webnovelvip Chapter 268 Summer Respite
Chapter 268 Summer Respite
(A long chapter of 5,700 words~)
mid-July.
Tokyo's rainy season has finally come to an end after a few thunderstorms.
The sky was clear, with large clumps of white clouds slowly drifting eastward against the azure backdrop.
Bunkyo District, Saionji Headquarters.
The chirping of cicadas rose and fell, weaving together a continuous summer white noise.
Several ancient maple trees in the courtyard sprouted lush green leaves. The dazzling summer sunlight pierced through the layers of branches and leaves, cutting into countless tiny golden spots of light that were scattered in a pleasing pattern on the wooden floor along the edge.
Satsuki was wearing a loose, pure white cotton T-shirt. The soft fabric was so loose that it was casually piled up at her waist.
She has been transferred out of the underground intensive care unit filled with sterile filtered airflow.
At this moment, she leaned against a thick, soft cushion on the side, an ice pop dangling from her mouth. Her fair, bare feet were casually crossed, her toes occasionally curling gently on the warm wooden floor.
He was holding a gray-white plastic electronic device in his hand.
The machine is about the size of a thick, paperback literary book. The upper half of the front panel features an LCD screen with a yellowish-green backlight, while the lower half has a black cross-shaped directional pad and two purplish-red circular buttons.
"Drip, drip, drip..."
Crisp 8-bit electronic sounds echoed in the air on the edge.
Satsuki lowered her eyes, her gaze fixed on the monochrome screen with extremely low resolution. Her left thumb pressed rapidly on the D-pad, adjusting the geometric shape composed of four squares that kept falling. Her right thumb tapped the purplish-red A key at opportune moments, changing the angle of the shape.
Under her control, a long, rectangular block slid precisely into the deep groove reserved at the bottom of the screen.
"bite--!"
Accompanied by a pleasant electronic cancellation sound, the four rows of pixelated squares stacked at the bottom flickered briefly before disappearing completely. The scoreboard number in the upper right corner then jumped up slightly.
This is the Game Boy, a portable game console released by Nintendo just last year. The game running on the screen is the globally popular Tetris. (The Nintendo Game Boy (GB) was released in Japan in April 1989, and Tetris is one of its most famous launch/early release titles.)
This gray-white machine was not purchased from a retail store.
SA Investment has long held a large number of Nintendo's publicly traded shares. As a heavyweight shareholder operating behind the scenes, Nintendo's Kyoto headquarters sends beautifully packaged internal prototypes to the SA Investment headquarters as soon as new hardware or blockbuster game cartridges are released.
For the past few years, Satsuki's gaze has been fixed on the fluctuating Nikkei index, global exchange rate volatility, and legal reports related to various cross-border mergers and acquisitions. The game consoles that were shipped, along with their packaging, were left untouched in the family's basement storage room.
until today.
Satsuki suddenly became curious about the video games of this era. For the first time, she instructed the butler to go to the storage room and unpack the plastic packaging.
Throw the popsicle stick you just finished eating into the trash can.
On the screen, the falling blocks began to accelerate.
Satsuki's button-pressing frequency also increased accordingly.
The Saionji Intelligence System (SIS) had received high-resolution satellite images from the Soviet Union several days prior. Meanwhile, a large-scale mass of heavy armored units of the Iraqi Republican Guard was being amassed towards the Kuwaiti border.
Judging from the current situation, the timing of the war should be roughly the same as in the previous life.
War is about to break out. The global energy landscape and geopolitical order are about to undergo a dramatic upheaval.
But none of that matters to Satsuki now. Satsuki is now just a harmless, shut-in rich girl.
The overseas crude oil options betting agreement has been signed. The equity nesting of the offshore SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) matrix has been locked in. Domestically, the stripping of non-performing loans related to semiconductor underlying hardware is also proceeding step by step under Endo's guidance.
Satsuki suddenly realized, "What?! Can't she do just fine without me?"
It's better to put pressure on your employees than on yourself.
Otherwise, why would they pay them such high salaries? The salary standards of the Saionji Group are 50% to 100% higher than the industry average.
Endo-san, work hard!
Satsuki leaned back on the cushions, feeling the breeze rustling the hem of her oversized T-shirt. Her entire attention was focused on the monochrome screen, less than three inches in size.
In this day and age, even a plastic machine can bring pure joy.
"Splash—"
The wooden shoji door behind them was forcefully pulled open on its sliding track.
Shuichi Saionji was the first to enter the Japanese-style room.
Before he could even stop, a figure suddenly appeared from the side of his broad back.
