First things first – that stuff doesn’t work. It’s a racket, another way for corporations to siphon money from smokers. Smokers – with their trashed sense of smell – might think they’re fooling people with mists and sprays, but the only people they’re fooling is other smokers. Who, you know, don’t care if they smell like an ashtray anyway. Everyone else knows, it’s just that most people (especially not bosses) are too polite to say anything. Brushing your teeth probably helps a little, but that only goes so far.

So, you know, my sympathy for Sasaki-san is pretty limited when it comes to his boss chewing him out over this. I mean, he works in a customer-facing role sometimes – it’s legit. Everything else with the boss is a different story – he’s an A-hole and it’s a crap workplace, as Yamada thinks. But “Tayama” giving him the mist was still a nice thing, because she believes it makes a difference. Does that make up for the other not nice things she does to him? That’s in the eye of the beholder I suppose.

Speaking of bosses, we finally meet the other relevant one, Gotou-san. Sasaki thoughtfully picks out a gift (an ashtray) for Tayama to thank her for the mist. But when he goes to present it, it’s Gotou-san he finds in the smoker’s lounge. Her initial reaction is understandable, though I don’t think she would actually have called the rozzers. Once Sasaki tries explaining himself she lamps what’s going on here pretty quickly. Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on your perspective – she’s a fan of romance manga and kind of a troll, so she immediately sees the potential in this scenario.

I think it’s notable that Gotou’s immediate take is “Oh, he’s getting played here”. Because not only is that the natural assumption, it’s kind of what’s actually happening. Yeah, smoking and how awful it is for you (and society) is the main elephant in the room. But whether Yamada is being cruel to Sasaki is kind of the baby elephant. She doesn’t think she is, obviously. But she does enjoy teasing him a little too much. And you can tell she feels guilty over it sometimes – the conscience doesn’t lie. Sure, Sasaki absolutely should have figured out the scam by now. But that doesn’t mean it’s right for Yamada to keep perpetrating it.

Take the whole ashtray thing at the end. Nah, it didn’t occur to Tayama that Sasaki would actually hurt himself. But when it was clear he had, Yamada shouldn’t have laughed about it – she should have felt terrible. The fact that she did laugh is kind of off-putting to be frank. On the other hand, both these people are obviously lonely and they’re getting something out of this companionship. And Yamada is clearly developing feelings for Sasaki-san, that much is obvious. It’s a dysfunctional relationship built on lies – but then, most romantic relationships probably are. Not that this is one, yet…