"Everyone, I have reported on many countries on television in the past, and I have also discussed how Tokyo should step onto the world stage."
Isomura stood in the centre of the stage, waiting for the audience to gradually quiet down before he continued.
"These things are certainly important. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, and it should continue to be the window through which the world understands Japan."
"But today, I would rather focus on the things right in front of us first."
His gaze swept over the workers holding their pay envelopes in the front row and landed on the company operators and their families behind them.
"Let companies that are operating earnestly continue to operate, let those who have finished their work receive their pay on time, and let those who have lost their jobs return to new positions as soon as possible."
"The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has the budget, the projects, and the people willing to work."
"What a governor should do is to reconnect these things, let the construction sites that have stopped resume work, and let the people waiting for their wages receive them again."
Having said this, Isomura left the podium and walked forward two steps.
"Please entrust this vote to me."
"I will make Tokyo start working again."
He bowed deeply.
"Isomura Hisanori, I sincerely ask for everyone's support."
Applause erupted almost as soon as he lowered his head.
Staff on both sides of the stage raised their arms, shouting his name first, and the members of the mutual aid association in the front row quickly followed. The sound travelled to the back again and again, and finally, even those outside the audience area who had not yet entered joined in.
Isomura straightened up, first bowing to the front, then turning to the left and right sides. He mastered perfectly how long to stay in each direction and when to lift his head at the end of each shout.
When Yamada walked over from the side, he took the initiative to meet him and grasped the other man's rough hands again.
The reporters immediately began calling for them to look at the cameras.
"Mr. Isomura, please look this way!"
"Mr. Yamada, get a little closer!"
"Please take out the pay envelope!"
Isomura complied with the first two requests, but left the third to Yamada. He stood under the banner, maintaining the serious expression he had during his speech, and after the reporters finished taking photos of the front, he turned to the left according to their requests.
Some people asked across the stage how much money the Saionji Group would invest, and others asked if he had already reached a political deal with Saionji Satsuki.
Isomura did not stop to answer.
He only told the reporters that the specific amount and execution plan would be announced tomorrow morning, then bowed to the audience again and walked to the side of the stage under the escort of the staff.
Behind the curtain, several local councillors were waiting to shake his hand.
Isomura called out their names one by one, thanked them for coming today, and cooperated with one of them to take another photo. Only when the last camera was blocked by the curtain did the smile on his face relax slightly.
As he walked down the steps, he stretched his stiff shoulders.
Facing cameras was not difficult for Isomura.
In the years he worked at NHK, he knew when the lens would zoom in, and he also knew where to finish a sentence so the director would switch the shot.
After a news broadcast ended, the ratings and audience reaction would not be seen until the next day.
But a campaign site was completely different.
He had to see clearly on stage what expression workers had when they heard about unpaid wages, which number made company operators start talking, and when reporters put down their cameras to pick up their notebooks.
When the reaction was good, he needed to leave enough time for applause.
When the scene quietened down, he also had to immediately judge whether the audience was listening, or if the words he had just spoken had not reached their hearts at all.
The most obvious change just now appeared when he promised a deadline for settlement.
The workers in the front row applauded first, the operators behind followed suit, and even many reporters who were busy looking for news angles lowered their heads to write down the number.
Isomura was not surprised by this.
At a time when companies could go bankrupt at any moment and banks could call in loans at any time, the twenty-first century was still too far away from the voters. What everyone cared about most, in the end, was whether they could get paid this month.
An accompanying secretary hurried up from the other end of the aisle and opened the itinerary beside him.
"Mr. Isomura, the reporters are waiting on the west side. The next event starts in forty minutes, and it takes about fifteen minutes to get there from here."
Isomura took the water handed over by a staff member and took only one sip.
"What about Komeito?"
"The person in charge in Tokyo just called, hoping to confirm the statement regarding the financing window in tomorrow's speech. The Democratic Socialist Party also proposed hoping to add a labour representative to accompany you to the event in Koto Ward."
"Let the policy team unify the wording first, and deal with it after the press conference ends."
"Yes."
The secretary agreed, but did not immediately turn to the next item.
Isomura walked a few steps, noticed he was still following, and turned his head to look.
"Anything else?"
The secretary glanced at a few nearby staff members and lowered his voice.
"I postponed the subsequent schedule by twenty minutes."
Isomura frowned slightly.
"Why?"
"Ms. Saionji is waiting for you in the reception room."
Isomura's footsteps stopped abruptly.
"She came?"
"She arrived shortly after you went on stage."
As soon as the secretary finished speaking, he saw that Isomura had already turned in the direction of the reception room and had to hurry to keep up.
"How was it arranged?"
"Ms. Saionji did not want to alert the reporters, so I asked her to go to the lighting control room on the second floor. The accompanying staff have also been told in advance not to disclose the news."
Isomura nodded, his hand subconsciously touching his tie.
