ダンス

Two years into her first job, the narrator still has not settled in, and her boss has told her to work on getting along with people rather than on the work. Now three colleagues keep staying home and their tasks land on her desk. Over drinks, Shimomura, the friendly older woman who showed her the ropes, explains: her live-in partner Tanaka, whose parents she had already met, has left her for Sato, a new temp. Both work in the same office, and Shimomura nicknames them after fish cakes. From then on Shimomura comes in less and less, turns up in short skirts and heavy make-up, tries matchmaking events, and calls the narrator out to meet her late in the evening. Watching from a cool distance, the narrator sees a strange, wasting kind of dance.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novella

Length

120 pages in the original

Set in

Japan

First published

2024 by Shinchosha

Author's age

42 when first published

ISBN

9784103560814 (original)