"Is that why you wished he wasn't here?" Atsuko asked simply -- because that was a very strange thing to feel, she thought. If she put herself on her companion's shoes, she knew that even if she'd met an enemy across the road (except...not the kind who betrays or takes over the world because that would just make things downright worse than they already are), she imagined that some sense of relief would still touch her.
"Or did you have a quarrel just before you got here? Maybe something to do with work?"