She loved her father’s big hand when he ruffled her hair, and his arms when he lifted her up, light as a feather. But what she loved most was his smile.
“Today, Teitou Bank announced that hackers gained access to the account information of two hundred thousand customers. The bank is looking into the matter urgently, since there is a possibility the leak included customer account numbers and passwords. Investigators suggested that a vulnerability in the system’s security may be to blame for the incident…”
Nagi was thirteen when a large-scale data breach occurred at Teitou Bank, one of the top banks in Japan. The public was in an uproar to learn of system vulnerabilities at a bank they had assumed was absolutely safe. Two days after the discovery, the bank’s president and staff apologized at a large press conference. Nagi’s father was among those subjected to the flashbulbs and scathing questions of the media. He had worked as head of system development at Teitou Bank, and his department was responsible for the breach. Ultimately, the bank’s president took responsibility by resigning, and the company was taken over—or “merged,” as they politely put it—by another megabank and essentially went bust.
Mom, why is Dad always at home now? Why doesn’t he go to work…?
Dad lost his job. He’s going to take some time off.
Her father had always headed to work dressed in a suit, but now he didn’t so much as venture outdoors. He spent most of the day sleeping and never changed out of his pajamas. When he was up, all he did was stare at the TV or robotically eat the food Nae cooked. Eventually, he stopped eating and began to grow visibly gaunter. Around that time, he started waking up in the middle of the night screaming more often, and Nagi frequently heard her mother trying to soothe him through the wall between her room and theirs. Before long, he was admitted to the hospital.
Don’t become a systems engineer. You’re a girl, so you ought to choose an easier path where someone else can protect you.
Once, when Nagi stopped to see her father at the hospital on the way home from school, he had told her that. He seemed much calmer than when he’d been at home, but he also seemed as if his soul had fallen out of his body, leaving his physical form to go mechanically through life. Behind him, the September sky was a clear blue. Nagi remembered vividly how beautiful the sky was that day. Those were the last words she ever heard her father say. On September 17, the day she turned fourteen, he left this world.
From now on, every September seventeenth, let’s go to that restaurant we always used to go to together.
It was a year after her father’s death when Nagi’s mother made that suggestion. Her fifteenth birthday was a month away.
We’ll have them set a place for your father and bring him food, and we’ll have a nice party. After all, it’s your birthday. Your father would have wanted to celebrate with you.
Nagi wasn’t sure that was true. For Nagi, September 17 was a day for solemn mourning and most definitely not a day to celebrate.
Nagi, please don’t hate your own birthday, Nae had said kindly. It makes me sad to see you looking so depressed every year. Nagi, however, felt no enthusiasm for the plan.
It’s a special day—the day you came into the world.
Even now, Nagi hated that “special day” more than anything.
The first thing she was conscious of was a horrible pain all through her body. Her arms and shoulders stung with pins and needles, and her hips were stiff and sore.
“Ugh…”
She felt like she’d dreamed about the past. A dream about when her father was still alive. She stood up slowly, her sleepy head sensing that something was very wrong. She’d just woken up, so why wasn’t she in her room? Her monitor was centimeters from her nose. The date and time glowed on the login screen.
Saturday, September 17, 11:05 AM
For a few seconds, it didn’t register. But the instant she realized what had happened, a shock ran through her body.
“That can’t be right!”
She sprang out her seat and gripped her head, trying to remember the events of the previous night. She recalled that, after her phone call with Keigo, she’d worked until midnight. But beyond that, she had no memory whatsoever. Going by circumstantial evidence, she must have fallen into an unbelievably deep, long sleep.
How could she have done that? She’d wasted eleven precious hours! This was worse than awful. The only possible explanation was her recent lack of sleep. She hadn’t gotten a good night’s rest in weeks, so she’d simply passed out. But why now, of all times?
“I—I have to…go on…”
If she didn’t get back to work, midnight would come before she knew it. She sat down in a panic at her desk, but she was too rattled to think straight. What now? What now? She’d never finish!
“…”
The display in front of her slowly began to blur. She’d held it in all this time, but now memories of her father’s words and her mother’s sad face came flooding back, and she couldn’t help crying, full of regret and frustration. Everything was her own fault. Fleeing from the stress of job-hunting into work as a systems engineer, going along with what Kojima said, sending Saotome and Saiga home early, turning down Keigo’s offer of help, being unable even to mourn her dear father on the anniversary of his death—all of it, it was all her fault.
