Tokyo, 1991: Starting as a bank clerk

Chapter 122 Eight Assets Co., Ltd. [First update, please vote!]

A semi-transparent interface appeared in his field of vision, and Kiryu Yaya's gaze landed precisely on those few lines of text:

[Eighth Asset Co., Ltd.'s beneficial interest: 380,000,000 yen]

Eight Assets Co., Ltd.

This is a completely independent legal entity.

The phrase "substantive beneficial interest" means that although Kiyomasa Ogaki is not a nominal shareholder of the company, he actually controls its operations and profits.

More importantly—

In order to operate legally in Japan, a company must register its business with the Ministry of Justice.

The information regarding the directors, major shareholders, registered address, and business scope is all publicly available.

If we can find out the details of this company, we may be able to discover the actual connection between Kiyomasa Ogaki and it.

Kiryu Yaya turned around, quickly walked back to his workstation, opened the internal phone book on his desk, found the number for the General Affairs Department's Storage and Management Section, and dialed it.

"Preserving the management unit, Morishita."

An old, slow voice came from the other end of the receiver.

"Morishita-senpai, it's me, Kiryu from the Financing Review Division. Thank you for your help when I was reviewing the files for the Miyazawa case last time."

"Oh, Kiryu-kun."

Yoshio Morishita's voice softened slightly: "What, are you changing the file again?"

"Yes. I want to check a company's business registration information, which is not in the bank's customer database. I need to access the external files of the Legal Affairs Bureau."

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.

"Company name?"

"Eight Assets Co., Ltd. The pronunciation should be 'Eight Assets,' but I'm unsure how to write the kanji; I might need to look it up from the pronunciation."

"Eight Assets —"

Morishita repeated, "Okay, I'll check the external archives for you. The Legal Affairs Bureau compiles these business registration summaries every year, and we have the most recent years' in our archive. You can download them directly later."

"Thank you, Morishita-senpai."

Kiryu Yaya hung up the phone, picked up his notebook and pen, and got up to go downstairs.

The second basement level houses the old archives storage area.

The fluorescent lights emitted a faint hum, and the air was filled with the musty smell of paper and dust.

Yoshio Morishita sat behind the duty desk, his reading glasses perched on his nose, holding a thick, blue-covered compilation in his hand, turning the pages one by one.

"Eight Assets — Eight Assets —"

He muttered to himself as his finger slowly moved across the index bar.

Kiryu Yaya walked over and stood beside him without urging him.

After about two minutes, Morishita's fingers stopped.

"Found it."

He turned to the corresponding page of the compilation and pushed it in front of Kiryu Yaya.

Kiryu Yaya looked down.

It was a reduced-size copy of a business registration certificate; the font was small, but the key information was printed clearly.

Company Name: Yagisuke Co., Ltd. Headquarters Location: Dojima 5-chome, Kita-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture Date of Establishment: April, 000 Representative Director: Seiichi Yagi Business Objectives: Asset management, investment consulting, real estate management, debt collection, collateral disposal Capital: 10 million yen Total Number of Issued Shares: 000 shares Major Shareholders:

Seiichi Yagi (6,000 plants), Mayumi Yagi (2,000 plants), Shuhei Yagi (1,000 plants), Ogaki Asset Management Co., Ltd. (1,000 plants). Kiryu Yaya's gaze fell on the last line.

大垣。

This surname is definitely not a coincidence here.

He raised his head and looked at Morishita.

"Morishita-senpai, could you please check the registration information for 'Ogaki Asset Management Co., Ltd.' again?"

Morishita glanced at him, didn't ask any questions, just nodded, and turned to look through the index shelf on the other side.

This time it was much faster.

A few minutes later, another business registration summary was pushed in front of him.

Company Name: Ogaki Asset Management Co., Ltd. Headquarters Location: Suita City, Osaka Prefecture Date of Establishment: March 1, 000 Representative Director: Masami Ogaki Business Scope: Real estate leasing, investment management, asset preservation consulting Capital: 2 million yen Total Issued Shares: 000 shares Major Shareholders:

Masami Ogaki 1,200 trees, Kiyomi Ogaki 800 trees. Kiryu Yaya's gaze lingered on these two names.

