Chapter 33: Volume 1, - 33: Friday on the Ledger
Friday, 10 March 2023
Ren unlocked the door of Suite 302 at twelve thirty in the afternoon. The cool March air clung to the concrete stairwell of the ageing commercial building, but inside, the morning sun had warmed the room just enough that he could drape his jacket over his chair.
He filled the electric kettle at the small corner sink, listening to its low rumble as the water began to heat. Looking around the three-desk layout, the office still felt slightly too large for one person, but its practical routine was taking shape. On his desk sat his personal laptop, the company ledger, and the blue paper attendance log he had set out on Wednesday.
In his private vision, the translucent blue interface of the Legacy System hovered quietly above the desk blotter:
[Verified Non-Wage Revenue: ¥30,000 / ¥100,000]
Ren pulled out the wooden tray containing the current administrative files, sorting the paperwork into two distinct piles on Nanami’s desk: routine intake on one side, and items requiring founder authorisation on the other.
There were follow-up notes from Okada Stationery regarding the new receipt-tracking format, a stack of Wada Delivery manifests that needed cross-referencing against invoice totals, several contact records that needed cleaning, and a short list of client replies waiting for confirmation.
At precisely thirteen hundred, a polite double-knock tapped against the frosted glass, and the door opened.
Nanami Shindo stepped inside, wearing her dark wool coat over a navy pleated skirt and white blouse. "Good afternoon, Kisaragi-san."
"Good afternoon, Shindo-san," Ren replied. "Thank you for coming in."
Nanami walked directly to the side table, pulled her blue ballpoint pen from her case, and logged her arrival time as 13:00. She hung her coat on the wall rack, smoothed her skirt, and took her seat across from Ren.
"I have arranged the afternoon tasks on your desk," Ren said, gesturing to the papers. "The primary objective today is cleaning up the file backlog from Wada Delivery and organising client records."
Nanami looked at the two piles, then up at Ren. "Regarding the Wada Delivery manifests, Kisaragi-san. Am I matching the copies against weekly summary sheets, or am I flagged to highlight discrepancies over five thousand yen?"
Ren paused. ’Right. I didn’t specify the threshold.’
When he worked alone, he processed discrepancies automatically based on memory. Now, watching Nanami wait calmly for a precise directive, he realised that giving instructions required an entirely different level of clarity.
"Match the copies first," Ren clarified, keeping his tone professional. "Any discrepancy over two thousand yen should be flagged with a yellow note and placed on my desk. Discrepancies below that can be recorded directly in the discrepancy log."
"Understood," Nanami said, clicking her pen.
For the next two hours, the only sounds in Suite 302 were the hum of the electric heater, the rhythmic clicking of Nanami’s pen, and the soft rustle of paper.
At two o’clock, Nanami stopped writing. "Kisaragi-san, this Wada Delivery copy is missing the receiving stamp. The invoice total is fourteen thousand yen."
Ren reached for his desk phone. "I can call Wada-san to check—"
"Wada-san already emailed a photograph of the signed customer copy yesterday," Nanami said. "I matched the delivery time and invoice number, printed it, and attached it to the file." She set the stapled document neatly on the completed pile.
Ren looked at the paper, feeling a strange combination of relief and subtle discomfort. Having someone else identify a break in routine and resolve it using established records felt entirely unnatural, and remarkably efficient.
He pulled up the payroll sheet on his laptop screen to log her scheduled hours for the week:
Shindo Nanami — Part-time Administrator
Rate: ¥1,150/hour
Weekly schedule: 15 hours — Wednesday, Friday, Saturday
Hours accrued this week: 10
Accrued wages: ¥11,500
Looking at the numbers made Ren’s stomach tighten slightly. ¥11,500 of the wage reserve was already committed to work Nanami had performed. A few weeks ago, Ren had worried about making his own money last until payday. Now he was responsible for making sure somebody else’s payday arrived correctly. The money in the company account wasn’t just an abstract score for the System sprint; it represented a real commitment to an employee.
At three, Ren called a twenty-minute paid rest break. Neither of Nanami’s five-hour shifts included an unpaid meal period, so the brief rest remained within her scheduled time.
They walked down the stairs into the crisp March afternoon, stopping at the local Lawson convenience store near the corner. Ren scanned the refrigerated aisle, his habit of calculating cost-per-calorie deeply ingrained. He selected a grilled chicken bento priced at 498 yen and a green tea for 108 yen. Nanami selected a tuna sandwich and barley tea, paying with her own money at the register.
On the way back upstairs, the fifth step gave its familiar creak-clack beneath Ren’s shoe. Tanaka Tailoring’s door stood partly open on the second floor, an old radio murmuring behind the hiss of steam. Nanami passed without slowing, already checking the handwritten task card tucked into her folder. Ren found himself noticing how quickly another person’s working routine had begun to occupy the building alongside his own.
They returned to Suite 302 and ate at their respective desks in comfortable silence.
While finishing his tea, Ren’s personal phone buzzed on his desk. A text message appeared from Suzune Akiyama:
Suzune: We just finished test-baking the matcha shortbread for the White Day gift sets! My father says the crust turned out perfect. Hope your office work is going smoothly today, Kisaragi-san.
A small, genuine smile touched Ren’s lips. He typed back: Glad the test batch went well. The office is moving on schedule.
He set the phone face-down and turned back to his laptop.
By eighteen hundred, the light outside the window had dimmed to a pale twilight blue.
Nanami neatly stacked the completed files on the corner of Ren’s desk. The Wada Delivery audit was substantially finished, Okada Stationery’s notes were categorised in a clean binder, and client records were updated.
She walked over to the attendance table, took her blue pen, and logged her departure time as 18:00.
"The Wada file is substantially complete and the Okada notes are organised, Kisaragi-san," Nanami reported, standing by her desk with her coat on. "Four route confirmations are still waiting on Wada-san, two receipt classifications need your approval, and five client-response entries remain open."
Ren checked the master task sheet. "That is fine, Shindo-san. We will pick up the remaining items during your Saturday shift tomorrow."
"Understood. Have a good evening, Kisaragi-san." Nanami offered a polite bow and exited the office, her heels clicking softly down the stairwell.
Ren sat back down. The office was quiet again, save for the ticking clock.
He looked at the cleaner ledger, then at the unfinished list waiting for Saturday.