Chapter 5: Curiosities

Author’s Note: Erika is currently recovering from an illness and is unable to provide illustrations for Strange Company for the time being. Thanks for understanding, and we hope you still enjoy this and the upcoming chapters anyway!

Suzu tipped her umbrella back and studied the heavy, grey clouds hovering above the crematorium. The forecast did not predict this weather. Those clouds weren’t even anywhere close to the area this morning, yet as soon as they arrived, lightning struck. Thunder boomed.

With a sigh, she shook the rain off her umbrella and tucked it in the stand outside the automatic doors. Hushed conversations about muddied shoes, meal plans, and acquaintances flitted about. There were around fifty people in attendance, most of whom were neighbors, hiking buddies and former students of Professor Kaede and his wife. The deceased couple had cut ties with their families long ago, and not even their friends knew how to get in touch with any of their relatives.

As she stepped inside the crematorium with her father, Suzu glanced back and saw Kei at the tail end of the group, waiting for his turn to store his umbrella. That he had to be here irked and perplexed her, but she couldn’t ask him to leave.

As a minor reward for her cooperation, Ninomae fabricated the incident to preserve Professor Kaede’s name. The official story removed Suzu from Waiki Mart at the time of the incident, and the supposed burglar-turned-murderer only managed to get the professor and his wife. Suzu supposedly woke up due to the ruckus and called the police, but by then, it was too late.

They explained away her absence in the past two days as a result of the police investigation, and her need for medical attention. While speaking on the phone with her father, she echoed the doctor by saying she was physically fine but needed professional help to process the incident.

At least this part of the story was true.

It was only once the adrenaline of Kei’s exhibition and job offer had waned that she truly digested the matter. Amidst the contract signing—a thick wad of which were NDAs—and testing to see if she had supernatural abilities, she spoke with Ana Nishida at length about the freak show she got herself into. Of course, she didn’t phrase it that way, but in her mind, her situation was exactly that. A freak show. Her life was a magnet for the anomalous, a bait for the worst kinds of mishaps a person might suffer.

She trailed after her father in the crematorium, head pounding and ears buzzing, because it dawned on her belatedly that she escaped one horrid spectacle only to be bound to another.

“Are you hungry?” Her father asked, ducking to her height so he could say it without raising his voice. “We’ll just watch Haruto and Rina’s caskets be put into the incinerator, and then we can eat while waiting.”

Ryoichi Agata slipped away from his wife to approach them. He maintained a lightness in his steps despite his apparent grief, and Suzu remembered Mrs Kaede telling her once that the best elementary school teachers were inherently jolly.

Ryoichi squinted through his fogged-up lenses and whispered, “I told you, Shin. Waiki Mart really is paying for this funeral.” To Suzu, he said: “How are you holding up, dear?”

“And who confirmed it?” Shin asked.

“The lady over there.” He tipped his head to the left, indicating the woman in a black pantsuit whom they were about to pass by.

Suzu clenched her jaws to prevent the horror from seeping into her expression. She considered excusing herself to go to the restroom, but it was too late. In five steps, they were level with Asuka Ito, manager of the Kanagawa branch’s Aftercare Department.

Suzu had met her briefly as she was being whisked around the office building to sort her designation, contracts, uniforms, and clearances. Asuka came in when discussions about the Kaede funeral came up, and she told Yoshi that she’d cover the expense as part of the Amemiya family’s generosity. It wasn’t much of a burden anyway. With a bubbly laugh, she added that they owned the best funeral halls and crematoriums in Kanagawa, after all.

Now she was bowing at them, the dry sound of her pearl necklaces unusually loud in this cavernous hall. “Professor Shinnousuke Sakurai, I presume?”

Her father glanced around him despite being addressed by name. Suzu answered to make up for his awkwardness. Far be it from him to act normally in front of attractive women.

“Yes,” Suzu said. She debated whether to introduce herself and put up an act but decided against it at the last minute. This woman may have been nice to her so far, but she also reeked of cunning. She wasn’t sure if it was her carefully placed smiles or her perfectly lined eyes, exacerbated by that tailored pantsuit and manicured nails, that triggered Suzu’s suspicions. Regardless, she was better off paranoid than sorry.

“My name is Asuka Ito. My husband owns this crematorium,” she said.

