Satsuki flipped through the notes for a moment longer, then closed them.
"There is another matter, Emi."
She rested the notebook on her own lap.
"Hmm?"
Emi sat beside her, swinging her legs, her mood noticeably better than before.
Hearing this, she turned her head over.
"Have you ever thought about what America's reaction would be if all these people are truly related to June 27, and then, following your original method, accidents keep happening to them one after another?"
The smile on Emi's face froze.
"What about it?"
"A presidential special assistant, government consultants, retired intelligence personnel, people from the defense contracting system."
Satsuki raised the notebook in her hand.
"One or two can still be explained away, but if a huge swath of them fall consecutively, will the U.S. government just sit there and wait for you to continue?"
"Uh…"
Emi blinked.
After a few seconds, she honestly shook her head.
"I have not thought about it."
Satsuki was not surprised at all.
Emi truly was capable of breaking down each individual target in great detail.
Who was connected to whom, where vulnerabilities might exist, and how to reduce risks.
Accomplishing these things, she might even be faster than most professionals in SIS.
But once the problem shifted from a single person to a country, her train of thought easily lingered on those links that could be directly dismantled.
She was like a rigorous and efficient engineer.
An engineer could calculate how much weight every single beam of a bridge should bear.
Yet they would not necessarily consider what the cities on both banks of the river would become after the bridge was built.
Satsuki gently stroked the notebook placed on her lap.
The leaves by the pond rustled gently in the wind.
"Emi."
"Hmm?"
"The Soviet Union is not going to make it."
The topic shifted too quickly, and Emi was clearly stunned for a moment.
"The Soviet Union?"
"Mhm."
Satsuki looked at the pool water in the distance.
She had just personally visited that country last year.
The port of Leningrad, the shops in Moscow, the equipment in the research institutes, and those scientists who still managed to produce world-class research despite not receiving very high salaries all remained in her memory.
That was still an awe-inspiringly massive country.
Decades of industrial accumulation, nuclear weapons, military forces, scientific research systems, and territory spanning the Eurasian continent would not simply vanish into thin air just because a few shops were out of stock.
Yet the things supporting all of this had already begun to crack.
Satsuki originally knew it would completely end by the end of this year.
It was just that after June 27, she no longer dared to treat the specific date as an answer that would absolutely never change.
The process might change.
The time might also be brought forward or delayed.
But on one point, she was still very certain.
This country could not hold on for much longer.
"Once the Soviet Union truly disintegrates, the only country in the world that can rival the United States at the national level will also be gone."
Satsuki turned her face.
Emi was listening very attentively.
Although she did not know why Satsuki suddenly dared to make such a confident judgment that a superpower was about to disappear, she did not show even a trace of doubt—even for someone living in 1991, the Soviet Union was an empire that occupied one-sixth of the Earth's surface, possessed tens of thousands of nuclear warheads, and had an army capable of making the entire Europe tremble, yet it was still so.
Anyway, in her world, the logic of this matter was very simple—Satsuki-chan said the Soviet Union was going to fail, so it was going to fail.
"At that time, the United States will become the world's only and undisputed hegemon."
Satsuki continued:
"It will become extremely strong, probably stronger than anyone imagines right now, and that will be a unipolar world."
"It possesses the world's strongest military, the largest financial market, the US dollar, a batch of the most advanced technology companies, and a large group of allies willing to follow behind it."
"For a very long time, the world will not even be able to find a second country capable of truly sitting at the same table to speak with it; no country will be able to say 'no' to it."
The expression on Emi's face gradually changed.
She had clearly reconnected these words back to that question just now.
"Then…"
She hesitated for a moment.
"In that case, how are we going to take revenge in the future?"
Satsuki looked at her worried appearance and suddenly smiled.
"What you are worried about is actually this?"
"Of course."
Emi was even somewhat anxious.
"If America becomes that powerful, and there is a huge group of people behind Arthur, will not it be even harder for us to deal with them?"
