Chapter 32 Section 4

When Naoki was checking the inventory in the warehouse, he felt someone behind him, and when he looked back, he saw a short man standing there with a smile.He was wearing a brown suit and tie of the same color.He looked to be in his sixties, a little bald, and the rest of his hair was snow white. "Is there anything?" Zhigui asked, thinking that it might not be someone from outside.Except when moving items in and out, the gates are closed, and there is a reception room at the entrance of the warehouse.The staff in the reception room said that they were temporary workers for middle-aged women, but they would not let outsiders in irresponsibly.

"No, don't worry about it, just keep doing your job," said the man.His tone was full of calmness and majesty. Zhigui let out a "hmm", and then turned his gaze back to the summons in his hand, but he was always thinking about that person, and it was difficult to concentrate on his work. This is, said the unidentified man, "Is it a habit to work here?" Zhigui looked at him, but he was still smiling. "Basically," Naoki replied. "Really. The distribution system in the company is the lifeline, and the warehouse work is very important. Please take care."

"Yeah." Zhigui nodded, looked at the man's smiling face again, "That..." "Huh?" The other party raised his head slightly. "Are you from the company?" When he asked, the other party smiled even more.He put his hands in his pockets and approached Naoki. "Well, I work on the third floor of the company." "Third floor...is that so?" His words made him even more uncertain.The company headquarters was only visited once during the interview. Probably realizing that the argument in circles would not work, the man wiped his nose, "There are rooms for company management personnel on the third floor, and I am in the innermost room."

"The innermost room of the management..." After muttering, Naoki opened his mouth wide and widened his eyes at the same time. "Hey! Then, that," he licked his lower lip and swallowed, "President...is that so?" "Well, my name is Hirano." Naoki stood up straight.He knew that the president's surname was Hirano.He straightened his back and thought at the same time, why did the president come to this place? "Takeshima-kun, isn't it?" "Ah! Yes." He was surprised that the other party knew his own name. "You think this job transfer is a bit inappropriate, don't you?"

Suddenly being said like this, Zhigui didn't know how to answer, his mind went blank, how could he even know about this.President Hirano smiled wryly, nodded and patted his shoulder with his hands. "Suddenly asked this by the president, it might not be easy to answer right away: Yes. I think so. Well, don't be so nervous, just treat it as an uncle you know." President Hirano said, sitting Go to the cardboard box next to it, which is the cardboard box for the TV, "How about you sit down too?" "No, that..." He scratched his head. "Absolutely don't sit on top of the products! Probably this is how you were educated. The whole company seems to have this rule, and I don't have the impression that such an order has been issued. Okay, sit down, has anyone seen it?"

"Ah." Although he said so, he still couldn't sit down.Naoki put his hands behind his back and stood in a so-called relaxed posture. "The personnel affairs here are all entrusted to the personnel department. Therefore, I am not directly involved in your job transfer. The transfer process has just been confirmed." Zhigui lowered his head.What the president intends to say, I can't tell at all. "However, I think there is nothing wrong with the arrangement of the personnel department. It just did what it should do." Zhigui still lowered his head, breathing deeply.The panting sound should reach the president's ears.

"I guess you will think this way, because you have been discriminated against. You are not the one who went to jail, so why should you be treated like this?" Zhigui raised his head.Because there was no smile in President Hirano's voice just now.In fact, the president was not smiling, but looked at the warehouse manager who had just joined the company with serious eyes. "Has something like this happened before? I was treated unfairly." Naoki nodded slowly, "Yes, all kinds." "Probably yes, it makes you miserable every time, doesn't it? Surely you will be angry at the discrimination."

Naoki closed his mouth and blinked his eyes in affirmation. "Discrimination is a matter of course." President Hirano said calmly. Naoki widened his eyes.He thought the other party would say something like that without discriminatory treatment. "Of course... is it?" "Of course." The president continued, "Most people want to be in a place far away from criminals. They don't want to have any relationship with criminals, especially those who commit vicious crimes such as robbery and murder. No matter what, they might be involved in inexplicable things. Repelling criminals or people similar to them is a very legitimate behavior, and it can also be said to be the instinct of self-defense."

