"I've been thinking about how we're going to account for Akira-san," Noriko said to her husband. He had come up to her dojo, where she had a Chinese stove and a sitting area set up next to the desk and shelves where she kept her paperwork and her martial arts books. She checked the kettle to make sure it was full, put it on the stove, and then dumped the teapot into the slop jar so she could make a fresh pot.

Yuta liked his wife's dojo. While most of it was empty except for stacks of ...