Shoshaman by Arai Shinya

Author:Arai Shinya [Shinya, Arai]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of California Pres
Published: 1991-04-08T17:00:00+00:00

2

“Hi!” Nakasato waved in friendly greeting as he walked into the coffee shop in the basement of their building.

“It’s been a long time.” Nukaya rose from the chair and bowed slightly.

“True. We work in the same building but have little chance to run into each other these days. It goes to show you how much Nissei’s grown, doesn’t it?”

“You may be right there,” Nukaya agreed and then switched to a more formal tone. “Nakasato-san, congratulations on your promotion to MG-1!”

“Oh? Thanks. I’ve been lucky.”

“No, you made it on your own merit. I hear there was some commotion at the ceremony.”

“You mean Ojima?”

“Yes. I didn’t know him well, but I was shocked to hear about him. What made him do it?”

Nervous breakdown, Nakasato was about to say, but checked himself in time. Nukaya sitting across from him at this very moment had a history of mental breakdown. Perhaps not completely cured yet. It would do no good to tell a neurotic man about another who had committed suicide.

“Well, doesn’t matter now. Anyway, you look really well. Put on a bit of weight, I see,” Nakasato said, tactfully changing the subject. For some time after he returned from an extended leave of absence following his breakdown, Nukaya had gone around the office wearing a morbid expression on his face that showed no spirit or ambition. Now even his skin had a glow.

“Thank you. I’m feeling much better these days. I fell into a good thing recently.”

“Oh, did you?”

What good thing? He hasn’t had a promotion or an upgrade reassignment lately that I know of—must have something to do with his family, Nakasato thought vaguely.

“I’ll tell you about it later. First things first. What in the world is Mr. Inuzuka up to, anyway?”

“The fact that he paid you a visit too makes me think it’s a case of senile melancholia after all. If he picked me out, I might have suspected some kind of a revenge attempt, though.”

“What grudge could Mr. Inuzuka hold against you? The other way around, that I could understand better.”

“Well, maybe so. But to put it bluntly, Mr. Inuzuka’s a career dropout. In his steady progress up the corporate ladder, at some point he somehow climbed off and opted out by resigning from Nissei. He must have mixed feelings about the past. So I didn’t rule out the possibility of guilt turned into a grudge against me.”

“Knowing Mr. Inuzuka’s personality as I do, I can’t see him doing anything so underhanded. I grant you, he does have a tendency to be dogmatic at times, but …”

“Uncommonly dogmatic, or he wouldn’t be coming around after all this time to give us expensive artworks and apologize without rhyme or reason.”

“True enough.” Nukaya laughed cheerfully. That good thing had apparently worked a complete change in his personality to brighten up his disposition. “But Nakasato-san, we can’t very well accept his gift with polite thanks.”

“In any case, let’s all three get together. Aside from the painting, I have a business matter to discuss with Mr.

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