Amy was wearing an oversized T-shirt with English letters printed on it and denim shorts. Her nose and forehead were covered with a fine layer of sweat, and a few strands of hair were soaked with sweat and stuck messily to her cheeks.
"Satsuki-chan!"
As soon as Amy stepped into the room, her eyes fell on the figure leaning against the wall, and she immediately let out a cry of surprise, her voice trembling with obvious sobs.
She hurriedly kicked off her shoes, stepped over Shuichi who was walking in front of her, and rushed straight towards Satsuki.
"Bang."
Amy knelt heavily on the wooden floor beside her and grabbed Satsuki's shoulders.
Due to the sudden impact, Satsuki's slender body swayed slightly backward. The handheld game console she was playing almost slipped from her hands.
Satsuki could only release the D-pad and casually place the gray-white machine on the cushion next to her.
"Satsuki-chan! Are you alright?!"
Amy sniffed. She released her embrace and cupped Satsuki's cheeks in her hands. Her slightly warm fingertips eagerly explored Satsuki's forehead and cheeks, then moved down her shoulders, kneading her arms and wrists.
Amy's palms were still damp with the fine sweat from running all the way, clinging to her skin.
Satsuki didn't dodge. She didn't even care that her clean white T-shirt had been ripped into several deep wrinkles by the other person.
She let Amy check all over her body. Looking at her classmate who was covered in sweat and had red eyes, Satsuki tilted her head slightly, a helpless smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.
Speaking of which, among my peers, the only person I can call a "friend" is Amy.
She raised her left hand, gently placed it on the back of Amy's still trembling hand, and patted it twice.
"I'm all right now, Amy."
Satsuki's voice was soft, with a hint of languor.
"Dr. Takeda has given me permission to go out in the sun."
Shuichi stood quietly a few steps away by the low table.
He looked at Amy, who was kneeling on the floor with a worried expression, and then at his daughter, who was letting the other person do whatever she wanted.
Looking at the somewhat clumsy reunion before him, Shuichi nodded in satisfaction.
Bringing Amy over today to keep Satsuki company was definitely the right decision.
Shuichi only suddenly discovered this a few days ago.
Satsuki... doesn't seem to have many friends.
His daughter, who controls trillions of dollars in assets, doesn't even have a single ordinary friend in this world with whom he can go shopping or share snacks.
Only Suzuki Emi is the only one who can see Satsuki as a real human being who gets sick and is vulnerable.
She is also Satsuki's only friend among her peers.
It's always better to have friends with you during relaxing moments.
Xiu Yi looked away.
He placed a square wooden box he was carrying on the low rosewood table in front of him.
The wooden box is made from the heartwood of Akita cedar trees over a hundred years old. Its surface is unvarnished, retaining only the natural, delicate grain of the wood. On the outside of the box, a deep purple silk cord is tied with an intricate knot. This is a gift from Toraya (meaning Tiger House), a traditional wagashi shop in Kyoto with a 400-year history.
Shuichi untied the knot and pushed the wooden box forward half an inch.
"Rest assured."
"Leave the company's affairs and external matters to me."
Satsuki glanced at her father beside the low table and tilted her head.
"Are you sure everything's okay?"
Shuichi looked at Satsuki and nodded slightly.
"It will be fine."
"Just relax and have fun."
Shuichi turned around, closed the door, and left, leaving the entire Japanese-style room to the two girls.
Only the chirping of cicadas and the gentle breeze remained in the room.
The tense silence lasted for a few seconds.
Amy felt the real touch of the hand covering the back of her own. She looked at Satsuki's pale face, which radiated a vibrant smile. After confirming that the person in front of her was out of danger, her nerves, which had been stretched to their limit, finally relaxed.
"It's alright...it's good that you're okay."
She sniffed hard and hastily wiped away the tears welling up in her eyes with the back of her hand.
To hide her earlier embarrassment, she slowly loosened her grip on Satsuki's arms, her gaze naturally falling on the wooden box on the low table beside her.
"Oh, right, Satsuki-chan. Let's eat this. I had someone specially buy it. It's Toraya's water-filled buns, they're super delicious!"
(This shop is located at the corner of Karasuma-dori in Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto (415 Hirohashi-dono-cho). Take the Kyoto Municipal Subway Karasuma Line, get off at Imadegawa Station, and walk for about five or six minutes.)
Amy turned around, shifted her knees on the wooden floor a couple of times, and moved closer to the low rosewood table. She opened the lid of the Akita cedar box with both hands.
