He put the plastic wrapping from the sandwich he had slowly eaten into his bag, s.p.a.cing out until his lunch break was over. He then stood up holding his electronic white cane. Going back the way he was used to, he returned to his workplace.
Apparently braille was added to this elevator ever since Tatsumi joined the company. Feeling the consideration of the company, he was happy and thankful every time he rode the elevator. He went through the fingerprint check gate that was like a train station ticket gate, and opened the door to his office. They seemed to have installed that check gate ten years ago. It was just coincidence that it didn’t require a card or key, but even that was extremely helpful to Tatsumi.
“&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;I’m back.”
However, as soon as he opened the door, his lifted spirits from earlier immediately fell. The only one who reacted to Tatsumi’s voice was one of the male supervisors. No other voices responded. He wasn’t sure if anyone else was there since he couldn’t see. Getting the feeling from the atmosphere no one needed his optimism, Tatsumi consciously hardened his expression. The faint sound of typing on a computer, the creaking of chairs, and the sound of tapping on a cellphone all beat against his eardrums, but Tatsumi pretended not to notice, returned to his seat, and placed the headphones attached to his computer onto his ears.