Geister-Hutong

Kapitel 6

"To see Section Chief Uematsu? But why?"

"I'd like to ask my father what reason he took leave. Please help."

"Um...but..." Nishikawa hesitated, unwilling to agree.

"Isn't he here?"

"Yes, yes. But... this... if I were to convey this..."

2005-3-14 14:44:00

Yuriko sensed that Nishikawa was in a difficult position and couldn't help but think, "So this is what a good friend is like." So she stood up and said, "I understand. I'll go to the company and ask him directly."

"I would like to see Section Chief Uematsu."

"May I ask who you are?" the receptionist asked.

"I am Yuriko Sasamoto."

"Miss Sasamoto?"

“I am Sasamoto’s daughter.”

"Please wait a moment." The receptionist hurriedly got up and went inside.

This was Yuriko's first time visiting her father's company. Most of the sales staff were out visiting clients, so she rarely saw them near the office. What was jarring was the office space, with its corridors, reception desk, and screens separating the space. Yuriko thought, "Is this what's fashionable?" A phone rang from behind a screen, and she could hear typing. The thought that this was where her father worked suddenly brought tears to her eyes. Yuriko quickly shook her head—she had to pull herself together! Because she was different from her sister!

"—Oh dear, isn't this Mr. Sasaki's daughter?" Yuriko turned towards the direction of the woman's voice. "You, you're Mr. Sasaki's—"

"Yes, that's right."

"As expected!" The woman seemed to be over forty years old, an "auntie." "I am Nogami Sachiyo, who was in the same classroom as your father."

"Ah—I often hear my father mention you."

"Is she a very capable aunt?" the woman said with a smile. "She's probably worried about her father."

"Um."

"But it's alright. You'll definitely come back safely. You're his second daughter, right?"

"Yes, I am Yuriko."

"He often proudly says that you are the strongest. He even showed me your picture."

"Yeah."

“Your features are exactly like your father’s.”

Yuriko felt an inexplicable sense of peace in Nogami Sachiyo's rapid-fire conversation. There was neither embarrassment nor pity, but simply a feeling of affection welled up within her.

The receptionist returned: "I'm sorry, Section Chief Uematsu is in a meeting right now and is not available to receive guests."

When will this end?

"I want to take a long time. Then, I need to leave immediately."

"Yeah……"

“Wait a minute,” Nogami Sachiyo interrupted. “Our section chief is in a meeting? What are you talking about? He was just chatting about golf with his colleagues for an hour. —Come with me, Yuriko.”

2005-3-14 14:45:00

“Yes, yes!” Yuriko followed closely behind Nogami Sachiyo into the reception room.

A short man, barely past his prime, entered the reception room. He seemed like a sharp-tongued character. He asked curtly, "What can I do for you?"

"I just want to ask what reason my father gave when he asked for leave?"

Why are you asking this kind of question?

"This is very important. Please tell me."

The door opened, and Nogami Sachiyo brought in tea. Uematsu spoke with great difficulty.

"I'm not quite sure. He said he was going on a trip."

"When you take a long vacation, you usually have to hand over the work you were working on before, right? How did you do that?"

"Well... that's true. He brought it up suddenly some time ago, saying he had some urgent business to attend to."

"Didn't you say where you're going or what you're going to do?"

"How would I know? What exactly are you trying to do?" Uematsu said anxiously. "Your father's incident has damaged our company's image and caused a lot of trouble. I've also been reprimanded by the president. Honestly, do you expect me to be subservient to you in return?!"

"Don't nag and blame people so much." Nogami Sachiyo seemed to have no fear of the section chief. "I think Sasamoto's performance at work is still very outstanding."

Uematsu rolled his eyes and glared at her resentfully, but couldn't say a word. He then turned to Yuriko and said, "In short, Sasamoto and our company have nothing to do with each other anymore. Your sudden visit is putting me in a difficult position."

“I completely understand,” Yuriko said, forcing herself to stand up. “Excuse me.”

"Ah, you—" Uematsu seemed to realize he had gone too far with his words, took out his wallet from his jacket pocket, and pulled out a 10,000 yen bill. "I think you might be having some difficulties. Here, take this as pocket money." He grabbed Yuriko's hand and placed the money in her palm.

Yuriko glanced sharply at Uematsu, picked up a lighter from the table, and the flame instantly ignited one end of the banknote.

"Hey! What are you doing!" Uematsu's eyes widened as he watched the 10,000 yen turn to ashes in the raging flames and fall into the ashtray.

Yuriko bowed politely and said, "Consider these ashes my return gift." With that, she strode out of the reception room.

"Sasaki, it's lunch break time!" someone called. "Sasaki." Hey, why isn't Sasaki answering?

