Kyoko had said that Kinuyo was hospitalized six months earlier, in spring. He needed to ask what month and year it was.

“Er...” he began before being interrupted...

clang-dong

“Hello.”

The layout of the café meant that there was a moment, straight after the doorbell rang, when you didn’t know who had entered. But Yukio knew whose voice it was immediately.

Mum...

After a few moments of watching the entrance near the cash register, he saw Kinuyo hobble in, using Yohsuke’s shoulder for support.

“Ah...”

The moment he saw Kinuyo, he turned his face away so that she would not see him. He bit his lip.

Have I come just before she was hospitalized?

The last time he had seen Kinuyo in the flesh was five years earlier. At that time, she was still fit and well. She hadn’t needed someone’s shoulder to help her walk. But appearing before him now, she had withered terribly. Her eyes were sunken and white hair covered her head. Her hand gripped by Yohsuke had bulbous veins, and each finger looked like a thin cane. Already, her illness had wasted her body.

She is so frail! I had no idea...

His face was frozen as it was, unable to look up. The first to notice him was Yohsuke.

“Grandma.”

Yohsuke spoke softly into Kinuyo’s ear as he slowly helped her turn toward Yukio. Grandma’s boy, Yohsuke had become her hands and feet, and he knew how to support her frailness.

When she saw it was Yukio at whom Yohsuke was looking, her eyes widened.

“Oh goodness,” she said softly.

Responding to her voice, Yukio finally looked up. “You look well!” he said.

His voice was brighter than the one he had spoken to Kazu with.

“What’s up? Why are you here?”

Kinuyo seemed very surprised that Yukio, who was meant to be in Kyoto, had suddenly made an appearance in this café. But her eyes were shining joyfully.

“There’s a little something,” he said, returning a smile.

Kinuyo whispered in Yohsuke’s ear, “Thank you,” and walked by herself to the table where Yukio was seated.

“Nagare, one coffee for me if you please. I’ll drink it here,” she requested politely.

“One coffee coming up,” Nagare replied. Before she had even asked, he had already put the beans he had just ground in the filter. He only had to pour over the steaming hot water, and the coffee would be made.

Since Kinuyo always came to the café at the same time, he had ground the beans to coincide with her arrival. Yohsuke plonked himself down on a counter seat facing Nagare.

“And what is young Yohsuke going to have?”

“Orange juice.”

“Orange juice it is.”

After taking Yohsuke’s order, Nagare took the pot and began pouring the hot water over the grounds in the filter holder that was in the shape of the letter “e.”

The aromatic fragrance of the coffee began to drift through the café. Kinuyo’s elated grin made it clear how much she loved this moment. She exhaled a noisy “Oof!” as she sat down in the chair facing Yukio.