"Do not worry."
Satsuki leaned back against the bench.
"The United States, this global hegemon, is not so easy to play."
She bent over and snapped off a small piece of a fern leaf extending to the edge of the stone path from the slope beside the bench.
The slender petiole turned a circle between her fingers.
"America will indeed have a very comfortable period next."
"The Soviet Union is gone, Europe cannot integrate to a degree that can truly threaten it in a short time, and Japan itself is still stuck in a pile of trouble after the bubble burst."
"However, a country and a company are actually quite similar."
"The bigger they get, the more things there are to maintain."
Armies, allies, financial markets, industries.
Interests continuously expanding all over the world.
And the growing arrogance piled up as more and more people began to get used to the idea that America could always solve all problems.
Satsuki knew what would happen in the next ten years.
Right now, America's own banking system and savings and loan institutions were still clearing bad debts, and the economy had just crawled out of a recession.
But in a few more years, a massive boom driven by computers, communications, and the internet would follow.
When trouble happened elsewhere, capital would flood into dollar assets.
Wall Street almost played itself to death, but there would always be someone pulling the most important institutions back at the final critical moment.
Crises occurred again and again.
Some even wounded it to a very dangerous extent.
But looking back, in the end it always seemed to fall just a bit short.
Just a little bit short, and America might truly fall into a state of irredeemable doom.
Yet right at that time, the next round of growth, the next technology, the next batch of international capital, or the next credit expansion would come again.
The wound was covered up again, forcibly giving America a transfusion.
Then it continued dragging its scarred yet energetic body forward.
"I used to always feel that America had good luck."
Satsuki pinched a tiny pinnule at the very front of the fern leaf with two fingers.
"Every time a major problem occurred, the degree of damage in the end was just within the range of recovery."
Emi looked at the leaf in her hand.
"And then?"
"Then…"
Satsuki smiled slightly.
"Now there is one more Saionji, one more 'variable'."
She gently tore off a pinnule.
"A crisis that originally could be rescued with ten portions of funds."
"We take away one portion before the crisis happens."
She tore off another one.
"A batch of talents that originally would have stayed there."
"We take some away."
"When things happened all over the world, money would eventually run to New York."
Satsuki picked off another one.
"Then we will prepare a place in Tokyo that can make them stay."
"Originally, a certain crisis in the end just missed being unable to hold on by that little bit…"
She lowered her head and looked at the fern leaf, which was already missing several pieces.
"We will just add a little more."
Emi looked at her with a half-understanding expression.
Satsuki snapped the petiole into two sections.
"Next time, add a little more."
She snapped it again.
"The time after that, add a little more too."
That final small piece of leaf finally could not bear it and snapped apart in her hands.
Satsuki casually tossed it by the edge of the grass.
"And then—"
She raised both hands and suddenly spread them wide in front of Emi.
"Bong!"
Her palms suddenly opened up, her five fingers flicking outward, simulating the shape of an explosion.
Emi blinked at that somewhat childish action of hers.
Satsuki herself laughed instead.
"Who knows."
"Perhaps that hurdle that originally could have been crossed, just because of this extra little bit, suddenly will not be able to be crossed."
"At that time, will be the moment for our reckoning."
Saying this, she looked back toward Sanshiro Pond.
In the past, she had never seriously thought about what to do with America.
In fact, quite the opposite, Saionji had obtained many benefits from America over the past few years.
The money she invested in America was originally going to bring back even more massive returns for her in the future.
As long as America continued to prosper, Saionji could likewise make money along the way.
Therefore, from the perspective of interests, letting America stay strong all along was originally not a bad thing.
But June 27 changed Satsuki's mind.
Since someone within the American system already felt that it would be best for Saionji to disappear from the world, she no longer needed to be like the past, only considering how much money she should make from this country.
She did not need to confront America head-on right now.
That would be too stupid.
For the next few years, or even the next decade or more, she might continue to invest there.
Continue utilizing the U.S. dollar.
