Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing.
Author's Notes: This world in no way, shape, or form resembles the real business world. What is depicted here is just a figment of my overactive imagination and the ideas are totally farfetched.
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Keitaro Urashima sat in his large, plush, and of course incredibly comfortable leather armchair, silently staring wide-eyed at the weird message on his computer screen. It was an anonymous e-mail from some unknown sender; he had not been able trace the anonymous e-mail back to the original composer and the implications disturbed him. In it was possibly the most useful thing he could have hoped for as he prepared to move into the real estate market and take on Konno Real Estate in a bloody war.
Criminal Records Of Mitsune Konno.
Believe it. Or not.
Skeptical, the man carefully checked the mysterious message for any malicious programs that could possibly harm his company the way one had when his head of marketing opened a message without scanning it. Oh the horror! The virus had been programmed to destroy the company servers, and that was exactly what it did. Or rather, tried to do. All the company's important documents, contracts and even secret plans were either nearly destroyed or made available to the public. Luckily Keitaro used his brain and before the virus struck fed in a mutation code that caused the virus to stall for a few moments as it mutated. Unfortunately, the virus only mutated into an even more powerful form that would shred up the documents and make them available to the public. In a few moments, any middle school kid with a modem could download company secrets. The few seconds, however, was enough, and Keitaro's technology department managed to get the immunity jab into the servers before the virus struck and revealed company secrets.
Keitaro still felt extremely stupid to this day for feeding in the mutation code.
Running the cleared file through several security filters, Keitaro made doubly sure that the file was clean before finally downloading the attachment. As he opened the file, a wave of disbelief hit him hard. His eyes bugged out, his mouth went dry, and his chin fell to the floor. On his computer screen, several documents detailing the bank records of Konno Real Estate were in plain view. There were even red circles nicely drawn circling some unexplainable earnings. Not only that, some circles showed the moving of money from the company fund right into the account of one 'Hitomi Kutaragi', before the money disappeared completely. Although the money was eventually put back, as detailed by some newer records, Keitaro knew that it still came under embezzlement.
Jumping up and pumping his fist in glee, Keitaro hurriedly picked up his phone and called his chief advisor, Seta Noriyasu.
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Mitsune Konno had always been known as "Kitsune" as far as anyone could remember, symbolizing her cunning and sly nature that mirrored that of a fox. Anyone who has done business with her and come out feeling victorious usually realized later on that they had gotten the greasy end of the stick. There was one exception however, and that was Keitaro Urashima, managing director of Urashima Enterprises. Ever since Keitaro Urashima had outwitted her in the acquisition of a small real estate company, Kitsune has harbored a grudge against him with would probably never be resolved. Anyway, Urashima Enterprises had recently announced that it might be moving into the real estate industry with that particular company, making several small companies quake in their boots as they had earlier saw what had earlier happened to it. Even some of Kitsune's employees were worried, given the fact that he had won against her before, but Kitsune had repeatedly assured them that it was just a fluke and would not happen again.
Deep down, Kitsune was not even half as confident as the image she had projected. Some of her not so legal shipments of weak steel were coming in, and she could feel the familiar fear coming onto her again. Kitsune was by nature not a person with criminal tendencies, and therefore each time just before the illegal steel that she was buying came into port, Kitsune would wonder if she should just abandon the her illegal ways and dump all the weak steel into the sea. But at that moment, Kitsune would think about what would happen if she lost control of the price of steel. Steel companies would go to town with ridiculous prices of steel, causing many companies to collapse. Konno Real Estate would not collapse early on, but most small time companies would. Eventually, the real estate market would crash when Konno Real Estate went out.
However, buying illegal steel was still necessary. How else would her control the steel market? When the price of steel rose, Kitsune would flood the market with her illegal steel, selling them off as he real deal, causing a sharp drop in prices. The steel companies would wonder where she had gotten such a large amount of steel, but none would actually raise and investigation due to their enormous losses. At this time, Kitsune would rush into the market and buy all the real steel to ensure that her project would never face the problem of structural integrity while the projects of other companies collapsed at a moderately strong earthquake. Not to mention, she would make some quick cash off the sale of the steel.
As you can see, Konno's scheme, similar to the steel companies raising the price of steel to ridiculous proportions, would cause many small companies to crash out of the market. The only difference, and where the brilliance lies, would be that Konno Real Estate would not suffer failed projects as they used real steel. Still, Kitsune fretted that someday; somebody would discover her elaborate scheme. In fact, it might even be uncovered today!
As she sat in her office, Kitsune thought about what could be the headline tomorrow.
"KONNO REAL ESTATE CAUGHT USING WEAK STEEL, INVESTIGATIONS INTO BUILDING'S STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY CONTINUE"
Ouch.
However, Kitsune was reassured by the fact that she had taken many precautions in this illegal trade. Hence, she was sure that no company or government agency could actually trace the origins of the weak steel back to her. The only clue might be her bank records, showing that she had paid for the steel using company funds; without telling anyone else. However, she was sure that those couldn't be traced to her either. She had make sure to use an alias for the bank account before depositing company funds into it and using that account to buy the weak steel.
In the grandness of the entire scheme, Kitsune did not think about the records showing her receive money from selling the weak steel…
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Keitaro and Seta sat on opposite ends of the table, with Shirai and Haitani between them. All four of them were huddling over the computer printouts scattered on the table in the meeting room, trying to make sense of the entire situation. Apparently somebody had found out that Mitsune Konno was involved in illegal activities, and had sent them the evidence? Bank records proving that Mitsune Konno had in fact taken money and that this was not a hoax? A most intriguing mystery.
