Chairman, those who know nothing feel no fear. The rest of the Taira clan fears you precisely because they know you.”
Fumimoto spoke with absolute certainty. If even he was afraid, the chairman’s close relatives had to be even more terrified. Taira Danzo had just lost a son, yet not a single tear had fallen. In fact, over the years many children, wives, and relatives had died while he expanded the company, and he had never shown tears or regret. All he ever offered was merciless revenge. The fact that his vengeance was aimed not at those who killed his family but at anyone who touched the Taira Group revealed the true depth of his ruthlessness.
“Enough about my grandson… Have you identified who ordered Saburo’s death?”
“A large sum was transferred into the dump-truck driver’s account. Around five hundred million yen…”
“And the origin of that money has been erased, I assume?”
“Yes.”
The chairman fell silent. Fumimoto’s nape prickled. Killing intent was rolling off the old man in waves. Cold sweat broke out on Fumimoto’s back without him realizing it.
“Then it’s either the Minamoto or someone inside the Taira family.”
“Pardon? The Taira, sir?”
In his tension he had answered like an idiot. The chairman wasn’t only suspecting their rival, the Minamoto—he was even turning his suspicion on his own Taira Group! Once the chairman began to doubt, a bloody wind always swept through the company. He was clearly planning to use his son’s death as an excuse to purge any discontented factions. How could anyone not fear him? His own family feared Taira Danzo most of all.
“In this country right now, who has the power to completely erase bank transfer records?”
“Our Taira Group and the Minamoto Group.”
“Then whoever is capable of it is the suspect. Stop wasting time on pointless places and dig deeply into both the Minamoto and the Taira, Fumimoto.”
“Yes, Chairman!”
Fumimoto answered firmly. No matter how many bloody purges swept the company, he would gladly obey Taira Danzo’s orders. In the end, the chairman’s judgment had always proven correct.