Continue cooperating with Wall Street.
She would not fail to earn a single penny she was supposed to.
It is just that when those cracks that were bound to appear open up again...
She will remember today's score.
"So there is no need to rush now."
Satsuki said.
"We are still too weak."
Hearing these words, Emi's eyes widened slightly.
Probably in her cognition, the two words "Satsuki-chan" and "weak" should not be put together at all.
"First, get what should be taken."
"Money, technology, talent, markets, and those things that make others more and more inseparable from us."
The smile on Satsuki's face faded a little.
"Wait for the next opportunity to appear on its own."
"Then we will decide how many chips to put down."
Emi looked at her.
After looking for a while, her eyes lit up bit by bit.
"Satsuki-chan..."
"Hmm?"
"So amazing!"
She leaned over all of a sudden.
"To think you have already thought about things decades from now!"
She suddenly clapped her hands.
"A hundred times stronger than me!"
She clapped again.
"Oh no, a thousand times stronger! Ten thousand times!"
Satsuki had originally maintained that poised and resourceful expression. But bombarded by this increasingly exaggerated series of numbers, the corners of her mouth twitched first, and then she could not keep a straight face anymore.
"What kind of metaphor is this? Why are you devaluing yourself more and more?"
Unable to laugh or cry, she reached out to press Emi's forehead, pushing the person who kept crowding closer away a little bit.
"But Satsuki-chan is just super amazing."
Emi did not feel there was anything wrong with admitting that she was far inferior to Satsuki. In fact, she seemed to even enjoy this gap.
The more others praised Satsuki, the happier she became.
As for where she stood in this comparison, Emi probably never cared.
"Just now I only thought about how to deal with those people one by one, but Satsuki-chan has already thought about what will happen to a country in the future."
"What is there to be happy about with that?"
"It just is worth it."
Emi said very seriously.
Looking at her taken-for-granted appearance, Satsuki finally gave up trying to correct her.
"Alright."
She picked up the black notebook on her lap again.
"Things decades from now can be discussed decades from now."
"Taking revenge now is really not worth it."
"What we need to do is build up our strength and only make a move when it is truly worth doing so."
Satsuki reached out and pinched one of Emi's cheeks.
"Did you hear and understand?"
"Yes!"
Emi immediately straightened her body.
Then, not knowing where she learned it from, she placed her right hand in front of her chest and lowered her head quite comically.
"I understand! Master!"
Satsuki no longer knew how many times she had been amused by her today.
"What kind of address is 'Master' anyway..."
Seeing Satsuki covering her face and chuckling softly, Emi also joined in the fun.
A chill was sent over the pool's surface by the breeze. The distant tree shadows shattered into several pieces in the water, then slowly pieced themselves back together.
"However, Student Suzuki Emi."
Satsuki laughed for a good while before stopping.
"Hmm?"
Satsuki raised the notebook in her hand.
"Making this thing took a lot of time, right?"
The smile on Emi's face instantly stopped.
"..."
"Did it take up working hours?"
"Ah... Uh, this..."
Her line of sight began to drift to the side.
Satsuki was too familiar with this reaction.
"How much?"
"Just a little... right?"
"Hmm?"
Satsuki pinched her face again.
"How much is Miss Suzuki's 'a little bit'?"
"Wu..."
Emi's cheeks were squeezed up, and her speech instantly became much more muddled.
"It is jussst a little bit..."
"But I rrrreally did work properly!"
"Oh?"
"Really!"
She tried hard to pull Satsuki's hand away.
"And that thing Satsuki-chan asked me to do before has also been finished."
Satsuki had originally just casually checked whether she was slacking off, but hearing this, she was actually a bit surprised.
"Which one?"
Emi rubbed her own face.
"The government one."
Satsuki suddenly remembered.
After June 27th, when she and her father discussed the government's information systems, she had previously asked Emi to prepare a set of technical proposals first.
The goal was very simple.
There were already a large number of computer systems existing in the government.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government had them.