“Ah!” He stepped back to bow and thank her for their wonderful service.

“You are representing Professor Kaede and his wife’s interests in the absence of his kin, correct?”

Shin gave her a tight-lipped smile and nodded. “And in the absence of a lawyer. I’m not one, but we haven’t sorted that part yet. The couple wasn’t close to their families, hence this arrangement.”

“I see.” Asuka waved her hand to dismiss this concern. “It’s not uncommon at all. What’s important is that the deceased are sent away with as much dignity and respect as possible.”

“Correct, correct.”

Asuka’s eyes flickered to Suzu’s face for half a second. “I thought I might inform you in person that we’re waiving the cost of all the funeral services we provided. I’m one of the managers in the company that owns Waiki Mart, and we believe this is the least we can do for Professor Kaede’s family and friends.”

Shin opened his mouth to respond but was cut short by a crematorium staff holding a cell phone to her. Asuka checked the caller ID and motioned for her to give them one more minute.

“Apologies, but I have urgent matters to attend to. Should you need anything, please don’t hesitate to approach our staff.” Asuka nodded at Suzu. “And if you have anything to inquire about or contest with Waiki Mart, you may relay them to us through Ms. Sakurai. She can inform us once she reports to work on Monday.”

Ryoichi beckoned them over to the adjacent corridor, where the rest of the mourners were waiting.

Asuka walked past father and daughter, her sleeve brushing against Suzu’s as she went. Even without looking, Suzu could tell how far away Asuka was by the rapping of her heels on the glossy marble floor.

Ryoichi jogged back into the hall and shepherded them to the rest of their party. “Hurry, hurry!”

Suzu fixed her gaze on her shoes. She could feel her father’s eyes boring down on her as they lit incense for the final time and remained in mournful silence.

When she was a child, he claimed his paternal status meant he had access to her thoughts. Like a superhero, he could anticipate her next moves and protect her from making stupid decisions, as he should.

Well, he sure did not anticipate this one.

The crematorium staff slipped the two caskets into separate square holes on the wall, which Suzu never would have assumed were the incinerator. Once closed, the staff led them to a large waiting room with three rows of tables. People flocked to the complimentary coffee, while others opted for the Waiki water bottles displayed on the side.

Her father sat across from her with his stubby fingers wrapped around a steaming cup of coffee. “Now is a good time to explain.”

She glanced around the room to find Kei in the guise of searching for a menu. Ryoichi noticed her and asked if they’d like agemono, and at the mention of food, the rest of his friends descended on them with menus.

“I’m trying to have a serious conversation with my daughter,” Shin hissed.

Why? Hibiki, rounder now along the belly and rather pink in the eyes due to exhaustion, asked in sign language. He eyed Suzu up and down and asked if she was pregnant.

Touma slapped Hibiki’s arm, reprimanding him in both sign language and speech. “That’s not how you talk to teenagers these days. They’re very fickle.”

Noriaki waved them off. “Suzu’s not a teenager anymore, you idiots.” He parked his wheelchair to her left, suddenly soft and somber. “What did you do this time? None of us will be angry as long as you tell us the truth.”

Masashi occupied the seat to her right, still holding up the menu to his bespectacled face as though taking an exam. “Suzu’s just witnessed something horrible. The rest of you shouldn’t go around accusing her of things.”

“I’m working for Ninomae!” The words just burst out of her mouth, and by the time she calmed down, the room had grown still.

The attendees stared at her for several moments before returning to their menus and beverages. Slowly, the bustle of activity and conversation resumed as though nothing had happened. Still, Suzu slid down her seat and hung her head in embarrassment. She belatedly realized that nobody translated for Hibiki, so she broke the news to him in sign language.

The waterworks company? Hibiki asked.

Suzu nodded. “They felt sorry for me and offered me a job. The benefits are better, and the salary is extremely generous.”

Noriaki twirled the tip of his hair in his index finger while pondering this. “I know what Ninomae is, but what does a waterworks company have to do with this?”

“They own Waiki Mart.”

“Oh, really?”

Masashi touched her elbow gently. It was the touch he used on the toddlers in the nursery school he owned, as he was always scared of startling or hurting children. “Dear, you’re too smart to be working at a convenience store full-time.”

“I won’t be in a convenience store. I’ll be in an office doing administrative work.”

