Reborn in Tokyo: From Heiress to Global Tycoon

Chapter 254 When the wall falls, everyone pushes it down.

Parliament House.

Outside the House Operations Committee meeting room.

Forty-eight hours have passed since the brawl that erupted two days ago over the repeal of the Large Stores Act.

Today, the corridor is filled with an extremely eerie restlessness.

Several young members of the Osawa faction were gathered at the corner of the corridor.

Sheng Youheng gripped the heavy, black portable mobile phone (a "big brother" phone) tightly in his hand. He pressed the redial button in frustration, but all he heard from the receiver was the emotionless, mechanical dial tone.

He slammed the antenna back in, his breathing becoming extremely heavy.

"I can't get through." Katsuyuki gritted his teeth, cold sweat trickling down his temples and into the collar of his expensive shirt. "The chief's private landline and encrypted private line are both dead. Hirano's chief secretary's pager is completely unresponsive. It's like they've vanished into thin air."

Standing to the side, senior councilor Hasegawa took out a cotton handkerchief and haphazardly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"What about the media department? What did the editors-in-chief of Yomiuri and Asahi say?" Hasegawa's voice was low, with a hint of barely concealed panic.

"Rejected." Sheng Youheng swallowed hard. "All the senior executives in the media controlled by our faction seemed to have collectively gone deaf this morning. The PR officer even went to the newspaper building himself just now, but couldn't even get through the building's security turnstiles."

Hasegawa gripped the agenda tightly in his hand, the edges of the paper warped from his grip.

"The cabinet just bypassed all prior communication and submitted an emergency bill directly to the operations committee. The agenda has been forcibly changed." A hint of panic flashed in Hasegawa's eyes. "What exactly happened? What is that puppet Kaifu trying to do?"

Before he could finish speaking...

"Bang."

The heavy oak double doors were pushed open forcefully from the inside. The brass door handles slammed against the wall's bumper pads with a dull thud.

The hushed conversation in the hallway came to an abrupt halt.

Several elderly businessmen and industrialists strode out of the meeting room. Their suits were somewhat wrinkled, but at that moment, their faces, covered in bruises and blood, revealed undisguised ecstasy.

The elder of the merchant-artisan tribe who was walking at the front stopped.

He turned his head, his gaze sweeping across the corridor, casting a disdainful glance at the Osawa faction members in the corner. He straightened his slightly crooked tie, tugging at the bruise on his cheek, causing him to gasp. But the smile on his lips grew even more arrogant.

"Let's go to this meeting room, young people."

"Prime Minister Kaifu has just submitted a request to the Operations Committee, on behalf of the Cabinet, for permission to arrest House of Representatives member Ichiro Osawa." The old congressman sneered. "The committee passed it unanimously. A plenary vote will be held immediately."

The old councilor's loud laughter, tinged with vengeful glee, gradually faded into the distance deep within the corridor.

Sheng was struck dumb as if by lightning.

His breath caught in his throat, and the muscles in his legs seemed to have been drained of all strength. He staggered back half a step, his back slamming heavily against the corridor wall with a dull thud.

"Arrest...request?"

Sheng Youheng's eyes twitched slightly as he stared intently at the mobile phone in his hand, which still had no signal.

"Has Kaifu gone mad?! What right does the Special Investigation Department have to bypass the Diet and arrest people directly?!"

Before he could finish speaking...

"Bang."

The heavy wooden door to the front operations committee meeting room was pushed open again.

A committee clerk in charge of taking notes, carrying a thick stack of documents, emerged from the room, sweating profusely. He looked flustered, not even bothering to straighten his crooked tie, and hurried along the wall towards the stairwell as if avoiding a plague.

Hasegawa reacted swiftly. He took a step forward and grabbed the clerk's arm tightly.

"What on earth happened?!"

Hasegawa forcefully pulled the clerk to a stop, growling sharply. The veins on his forehead throbbed with extreme tension.

"What exactly did the Special Investigation Department's case file say?! Why did it pass unanimously?!"

The clerk winced in pain, his arm throbbing, and gasped. He struggled violently, glancing in horror at Hasegawa's face, which looked as if he wanted to devour someone.

"Let go... Representative Hasegawa!" The clerk lowered his voice, his tone revealing barely concealed fear. "The Special Investigation Department's evidence... has already been submitted directly to the Cabinet!"

He swallowed hard, his voice trembling.

"These are all genuine original documents... They say that Secretary-General Osawa is suspected of serious violations of the Political Funds Control Act...receiving huge sums of illicit funds from foreign investors, and...selling economic secrets from the bottom of the government!"

Taking advantage of the moment when Hasegawa's grip loosened slightly, the clerk forcefully pulled his arm back and ran down the stairs without looking back.

The corridor fell silent once more.