A delicate aroma of matcha and the sweetness of red beans wafted through the air. Inside the wooden box, six translucent steamed buns were neatly arranged. Beneath the semi-transparent kudzu root starch skin, a delicate red bean paste filling was wrapped.
Amy picked up a small bamboo fork that came with the wooden box and carefully cut off a piece of steamed bun.
She picked up the pastry, turned around, and offered it to Satsuki's lips.
"For... Satsuki-chan." Amy sniffed.
Satsuki leaned forward slightly, opened her mouth, and bit into the steamed bun.
The cool kudzu root starch melts instantly upon contact with the tip of the tongue. The sweet taste of red bean paste spreads throughout the mouth.
Amy held up the empty bamboo fork, her eyes fixed on Satsuki's chewing motions.
Satsuki swallowed the pastry.
She looked at Amy's face, which was covered in a mixture of sweat and tears, making her look somewhat disheveled. She raised her left hand and gently wiped away a streak of water from Amy's cheek with her warm fingertips.
"I already told you, I'm fine now." Gaoyue looked at her, a gentle smile playing on her lips.
"You must have been cooped up in the basement these past few days, right? Did Shimomura and the others bully you?"
I've been so busy lately, I haven't had time to visit you. Sorry.
Feeling the real warmth of her body against her cheek, Amy took a deep breath of the summery air in the courtyard. Her eyes stung, and she quickly rubbed them with the back of her hand, forcing back the remaining tears.
"No...they wouldn't dare."
Amy stopped crying and started laughing. She lowered her head, cut herself a large piece of steamed bun, and stuffed it into her mouth, her cheeks bulging.
The two leaned side by side on the soft cushions by the edge, watching the dappled shadows of the trees in the courtyard.
"And... Satsuki-chan, you have no idea how outrageous things have been in the lab lately."
Amy began to tell her story with her eyes shining as she chewed on the pastry.
"That guy Shimomura, he recently found a weird set of eye exercises. To maintain his finger dexterity and visual reaction speed when typing, he rolls his eyes in the computer room at a fixed time every day. His eyeballs move like a broken stepper motor."
Amy picked up the bamboo fork and cut another piece of steamed bun.
"And Dr. Weber."
Amy handed over the bamboo fork, which Satsuki naturally accepted.
"Dr. Weber has never been able to get used to the Japanese bento boxes delivered to the cafeteria. A few days ago, he asked someone in Germany (West Germany) to bring him a batch of Munich sausages."
Amy pouted.
"The cafeteria clearly has a microwave, but he absolutely refuses to use it. He insists that the electromagnetic vibrations of microwaves will damage the cell wall structure of meat, causing uneven heating inside and completely ruining the taste of the food."
"and then?"
"During his lunch break, he went to the scrap yard and picked up a piece of scrap high-purity thermally conductive aluminum. He went to the machine tool area and machined it himself on a lathe, and also connected a discarded voltage regulator. He welded himself a constant-temperature heating platform with a temperature control error of no more than 0.1 degrees Celsius, which he used specifically to grill his sausages."
Amy took a bite of the steamed bun, her cheeks puffing out slightly.
"Yesterday afternoon, the entire outer rest area was filled with the smell of barbecue, which he had precisely controlled at the Maillard reaction temperature."
Satsuki listened quietly.
A faint smile appeared in his eyes.
"That's really reckless."
Amy took the last bite of the steamed bun. She put the bamboo fork back into the wooden box, turned her head, and her gaze fell on Satsuki's still somewhat pale face.
The high spirits I had just felt from sharing funny stories subsided slightly upon seeing Satsuki's sickly appearance.
"Hey, Satsuki-chan." Amy swallowed her food, her tone tinged with lingering fear and confusion. "Dr. Takeda said that when you fainted, all your vital signs were a complete mess. Our overseas investment channels were running smoothly... why did you push yourself so hard?"
Satsuki raised her left hand and gently kneaded her brow with her fingertips.
"Because the workload suddenly doubled."
She turned her head slightly and looked at the ancient maple tree in the courtyard.
"Ultimately, this sudden fainting is all the fault of Solomon Brothers' Goodfred."
Satsuki put down her hand that was rubbing her temples and said jokingly.
"Oh dear... why can't that old man just obediently die?"
"If it weren't for his insatiable greed and his illegal manipulation of US Treasury bonds, I would have had to forcibly overturn the original plan at the last minute."
"I won't faint."
Amy was holding a tissue, ready to hand it to Satsuki to wipe her fingers.
Hearing Satsuki's joking complaint.
The outstretched arm paused for an extremely brief moment in mid-air.
