Katsutoshi Katsuragi’s household being so troubled was a surprise. I was undecided on how I might use the fact, but knowing about it didn’t hurt. There might come a time when it would serve as a trump card. The funk I’d been in only several hours ago had vanished without a trace.
The next day when I arrived at work, Kozuka called me in. When I went to his office, he was right in the middle of talking to Tomoya Sugimoto. Sugimoto generally did work that had to do with concerts and anything related to music. He was a year younger than me, but accomplished in his own way. I recalled that he would be my replacement for the Nissei Automobile job.
“I was just in the middle of telling Sugimoto about yesterday’s matter,” Kozuka said, looking at me.
Sugimoto must have felt awkward meeting my eyes and dropped his gaze to the surface of the president’s desk.
“Are you telling me to debrief him on the job?”
“No, there’s no need for that. We need to start over from scratch anyway. If we don’t, our partners won’t consent.” He meant Katsutoshi Katsuragi wouldn’t. “Did you already tell the staff about how the automobile park was canceled?”
“No, I was just about to.”
“Right.” Kozuka looked like he was in thought.
“Was there anything else?”
“Yes. Actually, I’ve been thinking a lot since then, but it’s still going to be hard to remake a new team from scratch now. I might change part of it, but swapping out the whole crew is physically impossible, isn’t it?”
I realized what he wanted to say. “You’re saying that you’re going to leave the team as is. And just swapping out the team leader.”
“Well, that’s how it is. Anyway, we don’t have time. Nissei also consented to that.”
How convenient. I swallowed my words and nodded.
“In addition to that, I have a meeting with Nissei this afternoon. I want you to attend.”
“Me? What for?” I’d donned a forced smile. “I thought I was useless to them.”
“Don’t whine. They want to explain it properly from their end. You can leave after Sugimoto’s introduction.”
They were saying the prior supervisor should attend the announcement of the new supervisor. I couldn’t recall ever being humiliated as badly as that.
Juri’s face suddenly floated into my mind. That’s when I thought of something.
“Mr. Katsuragi won’t come anyway, right?”
“No, you’ll probably see him.”
“Are you sure?” I tilted my head to the side. “I don’t think he’ll be able to attend.”
“Why are you saying this? I just got confirmation. The person clearly said that Executive Vice President Katsuragi would be there.”
“Just now?”
“That’s right. Is there something the matter with that?”
“No…”
Did he have the composure to sit in a meeting when his daughter had run away from home? Or did Katsutoshi Katsuragi not know that Juri had gone missing? That was hard to believe. If anyone noticed, they’d tell her father right away.
“I understand. I’ll attend. I’ll take a very thorough look at Mr. Katsuragi’s face.”
“Don’t you make any trouble. All you have to do is be quiet until it’s over,” Kozuka warned, pointing at my chest.
Nissei Automobile’s Tokyo headquarters were in Shinjuku. After going through a few overblown formalities, we were led to the conference room. They were already waiting.
We received the gist of the explanation about redoing the plan from their fat promotions manager. It was gentler than what Kozuka had said yesterday, but it was the same difference in that they’d knocked my ideas.
Katsutoshi Katsuragi wasn’t there. They said he was late, but he probably wouldn’t come. There was no way he could come. He might have been filing a missing person report with the police right around then.
The promotions manager shifted to how they would proceed. Concept, needs, IT—he threw out words that decent ad men would be ashamed to string together. I became bored. Sugimoto’s introduction was over, so I’d leave when the timing was right.
It happened after I’d already bitten down on several yawns. Without a knock, the door opened. A broad-shouldered man wearing a dark suit came in. The promotions manager broke off.
After surveying the room with keen eyes, the man went to the head of the table.
There was no mistaking he was Katsutoshi Katsuragi.
“What, why did you stop?” He threw a dissatisfied look at the promotions manager.
The manager tried to hurry and resume, but apparently having forgotten where he was, he just looked flustered for a moment. In other words, he was that intimidated.
“Is that Mr. Katsuragi?” I asked Kozuka, who was next to me, in a whisper. Kozuka just nodded slightly with his chin.
The promotions manager eventually got back his rhythm and reprised his tedious lecturing. Not bothering to listen, I stared, out of the corners of my eyes, at the face of the EVP who had casually dissed my abilities. Katsutoshi Katsuragi also seemed uninterested in what the manager had to say. I couldn’t tell if it was because the fellow wasn’t saying much, or for some other reason—namely, that his daughter was missing.
The manager finished, and when another person from the Nissei Automobile side tried to stand up next, Katsuragi raised his hand, saying, Hold it. As everyone watched, he opened his mouth without standing up.
“We’re aware that we’re troubling you through this upcoming project change. However, please understand that we aren’t here to host some festival. We do require innovation, but I don’t intend to gamble with luck. The name of the game we’re playing here is none other than business. It requires scrupulous planning and bold action. Since it’s a game, we’re playing to win. We can’t treat it as a joke just because it’s a game. In this world, games where you have to put everything on the line are as numerous as the stars. Please, think of this one as such. And I’m fairly confident when it comes to games. Being confident, I’ve concluded that our game plan needs overhauling—that’s our situation.”
He had just about said that we were pawns that needed to move however he wished. No, that was all he wanted to say. Although his tone was calm and gentle, his voice was equipped with a force that resonated throughout the room. I felt everyone’s postures stiffen compared to a few minutes ago.
I ended up sitting in until the end. In that time, I continued to secretly observe Katsutoshi Katsuragi, but I sensed nothing absent-minded about him. When his subordinates or Kozuka spoke, the man’s expression looked incurious at first glance, but the sharp light in the back of his eyes never dwindled. Well, he’s certainly not just anybody, I admitted.
My sense of humiliation and fighting spirit mixed and swirled as though they’d been put in a blender. A game? That served me just fine. So he styled himself a master? But when it came to games, I was no slouch, either. We could decide who was the true master. He was going to send me packing and not even play me? Katsutoshi Katsuragi, take me on, I kept willing at him. But he didn’t seem to receive the signal.
After the meeting, Kozuka rushed over to Katsuragi’s side, greeted him, and tried to introduce me. But without even looking in my direction, Katsuragi cheerlessly waved his hand and turned his back to us.
“We’ll skip the superfluous stuff. No point in my meeting an outsider to all this.”
With those words, he immediately started walking away.
Speechless, Kozuka and I watched the major-corporation EVP’s back. I could almost sense the looks of pity that the others present were casting at me.