"...Satsuki-chan?"
The voice by her ear rang for a second time.
Satsuki snapped out of her trance and realized she had been staring at the surface of the pond for a long time.
The shadows of the trees on Sanshiro Pond were still swaying gently with the wind.
The two students who had just passed by nearby had already walked away, leaving only a faint murmur of conversation drifting in from outside the woods.
Emi had somehow moved from the side to stand right in front of her at some point.
A hand was still waving gently before her eyes.
"Satsuki-chan?"
Seeing that she finally reacted, the worry on Emi's face did not completely vanish.
"Are you feeling unwell anywhere?"
She instinctively looked at the medical tape on the side of Satsuki's face, then glanced down toward her shoulders and chest.
"Shall I send you back? The doctor already said you need to rest well, yet you ran this far today..."
"No."
Satsuki shook her head.
"I was just thinking about some things."
Emi remained somewhat skeptical.
"Really?"
"Really."
Satsuki leaned back against the bench, her gaze falling once more upon the surface of the pond.
"If Arthur really did this, then I previously underestimated him."
Back then, that investigator in the SEC who stubbornly bit onto S.A. and refused to let go, only to be pushed back by Wall Street and higher-level political connections, had actually walked into the White House in less than two years.
Regardless of whether June 27th was truly his doing or not, this point alone was enough for Satsuki to reevaluate this person.
However...
The faint smile that had originally lingered at the corners of her lips vanished bit by bit.
If it really is you.
Then you had better pray that Emi investigated wrongly.
The anger that Satsuki had been suppressing ever since she woke up had never truly disappeared.
The impact rushing toward her face during the explosion, the stinging pain of shattered glass scraping across the side of her face, and that feeling—when discovering automatic weapons in the hands of the second batch of men—of truly realizing for the first time that she might die here, all remained vividly clear in her memory.
She could accept others snatching her money; that was completely fine, as she often snatched money from others herself, which was normal—if money was gone, she could just earn it back.
She could also accept competitors wanting to drive Saionji out of the market; that was also normal. Commercial competition was inherently about seizing each other's markets, and if she failed, it simply meant her skills were inferior.
She could even sit down and negotiate cooperation with a smile alongside someone who, just a few months ago, had been eager to drive her into bankruptcy. Just like Tsutsumi Yoshiaki, there were no eternal friends, nor eternal enemies.
But wanting her to die was a completely different matter.
"Satsuki-chan... and yet you are praising him."
The voice beside her suddenly dropped much lower.
Satsuki turned her head.
Emi's lips pouted. Lowering her head, her hands unconsciously twisted together, her voice suddenly growing soft, carrying an indescribable chill.
"This fellow was already acting against Satsuki-chan before... and now he actually dares to do that kind of thing..."
Her speaking speed grew faster and faster.
"Such a person deserves a miserable death, absolutely, absolutely cannot be let off..."
"It is best not to even give him a chance to regret... Heh, heh-heh, shall we let him become a test subject?"
"We cannot let him die so quickly; this kind of person should—"
"Emi."
Satsuki reached out with both hands and cupped her face.
She gently rubbed it twice.
Emi's cheeks bulged slightly under her rubbing, and her muttering abruptly stopped.
"What dangerous things are you thinking about again?"
"Hm?"
Emi blinked.
"Nothing at all."
"Really?"
"I am merely preparing to plunge that scoundrel into eternal damnation."
She said it with extreme naturalness.
Satsuki looked at her.
Emi looked back at Satsuki.
After two seconds, Satsuki finally could not help letting out a laugh.
"And you call that nothing?"
"But he wanted to kill Satsuki-chan."
Emi appeared even more uncomprehending.
"Besides, did not you say yourself that once they are found, you will definitely not let them go."
"Yet you just told me that right now it can only be proven that Arthur has an intersection with that network of relationships."
"So what?"
Emi instead wore a puzzled expression.
"It does not matter even if we kill the wrong person."
"..."
"Besides, he is currently the one with the greatest suspicion."
As she spoke, she leaned a bit closer to Satsuki, as if afraid Satsuki did not understand how serious the matter was.
