"Hanaoka-san, please do your best. I'm cheering for you!"
"Yeah. Thank you for everything, Noguchi-san," I said.
"If things get hard, you can come back anytime. We'll be waiting."
I laughed softly. "Haha, I'll try not to give up."
Today was my last day at work, but I never thought Reika from my team would feel so sad to say goodbye. I always thought a forty-year-old single guy like me looked strange to young women, but it seems they didn't dislike me after all.
"Well then, thank you for your hard work," she said.
"Yes. Please contact me anytime," I replied.
Even if it was only a polite line, hearing it like that made it easy to leave with a light heart.
"Hanaoka, you can come back anytime," my section chief said. "And leave the matter of a wife to me. If you're still single when you return, I'll fix that for you."
"Haha... thank you. I'll work hard so I won't need to come back. If I plan to return from the start, I think I'll break, so I'm going with a strong heart."
"Hey, when you go over there, don't get popular and choose someone strange. You don't seem used to women, so I worry about you," he said.
"Sorry to make you worry. But that won't happen. I've never been popular, so there's no way I will be suddenly."
My chief was the same as always, and the director said almost the same thing when I greeted him. I know it won't happen, but I guess a forty-year-old single man makes the bosses worry. In that way, I may have troubled them, but it really was a good company.
Since I'm leaving this place, I'll hold on tight at the Defense Bureau even if it feels like biting a rock. After saying goodbye to everyone, I left the office.
At the end, Reika didn't look well and went to the back to rest. That was the only thing I regret, but the other women were with her, so she should be fine.
* * *
"Reika, are you sure? If you stay like this, you won't tell him anything," Noguchi's coworker said.
"It's fine. For a grown man like Hanaoka-san, someone like me... Besides, he must be popular, right?"
"Well, he is a cool type. Calm, not all weak around women, and he feels like a real adult man. And with that look, he's still not married. Maybe his standards are high or maybe he can choose freely in private."
"Right? And now he's going to the Defense Bureau as a magician, like he's part of another world. I don't think I can reach him anymore."
"You're right. Then next time let's go to a group date together."
"Yeah, let's do that. I'll find a great guy for sure～"
* * *
Many people around me changed jobs again and again, but I was able to stay here for almost twenty years, since I was twenty-one. When I think about it now, I was lucky with my company, my coworkers, and my bosses.
My only regret is that I wanted to try an office romance at least once. And if possible, I hoped it would lead to marriage, but it didn't work out.
Well, the day after tomorrow my life will change. A long-time dream of mine will finally come true. I don't have time to talk about office love or marriage now. I will become a magician and protect everyone like a hero.
Still, to be honest, I wish I had dated someone at least once. People at the Defense Bureau are probably all top-class, unlike me, so they must be popular. The women there will also be popular, so they won't look at me even more than before. I guess my chance to marry grew even farther away. Wait, I never had that chance to start with.
When I get home, I'll drink a can of chu-hai. Yes, I'll do that.