As dusk approached, Mitsuhiro gave up the search for the time being. He returned the company car to the lot and began cleaning the interior, intending to get rid of Yoshikazu Hara’s body odor. The odor of many Yoshikazu Haras.
He sent a text message to his boss, reporting that he was ending the search for the day. There was no reply. When he returned to the office, neither Takenaka nor the other team members were there, but he saw on the office whiteboard that they were in an IR meeting—without Mitsuhiro.
Takenaka had told him nothing about that. He hadn’t been told to attend the meeting. Nor had he been told not to.
Takenaka really was trying to remove him from the team. That was how it seemed, but it didn’t discourage Mitsuhiro. It just angered him. He knew his father would tell him not to worry, that he had much more important work to do than listen to that idiot Takenaka.
On his computer, he filled out the return sheet for the company car, along with a request for permission to keep using it, and emailed both to General Affairs. Normally, he would’ve asked Takenaka to do this for him, but he was unavailable at the moment, and there was no point waiting for him. He needed that car to pick up Yoshikazu Hara.
When he placed the printouts of these forms on Takenaka’s desk, he noticed something strange. There were footprints under his desk, made of some kind of white powder.
When Mitsuhiro bent down to take a closer look, he saw several footprints around Takenaka’s chair. He looked back at the office door. More footprints led straight to Takenaka’s desk, just like the prints leading into his apartment.
But then, as if suddenly blown away by the wind or absorbed into the floor, the footprints disappeared. Mitsuhiro stood there in a daze.
His father laughed.
“The ash has its eyes on your boss now, huh? It’s gonna take care of him so he doesn’t get in your way.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s supporting you now, you see? That’s proof you’ve been recognized as a qualified mi-keshi. I’m proud of you, son.”
Mitsuhiro smiled. He didn’t care if he was shunned by the rest of the team. It didn’t even matter if he lost his desk on this floor. He could proudly say that that was how important his current job was.
So he left the office and went straight home. He was still walking on air when he entered his condo.
“Daddy’s back!”
Sae ran down the hallway and hugged Mitsuhiro. Miyoko followed, her belly appearing from around the corner ahead of the rest of her.
“Welcome back.”
“Hey. How are you feeling?”
“Much better. That smell is still bothering me, though.”
The only smell Mitsuhiro could detect was the aroma of a warm dinner.
“I have my amulet here, so we’ll be fine.”
“Huh?” she said, frowning.
But this was exciting news for Sae. “Oh, are you gonna do the spell again? I wanna do it too!”
“Sure, if it’s bad enough.”
Mitsuhiro took Sae’s hand and went to the dining room with the puzzled Miyoko. The table was already set for dinner, but Miyoko had other things on her mind.
“What kind of amulet is this? The one Sae was talking about?”
“Yes. I got one.”
Mitsuhiro took the envelope out of his bag and showed her the amulet with “Tamai” embroidered on it.
“It’s the same one!” Sae squealed, taking the charm from Mitsuhiro’s hand.
“You’re going to burn it? Is that okay? It won’t undo the charm or anything?”
“That’s what I was told to do. If necessary. For now, let’s just put it up somewhere.”
“On the fridge!”
Sae rushed to the kitchen and hung the charm on a magnetic clip attached to the refrigerator. Miyoko craned her neck to look at it, opened her eyes wide, and shrugged her shoulders.
“Maybe it does have some kind of psychological effect. It’s like…that smell bothering me just disappeared.”
“Looks like we got a new power spot for our house,” Mitsuhiro jokingly announced. Miyoko had to chuckle back.
“You don’t even know what that term means, do you?”
“Power spot!!” shouted Sae, making her parents laugh even harder.
After dinner, the family took their respective turns in the bath. Sae and Miyoko went to bed, and Mitsuhiro was enjoying some sparkling water in the dining room, his father sitting across from him.
“Wish I could enjoy a job-well-done drink with you,” said his father.
“Yeah. I’ve always wanted to drink with you like this.”
“We can, once you finish up your work. But not yet. I don’t want you getting a DUI or anything.”
“Of course not.”
“So let’s get going, okay? Your wife’s back. I’ll join you.”
“Thanks.”
“Let’s give this our best shot, Mitsuhiro.”
He never thought he’d ever go out to work with his father. He picked up his bag and headed for the front door, trying not to make a sound, his eyes stinging with tears. He was able to spend quality time with his dad because of his current job. It was hard work, something his boss just refused to understand, but it was well worth it. Nothing else seemed to give him quite that level of fulfillment and joy.
So Mitsuhiro left the home.