Ayako was intently working at the photocopier when it suddenly dawned on her—Sasaki and Sasakimoto sounded very similar. Hmm? Yuriko seemed to have said something like, "To prevent anyone from being sensitive to the surname Sasakimoto, let's change it to Sasaki." So…wait, that means I'm 'Sasaki' now. Generally speaking, the good thing about Ayako's perpetually absent-mindedness is that she's absolutely incapable of being a detective, and her nerves are never really on edge…

"Hi, hi!" It took her a full thirty seconds to reply.

The girl who greeted her chuckled, "You're so enthusiastic about your work. Our wages are well paid in the morning. Just relax a little more."

"Thanks."

"No need to thank me. — It's lunchtime, let's go eat."

"Yes." Upon hearing this, Ayako suddenly felt an emptiness in her stomach.

"I am Kanda Hatsue, nice to meet you."

“I am Sasa—” The word “hon” was on the tip of her tongue, but she hurriedly changed it to “Sasaki Ayako”.

The elevator went down to the first floor, and the two went into a nearby pasta restaurant. Luckily, pasta was Ayako's favorite food.

"Still a university student? That's great. My university days were very happy too." Kanda Hatsue looked no more than twenty-four or twenty-five years old, yet she spoke of recent events in such an old-fashioned tone. "—How's work?"

"I still don't quite understand," Ayako answered honestly. "But the photocopier is quite interesting."

"This is just the feeling of the first day. I'll be bored to death starting tomorrow."

Will that happen?

“That’s right. But the copy room is quite interesting; there are always different people coming and going. And it’s a place where the boss almost never comes. So, you can talk badly about people there, and you can gossip.” Ayako finally understood a little. Kanda Hatsue continued, “If you can’t even do this kind of thing in a place like that, you simply can’t survive. There are basically no decent men there.”

"ah."

"So even if new girls come, they resign soon after. There's a reason for that."

"So, Ms. Kanda, are you married?"

"Just sign the contract."

"ah……"

"We've been dating since college, and we had our first time together a long time ago. But he had to stay in Nagoya for two years because of a job transfer. I didn't want to leave Tokyo, so I had to wait for him for two years."

"ah."

“He comes back every weekend and is always worried that I’m having an affair with other men,” Kanda Hatsue said with a smile. “But I’ve been very clever about it.”

"clever……"

“If they leave me alone from Monday to Friday, wouldn’t I be very lonely? So, sometimes I go to hotels with boys I meet at dance halls.”

"Ah." Ayako was so surprised that she couldn't speak.

"He's pathetic that he can't even notice something like this."

"ah."

"You already have experience in this area, right?"

"Ah—no, not at all!" Ayako hurriedly shook her head.

"Yes, innocent child. But be careful of middle-aged men. A while ago, a woman named Shuikou from our area was murdered."

Ayako finally remembered why she had changed her name and started working there. She wanted to find out about Junko Mizuguchi! Although she had forgotten, the other woman had unexpectedly brought it up. Ayako decided to start with her. "Ah—I saw the news."

"Right? Middle-aged men are really scary. Dating is fine, but once you get pregnant, he'll tell you, 'I have a wife.' But when it comes to having fun, they're much more sophisticated than young men. It's fun, but it's best not to let him lead you astray."

Ayako felt this was an opportunity to move the conversation forward, so she asked, "But... wasn't the murderer a man without a wife?"

“Well,” Kanda Hatsue immediately leaned forward, “I’m a good friend of Mizuguchi. We often go drinking together. Back then, she told me a lot—she clearly told me, ‘The other person is a married man.’”

Upon hearing this, even Ayako understood its meaning and felt her heart pound with excitement.

Why wasn't this reported to the police?

“Because I wasn’t asked.” Kanda Hatsue shrugged. “I can’t just say things I wasn’t asked, can I? Dealing with people like the police is a really annoying thing, isn’t it?”

Yes, yes.

"Besides, she said those things a long time ago. Maybe she's with another man again... Hey, what would you like some dessert? How about chocolate parfait?"

"Ah, okay."

"Two chocolate parfaits!" Kanda Hatsue raised her voice, shifting the topic away from Mizuguchi Junko, "—and there are others too, also involved in disputes with middle-aged men. I heard she resigned three years ago, after getting pregnant from an affair with our section chief—"

"Hey, sister."

"What's the matter?"

"Is Ayako-neechan back?"

"They haven't come back yet. Where did they go?"

"I don't know"

2005-3-14 14:46:00

"I don't know. Did they jump into the Yamanote Line tracks and commit suicide because they were bullied?"

"Wasn't the Yamanote Line discontinued?"