Kimura Hachisai held the phone and remained silent for a full ten seconds.
He did not know why Ikeda was calling at this moment, so he used those ten seconds to guess what the other man wanted.
Was he calling to laugh at me too? Probably... no, surely not?
Ikeda Choyu and Kimura had attended the same university and entered Mitsubishi in the same year. Though they were not as close as brothers, they were far closer than either was to most others.
During the Spring Festival, the two had even gone to a pleasure house together to drown themselves in drink, deepening their friendship a little further. So Ikeda was unlikely to join the crowd in mocking him as a "fool."
Then why was he calling me? How strange.
After ten seconds of silence, Kimura Hachisai asked quietly, "Ikeda, how did you learn about this?"
Ikeda Choyu said in a muffled voice, "Just after work, Terauchi and I rode the same elevator. He was loudly mocking you inside, saying you'd been fooled by those Zhina people and that they were best at putting up a grand front."
"Terauchi actually mocked me in the elevator? That... bastard!"
Kimura Hachisai was furious.
Usually, Terauchi Kenichiro only mocked Kimura Hachisai within their own department, and that had already humiliated him beyond measure.
But the elevators were shared by the entire Mitsubishi building. Even technical departments like Ikeda's used them. Terauchi had loudly ridiculed Kimura in a packed after-work elevator—was he trying to make the entire company know the great name of Kimura Hachisai?
Just as Kimura was seething with rage, Ikeda Choyu urged him from the other end, "Kimura, I'm calling from a phone booth outside. Phone charges are expensive. Can you give me an answer quickly?"
"Oh, Ikeda, you're already so