Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

HIRO

“Come along,” Yumi says as Maddox hefts our luggage after us.

I quickly take one so it doesn’t look like he’s left to carry everything himself like all the other times we’ve been handling the luggage.

“He’s overly helpful,” I explain.

Yumi smiles. “I see that. Anything I can help with?”

“No, Hiro usually makes me carry everything, so this is already much less than I have been in charge of,” Maddox says, which just makes her laugh.

She pushes open the door before turning to us. “When we get home, we typically say ‘tadaima,’ which would be like… hmm… ‘I’m home.’ Then we remove our shoes at the door. I got you some slippers so you can feel comfortable, but it’s okay if you don’t want to wear them.”

“Oh, thank you,” I say as Reggie pops in front of me.

“What did I miss? Who did I miss? Who do I have to fuck up?” he asks.

“Hiro’s fucking someone up? I really hope he doesn’t have to. He’s awful at fighting,” Natalie announces as she appears as well. “Ooh. It’s so nice. There’s the bathroom, and the kitchen is right here, and I don’t know what she’s cooking, but my god it smells like heaven.”

“This room even comes with an old person,” Reggie says as he points.

“Were you this rude when you were alive?” Keaton asks.

“No, I was perfect. An angel, actually. Everyone worshipped me. Now the only one I want to worship me is… you…” He pokes Keaton right on the nose, which makes Keaton just stare at him. “Ooh, let’s go upstairs.”

“Do you want us to put our luggage away first?” I ask.

“Sure! We’ll get that out of the way and then introductions,” Yumi says as I start toward the door leading up.

“How’d you know where the stairs are?” she asks curiously.

I hesitate as I realize that I really shouldn’t have when I only know from Reggie and Natalie rushing through their house shouting out everything they see. “Oh, I was just… I mean… just… uh… it looked like… upstairs.”

“It was a good guess,” Yumi says as she leads us upstairs where we quickly set things down before we head back down to greet the others. We don’t have to go far because her mom, my aunt Rina, is waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs. She smiles when she sees me. “You look just like Ami… and a little bit like your father,” she says as she scrutinizes me. “Sorry, I got ahead of myself.”

I smile at her. “Do I?” I ask, but my mind is wandering off to the fact that she’d written me a letter after my parents had passed. And I held on to it so tightly because it felt like this strange woman that I’d never met was my only family left. But I was young and found myself questioning why she didn’t want me… why my own family didn’t want me, and at some point during the foster homes I was shuffled between, I’d ripped up that letter. I still have the pieces tucked away somewhere. As I grew older, she and my grandma would send me occasional letters, but for a while, I just tucked them away, refusing to even read them.

But that was the child in me. That was someone who was too young to think of what she might have been going through at the time or that possibly she couldn’t have afforded to have another child—or maybe she just didn’t want another child. She was younger than my mom, and Yumi would have been really little when it happened. Hell, maybe she thought it’d be too much for me to throw me right in a world where I didn’t speak the language, living with people I didn’t know. I don’t blame her. She didn’t know me any more than Patricia did.

It also made me question why my mom rarely visited them. I don’t think she disliked her family or was at odds with them. I know she visited them a couple of times when I was young and I went at least once, but I don’t remember them. And then she went for my grandfather’s funeral when I was eight or nine, but she left me with my grandpa from my dad’s side for some reason I don’t recall.

“I hope the flight went well?”

“Yes. Just a bit long,” I say as I hear movement behind me and see an older woman come out.

The woman, who would be my grandma, says something in Japanese and Rina answers her before they nod.

“She said that she agrees with my mom. That you look just like your mother,” Yumi says.

“Really?” I ask, and I can’t help but wonder what it’d been like to come here with my mother. She hadn’t lived in Japan for many years and really remembered little of it, while my father never lived in Japan at all. His parents had moved to America when they were young. My grandfather from my father’s side passed away before I was ten, but I do remember some fun times with him.

Even though I met my mom’s parents when I was younger, I don’t remember them at all and feel a bit awkward as the older woman scrutinizes me.

