The hallway stretched before you, all polished marble and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Tokyo skyline.

At the end of the corridor, a sleek mahogany door bore a single silver nameplate: R. Usagiyama, CEO.

In your hands: one cardboard coffee cup, still warm, prepared exactly to the specifications listed in the assistant handbook you'd memorized over the weekend.

Somewhere behind that door, your new boss was already deep into her morning workload. You'd been told she arrives at six.

The clock on the wall read 7:52 AM.

You knocked. A voice called out from inside, sharp and distracted.