Various ward offices had them.
Taxation, welfare, resident registration, and other departments all had them.
The troublesome thing was that many of these systems came from different eras and different companies, and they did not recognize each other at all.
Of course, it would be fine to dismantle everything and rebuild it from scratch.
It is just that the money spent is secondary; the real problem is time.
Therefore, Satsuki's requirement for Emi at the time was to try not to touch the mainframes and business systems that had been running for many years underneath, and instead make a layer that could connect them together.
"You finished it so quickly?"
"Yeah, actually we already had the conditions in place."
When talking about technical issues, Emi instantly perked up.
"We have been working on gateways recently. Although those government mainframes have different systems, as long as we first specify what data can be exchanged, and then convert the formats required by each system, the new system can call them through a unified interface."
She reached out her hand, as if preparing to continue gesturing.
"For example, a counter needs to check—"
"Stop."
Satsuki raised her hand decisively.
Emi's words stopped halfway.
"Eh?"
"If you explain this kind of thing to me now, I will only understand half of it."
Satsuki stuffed the black notebook back into Emi's arms.
"Tell me when it can be used."
"Leave the rest for Masato to worry about."
Emi hugged the notebook.
"It can already be used."
"That is even better."
Saying this, Satsuki stood up and patted a piece of fragmented leaf clinging to the hem of her skirt.
"Go back and have people prepare for testing."
She raised her wrist and glanced at the time.
"Alright, today's rest is about up here."
"I should go back too."
"Ah?"
Emi stood up along with her all at once.
"So fast?"
She reached out and grabbed the corner of Satsuki's clothes.
"How about we go to the cafeteria to eat something?"
"Or drinking something is fine too."
"I know there is one nearby—"
Satsuki lowered her head to look at the corner of her clothes that had been grabbed.
"Miss Suzuki."
"Hmm?"
"Unexcused absenteeism is subject to disciplinary action, you know."
"Where is it unexcused?"
Emi replied very quickly.
"Being responsible for receiving important members of the group is inherently a very important job."
"Who stipulated that for you?"
"I just stipulated it."
Satsuki was amused to the point of laughing by her.
"You have this kind of authority in the Todai project?"
"I can apply to add it."
"Alright, alright."
Satsuki reached out and knocked on her forehead.
"Stop playing."
"Even if you still have time, my 'fresh air time' today should be over."
Saying this, she raised her finger and pointed at the medical tape on the side of her face that had not been removed yet.
The smile on Emi's face instantly faded a bit.
The hand grabbing the hem of her clothes also quickly let go.
"Ah..."
"I am sorry, Satsuki-chan."
"I forgot that you still need to rest."
Seeing her suddenly look dejected, Satsuki soon knew where this girl's thoughts had wandered off to again.
After June 27th, almost every time Emi saw the injuries on her face, she would turn back into this state.
Satsuki was quiet for a moment.
Then she raised her hand and gently rubbed her hair.
"Emi."
"Hmm..."
"I will not tell you not to care."
Emi slowly raised her head.
Satsuki's tone was very calm.
"Because for this kind of thing, I cannot do it myself either."
She could endure.
She could wait.
She could temporarily suppress the hatred in her heart, and then continue to do business with people who might come from the same country and the same system as the enemy.
But forgetting was impossible.
And Satsuki never intended to forget.
"So just remember it."
Her hand slowly lowered from the top of Emi's head.
"Everyone who dares to harm us, sooner or later we will find them one by one."
"Before that, there is only one thing that needs to be done."
Emi looked at her.
"Endure."
Satsuki said.
"Wait until the things in our hands are enough."
"Wait until a truly appropriate opportunity appears."
A very faint smile resurfaced on her face.
"Then let the whole world see—"
"What kind of end awaits those who make an enemy of Saionji."
Emi was quiet for a few seconds.
Then she nodded very seriously.
Satsuki also smiled slightly.
"So."
"Just consider it for my sake."
"Remember this grudge well."