“We’re almost ready to eat,” Rina says.

“Do you need help?” I ask.

“No, no! Go get ready and then have a seat,” she assures me as she waves me off.

Yumi and her grandma are chatting in Japanese as Reggie appears and scrutinizes them. “I bet they’re totally talking about you. You really should have taken that lady up on her offer to teach you Japanese.”

Instead of heading right toward the bathroom since Reggie and Natalie already gave me a verbal tour, I ask Yumi where it is and she directs me to it. I step inside and eye Reggie. “You’re talking about the lady who offered to teach me Japanese… while she was naked. That’s the lady? I don’t think she even really knew Japanese.”

“She was delightful . A nudist in life and a nudist in death,” Natalie says. After meeting her, Natalie tried out the nudist life for about four days before she thankfully put clothes back on. She said that she couldn’t take the way that I refused to look at her any longer.

“She was strange,” Keaton says. “So it makes sense why you two would like her.”

“Right?” Reggie agrees, clearly not at all turned off by this declaration.

“How was Hudson?” I ask.

“He moved on!” Natalie says, sounding very excited. “Moved on with no issue at all! He was so happy to see his daughter. It was fantastic. I mean… sad but fantastic he could move on.”

That makes me relieved. “Awesome. Thank you, guys. And now I’m going to pee for real and… maybe I could pee in peace?”

“How cute,” Natalie says. “He thinks he gets peace to pee.”

“Aww, he thinks I want to look at his willy,” Reggie comments while blatantly staring at me.

Keaton grabs them both and hauls them out, reminding me that I really need to treat him to something special. Without him, I’d be stuck with two irritants.

Once I’m done, I head out to join the others just in time to be seated at the table. Yumi really wasn’t kidding when she said that her mother wanted to make sure we were well fed.

“I didn’t know what you’d like so I made some pasta and curry, but if you’d like something else, let me know,” she says, as if those two things go together. I’m pretty sure she was afraid that we might not like something and wanted to give all of the choices.

“Looks fantastic, thank you,” Maddox tells her as we are given a massive plateful that I also thank her for. I definitely don’t want to be rude by not eating it all, but I’m not quite sure I’ve ever consumed this much food in one sitting, and it’s not like I can hand it off to Maddox to eat like I usually would.

My grandma says something, and I glance at Yumi who explains. “They were just saying a thanks for the meal.”

“So what kind of work do you do?” Rina asks us.

“I own a small bookstore,” I say.

“Oh wow. Very neat. Do you enjoy it?” she asks as I pick up the chopsticks. Thankfully, Maddox and I spent a significant amount of time practicing with them before we came. We must still look pretty sloppy because she hurries off and gets us forks which Maddox happily takes, but I’m a determined man who will force these chopsticks to submit to me.

“Very much. I know it was a risky investment, but it’s turned out quite well for me so far. While there are a lot of chain bookstores, there are none super close, so I get a steady flow of people.”

“Do you have someone to take care of it while you’re gone?”

“Yes, a fantastic employee.”

“And you, Maddox?”

“I’m a homicide detective,” he responds.

Rina looks surprised by that and Yumi says, “Really? Wow. That must be quite interesting.”

“It is.”

“I have to write a paper for college. Could I interview you?”

“Of course,” he says.

We casually talk a bit, and I find them quite easy to talk to. Yumi translates a lot for our grandma who also seems quite invested. My grandma asks me a few simple things in English, but seems to prefer to ask through Yumi or refer to her phone’s translation app.

“What about your family?” Grandma asks.

“Oh. I was adopted by a wonderful woman named Patricia when I was in my teens,” I say. “I have two brothers, one is Nicolás and the other is Sean, who passed away.”

Since we’re finished eating, I get out my phone to show them pictures. I hold the phone out so my grandma can see. “This is Patricia, Nicolás, and Sean.”

“I’m sorry to hear about Sean,” Rina says.

“Thank you,” I reply. “His death is actually how I met Maddox.”

“He was killed?” Yumi asks in surprise.

