Akiko made sure that she got into work early the following day, and started looking at the problems with the spreadsheet again. She still had no idea what she had seen at the building site, but she had equally little idea as to what she should do about it. Go back? That didn’t seem like a good idea. Ignore it? That also seemed like a bad plan; whatever it was, it had seemed threatening. But at that point, she ran out of ideas.

Sighing, she shook her head and tried to focus on the spreadsheet again. The error had to be in here somewhere.

“Ms Tanahata?â€ She looked up, and Mr Kanayama was standing by her desk. “Could I have a word in my office, please?â€

“Yes, of course.â€ Akiko stood up, following her boss back to his office. He closed the door behind them, and went to stand behind his desk. For a moment, he said nothing, looking down at the papers in front of him. When he did speak, it was without looking up.

“You left work early yesterday.â€ Half statement, half accusation.

“Yes…â€ Akiko began, uncertain. “I wasn’t well.â€

“Hm.â€ Mr Kanayama cut her off. “That wasn’t the first time recently, was it?â€ Akiko remembered going home a bit early after seeing the snake in the windows, and had to agree.

“No, it wasn’t.â€

“Hm. And there was that problem with the photocopying, and the spreadsheets Mr Tanaka asked you to do yesterday still aren’t finished.â€ Akiko really didn’t like the way this conversation was going, and could feel her legs beginning to shake, but she couldn’t think of anything to say at that point. She could hardly deny what Mr Kanayama was saying.

He cleared his throat and looked at her briefly, before dropping his eyes back to the desk.

“You really need to pick up your work level, you know. We can’t afford to carry passengers at this company.â€

Akiko felt the colour drain from her face, and fought back the tears that were pricking at her eyes. <em>He hasn’t fired me, not yet, </em>she reminded herself.

“Yes, sir.â€ Mr Kanayama cleared his throat again, and looked up at her.

“I had high hopes for you, Tanahata. Don’t disappoint me.â€

“No, sir.â€

“Very well, that’s all for now.â€

“Yes, sir.â€ Akiko bowed to him, and left the office.

Back at her desk, she found herself staring at the computer, not really seeing the numbers on the screen. Could she really be at risk of losing her job? She thought about the problems she’d had over the last couple of weeks, and mentally compared them to the sorts of mistakes Megumi made all the time. She couldn’t feel that she was the one who should have this threat hanging over her. Satomi was, she could tell, stealing glances at her, but Megumi hadn’t even arrived yet.

“Sss, Akiko!â€ Satomi whispered, trying to get her attention. “You’d better look busy. Mr Kanayama is watching you.â€

With a start, Akiko realised that she had been doing nothing. She quickly turned her attention back to the spreadsheets, looking for that elusive error.