Part 16
And a few hours later.
"Uerororororororororororo"
"Are you okay~? Let me know when you're all done, okay?"
"Y-Ye~s, I'm sorry, Hashiba-san ... erororororororo"
As expected, Sakurai-san, who had pushed toward the out right from the start of the drinking session, became an excellent toilet dweller.
Since it is the women's restroom, I, of course, have to wait outside the door.
"It's a sudden development, these days ..."
With a tipsy head, I reflected on the recent past.
I was broke after my bishojo game company collapsed, and I went home to my parents' house in shambles, but somehow I ended up working for a game maker that I had longed for.
There was no way things were going to go so well, and I ended up being pushed into a department near the window, but I managed to get through it.
Thinking about that gray life, I can say that I am totally happy now.
"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting ..."
Finally, an exhausted Sakurai-san came out.
"Let's just drink some water and rest here for a while."
"Ye~es……"
We decided to sit side by side on a bench by the restroom and wait for her to sober up.
Being a Friday, the restaurant seemed to be full today. Loud voices were heard from all parts of the restaurant, talking about secrets and foolish stories.
(I'll have to get some information on this area next time)
When I was at my former workplace, I used to go alone into an izakaya in Akihabara to get information about other manufacturers and listen in on them.
Surprisingly, interesting stories came in, and thanks to them, I was able to learn about postponements ahead of time, which helped me in deciding on my own release date.
But, as it turned out, it was all for naught...
(I think I can make better use of it now than I did then)
I have heard that our own company and people from other companies in our industry also drink here. It might be interesting to try it for both hobby and practical use.
A casual young man in a polo shirt and jeans walked past where we were sitting.
"Ah, excuse me, I'm passing by."
"Sorry, it's hard to walk by"
When we all stepped back together, the young man bowed lightly and headed for the smoking area next to the restroom.
"Excuse me, can you give me one?"
Apparently, he was asking for a cigarette.
"That reminds me, Hashiba-san, you don't smoke, do you."
"I used to smoke a little. But now I'm completely quit."
At the same time, Sakurai-san replied, "Heh~," some kind of conversation had started in the smoking area.
Somehow, we too had to keep our voices down.
"Hey, did you hear that story over there?"
"What's over there?"
Apparently, they are talking about secrets.
I wasn't meant to be listening, but the volume of their voices made me hear them naturally.
"Okawa, the human resources manager, told me that the previously mentioned consolidation of departments is still going to take place."
"Seriously, I wonder if we'll be okay. We were in the red last term..."
What a sobering story.
(...By the way, we don't have a deficit or anything like that, right?)
(In the first place, it's not a department that makes sales...)
I thought that it might actually be better if we were not being counted. It must be very hard for departments that are required to have numbers in these situations.
"They're going to start with the least affected areas first, but you know how I heard that that company improved our general affairs system and so on?"
"Speaking of which, I remember hearing something about digitizing the survey."
"That's it. And now that it's easier to outsource, it's like they're throwing everything to outsourcing and destroying whole departments."
...Ahre? Strangely, I was stuck on a word that came up in the conversation.
"I see, even if they call it development, it doesn't matter when those places are shut down."
I felt cold sweat running down my back.
General Affairs System.
Digitization of questionnaires.
And the word development.
All of them coincide with one word after another.
I had been praying that this would not be the case, but they simply trampled on my hopes,
"Yeah, if it's the 『Execution Room』"
Finally, the most definitive word had come out.
Unless there is a penitentiary in the area, but since there is no such thing, it seems natural to refer to the 13th department, which is referred to as the execution room.
(Eh, um, Hashiba-san ... this is ...)
Next to me, Sakurai-san, who had grabbed my clothes, was raising a feeble voice.
I couldn't respond to that, and was just stunned, ruminating over what I had just heard.
Consolidation of departments.
Crush from the place where the influence is small.
And "execution room".
I was neither so brazen nor so conveniently intuitive as to be able to say, "No, it's not true," even after all these coincidences.
In addition to that, the Executive Director that we just ran into before.
I didn't know the specifics, but if they said it was about the consolidation of the department, it matched the content to an unpleasant degree.
"... Let's just go for now"
Sakurai-san nodded silently. The conversation was still going on, but we didn't want to hear any more about it, so we quietly packed up and paid the bill.
When we stepped outside the restaurant, Sakurai-san, now completely sober, looked up at me with a face that looked as if she was about to cry.
"Hashiba-san ... Is the Department going to disappear...?"
To be honest, to the point where I wanted to ask them myself,
"It's not yet decided that it's us, and it's just a rumor, okay?"
Despite saying reassuring things, I was also filled with anxiety.
If what the duo said earlier is true, my efforts to improve the business have completely backfired.
Of course, it is possible that the story itself has been in the works for some time, and that it was the incident that triggered it, but in any case, it is no longer a story that we can wait and see how long it will last.
"We have no choice but to do it right away..."
The project, which had included a long-term plan, was about to reach a critical point for which we were not prepared.
0 Comments
Post a Comment