June 28th, 8:30 AM.
Prime Minister's Official Residence.
When Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu walked into the meeting room, it was already packed with people.
The Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, the Director-General of the Criminal Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, the Deputy Commissioner-General of the National Police Agency, representatives from the North American Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, plus several official residence staff responsible for parliamentary liaison—hardly any chairs on either side of the long table were empty.
Toshiki Kaifu walked tiredly to the main seat and sat down.
In front of him lay an urgent report summary sent overnight by the Metropolitan Police Department.
The cover was printed with the two characters "Top Secret," and underneath was a very short title: "Overview of the Armed Attack Incident in Shinjuku Ward on June 27th."
He opened the first page, scanned a few lines, and closed it.
He already knew everything he needed to know, even earlier than this urgent report.
Last night, when he received the first phone call, he was still reviewing documents in the study on the second floor of the Prime Minister's Official Residence.
The call was made by his secretary.
He only said one sentence: Saionji Satsuki's motorcade was subjected to an armed attack in Shinjuku, using automatic weapons and explosives.
Toshiki Kaifu stood holding the receiver for about ten seconds at that time.
Probably only being struck by lightning could describe Toshiki Kaifu at that moment.
Someone dared to openly attack that formidable woman with guns in the streets of Tokyo?
He pressed the receiver tightly against his ear; if he heard the words "Satsuki confirmed death" again, his world would collapse.
Fortunately, after the other person finished that sentence, there was the wonderful sound of a busy signal.
After confirming that it had not reached the worst-case scenario, Toshiki Kaifu hung up the phone somewhat exhaustedly.
Then the first thing he thought of was not "public security has a problem" or "boryokudan are making trouble again."
What he thought of was—
"If she dies, what will I do."
This thought was too direct, and even seemed somewhat unseemly given the stance of a prime minister, but Toshiki Kaifu really thought that way.
Because Saionji Satsuki was alive, he was prime minister.
The funds she provided supported his political operations.
The intra-party relationships she smoothed out for him remained the most important foundation for him to secure his position.
The business community she represented was even his most important vote base; goodness knows how many voters were directly related to Saionji Industrial alone.
If Satsuki was gone, all these things would begin to collapse in a very short time.
Fortunately, subsequent news trickled back.
Alive, unshot, already sent to the hospital by helicopter.
Only then did Toshiki Kaifu loosen his hand from the edge of the table.
But after loosening up, what floated up next was even more giving people a headache.
Starting from 1:00 AM, over at Seiichiro Isokawa, who was responsible for handling Saionji-related contacts for the Prime Minister's Official Residence, the phone calls had never truly stopped.
Too many people called.
Moreover, the broad distribution of sources allowed Toshiki Kaifu to almost see a complete Saionji relationship map from it.
The first to come were several intra-party Parliament members closely related to the Saionji Family.
Their tune was surprisingly consistent: Has the Prime Minister's Official Residence grasped the situation? Who is in charge of the investigation? What actions does the government plan to take?
Next was Keidanren.
Although no one directly mentioned Saionji's name, what could be read in the wording could not be clearer— "The economic circles are extremely concerned about Tokyo's security environment" "Hoping the government ascertains the truth as soon as possible and makes a public response."
Then came the banks.
Sumitomo's executive director called at 11:00 PM last night, asking whether the operation of the Saionji Group would be affected, as well as "whether the government has any additional security guarantee measures."
Afterwards, it became even more mixed.
Insurance companies, securities firms, several large manufacturing enterprises cooperating with Saionji—it was as if the whole world had gone mad and sought them out.
The interests of these people varied.
Banks cared about asset security and credit stability, enterprises cared about whether cooperation projects would continue, Parliament members cared about whether their position within the party would change due to Saionji's attitude, and the media had already smelled the policy shift this matter might trigger.
But when everyone asked till the end, it boiled down to just one meaning.
The heir of the Saionji Family was attacked with military weapons in Tokyo.
What does the Japanese government plan to do?
Toshiki Kaifu probably also knew how many of these calls were genuinely worried about Satsuki, how many were making a fuss over nothing, and how many were just afraid of standing in the wrong position.
But regardless of the motive, the pressure had solidly landed on this table of the Prime Minister's Official Residence.
"First, let us confirm the latest status at the scene." The Chief Cabinet Secretary spoke first, looking at the Deputy Commissioner-General of the National Police Agency.
The Deputy Commissioner-General of the National Police Agency opened the document at hand.
"As of 6:00 AM this morning, the Metropolitan Police Department has controlled a total of eleven suspects at the scene, all of Japanese nationality."
"Among them, seven have been confirmed to have direct ties to the Washio-gumi, a subordinate organization of the Sumiyoshi-kai, while the identities and organizational affiliations of the other four are still being verified."
He paused slightly.
"In addition, six people involved in the case fled the scene during the firefight. According to the information provided by the Saionji security department and preliminary judgment of items left at the scene, these six are foreign nationals holding passports from multiple countries, and their entry channels are currently being investigated."
"The Saionji side provided information?" asked the Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission.
"It was provided at the very first moment." The tone of the Deputy Commissioner-General of the National Police Agency when answering was somewhat subtle. "Including identity clues of some suspects already grasped by their internal intelligence department beforehand, and the firefight records of the on-site security personnel. The speed was faster than we expected."
The meeting room was quiet for two or three seconds.
For a private intelligence agency to actually be faster than the official speed made them lose face somewhat.
However, considering that it was Saionji, it also became reasonable.
