Nakayama Takuya walked over, unceremoniously pulled out the broad leather chair, and sat down. He casually picked up the purple clay teapot from the desk and poured himself a steaming cup of sencha.
"I came to bring you some good news—and mooch a cup of fine tea while I'm at it." Nakayama Takuya lifted the cup and blew on it, giving a witty wink. "Over at Bandai, someone finally couldn't sit still and voluntarily jumped ship."
Hattori's hand paused slightly in midair as he raised his teacup.
"Yamashina Makoto?" The old man raised an eyebrow.
"If he had that kind of decisiveness and nerve, Bandai wouldn't have fallen into its current miserable state, leaking from every side." Nakayama Takuya took a sip of tea. It was slightly hot, with a sweet lingering aftertaste. "It's Mitsui Chuta."
Hattori set down his teacup and slowly leaned back into his chair, his gaze instantly deepening.
"Mitsui Chuta?" Hattori tapped the solid wood armrest twice, neither too hard nor too softly, producing two dull knocks. "He's Yamashina Makoto's right-hand man, an absolute member of Bandai's core upper management. He actually bypassed Yamashina Makoto and came to you in private?"
"We met privately last night at a very secluded ryotei." Nakayama Takuya put down his teacup, a mocking curve appearing at the corner of his mouth. "Minister Mitsui came brimming with 'sincerity,' laying Bandai's entire foundation bare."
Then Nakayama Takuya laid out all the intelligence Mitsui Chuta had provided.
Bandai's terrifying funding shortfall, the disastrous unsold inventory figures from its toy production lines, and every detail of the upper management meetings—the mutual buck-passing, the table-pounding, the furious curses—everything had been poured out.
After hearing it all, Hattori said nothing for a long while. He merely watched the tea leaves standing upright in his cup.
"He