The questions kept coming, Suzu turned from one uncle to another, trying to appease them and explain that nobody forced her. Ninomae made an offer as they assumed she was a full-time convenience store worker in the franchise Professor Kaede owned. No, she didn’t feel threatened. Yes, they were accommodating and worried about her health after the incident.

As the food arrived and the conversation inside the waiting room grew louder, her uncles felt bold enough to ask about the incident. Pinched brows and deep frowns surfaced. Wrinkled foreheads revealed the extent of the worry they had been suppressing, and exchanged looks hinted that conversations in this vein had been had before.

She addressed the subtext of their collective inquiry as best as she could, because she knew what it was they really wanted to know—who killed Professor Kaede and his wife? More importantly, should they expect to be targeted, too?

“I doubt it’s related to that.” Suzu paused to reign in her temper. Of course, they were afraid. The least she could do was be nice and consoling about the matter. “It’s been so long. Why now, right? It doesn’t make sense. Whoever it was, I hope the police catches them.”

Her father stood so suddenly that his chair fell. Conversations were cut short, and chopsticks hovered in mid-air with meat and dangling noodles as they watched him straighten it up and excuse himself from the room.

Kei reclined the driver’s seat with a groan. He couldn’t remember the last time he changed positions without sounding like a brittle old man. Hanzo kept teasing him about it, as he was closer to forty and more agile than Kei could ever hope to be. Perhaps if he were a retired professional ballet dancer, too, he wouldn’t be feeling his joints at this age.

He left the window open just a couple of inches to let in the cold mountain breeze. The rain had abated into the faintest drizzle, covering the place in a cozy mist, and Kei rather liked the view. It was a strange place to find reprieve, but he would take what he could get. He deserved to relax a little, didn’t he? He had settled the matter with Suzu Sakurai, and they all got to keep their jobs.

His only frustration now was the girl herself. She had signed contracts, submitted IDs, and attended extensive counselling with Ana without giving up any helpful information. When asked a second time about her tattoos, she told Ana that she walked into a tattoo parlor drunk and woke up with the worst regret of her life. Of course, Ana didn’t buy it, and she knew not to press.

And her mother?

She supposedly left them after giving birth, but Kei had doubts about that too. He attended the wake and funeral to get information from their acquaintances, and from what he could infer, Suzu hadn’t always lived with her father. Those pallid old ladies kept saying that Suzu “arrived” months after Professor Kaede’s daughter passed, and they had been roughly the same age, which was why he treated her like his own. The rest of their monologues recounted the professor’s life to the best of their knowledge, with some claiming that he was an exceptional citizen, while others insisted on spreading some unsavory rumors.

If only Ana were here, she’d have fished the story out of them in under an hour. As it were, Kei had to be careful not to stand out or seem suspicious. His father, along with five old men—all educators too, as per the other guests—kept an eye on her like hawks. One of them may be deaf, and the other in a wheelchair, but something about their collective presence felt threatening. They reminded him so much of the uncles in his neighborhood who used to bully him for being stick thin and clumsy.

Through heavy lids and sleep-hazed vision, he saw Akari round his car and slip into the passenger’s seat. She swept her skirt aside and shrugged off her blazer, making herself comfortable.

“Are you stalking me, or do you actually have work here today?” he asked. Already, he could smell the floral notes of her perfume. She must still be using the one he gifted her.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Mr. Kashiki. I’m here on Asuka’s orders.”

“To monitor us?”

“She wants her own intel on Suzu Sakurai.” Akari reclined her chair and sighed sharply. “Do you know what my family thinks?”

“I’ve had enough of your family’s thoughts, but if it’s relevant, then fire away.”

Akari slapped his knee. “Seriously, Kei.”

“Alright. Tell me.”

“She could be an illegitimate child of one of the Blood Families. Not ours, of course, but maybe the Tsuji or the Kujo.”

Kei considered this as he lit a cigarette. “Do you think the Tsuji and the Kujo are the type to let children go? She wouldn’t be allowed to step on commoner’s ground if she were their offspring.”

“That’s too harsh. Tsuji and Kujo children do get more liberties nowadays,” she said.

