Tokyo, 1991: Starting as a bank clerk.

Mizuna Yayoi stayed in the bathroom for ten minutes, taking deep breaths in front of the mirror, forcing back her tears, and telling herself that she couldn't make any more mistakes today.

As a result, he bumped into someone at the elevator entrance, and documents were scattered all over the floor.

All the pent-up grievances from the entire morning surged up at this moment, stuck in her throat, making it impossible for her to even utter a complete apology.

She kept her head down, frantically picking up the documents, not daring to look up at the expression on the face of the "senior" she had bumped into.

Is it impatience, disdain, or the same disappointment as the section chief...?

She dared not look at either of them.

Then she saw a hand reach out, a beautiful hand with distinct knuckles.

He picked up the few receipts that were scattered out of her reach, neatly arranged them, and handed them to her.

Mizuna Yayoi raised her head.

The person squatting in front of her was a boy with a smile on his lips. He had a rugged appearance, sharp features, and a calm demeanor in his deep eyes.

"It would be better to arrange these tickets by date."

Kiryu Yaya reminded him.

Yayoi Mina quickly took the receipt from his hand and then whispered:

"Thank you, senior... but the section chief said... I need to categorize them by customer..."

Kiryu Yaya smiled and, while helping her tidy up the documents on the floor, explained:

"The customer classification is for filing purposes. What you need to do now is to take these materials to the meeting room for the account manager to review."

“The people reviewing these documents don’t need to know which customer these documents belong to; they need to quickly check each document in chronological order. If you categorize them by customer, they have to sort them all over again themselves.”

Mizuna Yayoi blinked.

It turned out to be the case.

The section chief was right, but he was referring to the requirements for archiving, not delivery.

She mixed up the two things, so the materials delivered to the account manager were always a mess. The account manager had to reorganize them every time, then complain to her section chief, who would then call her into his office...

"Thank you so much, senior! I'm so grateful!"

Yayoi Mizuna looked at the neatly organized documents, gratefully raising her head with a clear glint in her eyes.

"actually……"

Kiryu Yaya opened his mouth, about to explain that he was not a senior, but halfway through his sentence, his eyes caught sight of the wall clock in the hall.

8:50.

Oops!

I'm going to be late for the morning meeting.

As a newcomer, being late for meetings is a major event that can affect one's career.

I glanced at the elevator.

It actually stopped on the fifth floor.

There's no time left.

He swallowed back what he hadn't finished saying and stood up.

"The files are arranged by date. Don't forget."

After saying that, he turned and rushed towards the stairwell.

The sound of footsteps echoed in the hallway, growing fainter and fainter.

Yayoi Mina squatted on the spot, clutching the stack of neatly organized folders, watching Kiryu Yaya's figure disappear from sight, when she suddenly realized something terrifying...

She didn't even know this senior's name, or even which department he was from.

Yayoi Minana!

You're such a terrible person!

……

[World line converging - fork two selected]

[€5000 has been deposited into the account!]

I didn't have time to check the system notification.

Kiryu Yaya climbed the three flights of stairs at almost the speed of a 100-meter sprint.

8:55.

When he pushed open the door to the meeting room of the financing review department, the section chief, Masakazu Yamada, was just opening the attendance list.

In banks, arriving five minutes early is almost a universally accepted practice.

Therefore, it is quite normal for a 9 o'clock meeting to have roll call at 8:55.

There weren't many people in the financing review class; about twenty people sat in a circle around a long table. The moment the door was pushed open, everyone turned to look.

Kiryu Yaya forced himself to bow and quickly found his seat.

The moment he sat down, he felt a gaze fall upon him.

It was the woman sitting to his right.

Chihaya Yuri is the head of the Financing Review Department and also his advisor.

Banks typically assign a mentor to new employees, and the evaluation of this senior mentor almost determines the new employee's fate for the first three years.

On his first day at the company, Kiryu Yaya heard rumors about Chihaya Yuri:

A 28-year-old cool and aloof older woman, a workaholic, unmarried, who treats debt collection as a battlefield.

Some say she relentlessly pursues every bad debt because she suffered losses in a large financing deal; others say it's simply her personality, that she's naturally suited to survive in such a high-pressure environment.

Regardless of which claim is true, one thing is generally accepted:

Section Chief Chihaya never showed any kindness to newcomers.

Her gaze fell on Kiryu Yaya, and then she clicked her tongue softly, clearly expressing her displeasure that he had almost been late.

If it weren't for an upcoming meeting.

Kiryu Yaya could already imagine the words that were about to fall:

"Kiryu-kun, don't you even have a basic sense of time? You can't even do the most basic things right. How are you going to manage a team in the future? How are you going to gain the trust of customers?"

He's a philanderer.

After roll call, Section Chief Masakazu Yamada's voice rang out in the conference room:

"This week's focus remains on the debt settlement with those small and medium-sized enterprises in East Osaka. The progress of last week's collection efforts..."

Debt collection is a major issue that has absolutely nothing to do with newcomers.

Kiryu Yaya's usual tasks are simply organizing documents, verifying data, and archiving the debt collection materials that his seniors have gathered.

Occasionally, I would be called to run errands, such as taking a document from the third floor to the fifth floor and then bringing back a signed copy from the fifth floor.

More often than not, I sit at my workstation, reading those thick business manuals that are as thick as bricks.

This is how newcomers in the financing department all start.

No one expects you to do anything right away when you start a job, and no one will give you the opportunity to do anything.

All you need to do is stay quietly, not cause trouble, not make mistakes, get through the rotation period, and wait for the HR department to assign you to your final department.

But Kiryuya didn't want to endure it.

In his previous life, he had gone through this process at a bank, and his business skills were superb.

And now there is a system.

If even this can't make him stand out among the newcomers, then he might as well buy a piece of pork, cut a slit in it, use it to practice his ventriloquism every day, and wait to be taken care of by a rich woman.

Chapter 5 Fuji Metal Industry

The morning meeting ended at 9:40.

Section Chief Masakazu Yamada closed the folder and announced the meeting adjourned.

The sound of chair legs scraping against the floor filled the air as the staff of the financing review department stood up in twos and threes and headed for the door.

As soon as Kiryu Yaya stood up, he heard a cold voice from his right.

"Kiryu-kun."

Chihaya Baihe didn't look at him, but instead lowered her head to organize the documents in front of her, aligning the scattered corners of the pages and gently tapping them twice on the table.

"You stay here for a moment."

Several colleagues glanced briefly at Kiryu Yaya before quickly looking away.

The last person closed the door, leaving only two people in the meeting room.