My life has never been the same since the day I met the Angel. Her divine beauty is the sole reason I enjoy coming to work every morning. Finally, the heavens took pity on me and sent me a worthy reward. Ah, her silky hair…
Bam
All of a sudden, I felt my face was hit by a stack of papers. I lifted my head and saw a servant of the devil himself. He was looking down at me with a disapproving face.
"How long are you going to daydream?" — the devil sent me a reminder that I am back to the normal workplace, far away from my angel.
Sigh
I want to get transferred. Why did the IT-team fix the server so soon? They have never shown such a rapid response before, why now? If it is some kind of twisted joke? My fate just laughs on me!
Yamazaki was holding a stack of paper. He hit my back and briefly checked the first few ones. Then handed me one of them – "this one should be fine for you. I am counting on you, Mr. Best Employee." — a sudden trembling took over my body. Be gone, evil spirit! Huh, divine fax again? Seriously, why is it so difficult to keep things simple? So, let's see what it is about.
Dear employees of the respectable Divine HR Ltd., – unusual kindness from a God, huh.
I contact you on behalf of my own created world. I have noticed that my precious creatures struggle with economy issues. While they managed to create a functional state system and show big potential in engineering and technological progress, they lack understanding of how an economy should work. With that said, they still exchange materials instead of introducing a standardized currency, which is why technological and engineering progress is slower than I have expected. Since I am not aware of who is needed in this kind of situation, and your company has been proved trustworthy, I kindly ask you to take care of it.
Sincerely,
Oden
Well, considering that I got this order directly from Yamazaki, it could have been way worse. However, it is not an easy one either. If I think about it twice… I was relieved too soon, never ever I should trust him again. I forgot I am a pet of his.
I opened the pool and set the search settings for economists. There were not that many candidates, 140 in total. I bet most of them are desperate people who have lost everything during a crisis. I doubt this is a task for people in despair. However, I have to check them first. My eye caught an interesting at the end of the list.
Robert William Stein. I've noticed him because besides being an economy theorist, he also had skills and work experience as an accountant and had led a company in his last mortal years, quite successfully. A man who is suitable to managing people would be of advantage here. What could possibly go wrong for him to wish for a reincarnation? Not that it interested me, but it was strange. I marked him as a possible candidate and scheduled an appointment for tomorrow.
"He~, you've found someone already?!" — Masaru's nose picked out from the side of my eyesight – "I still got none. I envy you!" — said he with a snort.
"What do you envy? If I had the chance, I'd rather enjoy time doing nothing."
"Erh…" — Akashi Masaru sighed, moving his head to his monitor. It felt like he was going to explode.
I don't know what exactly happened while I was absent, but the double-legged monkey-brains was in a terrible mood since the day I returned. He sighed all the time and on any occasion.
After some doubts, I finally decided to ask him:
"Um, Masaru, do you mind hanging out after work today?"
"I don't think it's the right day for that" — he sighed.
It's useless! I doubt it's a battle I can win alone. However, looking at this monkey in a blue office shirt, for some reason, I couldn't give up so easily. I looked at Furuya's back. Maybe he could lend me a hand? However, how could I catch his attention?
Suddenly, Furuya turned left. He searched for something in his suitcase and turned to us. His glasses flashed.
Cough
— "Sar… I mean, Masaru, do you remember the café-pastry-shop I mentioned back then?"
"Mhm? Yeah, what about it?"
"Here" — the four-eyed handed the monkey out three small pieces of paper that he took out of his suitcase — "I've got a few discounts, should we go and taste their cakes?"
Masaru stayed silent for a moment, then gave up — "ah, whatever, let's go after work" — I looked at Ogawa. However, he already turned back to his computer. I could only question myself — did I become a witness of some telepathy, or was my colleague also curious about the situation. Anyway…
…
Pastry and sweets in general are Masaru's big weakness, if not for that, I doubt we could have forced him to go out today. The café-pastry-shop Ogawa mentioned, "Chemin des douceurs" is quite famous in this city, and the prices are equal to it. As we entered it, we were immediately greeted by a waitress. Our group was shown to an empty table and given a menu. After a couple of minutes, we were ready to order. The waitress asked Ogawa first:
"Uhm, I'd like a coffee parfait and one double espresso, please."
Next was my turn:
"I'd like to order two croissants filled with hazelnut chocolate paste and a cappuccino, please."
And at the very last, Masaru:
"I'd like 10 chocolate balls filled with egg liquor, one amaretto pound cake parfait, one Russian hot chocolate and an Irish coffee, please."
"…"
Just order alcohol at this point…
"Please, bring him a chocolate cake…"
"Understood, thanks for your order!"
I turned my face to Masaru and asked him – "What in the world is happening to you?"
Akashi struggled before the answer.
"Have you ever thought about why you are doing your job?" — after a sigh, he continued – "I have, but I still don't know why we work."
Can't blame him for it, it's a common thought inside our company. Thou, it's best to give up on thinking and just proceed with the work — everyone there knows this golden rule.