The tie was still straight, and there were not many wrinkles on his suit. But he still straightened his cuffs again, while reviewing the speech he had just given in his mind.
The manuscript prepared by the office had been revised many times, and almost half of the content in the final version came from the policy team provided by Saionji. Publicly acknowledging Saionji's support was also an arrangement both sides had determined long ago.
But he really had not expected Satsuki to come and listen in person.
"How long has she been listening?"
"Starting from the second half of Mr. Yamada's speech, she should have heard your entire speech."
Isomura took a soft breath.
"Then I can only hope that Ms. Saionji is in a good mood today."
The secretary did not answer this.
The entire office knew that Isomura's ability to gain the support of banks, companies, and policy teams in a short time relied mainly on Saionji. The two hundred and thirty workers sitting in the audience today, as well as the financing window promised to be launched immediately in the speech, also came from Saionji's arrangements.
Satsuki rarely interfered with the details of the office on weekdays, but once she appeared in person, no one dared to treat this as an ordinary visit.
The two soon arrived at the door of the reception room.
The secretary stepped forward and knocked twice, and only after a response came from inside did he open the door for Isomura.
Isomura walked in and saw Satsuki sitting on the sofa at first glance.
"Ms. Saionji, you are finally willing to come and see the scene."
The expression on his face became much more natural, and when he walked closer, he already had a smile.
"I did not know you were coming in advance, please forgive the office's poor hospitality."
Satsuki sat on the sofa without getting up. Chizuru stood on the other side of the room, and seeing him enter, she just bowed slightly.
"You are too kind, Mr. Isomura."
Satsuki raised her eyes, her smile gentle.
"I just wanted to see if my money was being wasted."
Isomura sat down on the sofa next to her.
"Hearing you say that, I am even more nervous now than when I was standing on stage just a moment ago."
His fingers pressed gently on his knees, his gaze not leaving Satsuki's face.
"What is the result?"
Satsuki paused for two seconds on purpose.
"It is still worth it for the time being."
Isomura let out a breath in front of her, and his whole body visibly relaxed.
"That is truly a lifesaver."
"If you were not satisfied, I am afraid I would have to commit seppuku first, then sell the Isomura office along with the tables and chairs to see if I could make up for some of the losses."
Satsuki blinked, amused by his tone of seriously calculating his legacy.
"The Showa atmosphere on Mr. Isomura seems to be even thicker than I imagined."
Isomura looked down at his suit.
"Being evaluated like this by a young lady who has just entered university, it is difficult for me to judge whether I should be happy or should immediately go back and reflect."
"At least you know that seppuku cannot be written into the election bulletin."
"That is hard to say."
Isomura replied solemnly.
"If the polls continue to drop tomorrow, someone in the office will probably take the initiative to prepare a short sword for me. After all, many of them have not been home for a month."
Satsuki smiled even more obviously.
Isomura laughed along, but after a few laughs, he suddenly realised something.
This young girl in front of him might really prepare the sword and a second for him after the election failed, and then ask him if he needed help with that same smile.
This thought made the back of his neck feel slightly cold.
Isomura quickly stopped laughing and straightened his posture.
"Since Ms. Saionji can still joke with me, it seems I did not make a major mistake today that requires immediate seppuku."
"That is not necessarily true."
Satsuki glanced at the tea on the table.
"Treating guests with this kind of tea can also be considered a very serious mistake."
Isomura immediately lowered his head.
"The next itinerary passes through Shimbashi. I will have the secretary go to Kintanaka and ask which tea leaves they usually use."
Satsuki looked at this gubernatorial candidate who was bowing his head to admit his mistake, and the smile became even more obvious.
"Mr. Isomura is so polite, it makes it seem like I am the one being unreasonable."
Satsuki picked up the teacup and took a small sip.
Her eyebrows twitched almost immediately, and then she put the cup back in its original place as if nothing had happened.
Isomura saw it.
The priority of purchasing tea leaves instantly rose from "do it tomorrow" to "must be solved tonight."
"It seems it really is quite serious."
Satsuki did not continue to make things difficult for him, just smiled lightly.
"Let us talk about business."
The smile on Isomura's face also gradually faded.
He did not rush to speak, but waited for Satsuki to continue.
"When you publicly stated Saionji's support, the audience was quiet for a while."
"I saw it too."
Isomura leaned back against the sofa.
"Some people felt relieved, while others started calculating how much I would take away for Saionji after I am elected. Those reporters will have something to write about."
"So the numbers must be announced together tomorrow."
Satsuki said very calmly.
"How much procurement to increase, how much financing quota to prepare, how many companies can resume work in the first batch, how many people can receive their wages again—write it all down clearly."
Isomura looked at her with some surprise.
"You seem completely unconcerned about the Suzuki camp portraying me as Saionji's agent."
