Death Sentences (17 page)

"It came from Seito?"

"Yes, from the advertising division. They heard that the name of your company, Kirin, came from a painting by Salvador Dali. It's all beyond us, quite frankly. We were actually hoping for some guidance from you in these matters."

(I see ..) Sakakibara nodded inwardly.

At least they know something about Kirin Publishers.

And, judging from the initial conversation, the work had something to do with cultural production.

In which case the request wasn't entirely off the mark.

And even if it was somewhat off the mark, under the current circumstances Kirin Publishers couldn't afford not to take on anything that came their way.

"Sounds good to me," Sakakibara replied. "As for tomorrow, is there any particular place you'd like to meet?"

"That's great news! So, well, it would be great if you could come directly to the Seito department store. . . . And I'd like to meet early, if that's okay by you. I could wait for you at the entrance to the advertising section on the third floor of the Ikebukuro store, just before ten."

"Ten o'clock, on the third floor of the Ikebukuro store?"

"Perfect, I'll see you then."

He hung up.

"Has some new work come our way, boss? Is it really with Hakuden?"

Mishima Keiko had brought him a fresh cup of instant coffee.

"Yeah ... apparently a request from Seito department store."

"What! What would they want with us? They don't want to buy us out, do they?"

Sakakibara sipped his coffee.

"Keiko, could I ask you to come with me tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? But it's a Saturday."

"And at ten in the morning."

Keiko made a face.

"I'd really like you to come. And it's a store we're going to. After the meeting, we can hang out shopping."

"But if we're just going to hang out-"

"It depends on how the meeting goes. If ... if, for instance, they agree to pay us more than five hundred thousand yen, I think maybe there'll be shopping."

"Five hundred thousand? Well, it's pretty much impossible then."

Keiko stuck out her tongue at him.

"But I get it. I'll go with you. And I'll take a day of vacation next week instead."

As it turned out, Sakakibara ended up buying Keiko an Italian handbag the next day. And they had dinner together.

This was because they offered Sakakibara far more than he had expected. Yet, as a consequence, Keiko missed out on taking a day off the next week. There wouldn't be any more days off for her.

2

He had arranged to meet Mishima Keiko at the entrance to Seito department store.

It was Saturday, the 15th of December.

People thronged in front of the store even though it hadn't yet opened. It was the peak of the holiday gift season.

Sakakibara felt rather down about it.

Kirin Publishers would give out year-end bonuses next week. There would be something for everyone but not enough for anyone to feel in the mood for holiday shopping.

In fact, they were thinking about throwing an office party rather than giving bonuses.

It took him awhile to spot Mishima Keiko.

It wasn't because of the crowds.

He wasn't accustomed to seeing her in a dark blue business suit and a beige overcoat.

He'd only seen her in casual clothes. Her appearance took him by surprise. But it was a welcome surprise.

"I hardly recognized you."

Sakakibara's tone conveyed how impressed he was.

"Weren't you the one who told me to wear something proper?"

Keiko laughed, looking him over head to toe, in turn. She nodded in approval.

"You're looking pretty sharp yourself."

Sakakibara stood stiffly in his finest suit.

Unaccustomed to wearing a tie, he felt it choking him.

"As for this-"

Keiko said, opening her coat to show him her outfit.

"It's something that my mother bought for me before graduation, for job interviews. But I've never had an opportunity to wear it-"

Sakakibara had recruited her for Kirin Publishers before she'd had any chance to interview for other jobs.

Sakakibara made a wry smile.

That's surely why he felt so responsible for her.

A responsibility that he intended to live up to in other ways, too-

"Let's go."

It was ten to ten, time for their meeting. Sakakibara steered her toward the entrance.

The main entrance was still locked.

He found a security guard who let them use the employee's entrance.

The area inside the employee's entrance was crawling with clerks getting ready to open.

They finally made their way into the store and took the elevator to the third floor.

Clerks were rushing to and fro there as well.

