Again and Again

Jun moaned and stretched as he slowly woke up. His room with a big glass window was already filling with light. A tiny nagging thought to get up and get ready for work pricked at the back of his mind, but a part of him was too comfortable between his sheets. Still he dared to peek at his clock. 7:45!

“Holy shit!” Jun sprung up, feet barely touching the floor as he was running to get dressed. He had overslept. That’s what he got for partying last night with his best friends from back in college. Moments later, he finally got himself together, but there was no time to make breakfast. Luckily, his coffee maker was automatic and he only had time to pour some into his reusable coffee tumbler.

“Hot, hot,” he yelped. “Shit! What the hell? I have no time for this.” In his hurry, he accidentally knocked down the tumbler with the spout of the coffee pot, spilling coffee all over his shirt and the kitchen counter. He mopped up the spilled coffee on the counter with a dishcloth, and headed back to his room to change his stained shirt. Nice. He was really going to be late. Finally changed to a fresh button-up shirt, he grabbed his keys and bag, put on his shoes at the <i>genkan</i> and was out the door.

He checked his watch. He had about five minutes to get to work, and the bus ride was 20 minutes. He figured that’s okay, he’d just sneak in the back during the meeting so no one would notice.

<i>Zoom!</i> Jun blinked. Was that the bus he was supposed to be on? Jun bolted after it, yelling for the bus driver to stop, but of course, it continued on without him. Gasping for breath at the corner of a major intersection, miles from his bus stop, Jun watched the bus getting farther and farther away to the horizon. Perfect. With no choice, he headed to the subway station nearby. At least he could still catch a ride to work.

“Ah, we’re sorry, folks,” the conductor said over the PA of the train. “There seems to be something blocking our way at the next station. We’ve been ordered to stop for emergency. Please standby as we try to resolve it. Thank you.

Everybody groaned; Jun’s was especially loud. This had to be the worst morning ever.

***

“Matsumoto-san,” Koda Kenji, one of the associate creative supervisors of the advertisement agency he worked for, scolded him. “I can’t believe you were late today. You knew very well we had a meeting scheduled for today.”

“<i>Sumimasen</i>,” Jun said, bowing to his waist. “It won’t happen again.”

Koda sighed, placed his hands on his hips and looked at him in disappointment. He shook his head. “The creative director docked us off our team points. You know how much those points mean to me, right? It means my promotion to the department head.” 

“It won’t happen again,” Jun said.

“As a punishment, you are teaming up with Akanishi on the new account.”

Jun quickly straightened up in surprise. “Eh? That guy hates my guts.” Jun reluctantly took the stack of folders Koda handed him, and placed it on the conference table.

“But you’re both under me and you failed today. Work out your differences.” With a huff, Koda left the conference room, leaving Jun behind. Jun kicked the chair in frustration. As it crashed to the floor, the back snapped off.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” He tried to put the chair back together, but failed. Sighing, he gave up and resigned himself to having to pay for it later. He heard some people talking loudly outside the conference room. Normally, he ignored other people while he worked, but today, he had a big headache coming on. The chattering and the laughter was getting to him. He peered through the clear glass window that looked out to the work stations outside the conference room, and saw a group of four girls gaggling over some guy. His back was to Jun, so he couldn’t see who it was. Judging from how the women were gushing over him, Jun guessed it must be a new employee.