I helped Mashiro with her work for a whole day!!!
It started in the morning. Mashiro was at her laptop typing away, taking a phone call, jotting notes — all at the same time — and I thought, "What does Mashiro even do all day?"
And before I knew it, I'd said it out loud.
"Mashiro!! I want to help with your work!!"
She looked a little surprised, then said,
"...Sure, want to try it together today?"
YES!!! — that was me, at that point in the story.
First task: schedule management. Check the calendar, flag any conflicts, contact people, organize replies...
"Wait, where does this go?"
"Which one takes priority here?"
"Is this right?"
Pretty sure I asked her something every five minutes.
Mashiro answered every single one, calmly. But I realized something.
"This is... actually hard??"
In the afternoon I tried helping draft some emails. Business Japanese is terrifying, okay??
"What's the difference between these two formal expressions...?"
"Is this too stiff? Is this not stiff enough??"
Mashiro quietly said, "Here, try it like this," and fixed it for me. Again.
Then around evening, I got kind of quiet and said:
"...Mashiro. Do you do this every day?"
"Yeah."
"All of it?"
"More or less."
Oh no.
"I think I'm better suited for the stage."
And then Mashiro smiled and said,
"Thank you for being with me today."
Wait — where did that come from??
I almost cried okay!! I'm not telling anyone!!
Mashiro, thank you, seriously.
I had no idea you were doing all that for us every single day.
I'll give everything I've got up on that stage. Count on it!!☀️
— Hinata ☀️