“Yes. And Maddox was working his case.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Rina says.

“Thanks.”

“Are they nice?” she asks.

“Yes, I love them very much. I probably took a bit to adjust to a new living arrangement… but once I did, I never wanted to leave.”

“Did you go right there… after your parents died?” Rina asks.

“Uh… no… I went to a couple of different foster homes. Patricia’s home was actually a foster home as well. But she eventually adopted me.”

I can tell there’s an awkwardness now hanging between us, but I don’t know what to say or do about it. Maddox reaches under the table and squeezes my leg to reassure me.

“Show them the cats,” he suggests, and I feel relieved that he’s saved me.

“Oh, do you like cats? These are our cats,” I say as I flip to Bandit and Stella.

“She’s so fluffy!” Yumi enthuses. “Very cute. We have a cat but he’s a snob when new people come, so I’ll be surprised if you even get to see him.”

Reggie gasps. “I must find the cat. I bet Snugglebum will love him,” he says, referring to the ghost cat I found for him since he was discouraged that he couldn’t pet Bandit or Stella without my help.

“I know it’s quite early, but I bet you two are exhausted after that long flight,” Rina says as she catches me yawning. “I work tomorrow, but Yumi and her boyfriend are going to show you around a bit, if you’d like. I don’t work on Saturday, so I thought we could do something then if that sounds good.”

“That’d be great,” I say.

She shows us to the bathroom and sets us up with a shower since neither of us has the energy or desire to soak in a bath which, to my understanding, they enjoy doing more than a shower. I send Maddox first since Yumi wants to show me some photos.

“This is my boyfriend. He’ll be going with us tomorrow, if you don’t mind,” she says as she shows me a picture of her and her boyfriend.

“Can I see this?” I ask as I reach for the phone.

“Yeah, what is it?” she asks as I stare at the picture.

Yumi looks perfectly clear in it, but her boyfriend is… distorted. My capability of seeing ghosts in videos is next to none. Sometimes I can see a little blur or something off, but never something like this in a photo. Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like this. Are they ghosts? The photo is just weird… blurred… it’s to the point where I can’t even see what the man’s face looks like. The photo can’t naturally be like that, can it? No… she’s too clear and he’s too?—

“What’s wrong?” she asks, obviously confused.

“Oh, I was just curious where you two were at?” I ask, like I’m trying to pretend my interest is in their location, though I can’t even see it with the blur around him.

“It’s a really pretty garden not too far from here. I love it because it’s quiet and not many people know about it, so it’s nice to just sit and talk for a bit.”

“That sounds so neat,” I say.

“I have more pictures of it,” she offers as she starts flipping, but every photo that he’s in is absolutely blurred. I can’t even make anything out in half of them. If she’s not in it at all, the photo is just a mess.

“When Maddox gets out, you’ll have to show him some of these. He’ll find that garden gorgeous,” I say, wishing my ghost army wasn’t off trying to find a cat. As if on cue, Natalie walks in. If I can just get her to look at the photo, she can tell me what she sees. I give a little nod.

She notices me but stops short. “Reggie is determined to find this cat. And I’m pretty sure Keaton is just enjoying Reggie’s ass as the man scuttles around on the floor with his ass in the air. Of course he’s pretending he’s not looking at it or the man it’s attached to, but I see that side-eye. That ‘I know it’s rude to look, but I kinda wanna look’ side-eye. You know what I mean?”

I catch Natalie’s eyes and flick my eyes over to the phone.

“Honey, I think you need some sleep. Your eyes are doing something hella weird.”

I make my eyes wider and then blatantly look over at the phone Yumi’s holding.

“Hiro, my love, you are not super attractive when you do that. You look like you’re trying to be a Furby, and those things are definitely not in style anymore.”

I swear… these damn ghosts.

Okay… clearly, I need something else to convey that I need her to look at the damn phone. Where is Keaton when I need him?

“What’s he doing?” Reggie asks as he appears next to her.

“He’s trying to look like an upset Furby. I already told him it’s quite weird, and honestly, a bit cringey. Hiro is definitely cute… but that look is nightmare fuel.”

