[Amano Writing Club] Please stop with the unreasonable requests

The weekly department meeting.
Progress reports for each project are given.

Once all eight members were seated in the conference room, the manager finally slid into a chair.
A refined profile and quietly composed movements.

The manager kicks things off.
“Good work, everyone. Well then… shall we begin?”
Even though the voice was restrained, the atmosphere in the room strangely tightened.

“For those speaking…”
The room tenses up at the expression on the manager’s face as they pause.

“Please give your report in the best voice you’ve had all day.”

A sound like a deep breath echoes, as if the eight of us are trying to inhale the strained tension—not quite a word, not quite a sigh.
The manager’s weekly unreasonable request.
However, no one bursts out laughing on the spot, and no one retorts with, “Give me a break.”

“Yes.”
Everyone replied in their own version of their “best voice of the day.”

“Then, let’s start with data integration.”
“...Yes, good work. Regarding the migration of the data integration platform, it has been completed as scheduled. Connection tests with the existing system are also fine. As an additional item, we have slightly expanded the log acquisition range. That is all.”
A voice two octaves lower than usual.
It was perfectly fine as the best voice of the day.

“Alright next, let’s go with RPA.”
“Yes. The accounting department workflow is running as expected. However, the PDF reading accuracy is still a bit weak, so I will proceed with improvements. That is all.”
A voice with more tension and clarity than usual.
It could be called the best voice of the day.

“In that case… how is the progress on the portal app?”
“Regarding the portal app revisions, uh, the design part has been reflected, but…”
The air in the room begins to tremble at the unstable tone.
“The test for the new authentication function is, uh…”
The voice cracked on the final “is.”

Failure.
The laughter everyone had been holding back bursts out all at once.

The manager is also laughing with a red face.
“Yes, Inoue-kun. Since you failed, please spend the rest of the day in a good voice.”
“Ehh~, please really stop with the unreasonable requests~”
Inoue, who had failed, collapsed while crying and laughing in his cracked voice.

A department meeting where you aren’t allowed to laugh.
Last week, due to the unreasonable request to “add something you ate recently that was delicious at the end of your report,” Nakahara, who laughed while reporting, spent the rest of the day adding “…That is all. Gyoza” to the end of every sentence.

The manager’s weekly unreasonable request.
Everyone recognizes that if you went to the wrong place, this could be reported as “harassment!”
But perhaps you can do good work with people who can find this environment amusing.
Everyone sort of believes that.

The end.

I tried challenging this theme project.
It was fun this time too!