『MV:INEBCEBTH』Arc-1 Ch-9
09
Chapter
The Young Lady Takes Flight 3
2026
—March 1997, from a panelist’s comment on the news program Sunday Project—
While Hokkaido Development Bank was counting down to collapse, my assets continued to surge like a roaring tide. I had already unwound positions and locked in profits once the exchange rate broke past 120 yen to the dollar, yet even after cleaning up Far East Bank’s non-performing loans, I still held the same amount in Japanese yen. And beyond that, I hadn’t even touched the Moonlight Fund’s U.S. dollar assets yet.
“Buying a securities company is unavoidable,” I said flatly. “But I refuse to take on their bad loans wholesale.”
I gave instructions to Tachibana and Ichijou.
By this point, I had resolved to acquire a securities company—but precisely because of that, I needed to establish strict conditions. Our target: Sankai Securities, a domestic, quasi-major firm drowning in non-performing loans. The market was circling it like vultures, yet the Ministry of Finance was desperately scrambling for a rescue plan.
"Retire every executive on the counterpart’s side.
Those who engaged in misconduct must face proper consequences. Separate all non-performing loans—including the so-called flying ones—and hand them over to the Resolution and Collection Corporation.
Receive Bank of Japan special financing for mergers or acquisitions to stabilize the financial crisis. Convey to the Ministry of Finance that we’ll buy Sankai Securities under these conditions.”
Though small in scale, the Ministry of Finance couldn’t afford to abandon Sankai Securities without losing face. Since 1992, Sankai Securities had been in the red. From 1994 onward, the Ministry’s Securities Bureau had taken the lead in a convoy-style defense and reconstruction plan—but the firm continued posting losses, with no improvement in management whatsoever.
I predicted that the Securities Bureau would swallow these terms to preserve its pride—and I was right. The series of non-performing loan processing guidelines that would later be called the “Keika-in Rule” were accepted by the Ministry precisely because of the precedent set by rescuing Sankai Securities. The Ministry of Finance’s Securities Bureau formally approved the rule in June.
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‘Far Eastern Bank Acquires Sankai Securities!
Far Eastern Bank, headquartered in Sakata City, Yamagata Prefecture, has announced the acquisition of the quasi-major securities firm Sankai Securities, based in Tokyo.
The purchase price is estimated at 40 billion yen, and all executives on Sankai’s side will take responsibility and resign. Sankai Securities, burdened with massive non-performing loans, had its subsidiary Sankai Finance file for corporate rehabilitation law prior to this acquisition.
All other bad loans will be sold to the Resolution and Collection Corporation at market value, with losses recorded. Far Eastern Bank plans to impose shareholder responsibility through capital reduction and will cover the negative net worth with new investment. Even so, the low capital adequacy ratio remains a concern and will be supplemented with Bank of Japan special financing aimed at financial stabilization.’
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By rescuing Sankai Securities before it hit a dead end, I effectively removed the trigger for the chain-reaction bankruptcies of Sankai Securities, Hokkaido Development Bank, and Ichiyama Securities. If the chain doesn’t link, each bomb can be defused individually.
That’s what I believed at the time.
“Please… save us, young lady.”
It was July— the day after reports broke that merger talks between Hokkaido Development Bank and a major Hokkaido-based bank had fallen through. The man now kneeling in a perfect dogeza before me was Katsura Naoyuki—the son of our maid, Katsura Naomi-san. Naomi-san herself stood beside me, flustered and unsure how to react.
“You suddenly ask me for help, but I can’t just say yes. At least explain what’s happening.”
His face—still in his thirties—was gaunt and haggard. Dark circles framed his eyes; it was clear he hadn’t slept properly in days. He must have been utterly exhausted, both body and soul.
“You’ve probably seen the news about Hokkaido Development Bank, where I work… Our bank is suffering severe deposit outflows. Could you please deposit some of your funds into Hokkaido Development Bank?”
Ever since that spring—when the bank had been labeled effectively bankrupt on national television—it had been hemorrhaging deposits. Desperate, its employees had mobilized every personal connection they could, running themselves ragged in search of funds. And now, this man—who had once prided himself on not relying on connections—was forced to bow his head and beg through them.
That sight alone captured the cruel absurdity of the era.
“Young lady…”
Naomi-san’s eyes brimmed with tears as she looked between her master—me—and her son, prostrated before me. Watching him plead so desperately, to the point of making his own mother cry, stirred something deep within me—something tied to memories of my past life.
I remembered the long, endless recession—
how the weak, like me, were crushed beneath the weight of debt, stripped of dignity and human warmth, and left to die alone. And when I recalled that memory, the first emotion that welled up was anger. Not anger at the society that had discarded me— but at the era that had given birth to such a world, where effort went unrewarded.
I am a villainess.
At least, that’s the role I was supposed to play in this life. A life where the “villainess” walks her path knowingly, accepting her fate. Eventually, I—the villainess—would lose to the emerging “protagonist” and meet my downfall.
That, in its own way, was a beautiful story—a fitting tragedy.
If I could lose gloriously and spectacularly, I was ready to accept that role. But this—this scene before me—wasn’t part of that story. The countless people swallowed by the tides of the era—my past self among them—were standing right before my eyes.
I never accepted the villainess role to witness something like this. I’ll lose only to the protagonist. Not to something uncontrollable like the era itself.
“…Call Tachibana and Ichijou. For now—100 million. Is that enough?”
"Thank you! Young lady—thank you!!”
The Katsura parent and child clutched my hands, crying tears of gratitude. Right now, I could save them. No—because I knew what wave was coming, I could earn even more.
I could save Hokkaido development Bank.
I could save Ichiyama Securities.
…Maybe even the entire Japanese economy—
the past us. I sighed softly and shook my head.
Even without doing any of this, as a “villainess,” I could have lived in luxury until my ruin. I had already built enough foundation for that.
But if I could risk it all once more…
perhaps I could save the Japanese economy itself.
“Young lady. You called?”
About an hour after sending the Katsura family home, Ichijou arrived with Tachibana.
I spoke calmly—words that left both men speechless, though they had likely heard whispers from Naomi-san already.
“We’re acquiring Hokkaido Development Bank.”
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Author’s Note
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This section was made possible thanks to reading Unraveling the “War Criminals” Who Sank Takugin. The hopelessness that follows from here is simply… indescribable.
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Footnotes
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Points of Reference
Sanyo Securities bankruptcy: November 3, 1997
Sankai Securities acquisition (in this story): June 1997
Hokkaido Development Bank merger breakdown: formally in September
(though in reality, the talks had already fallen apart by July)
~~~End~~~