<em>Well, at least I’m not exhausted,</em> Akiko thought as she surveyed the pile of work on her desk on Monday morning. She had slept well on Saturday night, and, after failing to get into the office on Sunday, had spent part of the day at the shrine, but most of it catching up on more sleep. The pile of remaining work was still very intimidating, however, which was why she had come in early.

Nevertheless, Mr Kanayama was there ahead of her.

“Ah, Ms Tanahata, could you come into my office for a moment?â€

“Of course, sir.â€ She put the file she’d been inspecting back on the pile on her desk and went to his office, wondering what he wanted.

“Please close the door behind you.â€ Mr Kanayama was standing behind his desk, looking down at it. Akiko pushed the door to, suddenly very nervous. This wasn’t looking good.

Mr Kanayama took a deep breath, and looked up at her.

“You still haven’t finished the work you were given on Friday, have you.â€

“No, sir.â€ Akiko felt that she had to justify herself more than that, even though the amount she had received on Friday was obviously more than could be done in one day. “I did come in during the weekend, but there were problems with the computers, and I couldn’t get it finished.â€

“No-one else reported computer problems this weekend. And Tanaka says that you left the office around ten, and didn’t come back.â€

“Yes, but my computer crashed. I couldn’t get anything else done.â€

“Really?â€ Mr Kanayama sounded sceptical.

“I’ll show you.â€ Akiko remembered that the disk had been corrupted, with none of her files opening. That should convince him.

“Very well.â€

With Mr Kanayama standing over her, Akiko started up the computer and clicked on a file to open it. The program started up, and the file appeared, with no sign of any problems. Akiko stared at it, disbelieving. None of the files had opened, she was sure of it.

“It seems to be working perfectly well now,â€ Mr Kanayama observed from behind her.

“Er… yes.â€ Akiko wasn’t sure what to say, or think. “It wasn’t working on Saturday.â€

“Maybe. I think we should go back to my office.â€ He didn’t wait for her to say anything, and Akiko got up to follow him with dread heavy in the pit of her stomach.

She closed the door to the office without waiting to be told, and stood in front of his desk as he fiddled with some of the papers on it. Finally, he cleared his throat and looked up at her again.

“Your work has been below par for some time, Ms Tanahata. Particularly so in the last few weeks. I was hoping that you would be able to turn things around, and I gave you several opportunities to do so. But the graphs you gave me for the meeting still contained errors, errors that may have cost us a contract.â€ Akiko opened her mouth to protest her innocence; she was sure that the graphs had been correct. She’d checked them many times. But Mr Kanayama immediately interrupted.

“Don’t try to justify it. The simple fact is that you are not up to this job.â€ He dropped his eyes back to the desk. “I’m afraid that I have no choice but to let you go. Collect your things from your desk on your way out.â€