"Saionji has already publicly supported you. Avoiding this name now will only make others feel that there are more things between us that cannot be made public."
Satsuki sat upright on the sofa, her tone still calm.
"They say you are controlled by the financial world, so you ask Mr. Suzuki how many companies that completed projects in the past twelve years are still waiting for settlement."
"Tell the voters what Saionji wants to get from this election, and also tell them what Saionji has already brought to the table."
Isomura was silent for a moment, then nodded.
"It seems I finally do not have to go to the bathhouse anymore."
The corners of Satsuki's mouth lifted slightly.
"That photo at least proved one thing."
"What?"
"Mr. Isomura's technique for scrubbing the backs of the elderly should be quite good."
Isomura immediately showed a helpless expression.
That event was originally arranged by the office specifically to dilute his elite image. The photo did indeed appear in many newspapers, and it was hard to judge whether the voters' opinion of him had changed, but the elderly at the bathhouse all remembered him.
A reporter even specifically interviewed that old man, and the other party gave his back-scrubbing technique a very high score.
"Ms. Saionji never liked that arrangement."
"Because it was too obvious."
Satsuki looked at him.
"There is no problem with putting on a show, but at least you must make the voters believe that you really wanted to go to the bathhouse at the time."
Isomura remembered himself wearing a yukata and scrubbing the back of a stranger under the gaze of more than a dozen staff members and reporters, and could only smile bitterly.
"You have the support of the party headquarters, Komeito, the Democratic Socialist Party, and the financial world. These things are there, and they will not disappear no matter how you hide them."
"The more effort you spend trying to prove that you have no distance from ordinary people, the more people will notice how far away you usually are from them."
"Turn these supports into projects, financing, and wages, and the voters will naturally know how to judge."
Isomura watched her for a moment, then suddenly laughed.
"Ms. Saionji is very suitable for running in an election."
"Which banner is Mr. Isomura preparing to make for me?"
Satsuki asked with interest.
"Is the slogan the first female governor of Tokyo, or the first female prime minister of Japan?"
When she mentioned the latter possibility, she seemed to suddenly remember someone, and her shoulders shrugged slightly.
Isomura was a little puzzled.
"What is wrong?"
"I suddenly felt this idea was not very auspicious."
Satsuki quickly returned to normal.
"And I have no interest in standing on the side of the road, holding a megaphone and shouting my own name repeatedly."
"That certainly does not sound like you."
At this time, the door was knocked.
The secretary from earlier walked in after receiving permission and handed a newly organised record to Isomura.
"After the speech, the office received seventeen inquiry calls."
"Eleven of them are from construction companies. Two hope to submit financing materials tomorrow, and one asked if it is possible to announce the resumption of work at tomorrow's event."
Isomura quickly finished reading the list.
"Notify them to send the materials proving the project progress and the accounts receivable to the office tonight."
"Those confirmed to have no problems will be announced tomorrow morning."
"Yes."
The secretary wrote down the requirements and turned to leave the room.
Isomura waited until the door was closed before handing the record to Satsuki.
"It seems I earned back a little interest for you today."
Satsuki took the list, her gaze lingering on the names of several companies for a moment.
"Seventeen calls cannot change the election."
"But after these seventeen companies go back, they will ask their councillors, and they will ask the Tokyo Construction Association, why the Isomura office can already answer their questions, while Mr. Suzuki's side is still making them wait."
Isomura understood what she meant.
"You have already started moving the local organisations."
"It was they who moved first."
Satsuki put the record back on the table.
"Yesterday afternoon at 1:47:29, Shibata Eiichi entered Sugimoto Yasuhiro's residence."
"He left at 3:09:51."
The reception room was quiet for two seconds.
Isomura knew that SIS had been providing intelligence for Saionji, but he still felt a sense of pressure that could not be described at the precision of the time down to the second.
"So Seiwakai found the Tokyo Construction Association."
"Mr. Shibata is willing to sit in the Sugimoto house for more than an hour, which at least shows he is willing to listen."
"Do you know what they talked about?"
"No."
Satsuki answered very crisply.
"But there are not many things they can talk about."
Isomura thought for a moment.
"Sugimoto will tell Shibata that Saionji is preparing to bypass the Tokyo Construction Association and directly control its member companies."
"Pretty much."
"Then how do you plan to answer?"
"I will tell Shibata that Mr. Sugimoto is right."
Isomura was stunned for a moment, then could not help laughing.
Satsuki had stood up from the sofa and reached out to tidy her skirt.
"Mr. Isomura, continue preparing for tomorrow's speech."
Isomura also stood up.
"What about the Tokyo Construction Association?"
"Executive Director Gondo has already gone."
Satsuki walked to the door, then turned back and smiled slightly at him.
"He will ask Mr. Shibata on behalf of Saionji."
"Since you can no longer sit securely in your original position, would you like to change to a better one?"