He wrinkled his nose at her. “The Imperial family has more liberty than they do. Admit it. If Suzu Sakurai is of the bloodline, then they’d have whisked her away by now, and we’d know. With all due respect to your kin, but you do resort to inhumane methods sometimes.”

“For the safety of Japan,” Akari stressed.

“Just be glad you’re not a part of that.” Kei blew the smoke out of the small opening in the window. “I’d hate to see you up there with them like a lifeless doll, churning out children to preserve your bloodline.” When she didn’t respond, Kei paused from taking another drag to look at her face. “What? Don’t tell me you’re offended. You’ve always thought the same.”

Her cheeks turned pink, and she pressed her lips as though holding back—what? A scream, a laugh, another cheesy joke? Kei tried but couldn’t figure her out.

He held his cigarette out of the window. “Is it the smoke?”

“I’m going to be engaged to Ryouma Kujo.”

The name refused to sink into his consciousness. He knew Ryouma Kujo. He was the heir to the Kujo family, the very same man who welcomed Kei back when he escaped from the liminal spaces. Alone. “But you’re not at that—” he motioned with his hand to indicate his meaning as he struggled to find the correct term.

“Level?” Akari offered.

“Position.” Kei stubbed the cigarette and tossed it inside his half-filled bottle of water. “Two of your cousins died, sure, but is that enough to elevate you? You never mentioned that you could even be considered.”

Akari shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you, Kei. This is a surprise to me, too.”

Kei hunkered low and pressed his hands over his face. He had already accepted that he could never marry Akari, but to lose her to such a powerful man? To see her get locked up behind a manor and made to produce children?

“Kei, don’t be like this.”

“I’m having a headache. I need silence.”

“You don’t need silence. What you need is to talk to me about this,” she said.

Kei righted his chair with a jolt and turned on the engine. It felt so stuffy here all of a sudden. He adjusted the AC and removed his jacket. Now his armpits were sweaty and he wanted to change into something more comfortable.

Akari, annoyed, crossed her arms and put her feet up on her chair. She laid back with her head turned towards the window, watching the staff and mourners enter and leave the crematorium.

Kei found an FM station with the least annoying song. Soon, the speakers were blaring teenage love songs with sad lyrics and happy melodies.

“Babe, you’re thirty,” he said, hoping it was a strong enough argument. In his mind, she might still contest this decision due to her age, and they might find someone younger to be their baby-making machine.

“My mother gave birth to me when she was thirty.” She patted her eyes and nose with a handkerchief and balled it up in her fist. “Hanzo advised me to tell you before you found out from anybody else. The engagement will be in two months. We’ll be married at the end of the year.”

“You hate winter.” Kei had to cuddle with her on the couch to help her survive the season. It had been their annual tradition for years, starting on the first snowfall. They’d make ramen and binge-watch horrible TV shows until they had no choice but to leave the apartment to restock. They’d make love under the thickest duvet and take hot showers together. If she had to go out, he’d pack her with enough heat pads to keep her from freezing.

Now, all of these fond memories would be like scenes from another life. He would not get to see her as a mother. He would be too far away to see her grow old.

Kei held his pounding head tighter.

Soon, he would not be able to see her at all.

A small gasp from Akari snapped him out of his stupor. He peered at her just as she started tapping his shoulder, her entire back pressed against the door and her eyes staring out his window.

Kei turned and nearly screamed. Instincts kicked in, and with one hand, he checked the door locks while the other reached for his push dagger. He didn’t unsheathe it, thankfully. Recognition set in, and he realized the man bent on his waist and staring into their car was Shinnosuke Sakurai.

The man’s pupils darted from Kei to Akari for two more seconds before he moved on.

The two of them watched him walk across the parking lot with a slow but intentional gait. He checked the cars and scanned the area with his hands in his pockets as though this was a normal thing to do in a crematorium.

“That’s Suzu’s father,” Akari said, leaning forward to see him better through the windshield. “What is he doing?”

Shinnosuke was approaching the last car when its engine roared to life, and it sped out of the parking lot. Kei watched this middle-aged man, broad-shouldered and ramrod straight, follow after the vehicle in a trance. His lips moved as though saying something, and Kei soon realized that he must be memorizing the plate number.

“I knew it.” Kei took out his phone to text Hanzo. “If Suzu is of some significance to the Blood Families and the government, it’s impossible that they’re not keeping track of her.”

