A Story in Yokohama -10 【Blue sky and shining clouds, Yokohama】
A Story in Yokohama【 Subtitled "Longing"】-10
The man was smoking a cigarette and looking out at the harbor.
The man said.
"Would you give me that pen in your breast pocket?"
"What?"
"You don't need a recording device to talk to each other in private."
"I don't know who you are."
"After we talk, I'll tell you who I am."
"Whoever you are, I have a lot of friends."
"I don't know what kind of friends you have, but I get along with most of them pretty quick."
Ono had no chance to take advantage of the man.
"Now you have to decide if you want to leave this room and go home with your lawyer or if you want to have a talk with me."
"My office makes over 60 million profit a year. I'm convinced I need at least 300 million."
"Either that money goes down the drain and you become a criminal defendant or you get paid and try to get a fresh start."
"I'm not satisfied with just 100 million."
"If you don't say yes, I'll notify the authorities and get your clerks on my side immediately. That way I won't lose most of the clients. I hear you're not a very popular guy with the clerks."
"Even if you paid me 100 million, I would only have about half of the money left after paying taxes."
J's eyes grew sharp as he stared at Ono.
"Listen carefully," he said.
J lowered his voice all the more.
Cold sweat ran down Ono's forehead and he couldn't even salivate.
"It's 200 million for the office. I'll pay you in cash right here and now. You and I are the only ones who know how to hand over the money. If you don't like it, then go home."
Hearing about the 200 million in cash, Ono's mind moved.
"...All right."
"Well, I'll start the process now. First you call your lawyer and ask him to leave."
As Ono did so, the man brought a large suitcase from the next room.
"Check the contents."
There were twenty bundles of ten million with bank strips on them.
"From now on, this suitcase is yours. Only you and I know about it."
Ono was then shown a written document.
The document was a written request, in essence: ‘Due to personal reasons, I have become unable to run my tax accountant's office and would like Lawyer Y to take over the office.’
"I don't have a seal."
"That's fine, just sign it."
After Ono signed, the man pulled out a recording device.
"Mr. Ono, recording is a noble thing to do. Read this out loud."
Ono looks at him dubiously.
"Here's a substitute for a registered seal."
The man gave him a written statement and told him to read it.
'I was complicit in the tax evasion of Hospital A, B, C and a number of other hospitals by way of using a loss-making advertising company to transfer padded advertising expenses to the company. As a result of these irregularities, I am not qualified to run the office in the future and I promise to hand over the management of the office to Attorney Y as of the end of this month.'
It all happened so fast.
(It's over. I can't do anything about it.)
Ono didn't even have a chance to ask for the other guy's name.
After Ono left the room with suitcase, J called.
"It's over now. His office is yours."
Under the Tax Law, one tax attorney can only have one office.
Yuichi changed the name of the office inherited from his father to his junior tax accountant and registered new office as his own.
Commentary
The main characters in the first part of the story are Naomi (the heiress), Yuichi (a tax accountant), and J (Yuichi's friend).
J rose to prominence in the world of the yakuza, and Yuichi became a tax accountant after graduating from college, but their relationship has been unbroken.
J accepts Yuichi's wish and easily succeeds in acquiring a large number of clients.
・・・To be continued・・・