Toshikazu Kawaguchi - Before the Coffee Gets Cold

‘OK,’ Kazu called back.

A woman had entered the cafe alone. She was wearing a beige cardigan over a pale aqua shirt-dress and crimson trainers, and carrying a white canvas bag. Her eyes were round and sparkling like a little girl’s.

‘Hello.’ Kazu’s voice boomed through the cafe.

‘Hi, Kazu.’

‘Sis! Hi there!’

Kazu called her sis, but actually she was her cousin’s wife, Kei Tokita.

‘Looks like the cherry blossoms have had it.’ Kei smiled, showing no grief at their passing.

‘Yes, the trees are pretty bare now.’ Kazu’s tone was polite, but not the same polite, civil tone she had used when speaking to Fumiko. Her tone now sounded softer and more like a dove.

‘Good evening,’ said Hirai as she moved from the seat at Fumiko’s table to the counter, appearing to be no longer interested in laughing at Fumiko’s misfortune. ‘Where have you been?’

‘Hospital.’

‘What for? Just a routine check-up?’

‘Yes.’

‘You’ve got a bit of colour in your face today.’

‘Yes, I feel good.’

Glancing over at Fumiko still limp at the table, Kei tilted her head inquisitively. Hirai gave a slight nod, and with that, Kei disappeared into the room behind the counter.

Soon after Kei had disappeared into the back room, a large man poked his head through the doorway, bowing his head to stop it banging into the doorframe. He was wearing a light jacket over his chef’s uniform of white shirt and black trousers. A huge bundle of keys was jingling in his right hand. He was Nagare Tokita, the owner of the cafe.

‘Good evening,’ Kazu greeted him.

Nagare nodded in response and turned his eyes to the man with the magazine at the table closest to the entrance.

Kazu went into the kitchen to bring a refill for the empty coffee cup that Hirai was silently holding up, while Hirai, leaning with one elbow on the counter, quietly observed Nagare.

Nagare was standing in front of the man who was engrossed in his magazine. ‘Fusagi,’ he said gently.

For a moment, the man called Fusagi didn’t react, as if it hadn’t registered that his name had been called. Then he looked up slowly at Nagare.

Nagare nodded politely, and said, ‘Hello.’

‘Oh, hello,’ Fusagi said, with a blank expression. He immediately returned to his magazine. For a moment, Nagare continued to stand there looking at him.

‘Kazu,’ he called to the kitchen.

Kazu poked her face out from the kitchen. ‘What is it?’

‘Ring Kohtake for me, please.’

The request puzzled Kazu for a while.

‘Yes, because she’s been looking,’ Nagare said, as he turned to face Fusagi.

Kazu understood what he meant. ‘Oh… Right,’ she replied.

After giving Hirai a refill, she disappeared into the back room again to make the phone call.

Nagare cast a sideways glance at Fumiko slumped over the table as he walked behind the counter and took a glass from the shelf. He pulled out a carton of orange juice from the fridge under the counter, poured it nonchalantly into the glass, and gulped it down.

Nagare took the glass into the kitchen to wash it. A moment later, there was the sound of fingernails tapping on the counter.

He poked his head out of the kitchen to see what was happening.

Hirai made a small beckoning gesture. With dripping hands, he approached quietly. She leaned a little over the counter.

‘How was it?’ she whispered to him as he searched for some kitchen paper.

‘Hmm…’ he mumbled, ambiguously. Maybe it was somehow an answer to the question, or maybe it was just a frustrated grunt while looking for the elusive kitchen paper. Hirai lowered her voice further.

‘How were the test results?’

Not replying to this question, Nagare briefly scratched the top of his nose.

‘They were bad?’ Hirai asked more sombrely.

Nagare’s expression did not falter.

‘After looking at the results, they decided she doesn’t need to be hospitalized,’ he explained in a low mumble, almost as if he was talking to himself.

Hirai gave a quiet sigh. ‘I see…’ she said and glanced towards the back room where Kei was.

Kei was born with a weak heart. Throughout her life, she had been in and out of hospital. Nevertheless, having been blessed all her life with a friendly and carefree disposition, she could always manage a smile, no matter how bad her condition got. Hirai was all too familiar with that aspect of her. That was why she checked with Nagare.

Nagare had finally located the kitchen paper and was wiping his hands. ‘And how are things with you, Hirai? Are they OK?’

Hirai wasn’t sure what Nagare was asking about. Her eyes widened. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Your sister has been coming to see you a fair bit, hasn’t she?’

‘Ah. I guess she has,’ Hirai answered while she looked around the cafe.

‘Your parents run a travellers’ inn, right?’

‘Yeah, that’s right.’

Nagare didn’t know about things in much detail, but he had heard that as a result of Hirai having left the family home, her sister had taken over running the inn.

‘It must be tough for your sister, alone like that.’

‘Nah, she’s coping all right. My sister’s got the right head for handling that kind of work.’

‘But still…’

‘It’s been too long. I can’t go home now,’ Hirai snapped.

She pulled out a large purse from her leopard-skin pouch. It was so big, it looked more like a dictionary than a purse. Her purse jingled as she began foraging among the coins.

‘Why not?’

‘Even if I went home, I wouldn’t be any help,’ she said, tilting her head with a silly smile.

‘But…’

‘Anyway, thanks for the coffee. I have to go,’ she said, cutting Nagare short. She put the coffee money on the counter, then got up and walked out of the door, as if she was running away from the conversation.

While picking up the coins that Hirai had left, Nagare glanced at Fumiko slumped on the table. But it was just a glance. He didn’t seem very interested in who this woman was, face down on the table. He collected up the coins in his large hands and playfully jangled them.

‘Hey, bro.’ Kazu’s face appeared as she called out. Kazu called Nagare ‘bro’ despite him being her cousin, not her brother.

‘What?’

‘Sis is calling you.’

Nagare looked around the cafe. ‘OK, coming,’ he said. He casually placed the coins in Kazu’s hand.

‘Kohtake said she’ll come straight away,’ Kazu said.

Nagare received the news with a nod. ‘Look after the cafe, could you?’ He disappeared into the back room.

‘OK,’ she said.

The only people in the cafe, though, were the woman reading a novel, Fumiko, who was slumped over the table, and Fusagi, who was taking notes from the magazine spread open on the table. After depositing the coins in the cash register, Kazu cleared away the coffee cup left by Hirai. One of the cafe’s three old wall clocks sounded five deep resonating gongs.

‘Coffee, please.’

Fusagi called over to Kazu behind the counter, holding up his coffee cup as he spoke. He had yet to receive the refill he had already asked for.

‘Oh… right!’ exclaimed Kazu, realizing, and hurried back to the kitchen. She came out again holding a transparent glass carafe filled with coffee.

‘Even that would be OK,’ muttered Fumiko still slumped on the table.

While Kazu was pouring a refill for Fusagi, Fumiko’s presence in the corner of her vision attracted her attention.