Akari started typing on her phone as well. “I’ll give you the CCTV footage so we can locate the car and its driver.”

“I can have her live close to me,” Kei said as the thought occurred to him. He was brilliant. Suzu’s living arrangements in Kanagawa hadn’t been finalized, and Kei had splurged on an expensive apartment to get over his break-up with Akari. It was in a safe enough building, and the apartment next to his hadn’t been leased yet. If he was lucky, perhaps he could get the company to shoulder half of his rent since he was sacrificing his personal space to do his job.

“That’s the only way I can pin down her true identity or what the fuck is really going on with her.” The more he said it, the smarter he sounded to himself. Why hadn’t he thought of this sooner?

“Kei,” Akari said in a scolding tone. “You can’t possibly be serious about that.”

Kei stopped texting Hanzo and pulled up Yoshi’s number. If Suzu occupied the apartment next to his, then he’d be busy most nights watching out for anybody following her.

He would never admit it, but this was also a fantastic way to keep him preoccupied while he sorted his feelings about Akari’s upcoming marriage.

They were only able to grieve after the funeral. Once the rituals ended and they returned to Tokyo with the urn, her father and her uncles drank all night to celebrate Professor Kaede’s life. Meanwhile, Suzu cried in her room, burdened by the lies she told them. She wished there was a way to reassure them that no one was intent on killing them off one by one for what they did to save her. It had been years since they received threatening phone calls and saw shadows tailing them in the night. Even then, those had all been done to scare them and nothing more.

In the morning, she wheeled out her suitcases and ate breakfast with her father. His swollen eyes and somber air made her hesitate to leave, but she had no choice. She watched her father cut his egg rolls into thin strips without eating them, and she thought her departure would be good for him nonetheless. He could spend more time on himself, and anybody tailing her would migrate to Kanagawa as well.

“Make sure to call me if anything comes up,” he said as he handed her a bento box. “Give me your address once your living arrangement has been finalized. You remember what I told you about locks, right?”

“I’ll buy lots and bolt myself inside. If there’s a fire, then I’ll burn to death,” she said. The bento box smelled good. He probably added seafood to it.

Shin knocked her temple lightly with his knuckles. “That’s not funny, Suzu.”

“Dad, I’ll be fine.” She stood on her tiptoes to give him a hug. Her father hadn’t always been built like a bear. She remembered seeing him for the first time and being convinced that he couldn’t protect her.

Shin dropped her off at the train station, where they had another tearful goodbye before he reluctantly drove away in his grey sedan.

A few minutes later, Hanzo appeared, dressed in his standard black turtleneck and dress pants, waving at her as though they had known each other for a long time. He was one of the nicer, less reluctant staff she met during her recruitment. He always smiled at her and offered her coffee, water, and cigarettes. After she had signed the contract, he advised her on which style of uniform to pick for optimum comfort on the job, and to never, ever, go to work without her sneakers.

Now he loomed over, a friendly face with a bob that he kept tucking behind his ear, and asked for her rail pass.

“Why?” Suzu asked, but she was taking it out of her pocket anyway.

“You won’t need it.” He ripped the paper in half and carried her two luggage up the staircase. On the platform behind them, the people were getting ready to meet the incoming train.

Suzu ran after him. “Are we taking a detour?”

“Kei brought a car. He thought he might show you some things on our way to Kanagawa.” He slowed down to let her catch up. “You haven’t been drinking any Waiki water, have you?”

“No, just the tons of bottles you gave me.”

“Good, good. We doubt you can predict the future or move things around with your mind—what’s that called again? Telephony, tele—”

“Telephony is about telephones. You meant telepathy, but what you described is telekinesis.”

Hanzo snapped his fingers. “Right. The water thing is standard procedure, and you wouldn’t be able to see what Kei’s gonna show you otherwise.”

Suzu had so many questions, but the train station was a bustling mess on the weekend, and she had to walk directly behind Hanzo to avoid bumping into people.

A sleek, black van honked at them as they exited the station. Hanzo motioned for her to get in the front seat, and he busied himself putting away her luggage in the back.

