Toshikazu Kawaguchi - Tales from the Café

The day he left for Kyoto, Kinuyo and Kyoko waved him off from the Shinkansen platform. Kinuyo said, ‘It’s not much but…’ and handed him her own bank account passbook and ID stamp. Yukio knew that Kinuyo had been diligently saving that money, saying, Someday, I’d like to travel overseas with your father.

‘I can’t take that,’ he insisted. But she would not take no for an answer. ‘Take it. It’s no problem, really.’

The Shinkansen bell rang, and Yukio had no choice but to accept the stamp and passbook with a small nod, and he departed for Kyoto. Left standing on the platform, Kyoko said, ‘Mum, let’s go now.’ But Kinuyo stood on the platform looking at the diminishing train until it disappeared.

‘You cannot change the present while in the past, no matter how hard you try, OK?’

Kazu had started to explain the never-changing rules. It was particularly important to emphasize that rule when meeting a person who was now dead. Bereavement is thrust upon people suddenly. Having to process the loss of Kinuyo was especially sudden for Yukio as no one had even told him she had been hospitalized. But Kazu’s words left his expression unaltered.

‘Yes, I know,’ he replied.

Kinuyo’s cancer was discovered in spring that year. It was already advanced by the time she was diagnosed, and she was told she had just six months to live. The doctor told Kyoko that had they found it three months earlier, there might have been something they could have done. Because of the rule that said you can’t change the present, though, even if Yukio returned to the past to make them discover it earlier, it would not change the fact of Kinuyo dying.

Kazu assumed that Yukio must have heard a bit about the cafe from Kinuyo, but asked, ‘Should I briefly explain this cafe’s rules?’

Yukio thought for a moment. With a soft voice he replied, ‘Yes, please.’

Kazu stopped cleaning and began to explain.

‘First, the only people who you can meet while in the past are those who have visited the cafe.’

Yukio replied, ‘OK.’

If the person who the customer wants to meet has only visited the cafe once, or if they have shown their face for only a short while before leaving, then the chances of being able to meet them grow slimmer. But in the case of a regular customer like Kinuyo, the chance of meeting her was very high. Considering it was Kinuyo that Yukio was aiming to meet, Kazu didn’t feel the need to elaborate further and moved on.

‘The second is the rule I mentioned earlier. No matter how hard you try, there is nothing you can do while in the past that will change the present.’

Yukio had no questions regarding this one either.

‘OK, I understand,’ he answered readily.

‘Which brings us to the third rule. In order to go back to the past, you must sit in that seat, the one she is sitting in…’

Kazu looked directly at the woman in the dress. Yukio followed her gaze.

‘The only time you can sit there is when she goes to the toilet.’

‘When will she do that?’

‘No one knows… But she always does so once a day…’

‘So, I guess I just have to wait?’

‘Exactly.’

‘I see,’ Yukio replied with a stony face.

Kazu was herself a person of few words, but Yukio also offered few questions or remarks. The explanation was going quickly. ‘The fourth rule is that while in the past, you must stay in that seat and never move from it. If you lift your bottom from the chair, you will be forcibly returned to the present.’

If a customer forgets this rule, he or she will face the unhappy consequence of immediately being returned to the present, wasting the chance to go back in time.

‘Next is the fifth rule. Your time in the past only lasts from when the coffee is poured to when it goes cold.’

Kazu reached out and took Yukio’s glass, which he had emptied at some point during her explanation. Yukio certainly seemed thirsty, as he took frequent sips.

The annoying rules did not stop there.

The journey through time can only be attempted once and once only.

It is possible to take photos.

Presents can be given and received.

Even if you find some way to retain the coffee’s heat, it will have no effect and it will get cold anyway.

In addition, in a magazine feature on urban legends, the cafe was made famous as ‘the cafe where you could travel back in time’, but technically, you could travel to the future too. However, hardly anyone wants to travel to the future, the reason being that although you can travel forwards to exactly where you want to go, you can never be sure that the person you want to meet will be there. After all, no one knows what will be going on in the future.

Other than utter desperation, there is no reason even to bother, as the chances of travelling to the future and happening to meet someone in the narrow window of time until the coffee goes cold are slim. The journey will most likely be futile.

Kazu did not, however, explain all of this. She generally only explained five rules. If asked about the others, she provided answers.

Yukio took a sip of his newly poured water. ‘I heard from my mother that if you don’t drink all the coffee before it goes cold, you turn into a ghost. Is that true?’ he asked, looking directly into Kazu’s eyes.

‘Yes, that’s true,’ Kazu replied matter-of-factly.

Yukio averted his gaze and inhaled deeply. ‘So, in other words, you die… is that what you are saying?’ he asked, as if he was just making sure.

No one had ever asked for clarification that becoming a ghost equated to death before.

Until then, Kazu had been able to answer any question without changing her expression. But for that moment only, her expression faltered. And it truly was only for a moment. After letting out a shallow breath, in the time it took for her eyelashes to flutter a couple of times she adopted her usual cool persona again.

‘Yes, that is correct,’ she replied.

Yukio nodded, appearing somehow satisfied with her answer. ‘Right, OK,’ he muttered as if he understood.

Upon finishing explaining the list of rules, Kazu looked over at the woman in the dress.

‘Now all you need to do is to wait for her to leave her seat. Do you plan on waiting?’ she asked. It was her final question to confirm whether Yukio was really going to go through with visiting the past. He did not hesitate.

‘Yes,’ he replied. He reached for the coffee cup. The coffee must have been cold by now but he drank it in one gulp. Kazu reached out and took the empty cup.

‘Would you like a refill?’ she asked.

‘No, I’m fine,’ he said, with a wave of refusal. The coffee that Kinuyo had enjoyed drinking every day didn’t suit his taste buds.

Halfway to the kitchen, carrying Yukio’s empty cup, Kazu stopped in her tracks.

‘Why didn’t you go to the funeral?’ she asked with her back to him.

From the point of view of a son who had not attended his mother’s funeral, it could easily have sounded liked an accusation. It was unusual for Kazu to ask such a question.

Yukio frowned slightly, as if he had indeed taken it that way.

‘Do I have to answer that question?’ he asked, his tone somewhat terse.

‘No,’ Kazu replied with her cool-as-ever look. ‘It’s just that Kyoko believes it is her fault that you didn’t go to the funeral…’ She nodded her head politely and disappeared into the kitchen.

In truth, it wasn’t Kyoko’s fault that Yukio hadn’t gone to the funeral. He had certainly struggled with denial when told of Kinuyo’s death, but the bigger reason was he couldn’t afford the fare from Kyoto to Tokyo. When he was notified of Kinuyo’s death, he owed a lot of money.