Wine Gives the Reckless Courage

Setoguchi listened to Shiraishi, suddenly widening his eyes as he interrupted him. "Wait, are you saying—the Suzuki Conglomerate once wanted to invest in my company?"

"Yes, but the companies we were considering for cooperation at the time were those with funding problems. Once your company's problems were resolved, it was removed from the list." That was what Shiraishi had heard from Ayako.

Ayako had actually selected Setoguchi's company back then, but upon verification, she discovered that it had already recovered from the brink of collapse. It likely would no longer accept equity investment, so she skipped it directly.

"How could this be—" Setoguchi looked regretful.

Shiraishi continued, "It's certainly cause for celebration that your company managed to survive the crisis on its own. But you never mentioned it, so I assume the source of the funds wasn't entirely aboveboard?"

Setoguchi lowered his head. Shiraishi said flatly, "It's fine if you don't want to talk. A proper investigation will quickly reveal where the money came from—after all, enough money to save two companies wouldn't be some small sum that could easily be explained away."

Setoguchi remained silent for the moment, but Shiraishi continued, "And this morning, one of the robbers from that fire was murdered."

The mention of a death completely shattered Setoguchi's last line of defense. He sighed and told Shiraishi, "You're right. I was indeed at the scene on the day of the fire—"

After that, Setoguchi told Shiraishi what had happened that day.

That day, Takamura and Anato had approached Setoguchi and expressed their desire for investment.

However, although Setoguchi had appeared generous and his company was not exactly small, he had expanded recklessly, creating a hole in his finances. His company was already at a life-or-death juncture.

The gap was not large, but mishandling it would have