Nightmare fuel ? SHE is nightmare fuel! She’s a damn ghost!

“I think he’s trying to tell you something,” Reggie says.

Oh, Reggie, how have I ever doubted you?

I lock eyes with Reggie and then flick them over to the phone.

He looks surprised. “I know what this is. I know what he’s doing. He has jet lag. Only explanation for this. I mean, he’s weird on a normal day, but definitely weirder today. It’s so saaaaad. I really wish I could help him, but I can’t, and it’s so sad.”

I glower at them both, really wishing that I’d never tried to speak to either of them when they’re both monsters.

“Something wrong?” Yumi asks.

“Whaaaat? No. These photos are just so… fascinating that I was wanting to show others when they come over,” I say, not sure how much clearer of a hint I can give them.

“So the cat’s not under any of the beds or in any of the closets; where else do you think we should look?” Reggie asks.

“I… don’t know… but the look Hiro is giving me tells me that he has bestowed upon us some super-important information that neither of us paid attention to.”

“It just can’t be all about him all the time, you know?” Reggie asks.

I give up. I absolutely give up.

“What are you wanting them to notice about the photo?” Keaton asks as he appears behind me and leans over. “I don’t see anything overly weird with this one. Was it a later one?”

I can’t say anything, so I’ll have to wait until we’re upstairs to talk, but Keaton is (thankfully) smarter than the other two and pieces together that if I’m not asking Yumi to flip back, that means it’s this photo I’m concerned about.

“Ohhhh nooooo, Reggie, I think he needed us. He wasn’t trying to look like a creepy Furby at all. I’m a little worried that Keaton’s going to become his favorite,” Natalie says as Maddox gets out of the bathroom.

“How dare he love Keaton who is significantly more helpful, less sassy, generally nicer, and gets social cues better than us?” Reggie asks.

“Maddox, come look at this pretty garden in the area,” I say, and he hurries over to look. I leave him to it and head into the bathroom. It’s not set up with a traditional standing shower, but a stool and a removable showerhead with a bath tucked in the back and a drain on the floor. As I start the water, Keaton backs into the room. I’m confused about this movement until he declares, “Don’t fret, I’m not looking at your dick.”

“Thanks. It’s appreciated,” I say as he keeps his back to me. The water is stinging the cuts on my arms, and I can see the bruises already forming. I’m glad I had a long-sleeved button-up to pull on so they didn’t see, but I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to get away with it if it’s hot tomorrow.

“What did you see in the picture?” he asks.

“Was the picture clear for you? Like you could see her boyfriend?”

“Yeah. He looked like a normal guy. Reggie and Natalie are watching her show it to Maddox now. I take it that’s not what you saw?”

“No. The image was horribly blurred.”

“Like… you could see ghosts in the photograph? Has that ever happened?”

“Not like this. I didn’t even think I could see them like this.”

“Weird…”

I finish showering and step out before Yumi takes us upstairs. “The guest bedroom only has futons, so I hope that’s okay?”

“That’s good with us,” I assure her.

“My mom fretted over how far apart to place them and was like ‘They’re not married, are they? Should they go together? Should they go apart?’ I joked and told her when she’s finished, they’ll be on opposite sides of the house, so feel free to move them closer. Or shove Maddox to the opposite end of the room.”

I grin. “Thanks.”

“If you need anything, let us know,” she says.

“Thank you!”

She shuts the door behind her, so I turn to look at Maddox. “Those photographs seemed normal to you, I assume?”

“Yeah… did I miss something? You know him or something?” he asks as my ghost brigade comes in.

“To me, every photo that he was in was completely distorted. I… think there were ghosts distorting it.”

Maddox looks confused. “I thought you couldn’t really see ghosts in photographs.”

“I can’t. I mean… I’ve seen like a smidge of something where I was like ‘Did the cameraman move or is it a ghost?’ but nothing more than that. This was like… Yumi was clear as day, but I can’t tell you a single thing about him. I couldn’t see anything. I can’t even tell you what color his hair is… hell, I’m not sure I could tell you how many limbs he has.”