The Chief Cabinet Secretary flipped through another material in front of him. "From 6:00 AM this morning to now, how many contacts has the Prime Minister's Official Residence received in total?"
The staff member responsible for parliamentary liaison opened the notebook in his hand that was already filled with writing.
"Forty-seven official phone calls. Including direct contacts from twelve House of Representatives member offices and nine House of Peers member offices. In addition, seven financial institutions expressed concern to the Prime Minister's Official Residence through different channels."
He turned a page of the notebook.
"Among them, three Parliament members clearly stated over the phone that they hope the Parliament will discuss the revision of the anti-boryokudan act as soon as possible. Two Parliament members put forward preliminary ideas regarding the 'Special Protection System for Important Private Figures.' And there is another..."
The staff member glanced at Toshiki Kaifu.
"Another Parliament member directly cited data on the Saionji Group's contributions to Japan's employment, exports, and technological development over the past five years, suggesting that the Prime Minister's Official Residence take this incident as an opportunity to re-examine the state's security guarantee responsibility for important economic entities."
After this sentence was finished, the expressions of quite a few people at the table changed.
Toshiki Kaifu knew who that Parliament member was.
In the election three years ago, more than 40% of the campaign funds in that constituency came from enterprise groups closely related to Saionji.
The problem was that Parliament members with similar backgrounds were far more than just this one.
Over the past few years, Saionji's interests had penetrated too many levels of Japan's economic structure.
Banks needed Saionji's deposits and transactions, manufacturing enterprises relied on its procurement and technological cooperation, regional economic circles gained taxes and employment through its investment, and political figures obtained funds and information from its relational network.
The interests of these people did not completely overlap, and usually they even frequently held each other back for their respective demands.
But after that string of gunshots last night woke everyone up simultaneously, the speed at which they exerted force in the same direction was much faster than Toshiki Kaifu had anticipated.
They were not asking "Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, what do you plan to do."
What they were asking was—
"The heir of the Saionji Family was attacked with military weapons on the streets of Tokyo; what kind of response is the Japanese government prepared to give?"
The weight of this question was completely different from the government's response to any public safety incident.
Toshiki Kaifu picked up the teacup in front of him, took a sip, and put it down.
"The on-site investigation will continue to be handled by the Metropolitan Police Department and the Public Security Department; do not be affected by the urging of external public opinion, and investigate as long as it takes."
What he spoke were standard words. Everyone at the table could also hear that the prime minister had not yet reached the part he truly wanted to say.
Sure enough, Toshiki Kaifu paused for another few seconds.
"However, there are a few things that need to be pushed forward as soon as possible."
He looked at the Chairman of the Public Safety Commission.
"First, regarding the reinforcement issue of the anti-boryokudan act, people within the party are already raising it. Do not suppress it."
Toshiki Kaifu looked at the Deputy Commissioner-General of the National Police Agency.
"This law has not yet been formally implemented, and now that this kind of thing has happened, the National Police Agency should first review whether there are any omissions in the original framework."
"The disciplinary responsibility of upper-level organizations toward subordinate groups, weapons sources, affiliated companies, and the issue of overseas personnel entering Japan to engage in activities through boryokudan can all be included in the discussion."
The Deputy Commissioner-General of the National Police Agency nodded.
Toshiki Kaifu then looked at the Director-General of the Criminal Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Justice.
"As for the part concerning automatic weapons, explosives, and foreign armed personnel, how they should be handled separately according to existing criminal laws, and whether obvious gaps have been exposed due to this incident, will be compiled by the Ministry of Justice."
The Director-General of the Criminal Affairs Bureau lowered his head and took notes.
"First find out the problems; now is not the time to rush to name the law."
"Second." Toshiki Kaifu looked at the representative of the North American Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Regarding the part involving foreign personnel, communication with the U.S. side cannot be dragged out."
"No matter what channels these people ultimately entered Japan through, as long as it is confirmed that they have U.S. nationality or have historical connections with the U.S. intelligence system, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must be prepared."
The representative of the North American Bureau recorded it down.
"Third—"
Toshiki Kaifu's fingers holding the teacup tapped gently on the rim of the cup twice.
"This afternoon, if anyone within the party proposes a discussion regarding the security permissions, equipment of important enterprises in major security incidents, and the cooperative mechanism with the national security system, do not stop them."
This sentence made several people raise their heads simultaneously.
The Chief Cabinet Secretary's expression twitched slightly. "Prime Minister, if this aspect is publicly discussed now, the media might interpret it as the government tacitly approving the expansion of private armed forces—"
"That is why it is 'discussion'." Toshiki Kaifu put down the teacup. "Discussion does not equal a conclusion. But if we do not even allow discussion to start, Parliament members will find other occasions to talk about it themselves. Rather than letting them talk at cross-purposes on television, it is better to guide them into official channels."
He did not make the words more direct.
But everyone present could hear—rather than saying these arrangements were policy directions that the Kaifu Cabinet actively wanted to promote, it was more like the Prime Minister's Official Residence had already judged that if the government did not act proactively, those political forces with interest connections to Saionji would sooner or later push these things forward.
By that time, the Prime Minister's Official Residence would not even be able to control the tempo.
If they voluntarily relaxed control now, they could still barely grasp the direction and speed.
Toshiki Kaifu finally glanced at the cover of that urgent report summary.
"Also, over at Mr. Seiichiro Isokawa's side, the Prime Minister's Official Residence will send people to deliver flowers to the hospital today."
Everyone understood.
The Chief Cabinet Secretary immediately noted it down.
Who the flowers were sent to went without saying.