Toshikazu Kawaguchi: Before the Coffee Gets Cold

‘Um, excuse me…’

Normally Kei wasn’t the type to worry whether a person was approachable or not. She could begin a conversation with anyone and address them as if they had been friends for years. But at that moment she was feeling a little confused by everything. She spoke to the man as if she was a foreigner struggling with a second language.

‘Um, where’s the manager?’

‘The manager?’

‘The cafe manager, is he here?’

The man behind the counter returned the polished glass to the shelf.

‘That would be me, I guess…’ he replied.

‘What?’

‘I’m sorry, what is it?’

‘You are? You’re the manager?’

‘Yes.’

‘Of here?’

‘Yes.’

‘Of this cafe?’

‘Yes.’

‘Really?’

‘Yep.’

That can’t be right! Kei leaned back in surprise.

The man behind the counter was startled by her response. He stopped what he was doing and came out from behind the counter. ‘What – what’s wrong, exactly?’ he said, clearly rattled. Perhaps it was the first time someone had reacted in such a way to learning he was the manager. But Kei’s expression seemed over the top.

Kei was trying hard to make sense of the situation. What had happened during these ten years? She couldn’t work out how this could be. She had so many questions for the man in front of her, but her thoughts were a jumble and time was of the essence. The coffee would go cold and her decision to come to the future would have been in vain.

She collected herself. She looked up at the man, who was peering at her with concern.

I must calm myself…

‘Um…’

‘Yes?’

‘What about the previous manager?’

‘Previous manager?’

‘You know. Really big guy, narrow eyes…’

‘Oh, Nagare…’

‘Right!’

The man at least knew Nagare. Kei found herself leaning forward.

‘Nagare is in Hokkaido right now.’

‘Hokkaido…’

‘Yes.’

She blinked in amazement, she needed to hear it a second time. ‘Huh? Hokkaido?’

‘Yes.’

She began to feel dizzy. It wasn’t going as she had planned. Since she had known Nagare, never once had he mentioned anything about Hokkaido.

‘But why?’

‘Well, that I can’t answer,’ the man said as he rubbed the skin above his right eyebrow.

She felt utterly rattled. Nothing was making sense.

‘Oh, was it your plan to meet Nagare?’

Unaware of Kei’s mission, the man had guessed wrongly, but she had lost the will to answer. It was all futile. She was never very good at thinking about things rationally; she always made her decisions in life guided by intuition. So when faced with a situation like this, she was at a loss to understand what was going on, or how it could have happened. She had thought that if she could go to the future, she could meet her child. As her mood began to sink, the man asked, ‘Then, you came to meet Kazu?’

‘Aha!’ Kei shouted, suddenly seeing new hope.

How could she have forgotten! She had focused on asking the man about the manager , but she had forgotten something important: it was Kazu who had encouraged her to go to the future; it was she who had made the promise. It didn’t matter if Nagare was in Hokkaido. As long as Kazu was here, there was no problem. Kei tried to contain her surging excitement.

‘What about Kazu?’ she quickly asked.

‘What?’

‘Kazu! Is Kazu here?’

If the man had been standing any closer, Kei probably would have grabbed him by his shirt front.

Her intensity compelled him to take a couple of steps back.

‘Is she here or not?’

‘Um, look…’ The man averted his gaze, overwhelmed by Kei’s quick-fire questioning.

‘The truth is… Kazu is in Hokkaido as well,’ the man replied carefully.

That’s it then… The man’s reply had completely dashed her hopes.

‘Oh no, not even Kazu is here?’

He looked with concern at Kei. She looked as if her spirit had been totally sapped from her.

‘Are you all right?’ he asked.

Kei looked up at the man with a look that said, ‘ Isn’t it perfectly obvious? ’ but he had no idea about her situation, and so there was nothing she could say.

‘Yeah, I’m fine…’ she said dejectedly.

The man tilted his head in confusion and walked back behind the counter.

Kei began rubbing her stomach.

I don’t know why, but if those two are in Hokkaido, then this child must be with them there too… It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.

She dropped her shoulders, slumping despondently. It was always going to be a gamble. If luck was on her side, they would meet. Kei had known that. If meeting people in the future was so easy, then more people would be trying it.

For example, if Fumiko Kiyokawa and Goro had promised to meet at the cafe in three years’ time, then of course, it was possible they would meet. But for this to happen, Goro would have to keep his promise to come. There were many reasons for being unable to keep such a promise. He could try to drive but get stuck in traffic, or he could decide to walk but get diverted by roadworks. He might get stopped and asked for directions, or lose his way. There might even be a sudden torrential downpour or a natural disaster. He might sleep in or simply mix up the time they were due to meet. In other words, the future is uncertain.

With this in mind, whatever the reason for Nagare and Kazu being in Hokkaido, it fell within the range of things that can happen. Hokkaido was a thousand kilometres away and it was a shock to hear they had gone so far. But even if they’d only been one train stop away, they would still have been unable to get back to the cafe before the coffee went cold.

Suppose when she returned to the present, she conveyed this turn of events, it would not change the fact that they were in Hokkaido – Kei knew the rule. Her luck had run out. It was as simple as that. After thinking things over, she began to feel more collected. She picked up the cup and took a sip. The coffee was still pretty warm. She could switch moods quickly: another one of her talents for living happily. Her ups and downs could be extreme, but they never lingered. It was a shame that she couldn’t meet her child, but she had no regrets. She had followed her wishes and had managed to travel to the future. She wasn’t cross with Kazu or Nagare either. They surely had a good reason. It was inconceivable that they wouldn’t have done their best to be there to meet her.

For me, the promise was made just a few minutes ago. Here, it is ten years later. Oh well… it can’t be helped. When I go back, I may as well say that we met…

Kei reached out for the sugar pot sitting on the table.

Just as she was planning to add sugar to her coffee, the bell rang, and out of habit, she was about to yell, ‘ Hello, welcome! ’ when the man said it before her.

Kei bit her lip and looked over to the entrance.

‘Oh, it’s you,’ the man called.

‘Hi, I’m back,’ said a girl who looked like she might be in junior high school, fourteen or fifteen years old. She was wearing summer clothes: a sleeveless white shirt with cropped denim trousers and cord sandals. Her hair was neatly done up in a ponytail fastened with a red hairclip.

Oh … the girl from the other day .

Kei recognized her as soon as she saw her face. It was the girl who had come from the future and asked to have their photo taken together. She was wearing winter clothes at the time, and had her hair cut short, so she looked a little different. But Kei remembered how she had been struck by those big sweet eyes.