Chapter 1

This is my first work, my first submission.

Though it may be a clumsy piece, I hope you enjoy it.

I'll try my best to bring it to a conclusion. (ー。ー；

“Guh… It’s finally over.”

I averted my eyes from the notebook computer’s display that I had been staring at and stretched widely.

At the same time, the backrest of the chair I leaned against creaked slightly, and my neck and back also creaked.

After stretching my stiff body for a while and the lethargy subsided, an exhausted sigh involuntarily escaped my lips.

I am Kuhashi Ritsu, 47 years old. I live in a one-room apartment in the city and enjoy a bachelor's life.

It’s not that I’ve never had a girlfriend, but I haven’t had a particularly fulfilling life either.

It’s not that I didn’t want to get married, but I also didn’t have the enthusiasm to actively look for a partner.

Somehow, I ended up as a rather unremarkable middle-aged man after 47 years. That’s me.

I reached out to the keyboard connected to the notebook computer and closed the text editor and compiler I had been working on.

My job is a programmer.

The company I work for is classified as a trading company, but it is of medium to small scale in the industry.

In such a company that could be blown away at any moment, I mainly handle the creation of various in-house business support applications and the maintenance and management of computers and networks.

For large-scale management systems, we use products from major software companies, but the applications I handle, though not directly profit-generating, significantly improve work efficiency.

They are the kind of applications that can reach the itchy spots.

However, since they don’t directly generate profit, the system development department, which has a grand name, consists of only three employees.

Apart from me, there’s a bald department head in his mid-50s and a 30-something anime otaku, and all of us are single, making it a surprisingly unrefined department with a 50% female ratio, which is hard to believe.

By the way, this anime otaku.

On his first day of work, the first thing he did was to arrange his seven favorite figures (prizes) on his desk.

When the department head asked him what he was doing, he boldly declared, “I can’t work until this is done!”

Later, when I told this to a friend, he said, “Ah, there are people like that, yeah.”

Is this normal, really?

■■■■■■

A few years ago, a global pandemic broke out.

And the pandemic is still ongoing.

To prevent the spread of the infection, the government began recommending remote work.

Since it’s an infectious disease, reducing contact frequency can prevent the spread, they said.

Due to these circumstances, I am currently working from home.

I only need to go to the office 1 to 3 days a week, depending on the schedule.

This week, I already went to the office on Monday.

There, I confirmed the work content for the week with the department head, and I just finished that work.

At 11:20 AM on Thursday.

I folded my arms, placed my hand on my chin, and thought for a moment.

What should I do since I finished the work too early?

It’s not that I exaggerated the work content to take more time.

The schedule itself is appropriate.

Rather, I thought I could finish it even if it took a bit longer, considering the weekends.

So, why did I finish the work so early? ——

(It’s because of remote work. ... But it’s no use blaming others.)

I stretched my body again and twisted my neck, and it cracked.

When working in an office, there is a concept of "regular hours."

While some companies have flexible working hours, most set a specific time for work, usually 8 hours.

In the past, there was no problem with going to the office in the morning and leaving when the workday ended.

As a regular employee, I have been living such a life for over 20 years.

However, a completely different element has been added.

That is, remote work.

I am not good at switching modes.

I am aware that I am a slow starter when it comes to work.

Nevertheless, I used to have the "ritual" of commuting, which helped me switch modes.

I would walk from my apartment to the station, ride the crowded train, and gradually switch to work mode.

By the time I arrived at the office, I was fully in work mode.

But with remote work, there is no such ritual to switch modes.

This has been a source of frustration for me.

I couldn’t get my work done as planned, and I often had to use the weekends to catch up.

Of course, this is common in programming.

In software development, it’s not unusual to stay at the office and work through the night before milestones like master updates, alpha, and beta releases.

This is what is known as a "death march."

So, using the weekends to catch up on work is not unusual for me.

And this experience and mindset were a significant factor in the current situation.

Previously, I had trouble switching to work mode, but this time, I had trouble switching back to off mode.

Since there were no regular hours, I kept typing on the keyboard, only stopping when I was exhausted and fell asleep.

To change the subject, what is the ratio of "thinking about programming" to "typing in the code" when programming?

Is it 5:5 or 3:7?

When a friend asked me this, I answered 9:1. Thinking is 9, typing is 1.

My friend gave the same answer.

In other words, thinking is overwhelmingly important.

You build the program in your head and then start typing when it’s complete.

Let’s go back to Monday.

After the meeting with the department head, I kept thinking about the program throughout the day and on my way home.

This is not unusual; every programmer does this.

I went home as usual, but there was no problem with that.

After all, I was in work mode, and there was no environment to work in.

However, unfortunately, I now had the environment to work at home.

After taking a shower and eating a bento from a convenience store, I kept thinking about the program.

By the time I took a break, the program was complete, and the necessary preparations were clear.

(I should set up the environment for tomorrow.)

