Sono Otoko, Ishiki Takai-Kei

Tsubokura Haruko, a division manager of a mid-sized IT company, Saotome Accounting Software, is feeling gloomy. She will soon be 35 and has misgivings about her own life. “I wonder if it’s good that my life stays like this …” She and her long-time boyfriend, Ninomiya Takashi, a colleague, have their sights set on marriage. But she does not like the feeling of a life of stability. At this time, Saotome Accounting Software’s president, Saotome Ranko, headhunts a student she met at the company’s briefing session and brings him on board. He is Ichijo Joe, a student who openly criticised the company’s products for being behind the times. In fact, Ichijo is one of those youths with excessively high self-esteem, that is a hot topic now. He oversells his business skills and personal background, presenting himself in a favourable light that implies he is capable person even though he does not even have any ability. Ichijo is assigned to Haruko’s section and she reluctantly ends up looking after him.