An Irrational Special Solution 2

２.Daytime work

"Good morning. Here, give it to me."

Natsuko called out to two or three people asleep at their desks and held out her hand,

"Oh, thanks."

With sleepy eyes, each of them took out 100 yen from their desks and handed it to Natsuko. This was Natsuko's morning routine while booting up her PC.

Natsuko took the money and went to the convenience store on the first floor of the building where the company was located and bought coffee. Natsuko, who works as a temporary office worker during the day, has been working at this medium-sized IT company in Kayabacho for almost a year now. Her work is chores. At first, it was a very boring job, but as she developed relationships with the people, it wasn't so boring anymore. This is because there are so many small tasks that can't be written in the temporary work contract. Recently, she has come to understand the preferences of the employees in the software development department she belongs to. The preferences of the three people who asked for coffee today are as follows. Morita, a new employee, had two sugars, Minegishi had one sugar and one milk, and Kawamoto had black coffee. I returned to the office with the coffee and distributed it to the desks of the three people who still looked somewhat sleepy. When I returned to my desk, I met the eyes of Wang, a Chinese female engineer who was 27 years old like Natsuko, sitting opposite me.

"Good morning, Kondo-san. You look well!"

She said with an innocent smile.

"Good morning, Wang-san."

Natsuko also smiled.

"Are you going to Korea to test the communication of the new model by yourself?"

Wang took a hair clip from her desk and said as she tangled up her shoulder-length hair.

"How do you know?"

Natsuko stopped her hand from clicking the "Check meeting schedule" button and answered.

"Because the manager told me yesterday. Haven't you decided yet?"

"I don't know yet. Maybe I'll think about it while the manager buys me lunch today."

Natsuko said a little flustered, and Wang grinned.

"Mr. Wang, let's have lunch together."
When Natsuko said that, Mr. Wang made a sign with his eyes. It seemed that the manager was passing behind her.
"Um, good morning, Mr. Kondo."
The tall manager, who was in his 50s and used to play basketball, called out to Natsuko.
"Good morning, manager."
I turned around and greeted him.
"Thank you for yesterday's business."
"Yes, if you can do it on the same day, that's fine. Well, for the hush money, I'd like some tantanmen noodles and almond tofu. It's not in the (dispatch company's) contract, but I'll keep it a secret."
"Haha. Well, thank you. It'll be a big help."
"Um, Mr. Wang and Mr. Morita, is it okay? You two persuaded me. You told me to try it even if it wasn't in the job description."
Morita was confused and stunned.
Laughing at the two of them,
"I understand."
The manager then took off the bag he was carrying and headed to his seat.
"Is this okay?"
Wang said, a little worried.
"Yes. When the manager asked me about this yesterday, he asked if it would be okay to have a hush money lunch, but I thought it would be more fun with about four people than just the two of us. So I thought it would be better with the manager and three of us in our twenties. Was that bad?"
Morita, who was at the desk on the next island, nodded once in understanding and immediately got to work. "Morita-kun seems okay. Aren't you going, Wang-san?"
"I'm going. Thank you."
Wang smiled and started working. Natsuko smiled back and confirmed the meetings and tasks for the day.
The four of them took an early lunch break that day. Outside the building, it was humid and hot, so the four of them went into a Chinese restaurant to escape the heat. There were only a few customers in the old Chinese restaurant, which was located in the back alley of the company. "I don't think Japan is efficient because there are so many large, medium and small companies competing to develop similar technologies, but what do you think, manager?"

As soon as he sat down, Mr. Wang said to the manager.

"That's true."

The manager was a little confused by the unexpected discussion, but he started to respond. Once Mr. Wang got going, he never stopped arguing. The other two quickly gave up on the discussion and leisurely drank the water the store gave them.

"Sorry for the sudden request. Did you want to take a nap?"

Natsuko said to Morita.

"It's okay."

Morita was a 24-year-old new employee, and over the past few months, he had started to not care about his appearance like his seniors around him. It looked like he hadn't even combed his hair this week.

"Are you going home?"

"Yes, I'm going home. This week, about every other day."

Morita grinned. "You're doing great."
Though Natsuko said that, she also thought that she rarely went back to her room.
"The seniors around me are so amazing."
Though he said that, Morita's expression was surprisingly refreshing.
"Really? It's amazing that you can keep doing the same thing. What did you do in college?"
"I made robots."
When Morita said that, Wang started talking about AI. While eating, Wang was practically talking to himself about his future predictions. Natsuko was too ignorant to understand most of what was being discussed.
After finishing her meal and leaving the Chinese restaurant, she walked through that same hot and steamy atmosphere again. The department head walking in front of her seemed to be giving Morita some kind of advice with his gestures. Morita also nodded with amusement. As she walked, watching the two of them, Wang, who was walking next to Natsuko, suddenly said,
"In Japan, even people like you can live happily."
Natsuko felt strange at the unexpected angle of the remark. "What do you mean?"
"Sorry if I offended you. It's hard to know what to say. Since coming to Japan, I've noticed that Japan is a culture that values ​​character as well."
"Really?"
"There are things that can be quantified and things that can't, but I feel like Japan values ​​things that can't be quantified quite a bit."
"Really?"
"Until I came to Japan eight years ago, I didn't think that things that couldn't be quantified were very meaningful, or that I wasn't interested in them, or that I'd never really thought about them."
"Really? For example?"
"Well, it's hard to give an example, but are you interested in money?"
"Yes, I am."
As Natsuko answered, she realized that compared to a year ago when she had a lot of debt, as her debt decreased she was becoming less and less interested in money.
"Is that so? Kondo-san, do you have any goals?"

"Hmm, I don't know. Anyway, I guess I want Japan to be peaceful. Well, if I have a goal, it's to be a grandma with many hobbies."

"Hmm. I've never met anyone who's said that before. That kind of goal sounds boring, doesn't it?"

"Is that so? Is it boring?"

Natsuko, who was confident that she lived an interesting life where various things happen, gave a wry smile.

She returned to her seat and checked her cell phone for emails. Natsuko worked at a restaurant in Ginza every weekday after work. During her lunch break and her break around 3 p.m., she thought about what to write to the customer. On this day, after leaving work, she was supposed to take a walk with the customer at Rikugien Garden before going to the store. They were supposed to take a walk together, go on a poetry walk, and then head to Ginza. She found an email from that person and opened it, which simply read, "This world, if there is no path, I am lost in thought. Even deep in the mountains, the deer cry."

Natsuko wondered if something had happened to the customer.
"I'll listen to what you have to say, later."
She simply replied. Then, after finishing up her chores, Natsuko began searching for the AI ​​that Wang had spoken about.