Akiko had thought it was funny when Naoyuki ostentatiously slipped her pants into a pocket of his bag. She thought it was less funny when she went to get dressed and found that he had taken her clean pair as well; fortunately, she just had time to make an emergency detour to a convenience store on the way to the station, and by the time she was on the train she was starting to see the funny side of that, too.

<em>I’ll be thinking of you working hard today,</em> said his text message.

<em>Convenience stores are really useful,</em> she texted back. Naoyuki’s reply was a single picture: a sad face. Akiko had to laugh, and for a moment wanted to tell her co-workers about it. But, on second thoughts, definitely not.

The good cheer buoyed her up as she arrived in work, despite the continuing rain, and Satomi gave her a warm smile in response to her bright greeting. Things were going well, too. She felt the benefits of the sorting out she had done the previous day immediately, and there were three stacks of completed photocopying on Tanaka’s desk before he even arrived. When she next passed his desk, he looked up.

“Tanahata? Thanks for the copying.â€ She smiled, and bowed a little in acknowledgement. “Could you get me a coffee?â€

“Certainly.â€ She made a detour to flick the switch on the machine on her way to the filing cabinets, and the coffee was ready to pour by the time she’d put the files away and got back. Tanaka only grunted a brief acknowledgement, but Akiko knew she was putting the whispers behind her.

Megumi invited her for lunch, but she made her excuses; there was still a backlog of jobs to be cleared, and working through lunch was the best way to get through it. She had bought rice balls at the convenience store, and she got a can of coffee from the vending machine.

“Working through lunch, Tanahata?â€ Mr Kanayama came over to her desk, and Akiko quickly pushed the shopping bag underneath it, hoping that he wouldn’t notice the two pairs of pants, in an opened package, still inside it.

“I want to get a few things cleared, sir. They built up a bit.â€ He smiled.

“That’s the sort of attitude we like to see. You know, you should join us for drinks sometimes.â€ Akiko’s response was a mixture of pleasure and panic. On the one hand, Mr Kanayama personally inviting her along was a first, and a good sign. On the other, she really didn’t like going, but it would be hard to turn him down.

“Thank you.â€ She tried to keep her answer non-commital, but Mr Kanayama didn’t seem to mind.

“Well, I’m going for lunch. If you could copy the papers on my desk, the ones in the green folder, before I got back, that would be helpful. Six sets.â€

“Yes, sir.â€ Akiko sprang up as soon as he left, and hurried over to get the file. Not too many sheets; good. She should be able to stay on top of things.