Chapter Twenty-Eight

Normally, Toriyama’s would have been closed by now. Normally. But I know Suki, she doesn’t mess around with her business and she’d been gone for a fair bit. I have no doubt that she was shocked that the debts were paid and the inventory restocked and that I hadn’t screwed up ‘too much’ while handling things.

I probably did make some mistakes, but there was nobody around to correct them.

More importantly for right now, the store was open because just as I predicted, Suki was checking everything and if she had to be there anyway, she’d want to make some sales, even if only a few.

I picked up a little white basket and handed it to Celia, then took one for myself. “Just grab whatever you want to eat.” I reminded her, but rather than wander off on her own, she began to follow closely behind me as I went up and down the aisles. I noticed something out of the corner of my eye as that happened.

Each time I picked something and put it into my basket, she reached for the same item.

I didn’t want to say anything at first, after all it could have just been a coincidence. But when I noticed she even put her things in the corresponding position in her own basket.

So, I chose to test her. After finishing the snack section and stacked my purchases high enough that I couldn’t put my arm under the double handles anymore, I went to the magazine rack. It’s true, I wore a mischievous smile on my face and casually reached for the most ‘adult’ magazine that I could.

Celia’s eyes were on me, not on what she was actually taking. So she didn’t realize what she’d grabbed until I looked at the cover of the one in my hand. I was used to humans and their ‘behaviors’ on some things. Plus I had the body of an adult woman in her twenties. Celia by contrast was now a hormone addled teenage girl with zero experience with anything.

She mimicked my glance with her own magazine, then saw what was on the cover, the scantily clad model posing suggestively with a hand out toward the reader, a finger curled in the classic ‘come hither’ gesture with a naughty smile on their face.

Her head tilted, and a little blood ran out of her nose, she shut her eyes, but it still felt as if she was looking up at me, “Why are we buying this, Kayobi?”

I set my copy back in the rack and watched her do the same. “I was just checking something.” I said, and then turning to face her directly I asked, “Were there any snacks or things in those aisles you were curious about or wanted to try, that you didn’t grab just because I didn’t?”

She bit her lower lip and looked down, “A few, yes, but I don’t really know what to do here… I didn’t want to do something stupid.”

“Relax, it’s alright. Everything here is OK for you to buy.” I replied, then glanced at the dirty magazines, “OK, not quite everything. But if something caught your eye, go grab it, it’ll be fine.” I said, doing my best to make my reassurance as gentle as possible.

Celia scurried back the way we’d come and I heard the sound of another basket leaving the stack by the entrance, a moment later, a string of crinkling and plastic slapping noises reached my ears as she started yanking things out of place and piling them in her new basket.

While she did that, I headed to the register where I found Suki hard at work. She was going through the tallies on what was owed by those who couldn’t pay for what they needed at the time of purchase. In addition, she had a stack of receipts and a worried expression on her face.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

When I approached the register she asked, “Kayobi… what exactly happened with the eh…” She looked around, the store was empty save for myself and Celia, but even so she kept an eye on the door and whispered ‘Yakuza’ who came by here?”

“Things. Stuff. Shenanigans. It was handled, they will not trouble you a second time, that’s all you need to worry about. I have…” I thought about how to say this, I couldn’t very well tell her I’m an intergalactic shapeshifting assassin after all, so I said, “Persuasive friends from far, far away who were happy to do me a favor.”

Of course, the creatures I imitated weren’t separate from myself, but it was the easiest way to explain what happened. Sadly, Suki was also a bit of a gossip, but at this point what harm could another random rumor do?

I set my basket on the counter and she began to tally up my things when Celia approached with her two baskets. Suki looked past my shoulder to where the slender dark haired girl with luminous eyes looked nervously down and away from her.

“My niece, Celia. Her family ran into some… problems, so she’s staying with me for a while.” I gave her the same cover story I’d given to Asahi, and Suki’s eyes made me think something ‘clicked’ in her head.

“Of course… I understand completely.” She said with a worried expression on her face, looking from her to me and back again, “Well, don’t you worry, Celia, you’ll be fine here in Shinjai, and Kayobi is a good aunt to look after you in your time of need. If you happen to need anything, we live in the apartment right above the store, you just come knock, alright?”

“‘Kay.” Celia mumbled her answer and looked away while she said it, moving a step further to the left so that she was directly behind me.

After the snacks were bagged I held up my card and after clearing my throat, Celia came and stood beside me. Suki looked at us with a curious tilt of her head, “I know you’re used to using cash Celia, but here, I use plastic. I load cash onto this card and then all I have to do is tap it here like so.” I held the tapcard over the machine and waited until it acknowledged my purchase. “If that doesn’t work, you stick the chip side into the slot and just hit ‘credit’ on the screen.”

“Then?” I asked rhetorically and held out my hand to accept a receipt from Suki.

“Oh…” Suki mumbled and looked with even greater sympathy at Celia.

After Celia started walking toward the door, Suki reached over and touched my hand while I was putting my card away. I glanced at her and she said…

“You really are a saint, Kayobi, taking in a girl from that background…” She whispered, “Just don’t let her fall into her mother’s career, it may seem all glitz and glamor, but every bed is made of tears.”

“Right… not to worry, she’ll be fine.” I promised, and made my way toward the door where Celia stood waiting, looking with anxious, uncertain eyes at me as if to ask what the hold up was.

We left the store with about two days worth of snacks, and she asked, “What was all that about?”

“To be honest, even I am confused. One minute she hears you only know how to use cash, the next… all sympathy. I have no idea what she meant.” I rolled my eyes. Suki is a delight, but for all her stubbornness and affection and neighborliness, she’s not perfect. She’s quick to jump to erroneous conclusions and almost as quick to gossip about them.

Who knew what she’d come up with this time?

“So we’ll binge watch one more series… then we’ll see about turning you back, sound good?” I asked.

It wasn’t pure laziness that I suggested this, but rather it was because Celia was on edge, the feeling of shame was anxiety inducing, and the fear of shame was the same as shame itself, really. You need to be relaxed to unstick yourself from these things, otherwise it’s like one of those chinese finger traps, the harder you pull, the more stuck you become.

Some good laughs and a lot of sugar would be vital to helping her ‘recover’.

“Very good.” She agreed, already perking up now that she was alone with me again.