It was unclear how deeply she had thought about her wish. She might have just wanted an excuse to write the characters for “happy.” But on hearing it, Nagare looked almost embarrassed.

“What nonsense!” he grumbled and then promptly vanished into the kitchen.

Kyoko looked at Kazu and chuckled. “I think Daddy is saying he is happy already,” she told Miki and left the café. Miki was smiling, but perhaps she hadn’t noticed the depth of the feelings she had roused.

clang-dong

Miki cheerfully attached the tanzaku to the tree while singing a Christmas song, as the noisy bleating of Nagare blowing his nose droned on in the kitchen.

“Have you written it?” Miki asked the man in the chair.

She walked up to him and peeked at what was on the table. Placed in front of his hands were a pen and a tanzaku, the same materials that Miki had been using. Miki had given them to him so that he could write a wish too.

“Er, sorry, no. I...”

“You know you can write anything, okay?” Miki advised Kurata, who hurriedly grabbed the pen. He looked up at the rotating ceiling fan, as if taking time to think, and then quickly wrote his wish.

“Shall we try to contact Fumiko again?” asked Nagare as he came out from the kitchen, his nose red from blowing.

Fumiko was a customer who had returned to the past in this very café seven years ago. She still visited often.

“She’s not the sort of person to break a promise.” Nagare sighed, crossing his arms. He had tried calling her phone a few minutes earlier, and although it rang, she hadn’t answered.

“Thank you, I appreciate you going out of your way,” Kurata said to him, with a polite nod.

“Are you waiting for Fumiko?” asked Miki, who, at some point, had sat herself down facing Kurata and was now studying his face.

“Er, no not Ms. Kiyokawa.”

“Who’s Ms. Kiyokawa?”

“Kiyokawa is her surname—you know what a surname is?”

“I know what a surname is. You mean her last name, right?”

“Yes, that’s right! Well done! What a smart girl!”

Kurata was praising Miki as if she had answered correctly in a test. She looked pleased and made a peace sign.

“But Fumiko’s last name is Takaga, isn’t it? It’s Fumiko Takaga, right?” Miki asked Kazu behind the counter. Kazu smiled warmly, but Nagare was quick to correct her.

“It’s Ka-ta-da! She’ll get cross if you call her Fumiko Takaga, okay?” he interjected.

Miki didn’t seem to realize her mix up between “Takaga” and “Katada.” She just tilted her head with a confused expression as if to say, What is Daddy talking about?