"Then what should I do if there is a criminal among my relatives?" "There's no way. That's all there is to say." After hearing what the president said, Naoki was a little angry.Did you come here on purpose just to announce this? "So," the president continued, as if he had seen through his heart, "the criminal should also think about these things, it's not a matter of going to jail and it's over. You must realize that you are not the only one who is punished. You are right What about suicide? Is it tolerance?" "Suicide?" Suddenly the topic changed, Zhigui was a little confused.

"Do you think there is a right to die? That's what I'm asking." "Oh." After thinking for a while, he replied, "I think I have the right. Because life is my own, isn't it my own freedom to do what I do?" "Is that so? It's like the opinions of today's young people." President Hirano nodded and said, "So, what about murder? Can it be tolerated?" "How can that be?" "That's right, then, why can't killing be tolerated? Because the person who was killed lost consciousness and lost everything. The desire to live again, and the indignation that his life was taken away are all gone."

"So, if it's okay to kill people, you'll worry that you might be killed too. That kind of behavior is definitely not good." "However, this reason does not work for a person who is determined to die. Because even he himself feels that it is okay to be killed. For such a person, how should he be persuaded?" "In that case..." Zhigui licked his lips again, "Maybe he also has relatives or people who love him, those people will be sad, so don't do that." "That's right." The president seemed satisfied, and his expression was a little relaxed. "That's right. People have all kinds of connections, such as love and friendship, and no one can cut them off without authorization. Therefore, killing is absolutely not acceptable. In this sense, suicide is also bad. The so-called suicide means killing people. Himself. Even if he thinks he can do this, the people around him are not necessarily willing to do this. Your brother can be said to have committed suicide. He chose a social death. However, he did not consider how painful it would be for you who stayed. It is impossible to solve the problem by impulsiveness. Including the suffering you are suffering now is the punishment for the crime committed by your brother." "If you get angry when you are discriminated against, then you can hate your brother, you want to say that, right?" "It's your freedom whether you hate your brother or not. I just want to say that it's unreasonable to hate us. If we go a little deeper, we need to treat you differently. This is also to let all criminals know that if they commit crimes, their relatives It will also be painful." Naoki glanced at Hirano, the expression on his face was very flat.I have been treated unfairly until now, but this is the first time I have heard that this behavior is justified. "Perhaps this is not taught in elementary schools and other places. It may be said that the family members of the perpetrators are also victims, and they should be accepted with a broad heart. Not only schools, but people in society also know this. I think your brother's The matter has also been spread in the place where you work, but have you been treated in any way to deliberately find trouble with you because of this?" "No." Zhigui shook his head, "It's better to say that everyone is more polite than before." "Really. Don't understand the reason? Is it because everyone thinks you are pitiful, so they treat you better?" "I don't think so." "why?" "Why... I can't explain the reason, but I don't think it's that kind of atmosphere." The president nodded as if satisfied with Naoki's answer. "It's because people don't know how to get along with you. I didn't want to have anything to do with you, but it's immoral to show that attitude obviously, I think. That's why I'm extra careful when I get in touch with you. It's about anti-discrimination. That's the way it is said." Zhigui couldn't refute the president's statement.I used to have that unnatural and uncoordinated feeling in the place I used to work, which can be said to be the reason. "I said that there is nothing wrong with the arrangement of the HR department, just considering this situation. Because whether it is discrimination or anti-discrimination, if other personnel have to devote their energy to things other than work, they will not be able to do a good job of customer service. Normal service. To eliminate fact or anti-discrimination, the only way is to transfer you to other workplaces, which are less likely to have adverse effects because of this kind of thing.” Is that why you came to this dark warehouse?Zhigui's eyes fell to his feet. "If we misunderstand, we also feel embarrassed. It's not that you are untrustworthy, and there is no such unscientific idea that you may do the