"Let me tell you, Satsuki-chan, Arthur previously already..."
"Wait."
Satsuki pinched her face again.
Emi's trailing words turned into muffled sounds again.
"Even if you are truly prepared to kill him."
Satsuki looked at her.
"What do you plan to do?"
Emi blinked.
Then very earnestly pulled Satsuki's hand away from her face.
"Mmm..."
She rubbed her slightly sore cheeks, her expression quickly turning serious.
"I have thought about it."
Satsuki raised her brows slightly.
"Thought about it?"
"Mm."
Emi lowered her head and rummaged through her small cross-body bag for a moment.
Soon, a notebook with a black cover was taken out by her.
"From a procedural standpoint, it is feasible."
"Procedural?"
The expression on Satsuki's face turned somewhat strange.
Emi had already opened the notebook.
The first page was a relationship diagram densely filled with text and arrows.
At the very top was only a single name.
Arthur Vance.
Below it were listed in order: his current position, government agencies he had contacted in the past, verifiable relationships in Washington, and several advisory firms and contractors connected to his career experience.
Further down, there were even problems that should be resolved at different stages.
Identity.
Political support.
Media risk.
Cooperative organizations.
Legal risk.
And finally, "Disposal," which Emi had circled.
Satsuki had originally harbored a slightly amused attitude of watching a spectacle.
After watching for a dozen seconds, her expression gradually stiffened.
"..."
Emi held her pen and very earnestly tapped on one of the spots.
"Arthur is already a White House official now, and judging by his promotion speed, someone must be supporting him behind the scenes."
"Therefore, our first step is to strip Arthur of the protection provided by the identity of a White House official."
She turned the page.
"I asked Frank. Carlyle over in the United States said they can provide us with assistance, and Wall Street said they can too, though they require us to hand over designated orders as compensation. In addition, SIS also holds some related data, which is already enough."
Her pen tip tapped on the second node of the diagram.
"Then dig up everything he has done in the past, and first look for his dirt."
"It would be best if we can find real dirt; if we cannot..."
She lowered her head to glance at her notes.
"We can also find ways to make others start doubting him."
"Then have the lawmakers here in Japan put pressure on the June 27th incident, preferably pulling the U.S. Congress in as well, and have Saionji-related lawmakers cooperate to launch an inquiry in Congress."
"As long as the people supporting him start feeling that continuing to protect him is too much trouble—"
"Wait."
Satsuki finally reached out and pressed down on the notebook.
Emi raised her head.
"What is it?"
Satsuki looked at the exceptionally detailed relationship diagram, then looked back at her.
"When did you start preparing these things?"
"The day before yesterday."
"..."
"After Coleman was caught, of course."
Emi answered very honestly.
Satsuki lowered her head and turned the page again.
Then her movements paused.
At the very top of this page was another name she did not yet recognize.
Beneath every name followed a complete set of disposal plans.
Not assassination.
Emi had clearly also considered this point—killing people directly was too crude and prone to implicating Saionji.
Therefore, every path she designed first stripped away the target's protective layer, then used commercial, legal, political, or public opinion means to make the opponent fall from their existing position, and only at the very end was the true wrap-up.
The methods varied, and targeted each person's weaknesses differently.
Some plans went through financial audits.
Some plans went through media exposure.
For another person, Emi had even mapped out a timeline of all his public itineraries and private travels over the past three years, finding from them a date range that overlapped with a certain military contractor executive.
Satsuki turned a few more pages, and every single page had a corresponding name.
Some only had a few lines, while others had already mapped out quite complete relationships.
Satsuki was silent for a moment.
No way.
She flipped the notebook back to its side and glanced at its thickness.
"Emi."
"Hm?"
"Could this inside be entirely filled with these kinds of things?"
Emi thought about it.
"Not entirely."
Satsuki was just about to breathe a sigh of relief.
"There are still a few in the back whose names are temporarily unknown; two days is still too short, so I will go back to the company to check later."
"..."
Very well.
This girl was truly prepared to handle them one by one according to the degree of suspicion.
Satsuki suddenly felt somewhat glad that she had run over to the University of Tokyo today.