Studying the bank records for a minute, Shirai came up with a conclusion. "Hmm, judging from this records, Konno has been taking money and putting it into an account of a person named Hitomi Kutaragi'. This person would later use this money to buy something that we have no idea is what, and then sell it off for a sizeable profit. The remainder of the profit would go right into Konno's account after the original amount used from company funds was put back into the company account. This could only mean that Konno is using company funds for her own needs. Somebody of her status involved with corporate fraud? This is going to be one serious court case!"
Haitani walked over and smacked Shirai upside the head before saying, "That didn't take a genius to figure out, Genius."
Seta simply shook his head at the childish behavior of the spokesperson and chief marketing director, before turning over to Keitaro and giving him a huge grin. "You do realize that this is our free pass into real estate, don't you? After we leak this evidence to the press and law enforcement, Konno would be hauled in for investigations, and we all know that without her Konno Real Estate would not be where it is today. Once the company falls into inept hands and confidence level falls, most people will be trying to get rid of their shares in the company. We can swoop in and grab up those shares at relatively low prices since shareholders would be anxious to get rid of them. The major shareholders can also be persuaded to exchange their shares in return for stakes in Urashima Enterprises should they refuse to part with the shares for money. I believe most of them would make the switch." ended Seta with the huge grin still plastered to his face.
Keitaro, however, wondered about the authenticity of the documents and their origin. "Look Seta. We are all too trusting regarding these documents. What if they were fakes? What if the sender is Konno herself, waiting for us to jump headlong into her trap? How would we know that this money is being used for a legitimate purpose? Perhaps this 'Hitomi Kutaragi' is a little know business partner of Konno Real Estate and this money is being used for useful and profitable investments? If this turns out in their favor, Urashima Enterprises would lose credibility and what we say from now onwards would not be taken into serious consideration again. We would end up being duped and looking like idiots while being duped."
Seta looked at Keitaro and the two stared at each other for several moments. Meanwhile, Shirai and Haitani sat down and waited for further orders from Keitaro. Seta finally looked down and sighed. "Quite true. But still, we can distance ourselves from this scandal by doing this…" whispered Seta into Keitaro's ear.
Keitaro heard Seta's suggestion and grinned.
xxx
As Naru Narusegawa sat in her overly large and spacious office fuming over nothing as she usually did, a beep on her computer alerted her to the arrival of new mail. Opening the mail immediately, Naru read the nine lone words in the message and went into a downloading frenzy. It wasn't because she trusted the company's technology departments' security filters, it was because she was way too impatient at all times to bother to do any checking. Downloading the attachment without any caution whatsoever, Naru didn't even bother to check for malicious programs, not to mention notice that the mail was anonymous. Naru opened the file, and instead of seeing a virus that would laugh at her stupidity and cause her company to suffer enormous data loss, she saw the same thing that Keitaro Urashima had seen only hours earlier. Similar to Keitaro Urashima, Naru sat stunned in front of her chair for several long moments; only she recovered earlier and with another glance at the message and attachment, called her chief advisor. While her chief advisor made his way in, Naru hurriedly printed out the files.
As Kentaro Sakata walked towards the chairwoman's office, he felt a sense of dread rolling around in his stomach. Somehow, even before he had stepped into the room, Kentaro instinctually knew that something bad was about to happen. Scratch that. Something really bad was about to happen. Opening the door and seeing the normally angry Naru jumping about in glee didn't help matters either. As he settled into a comfortable chair facing the desk, Naru moved behind her it and passed him some papers before asking him to examine the documents and advising her on her next move. Reading the criminal records of Konno Real Estate, Kentaro's mouth went dry, he eyes bugged out and his chin fell to the floor. In a raspy voice, he asked.
"Who the hell sent this?
Naru didn't seem to hear, and said absentmindedly, "Don't swear in my office." Already, Naru was dreaming about how she would conquer the real estate market after Konno Real Estate fell by moving in and buying out all of the small companies. She would openly crush those who opposed her like bugs, so that none would dare to defy her. Best of all, most of this would be done before Urashima Enterprises even knew what had occurred.
Kentaro was saying something, but Naru cut him off and said, "Oh I know, you want me leak this information to the media immediately, letting them run the story and holding a press conference explaining how I got these data, how I will buy all the shares from the investors in Konno Real Estate so as to help Konno Real Estate shake off the reign of a bad leader, and how I fulfilled my duty to the honest investors by revealing these records to the world. Yes, I will do exactly that. You should be glad that I'm following your advice, since I usually follow my own views and opinions."
Moving towards her table, Naru pressed the phone and called for her spokesperson to come in.
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Keitaro grinned at everyone as he looked up from the computer. "Perfect plan, Seta! Knowing Narusegawa, she will immediately call a press conference without caring about the consequences. Now I'll just position Haitani over at the market and offer a good price on Konno Real Estate shares. Of course, now that the news hasn't hit yet, nobody with half a brain would be selling their shares, but when the shockwave hits we will be the first to buy the mass of Konno Real Estate shares coming right in! However, in the case that this is a trap set by Konno, only Narusegawa will fall in, so we will be safe anyway. Now if you will excuse me, I have some shareholders to catch up with."
Keitaro ran towards his office, Haitani ran over to the stock exchange, Shirai ran to get ready his own press conference, and Seta simple sat down and drank coffee, his job for the day done.
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Author's Note: Significantly more effort put into this version!