"This is... the station nearest to the office."
It was a hallucination. Yet, the door that had just closed to draw his attention had transformed into a familiar train station. The voice of a man arguing over the phone while waiting for someone, the smell of air choked with exhaust fumes—the information flooding his sight, hearing, and smell was so vivid it was indistinguishable from reality.
"I can't afford to dawdle..."
"Chief!"
"!"
Just as he was bracing himself, a familiar voice called out from his right. He instinctively turned his body and his katana toward the sound, but what he found in his hand was a worn-out briefcase. Even his hands—no, his entire body—had reverted to the form of Ryoma Takebayashi before his reincarnation.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. ...What are you doing?"
"Tabuchi-kun."
At least within the range of his vision, the man in front of him showed no sign of attacking. A pudgy man in a suit was looking at him wonderingly, his voice exactly as Ryoma remembered it.
"I don't really get what's going on, but anyway, since we've met up, let's go."
"...Where to?"
"Where else? It’s for your retirement bash, obviously!"
"Retire... ment?"
"Let's just get moving. We can talk while we walk."
Ryoma wondered what the man was talking about, but he felt no hostile presence. For the time being, he decided to follow.
"Man, even so... it’s been a while since I've walked outside during the day for something other than work. It feels strange."
"...Is that so? No, perhaps it is..."
Indeed, that was exactly how he had felt shortly after his reincarnation.
"You quit a step ahead of us, Chief, so I guess you're used to it by now. I mean, things were seriously rough after you left."
"Rough?"
"Well, yeah, because our company went under, didn't it?"
"It went... under?"
"The cleanup finished today, and it’s all over and done with. That’s why we decided to have a party. We figured we’d call you too and celebrate properly. Oh, by the way, it’s a bit early, but congratulations on the new job!"
"New job..."
"You mentioned it on the phone, didn't you? A laundry shop? The industry is completely different from before, but there's no service overtime, and you said the people you work with are a world apart from the guys at our old place—like the Section Manager, for instance."
Ah, that was certainly true. There was no comparison between the Section Manager and the people at the laundry shop.
"Come to think of it, did you know the Section Manager was hospitalized?"
"No, I didn't."
"It was an uproar after you left. All the work you’d been saddled with was left behind, and at first, he was screaming at us to divvy it up among ourselves. But eventually, it became unmanageable. As soon as he tried to handle some of it himself, he gave up and collapsed. By the way, as the workload got heavier, he was even more irritable than usual before he went down. But he realized that taking it out on us just slowed down the work, so he started targeting the nepotism hires instead. Those guys were as useless as ever, doing nothing but complaining, and since they’d never been the targets of his irrationality before thanks to their connections, they’d been looking down on him. When the Section Manager suddenly snapped and started lashing out at them, they broke immediately and ran away."
"...I feel a bit sorry about that."
The words slipped out of Ryoma's mouth as he realized the remaining staff truly had no choice but to divide up the workload he had been carrying alone. However, Tabuchi-kun shook his head.
"You don't need to feel sorry. Both the Section Manager and the nepotism hires were just facing the consequences of dumping their work on you and looking the other way. The problem was forcing one person to do such an impossible amount of work in the first place. ...Well, that goes for me and everyone else at the company, too. Everyone said they wanted to apologize to you. It was a black company where service overtime was the norm, but the only reason the work actually got done was thanks to you, Chief."
"Was that really what they were saying?"
"Yes. Or rather, everyone knew it all along. We knew you were relying on your insane stamina to not only do your own share but to follow up on everyone else's, too. Everyone felt saved by that. It's not like they only realized it after you were gone. It’s just... everyone got used to it. Before we knew it, we trusted that 'the Chief will be fine' while simultaneously becoming pampered by it. That’s why everyone felt bad for you, and that’s why we decided to invite you to today's party, you know?"
"I see... I wonder if I was really recognized like that..."
"Everyone recognized you. If they hadn't, they couldn't have kept working at a company like that for so long. If you hadn't been there to support us, I think we would have quit a long time ago after breaking our minds, our bodies, or both."
As they talked, they reached their destination. It was a familiar storefront located down a narrow path. It was a shop positioned between the station nearest to his old office and the next station over; the location wasn't great, but it stayed open late and the food was excellent. He had used it often during the days he couldn't return home.
Following Tabuchi-kun, who entered through the door that made a rattling sound, Ryoma stepped through the curtain.
"Welcome! You have a reservation, right? This way to the back."
The part-time girl, who naturally knew his face, immediately led them to a private room. Ryoma couldn't remember exactly when she had started, but she had worked there for at least eight years... staying at the same part-time job for eight years was quite a feat of diligence.