Maddox reaches out and pushes my hair back. “You okay?”

“Yes… but I’m kind of not sure I’m looking forward to meeting him tomorrow now… like ghosts only hang around a person like that for one of two reasons. They’re a killer… or they’re going to die.”

“Let’s just hope that there’s a third reason.”

“Yeah.”

Maddox scoots his futon over to mine before lying down. “This is definitely a new experience. I’ve never slept on a futon on the floor before.”

“Right? Kind of fun.”

“It is. Man, I’m exhausted.”

“Me too ,” Reggie exclaims as he flops down across the top of us.

“Reggie,” Keaton says. “I found the cat.”

Reggie gasps. “You did? For me ?”

Keaton ignores that and heads off, leaving Reggie to scramble off us and Natalie to follow.

I roll onto my side, tucking myself close to Maddox.

“You doing okay?” he asks.

“Yeah, they’re super nice.”

“They are, but that doesn’t mean you have to be fine with everything.”

“Rina wrote me a letter after my parents died… and for a while, I thought she was going to come get me, or maybe my grandma would. It was… just me being a kid, you know? Hell, I was ten. I didn’t understand why family wouldn’t come get me. But now that I’m older, I know it’s not simple. I know at the time, my grandma was going through cancer. It’s why she couldn’t come to my parents’ funeral, and instead, they had a different service held over here. My grandma was struggling to take care of her own medical issues, so she wouldn’t have been able to take me on when they didn’t know what her outcome was going to be… but still. A part of me was like… when she’s better she’ll come get me. Or when my aunt realized I was going into foster, she’d come for me.”

“Hiro, I am a firm believer that family doesn’t mean blood. It can… but family is made up of the people who are there for you, who will laugh, love, and cry with you. They’re the ones who will help you bury a body.”

“Wait, why are we burying a body?”

“If you went to Patricia and said, ‘I have a body, what do I do with it?’ she would totally help you bury it. But you should come to me first, because I know exactly how to dispose of a body so you don’t get caught.”

I scrutinize him. “Why are we burying bodies?”

“I’m just saying. If you ever need to bury a body, I’m your man.”

That makes me laugh. “You sound a bit sketchy now.”

“No, I just know that there are a few people who have targeted you, and if you were like ‘Shit, I killed this serial killer stalking me,’ I’d be like ‘Let’s remove their fingerprints and teeth?—’”

“Oh my god, this is getting morbid.”

“Morbid? You were supposed to be pleased about how far I’d go for you,” Maddox says.

“Oh yes. Very pleased that my boyfriend knows the best ways to hide a body. My thing is… can you imagine that ghost haunting me for the rest of my life? No, thank you.”

“True. That would be awful.” He wraps his arms around me, drawing me in even closer. “I know we got a bit off topic there… but just know that your family will do anything for you, and I hope you include me in that.”

“I very much do. I love you so much, Maddox. You will always be the first person I run to and the first person I ask to bury a body for me.”

“Good.”

“I said that in the hopes you understood how weird it was.”

“I didn’t hear anything weird at all. Would you bury a body for me?”

“Dammit, I would.”

Maddox chuckles. “Exactly. I love you,” he says as he kisses my forehead. “What night are we staying at that Japanese inn? Sunday and Monday night, right?”

“The ryokan? Yeah. I got a room with a private bath since I was unsure if it’d be rude to have your tattoos on display. I mean… I think they’re sexy, but the older generation might not.”

“That’s true. I do look like I’m from the yakuza.”

That makes me grin. “The way you’re talking about bodies, I’m not sure I’d be that surprised.”

He laughs as I settle into the bed a moment before a ghost wanders past, startling me. They don’t even take note of me, but it reminds me how many different ghosts I come across when I’m not home. Sure, random ghosts come through our house, but it isn’t too often.

Hopefully, that won’t be a problem here and I can just enjoy my vacation.

Another one cruises on by.

What a joke.