N64 Stockpiling

Hoshino gathered up the reports on the coffee table one by one and put them into a folder in order.

"I'll go see Director Sugiura." Hoshino stood, tucking the folder under his arm. "The Southeast Asia board is too large, and leveraged operations in the foreign exchange market also require an extremely high degree of expertise. Cross-border transfers of funds and the establishment of offshore accounts have to be prepared in advance. We need to cast the net before those hedge funds on Wall Street start shorting on a large scale. Also, I need to give the Finance Department a heads-up and reassess the risk to the funds we have deposited in several major partner banks."

"Go handle it," Nakayama Takuya said with a nod.

Hoshino walked to the door, then stopped and looked back.

"Senior Managing Director." Hoshino looked at the young man seated on the sofa. "If you hadn't pointed out these key nodes today, and I'd only looked at those surface-level prosperity figures, I never would have been able to link these clues together. By the time we noticed, I'm afraid it would already be too late. At most, we'd only be able to protect ourselves."

97

Nakayama Takuya did not accept the compliment, merely waving a hand.

The door closed behind Hoshino, the metal lock giving a soft click.

The office fell quiet again.

Nakayama Takuya gathered the reports scattered across the desk and stacked them neatly to one side.

Hoshino's reaction had been entirely within expectations.

These financial veterans who had lived through the bursting of Japan's bubble had a conditioned reflex to economic overheating that went deep into their bones.

As long as the rotten accounts of those Southeast Asian countries' foreign debt and deficits were dug up, there was no need to waste