Toshikazu Kawaguchi - Tales from the Café

‘How much was it again?’ asked Kyoko, wiping a tear.

Nagare narrowed his eyes further, perhaps in embarrassment. ‘Er, two thousand, three hundred and sixty yen,’ he replied softly.

Kyoko pulled the money out of her purse. ‘Here you go,’ she said, handing him a five-thousand-yen note and three hundred and sixty yen in change.

Nagare took the money and pressed the clunky keys of the cash register.

‘By the way,’ he said, then paused. ‘He’s moving back to Tokyo, isn’t he? What’s his name, Yukio, was it?’ he asked Kyoko. Yukio was Kyoko’s younger brother, who had moved to Kyoto to become a studio potter.

‘Yes, he’s coming home! Things were pretty hard for a while, but he’s found himself a job.’

It hadn’t been easy for Yukio to find proper work. He had spent his adult years up until his late thirties solely focused on ceramics, leaving him with no qualifications. He was open to any field of work, so he sought help from HelloWork, the public employment placement service. After eleven unsuccessful applications, he was hired by a small company that sold Western-style tableware. Newly arrived in Tokyo, he chose to live in a company apartment. In this way, he took the first steps towards beginning a second life.

‘Oh, that’s wonderful to hear,’ said Nagare as he handed Kyoko the change. Kazu, who was listening in on the conversation behind Nagare, also bowed her head. Kyoko’s expression, however, darkened a little. She looked over at the man in that chair and let out a small sigh.

‘It never crossed my mind that Yukio was thinking about suicide…’ she lamented. ‘I’m really so grateful,’ she said, bowing her head deeply.

‘Don’t mention it,’ said Kazu. Her deadpan expression did not change, so it was difficult for Kyoko to know how well she had conveyed her feelings. Nevertheless, Kyoko nodded, seemingly satisfied.

‘I’ve done another one!’ exclaimed a boisterous Miki, who had finished writing another wish.

‘Oh, have you? What’s the wish?’ asked Kyoko with a smile.

‘That Daddy becomes happy.’ Miki read it out loudly, and then giggled.

It was unclear how deeply she had thought about her wish. She might have just wanted an excuse to write the characters for ‘happy’. But on hearing it, Nagare looked almost embarrassed.

‘What nonsense!’ he grumbled and then promptly vanished into the kitchen. Kyoko looked at Kazu and chuckled.

‘I think Daddy is saying he is happy already,’ she told Miki and left the cafe. Miki was smiling, but perhaps she hadn’t noticed the depth of the feelings she had roused.

Miki cheerfully attached the tanzaku to the tree while singing a Christmas song, as the noisy bleating of Nagare blowing his nose droned on in the kitchen.

‘Have you written it?’ Miki asked the man in the chair.

She walked up to him and peeked at what was on the table. Placed in front of his hands were a pen and a tanzaku , the same materials that Miki had been using. Miki had given them to him so that he could write a wish too.

‘Er, sorry, no. I…’

‘You know you can write anything, OK?’ Miki advised Kurata, who hurriedly grabbed the pen. He looked up at the rotating ceiling fan, as if taking time to think, and then quickly wrote his wish.

‘Shall we try to contact Fumiko again?’ asked Nagare coming out from the kitchen, his nose red from blowing.

Fumiko was a customer who had returned to the past in this very cafe seven years ago. She still visited often.

‘She’s not the sort of person to break a promise.’ Nagare sighed, crossing his arms. He had tried calling her phone a few minutes earlier, and although it rang, she hadn’t answered.

‘Thank you, I appreciate you going out of your way,’ Kurata said to him, with a polite nod.

‘Are you waiting for Fumiko?’ asked Miki, who, at some point, had sat herself down facing Kurata and was now studying his face.

‘Er, no not Ms Kiyokawa…’

‘Who’s Ms Kiyokawa?’

‘Kiyokawa is her surname… er, you know what a surname is?’

‘I know what a surname is. You mean her last name, right?’

‘Yes, that’s right! Well done! What a smart girl!’

Kurata was praising Miki as if she had answered correctly in a test. She looked pleased and made a peace sign.

‘But Fumiko’s last name is Takaga, isn’t it? It’s Fumiko Takaga, right?’ Miki asked Kazu behind the counter. Kazu smiled warmly, but Nagare was quick to correct her.

‘It’s Ka-Ta-Da! She’ll get cross if you call her Fumiko Takaga, OK?’ he interjected.’

Miki didn’t seem to be able to tell the difference between ‘Takaga’ and ‘Katada’. She just tilted her head with a confused expression as if to say, What is Daddy talking about?

‘…Oh, that’s amazing news!’ Kurata gasped, instantly recognizing the name Katada. Just the mention of it caused him to sit up excitedly. For a moment it looked dangerously like he was about to stand up from the chair in excitement.

‘So, she did end up getting married!’

‘U-huh, yeah.’

‘Oh wow! How brilliant!’

Kurata had heard that Fumiko’s now-husband had postponed the wedding after a job opportunity came up in Germany. On hearing the news that she finally did get married, he seemed so delighted that you would think he was the one getting married.

Fumiko’s decision to travel back in time had been the result of an unfortunate conversation between her and her then boyfriend, Goro Katada. Goro had been hired by an American game company called TIP-G, something he had dreamed of for a long time, and he had gone to America. Fumiko had gone back knowing full well that she could not change the present. And while in the past, Goro had told her that he wanted her to wait three years.

His words were a hint, suggesting after three years they should get married. But upon returning from America three years later, he was immediately sent to work in Germany. Yet they remained engaged and finally, last year, after various obstacles, the path was clear for them to get married. So Fumiko became Mrs Katada.

In response to Kurata’s reaction, Nagare pulled a long face and looked conflicted. The coffee was not going to stay warm for ever.

‘You were just saying that it wasn’t Fumiko that you were waiting for, is that right?’ Nagare asked, recalling how the conversation had gone sideways because Miki had mistaken Fumiko’s surname.

‘That’s right, not Fumiko.’

‘Then who are you waiting for?’

‘She, um, she’s a work colleague. Her name is Asami Mori,’ Kurata replied, sounding a little flustered. ‘I asked Ms Kiyokawa, I mean Fumiko, to bring her here.’ He looked over to the entrance, despite no one having come in.

The person Kurata had come to see was Asami Mori, a junior work colleague of Fumiko’s. Kurata and Asami had joined at the same time, but Kurata had been in Sales while Asami was assigned to the Development department, where Fumiko worked.

Nagare had no idea why Kurata had come from the past to meet his colleague, and he had no intention of asking.

‘Oh… I see. Well, I hope they arrive soon,’ Nagare muttered, and Kurata smiled a little.

‘If they don’t come, they don’t come. I’m fine with that,’ he replied.

‘What do you mean?’ Nagare asked.

‘We got engaged, but it doesn’t look like we will get married now…’ he said, looking down glumly.

Has he come to meet his ex-fiancée out of concern?

Kurata’s deflated expression was enough to give Nagare a general idea of the circumstances.

‘Oh, I see,’ he said and refrained from commenting further.

‘But finding out that Ms Kiyokawa got married made it worthwhile coming. I am so, so glad about that.’