After that, Asa began making her way over to Tsumugi’s house daily. She hoped to see Uta during her visits, of course, but even on days when he wasn’t there, she would stay and work quietly in the living room.
There were few passersby here on the edge of town, with the sound of birds chirping the only real thing to hear. Asa, who before had been forced to always work out in the elements, was now able to muster up some concentration. She might even be able to correct her shortcomings, fixing shoddy workmanship she had rushed to complete before.
No one came to visit, however, and Asa wondered whether the poor old woman had any friends or family.
“Hey, is it time to go shopping?”
“Yes. I’m in the mood for fish today.”
“Urgh.”
Around when the sun was going down, Tsumugi started getting ready to go out. Asa could have continued with her remaining work, but decided to accompany the old woman, figuring she could use a bit of a break. They were heading to the nearby market district again today. Tsumugi stopped by the fishmonger’s, poring about for things to make dinner with.
“You sure do eat fish a lot,” Asa called out as she hurried to catch up. She had been at the general store across the way, looking for materials she might use in mask making, but Tsumugi now seemed to have finished her purchase and was now heading to another shop.
“Oh, well if it isn’t Tsumugi! Long time no see!”
The sound of a woman’s high-pitched voice stopped Asa in her tracks. She looked to see an old woman around Tsumugi’s age, with her daughter and grandson in tow. “What’s up? You know this lady?”
It appeared that this was indeed one of Tsumugi’s human acquaintances. Asa was about to go back to the general store so as not to be a bother when she heard the other woman speak again. “How are you doing nowadays? Living on your own, I take it?” Asa felt an edge of malice in those words, and so she stayed put.
“Yes, I’m getting by on my own.”
“Oh my! Being alone at our age must be dreadful!” The woman spoke with exaggerated sympathy, her face awash with an air of superiority. “And you used to be so pretty, with so many admirers, too! But I suppose while having a wealthy lover can let you live in luxury, it doesn’t bless you with a family. I suppose it’s providence to be cast aside after one’s beauty fades!” The woman looked at her own grandson and daughter, then let out a haughty laugh. “It’s far better to simply be ordinary. I get to live out my days with my family, surrounded by their warmth. I just wanted you to understand that.”
Hearing that, Asa felt an indignation growing inside her. She was about to step in and knock the woman out with a single punch before thinking better of it. Humans had their own form of social etiquette, and if an outsider came in to unilaterally break those rules, it would not only bring harm onto her for being a Ghoul, but onto Tsumugi as well.
As she stood in frustrated silence, smoke nearly coming out of her ears as she thought about to do, she caught sight of herself reflected in the general store’s display window. “Ah.” And that’s when she got an idea.
“But anyway, I am in the middle of shopping here, so if you’ll pardon me,” said the woman, her voice laced with sarcasm.
She was about to leave with her family when Asa called out in a low voice. “Tsumugi!” she said, her tone nice and familiar. “There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you. How could you just leave me behind like that?”
Asa could feel herself getting goosebumps as she spoke, and Tsumugi was uncharacteristically caught off guard. The other woman’s eyes went wide in disbelief. “Oh, don’t try to carry all this by yourself. Let me give you a hand,” Asa said with a smile as she went to help Tsumugi with her bags.
“W-w-wait, Tsumugi, who is this young man?” the woman asked, mistaking Asa for a boy, just as Asa had anticipated.
The smile never left Asa’s face as she said, “You’d better not be badmouthing my Tsumugi, you old hag.”
The other woman was dumbstruck, her family in something of a panic alongside her, as Asa snugged one arm around Tsumugi’s shoulder and marched off.
“What was that all about? Oh, I’ve got goosebumps,” Tsumugi said after they’d left the market district and were out of earshot of any passersby.
Asa withdrew her hand from Tsumugi’s shoulder. “Do I gross you out that much?” she snapped. For a moment, there was an awkward silence, but then Asa mustered herself to broach the subject that had come up earlier. “So, you used to have a lover, huh? That’s pretty amazing for an old lady like you.”
“Every old lady was young once, you know.”
“Oh yeah?” Asa said. She had a hard time imagining Tsumugi ever being young. “So what was this person like? Some old guy?”
“No, he was younger than me. Well, I suppose he’s an old man by this point. I haven’t seen him in some time.”
“Wait, you two aren’t still together, are you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Tsumugi snorted in reply. “This was when we were younger. Nowadays we’re friends, of a sort. We see each other around once a year, maybe. It just seems that nearly everything that happens makes me think of him. Bah.”
Asa found herself at a loss for words at the sullen look on Tsumugi’s face. Her expression reverted back to normal soon enough, however. “Anyhow, give me back my bags. I know you hate the smell,” she said, extending a wrinkly hand.
“It’s no big deal. I can handle it,” Asa replied curtly.
“Yeah?” Tsumugi said. She then looked up, as if having just remembered something. “But anyway …”
“Hmm? What?”
“The look on that woman’s face when you came by and scared her out of her wits was spectacular,” Tsumugi snickered.
Asa looked back at her and laughed. “Wasn’t it just?”
That evening, after Tsumugi had finished eating dinner, there came a knock at the door. “Uta!” Asa called out, sensing his presence, and she hurried to the doorway. However, when she opened the door, she that Uta wasn’t alone.
“Y-Yomo …”
At Uta’s side was Renji Yomo, Yoshimura’s current right-hand man. He gave Asa a brief look, then turned his gaze farther inside.
“What, is Yoshimura trying to butt in on things?” Asa said.
Tsumugi showed up, almost as if in response to Asa’s puzzled tone. That’s right—Tsumugi was a regular customer at Anteiku, wasn’t she?
Yomo looked at Asa, and then spoke matter-of-factly. “Yujiro Utsumi has fallen ill and is in a hospital in the 8th Ward. He doesn’t have long.”
Yujiro Utsumi. It wasn’t a name Asa had heard before. Tsumugi, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow. “I expected as much,” she said. “Then Koharu is …”
Yomo said nothing.
Despite the lack of response, Tsumugi seemed to know all she needed to. “I see …”
“Uh, old lady?”
“Sorry, but my hands are hurting today, so I think I’ll take a break. You should hurry along home,” Tsumugi said brusquely before disappearing into her bedroom, her hunched frame looking more frail than usual.
“Now listen, Yomo, what the heck are—”
But Yomo was already gone, having apparently finished what he’d come to do, leaving Asa and Uta alone together.
“Uta …”
Uta offered a quiet smile. “Wanna head home?”
Asa was more dejected than she’d expected at not getting the answers she wanted, her shoulders slumping.
“Well,” Uta added instead, “maybe Tsumugi will want to talk with you.”
“With me?”
“Yeah.”
It certainly didn’t appear that way. Asa turned to look back at the bedroom to which Tsumugi had slunk away.
That night, still inside the house, Asa continued to work with sidelong glances at the embroidery Tsumugi had given her. Her stitching had been rough when she’d first come here, but now it was clean and straight.
However, despite the quiet of nighttime being ideal for making progress, Asa’s concentration would readily falter, and each time it did she stared off at Tsumugi’s bedroom.