“You’re the boss. When you’re the one in charge, your subordinates don’t have the right to refuse you. You took advantage of that. All you wanted from Jin was someone to listen and say, ‘Uh-huh.’ You constantly demand his approval, forcing him to agree so you can keep hurling every negative thought you have at him. Jin doesn’t exist solely to exorcise your frustrations.”
“You were standing there, eavesdropping on me the entire time? That’s despicable.” The chief grimaced with distaste. He glanced out at the floor, looking for support from the others.
Suzui had no idea where the chief found the guts to entreat them with that ridiculous expression. However, it was clear the section chief didn’t feel an ounce of regret.
Say she’s wrong, Suzui thought. Please, tell us she’s mistaken. Yeah, you were on the phone, but maybe you were talking to someone other than Jin. I mean, no sane person would have a conversation like that with someone tending to a family member in the hospital. Say she’s wrong. Say it, damn you.
But what Suzui got instead was a heavy sigh.
“Jin will be fine. When I talked to him this morning, he said that it wasn’t serious. If something happened to his wife during the call, he’d hang up on me, wouldn’t he? He could’ve told me as much, and I would’ve ended our call right there. It was only going to be a brief talk anyway. If he was too busy for it, he should’ve said so.”
“You can’t—!”
Chief Sato’s blithe attitude caused Mutsumi’s face to rapidly pale from shock. She looked ready to keel over.
The chief’s snarl twisted into a grin. “I knew it was you, though. I’ve been getting called out by the department chief and the personnel department for things that weren’t my fault. Almost like someone who had it out for me spread a bunch of lies… Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? It was your fault you didn’t get the promotion, and you choose to take it out on me by dragging your boss down with you?”
Mutsumi’s face froze.
Her eyes were wide, and it seemed like she didn’t know what to say. Everyone else on the floor was similarly speechless. This went beyond annoyance or anger—it was just mute astonishment.
Such was Chief Sato’s devastating lack of rational logic. Getting through to him was impossible. He didn’t even try to avoid blame out of a sense of guilt; he honestly believed he’d done nothing wrong. In his mind, he was correct. This man lived in a world where his every action was utterly righteous.
“I can’t believe you…,” Mutsumi managed at last, although she struggled to get the words out. There was nothing more. When your conversation partner refused to listen to reason, there was nothing else you could say.
A phone ring broke the silence.
“Yotsumiya Foods, Sales Section Two,” said Tamiya, the youngest in the section. He seemed grateful for an escape from the uncomfortable scene. The chief and Mutsumi continued glaring at each other. The heavy quiet made it easy to hear Tamiya’s nervous stammer.
“Ch-Chief?”
Tamiya gripped the receiver and looked ready to cry. The section chief tore his eyes away from Mutsumi and grunted, “Yeah?”
“External call on line three. It’s from Jin.”
The call was to inform them that Jin’s wife failed to regain consciousness and passed away in the hospital.
Chief Sato was transferred the following month.
He was removed from company operations altogether and placed at a management firm that oversaw the company’s warehouse space. However, his workplace harassment wasn’t the reason for this change.
Sato was kicked out because he got into a fistfight with a senior member of a partner company and injured the man. He was at a reception with the executive director of Midorimura Market, the largest grocery store in the Kanto region, disagreed with the man over something trivial, and attacked him.
Suzui and the other employees weren’t told what the “trivial” cause of the argument had been. But Hamada, who attended the event and helped step in to stop the fight, claimed that Sato screamed, “Are you saying I’m wrong?” with bloodshot eyes. “I’m not trying to antagonize you. I want a peaceful resolution. But objectively speaking, I’m obviously correct. Why don’t you understand? Don’t you realize you’re the one talking nonsense? You should realize your mistake.”
Suzui wasn’t there to hear it, but he could easily envision the scene. He could imagine Sato, his tone confidently righteous, expecting everyone to believe he was correct.
Hamada quietly told Suzui that after Sato attacked the other man he ranted in his usual way, saying, “I knew he was incompetent. I go so far out of my way for him and he has no idea. He’s where he is today because I made things easier in my capacity as section chief.”
Unable to bear any more of that, Hamada had pleaded, “Sir, we should go back and apologize.”
Chief Sato had glared at Hamada and spit, “Oh, so you’re incompetent, too! You’re a waste of my time. You just don’t get it!”
And then he’d promptly made a phone call, right on the spot.
After his wife’s passing, Jin took time off from the company. The funeral was held privately, so the company only sent an offering gift. While Jin was away, the department chief and Mutsumi acted swiftly, ordering him not to answer any calls from Chief Sato. Mutsumi said Jin seemed troubled at first, but being told to refuse all contact also made him look very, very relieved.
“Shit!” the chief had raged after making his call. According to Hamada, he’d even slammed his smartphone against the ground. It was pretty clear whom he’d tried to reach.
“Chief,” Hamada had said.
Sure enough, Sato had replied, “Why isn’t he picking up? That’s not supposed to happen.”
Sirens had approached quickly. The act of violence had caused the staff at the restaurant hosting the reception to call the police. When Hamada noticed the red police lights nearing, he’d gone pale. The chief had kicked his phone and continued screaming, “Shit! Shit!”
Maybe it’s better that it happened this way, Suzui thought.
Relations with Midorimura Market had worsened, and the higher-ups were desperately trying to restore faith. Fortunately, the two sides were able to settle the assault out of court. And best of all, the section chief had clearly crossed a line in a way that would cost him.
Maybe he let his early appointment to a senior position go to his head and went mad from the power. If so, then he was unfit for any sort of management job, just as Suzui believed. Perhaps a move from sales to a place with less personal interaction would be good for him in the long run.
Fortunately for Section Two, the sudden vacuum left by Chief Sato’s personnel shift meant that the lead salesperson, Mutsumi, was made the new section chief. The choice might have been made to minimize upheaval and reduce friction with other departments, but it didn’t matter. The entire team was delighted to bear witness to the first female sales section chief in Yotsumiya Foods history.