Chapter 7: Handover

On her first morning at Tsukishiro Hotels, Chiaki woke up in a bed the size of Haruka's whole living room.

4102 had a view of Tokyo Tower and a bath with a window.

She had slept nine hours, which she hadn't done since October.

Across the hall, the door of 4101 stayed shut.

She didn't knock.

The Partnerships office was on the 22nd floor, at the end of a long corridor of glass.

There were eight desks, and seven people were already at them.

They all stood up when she came in, and nobody smiled.

The oldest was a woman in her forties with reading glasses on a chain and a cardigan the colour of wet cement.

She had been running the department for a month without the title.

"Hayase-san," she said. "Welcome. We've cleared the corner office for the vice-president's fiancée."

Someone behind her looked at the floor.

"Thank you," Chiaki said. "Who's been doing my job since November?"

"I have."

"Then show me the part you hate most."

The woman blinked at her over the glasses.

"The Hanamori account," she said. "The handover is at two o'clock. Their new department head will present the New Year delivery plan."

"Good," Chiaki said. "Then I'd like you to sit next to me."

The meeting room on the 24th floor had a long pale table and a view of the Imperial Palace gardens.

Hanamori came in at two exactly.

The managing director came first, then Ryota, then two juniors from Chiaki's old floor carrying the laptops.

The juniors looked at her and then very carefully didn't.

Ryota sat down across from her and opened his folder.

He had had his hair cut.

On Tsukishiro's side sat Kaname, the procurement head, Chiaki's team lead, and Chiaki.

Kaname didn't look at her once. He looked at the managing director.

"Shall we begin?" Ryota said, and clicked to the first slide.

It was a beautiful slide.

It was also Chiaki's slide, from draft twenty-six, with the Hanamori logo moved.