In the rainy season, even on rare sunny days, the air is still damp. Coupled with the high summer temperature, people can't help but feel like they are in a steamer.

Even so, you still have to wear a suit when you go to Kodansha. This made Toru Shimizu have to sigh that the so-called "tradition" is more stubborn than the weather that arrives every year.

After feeling the refreshment of the air conditioner in the hallway, Toru Shimizu pushed open the door of the Japanese dictionary class. In the office, all three of them except him were there.

The dictionary revision work had been underway for some time, and the office was no longer the neat it had been when he first saw it. Books on linguistics, dictionaries from other publishing houses, and materials collected from various places by Heichi Irie and Shuya Ishii almost filled up all the space, and the few shelves that were added to it were crumbling.

Even Satoshi Kanzaki, who has always been disgusted with this job, is holding a few folders and pretending to be at the moment. This made Qing Shui Toru look at him a little unexpectedly, but he didn't say anything.

The sound of the door closing caught Irie's attention, and he looked up from the pile of paper stacked high like a sharp castle, and it took a few seconds to identify the person with his glasses.

"Shimizu-kun, you're here, it's just right, let's have a meeting now."

It was said to be a meeting, but there was no decent conference room, everyone just sat in their seats, spread out their notepads and looked at him.

As soon as Toru Shimizu took his seat, he heard him cough and began to speak.

"In the meantime, we've sorted out the previous readers' letters, and the errors pointed out in them have also been marked in the dictionary. In addition, five or six hundred new words have been collected, and more than two hundred have been screened out, and it is planned to be included in the next edition of the dictionary, thanks to the efforts of Shimizu-kun. ”

"Nothing, that's what I'm supposed to do."

Now that you have the money, you should do the corresponding work. Although he has always adhered to this attitude, recalling the unexpected experiences of several vocabulary collections, Toru Shimizu still feels palpitations.

Shaking his head to get rid of those unpleasant memories, Irie was still continuing to introduce.

“… By now, the preparatory preparations for the revision of the dictionary are almost complete, and the next step is to write the most important meanings.

"Wait," Toru Shimizu raised his hand with doubts, "Irie-san, does the meaning of the words have to be written by the editor?" ”

"Generally speaking, that's the case, so what does Shimizu-kun think?"

Flipping over the cover of the dictionary in hand, Toru Shimizu pointed to the names under the words "Writing Committee" and asked him for advice, "I always thought it was the work of these experts and professors. ”

"That's where the dictionary editor is more unfortunate," Irie put down the pen in his hand, a helpless smile squeezed out of his muscular face.

"Actually, experts are very busy and usually don't have much time to dedicate to writing word meanings. Therefore, the dictionary editors write a version first, and then hand it over to them for revision, and you can also ask them for advice on some words that you are not sure about. ”

"But in a dictionary, most of the definitions you can see are made up by editors. And it is impossible for experts to know all the words, such as those that are popular among young people. In this case, the dictionary editor can only give an explanation. ”

However, in the eyes of the public, it is always the experts above who are more eye-catching, and the people who do the specific things are not cared about. Maybe it's like this everywhere. ”

Irie sighed and cheered up again.

"Sorry for the complaints."

Recording the relationship between the editor and the expert in his mouth, Toru Shimizu shook his head slightly, "No, I learned a lot." ”

Irie waved his hand to bring the topic back on track.

"In this revision, in addition to the explanation of the newly entered words, I am considering whether I can modify the interpretation of some commonly used words, and it is better to propose a completely different interpretation from the current dictionary on the market... Shimizu-kun, do you have any questions? ”

Retracting the hand that had been raised, Qing Shui Toru held the pen and asked again: "Irijiang-san, what does 'different interpretation' mean?" ”

"Well, what should I say..."Irie leaned back in his chair and said thoughtfully, "Sometimes, although the meaning of the word is clear to everyone, there can be various expressions, such as the word 'right', everyone understands its meaning, right?" ”

Qing Shui Toru thought for a moment and nodded, "That's true." ”

"But if you really want to explain... Shimizu-kun, what are you going to say? ”

"The direction on the right? Hmm..."Toru Shimizu pondered for a moment and came up with an explanation, "The direction on the right-hand side?" No, it's self-explanatory. That... The opposite side of the heart? No, there are people in the world whose heart is on the right side..."

Irie didn't speak, waiting for him to give a final answer.

There was silence in the office, Qing Shui thought hard, and finally, he slapped his hands suddenly.

"Wait, I thought... When you spread out the book, the side with the odd number of pages!"

"Hmm...," Irie thought and nodded slowly, "That's a good explanation, but the way we're going to say it is... Wait a minute, I'll look for it. ”

"When writing '10', the side where the '0' is written."

A voice came from the side. Shimizu Toru looked over and saw that it was Ishii, who had been silent before. He didn't have any dictionary in front of him, and his expression was so calm that it seemed to be a casual remark. In the opposite position, Kanzaki glanced at this side from the corner of his eye, as if he was indifferent to all this.

"Oh yes, that's it."

Irie put down the dictionary in his hand and continued to explain the topic just now.

So you also understand that the same word will have different meanings, and the job of the dictionary editor is to find the more reasonable and accurate one. With this revision, I hope to achieve this level of accuracy in some vocabulary, that is, more accurate than the current dictionaries on the market. ”

"I understand," noting this, Qing Shui Toru had some doubts in his heart, "But in this way, it will take a lot of energy, is it too late?" ”

"On this point, I have already stated in my submission of the revision plan to the Dictionary Bureau that I have at least half a year to concentrate on the meaning of the word..."

As he spoke, he propped himself up from his desk and rose from his chair.

"It stands to reason that an ordinary revision does not have to go this way. However, considering that I don't know when the next revision will be, this time... It might be my last chance to do something before I retire, so... Please, everybody! ”

Facing the sudden deep bow from Irie, Toru Shimizu hurriedly got up to salute back, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Kanzaki actually saluting.

Based on his relationship with Irie, and considering how much he disliked the job, when Irie proposed to increase the workload to some extent, he didn't even object, which made Shimizu Toru a little surprised in his heart.

Is it possible for a person's personality to change drastically in a short period of time?

Thinking like this, several people had already sat down separately, and Irie continued to introduce the next work arrangements.

Toru Shimizu looked sideways at Satoshi Kanzaki on the side.

He leaned into his seat with a big grin, and although the pen and paper were spread out in front of him, there was a blank space on it. Looking at the office, his eyes were full of indifference, as if this place had nothing to do with him. When Irie talked about the key, a sneer flashed on his face.

Seeing that he was about to come over, Qing Shui Toru turned his head slightly and withdrew his gaze, just suppressing this doubt in his heart.