Chapter 124: Chapter 124
At Aster Core, Senju was reading the notices in her hand.
Her face became more serious with every page.
Kenji and Kiri were in the same room. At first, they were waiting quietly because Senju had asked them to let her read everything once.
The office was not loud that morning.
Only a few people were working outside the room. Inside, the three of them had closed the door because the papers looked serious from the first page.
Senju read the first notice twice, then moved to the second one.
By the time she reached the third, even Kenji could see that this was not a normal company matter.
The notices were not written in a threatening tone.
That made them worse in a different way.
The words were polite, but they felt cold. Every line looked normal on its own, but together they felt like pressure being placed around Aster Core from different sides.
But after seeing her expression, Kenji could not stay silent.
"What happened?"
Senju slowly placed the papers on the table.
"We got three different notices," she said.
Kiri’s brows tightened. "From who?"
"Government agencies," Senju said.
Kenji and Kiri both looked at her.
"Three agencies?" Kenji asked.
Senju nodded.
Kiri stepped closer to the table.
"How do three agencies send notices at the same time?"
That was exactly what Senju had been thinking.
She picked up the first notice.
"This one says market manipulation," she said.
Kenji almost looked offended.
"Market manipulation?....us?" kenji ask.
Kiri took the paper and scanned the first page.
"We are still small," Kenji said. "How can we manipulate the market?"
His voice carried real confusion.
Aster Core had only started gaining a name. They had orders now, and people in the market had started talking about them, but they were still far from the kind of company that could openly move a market by itself.
Kiri also knew that.
The company was growing fast, but it was still young. Their work was barely becoming stable, and a notice like this could shake that stability.
Senju did not answer at once.
The accusation sounded strange, but she also knew something they did not know fully.
Adam had moved things outside the company.
He had used the market.
He had told them some parts, but not every detail. Senju knew that much.
’Did the government find something?’ Senju thought.
That question made her chest tighten.
But she could not assume it yet.
’No.’ Senju thought. ’I need to check properly first.’
She picked up the second notice.
"This one is about tax," she said. "They are asking if some money was hidden."
Kiri’s face became darker.
Kenji’s hand moved toward the paper, but he stopped before touching it.
The word tax alone was enough to make any company careful. A young company like Aster Core could not afford to get trapped in government offices for weeks.
For a company like theirs, delay itself could become damage. Their orders were still new, and their buyers had not built full trust yet. Even a small government shadow could make people step back.
Senju lifted the third paper.
"And this one is about undeclared supply transactions."
For a moment, the room became silent.
Kenji rubbed his forehead.
"This isn’t normal," he said.
"No," Senju said. "It isn’t."
Kiri looked at the papers again.
"Are we in trouble?"
Senju did not answer immediately.
She had handled company pressure before, but this was different. One notice could be random. Two could be bad luck. Three at the same time felt like someone had pointed a finger at them.
"Right now, they can’t shut us down," Senju said. "Not from these papers alone."
Kenji looked at her.
Senju continued, "But we don’t know what they want. If they only want documents, we can fight. If they want to pressure us, this gets harder."
That was the real issue.
The papers did not say, "We are closing you." They only asked questions. But questions from the government could become chains if the people asking them wanted it that way.
Senju had seen enough company work to understand that. The more she looked at the papers, the more suspicious the timing felt.
Kiri placed the notice back on the table.
Senju looked at all three papers again.
"We should tell Wil," she said.
Kenji reacted at once.
"No."
Senju looked at him.
Kenji’s voice became firmer. "I don’t think we should tell Wil yet."
"But if we don’t tell him..." Senju started.
Kiri stopped her.
"Kenji is right," Kiri said.
Senju turned toward him.
Kiri continued, "We can’t run to Wil for every problem. He has already done more than enough for us."
Senju did not speak.
Kiri’s voice stayed calm.
"We don’t even know what situation he is in right now. If we tell him, maybe we only add more stress."
Senju became quiet.
She remembered Adam’s face in the hostel room. She remembered how young he had looked after telling her that he was only trying to survive.
And right now, Adam was abroad.
He had gone there for something important.
’If I tell him now, he may not be able to focus on his work.’ Senju thought.
She wanted to tell him because this felt connected to the enemy he had spoken about.
But the same thought stopped her.
If that enemy was truly moving, then Adam needed the foreign work even more. Calling him now might only break his focus.
That thought made her hesitate.
Kenji looked at the notices again.
"Let’s handle what we can first," he said. "If it goes beyond us, then we tell him."
Senju slowly nodded.
"Fine," she said. "For now, we handle it here."
But her eyes did not leave the notices.
Three government agencies had moved at the same time.
That did not feel random.
Senju stood there with the papers in front of her, unable to understand why the government had suddenly turned toward Aster Core like this.
