Chapter 4: Information Security

On Monday at eight forty, Sota was at his desk with his hands folded.

The Hirano report lay in front of him.

It had come back overnight, put there by the chief before anyone arrived.

Every page was clean. The coffee ring on page four had a red circle around it.

Beside the circle, in the chief's small straight handwriting:

Good.

Sota read it nine times.

Then he put the page in a clear folder, and the folder in his bag, and told himself he would never frame it.

At nine thirty, Section Two filed into meeting room 3 for the weekly meeting.

There were twelve of them around one long table, and Director Gen Sugimoto stood at the head with a printed memo.

He was fifty-four, with a mustache trimmed to a ruler's edge and a voice that made juniors check their sleeves.

He had once held a monthly staff meeting about the sound of a stapler.

"Notice regarding information security," he read. "It has come to my attention that an obscene web comic is circulating among our staff."

Sota kept his face as blank as a plate.

"It reproduces the interior of this floor. The vending machine. The carpet. The east stairwell."

Under the table, Sota's knee had come to rest against another knee.

He had not put it there.

He looked left.

Chief Takamine sat beside him with his pen in his hand, watching the Director.

The knee did not move.

"The artist is an employee of this company," Sugimoto went on. "He is, in my view, a degenerate. When found, he will be dismissed."

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