"Minister, the meeting has begun." The adjutant waited for Minister Sidao to look away before saying.
"Okay."
The mansion that "took care" of Takeo's real bow was located next to the Osaka Penitentiary. It was not only for safety, but also a ticking time bomb.
As the central hub of the Osaka government, after the giant Buddha incident, the entire Osaka Penitentiary was surrounded by all kinds of police officers and Self-Defense Forces. Police cars and armored vehicles formed a steel wall, as if a war was coming.
Before entering the penitentiary, Sidao saw a group of demonstrators blocking all the exits of the penitentiary. Fortunately, the relationship between the citizens and the police of the Island Nation was relatively harmonious. The two parties did not openly fight in front of the penitentiary, but the signs held by the demonstrators were frightening.
The word "truth" was written in big blood-red letters, and the white scarves tied around their heads were also written with the word "truth". Unlike most demonstrations, which were participated by the elderly, there were many young and middle-aged people gathered in front of the Osaka Penitentiary. The political participation of the Island Nation was inversely proportional to their age. The younger they were, the less they cared about these political matters. This demonstration showed that the giant Buddha had indeed stimulated the nerves of many people.
"Truth, we want the truth!"
"What are you all hiding!"
"Truth!
Truth! "
"The Buddha has descended, and a great disaster will begin. Those who do not believe in Buddha will be sent to the boundless hell."
Among the shouting of the crowd, there were voices from some religious groups. The arrogant words of these religious people were particularly unpleasant to the ears of Sidao. Limited by laws and entangled interests, evil cults were saline-alkali land that was difficult to uproot on the land of the Island Nation. Sidao had a feeling that if the supernatural situation continued to erupt and worsen, these evil cults would bring great trouble. As a person who maintained national security, he needed to smash these annoying bugs to death with an iron fist.
"Minister, let's go in."
Walking into the chaotic penitentiary with the adjutant, the meeting room was dead silent and solemn.
Both sides of the long oval table were filled with officials from Osaka and Tokyo. Among them were cabinet members representing the Prime Minister. Everyone's face was incomparably heavy.
No matter how chaotic the situation was, basic etiquette was still necessary. After a group of officials greeted each other, the official from Osaka was the first to stand up with a face full of grievance.
"This supernatural incident has caused a huge loss of property and people in Osaka!"
"Ninety-five houses have been damaged. A large area of transportation facilities and electric systems have been damaged. More than a hundred ordinary citizens and police officers have been injured or killed. The direct economic losses and compensation have reached more than seventy billion.
Fortunately, the battle had taken place in the middle of the day. If it had taken place in the middle of the night, when everyone was sleeping soundly in their houses, the number of casualties would have increased by several folds!
"There's also the subsequent blow to local investment in Osaka, and the shrinking of the local market …"
In today's dynamic economy, the indirect consequences of war were even more terrifying than the direct damage of war. Many modern countries only lost a few billion or tens of billions of dollars in war, but in the end, it caused the country's economic situation to be in turmoil. Hundreds of billions of dollars directly evaporated, the country disintegrated, the government collapsed, and the people became homeless.
As the statistics were released, the faces of all parties at the meeting became more and more solemn. The money would be shared by Osaka and Tokyo if nothing went wrong.
"But these situations could have been avoided."
The Osaka official who spoke suddenly changed the topic and looked at Yoto, especially Shuroshima Seimei who was sitting upright. "This is a man-made disaster, not a natural disaster!"
Shuroshima Seimei had been in low spirits since she walked into the meeting room. Hearing the Osaka official's words, she understood that the other party was going to fire at her.
"Based on the analysis of Moribe Takeo's actions, he is an ordinary person who has just obtained superpowers. His actions are also to maintain the fairness and justice of society, saving the dying and helping the injured, and robbing the evil to help the poor. Although his actions are a bit radical, he has the same demands as the government. It's not an exaggeration to say that he is our natural partner."
"But because of the radical contact of a certain department in Yoto, it directly stimulated Moribe Takeo's nerves, causing him to kill. Later, he made the wrong choice to fight with Moribe Takeo, which led to the fight in the residential area …"
The official kept blaming the appearance of Tamamo no Mae and Bodhisattva on the Fifth Chancellor. A big pot pressed down on Shuroshima Seimei, making her unable to lift her head.
Minister Sidao looked elegant and easy-going on the surface, but as the chief officer of the Violence Department, he was not a person who was easy to deal with. As the official in Yoto who was only second to the cabinet minister, Sidao stood up without shirking his responsibility.
He coughed heavily with a calm face. "I think this happened because Osaka's intelligence is too slow. Moribe Takeo has shown extraordinary power in many places in Osaka for many days, and there are even related hot discussions on the Internet, but our department did not receive any relevant information until Moribe Takeo killed people on the street, and our headquarters in Yoto received the information from thousands of miles away."
"I have to wonder how Osaka's intelligence system is formed, and even if there is a possibility that Osaka knows the truth but did not report it."
Since you can blame me for not doing my job well, then are you clean?
"You …"
Sidao's words vaguely pointed out the Osaka government's scheme, and the meeting gradually evolved into an interaction between the two parties, but Shuroshima Seimei was ignored and marginalized.
In the end, they barely managed to discuss some useful things. First, they did not deny the incident of the Osaka giant Buddha, and Osaka and the local authorities would jointly raise Takeo Makoto. They would thoroughly investigate all the temples in Osaka to see if there was a statue similar to the Bodhisattva that day. They would collect as much Ethereal Wood as possible, and forbid the sale of it, especially to foreign countries!
With the political inclination of the small central region of Japan, the attending officials were well aware that this wasn't something that could be resolved in one or two meetings. The first meeting was just to set the tone, and there were still a few more meetings to be held.
After the meeting, Sidao stopped Shuroshima Seimei.
"Shuroshima."
"Yes." Shuroshima Seimei was like a frosted eggplant.
"This matter … we'll calculate the gains and losses when we return to Tokyo. For now, you stay in Osaka and deal with the aftermath."
Sidao patted Shuroshima Seimei's shoulder. "There's no need to think so much, just focus on the task at hand."
"Yes."
Shuroshima Seimei returned to the temporary office with her eyes wide open.
From what the director said, it seemed like she did not need to resign?
The director was such a respectable, elegant, and easygoing person.
"Director."
In the office, Shiroda Yuki saw Shuroshima walk in and called out happily, "We're rich!
The Ethereal Wood was sold for a lot of money! "
"Even if I'm fired, I don't need to worry about my pension!"
"Foreigners are so rich!"