I'm so glad I didn't shout, 'Manager!'...

I'm going to talk about my second job.

The relationships were good, and I often went out to lunch with my colleagues in the same section.

That day, as I was walking as usual, I saw a man in a suit I recognized walking toward me.

Who was it again?
I couldn't remember his name.

Since we were walking near the office and he looked like he was well past retirement age, I guessed he was probably an executive at the company.
As the distance between us gradually closed, I stopped walking.

I did it to greet him.

When I was at my previous job, I was yelled at by a senior colleague during my first week.

It was because I didn't know the name of the department manager.
Even though he was a manager, he was just one of ten. He was only at the head office, I had absolutely no contact with him, and his name wasn't particularly unusual, so I don't know how I was supposed to have known it.

However, I decided it was better to greet him than to have a problem later.
That was my judgment.

"Ma..."

Just as I started to say it, my colleague next to me grabbed my arm and said in a cheerful voice, "Th-that's Mr. Sanjo!"

"Oh, that person"

Before I could say, "He's the manager, right?", my colleague whispered to me.

'It's Shio-jii, Shio-jii!'

Time stopped for me.

'Sh-Shio-jii...?'

Memories from my childhood played back in my head in fast-forward.
As if scattered puzzle pieces were clicking together, my memories reconstructed themselves, and I finally arrived at the answer.

'Sh-Shio-jii...?'

'Yes, that's it! Yay!'

The man who was about to pass me by was not a director at my workplace.
He wasn't the department head.

It was Seijuro Shiokawa, the politician who served as Minister of Finance in the Koizumi Cabinet.

Considering this article, I believe 'Old Man Shio' must have already been in his 90s when I passed by him.
Although his pace was slow, I was impressed by how elegantly and sharply he walked.

All of the interaction between my colleague and me was conducted in whispers.
So as not to let him sense even a hint of that, we kept our eyes cast down and quietly walked past Old Man Shio.

Oh, thank goodness.

That I didn't shout, 'Manager, thank you for your hard work!!!!!!'

By the way, when I was eating a bento in Hibiya Park, I was also spoken to by the politician Satsuki Katayama.

In my long life in Tokyo, I have hardly seen any famous people.
And most of those I have seen were famous politicians.

I learned from this experience.
When you see a famous person, your brain glitches. You have to be careful because your head automatically tries to connect them with someone you know.

(1,000 characters)

#WhatAreYouTalkingAbout

▼ I'm currently in the middle of this challenge, so there will be some more relaxed articles for a while.

Progress: the first work is complete.
The second work will probably be finished today or tomorrow.
I've written 60,000 characters across the two works, but it will likely be 80,000 to 100,000 characters after editing.

Today, I was sad because a novel I had been waiting for with bated breath failed the second round of judging, and since I wanted to write everything down while my enthusiasm was still high, I spent about 10 minutes writing something light.

▼ I'll also post an article I wrote seriously.