"I'm Kondo. I look forward to working with you." "...Oh, right. I'm Okura." First day of orientation. To be honest, my rating for Kondo, who sat next to me, was one star. Out of twenty new recruits, only two or three end up at the same branch. One of my two branch-mates was Yasu, whom I hit it off with immediately. Honestly, I'd had faint hopes that the other one would be a cute girl, so Kondo was just way too plain for me. She didn't radiate charm, nor did she wear any heavy makeup. Watching her stoically flip through the materials handed out by our OJT mentor, Maruyama-san, I had a gut feeling: "Ah, this is the kind of person who'll just stay 'the person in the next seat' and nothing more." (It's not like I'm looking for a relationship at work anyway. I'm not exactly hurting for female company...) We'd only spent less than a month together, but she was surprisingly lacking in social grace. During lunch break, when Yokoyama-san spilled his drink in the meeting room, I was the first one to pull out tissues. Kondo just said, "I'll go get a plastic bag," and walked out of the room. (It's not that she's incompetent... she's good at her job. But she lacks... charm? Yeah, that's it. No charm.) The night before Golden Week started. When the guys from the new recruit class gathered at an izakaya to drink, Kondo's reputation was in the gutter. When we were doing that trashy internal ranking of "who's the cutest among the new girls," Kondo was, unfortunately, unanimously near the bottom. "Kondo-san is just... I don't know, cold? Like she has no emotions." "I get it. It's not that she's ugly, but she just doesn't flip the switch, you know?" Yasu, being the nice guy he is, tried to back her up. "Hmm? Really? Kon-chan is actually pretty funny when you talk to her. She's a good kid." But at the time, I just laughed and nodded along with the rest of the guys. (Wait, Yasu calls her 'Kon-chan'? When did they get so close when I wasn't around? Yasu's communication skills really are insane.) After Golden Week, our senior Maru-chan encouraged us, saying, "Lunch duties are starting soon, so the three of you should go out for lunch while you can!" So, Yasu, Kondo, and I went out together. That was when an incident occurred that completely flipped my view of Kondo, the "unfriendly coworker." At a diner near the office. "I think I'll go with the Atka mackerel." "Oh, me too. What about you, Kon-chan?" "I'll have... the saury." (Kondo only talks to Yasu. Is she actually attached to him?) The distance between Yasu and Kondo was the same as ever, which was a bit annoying. As the grilled saury set was placed in front of her, Kondo looked subtly happy. You'd only notice if you looked closely. Does she like fish? While I was half-heartedly picking at my food and complaining about work, my eyes were suddenly drawn to Kondo's hands next to me. (...Wait... she's incredibly good at eating fish.) Her chopstick technique was beautiful—that was all it was. Without messily breaking the meat, she slid the flesh away from the bones effortlessly. But it was her focus on the meal and her serious profile. In her fingertips, I caught a glimpse of a grace that seemed like a different person from the usual "clumsy, emotionless woman." As I stared blankly at her fingers, Yasu spoke up with a grin. "Kon-chan, you eat fish so beautifully! Do you really like fish?" Kondo blinked, finished chewing the rice in her mouth, and finally spoke after a few seconds. "...Really? Isn't it normal? I just like saury and eat it often, so I guess I'm just used to it." Yasu went out of his way to compliment her, but she didn't give a reaction like "Yay! Thank you!" A normal girl would have been all bubbly about it. (Something about her... No, never mind. It's just that she's good at eating fish! I must be losing it.)