★ A collection of five chilling short stories about nightmare customers — a woman who lingers for hours at a pastry shop, a caller who seems to know every move of the customer service rep on the other end of the line, and more.
★ The author is a winner of the prestigious Short Story Prize from the Mystery Writers of Japan, with a proven track record in suspense.
★ Each story takes place in an everyday setting — a pastry shop, a call center, a salon — making the unease feel all too real and close to home.
★ Centered on the theme of customer harassment, these stories deliver multiple twists and leave you with a lingering sense of dread long after the final page.
★ An original short-story collection published in paperback format.

What lies behind the behavior of customers who just don’t seem quite right?

A woman visits a pastry shop every day, standing for hours at the display case, yet buys only a single piece of pastry. What is she really after? (The One-Piece Customer). At an insurance call center, a male caller repeatedly phones in complaints, seeming to anticipate every response the operator is trained to give. Is he just a difficult customer, or something far more disturbing? (The Peeping Customer).

This collection of five interconnected stories delves into the unnerving world of troublesome customers — the strange, the obsessive, the vengeful. Each story begins with an unsettling encounter, builds toward a creeping sense of dread, and ends with a twist that forces you to rethink everything that came before. As the truth behind each customer‘s behavior is slowly revealed, the horror deepens — because the real terror isn’t the customer themselves, but what they reveal about the world we live in. A masterclass in short-form suspense centered on the all-too-relatable theme of customer harassment.

Jun Yagi was born in 1976 in Aomori Prefecture. She made her literary debut in 2012 with “S Memorandum: The Kagomezō Serial Murders.” In 2020, she won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Best Short Story for the title piece of her collection “Husband’s Bones.”

The One-Piece Customer
The Grudge-Holding Customer
The Peeping Customer
The New Moon Customer
The All-Seeing Lady