Episode 12: A Turning Point
Trouble had been coming one after another at the company, and honestly, I was starting to feel the strain.
In the middle of all that, one piece of good news arrived.
Saeko — Kirishima Saeko — had made her decision and joined the company.
“Starting today, I’m in your care. I’m Kirishima Saeko. Pleased to meet you all.”
Dressed in a grey trouser suit, Saeko bowed deeply, and when she raised her head she turned that bright, open smile on every member of staff.
The kind of unclouded, energetic smile I could never in a million years imitate.
Even the staff, who usually wore an air of heaviness, softened their expressions for once and scattered applause around the room.
We held a meeting right away in the president’s office, with Saeko fresh from her first day.
I put the company’s internal figures on the screen and walked through the serious state of things, matter-of-factly.
When I finished, Saeko let out one quiet breath, then lifted her face. Her eyes already had the look of someone focused on what comes next.
“…Okay, so for now, what I can do is start building new business relationships, right? Got it. I’ll use whatever free time I have today to set up appointments.”
“…Thank you. That’s a genuine help.”
Saeko gave a slow nod, then narrowed her eyes and smiled with a warmth that reached me. It brought back the memory of the day she first came and spoke to me in seminar.
Something in the back of my eyes went warm and soft, without quite intending to. When was the last time I let myself properly rely on someone at work?
“Also — Inukai and Saruwatari are the ones under the most pressure, right? I’ll take over part of their client load.”
Saeko was already briskly noting down what she needed to do.
The meeting wrapped up in under ten minutes.
That’s what comes from having served as department head at her last job. The crisp tempo of her thinking came through as pure reassurance.
＊＊＊
In the quiet afternoon office, the sound of typing filled the air. I was doing a final check on materials for an evening client meeting.
Through that, Saeko’s bright voice rang out as she made calls.
“Yes, thank you very much. Then we’ll come by at three on the seventeenth.”
She finished the call and turned on the spot to face Matsuyama at the desk behind her.
“Hey hey, Maho-chan, can you explain something for me?”
“Wh — yes?! Wha — ?! Wh, what is it…!?”
Called by her given name out of nowhere, Matsuyama was blinking so fast you’d wonder if a human face was capable of it.
“These order codes — the numbering system is kind of unusual, right? I can’t quite figure out the logic of it.”
“Ah, um, well, that would be…”
When Matsuyama finished explaining, Saeko smiled softly.
“Thanks, Maho-chan, that was a huge help.”
She gave Matsuyama’s shoulder a light pat and went breezing back to her desk.
“Wh — !?!? N, not at all!! Please, um, ask me anything! Any time!!”
Matsuyama’s face turned the colour of a sunset, visibly, before my eyes. She was flustered in a way that left absolutely nothing to the imagination.
Matsuyama… you’re far too easy.
She’d come up from the countryside in Kansai right out of university and it had been two years now, but with that level of pure-heartedness, she was going to get scooped up by something bad in Tokyo one of these days. Not remotely my concern — and yet somehow I found myself worrying.
Meanwhile, Saeko went storming through the office like a force of nature, speaking to every member of staff in turn.
Even Inukai and Saruwatari, who were usually at each other’s throats, had mild expressions on their faces today and were actually laughing.
Just Saeko walking in had visibly turned the air in the office around.
＊＊＊
When I got home, the apartment was tidy. Properly tidy. I wasn’t sure when I’d last seen the floor.
Apparently Yuno had done it.
“I didn’t know what was okay to throw away so I just gathered it all up, but — I got it pretty clean, didn’t I!”
She thrust out a V-sign and laughed, chest puffed up with pride. At moments like this, Yuno’s smug face is guileless in a way that’s unreasonably endearing.
“Oh, right,” Yuno went on, as though she’d just remembered.
“In the back of the wardrobe there were loads of single socks you’d just left there. Like potatoes.”
“…Those kinds of things, just tidy them away quietly, please.”
I found myself looking away from her. My face went hot at having my sloppiness pointed out. Yuno was laughing, quietly, as if she found it amusing.
The two of us sat down across from each other for dinner.
Tonight it was hamburg steak. When I split it with my chopsticks the juices seeped out with a sizzle, and when I brought it to my mouth the satisfying bite of the meat and the sweet-savory sauce around it made my eyes close without thinking.
Before I knew it I was eating away in silence, cheeks happily full.
“Big sis, did something good happen?”
Yuno narrowed her eyes slightly and asked.
Did I look that cheerful? Here I was, nearly thirty, having my moods seen through by a woman years younger than me. Pathetic isn’t quite the word.
“Not especially.”
“It’s just you keep smiling to yourself. Like, all soft and squiggly.”
“No I wasn’t. I absolutely was not.”
When I dug my heels in and shot back, Yuno laughed, hff. Looking at that smile, something ticklish stirred in my chest.
I had a sip of tea, paused a moment, and went on.
“Well… maybe one step forward. A friend from university, someone capable, came on board today.”
“Oh, really. That’s good.”
Yuno gave a loose, easy smile, and continued.
“I’m kind of curious what big sis is like as a president.”
“What are you grinning about.”
“Nothing~”
I gave her a mock-stern look — she had the expression of someone thinking can she really run a company when her personal life is this much of a mess — and she laughed.
When had I last eaten a meal bantering like this? There was a part of me that, quietly, was finding it a little fun.
But this was, all said and done, a temporary living arrangement. Until Yuno found a part-time job and her next place to live.
When I thought about the day this kind of evening would come to an end, something in the back of my chest gave a small, quiet throb.