His internal agent sent him an alert. The final queued purchase had gone through and his account had been consolidated. He slowly sipped his tea as he looked over the gilded cage his father had constructed. Tokyo, the eastern capital, the capital of a land that he knew his father held massive influence over.
Yorinobu Arasaka wasn't aware of just how deep his father's influence extended before assuming his place. The process was automatic, his father's will specified it for reasons he cared not to speculate on. Upon his death, everything that Saburo Arasaka owned was transferred to Yorinobu Arasaka. Upon his return to Japan, his father's trusted advisors and agents came to him and brought him up to date on all affairs of corporation and state that his father controlled.
He had been under the impression that the weaker corporations of Japan had banded together to oppose Arasaka's complete dominance. That had been true for decades. His father had assumed indirect control of them all through his hidden agents in the 50s, and had been controlling his opposition for the last twenty years.
He had been under the impression that rogue factions, some elements of the yakuza, some corporations that had performed hostile separations in distant countries away from Arasaka, some rogue agents and traitorous employees that had stolen corporate secrets…
He thought them to be genuine. Most of them were for some time. Most of them his father gained indirect control over again, usually at least ten years ago or longer. None of them that meaningfully opposed Arasaka still existed to this day.
Only larger corporations, individual actors, and targets Saburo Arasaka was unwilling to destroy still remained. Militech, the Mecha Zeo paramilitary group, and himself as examples for each. It was a sobering reminder of just how little impact his decades of painstakingly collecting allies and assets to wield against his father actually had.
It was sobering to see the names of groups he thought were his allies to be in his father's hands this entire time. He sipped his tea again, waving off a refill by the kunochi to his side. Maria Ayame. A student of old Kagekaze's, and one of his new principle informants of the hidden affairs of Arasaka. The affairs he thought he had been somewhat privy to.
His father, it seemed, was an exceptional businessman, for the Arasaka business had taken root in nearly every industry Yorinobu could think of. He could not hope to replicate this success, in balancing the delicate affairs of a thousand branches and growing all the while through it.
He was not an exceptional businessman.
He set down his tea and stood, now some minutes late to the scheduled meeting of Arasaka's board of directors. Twenty people in total at its height, now diminished in number. His father acted as Chairman of the Board, Yorinobu himself was on the board, as was Hanako, as Michiko and Kei used to be. The remaining positions were filled with his father's closest allies and members of the extended Arasaka Clan.
Right now, there were only 18 members, of which only 17 were due to arrive. Hanako already declared herself uninterested, trusting him to act on her behalf, and retreating to the family compound. Likely to bury her grieving in yet another project, if he were to guess.
He walked from his balcony overlook and deeper into Arasaka Tower Japan, perhaps one of the most impressive modern fortresses ever constructed. An imposing black monolith that rose high above all other things in Tokyo, and cast no light of its own save what was legally required to prevent aircraft and AVs from crashing into it. A nail his father planted in the world, one of many.
Arasaka was technically a publicly traded company. Technically, as the Arasaka family owned 54% of the market share, 13% per individual. The board of directors collectively owned another 15%, and the remaining 31% was allowed to be publicly traded. Saburo Arasaka technically owned all 54% as current head of the Arasaka clan, and thus had the right to make decisions on behalf of all Arasaka family members and their shares. A right he did not often exercise.
A right that Yorinobu exercised earlier, at the beginning of the week, to excise a full 13% of Arasaka's overall existence and make it the sole legal property of Michiko Arasaka, then expelling Michiko Arasaka as having any influence in Arasaka. In effect, he cut her legally owned shares out of Arasaka itself.
This compounded with the death of his father, the price of Arasaka shares had started to freefall. Starting at 1,589 eurodollars a share and rapidly dropping in response to speculative buyers panicking over the sudden shake ups. Most corporations would never think of making themselves deliberately less valuable as he had done. He had just taken 115 billion, 700 million dollars of shares out of Arasaka, 13%, and put it in the hands of his niece. No matter how sound the decision was on paper, that much money disappearing made the some of the most unstable speculative market consumers start to commit suicide.
He was not an exceptional businessman.
As he exited through the door, the second of his current shadows joined him. Musashi, an acquisitions specialist fullborg. Another one of his father's old agents, now one of his many required hands. Both Ayame and Musashi were dressed in the signature blacks and reds of Arasaka, with just the accent of white along the trims of their suits. Both of them stayed silent as he traveled through the halls, into the elevator, and to the directorial boardroom.
A long 'U' shaped table in the center of a room that took up three floors. The above floors filled with monitors and information flows, manned by AI and staff to bring up all relevant information and monitor countless affairs as they come up. Along the outer edge of the table were twenty seats of luxurious design for each of the directors and the principal secretary of Arasaka.
The seat for the Chairman was at the end, the bottom of the 'U' shape, and was just the same as any other table save for one feature. The image of a burning bird of prey carved into the top section of the high-backed seat. Not a symbol of Arasaka.