Department stores may look pleasant and placid to the shopper, but behind the scenes a war rages.

They wandered a while before finding signs for the advertising division, and as they approached, a man dressed sharply in a three-piece suit hurried over to them.

"Mr. Sakakibara?"

"Yes."

"Ah, glad you could make it. The meeting has just begun. I am Tomari, the one who spoke to you on the phone yesterday-"

"Sorry if we kept you waiting."

They hurriedly exchanged business cards.

"And this is ... ?"

Tomari turned to Keiko, looking her over with obvious interest.

Keiko gave him a slight bow and introduced herself.

"My name is Mishima, Mishima Keiko, executive secretary to Mr. Sakakibara. I hope you don't mind if I also attend the meeting today?"

(Executive secretary!?)

That threw Sakakibara in a spin. She was putting on quite a show.

He was painfully aware of her intentions. She was doing her best to bolster Sakakibara, who seemed somewhat overwhelmed by the whole situation.

"Yes, of course. He's lucky to have such a lovely secretary. I'm quite envious. Please, do come in."

The two of them followed Tomari to the meeting room.

Every head turned their way when Tomari opened the door.

It was an expansive room. About twenty men were seated around a large table.

As you'd expect of ad men, they were impeccably dressed and looked sharp as tacks.

In other words, they weren't the sort of guys that you'd expect to see in Sakakibara's circles. And as far as Sakakibara was concerned, they weren't the sort of guys he wanted much contact with.

But it was too late to back out now.

And in any event-he'd promised to hear them out.

Two seats had been left open for them.

"This is Mr. Sakakibara, president of Kirin Publishers, and his executive secretary, Ms. Mishima."

Tomari introduced them.

Some of the men nodded.

Some of them stared openly at Keiko.

Copies of the project dossier were handed to Sakakibara and Keiko.

On the cover, stamped as confidential, was written "Seito Marketing Group Autumn Cultural Venture Plans: The Twentieth-Century Avant-Garde Art Exposition."

Leafing through the pages, he found the section devoted to Kirin Publishers:

"Kirin Publishers: stock value: Yioo,ooo; number of employees: five with the president; address: Takada-no-baba, Shinjuku; ... primary mission is the publication of translations to introduce contemporary foreign art, especially poetry and criticism, with emphasis on France. Responsible for Kirin Quarterly. Special issues include Deformations ofArt: Contemporary Surrealism, The Alchemist's Beard: A Tribute to Dali, and Finger Winter (poems). On Tsujimi's recommendation, their staff is ideally suited to this campaign. To be negotiated."

Sweat began to bead on Sakakibara's forehead.

They knew all there was to know about Kirin Publishers. They knew everything and were still interested in negotiating with him.

Nonetheless ... the part about "on Tsujimi's recommendation" concerned him. Tsujimi was Tsujimi Yujiro, general owner of the Seito Group. He was reputed to be an art connoisseur. Apparently, he had focused his interests on literature, too.

"Well, then, I would like first to thank you for taking the time to attend this meeting, our second, concerning the Autumn Cultural Venture. Now ..."

The meeting began with this introduction by the director of the Eighteenth Division who was serving as project leader on the Hakuden Agency side, and then Seito Advertising presented the agenda for the day.

It was only later that Sakakibara learned who was who. At the time he had absolutely no idea who was the client and who was the agent.

They simply launched into the meeting without any such introductions.

In other words-even though they had been invited, there seemed no reason for them to be there.

With the exception of an occasional glance at Keiko from one of the young men, no one seemed particularly interested in their being there.

The next item on the agenda was the budget report.

There was a seemingly endless list of figures related to media, for television and newspaper coverage.

Sakakibara gradually became irritated.

And anger followed.

It just wasn't right to call them out on a Saturday morning without a word of explanation and leave them sitting around.

He was tempted to walk out.

Had he been alone, he probably would have. He didn't really care what they thought of him. Besides, the job had come out of nowhere. Since he hadn't been counting on it anyway, why put up with this?

