“...And this is Soerensen Jens-san, who we welcome warmly in our great company”, said the Team Leader. Or kacho, like Haruka, explained the title Jens should use. Or by his surname, Kimura, and then kacho, or san. He did his best to remember all those titles and rules, but it irked him - in Denmark it was normal to even call your own parents by their names when you were an adult. Everything was egalitarian. Social structures as flat as the land itself. The team leader’s nod pulled him out of his thoughts. He gave an impression of an old tree, which stood lonely, limbs like branches that had been broken many times; yet still standing, and doing its job. Or, in this case, nodding.

Jens took a step forward, bowed to the team at the perfect angle Haruka made him practice, and spoke in a loud voice:

“I’m Jens Soerensen, pleasure to be working with you!”

He shot a look at Haruka. Her face did not show approval nor disapproval, so Jens reckoned he did good enough.

“Thank you Jens”, said Kimura. “Please everybody welcome them warmly. And take your things, today we’re going on a company lunch together”, Jens noticed the team leader repeated himself, but no one said anything. Instead everyone went to their desk, and started packing.

After lunch, Jens's head was spinning. He met a lot of new people, and remembering them all seemed impossible, especially with Haruka throwing him sharp glances as he was meeting others and being asked a lot of polite questions. He was asked how long he's been living in Japan (once), what is his true and natural hair color (thrice), does he wear colored contacts (twice), and how tall he is (once). He also got a lot of compliments about how skillfully he was using chopsticks. He felt like he was, at best, some kind of mascot for the team. Which to be honest, he thought he was, so he played his part.

On their way back, Haruka discreetly leaned to Jens:

“This was just a prelude”. Her tone was ominous. ”The real thing is coming”

“The real thing?” asked Jens, startled a little by the way she spoke.

“You should check what nomikai is. We will attend it”.

Nomikai? For Jens, this meant something with drinking, so maybe some kind of a drinking outing with a team? He had not drunk any alcohol since the time of his fateful accident. He could use it to get to know the people in his team better.

He couldn’t wait to experience it.

As they were coming back to the company, some of their teammates drifted away for a quick smoke before they went back in. It was nearing 4 PM, and for Jens it was nearly time to wrap up his work, and go back home. Normally.

With not much hope, he checked his laptop, and he was pleasantly surprised.

“I now have access to outlook! Oh, and the intranet”

“Finally”, she checked his screen and nodded. “Check your calendar, and see if you were added to the team”

Jens did.

“Oh. We have a meeting… At 4 PM?” He frowned a little. It didn’t make much sense to him.

At his last company in Denmark, it would be a long day to even stay until 4 PM. But having meetings at that time? After a long day at work, at that point nobody can think straight. For Jens, it was bad practice, not only for productivity, but most importantly, for mental health. But, he thought, he was here at 9, so maybe the workday here begins at 9 and ends at 5.

But he somehow made it through the meeting without dozing off, which was not that simple. And when everybody left the meeting room, he walked to his desk, took his things, packed and started heading out. For god’s sake, it was 5:30! He said his goodbyes into the air, and walked out.

Everybody went silent. There was shock on people's faces. Some younger girls started to whisper to each other “Did you see what he did?! Did he just do that?! You can actually go home before your boss does?”. Some older workers were trying to cover their jealousy with indignation. And then Haruka came back from the toilet. One look at the open office told her everything. To deescalate the situation, she quickly went to Kimura-kacho, and said, a little louder than usual, so that the rest of team could hear her:

“Thank you Kimura-kacho for the great introduction to the team, the work, and for the rest of the onboarding today. And thank you for understanding that as consultants sent from the ministry, sometimes we need to leave earlier to report on our progress.

“Yes, yes, of course. Please, you should not be late either.” The Team Leader could not care less about when other people go out of work. A few years ago, he would have been grateful to Haruka  for letting him save face in front of his precious subordinates, but he had greater concerns as of late. In in the last few years, age and sedentary work had left quite a few marks on his health - his back hurt every day, so he stayed late at work, not to wait for his boss to leave, but to wait out the biggest crowds in transit, so he could have a seat, and not worry whether something might happen to his back. He knew that was probably not the healthiest thing to do, but he did not have any other option.

As for Haruka, she also had to play her part, so he politely said her goodbyes, bowed and went outside. A strong gust of air hit her like a truck, messing up her hair and spreading everywhere petals from nearby cherry blossoms, which went in full bloom.

And then it hit her.

For the first time in months she had a free evening.

What was she supposed to do?!