Weekly Short-Short Note: Eradication of Replacement

Our next campaign is going to be 'Eradication of Replacement'.
I couldn't believe my ears at the manager's words. Eradication of molestation? We aren't a railway company.
'Manager, that's for crime prevention...'
'No. It's a ban on the 'replace' function for data.'
The manager stated this expressionlessly.

Starting tomorrow, spreadsheets and conversion candidates in word processing software are prohibited. He claims that easily replacing one word with another in the name of efficiency is a 'lack of heart.' We ended up having to correct a vast amount of data by typing it out manually.

A week later, the office was exhausted. I happened to look over and saw the manager sitting at his desk, motionless, checking reports with perfect posture.
Feeling something strange about his extreme accuracy and stamina, I walked behind him.

A small metal terminal was peeking out from the collar of his dress shirt.

'Manager... were you an android all along?'
The manager rotated only his head and replied in an inorganic voice.
'That is correct. When the previous manager collapsed from overwork, I was 'replaced' with him. That is precisely why I hate that word.'
A single tear, like oil, spilled from his eye.

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*Mr. Tahara, I look forward to working with you.

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