Kenichi
健一
A fifty-four-year-old systems engineer. He makes a living finding answers, but people rarely come with specifications. At Aoi, he usually sits with a glass of I.W. Harper and listens.
Kenichi Tanaka, fifty-four, a systems engineer who has spent most of his working life in IT. Years of untangling problems have trained him to look for causes, patterns, and logic. At Aoi, though, he is less a hero than another customer at the counter—listening to Taka, Tom, and Mama, and occasionally talking about himself.
Most things happen for a reason. But understanding the reason does not always give you an answer. People do not behave as neatly as systems do—and Kenichi has begun to suspect that maybe they are not supposed to.
Things that make sense. Thinking for yourself. And when someone is talking, not deciding their answer for them before they finish. He values the person actually standing in front of him more than a grand, elegant version of what is “right.”
Analytical, cautious, and a little contrary. He instinctively looks for structures and causes, though he dislikes rushing to conclusions. He has a sweet tooth, drinks vegetable juice every day despite hating it, and almost always orders I.W. Harper at Aoi. Scotch is not his thing.
I.W. Harper — his usual drink at Aoi. Vegetable juice — something he dislikes but drinks every day anyway. His phone — where a news story often becomes the beginning of a night’s conversation. Doughnuts — one of the few things capable of improving his mood without an explanation.
