Chapter 18: Volume 1, - 18: The Offer He Refused
Ren had left the depot without answering Kenji’s offer. When he returned at eight-thirty on Thursday morning, the thick manila envelope was still waiting on the metal desk.
Kenji rested one heavy hand over it. "I’ll say it again. You take what’s here. Tell the estate administrator the rest isn’t collectible and offer this as full settlement. The account closes, I keep the depot open, and nobody wastes another month chasing money that isn’t there."
Ren’s chest tightened as he stared at the edge of the envelope. His fingers twitched inside his coat pockets.
Rent. Food that had not been marked down at closing. Shoes that did not pinch every time he walked. The list came so quickly that Ren hated himself for it. His hand wanted the envelope.
"Why make it complicated?" Kenji pushed the envelope an inch closer, paper rustling against the metal top. "Push for all of it now and I close. The drivers go home. The estate gets nothing."
Ren forced his eyes away from the paper and swallowed down the bitter taste of temptation. "I can’t sign off on that, Wada-san."
Kenji’s jaw set hard. "You won’t take cash?"
"I want it," Ren admitted. Heat rose to his ears as the words hung between them. "That’s the problem. It isn’t mine to settle. I need legal advice before I promise anything."
Kenji pulled the envelope back into the drawer with a harsh click of the latch. "Then don’t waste my time until you know what you’re allowed to do."
At two o’clock on Thursday afternoon, Ren sat across from Aoi Tachibana in a privately booked consultation room near the local court building. The court itself was closed for the Emperor’s Birthday, and the surrounding government offices had their shutters down. Aoi had agreed to the holiday meeting only after warning him that anything requiring the estate administrator would have to wait until Friday.
Her battered black legal folder lay flat between them. Aoi opened the account record beside Ren’s handwritten notes, pulled out a fountain pen, and drew four headings across a blank sheet of paper: ESTATE CLAIM, SETTLEMENT, CONSULTING FEE, REN.
"These do not touch," she said.
Her pen tapped the first heading. "Anything Wada-san pays reduces this claim. It does not become yours." She tapped the last heading. "Your personal creditors remain your problem."
Ren stared at the middle two categories. "Then what can I offer him?"
"Nothing by yourself," Aoi said, setting her pen down with precise care. "You can propose terms. The estate administrator decides whether to accept them."
"What if he pays part now," Ren said, leaning forward, "say, forty thousand yen as an initial payment, and then twenty thousand a month for nineteen months? That covers the whole four hundred and twenty thousand yen principal."
Aoi wrote the figures cleanly beneath the first category. "The arithmetic works," Aoi said. "It can be presented as a proposal. Whether Wada-san can afford it still has to be checked against his records."
"We could review the route records after the first three monthly instalments have been paid," Ren added. "If the test improves things—"
"The debt cannot depend on your test succeeding," she said. "The review may examine whether the payment schedule remains realistic based on his actual records. It cannot promise profit or automatically adjust what he owes."
Ren hesitated. He pulled his notepad closer. "And if he misses a payment? We include a line giving the estate approval over route changes and unrestricted access to Wada-san’s operating records until he catches up."
Aoi picked up a red pencil and drew a thick line through his note. "No. A missed payment earns notice, time to correct it, and lawful collection if necessary. It does not make the estate his manager."
Aoi turned to a clean page and wrote NON-BINDING TERM OUTLINE across the top. She recorded a ¥40,000 initial payment, leaving ¥380,000 to be repaid through nineteen monthly instalments of ¥20,000. Wada Delivery would attach a short monthly summary of mileage, fuel spending and invoiced delivery revenue. No penalty interest would be added while the payments and reports remained current.
After the first three monthly instalments, the records could be reviewed, but the review would not automatically reduce the balance or change the payment amount. Subject to approval from Kenji’s accountant and the estate administrator, formal signing and the initial transfer would take place on Friday.
Aoi dated the outline, copied it, and handed one version to Ren.
She pulled out her ledger, calculated her fee, and issued the consultation invoice. Ren paid it from his personal account.
"That covers today," she said. She handed Ren the receipt and filed the duplicate inside her black folder. "Drafting the formal agreement will be separate. The estate administrator must approve these terms before I prepare anything binding."
Ren stepped outside the court building, pulled out his mobile phone, and called Kenji. He asked the older man to meet him at Okada Stationery before closing. Kenji answered with a short, rough grunt and ended the call.
Later that afternoon, Ren walked toward the local shopping street to deliver the document. The cold air burned his throat, and his shoulder still throbbed from carrying boxes the previous morning.
Near the corner bakery, Suzune was outside, setting fresh loaves into the display stand. She looked up as his heavy footsteps approached.
"Kisaragi-san," she called out, setting a tray aside. "You look like tired."
Ren paused by the wooden railing. "Mostly I learned how many things I’m not allowed to do."
Suzune tilted her head, observing the tired lines around his eyes. "Is the shop work getting worse?"
"Some of it isn’t shop work," Ren said. He looked through the bakery window instead of at her. "My father left money problems behind. I keep finding pieces of them."
Suzune’s hands stilled over the bread tray. "And today was one of those pieces?"
"Partly."
More words pressed against the back of his teeth: university, creditors, the envelope waiting in Kenji’s drawer. He kept them there.
"Okay," she said softly. "You don’t have to tell me more."
Flour dusted the inside of her wrist. For one stupid second, Ren imagined reaching over and brushing it away. He shoved both hands deeper into his coat pockets instead. He wanted to stay beside the warm bakery window and listen to her talk about anything unrelated to debt. Fumie was waiting, and wanting another five minutes did not create them.
"You should eat before you go," Suzune added, giving him a light, encouraging nod. "You look terrible."
"Thank you for the encouragement, Akiyama-san," Ren said, a faint smile touching his lips as he turned back toward the main avenue.
His phone buzzed before he reached the corner.
Suzune: Eat something before you start another fight with paperwork.
Ren: It wasn’t a fight.
Suzune: Then paperwork won very easily.
Ren looked back over his shoulder. Suzune was arranging the bread again, apparently unaware that she had made him smile.
When Ren reached Okada Stationery, Fumie Okada was sweeping the tiles near the front door. Kenji Wada stood leaning against the wrapping counter in the back, staring glumly into an untouched cup of tea.
Ren laid Aoi’s non-binding term outline on the counter between them.
"These are proposed terms," Ren said, addressing Kenji directly. "¥40,000 first, then ¥20,000 a month for nineteen months. Payments go directly to the estate account, with a short route summary each month. There’s no penalty interest while you keep up with both."
He tapped the review clause. "After the first three monthly instalments, the records can be reviewed. That doesn’t reduce anything automatically. Your accountant checks the outline first, and the estate administrator has the final say."
Kenji looked over the page, his rough thumb tracing the clean outline drawn by Aoi’s pen. "You really took this to a lawyer."
"I said I would."
Kenji folded the paper once. "You could’ve taken the cash."
Ren looked at his hands. "I nearly did."
Kenji grunted, sliding the folded outline into his jacket pocket. "I’ll take it to my accountant tonight."
Fumie set her broom against the wall. "That gives Kenji something to take to his accountant. Now we deal with your trial."
Ren turned to face her. "Okada-san?"
"Tomorrow is Friday," Fumie said. "We run the cutoff, the handling charges and the exception log."
She tapped the test sheet.
"Give me something I can actually use before I close tomorrow, and I’ll pay you ¥30,000. Give me academic nonsense, and you get nothing."