"Chief, it’s here. Hurry, hurry."
Urged on by Tabuchi-kun, Ryoma stepped up into the room. When the sliding doors were opened, his former colleagues were already there, the celebration already in full swing.
"Oh! They're here, they're here!"
"Tabuchi-san and the Chief! Good work today!"
"We've already started without you!"
"Hey, are you drunk already? Well, we’re finally free from the company, so I get how you feel."
"I'll go get some water!"
"Come on, don't just stand there, both of you. Come over here."
"! Baba-san?"
The one who called out from the corner of the room was Baba-san, who had been close to retirement age.
"...It’s been a long time."
"It has... hasn't it?"
An awkward silence flowed between them. Once they had moved to a corner of the room, Baba-san spoke as if he had made up his mind.
"It feels a bit strange. We saw each other every day at the office, and we must have had countless drinks together, but perhaps it’s because some time has passed?"
"I think that’s part of it."
"Have you been well?"
"Yes, I'm doing well. That was my only redeeming quality, after all, and now I'm blessed with the people around me."
"I see, that’s good to hear."
This was difficult. Baba-san had originally been a veteran in the sales department, but it seemed there had been some internal strife at the top, and he had been transferred to the development department. Because of the timing of Ryoma's entry and the transfer, plus the difference in professional experience, he had ended up as Ryoma's subordinate, even though he was much older. He was a serious and capable man, so Ryoma had trusted him, but they hadn't been close beyond their working relationship.
"I felt I had to apologize to you, Takebayashi-kun."
"About work? If so, I heard about it from Tabuchi-kun."
"That too, but it’s not just that. I’m talking about shortly after I became your subordinate. Back then, my attitude wasn't exactly good, to put it mildly. I must have caused you a lot of unpleasantness."
"That..."
When Ryoma first met him, the relationship of a younger boss and an older subordinate was still rare within the company. Unlike the time just before his reincarnation, Baba-san must have been subjected to considerable prejudice and ridicule from those around him at the time of his assignment. Keeping that in mind, Ryoma chose his words carefully.
"To be honest, I was bewildered to suddenly have an older subordinate, and I struggled with how to handle it. It would be a lie to say there were no times I felt unpleasant about it."
"..."
"However, as time passed, that disappeared. Even though your work in the development department was what you'd expect from a beginner at first, you followed instructions properly and learned what needed to be learned. ...I feel I learned a lot from you, Baba-san, regarding a sense of responsibility toward work and how to conduct oneself as a professional. The comparison might be strange, but compared to the Section Manager or the nepotism hires, I consider it a trivial matter."
"I see... Certainly, compared to them, most things can probably be forgiven."
After those words, Ryoma felt like he heard a quiet "thank you." Before he could confirm it, a sudden burst of excitement erupted in the center of the room.
"Chief! A special guest has made a surprise appearance!"
"Special guest?"
"Actually, after you retired, Chief, there was a call to the company. It was from someone who said they couldn't get in touch with you but wanted to see you because it had been a long time."
"I see."
"I bet you'll be surprised, Chief!"
Who could it be? Ryoma watched Tabuchi-kun as he scurried toward the entrance of the room and placed his hand on the sliding door. Tabuchi glanced back at Ryoma for a moment before throwing the door open.
"!!"
Ryoma could not suppress his agitation at the sight of the two figures standing there. Even though he knew it was a hallucination, he couldn't tear his eyes away; he felt his entire body go rigid.
"...Mother, and Father?"
At the words that leaked from his mouth, his mother smiled, and his father averted his eyes awkwardly. Then, only his mother walked softly toward him.
"Ryoma, it’s been a long time. You never came home, and you didn't even get in touch. Besides, if you were going to change your contact information, you should have told us properly. We had to end up contacting your company."
Ryoma watched blankly as his mother bowed to Tabuchi-kun and the other participants, apologizing for the trouble, before her eyes turned back to him.
"Honestly, even though we finally met, you’re just standing there silently. You’re just like him in that way... Come on, you come over here too."
"Yeah..."
At his mother's beckoning, his father approached. The brusque man, who cared for nothing but his bladesmithing, moved slowly, his posture showing he had come here only after much hesitation.
"...I put you through a lot of hardship."
"Your father, you see, wants to apologize for everything. There were many things in the past, and it’s no wonder you’d want to avoid us, but we want to live together again."
His mother's words, as if trying to persuade him, soaked into his mind. His heart was pulled strongly toward her, and all other sounds faded away. Both her hands reached out gently to take his.
"So, the three of us again—"
Before the following words could be completed, Ryoma swung his katana down onto his mother's crown.