Chapter 74: The Market Opens

On the morning of August 13th, the Tokyo Stock Exchange opened for trading.

The stock price of Japan Airlines, which had closed at 2,530 yen the previous day, plummeted.

In the blink of an eye, it had fallen to 2,450 yen, and this was clearly not the end.

The downward-sloping line was still plunging into a deeper abyss.

– Miss Yamagami…

Early in the morning, Sachi Ken’ichi called Seiko Yamagami’s number.

However, once the call connected, he found himself at a loss for words.

‘A passenger plane has crashed in Okutama!’

Although information didn’t travel as fast in this era, and detailed news reports had yet to air on television, with only a few morning news segments mentioning the plane crash in Okutama, the capital market always had a keen sense of smell.

The immediate collapse of JAL’s stock price at the market’s opening already spoke volumes.

Sachi Ken’ichi was bewildered.

How could this have happened?

Why had Japan Airlines suddenly encountered such a black swan event?

Could spiritualism really be effective?

‘This is so unscientific!’

“You should know what to do now, right?” Seiko didn’t offer any explanation, her tone calm.

– I know. I will continue the short-selling operations. But the stock price is dropping too dramatically right now. I’m afraid it will be very difficult to borrow shares at this juncture.

“Naked short selling. You can do naked short selling,” Seiko reminded him.

– Naked short selling…

Sachi Ken’ichi paused for a moment, then responded,

– Understood.

Naked short selling refers to the practice of selling shares that do not exist in the market without first borrowing them.

The process of short selling can be broken down into three steps: first, borrow the shares; second, sell the shares; and third, buy back and return the shares.

However, in the current securities trading market, when a person lists shares for trade, it is equivalent to a vegetable seller putting up a sign with “vegetable name and price” at the market.

The market doesn’t verify whether the person actually has the “vegetables” in hand.

Therefore, for a person to perform the action of “selling shares,” they don’t necessarily need to hold the shares themselves.

In fact, even when a transaction is made, the vegetable seller might not actually need to have the vegetables.

Due to systemic reasons, stock transactions at the stock exchange were not instantaneous.

For example, the Tokyo Stock Exchange at that time used a T+3 settlement system, which means that the transaction is settled within three days of being made.

Therefore, a naked short seller only needs to borrow the shares within these three days.

However, the naked short-selling operation Seiko instructed Sachi Ken’ichi to carry out clearly wouldn’t even require the subsequent borrowing of shares, because with JAL’s stock price collapsing, there was an eighty percent chance that no one would buy the listed shares anyway.

Sachi Ken’ichi understood this as well. His naked short selling was merely an operation to drive down the stock price.

“Hmm, a plane exploded?”

Miyazaki, who had stayed over at Seiko’s house last night, also woke up.

She sat lazily on the bed, turned on the TV, and looked for a morning drama to watch.

The first thing she saw was the NHK news.

A reporter was interviewing an officer from the Self-Defense Forces about the plane crash.

Behind the officer was the Okutama mountain range.

Faced with the reporter’s pressing questions, the officer stated unequivocally that they had declined assistance from the US military and would conduct the search and rescue of the victims themselves.

However, watching this news, Seiko felt a sense of speechlessness.

The news had not yet reported on last night’s rescue situation, but Seiko knew that these Self-Defense Forces members had slept even more soundly than she had.

In reality, after the crash yesterday evening, it was the US military stationed in Japan that first discovered the crash and initiated a rescue operation in the area.

But the rescue operation had just begun when they were advised to leave by the Self-Defense Forces, who stated they would handle the rescue themselves.

As a result, Japan’s own Self-Defense Forces’ rescue team arrived a full three hours late.

The belated aerial rescue team of the Japan Self-Defense Forces flew a circle over the crash site in the mountains, saw no victims, and then left, bringing back the message to the ground rescue team that “no survivors were found.”

“No survivors found” was roughly equivalent to “everyone is dead.”

That was how the ground rescue team understood it.

Since it was dark, it had started to rain in the mountains, and if everyone was dead, there was no rush to save anyone, right?

So, they decided to set up camp outside the mountains for the night and enter the next day.

In reality, due to the high skill of the flight crew, the plane’s altitude had been effectively lowered before the crash, and many passengers had survived the initial impact.

But severely injured, they listened as the rescue helicopters flew overhead and then flew away, and then they waited in vain for rescue that never came.

Even the next day, after the Self-Defense Forces members had woken up naturally and truly began the rescue, they were still plagued with problems.

First, they had the wrong coordinates, causing the rescue target and the actual crash site to be a whole mountain apart.

Then, the ground rescue team forgot to bring a guide and got lost in the mountains.

Then, they didn’t bring any stretchers or doctors, completely failing to consider the internal bleeding and hypothermia that crash victims might face…

It wasn’t until seventeen hours after falling from the sky that the only four survivors were found.

The Self-Defense Forces joyfully announced their rescue success and declared that everyone else had perished.

However, survivors recalled hearing many people groaning and crying for help in the darkness for several hours after the crash…

In short, the performance of the Self-Defense Forces in this rescue was so ugly that it left all of Japan speechless.

On the television, the reporter also seemed speechless.

The TV station’s news helicopter had already arrived and had flown a circle in the mountains, while the Self-Defense Forces’ rescue helicopter was still dawdling, claiming that the weather in the mountains was bad, the mountain winds were strong, and it would affect flight safety…

“The plane crash this time is really strange… I wonder which airline it was.” Saori looked at Seiko.

Seiko, lying in Miyazaki’s arms, smiled, took Saori’s hand and kissed it, then pressed Saori’s long, slender finger to her own lips in a shushing gesture.

Saori also chuckled lightly. She hadn’t intended to ask much anyway. After so many years together, she had long grown accustomed to the various wonders surrounding Seiko.

“Big Sis, socks!”

Aiko came looking for her sister’s socks, carrying her small laundry basket.

As she opened the door, Aiko saw her big sister, Sister Saori, and Sister Yu sleeping in the same bed, not even wearing pajamas.

Miyazaki quickly raised her hand to cover her upper body. Saori, on the other hand, sat up quite calmly, not at all minding being seen naked by Aiko.

At first, Seiko pulled up the blanket to cover her chest slightly, but looking at Aiko’s prim and proper little face, she couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation. “I already put the socks in the changing room, and you still insist on coming into my bedroom to find them!”

“Hee hee…”

Aiko squirmed, a mischievous grin on her face. Anyone could see that the child was definitely doing it on purpose.

After deliberately popping her head in, Aiko left again. Miyazaki asked curiously, “How are the ratings for Aiko’s drama?”

“Yesterday, Saitama Television’s reported viewership rating was 12.9%,” Seiko said.

12.9%. This was naturally no match for the over 50% rating achieved by NHK’s Oshin the year before last, but Oshin itself was a miracle.

Moreover, Saitama Television was not NHK.

For them, 12.9% was already a dazzling achievement.