2 men, 4 women

This comic triptych about office life in contemporary Japan, explores the relationship between temp workers and full-time workers in the declining economy.

In HOT PEPPER, three temps fret over where to host a farewell party for their colleague who has been laid off, which leads to a discussion about why they are the ones who have to organize it in the first place.

AIR CONDITIONER is a duet between a woman who is freezing in the office and a man who kind of has a crush on her. As much as they talk, they fail to communicate.

Finally, in the FAREWELL SPEECH, the laid-off temp worker describes her morning as she got ready to commute to work for the last time, and the surprise that was waiting on her doorstep: a dying cicada.

Published in The Methuen Anthology of Modern Asian Drama.