Akiko stared at the screen, her face twisted into a frown. This was definitely not how she had planned to spend her Saturday, but she didn’t see that she had any choice. It had been midnight before she got the graphs and charts ready for Mr Kanayama, and that left a pile of the other work she had been supposed to do on Friday sitting on her desk. Given her boss’s current attitude, she was sure she had to do something to convince him she was serious. So here she was. She grimaced at the screen again, and started typing.

Her cell phone rang. She ignored it at first, but the person, a number she didn’t know, didn’t give up.

“Hello? This is Akiko Tanahata.â€

“This is Ota.â€ Her landlord.

“Oh, Mr Ota. What can I do for you?â€

“I’ve had several complaints from your neighbours about the loud noises from you room at night.â€

“At night?â€ Akiko was confused. <em>She</em> hadn’t heard any loud noises.

“Yes. Your contract requires you to keep the noise down after dark. So please see to it.â€

“But…â€ He had already hung up on her. Akiko closed the phone and turned back to the screen, just as it went blank. She tapped at the keyboard, and at the power key, but they had no effect. She got down on her hands and knees under the desk, and found that the cord had got wound around her chair leg and the plug had been pulled out of the socket.

Plugged in again, the computer started up, but when she tried to open any of her files she got error messages; the crash seemed to have corrupted part of the disk. She looked for earlier versions, but they wouldn’t open either, and then the machine crashed again.

Akiko stared at the screen, incredulous. How many problems could she face on a single weekend? Something moved in the reflection, behind her, and she quickly looked over her shoulder. She saw Mr Tanaka, on his way to his desk. He nodded at her, but paid little attention, caught up in his work as normal.

When she looked back, the screen was a window onto the shrine, looking down from above the torii. Without thinking, she moved the mouse, but it had no effect on the image. The deep green of the trees contrasted with the bright green of the copper roof, but there was no sign of anyone in the grounds. Just an empty drink bottle on the path. And a plastic lunch tray. And an empty crisp packet.

As she watched, more and more litter appeared on the ground, filling it up, hiding the grass from view and starting to build up to the level of the shrine veranda. She waved the mouse and stabbed at keys, but nothing changed the image on the screen.

“All right,â€ she muttered. “I get the message.â€ Turning the computer off made the image fade, and she gathered her coat and bag. She looked at the pile of work still sitting on her desk and sighed. It looked like it wasn’t going to get done this weekend, after all.