In any case, he didn't like their way of going about it.

What sort of negotiation could there be, if it just amounted to tracking down some company and writing it into their plan?

It seemed clear that they thought "negotiation" meant they'd call and he'd come running, and that's what really pissed him off.

But Keiko was there.

If he acted like a child, she'd be embarrassed, too. And so he managed to behave himself.

Still, she must be feeling pretty annoyed, too.

Sakakibara bit his lip.

He focused the presentation on the writing board, staring at the rows of astronomically high figures.

Then it happened.

The door to the meeting room swung open.

He heard a voice.

"The president has arrived."

Silence fell over the room.

A moment later, with the grating of chair legs, everyone stood up.

Sakakibara instinctively followed suit and stood up. Keiko got up, too, smoothing the wrinkles from her skirt.

There-

The one they called "president" flew into the room as if on wings.

It was Tsujimi Yujiro.

Sakakibara recognized him from his media appearances.

He looked younger and somewhat smaller than on TV. But he was even more energetic in person.

"Please, everyone, take your seats-"

His voice was strong and clear.

As he spoke, Tsujimi advanced to the front of the room and turned to face them.

"Thanks for coming. We're onto the fall plans?"

"Exactly! Mr. President, we'd like to thank you at this time for considering Hakuden Agency-"

With a wave of his hand, Tsujimi cut short the stiff salutations by the head of the agency and looked over the room.

"By the way, is the head of Kirin Publishers, Mr. Sakakibara, here?"

"Um, yes."

It was Tomari's turn to jump to his feet.

"He's right here, sir."

Sakakibara stood and bowed for good measure.

"I'm Sakakibara."

He introduced himself bluntly.

Tsujimi broke into a big smile in response.

"Hello! What a pleasure. I am Tsujimi. Good to meet you. I am a great fan of your business. I've had the pleasure of reading every work you've published. You do truly fine work. But-how are sales? Sorry, I hope you'll forgive my bluntness. It doesn't matter, does it? If great books were sold in great volume, that would be the end of it. It wouldn't be a great book anymore. That's the standard. We do business with the masses, so we know something about it. Of course, bad products won't sell. That's clear enough. That's the standard. Every generation has its standards. If you go below it or above it, you won't sell. That's why we're putting so much effort into cultural ventures. If you're just selling, it's no good. You have to return to basics. You make money with the standard and invest on top of it. If you don't, the standard itself will drop. And that's not good for business. You have to aim a little higher, you need to set trends. Distribution alone is no good. You'll be beaten by specialty stores. And so we have to take initiative to protect high-quality goods that don't turn an immediate profit. This is our position. And that's the way I think we have to look at the market today-"

Everyone listened attentively to his "views."

Some of them were bobbing their heads earnestly.

(What the hell!)

Sakakibara wearily lowered his head.

(The masses? Standards? Back to basics!?)

He looked over at Keiko whose hands were trembling on her knees. She was trying to repress a fit of laughter. Even more than the president's speech itself, it was watching Sakakibara's reaction to it that struck her as funny.

Seeing this took a load off his mind.

It was foolish to get angry over it.

He no longer cared how it turned out.

They have their business, and we have ours, regardless of how much we sell.

He felt much calmer.

Sakakibara raised his head.

"By the way-"

Tsujimi was speaking to a well-built man next to him who looked like an executive.

"Have you worked out the budget for Kirin Publishers?"

"Yes, here are the figures we've come up with."

The man handed a slip of paper to Tsujimi and indicated the figure.

"I see ... hmm ..."

Tsujimi cocked his head. Then he spoke.

"That's fine. Okay, then, let's go with this. You have five employees at Kirin, don't you, Mr. Sakakibara? Fifteen million yen for your services for one year, plus an additional twenty million yen for editorial and publishing fees. How does that sound? And if you're short on staff, Hakuden Agency can lend a hand-what do you think?"