"What is the point? We work, work, work, work, without a meaning, so some people that you don't even know will live a better life. Who will improve our lives, though? Spoiler, no one. No one cares for us. No one cares for bugs. We left on our own to eternal suffering from coldness by being alone in this world." — Masaru lied down on the table, buried his face in his arm and mumbled something unclear. I looked at Ogawa. He simply shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, adjusting his glasses. There was nothing we could do about his existential crisis. All three of us stayed silent, we got our order, finished eating and left for our homes.
The next day was the same, Masaru still down bad. If he keeps being like this, maybe Yamazaki could allow him to resign. There is no point in forcing someone to work here if he can't focus on it.
14:30. Time for my appointment with Mr. Stein. He looks the same as in the picture on his CanPool CV, your average handsome looking guy in a business suit and short blonde hair. Just his very appearance gives you confidence in his skills.
"Hello, Mr. Stein, Fukuhara is my name, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Fukuhara. How may I help you?" — he decided to go straight to the point of our meeting.
"Recently, I found a task, and your skills are more than enough for it. My thought is to send you, Mr. Stein, to this world. Once you are done with the task, you may decide if you would like to stay there or to come back."
"Does it have something in common with the economy?"
"Yes, it cert…"
"I refuse."
…
I was shocked. W-wait a minute…
"M-may I ask for the reason?"
Even my voice couldn't hide my bewilderment.
"I wish to try something different, if it's possible."
"As far as I could tell, you are very skilled in your profession?"
"I am, indeed."
That's a pity, but whatever. All people have their stories and reasons, and I am not interested in collecting them. I was about to end the appointment and say goodbye, but he got ahead of me.
"The life of an economist was not my choice. It never was. I was forced to study economy by my mother. You'll ask me why did I study it then?" — no, I won't — "I had to. Otherwise, my mother would have kicked me out of our house. But most important, he would be disappointed in me, and it was the only thing that really concerned me. I didn't mind living in my friend's apartment for some time or in a dormitory, but hurting my mother's heart and disappointing her, I couldn't let this to happen. I would rather not be like my father. Everything but that. But that life, that life, was pure suffering. No, I will not repeat it. A life consisted only of work, work and work."
Déjà vu… Damn, how did it turn out like this? I am still not interested in his life quarrel, but… the angel would get mad at me if I'd ignore him. Ah, I imagine her angry face with puffy cheeks and snorting…cute. Wait, I forgot about Mr. Stein…
"And what would you prefer?"
Mr. Stein looked down on the floor, thought for a little and then answered — "my dream was to become an artist… Yes, becoming an artist would be lovely. A shame that it was one of the most despised professions for my mother."
"Then, I'll help you fulfil your wish. There is a way you can get reborn. Make sure you'll take your chance this time."
"Thank you, I appreciate it."
Sigh
Why did I tell him I'll help him get reborn? It is definitely not my competence. What a hassle… this is all for Angel's sake, thank her!
…
In the end, I haven't found anyone in our Pool and had to forward Oden's request to our earth-branch. It didn't bother me until I saw Yamazaki looking down on me with a disgraced face. What do you expect from me? To give birth to good candidates? At the very least, I helped a poor soul. I've asked Yamazaki for help and, to my surprise, he helped.
However, there is still another poor soul waiting for help next to my desk. Masaru is late today, not very common for him. I wondered the whole night and morning about how I could help… only to get shocked when he came to us, happy and excited. The depressed face was gone, not a single trace of it remained. This was to be expected from him in the first place, he is a monkey, after all… My worries were for nothing.
"What's up!" — he greeted us with a happy smile.
"W-hat?" — I blinked.
"The weather is perfect today, isn't it! Such a lovely day!" — Masaru continued to lively talk in high tones.
"Oh, the monkey is back to its normal state." — commented Ogawa, not looking at us.
"How rude!"
I caught a smile on Ogawa's face. It was such a rare look of his, yet, it was definitely the smile. Despite it… there was something we both were curious about:
"So? Did you find out the meaning of your life?"
"Yeah! The meaning in my life is a beautiful lady! She's so precious! So beautiful! So charming! I want to marry her. I wish to make a family with her and sacrifice myself for her!"
Masaru looked so happy that it wasn't difficult to see the light he was creating.
Ogawa tilted his head.
"What's wrong?" — I asked him.
"Ah, it's nothing. I just can't remember noticing a monkey besides Masaru in our company."
"Hm, yes, you're right" — I nodded too.
"You both! You're jealous of me! Just continue laughing, in the end she will be mine!" — Masaru grumbled.
"Whatever. And? Where did you find your precious female ape?"
Masaru started to spin around in his chair – "she works on the 6th floor. Ah, I want to transfer to the recruiting center now!"
Recruiting center… Huh? Recruiting center? It's not Tachibana, is it? I hope it isn't. Otherwise, my next meal will be monkey brain. She is my angel, I'm not going to share her with anyone.