Chizuru Ashiya

She has worked there for twenty-two years and could name the location of every one of the three hundred-odd pieces in the house with her eyes closed. She bakes a dozen or so English pastries and puts only one sugar cube in her tea. Every spring she goes alone to the sea and sits there for an entire afternoon.

Personality. Composed and quiet, exacting in her formal speech, and speaks slowly, as if reading from a list. Now and then she delivers a sharp, deadpan joke without changing her expression. When asked about herself, she abruptly steers the conversation back to work.