Funeral

A/N: A wake is a social gathering, held before or after the funeral. The day after the wake is the "proper funeral", which is a more formal event. During this, the coffin is transferred to the crematorium. Koden is a term to refer to a gift of money offered to the dead at a Buddhist funeral.

A young man with sandy brown hair stood at their entrance wearing all-black clothes, carrying a large canvas bag on his back, and holding a sleek laptop in one hand. His pale complexion and thick eye bags suggested he did not spend much time in the sun.

"What brings you here at this time of hour?" Jiro asked light-heartedly and greeted him with a small bow.

"My flight just landed. You know why I am here," he replied in a low voice, responding to Jiro's bow with his own.

The man turned to look at Natsuo but averted eye contact.

"Yoshio Takahashi. Pleased to meet you," he said introducing himself and bowed.