A symbol of his father.
The slightly scandalous noises of the Directors that had been made to wait a few minutes greeted him as he entered. Scandalous noises such as a slight shifting in fabric or adjusting of fingertips. They were, each of them, a professional to the core and peers of his father.
He reached the Chairman's seat, veritable throne it was, and took off his well-worn steel dragon jacket. Setting it over the back of the chair, so that the back of the coat faced the rest of the room.
The symbolism was plain for anyone to see.
He did not sit. "Honored directors, friends of my father. You requested this meeting?" He drew the distinction between himself and them. He was not among them, they were businessmen to their cores.
"Yes, honored chairman." Seki Arasaka, his cousin and head of advertising, spoke as representative of the board's interests. "The board is concerned with the actions you made since inheriting your father's claims, and of other behaviors besides. Please, Arasaka-dono, if you would alleviate our concerns, we shall be grateful." A careful and considerate manner of speaking, not with the same level of respect once shown to his father.
He replied with little concern. "Hmm? I have done many things since my father's death at the Ronin's hands. Please specify which things you refer to." Forcing them to be specific with their grievances.
A brief silence, eternity to his kerenzikov. He didn't need it, he has had plenty of time to consider this meeting already.
"The creation of 'Western Arasaka'... while we are sure it was done with good intentions in mind, and strategically it was quite sound… Arasaka is not a nation. It is a corporation honored chairman. Splitting off such a large part of our resources and consumer base for stability will only lead to our competitors gaining the upper hand." Mikitani, head of stocks management, spoke out. "Please explain to us your thought process, and perhaps we can provide our wisdom on these affairs as we have done for your father."
He nodded to himself, and turned to gesture at the massive display screen on the wall behind the chairman's seat. At his non verbal command it shifted to display the current breakdown on shares and who owned what as of the most recent update.
"I see, I will explain my thoughts on this matter then. My thought process was manifold."
He raised a hand, not bothering to look behind him at his nominal peers.
"With the death of my father and his lack of stabilizing influence on the greater market, I knew that shares of Arasaka would drop in price for some time before restabilizing and then continuing their growth. If split too thin, Arasaka would take longer and longer to stabilize. Thus one factor in my decision to split off that section of Arasaka."
One of the directors spoke up at this. "So you sought to ensure Arasaka recovered faster, honored chairman. A noble goal, but doing this would only damage the value of Arasaka further than leaving it as it was. You did not need to cut it from the wider company entirely." There was almost an exclamation mark in that sentence, he could hear it.
He tilted his head. "Yes I could have, but I wished to damage the value of Arasaka more."
Silence.
"...So you have not abandoned your childhood goal after all…" The slow standing and unsheathing of hidden blades began. He smiled, hidden by his turned back. He began speaking, knowing their honor would compel them to not strike until he was done.
"With Arasaka's value in shares dropping rapidly over the week, I could leverage my own assets. In dozens of anonymous accounts I could begin expending the wealth of Arasaka to purchase its shares back from public trade. When combined with my niece's shares in Arasaka suddenly being taken out entirely, this increased how much of the company each individual share represented."
"Once consolidated, these shares, inflated in percentage and deflated in cost, I purchased would represent a significant fraction of the corporation as a whole."
A pause to let them speak, one shortly did. "...And how much would that be, honorable chairman?"
He let the question hang for a moment. "When combined with my previously owned shares and the shares inherited from my father? Fifty point one percent of Arasaka owned in my name. Not owned by the greater Arasaka family. Me."
A brief scoff. "Why would we allow such manipulations, boy?"
He turned in a faux inquisition. "Allow? I don't expect you to allow anything, Takahara. My accounts were consolidated while I was drinking tea, before this meeting began."
Behind him, the market analysis updated once again. The truth of his words emblazoned in code and electrical lighting. Fifty point one percent. Yorinobu Arasaka.
His glare matched the stares of seventeen giants of the business world. All of them corporate professionals, some of them masters of personal scale combat, some of them experts in fields considered dead in the modern world.
The sound of orbital crystal on cloth drew attention.
Seki Arasaka sheathed his monoblade slowly, deliberately, a smile growing on his face. "You are most certainly Saburo's son, young chairman." He sat his old bones down on his seat again, even as a few baffled looks by some of the less clever directors were sent his way.
"My worries are fully dispelled, Arasaka-sama. What is our plan moving forwards?" Seki Arasaka announced aloud, meeting his gaze without hostility. Slowly, his fellow directors returned to their seats. Their stares were still sharp and fierce, but no longer filled with killing intent.
Yorinobu stared for a moment, before finally taking the chairman's seat himself, the seat now covered in the banner of a steel dragon. "Now we begin a policy of… aggressive expansion." He started. A thought to communicate to his internal agent. His internal agent broadcast a signal to the board behind him. Military plans started to unfold on the massive screen.
"Our first target… the hostile takeover of Kang Tao, failing that, it's elimination."