The only sound was a faint breeze coming from the central air conditioning vents.

Hasegawa stood frozen in place.

He looked down, his gaze falling on the mobile phone in Sheng Youheng's hand, which was still in dial tone.

The media hotline was collectively refused to be answered this morning.

The official statement from Washington has been delayed.

Hirano, the chief secretary who vanished without a trace.

And... Kaifu Toshiki's suddenly extremely firm confidence, and the "ironclad evidence" submitted to the cabinet along with the case file.

At this critical juncture, the arrogant secretary-general, along with his own communications, were completely cut off.

Ichiro Osawa's political base has been effectively reduced to an empty shell.

This could not possibly be a coincidence; there is only one possibility... that large capital has intervened.

"Hasegawa-senpai!" Katsura Tsuneo gasped for breath, grabbing Hasegawa's arm. "Our Osawa faction holds a majority in the Diet! If we all vote against it at the plenary session, we can suppress the arrest warrant! We absolutely cannot let the Secretary-General be arrested!"

Hasegawa suddenly turned his head, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Katsuyuki.

He grabbed Sheng Youheng by the collar of his suit and roughly dragged the young congressman in front of him.

"Vote against it? What are you going to use to suppress it!" Hasegawa spat on Katsumata's face, a suppressed growl swirling in his throat.

"The citizens outside are so angry about the stock market crash and the repeal of the Large Stores Act that they're practically tearing down the National Assembly building! The Special Investigation Department still has evidence of his betrayal of national interests!" Hasegawa shoved Katsumata aside, his finger trembling as he pointed towards the plenary hall.

"Haven't you realized yet? This was premeditated!"

"Once the Special Investigation Department releases that evidence, if we vote against it, the media and the public will brand us as 'traitors'! The voters in our constituencies will tear us apart! In the next election, we'll all have to go back to our hometowns and farm!"

Sheng remained frozen in place, his face deathly pale.

He looked around at his fellow faction members, whose faces were also filled with terror. The politician's instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm, when faced with a threat to their political lives, quickly overwhelmed any loyalty to their former lord.

Hasegawa took a deep breath and forcefully straightened the hem of his suit jacket with trembling fingers.

When a wall falls, everyone pushes it down.

"The situation is hopeless. Cut off all ties with Ichiro Osawa."

"We... approve of the arrest."

……

The plenary session hall of the House of Representatives.

The giant exhaust fans in the dome emitted a deep hum. More than 500 members of parliament gradually took their seats.

The entire venue was like a hornet's nest that had been poked open. Whispers from between the seats mingled into a turbulent tsunami. The confirmed rumors circulating in the corridor had everyone's nerves stretched to the limit.

The business and industrial representatives whispered among themselves, their eyes brimming with suppressed excitement; while in the seats of the Osawa faction, an undisguised panic and apprehension permeated the atmosphere.

On the large electronic screen directly in front of the council chamber, images flashed.

Request for permission to arrest House of Representatives member Ichiro Osawa.

The buzzing in the hall intensified the moment the large, bold characters appeared.

"They actually submitted it..."

"The Special Investigations Department's files are in the Speaker's hands!"

On the high platform, the speaker raised his gavel and struck the brass pad heavily, forcefully suppressing the boiling clamor below.

"Now, let's stand and vote on the 'Request for Permission to Arrest Member Ichiro Osawa'."

The speaker had barely finished speaking.

An elderly councilor, his eye still bruised, abruptly stood up, bracing himself against the edge of the table. He gritted his teeth, clenched his right fist, and slammed his index finger heavily onto the green "yes" button in front of him.

"Arrest him! Arrest that bastard!"

This roar completely ignited the powder keg.

In the business and industrial section, dozens of councilors stood up one after another, pushing back their chairs. They pressed the button without hesitation.

The green indicator lights, representing the votes in favor, began to illuminate a large area on the left. The blinding green light stretched as far as the eye could see.

Hasegawa sat in the center of the Osawa faction's seats.

He listened to the rapid breathing of his colleagues around him and looked at the blinding green light opposite him.

The tide has turned, and resistance is pointless.

He closed his eyes and extended his slightly trembling right hand. His fingers moved horizontally toward the green button beside him.

Press down firmly.

"drop."

On the seats of the Osawa faction, the rows of green indicator lights representing approval spread rapidly like some kind of silent plague. The green lights merged into one, their brightness startling.

The numbers on the electronic ticket counter jumped rapidly.

"In favor, more than two-thirds absolute majority!"

The speaker raised the wooden gavel. With a powerful swing of his arm, he swung it in a semi-circle in mid-air.

"Bang!"

The mallet slammed heavily onto the brass pad.

The crisp sound of the impact echoed through the loudspeaker.

This marked the complete end of the political life of the secretary-general who once wielded immense influence in Nagata-cho.