Suzu hesitated to enter the car ahead of him. She knew who was likely glaring at her from the driver’s seat, and she wasn’t excited to interact with him again. It wasn’t that Kei was unkind, per se. It was more that he had the personality of sandpaper, and she would never forget how blandly he explained her contract to her. She had no idea why he made the job offer in the first place if he was going to act like he didn’t want her around. It was as though her very existence was a personal offense to him, although, to be fair, all of these were communicated with a subtlety that made her think she was simply too distrustful.

Or perhaps his personality just contrasted so much with Hanzo that Kei felt abrasive in comparison.

Suzu slipped into the passenger’s seat without making eye contact with him. Unlike her prediction, Kei had not been glaring at her. He was preoccupied with his iced coffee, slurping and shaking the plastic cup so that the ice balls inside made a crackling noise.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Good morning.” Suzu glanced at Hanzo through the rearview mirror. She wished he would hurry up.

“Update—we’ll be neighbors.”

She gawked at him. “What?”

“Oh, this is yours.” He handed her a paper cup of hot coffee. “You look like the type who likes hot, plain brewed coffee.”

“I don’t, but thanks.” She took the cup and searched the plastic bag on the center console for sugar and creamer. There were none.

“That’s fine. Too much sweetener is bad for kids like you.” He adjusted the rearview mirror and slurped his coffee again. “Hanzo, what’s taking so long?”

Suzu turned sharply in her seat to face Kei. He met her gaze head-on, looking both startled and innocent as he waited for her to speak.

“You mentioned something about being neighbors,” she said.

“Ah.” Kei chuckled. “Yeah, there were last-minute changes, and they thought it would be best to lease the apartment next to mine so that I can look after you. You know, like a mentor.”

“I’m doing administrative work. What kind of mentorship do I need that requires us to be neighbors?”

He frowned. “You don’t want me as a neighbor?”

“That’s not the point. I’m doing office work. You’re out in the field killing ghosts or something. Why do you need to mentor me?”

“I explained the contract to you, and apparently, you didn’t listen.” Kei jabbed his thumb behind him as Hanzo made himself comfortable in the back. “You start the first few weeks doing administrative work to get accustomed to the workplace and culture and those other office crap HR spews, and then you start learning from Hanzo so you can take his place as my field partner.”

As Suzu was struggling to make coherent protests, Kei thumbed through his phone to show her a copy of her contract. “There. Your job title is literally ‘Recruitment Care Specialist’. I’m the recruitment part of that, and you take care of me.”

Hanzo reached forward to pat her shoulder. “It’s not bad, Suzu, but I admit, these things can be confusing. Basically, we’ll train you to coordinate with Aftercare, perform first aid on Kei and Anzu, sterilize a crime scene, and do the menial work for him, like reports and such. It’s like being a personal assistant, with the caveat that he might die anytime, and you have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Suzu was about to speak when Kei pointed at her seatbelt, almost hitting her forehead with the back of his hand in the process. She swallowed her annoyance at his blatant disregard for her personal space and buckled up.

Kei eased out of the station to join the Tokyo traffic. Without taking his eyes off the road, he tapped on his phone, and spa music leaked softly from the speakers.

“It helps when you’re agitated,” he told Suzu as he bobbed his head to the lethargic melody, almost as if enticing her to like it. “But don’t fall asleep. We’re going on a quick tour.”

Suzu glanced over her shoulder at Hanzo, who was chewing on a protein bar while watching a football game on his phone. He noticed her staring and promptly paused the video. “Yes? The music’s not helping? We can connect your phone to the speakers if you want. I’m sure you listen to fine music.”

“Are you…resigning or getting transferred to a different branch?”

Hanzo slapped his thigh as a bark of laughter escaped him. “You think you’re being assigned to Kei because I’m leaving? No, sweetheart. Niri Ishikawa is taking on more jobs for the company, and I’m the only one with the tenure and the experience to look after her. Kei can take on newbies like you because he’s ancient at the job. Me? I’m not leaving the Kanagawa branch ever.”

“Oh, I see.” Suzu took aggressive sips of her coffee. She didn’t care if her tongue got burnt if it would help her process this unexpected development.

“You’ll be fine.” Kei tapped the back of her head, probably as a comforting gesture, but he was so strong that she almost spat her coffee. “Who knows? We might even become best friends, kid.”

Suzu had to stop herself from crushing her coffee cup. Best friends? Clearly, this man was insane.