Masami Ogaki.

Kiyomi Ogaki.

Although the names are pronounced differently, the surname "Ōgaki" is exactly the same as that of Ōgaki Kiyomasa.

Moreover, there is a faint clue between these two sets of registration information.

Kiyomasa Ogaki has several residences whose nominal owners are Masami Ogaki and Kiyomi Ogaki.

What is the relationship between these two people and Kiyomasa Ogaki?

They must be close relatives.

Kiryu Yaya opened his notebook and copied down these lines of information verbatim, his handwriting neat and meticulous.

After he finished copying, he closed the notebook and bowed slightly to Morishita.

"Morishita-senpai, thank you for your help again today."

"fine."

Morishita waved his hand, closed the compilation, and pushed it back onto the shelf: "But Kiryu-kun, these two companies you investigated today don't seem like our bank's clients."

"That's definitely not the case."

Kiryu Yaya didn't hide anything: "It was just a personal investigation."

Morishita glanced at him but didn't ask any further questions.

Having worked in the bank for over thirty years, he knew better than anyone that there were some things you shouldn't ask.

When Kiryu Yaya came out of the underground storage room, his lunch break was already halfway over.

Instead of returning to the cafeteria, he went directly to the public phone on the first floor of the bank, took out a ten-yen coin from his pocket, inserted it, and dialed the number for Keiko Miyazawa's office.

The phone rang twice before being answered.

"Miyazawa Group, President's Office"

"This is Kiryu from the Financial Review Department of Mitsubishi Bank's Osaka branch. Please transfer me to President Miyazawa."

"Please wait a moment."

A few seconds later, Keiko Miyazawa's voice came through the receiver, sounding a little surprised.

"Kiryu-kun?"

Good afternoon, sorry to bother you.

"No. What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Kiryu Yaya didn't beat around the bush.

"I need your help with something. Does your group have any subsidiaries that do asset management or real estate leasing? Or, do you have any similar companies with which you have frequent collaborations?"

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone; Miyazawa Keiko seemed to be thinking.

"Asset management subsidiaries are not directly established at the Miyazawa Group headquarters."

"However, as Mr. Uesugi mentioned before, the group has business dealings with some external asset management companies, mainly dealing with old real estate and collateral."

She paused.

"I don't remember the exact list, but Mr. Uesugi can check it. What kind of information do you need?"

"I want to investigate two companies."

Kiryu Yaya opened his notebook: "One company is called 'Yatsusuke Co., Ltd.,' registered in Dojima 2-chome, Kita-ku, Osaka City. The other is called 'Ogaki Asset Management Co., Ltd.,' registered in Suita City. Please help me find out the relationship between these two companies and Ogaki Kiyomasa."

"Eight Assets — Ogaki Assets — Ogaki Kiyosashi."

Keiko Miyazawa repeated, "I've got it. How can I contact you after I find out?"

"Infiltrate the bank's internal network and contact Tong Sheng, the head of the refinancing review department."

"Okay. I'll have Mr. Uesugi get on it as soon as possible."

Thank you.

"You're welcome."

Keiko Miyazawa's voice softened: "Kiryu-kun has helped me so much, what's this little thing?"

The phone hangs up.

Kiryu Yaya put the receiver back, stood in the phone booth, looked at the sparse traffic on Midosuji outside the glass door, and gently exhaled.

Eight Assets Co., Ltd.

Ogaki Asset Management Co., Ltd.

These two companies are the easiest entry points for him to reach in Kiyomasa Ogaki's asset portfolio.

If we dig deeper along this line, we may find evidence that Kiyomasa Ogaki transferred assets and received benefits through affiliated companies.

Once this is confirmed, Kiyomasa Ogaki will be lucky to even retire with dignity, let alone sing his lament behind bars.

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