With that thought, I ended up typing on the keyboard until the eastern sky turned a beautiful purplish red, transferring the program from my head to the computer.

Programmers might be considered a rather pitiful profession.

If you see them sitting still, you might think they are slacking off.

But in most cases, they are probably thinking hard.

They are thinking about how to write a clean, efficient, and well-structured program.

In other words, a program that runs smoothly, is easy to expand, and has few bugs.

When programmers are busy typing on the keyboard, they are not really thinking much.

The thinking is already done.

Typing on the keyboard is just the process of transferring the program in their head to the computer.

The goal is to transfer the information as quickly and accurately as possible.

Extra thoughts would only get in the way.

They just need to transfer the information in their head to the keyboard without thinking.

A friend once said,

“It would be great if we could plug a USB directly into our heads.”

He found it bothersome to use his hands and the keyboard as input and output devices.

I completely agreed with him.

■■■■■■

I ended up doing a "death march" on my own, but thanks to that, I have plenty of free time.

One and a half days. With the weekend, I have three and a half days of free time, but I need to be at home today and tomorrow.

Since I should be working, I might get an urgent call from the company.

It would be bad to go on a trip and say, “I can’t go” or “I can’t do it” in case of an emergency.

Besides, I don’t have the energy to go on a trip after the "death march," and the current trend of avoiding travel due to the pandemic also played a role.

(I’ll probably just browse the internet or play games. Maybe watch a movie if I feel like it.)

In other words, it will be the same as usual.

With that plan in mind, I moved the notebook computer and keyboard I had been working on to an empty space on the L-shaped desk.

This notebook computer was provided by the company for remote work and couldn’t be used for personal use.

Besides, my personal desktop computer has better specs, so there was no need to use the company’s lower-spec computer for fun.

However, I couldn’t turn it off because I was still "at work."

I moved it to the side so I could see if any emails arrived and turned the display towards me. This way, I could check it with just a glance.

As I was about to turn on my personal computer, my hand paused.

(Does it smell a bit?)

After a few moments of thought, I decided to take a shower first.

I hadn’t taken a shower in a few days.

... The last time I took a shower might have been after I got home on Monday.

After taking a shower and feeling refreshed, I suddenly felt hungry.

I opened the closet, which had become a storage and snack pantry, and pulled out some snacks.

I turned on my personal computer and immediately opened my favorite internet site from the launcher.

It was a video site, and the one I often watched was the largest in the world.

(“Gagarin” has a new episode, and “Mark” has a new video. “Pino” is starting a new game. ... By the way, what happened to Sada 5? Did he quit? He was really into it.)

I checked the archives of my favorite game streamers and added the videos I wanted to watch to my list.

I selected one of the videos and started watching while eating the snacks.

I don’t eat snacks with my bare hands because I don’t want to get my hands dirty.

I don’t want to dirty my keyboard or game controller.

A friend used chopsticks to eat potato chips, saying, “It’s more refined.”

It made me think about refinement.

After watching videos for a while, I felt thirsty.

Opening the refrigerator, I saw that it always contained canned coffee, carbonated drinks, and canned chuhai.

I reached for the carbonated drink I usually drink, but then stopped.

It was around 3 PM, too late for lunch and too early for dinner.

I usually choose between canned coffee and carbonated drinks without much thought.

But today?

(... Is it a problem?)

I thought and picked up the canned chuhai.

It’s a choice I would never make during work hours.

But today, the work was already done, and the sense of guilt for not being at work pushed me.

(Sometimes, it’s good to do this.)

I am not a big drinker, so I don’t usually drink alcohol during the day, even on weekends.

I keep some in stock in case I feel like it, but I don’t drink every day.

However, today, I felt a bit more energetic and thought, “Why not?”

That day, I watched a few videos and drank a few cans of chuhai.

When I got really hungry, I ordered a pizza and continued watching videos while eating.

The day passed lazily, and I enjoyed the time in a way that was uncharacteristic for a 47-year-old man.

■■■■■■

That night, I had a dream.

A dream of flying.

I don’t usually remember my dreams.

Apparently, everyone has them, but they just don’t remember.

At first, it felt like I was floating.

I saw my familiar room from above.

That’s when I realized,

(Ah, this is a dream.)

It was a dream I often had as a child.

I went out the window, and the altitude kept increasing.

I could see farther and farther.

(That’s the convenience store I often go to. There’s a bridge over there, and that’s the station.)

I flew around freely, looking for familiar places and buildings.

But after a while, the altitude started to decrease.

It kept going down until it was at the same level as my usual view.

The altitude continued to drop until I was almost lying face down.

Naturally, I was lying face down.

Even in this state, my body was still floating.

(... Is this the same?)

The dreams I had as a child always ended with low-altitude flying just above the ground.

I could see the ground in front of me, and when I tried to fly again, I couldn’t rise.

(As expected, it’s no use.)

With that thought, my consciousness slowly faded into darkness.