“What did you want to talk about, Suzui?”
Mutsumi took a seat across from him at the soba restaurant he’d told her about.
“Maybe I’ll have grated daikon over my soba noodles,” she whispered to herself, scanning the menu briefly before turning her attention back to him. “Did something happen at work?”
“Well, it’s related to work, but technically, it didn’t happen to me…”
Right after parting ways with Jin at the station the previous night, Suzui messaged Mutsumi on LINE. He wanted to let the emotion of the moment take him, to write everything he saw, but he held back. Explaining in person would be easier, and Suzui had an odd feeling he shouldn’t leave a record of this in writing. That wasn’t born of a concern for Chief Sato’s or Jin’s privacy; Suzui just really didn’t want the text to be on his phone.
The soba restaurant was near the office, but because it was more expensive than other restaurants in the area, Suzui almost never saw coworkers there. He’d asked Mutsumi here for lunch to be considerate of her schedule. She always went home promptly at quitting time to take care of her family.
A waiter came out with tea. Suzui ordered, wiped his hands with the wet towel, and then broached the subject.
“Last night, I saw Jin on a train platform on the way home. He was talking to someone on the phone. But the train platform is really noisy, you know? And he was in this long conversation, so I started to worry, and I called out to him.”
“Uh-huh.” The mention of Jin’s name made Mutsumi straighten up.
“Then I heard him say ‘Chief’ into the phone. So I told him, ‘Let’s hang up,’ and I ended the call. It was outside of work hours, and Jin was just going to keep apologizing for something or other.”
When Suzui had seen Jin at the office this morning, he seemed his usual self. When he walked by, Jin offered his characteristic weak smile and said, “Sorry to have worried you yesterday, Suzui.”
Suzui replied, “Uh, it’s fine.” The chief was out at a meeting with another division in the company. It was a small relief that they didn’t have to see him for a bit.
I bet he comes into work looking perfectly pleased with himself after subjecting his employees to ridiculous after-hours rants, Suzui thought. Anger was building in him again. The feeling practically caught in his throat, forcing him to breathe deeply to clear it.
“When I hung up the call, I saw it had been going for over three hours.”
Mutsumi’s eyes went wide, a very understandable reaction.
“I was shocked. And before I hit the button, I heard a little bit of what Chief Sato said.”
“So I don’t think Mutsumi’s making any sense.” Suzui thought about letting Mutsumi know her name had come up, but decided he couldn’t.
“It seemed like he was just complaining about someone and forcing Jin to listen for hours.”
Mutsumi would obviously feel terrible knowing that someone was talking about her behind her back, even if it was just their pushy boss.
“At first I thought Jin was being yelled at, like he always is at work. But this was more like he’d been forced to listen to a bunch of whining.”
“When was this?”
“Close to ten, I think. He probably got the call as soon as he left work, and then he was on the line the whole time. And I doubt this was the first instance.”
After Suzui hung up, the phone had kept ringing. Would Jin have been able to resist answering without someone else there?
“Jin told me, ‘I think the section chief acts this way because I might hear him out.’ That’s evidence that he’s under a lot of mental strain. I mean, it’s just wrong, isn’t it?”
“That’s what Jin told you?” Mutsumi asked, concerned.
Suzui nodded. “Yeah.”
“Then you’re right. It does sound pretty bad. Almost like a habit.”
“A habit?”
“Yes.”
The waiter came to the table with their soba orders. Suzui had soba with duck, while Mutsumi’s noodles came with grated daikon. Suzui gazed at the steam rising from the dipping broth and brought his hands together in the typical expression of gratitude before eating. Mutsumi did the same. They broke their wooden chopsticks apart, and after a period of silence, she finally spoke.
“Obviously, the section chief is the problem, but I also feel like Jin is so used to this unfair treatment that he’s numb to it. By just passively allowing it to happen, even when he doesn’t need to, Jin’s learned to accept being scolded, and it’s become a kind of routine that he slips into…”
“Yeah.”
“The department chief’s been concerned about Sato’s actions lately. His attitude with his superiors has been bad, too. He says all the right things about wages and offering support to the staff, but he’s too vehement and clashes with others. The department chief even asked me about the morale in our section.”
Mitsumi called him “Sato” instead of “the section chief,” perhaps because they used to be coworkers of the same rank. Suzui didn’t think there was any value in worrying for his boss. However, Mutsumi had known the section chief for years and had a different perspective, so her concern was a bit understandable.
“Should I try talking to Sato?” she wondered aloud. “Maybe he’s just on edge because of poor section performance. Something else might be weighing on his mind.”
“Um, I…don’t know about that…,” Suzui replied clumsily.
Mutsumi stared him right in the eyes. “Why not?” He really couldn’t find the words to respond.
Chief Sato clearly had it out for Mutsumi. If she chided him for his actions, he’d undoubtedly explode at her. This was all because she was a woman who got the job done better than Chief Sato and was respected for it.
It felt so ridiculous.
Suzui didn’t want to explain it out loud, so he shook his head. “I’m worried he’ll make you his next target if you speak out. I understand your concerns, but I suspect it’s best for him to hear it from above. I don’t think he listens to anyone below him.”
“‘Below him,’” Mutsumi repeated.
Uh-oh, thought Suzui. Sato had become section chief over her, despite her seniority with the company.
Suzui worried that he’d touched a sore spot, but Mutsumi just sighed and said, “Maybe you’re right. In the past, he didn’t get hung up on hierarchy. He was enjoyable to talk to. But it seems like he’s getting worse and worse. I don’t remember him being such a stereotypical bad boss.”
“Maybe it’s because he liked you. And when you didn’t give him the time of day, it made him angry.”
“Oh, please,” Mutsumi replied, her expression finally softening. The two slurped their noodles for a bit before she said, “All right. I’ll talk to the department head. I’m sorry you have to worry about this.”
“No, I’m fine.”
Mutsumi really didn’t need to apologize just because she was the team lead and felt responsible for the section. Still, Suzui knew he could count on her to do the right thing at times like this.
Their lunch break was short, so they needed to eat quickly and get back to the office. Mutsumi put her head down and slurped her noodles rapidly. Suzui found himself staring and bit his lip.
I can only imagine how hard it is to be a woman and a mother fighting to earn your place in the sales department. Unlike for Mutsumi’s colleagues, her short lunch break was the only free time she had, and she always spent it listening to younger workers like Suzui. That someone as talented and capable as she was subject to the whims of more incompetent men meant the company was truly unfair.
“Mutsumi-san.”
“Yes?”
“If there’s anything I can do, please say the word.”
She looked up to confirm if Suzui was joking, and once she was satisfied, grinned and answered, “I know. I’m counting on you. Thanks, Suzui.”
Although Suzui had invited Mutsumi to lunch, she paid the bill. “This is the only time I get to play the work senior role,” she said, repeating a phrase she’d used recently. Suzui thought things like this were why she was so respected.
If only she had been made section chief instead.