Chapter 21: “An Afternoon That Made No Sense” (Part 3)

That evening, Natsumi, Kikuchi, and Yamamoto were drinking at an izakaya called Wagaya—“My Home.”

“I just can’t deal with this. It’s like I’m the one in the wrong. Don’t you think the manager’s being ridiculous?”

“Now, now, now, Sugisaki. Don’t get so worked up.”

Yamamoto poured her a drink.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Yamamoto. You’re being so nice to me even though this has nothing to do with you.”

“No, no, it’s fine. Every day’s pretty much the same, after all. Listening to other people’s stories isn’t such a bad thing, you know. Not at all.”

“Oh. Well, if you say so...”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. So then, Sugisaki, what do you think?”

“What do I think? I mean, I just can’t accept what Mr. Uesugi is doing—not meeting the deadline.”

“And because you can’t accept it, what do you want to do?”

“What do I want to do?”

“Well, for example, do you want to encourage him to improve things somehow?”

Yamamoto was talking with a smile on his face, but somehow, his eyes didn’t seem to be smiling.

Natsumi, who was beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol, took a big gulp of the shochu-and-oolong tea drink in front of her and answered.

“Well... for example... I was thinking that maybe we could deliberately tell him an earlier deadline, so that even if Mr. Uesugi is a little late, we’d still have some room... something like that.”

“I see... An idea anyone could come up with. Shallow, I’m afraid. That’s the only way I can put it.”

With his glass still against his lips, Yamamoto grinned.

“Eh? Why?”

“Why? Sugisaki, are you not very good at thinking things through for yourself?”

“What?”

(Oh no... very, very bad. This is Mr. Yamamoto when he’s drunk. He’s getting into that mood. This is bad.)

Kikuchi had begun to wonder how he could stop the conversation before it went in the direction he had feared.

(I thought it would be all right tonight because Sugisaki was here. That was careless of me... Sugisaki’s surprisingly hot-blooded. This is bad.)

“Sugisaki, there are two holes in your idea. Well, shortcomings, you might say. Do you know what they are?”

“...”

“Think about it. Try thinking for yourself, at least. Come on!”

Yamamoto’s pace was quicker than usual.

A sure sign he was in a good mood.

“Two?”

“Yes. Two.”

“...”

“One is when there’s no room in the schedule to begin with. There’s nothing you can do about that. Those kinds of situations. And the other is—”

“The other is when Mr. Uesugi refuses, right?”

“...”

“Am I wrong?”

“You are. The other one is when Mr. Uesugi realizes you’re lying to him.”

“Lying? I mean, it’s not exactly a lie.”

“Well, perhaps lie is too strong a word. But do you really think words from someone with as little experience as you are going to work on a man like Mr. Uesugi, who’s been in business for so many years? Or rather—do you think they will?”

“...Well, no. I don’t.”

“You don’t, do you? And yet you’re still going to do it?”

“...”

“Now, now, Mr. Yamamoto. Ms. Sugisaki came to us because she’s worried and wants advice. If you keep coming at her like that, she won’t be able to say anything.”

Unable to stand it any longer, Kikuchi cut in as he poured shochu into Yamamoto’s glass.

“All right then, Kikuchi. What would you do?”

“Me? I’d talk to the customer and convince them.”

“To the customer?”

“Yes. I mean, what can’t be done can’t be done, right?”

“You’d tell the customer that? ...Is that the times we live in now?”

“That’s the times, yeah.”

“No, no. Can you really just dismiss it as the times?”

Yamamoto took a large gulp of his drink.

“I think your idea is even worse than Sugisaki’s.”

Just then, the owner appeared with a freshly grilled hokke, steam still rising from it.

“Service for the new girl on her first visit! Eat plenty. Hey, what’s gotten into you, Yamachan? Acting all serious. It doesn’t suit you!”

“Oh, stop it, Boss. I’m in the middle of talking to my juniors about work.”

“What? Yamachan? Talking about work? About what? Give it up. Don’t try doing things that don’t suit you!”

“Hey!”

The two younger employees burst out laughing as well.

“It was turning into a good conversation, too... You two want to hear the rest?”

Still unable to stop laughing, Kikuchi and Natsumi merely shook their heads.