An Irrational Special solution 8

8.Leaving beautifully
The next morning, Natsuko was walking to her company in Kayabacho, trying to move her shoulders, which had been hurt by the logs of the portable shrine. She swung her arms around, being careful not to hit people passing by. She stretched her arms on the bridge and looked at the blue sky. It's a nice day today, Natsuko thought. Morita and several other employees were already in the office. It seemed they hadn't stayed up all night at the office last night. Everyone looked very healthy. Morita noticed Natsuko when he heard the door closing and smiled.

"Good morning. I feel refreshed today. You don't seem to be sleepy."

Natsuko called out to Morita as she unlocked the night security.

"Good morning. Yes. I've been going home quite a bit recently. Except before the deadline."

"Is that so?"

Morita looked so happy that she wanted to sing a song. Natsuko wanted to ask him.

"You seem really happy about something. Is there something?"
"Yeah. I've become the project leader. It's a pretty small project though."
Morita suppressed about 95% of his happiness and smiled coolly with the remaining 5% that leaked out.
Morita's cool, shy smile made Natsuko think of great joy, and she couldn't help but smile as well.
"Is that so? Congratulations."
"Thank you. That's why I've been thinking about eels lately."
"Eels?"
For a moment, Morita, who was so excited about eels, looked like Sakana-kun to Natsuko. He seemed very engrossed.
"Yes. It's the eel wholesaler's system. From the time we buy eels to the time we sell them, they gain or lose weight or die. Also, the delivery methods of long-established stores in Tokyo vary from store to store, such as by weight or by number of eels, or whether they count eels that die during transportation or not. It's designed to manage the living creatures and their ties neatly in a system."
Natsuko was amused by Morita's affectionate use of the word "them." She thought that perhaps the distance between Morita and the eels now is the same as that of the owner of a long-established eel restaurant.
"I see. I don't understand, but you're good at explaining, so I can kind of imagine it. Good luck."
Natsuko said, making a thumbs up gesture with her hand. Then with her other hand she turned on the switch to roll up the blinds.
"Yes. Thank you."
The morning sun streamed into the office. Natsuko went to buy coffee as usual, and while she was talking to someone from another department she met in front of the convenience store, it was almost time to start work in no time. She hurriedly got on the elevator and returned to the office. Almost everyone in the software development department was at their desks. She saw the manager changing his shoes. Natsuko walked to the manager's seat in front of the window.
"Good morning, manager. Yamashita-san from the hardware (development) department is late for the train, and it seems he's going to be late for the first meeting of the morning, which starts in about 15 minutes. That's what I was just talking to someone from hardware and he said."
"Oh, good morning. Oh, I see. I'll check it out then."
The manager was not in good spirits. Natsuko felt that "Oh, I see" sounded strangely cold.
"Yes. Please let me know if there are any changes."
Natsuko replied, feeling strange.
"Yeah... Ah, Kondo-san, just a moment."
The manager said that and motioned for Natsuko to go out into the hallway. Natsuko nodded and followed the manager.
The manager looked for an empty room, but there didn't seem to be one on the same floor, so she tried to use the emergency stairs to go to the upper floor. However, she suddenly stopped on the landing of the emergency stairs.

"It's quiet here. This might be the quietest place in the company."

"Maybe so. It's rare to find silence like this. Did something happen?"

Natsuko was somehow prepared for it. It was the thing that everyone has been talking about lately.

"Um, I'm sorry, but your contract will end at the end of December."

"Is that so?"

Natsuko thought as she expected.

"All the other temp workers except you will be working until the end of November. Kondo-san always takes on things outside the contract, so I asked him not to let you go, but he couldn't. Only for about a month. Sorry."

You have to be careful about your work, as long as there are people around, something will happen. Natsuko, who was out of debt, no longer felt depressed when her contract ended. Natsuko was more grateful to her manager for negotiating with the company about her than for the end of her contract. "Thank you, boss. I'm always indebted to you for everything. I liked working at this company because it was interesting, but it can't be helped. Please take care of me for a little over two months until the end of the year."
Natsuko smiled, thinking that it was totally fine. And she hoped that the boss wouldn't be so worried.
"Let me know if you have an interview for the next job. It's okay to take a break."
"Thank you. In that case, please take care of me."
Natsuko thought that the boss was a really caring person.
"Good luck."
"Yes. Thank you."
As Natsuko returned to her seat, she wondered what she would do next and what kind of people she would meet at her next workplace.
That night, after finishing work at a restaurant in Ginza, she went to a ramen shop at the end of a narrow alley on 6th Street with her colleague Yayoi and her customer Yamamoto. It was 12:30, but the restaurant was almost full. She almost had the illusion that it was actually lunchtime or evening here. After ordering, Yayoi said to Yamamoto as she put away the menu.
"Hey, listen. Ritsu-chan is quitting the store at the end of December."

"Really? Congratulations. That's great."

Yamamoto replied, remembering Natsuko saying she would quit the store once her debt was paid off.

"I haven't told the store yet, but I'll tell them when the time is right. An important customer's birthday is at the end of the year, so I'll quit after that."

"You don't have to quit working at the store. You're making a decent living."

Yayoi grabbed Natsuko's arm.

"It's not that kind of issue. If there's no place you want to be in the future, there's no point in continuing. Besides, you have to leave while you can."

Natsuko took a sip of water.

"Leaving cleanly?"
Yayoi asked curiously.

Natsuko looked back and forth between Yayoi and Yamamoto, and began to speak matter-of-factly.
"Yeah. I think I can just take away the good memories of thanking you for helping me out when I was in trouble. When I first started this job, actually last year, a senior colleague named Rika asked me to accompany her to the funeral of a mama who had looked after her in the past, so I did. Rika told me that the late mama had been very successful, but the funeral was tragic. There were people yelling at the family for their money. There was only one distant relative, but the chief mourner of that distant relative also seemed to regret having the funeral at all. They had a look on their face like it wasn't supposed to be like this. I wonder if they thought they could make money. Rika's unpaid sales also ballooned. She also had to pay fines for absences due to ill health, and she suddenly disappeared from Ginza."
Natsuko recalled the faces of the various people she had met at the store.
"Everyone has a good and bad side."
Yamamoto looked at Natsuko, thinking that it was rare to find someone who had managed to stay so uninfluenced by the industry. The waiter placed a bottle of beer and three glasses on the table. Natsuko tried to give Yayoi a glass, but seeing that she didn't need one, she handed the two glasses to the waiter.
Yayoi handed the glass Natsuko had left to Yamamoto and started pouring beer.
"Yes. I'm not very skilled, so it seems like it's going to be hard for me to continue living here. I'll end this with only good memories. Thank you for all your help. Thank you, Yayoi. It was fun."
Natsuko bowed to the two of them.
"It's not over yet. Please take care of me until the end of the year."
Yayoi said in a hurry.
"Good luck until the end."
Yamamoto's sunglasses-covered face smiled.
"Yes. I'll think about what I can do for the people who have helped me, and I'll do my best until the last day."
Natsuko thought of the faces of the people she wanted to meet and thank before the end of the year. Then she started counting how many people there were.