“And how’s Yukio getting along?” asked Kazu softly as she picked up the coins from the tray and pressed the clunky keys on the cash register. Yukio was Kyoko’s younger brother. He was living in Kyoto, training to become a potter. Surprised that she had raised the topic of Yukio, for a moment Kyoko just stared wide-eyed at Kazu. Kazu simply maintained her usual detached expression and poured some water into Kyoko’s empty glass.

Kazu sees everything.

Kyoko sighed, realizing that she would have to explain. “Yukio didn’t know Mum was in hospital. She wouldn’t let me tell him...”

Kyoko reached out for the glass of water, lifted it few centimeters off the counter, but rather than bringing it to her lips, she slowly swirled it.

“So, I think maybe he’s angry about that? He didn’t even come to the funeral.”

Kyoko’s gaze was concentrated on the surface of the water, which remained level even as she tilted the glass at various angles.

“I think his phone’s been disconnected...”

In fact, Kyoko hadn’t been able to get in contact with Yukio at all. She rang his phone, but only heard “The number you have dialed is currently not being used”—the announcement that is given when the account has been canceled. She had tried contacting the pottery studio where he was working, but they said he had quit a few days earlier, and no one knew his whereabouts.

“I have no idea where he is right now.”

For the last month, Kyoko hadn’t been able to stop thinking about how Yukio hadn’t known that Kinuyo was in hospital (if it had been her who was kept in the dark, she would have been beside herself with anger, and who knows what she might have said or done). It had been troubling her so much, she hadn’t been able to sleep properly for days.

There was the rumor that this café allowed customers to go back in time. Kyoko, of course, had laid eyes on customers who had rolled up wanting to return to the past. But she had never thought that something might happen to make her want to go back to put things right.

There was a “but,” however. She wanted to set things right, but she knew all too well that she couldn’t. The reason was that even if she were to travel back, there was the rule that no matter how hard you try while back in the past, present reality cannot be changed.