same bad things because you are the brother of a criminal with the same blood. If you don't trust you, Even this place will not place you here. However, for a company, what matters is not a person's nature, but his compatibility with society. Now you are in a state of deficiency." As if your brother committed suicide, he chose a social death—Naoki recalled what Hirano said just now.Can it be said that Gangzhi chose not only his own social death? "However, unlike real death, social death can be survived." Hirano said, "There is only one way to tirelessly restore his compatibility with society bit by bit. Increase his compatibility with others one by one. The line of connection. When a spider web-like connection centered on you is formed, no one will ignore your existence. This is the place to take the first step." He said, pointing to the foot with his finger. "You mean to start here..." "Can't you?" "No," he immediately shook his head, "I understand what the president said. But, can I do it myself?" Then, Hirano grinned. "Your words, fine!" "Really? But what does the president know about me?" Inadvertently, Naoki spoke bluntly, and when he realized that he was about to change his words before saying something and looked up, he saw Hirano taking something out of his arms. "It's true that I know very little about you. But I do know that you have the power to win hearts. This thing wouldn't have come to me without that." What Hirano took out was a letter, and when Naoki stretched out his hand to receive it, Hirano put it away again. "I'm sorry, I can't show it to you. The person who wrote this letter, please let me not let you know anyway. I also wrote it because I made it on my own initiative. If there is any unpleasantness in reading this letter, don't blame you." After hearing this, Naoki realized that there was only one person who wrote such a letter. "Did you also guess who wrote it?" Hirano said, "If that's the case, you can probably detect what was written. The person who wrote the letter said deeply, how hard you have worked so far, and now you can You are so troubled, and there are many good things about you. Also, please ask me to help you no matter what. Although the article is not so beautiful, it really touched my heart." "This guy……" "Just now I said that this is where you took the first step, maybe you should correct it, because you have already grasped the first thread in your own hands, at least it is connected with the heart of the person who wrote this letter From now on, just increase by two or three.” Hirano took the letter back into his arms and kept staring into Naoki's eyes.That gaze seems to assert that if you live up to the expectations of the writer, you will have no future. Naoki took a deep breath and said, "I'll do it!" "I'm looking forward to it too!" Hirano patted the pocket of the letter twice with his hands, then turned and walked away. His short and thin back became taller in Naoki's eyes. After working that day, Zhigui didn't go home directly.He took the tram, and the destination was, of course, the sender's place.While shaking his body while holding the tram strap, he reflected on the president's words sentence by sentence. Perhaps, he thought, that was the case.My current suffering is part of the punishment for Gangzhi's crimes.Criminals must have the mental preparation that when they commit crimes, they also obliterate the existence of their relatives in society.In order to show this objective fact, discrimination also needs to exist.Naoki had never even thought about such a thing before.It is unreasonable to feel that you are being looked down upon by others. It must be that the people around you are wrong. Maybe this kind of thinking is a kind of tolerance for myself.There will be discrimination, the question is what to do on this basis.Thinking that he thought he had worked hard all this time, Zhigui denied it in his heart.I have been giving up all the time, just playing the protagonist in the tragedy. Arriving at Yumiko's apartment, he rang the doorbell, but there was no answer.Mail was also stuffed in the mailbox.It looks like she hasn't returned yet.He regretted not calling her before coming. Where should I stay for a while or just wait in front of the door?Zhigui hesitated.Yumiko also has her own affairs.Probably people in the work unit will invite her to drink with her. Why don't we go to a coffee shop and call later? He thought this, and when he glanced at the mailbox inadvertently, his eyes stayed on an envelope sandwiched there.To be precise, it was the number of the zip code written on the back of the envelope.That number seems a little special. Could it be, he thought, pulling out the letter. Looking at the front of the envelope, he suddenly got goosebumps all over his body.He could hardly believe what he saw. Naoki Takeshima - this handwriting has become familiar to the point of being annoying.