She adjusted her posture, turned her body fully toward President Kenjiro Sato, lowered her hands to her sides in the traditional stance of formal address, and opened her mouth.
When Maya spoke, her voice dropped into a pitch and register that stunned everyone in the room.
It was not the basic, halting Japanese of a tourist or a casual student. It was Keigo—specifically Kenjougo and Sonkeigo—the elevated, honorific language reserved exclusively for the Japanese Imperial Court, high diplomatic summits, and executive boardrooms of the oldest corporate dynasties. Her pronunciation bore the unmistakable, razor-sharp cadence of Tokyo’s elite legal circles.
「サトウ社長、初めまして。リンと申します。ヴァンス氏のあまりにも非礼な態度に対し、心より深くお詫び申し上げます。」
(President Sato, it is an absolute honor to meet you for the first time. My name is Lin. I offer you my most profound and sincere apologies for Mr. Vance’s utterly unrefined rudeness.)
Kenjiro Sato’s hand froze mid-air. His eyes, which had been dull with fatigue and polite patience all evening, widened in absolute, unadulterated shock. He sat up instantly, his spine straightening like a steel rod.
Arthur Vance’s smug smile flickered, turning slightly brittle at the edges. He couldn't understand a single syllable, but the sheer fluidity, authority, and tone of Maya’s voice hit him like a physical slap to the face.
"What..." Arthur stammered, looking sideways at Hiroshi. "What is she saying? Hey! Translate!"
Hiroshi didn't translate. His mouth was hanging open, his face pale as chalk, his eyes fixed on Maya as if he were looking at an apparition.
Maya did not pause. She took a step closer to the counter, her eyes locked onto Sato’s, delivering her second and third sentences with devastating precision:
「しかし、ビジネスの話を正式に進める前に、私から貴社にお伝えしなければならない極めて重大な事項がございます。ヴァンス・グローバル・キャピタルが提示している契約構造は、純粋な詐欺行為でございます。」
(However, before you proceed any further with these formal negotiations, there is a matter of critical gravity that I must convey to your company. The contract structure presented by Vance Global Capital is a construct of pure fraud.)
「ヴァンス氏は、買収成立後30日以内に、高知県にある貴社の主要工場の特許権を分離・売却し、施設そのものを清算・解体する隠蔽計画を既に策定しております。」
(Mr. Vance has already drawn up a concealed operational schedule to strip the patent rights from your primary Kochi facility and liquidate the physical plant entirely within thirty days of closing.)
"Hey! Stop her!" Arthur shouted, slamming his hand onto the table, his whisky sloshing over the glass. "What the hell is she saying, Hiroshi?! Tell her to shut up!"
Hiroshi was trembling so violently he could barely hold his pen. "Mr. Vance... she... she is using high-court Japanese... she’s... she’s explaining the Kochi liquidation schedule..."
Arthur’s heart gave a violent, sickening thud. "What?!"
Maya’s voice rose slightly, carrying through the silent air of the restaurant like a sharp steel blade, delivering her fourth, fifth, and sixth sentences without a single moment of hesitation:
「さらに重要なこととして、彼らが提示した4億4000万ドルのエスクロー口座は、先週連邦検察官および証券取引委員会によって完全に凍結されました。」
(Furthermore, and most critically, the $440 million escrow account they have presented to you was completely frozen late last week by federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission.)
「この契約書に署名すれば、タカシマヤは資金を一切受け取れないまま資産を失い、破産へと追い込まれることになります。職人の皆様の雇用も完全に失われます。」
(If you sign this agreement, Takashimaya will lose its assets without receiving a single dollar of liquidity, driving the firm into immediate bankruptcy and throwing all of your master craftsmen out onto the street.)
Silence fell over the room—a silence so heavy, so absolute, that the only sound was the faint hum of the refrigeration unit behind the sushi bar.