“Hesse? The Glass Bead Game?”
“Yes, Hesse and the Game. Just remember it, you’ll understand later.”
“Uh-huh.”
“We need to find out whether Bear and Kuma crossed paths before. I didn’t find anything on the web or in the Circus database – but real people normally remember events differently.”
“Okay, I’ll do everything.”
“One does not simply get into Nonoda’s headquarters, the areas open to visitors are separated from the offices. We’ll be taken where it’s advantageous to take us – to exhibit us to the employees and to film good material for the chronicles – so we’ll need to take every opportunity.”
They were already on their way out of the hotel room, to meet up with the other members of the team in the lobby, but Dario couldn’t let go of a question.
“Bear – I get … But why Lion?”
The elevator doors with the hotel’s heraldic figure on the upper panel frame opened, Richard let Dario in first.
“The lion is a cliché about someone who wanted to be somebody,” he replied and added after a pause, “and the lion is big in Japan.”
10. Big in Japan
“The Power of Dreams – a slogan that unites over two hundred thousand of our employees all around the world,” said the CEO of Nonoda, Toshihiro Minobe. “For three years now, the ‘new’ Nonoda has been rapidly transforming to bring the power of dreams to every home and every heart all around the world.”
Yusuke Kuma poured yet another portion of peated whiskey into an empty rocks glass, leaned back in the chair. The gigantic curved screen that turned the wall of panels into something resembling the cockpit of a spaceship showed the recording of today’s tour presentation for the Rote Stier team. The circular assembly hall on the second floor, rows of benches in a semicircle, and in the center – a motorcycle on a pedestal, three speakers … It was in Kuma’s habit to re-listen to all important public events as background noise, sometimes at one-and-a-half speed rate, barely paying attention to the visuals, relying solely on his hearing.
He wanted to remember everything – and not miss the details where, as it’s known, the devil is. The acoustic system in the office on the tenth floor allowed him to pay attention to the details – if it was necessary; in other cases, a cursory run-through sufficed.
Time had tumbled over midnight, the top levels of the headquarters in the Aoyama building were empty, the top management had long gone home, though on the lower floors there could occasionally be heard the tapping of fingers on a keyboard, the rustling of snack wrappers and the hiss of energy drinks.
The office had been in chaos all week – because of the Grand Prix in Suzuka and these incendiary fellows from the Rote Stier racing team. Within a week, three people from the event management department were sent on sick leave with tachycardia and brainfag – and a dozen more were likely concealing ailments. The deification of work never bothered Kuma – it was a part of his Japanese nature.
He smirked at the thought and put the whiskey to his lips. The only thing that set him apart from a typical Japanese – he never got shitfaced.
“Koto and mono,” Minobe went on, “useful experience and material objects – these are the fundamental values of the company, aimed at improving the quality of our clients’ lives. We are happy to share these values with you.”
Before taking the presidential seat, Minobe had been the head of the Research and Development center that united the Solution System Development Center and the Innovative Research Excellence department – where Kuma labored. The new era of Nonoda began with Minobe taking on the role of the CEO, the ‘challenger’ – within a couple of years he brought their electric vehicle production to the global level, announced the revolutionary development of solid-state batteries, capable of uprooting the automobile industry.
Utilizing external expertise and forming useful alliances was also a part of the development strategy – like the return to Formula One, but not as a racing team owner, but in the role of a power units supplier for Rote Stier.
To become, at once, indispensable – and amaze imagination every time … That’s Nonoda’s mission, that’s the mission of the Innovative Research Excellence department.
“And we fully support you, Mr. Minobe,” spoke Christian Pierce, the chief of the Bulls, and then nodded at Kuma, who was, at that moment, standing on the right of the makeshift stage. “Mr. Kuma rightly noted before yesterday’s race: the mission of popularization is, always, a building of a bridge between the manufacturer and the consumer, between the artist and the spectator. Golden hands create what we, the big circus, show.”
Kuma rocked the whiskey in the glass, it was challenging to drink the thick, smoky, wet wool-scented beverage even in small sips. Peated whiskey was remarkably good when served in the hollow of a scoop of vanilla ice cream …
“All of you remember the RS14 that Mr Doodle doodled for the Wings for Life charity auction,” spoke Pierce. “The artist made a work of art on an automobile industry manifesto – and Max and Sergio signed it on the rear-wing end plate. The Doodle Bull was sold for two hundred twenty thousand pounds sterling – and the proceeds went to a fund that finances the treatment of spinal cord injuries. At the season opener, I was asked why I didn’t put on a suit like Mr Doodle’s – black and white, with a pattern …”
The cameraman timely captured shots of an assistant handing a cover from behind the speakers – obviously, with a suit inside. The team was hallooing, they had already guessed that the time for the suit has finally come …
“Max, it’s been decided that you will wear the suit,” Pierce announced. “Instructions from the head racing engineer.”
“From the physiotherapist!” Daniel Rizzo called out.
The spectators burst into laughter, Max Vermeer was already rising from the bench to take the cover, his young face was grinning from ear to ear.
“Daniel, you are absolutely right,” the chief added. “And let me tell you a secret – this time from your coach.”
A second cover ended up in Pierce’s hands, Vermeer was already pointing at Rizzo and guffawing as he returned to his seat.
Next was Sergio Pelaez’s turn to take the garb with exclusive design from a famous graffitist, but Kuma was no longer paying attention to the recording – he had turned away from the screen, staring pensively ahead, towards the wide window with Tokyo’s night lights.
Show – and showmen. A big circus, indeed … Nonoda creates the products of the future – but someone’s got to promote and sell them.
Like with robots – everyone loves robots. Isaac – a humanoid robot named after a science fiction writer and his three laws of robotics, which had stood in the headquarters’ exhibition hall for over two decades, became Nonoda’s trademark – because he spoke sign language, acted like a human, poured coffee into a paper cup, and hopped on one leg like a child.
Isaac’s technologies gave rise to an entire new branch of development for mobile autonomous and remote-controlled systems – but it’s the robot that everyone remembers … Like the Doodle Bull and Formula One drivers dressed in patterned suits with the team’s logos.
At the entrance to the headquarters is an enormous banner with Vermeer’s portrait, in the welcome hall of the first floor there are posters with images