A week later, Chisato was in the back room organizing the toppings when she heard someone enter.
"Welcome! So glad to see you again!" Chisato heard her coworker say.
"Thank you, the girls really enjoyed their treats last time so they wanted to come again," Chisato heard a voice and the excited chatter of the twins.
Chisato poked her head out, sure enough there was the tall dark haired man with the two little girls.
"It's so good to see you again. I don't believe I introduced myself last time. I'm Yamada Chisato and I own this shop," Chisato said, trying to calm her nerves.
"So young," he remarked.
'You don't seem to be much older than me and you have two girls to boot,'Chisato thought to herself.
"Yes, I took over this shop as soon as I finished my schooling," Chisato said. It was an unorthodox situation. She had trained under the previous owner while attending school and when she retired she left the shop with Chisato. 'Why am I telling him this? I don't have to justify myself.'
"Geto-sama, I know what I want now!" Came the impatient voice of the sandy haired little girl.
"Ah Geto-san, sama, I presume," Chisato said, writing down their orders.
"Yes and this is Mimiko and Nanako," he said, resting a hand on their heads respectively.
"What beautiful names. Excuse me, I'll have your orders out in a minute," Chisato went to the back. Interesting that the girls use that honorific with him she thought to herself.
Once the trio had said their goodbyes, Chisato turned to her coworker/friend.
"Did you hear what the girls call him?"
"No, what?"
"Geto-sama," Chisato said, adding emphasis to the honorific.
"So this tall, handsome, fatherly stranger has a name," Yui said.
"I wonder why they call him that," Chisato mused to herself.
Geto's POV
"Geto-sama! Is Yamada-san a monkey?" Nanako asked while taking a bite out of her crepe.
That question came out of left field for Geto.
"What?" He asked.
"Is Yamada-san a monkey like all the rest? Does that mean we shouldn't like her?" Nanako pressed, full of curiosity.
This question made him pause and think. Now that he thought about it, that strange feeling he had about her came back. One thing he gathered for certain was that she wasn't from his high school so that thought was ruled out. There was something telling him that she wasn't your ordinary "monkey" if she in fact was one. Possibly she could have a very small amount of cursed energy or that she can simply see curses, he thought.
"I don't know. We'll have to see," Geto said honestly. Though he had no objection to seeing Chisato more frequently during his investigation.
A few days later
"How on earth did they get in here?!" Chisato exclaimed one morning. She had come into the storage room to find it a complete mess, plus the overwhelming energy of them was not helpful either.
"I always make sure this door is secure. I'm pretty sure I locked it," Chisato muttered to herself. "Now I'm gonna have to order more, ugh. I'm gonna be low on ingredients until I get my next supply."
A noise distracted her from behind one of the boxes. Chisato tentatively approached it. Behind there was a small low level curse with his hands in the flour.
"Go away," Chisato batted the thing away and out the door with her broom. "Go on!"
She sighed knowing she'd be low on inventory until another shipment came in.
When Suguru and his daughters again visited Chisato's shop, they found her not her usual self.
"I'm sorry, I'm low on some ingredients so some of our usual items aren't available," Chisato said, obviously upset.
Once the girls were settled with their treats, Geto asked Chisato , "I may be being too forward but is something troubling you?"
"Oh it's nothing," Chisato said, not wanting to explain the mess that had gone on early that morning. He'd think I'm crazy, she thought.
"Tell me. We can sit down and chat over there," Geto said insistently.
"Okaaaay?" Chisato said, here we go again.
"You're gonna think I'm crazy when I tell you this, but let me finish my story before you decide to judge me," she prefaced.
Yui looked over the shop while Chisato went to talk with Geto at one of the tables.
"What had happened was that I came in this morning to find a huge mess in my storage room. That's why I'm low on a lot of ingredients," Chisato said.
Geto nodded, waiting for her to continue.
Chisato sighed before continuing. "Nobody broke in or anything. I double checked the surveillance. Well you see, the problem is that I see things," she said.
"What sorts of things?" Geto pressed with interest.
"I've always been able to see them. I don't know what they are, but somehow they got into the pantry and made a huge mess," Chisato said.
"Curses," Geto perked up and said under his breath. "So she can see them."
"What?" Chisato asked.
"Nothing, so you've been able to see these 'things' your whole life right?"
"Yeah but I don't know what they are or why they show up so much," Chisato said. "My coworker can't see them. I um use food scraps and uh other things to keep them away. Luckily, they haven't attacked me or anything, but I just can't have them bothering the customers."
"Have they ever done so before?"
"Well uh no. I mean I have nothing against them. I just don't want their presence affecting my business. Only time I have to use force if they um attack first," Chisato said looking down at her hands.
So she really has no knowledge of the jujutsu sorcery world at all he thought.
"I'm sorry. I really must not be making sense at all," she said, noticing his contemplative silence.
"No, not at all. I can see them too," Geto had so many thoughts running though his mind but he didn't want to overwhelm the poor woman. Also this wasn't the place to do it, too many prying monkeys around.
"You can?! I've never met anybody else who can," Chisato said, trying to contain her shock.
Geto felt a bit foolish for dismissing the feeling he had about this woman who in fact was not a monkey as previously thought. Had his senses become this dull?
"Listen to me, I think I may be able to help you out," Suguru said then looked around. "But not here, I'd rather explain it to you in a more private setting."
Luckily, Chisato seemed to understand. "Ok, where should we meet up?"
Suguru felt that he could trust this woman more now especially seeing that she not only could see curses but didn't really have any knowledge of them. A fresh new slate and no pesky jujutsu sorcerers getting in the way.
Geto brought out a pen and wrote something on a napkin.
"Are you free tomorrow evening?" He asked.
"Y-yes, tomorrow after work," Chisato said. "It's a Sunday. I close early on Sundays."
"Chi! You have a phone call," her coworker called.
"Excuse me, I gotta go. Tomorrow at the address, I'll be there," Chisato said.
Geto nodded, "Girls, it's time to go."
"What was that all about," Yui asked after Chisato got off the phone with the customer.
"Nothing, just talking about dessert recipes," Chisato said.
Yui didn't look like she bought Chisato's story but thankfully didn't press.