Decades of Reverence : Commemorating 50 Years of Keika-in Group

 Chapter 17

Attire Evaluation Complete.

Smile Assessed.

Mental Readiness Confirmed.

Lightly patting my cheeks, I stepped out of the dressing room.

This is the Tokyo branch of Keika Hotel in Shinjuku.

Formerly known as the Far Eastern Hotel, the Keika-in Group now owns large hotels in Tokyo Shinjuku, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Sendai, Kobe, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Hakodate, and Sapporo, as well as resorts in Hokkaido, Karuizawa, and Okinawa, after separating nonperforming loans.

Additionally, with the elimination of nonperforming loans, a new small-scale resort, has been developing for Kurokawa Onsen and Yufuin Onsen.

On the top floor of that hotel is the party venue.

The reason ofcourse was the Keika Group's 50th anniversary party.

By the way, the costume is the uniform of a newly enrolled elementary school. Because it's a formal attire, you know.

"Miss Keika-in Runa, princess of the Dukedom of Keika-in, is entering."

As I enter through the opened door, applause and curious gazes capture me.

Attentively, I pick up on the sound of whispered conversations.

(Runa-sama, huh? I heard she received the name Keika-in because there are no direct female descendents in the family?)

[T/N- in Nobility there are used to be many branches , and most of them do not retain the name of main family, like Runa's maid although part of Keika-in family tree , she use Katsura surname, and as Runa father took her mother's surname Romanove after marriage, many didn't thought RUNA WOULD be a KEIKA-IN Rather than Romanove]

(If they knew about the history of the Far Eastern Group, they wouldn't welcome her, right?)

(You think so too? It's because those connected to the Far Eastern Group are pushing her as the new face!)

(Why though? From a lineage standpoint, she's the legitimate heir of the Far Eastern Group, but didn't they wanted to crush the Far Eastern Group itself because it was turning into nonperforming loans?)

(Her butler seems to be quite capable. The fact that he successfully merged Far Eastern Bank and Hokkaido Development Bank is significant.)

(Oh, you mean the reverse merger that was called home run* of a a turnaround? Thanks to that, Far Eastern Bank became Keika-in Bank, right? And wasn't it the same for the reverse merger for Sankai Securities and Ichiyama Securities to become Keika-in Securities? And Far Eastern Bank managed to survive without being collapsed thanks to the BOJ's special financing.)

[T/N- Baseball reference]

(That's significant too, isn't it? Handling the nonperforming loans that were accumulated. Far Eastern Land Development underwent corporate reorganization, and Far Eastern Hotel, after a management overhaul, transferred all properties classified as nonperforming loans to a Resolution and Collection Corporation. The resorts that Hokkaido Development Bank owns that seem usable will be managed by the newly made Keika-in Hotel, which was the Far Eastern Hotel but has taken on the name Keika. This party is therefore a debut for Keika-in Bank and Keika-in Hotel, which are now work as the core of the group. Naturally, the Far Eastern faction will put effort into this and will support Runa-sama.)

(There's no way that's not interests for the main branch and the other families.)

I can clearly understand everything, can't I? I don't think it's appropriate to let a cheery elementary school student hear this conversation, but I guess they assumes she doesn't understand these complicated stuffs. The Keika-in family , partly due to the prodigality habits of my grandfather, has about seven direct families recognized as descendants of the grandfather, Keika-in Hikomaro, excluding my father's family, and including other families heirs, there are about twenty people eligible people for grandfathers property. If they were to divide the assets in such a situation, it would lead to the dissolution of the conglomerate or a family feud. So, like many conglomerates, they set up a property management institute and received money in the form of dividends from there. One reason I stand out is that I don't receive money from that property management institute. So, where does my money come from? Needless to say, it's from the Far Eastern Bank or rather the Moonlight Fund. As I think about such things, I make a ladylike and precocious greeting to the protagonist standing in the center of the party.

"It's been a while. Uncle Kyomaro."

"Congratulations on your enrollment, Runa. You've become quite the young lady."

The head of the Keika-in family, Duke Keika-in Kyomaro . He's around fifty years old, and at first glance, he looks like a gentle uncle. He wears a suit tailored by a first-class tailor, and the glass he's holding contains Macallan. However, this seemingly gentle uncle has led the Keika-in Group, including Keika Pharmaceutical, which has sales of over 100 billion yen. There's no way he's a straightforward person.

"I heard you appeared at Ichijou-san's place the other day and made all sorts of unreasonable demands."

"I'm sorry, Uncle. I just really wanted grape juice. Both Tachibana and Ichijou-san were talking about difficult things." 

Publicly, it's known that the butler Tachibana is the one moving. I guess that's the interpretation of the sudden for Tachibana's actions. I wonder what they'll think when they find out the truth.

"Ha ha ha. That must have been boring for him to just tend you. I'd like him to work on a bigger stage, though."

While forcing a smile, underneath my clothes, I'm dripping with cold sweat. Well, with such accomplishments, it's only natural to want to put him somewhere more useful.

"Uncle, I refuse I don't like it I hate it. Tachibana is my butler, I will have you know!"

I will not let take Tachibana away with the pretense of a child who doesn't want their toy taken away. It doesn't seem like that will overturn the decision, but I hope they'll show some consideration.

"I understand, Runa. I don't intend for your butler to resign. But it seems Ichijou, we also values him. I plan to arrange a seat for him at the appropriate place in Keika-in Bank. Of course, I intend to increase the number of attendants for your sake."

How should I interpret this?

After all, from the main family's perspective, I'm just a pawn in a political marriage. There's probably an aspect of sending people from the main family to eliminate those who flock to me for my disproportionate assets, as well as an aspect of sending genuinely useful individuals to the core of the conglomerate. After all, the Keika-in Group, being relatively small as a conglomerate, lacks personnel.

However, as an elementary school student, I can only respond in this manner:

"Oh, please don't make Tachibana work too much. And I demand delicious sweets!"

"Understood, milady."

The one who presented the sweets to me who have been pouting nonstop was my brother, Kaika-in Nakamura. He's the eldest son of Kaika-in Kyomaro, and he graduated from university this spring and now works at Keika-in Pharmaceuticals. He's a gentle young man with a serene smile, and his intellectual glasses enhance that smile. His jet-black hair is so fresh that it makes my blonde hair stand out*, and today he's wearing a brown suit.

[T/N- she is blushing hard as she seeing a beautiful face upclose ]

Although he was someone I admired even in the game, his figure disappeared subtly at the time of my downfall. Given what I know about the inner workings of the Keika-in Group, I can't help but think that the my downfall in the game was related to the purge of the Far Eastern faction.

"Delicious! These sweets are amazing."

"They're called waffles, Runa. Now that the greetings are over, shall we eat over here?"

"Yes, brother."

I know.

Or rather, I'm the one who brought these sweets from Belgium. They're supposed to be the flagship sweets of the Keika-in Hotel, but for now, I'll let myself be lured by the waffles with a childish smile. So, led by my brother Nakamaro, I move to the side, and the next guest enters.

"Announcing the arrival of Teia Zaibatsu's venerable leader, Teia Shuichi-sama, and his esteemed son, Teia Eiichi-sama."

I see.

Is this where I meet him?

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Authors Note

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Reverse merger:

This allows the avoidance of merger losses and the deduction of carried-over loss credits.

Karuizawa

The Nagano Olympics were in '98.

Kurokawa Onsen:

The boom started in '98.

Waffles:

The boom started in '97.

Macallan:

It's expensive, As I hesitated about which vintage to mention, so I didn't mention any vintage.

~~~Ending~~~