If she had discovered this notebook half a month later, she would not even be sure to what step Emi had already made contact.
Yet Emi herself felt completely that there was nothing wrong with it.
She also reached out and flipped the notebook back to Arthur's page.
"Therefore, Arthur's side is actually the easiest to handle."
"Although his position is high now, the higher the position, the more relationships need to be maintained. As long as those people feel that the benefits of continuing to support him are not enough—"
"No, we cannot kill Arthur yet."
Satsuki said.
Emi's words stopped.
"...Ah?"
She looked as if she completely did not understand.
"Why?"
Satsuki reached out and took the notebook over.
"Because you just said it yourself."
She leaned back against the bench, slowly turning the pages as she spoke:
"For Arthur to enter the White House from the SEC in such a short time, there must be other forces behind him."
"Mm."
Emi nodded.
"That is why we must tear them apart first. As long as those people ultimately feel that Arthur is not worth saving—"
Speaking to this point, she suddenly stopped.
Satsuki did not urge her.
Emi stared at her for a moment, her eyes suddenly widening.
"Oh!"
She leaned much closer all at once.
"Satsuki-chan means we should not alert the enemy?"
"Finally figured it out?"
Satsuki's face regained a trace of a smile as she took over the words.
"Killing Arthur right now is indeed very easy."
"But if he truly participated in June 27th, then he is currently the uppermost line we can see."
She reached out and tapped gently on that relationship diagram.
"Who supports him."
"Who gives him resources."
"Who knows what he has done."
"Who thinks Saionji should disappear."
"These things have not yet been found out."
Sanshiro Pond was very quiet.
Not far away, a few students happened to pass by the stone path above, laughing and talking, and one of them was carrying a stack of materials brought out from who knows which laboratory.
They glanced over toward the bench.
They only saw two young girls sitting very close together, one holding a notebook while the other was smiling and saying something to her.
No matter how one looked at it, it looked like they were discussing something interesting.
"If Arthur suddenly falls from power now, or even encounters more serious problems—"
Satsuki continued:
"The people truly hiding behind the scenes, as long as they are not stupid, will know that Saionji has already chased them here."
"When that time comes, connections that should be severed will be severed, and people who should disappear will disappear."
"In the end, we might only have a single Arthur left in our hands."
As she spoke, the smile on her face instead grew more and more radiant.
"That would be far too great a loss. To have only a single Arthur die—how could there be such a good thing."
Emi had completely understood.
"Therefore, we must keep him alive for now."
"Mhm."
"Let him continue working and continue contacting those people."
"Correct."
"After finding all the people out, we handle them all together?"
Satsuki turned her head sideways.
Emi was looking at her with an expectant expression.
She could not help reaching out and gently patting that face.
"Why do you make it sound like preparing for a New Year's spring cleaning?"
"It is pretty much the same anyway."
Emi leaned in close again.
"As expected of Satsuki-chan!"
The somewhat gloomy expression from a moment ago had been completely swept away.
"You are so thoughtful!"
"Knowing that is enough."
Satsuki smiled, lowered her head once more, and flipped through the notebook in her hands page by page.
More than a dozen people.
There were still a few pages that only listed institutions without a confirmed name.
Among them were retired intelligence personnel, people from the defense contracting system, as well as Washington consultants and government officials.
If these people ultimately turned out to be related to June 27th...
The temperature in the depths of Satsuki's eyes faded bit by bit.
She did not mind what kind of end these people would ultimately meet.
Whether Arthur died unjustly was never the issue she cared about most.
What she truly could not accept was omissions.
If because of rushing to deal with a single Arthur, she let the person who truly wanted to kill her slip away, that was something she absolutely could not tolerate.
"If the final investigation reveals that it really is Arthur..."
Satsuki's voice was very soft, her finger pausing on that name.
The gunshots of that night on June 27th seemed to briefly sweep past her ears once more.
"Then I will make him regret why he made this decision."
Emi wore a smile on her face, as if her notes being able to help Satsuki made her extremely happy.
"Mm!"
"However, for now."
Satsuki closed the notebook.
"Let him live first."