A gift to mark our first meeting?
Yoshimasa Onishi picked up the document, his heart full of suspicion.
Shoji Kawamori, beside him, also set down his pen and leaned closer curiously.
At the top of the file was an English copy bearing an American notarization seal, thoughtfully accompanied below by a Japanese translation stamped with the red seal of Sega's Legal Department.
At first, Yoshimasa Onishi merely gave it a casual glance. But the moment he made out the first two lines, his pupils abruptly contracted, and the blood drained from his entire face before rushing back.
He abruptly sat upright, both hands gripping the edges of the paper so tightly that faint crackling sounds came from the crumpled sheet.
After seeing what was written, Shoji Kawamori's hand jerked. His expensive mechanical pencil fell onto the desk with a snap, rolled off the edge and into the thick carpet, yet he did not even notice.
"This—this is a memorandum issued by America's Harmony Gold?!" Yoshimasa Onishi's voice trembled uncontrollably, and even his breathing grew heavy.
"That's right." Hattori Kiyoshi gave a slight nod, admiring their loss of composure. "Sega North America Branch's top legal team visited Harmony Gold's Los Angeles headquarters just last week. This is a formal legal document personally signed by their head of legal affairs and stamped with their official seal. The real deal, without a doubt."
Yoshimasa Onishi stared fixedly at the words on the translation. Every single word was like a heavy hammer smashing viciously into his heart.
It was written there in black and white: Harmony Gold formally confirmed that the authorization it had obtained from Japan's Tatsunoko Production Company back then was limited to the broadcasting rights, videotape distribution rights, and related merchandise derivative rights for the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross anime