Chapter 22: “War Experience” (Part 2)

When Masaya explained his plan to Miyauchi, Miyauchi listened in silence—unusually for him—then slowly nodded.

“Then I’ll arrange a date for a meeting with Palm, and the two of us can go together.”

“Thank you. Do you think Mr. Shibuya will be the one meeting with us?”

“I imagine so. He’s been handling our account for many years. And I think Ms. Toyama from the operations department will probably be there as well.”

Toyama was the woman who handled the administrative side of things, such as issuing purchase orders and taking care of the finer details of the paperwork.

“I hope we can have a constructive conversation.”

“Well, our president himself is going, so I think we can allow ourselves to expect something positive.”

“Is that so? All right then, Miyauchi. I’ll leave it to you.”

“Yes. Leave it to me.”

Miyauchi was in a good mood.

The president had always tended to focus his attention on the work being done on the shop floor, leaving customers largely in the hands of whoever was responsible for them.

This was the first time Masaya had decided to take action himself.

(Maybe the president is finally beginning to change.)

The thought put Miyauchi in such a cheerful mood that he felt like breaking into song.

Ishikawa Precision Processing Co., Ltd. was a small company with only ten employees in total, but even now, many of them still held the previous president in deep affection.

(No matter what, Masaya has to become an even greater president than his father!)

Miyauchi believed that his feelings represented those of all the employees.

(One way or another, everyone here owes something to the previous president. Instead of expecting the older craftsmen to lead the way, I have to set an example myself.)

When he was young, Miyauchi drifted from one temporary job to another, unable to find steady work. Then, before he knew it, he had a child on the way.

He had been at a complete loss when a friend introduced him to Ishikawa Precision Processing.

Not long after joining the company, he began to think:

This work is actually interesting.

Why had he come to feel that way?

There were any number of ways he could explain it, but Miyauchi had always deeply respected the previous president, Mr. Ishikawa.

Even now, he believed without hesitation that this was the real reason.

“Take care of Masaya for me, Miyauchi.”

The previous president had said that to him once.

“Yes. If there’s anything I can do, I’ll do it.”

That was how he had answered.

But at the time, he had not fully understood what the older man had meant.

(In the end, though, it’s your problem to solve, Mr. Masaya.)

Miyauchi was always speaking to Masaya that way in his mind.

Even now, he continued to ask himself how he should answer the previous president’s wishes.

---

On the appointed day, Masaya went to Palm together with Miyauchi.

He had only been there once before.

“Please wait here for a moment.”

A female office worker showed them into a reception room.

Masaya looked over the documents he had brought once again, going over in his mind how he should approach the conversation.

But their hosts did not appear.

“They’re certainly taking their time.”

“Yes. I’m sure we told them what time we’d be here.”

After only five minutes, Miyauchi’s naturally impatient side began to show.

A little while later, Toyama appeared.

“Hello. I’m terribly sorry to have kept you waiting.”

Perhaps because she had hurried over, she was slightly out of breath and sweating.

Toyama was a pleasant-looking, slightly plump woman who appeared to be in her mid-thirties.

“No, not at all. Thank you for making time for us today.”

As Miyauchi responded, he looked around the room.

“Um... where is Mr. Shibuya?”

“Mr. Shibuya is out visiting clients today, so he isn’t in the office.”

“What? Really?”

“Yes. I’ve been briefed on the matter, so I’ll hear what you have to say.”

“Oh... I see...”

Miyauchi leaned back in his office chair and let out a sigh.

(To be continued.)