“Let’s go for now.”

Maru picked up his bag and stood up. Even though it wasn’t 2 p.m. yet, they got the message to gather as though the schedule was pulled forward. On the way back, Maru observed the group who went ahead of him. The order they walked in seemed to have settled as the woman with sharp eyes took the lead, followed by the earphone man, the one in school uniform, the chatterbox, and then the small girl with a foolish smile on her face. There was no change to the order, and every conversation started from the front and flowed to the back. Not once did it go the other way round. Even a band of marching soldiers would be more free than this. Maru left the group. The woman at the front glared at him slightly. He replied back with a smile.

When they arrived, the only one waiting in the lobby was the woman at the front desk. It seemed that the rest of the applicants had returned. What was different was that the woman was now wearing a baggy t-shirt and jeans instead of a black office suit. There was a large clock drawn in the middle of her t-shirt, and two hands were grabbing the hour hand and the minute hand respectively. It couldn’t be said to be a good design, even as a joke.

“Did you have a good meal?”

Hearing the woman ask, they all replied...