Only half a second.
Her eyes, which had been slightly widened in confusion, suddenly drooped. A strange light flashed deep within her pupils.
The emotions were instantly suppressed in the next second.
When Amy looked up, she still had that obedient smile on her face.
"Exactly, that's really too much."
She handed the tissue to Satsuki, muttering angrily in response to Satsuki's words.
"Those greedy old men are the worst. Satsuki-chan had already planned everything so perfectly, but they had to go out and cause trouble..."
The room fell silent for a while, with only the lingering sound of the wind chimes remaining.
The summer sun moved slowly across the wooden floor, the edges of the light spots gradually lengthening.
"Hey, Satsuki-chan."
Amy extended her index finger and gently hooked a section of the pure white hem of Satsuki's oversized T-shirt.
"Since Dr. Takeda says you're ready to go out and about..."
She looked into Satsuki's eyes, her gaze filled with anticipation.
"Let's go out and have fun together tomorrow. Just the two of us!"
Satsuki looked into Amy's bright, sparkling eyes.
She reached out her right hand, picked up the GB handheld console that was placed on the cushion beside her, and put it on the low rosewood table.
"OK."
A light, cheerful smile curved at the corners of Satsuki's lips.
"Let's go play together tomorrow."
The cicadas in the courtyard chirped tirelessly.
The two girls looked at each other and smiled.
The crisp laughter mingled with the sharp sound of startled deer striking the bluestone, spreading slowly in the warm summer air.
……
……
……
Saionji Information System (SIS), underground living area.
Emi Suzuki's private suite.
"drop--"
The access control card reader emitted a short beep.
The door slid open inwards. The cool-toned motion-sensor lights on the ceiling lit up with a soft electrical switching sound.
Light poured down.
The wall facing the entrance of the suite is mostly covered with densely packed color photographs.
The surface of the glossy photographic paper used for developing gleams under the illumination of a cold light lamp.
A snapshot taken with a telephoto lens in the back row of a classroom at St. John's College, the edges of the image still showing the blurriness left by the hastily pressed shutter. A silhouette from the rainy night of "The Club's" opening, the edges of a black umbrella blurred by the neon lights of the roadside. A fair profile precisely frozen in the center of the frame under the glaring Californian sunlight of Silicon Valley.
Hundreds of different moments in time, including Satsuki Saionji, are displayed on this wall.
The edges of each photograph were neatly trimmed. They were arranged and pieced together closely.
Amy kicked off her shoes.
Barefoot, she stepped onto the thick carpet and pounced directly onto the large, soft bed in the center of the room.
"Bang."
She grabbed the custom-made body pillow on the bed with a life-size portrait of Satsuki printed on it. She buried her face deep in the soft fabric of the pillow, gripping it tightly with both hands and rubbing it against it.
"Satsuki-chan... Satsuki-chan..."
She rolled around in bed, murmuring the name over and over.
The pillow she was hugging tightly allowed her to clearly smell the lingering scent of Satsuki on her body.
Her body writhed on the soft mattress, greedily savoring the warmth of her hands touching Satsuki's cheeks and shoulders in the tatami room that afternoon.
Actually, she hugged Satsuki partly out of concern. But more than that... it was because she wanted to hold Satsuki herself.
Normally, Satsuki would never let herself be held for so long; only under these circumstances could she hold Satsuki tighter and longer.
The rolling motion suddenly stopped.
Amy, clutching a cushion, sat up in bed.
Her movements became stiff.
Satsuki's complaint from that afternoon resurfaced in her mind and was amplified infinitely.
Why couldn't that person just obediently die?
Amy tilted her head.
Her gaze slowly swept over the densely packed photos on the wall, her eyes gradually losing focus.
Why?
Amy asked in a low voice, facing the air.
"Why would anyone disobey Satsuki-chan's will?"
She loosened the life-size pillow from her arms.
I walked barefoot onto the carpet and went straight to the corner of the room. There stood a row of computer desks made up of multiple high-end workstations.
"That kind of person... doesn't need to exist, does it?"
She pressed the power button on the main unit's control panel.
Multiple monitors lit up simultaneously. A pale blue glow illuminated her expressionless face.
She opened her personal schedule planning system, created a new directory with the highest level of confidentiality, and pinned it to the top.
The knocking stopped.
The name of the newly created folder appears on the screen.
[Literature Index: Neurophysiology and EEG Signal Analysis]
Subheading: [Preliminary Research on Implantation and Electrical Stimulation of Motor Cortex Microelectrode Arrays (MEAs)]