As she began to cry uncontrollably, she suddenly heard the office door open. She frantically wiped away her tears and glanced toward the door.
“…What? Yoroizuka?”
“Mr. Kojima…?”
She couldn’t believe it was him. He was wearing sloppy weekend attire rather than his usual suit and looked slightly surprised to see her, but he nevertheless raised one hand and nodded. Her mood lifted slightly from the depths of despair. Could he possibly have come to help?
“Is something the matter?” she asked, clinging to a faint ray of hope.
“I forgot my wallet here,” he answered.
The ray of hope blinked out. He strode past her to his own desk. Opening the drawer, he muttered, “Ah, there it is!” and pocketed his wallet.
“Oh…ha-ha, did you?”
Her excitement deflated like a punctured balloon. What an idiot she’d been to expect anything from him.
“The question is, What are you doing here? Let me guess—still working on Yummy Foods? I thought the deadline was yesterday!”
Having accomplished his goal, he peered rudely at her screen.
“For various reasons, the deadline was extended to tonight,” she said.
She silently praised herself for not telling him the real reason. Kojima snorted, then surveyed her smeared makeup and unchanged clothes.
“Don’t tell me you’ve been here since last night,” he said in shock. But Nagi saw his lips curl into a smile. There was no sign of worry or apology in his expression—only ridicule.
“Um, yes, I have.”
“Sheesh. Instead of pulling all-nighters, you ought to divide the work better during the week. You’ve always been terrible at planning.”
Fury swelled inside her and nearly exploded. Her vision went bright red, and she was overcome by an impulse to punch Kojima just so he would feel some pain. But as quickly as the urge arose, it withered. There was no point in punching Kojima. A sense of futility overtook her. All she could muster was a dry laugh.
“Ha-ha…I suppose you’re right.”
This whole thing was ridiculous. She didn’t know what she was doing anymore. Why was she even here?
“…Pardon me!” someone called cheerfully, banging open the office door.
Nagi and Kojima both looked toward the voice in time to see a man enter the room. He was tall and dressed in a dark-gray suit, with short black hair pushed up off his forehead. He glanced around the office with his long, narrow eyes and quickly settled on Nagi and Kojima.
“Ah, there you are.”
Nagi stared open-mouthed as he strode briskly in her direction. It was the last person she expected to see—her old friend Keigo Yuuki.
“Hey, aren’t you from Systems Development Division Two?” Kojima asked suspiciously.
“That’s right. My name is Keigo Yuuki.”
He bowed to Kojima, then turned to the stunned Nagi.
“Ms. Yoroizuka, I’m sorry to bother you while you’re working, but may I have a moment of your time?”
She nodded, flustered by his formal language.
“Actually, I have a message for you from the president.”
“…What? From the president?”
“Yes. It’s about Yummy Foods.”
She felt the blood drain from her face. A message from the president about Yummy Foods at this moment could only mean bad news. There were so many reasons for him to be mad at her about the situation. Depending on how angry he was, he might lower her salary. Or even worse, fire her—
“He would like you to know that the Yummy Foods project has been completed.”
It took a few seconds for Keigo’s words to reach Nagi in the depths of her despair.
“……………He what?”
And even when they reached her, she didn’t understand what he meant.
“It seems the president came into the office this morning, fixed the source code, and ran all the tests.”
“My u-uncle…I mean, the president did that…? Really?”
She’d never heard of a company president taking on such petty work. She was so shocked she forgot to use polite language when she answered. Keigo nodded.
“I believe the repaired code and testing specifications have been uploaded to the server. Would you like to have a look?”
Flustered, Nagi logged on to her computer. She was highly skeptical of this whole story, but when she checked the server, she was stunned speechless. Keigo was telling the truth. The fixes she should have been working on that day were all neatly finished.
“Does everything look all right?” Keigo asked as she stared at the screen.
“Yes, it all looks good…”
She nodded in disbelief. Not only the code but the testing specifications were perfect, to the point that there was nothing left for her to do. She should be able to deliver the project immediately. Nagi felt relief permeate her body. She didn’t understand how or why, but she really had been rescued. She had somehow escaped the worst-case scenario.
“By the way, Ms. Yoroizuka. Don’t you think it would be a good idea to deliver the project now?”