In April 1997, Yamaichi Securities’ Executive Managing Director Kajii Tatsuhiko becomes the general manager of the Business Supervision Department. Although the department conducts internal audits, it occupies a separate building from the headquarters, and is called the “outskirts” where demoted employees are relegated to. Then, on the first day of Kajii’s move, the Finance Ministry’s Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) comes in to investigate. There has been an upheaval in the financial industry over payoffs to corporate racketeers at this time. Kajii instructs his subordinates and secretary on an internal inspection. Meanwhile, Takimoto Toshio and Yoshioka Joe of the Audit Division find documents which show the relationship with a corporate racketeer in question. On the other hand, the chairman, Arihara Taizo, and others wear relaxed expressions in response to the SESC’s investigation, but only deputy president Katase Hirofumi, who is the internal control supervisory manager, looks uneasy. Kajii as well as his peer, Hayashi Yukihiro, harbour suspicions that the top management maybe hiding something. In November, Yamaichi Securities, one of Japan’s four largest brokerages, announces that it will voluntarily close down. This is due to approximately 260 billion yen in undisclosed debts. When and how did 260 billion yen of losses off the balance sheet come about, and how was it kept hidden? Yamaichi Securities is too big and without financial strength as well as bank support, the Finance Ministry has deemed that it will not file for bankruptcy protection, but seek the brokerage’s “voluntary closure” instead. While even the board of directors are bailing out of the sunken ship, there are employees who stay on in the company until the end and continue to seek the truth as well as pay off customers, inspired by their sense of mission. These people are the “rearguard”. ~JDrama Weblog~