When Akiko got back home the following night, there was a stern note on her door from the landlord, warning her about the water “leakâ€, but the tatami was finally dry. She waited for it to get late, and then left for the shrine again, this time with a bag to put the litter in, and she gathered quite a lot. When she got home, she felt at peace with herself, and fell asleep quickly.

Nevertheless, she still had to get up within a few hours, and she was very tired when she got into the office. Satomi commented on it, but Akiko brushed the implied question away, relying on coffee to get her through the day. It seemed to work, and she got to five o’clock without any major problems. That night, she went to the shrine as early as she dared, taking a torch to help her find more litter, particularly around the back, but it was still very late before her mood settled and she felt able to start home with her sack of rubbish.

The next morning, Mr Kanayama brought her a pile of papers, with complex instructions about preparing them for a meeting. She listened as carefully as she could, given her sleepy state, and, as soon as her boss left, she sat down to make notes on what was needed, so that she wouldn’t forget. She realised that Megumi was staring at her.

“What?â€

“Did you really remember all those instructions?â€

“I think so…â€ Akiko looked back down at her notes. Everything she could remember was there, and there didn’t seem to be any obvious gaps.

“Wow. Good luck.â€ With that, Megumi went back to her own work. Akiko realised that Satomi had looked over, but the other woman just smiled and shrugged, indicating her own pile of documents. Akiko smiled back, to thank her for the implied apology, and then headed for the photocopier.

The first forty sheets she copied were useless, because she’d put the original on the glass the wrong way round. Annoyed with herself, she checked very carefully before starting again, and then found that she’d made twenty copies more than were necessary. She decided that she needed more coffee before continuing.

The next set to do was a stack of fifty charts, all in colour, of which she had to make thirty sets. She checked that the originals were all properly mounted in the feeder, confirmed the paper levels, and then watched the first few sheets come out, making sure that they were all orientated correctly, the right size, and in colour. Everything was fine, so she went to sort out the next bit while the copier was working; she didn’t have time to babysit the machine.

When she went back, it had finished, but as she picked the papers up she felt as though her heart stopped beating. All the later sheets were in black and white. She went down the pile; the first few, the ones she had checked, were in colour. Quickly, she ran a test copy of a single sheet; colour. How could the setting have changed? She hadn’t seen anyone go near the copier, and anyway, why would anyone do that?

She looked at the clock; already late. Resigning herself to working into the night, Akiko set the papers up again, determined to watch them this time.