“Oh, really?” mused Kyoko, leaning back in her seat until she was precariously close to losing her balance. She let out an enormous sigh.

Of the people in the café, however, Kyoko was the only one reveling in the surprise. Kiyoshi didn’t appear to have any interest in such gossip. He was only concerned with the black notebook in his hands, which he was staring at, deep in thought.

Kyoko yelled into the kitchen, where Nagare was.

“Hey, Nagare! Did you know Kazu has a boyfriend?” It was only a small café. After shouting, Kyoko looked at Kazu and shrugged, Maybe that was too loud? and checked Kazu’s face for signs of embarrassment.

Kazu, however, calm as always, was polishing a glass. In her mind, there was nothing to hide. She was simply answering because she was asked.

As there was no reply from Nagare, Kyoko once again called out, “Well, did you?” After a moment, a reply came.

“Yeah, sort of, I guess.”

Strangely, Nagare appeared far more evasive and bashful than Kazu.

“Well, I’ll be!”

As Kyoko, once again, turned to stare at Kazu, Nagare came out from the kitchen.

“Why is it such a surprise?” Nagare asked Kyoko. He walked over and served Kiyoshi the freshly brewed coffee.

Kiyoshi looked pleased, and smiling broadly, he slowly inhaled over the cup.

Upon observing this, Nagare’s narrow eyes arched in pleasure. That the coffee he served in the café was never just ordinary was a source of great pride and joy to him. Getting to see Kiyoshi’s smile was his reward. He puffed out his chest with an air of satisfaction and returned behind the counter.

Caring not one iota about Nagare’s sense of satisfaction, Kyoko went on.

“I suppose I shouldn’t be, but you know, it’s Kazu. Who would have thought she had a secret romantic life.”

“Uh-huh,” Nagare replied with indifference, further narrowing his eyes. He started humming a tune while polishing a silver tray. In terms of importance, it seemed Kiyoshi’s smiling face far outweighed such talk of Kazu’s boyfriend.

Kyoko looked sideways at Nagare.

“So, what were you doing that day?” she asked Kazu, probingly.

“We were looking for a present.”

“A present?”

“It was his mother’s birthday.”

“I see, I see.”

And so, for a little while, Kyoko continued to probe and dig with various questions about Kazu’s boyfriend. Kyoko asked about Kazu’s first impressions of him when they met, about how he went about asking her out, and so on. As Kazu was willing to answer anything Kyoko threw at her, the questions never ended.