“...Oh, that’s amazing news!” Kurata gasped, instantly recognizing the name Katada. Just the mention of it caused him to sit up excitedly. For a moment it looked dangerously like he was about to stand up from the chair in excitement.

“So, she did end up getting married!”

“Uh-huh, yeah.”

“Oh wow! How brilliant!”

Kurata had heard that Fumiko’s now-husband had postponed the wedding after a job opportunity came up in Germany. On hearing the news that she finally did get married, he seemed so delighted that you would think he was the one getting married.

Fumiko’s decision to travel back in time had been the result of an unfortunate conversation between her and her then boyfriend, Goro Katada. Goro had been hired by an American game company called TIPG, something he had dreamed of for a long time, and he had gone to America. Fumiko had gone back knowing full well that she could not change the present. And while in the past, Goro had told her that he wanted her to wait three years.

His words were a hint, suggesting after three years they should get married. But upon returning from America three years later, he was immediately sent to work in Germany. Yet they remained engaged and finally, last year, after various obstacles, the path was clear for them to get married. So Fumiko became Mrs. Katada.

In response to Kurata’s reaction, Nagare pulled a long face and looked conflicted. The coffee was not going to stay warm forever.

“You were just saying that it wasn’t Fumiko that you were waiting for, is that right?” Nagare asked, recalling how the conversation had gone sideways because Miki had mistaken Fumiko’s surname.

“That’s right, not Fumiko.”

“Then who are you waiting for?”

“She, um, she’s a work colleague. Her name is Asami Mori,” Kurata replied, sounding a little flustered. “I asked Ms. Kiyokawa, I mean Fumiko, to bring her here.” He looked over to the entrance, despite no one having come in.

The person Kurata had come to see was Asami Mori, a junior work colleague of Fumiko’s. Kurata and Asami had joined at the same time, but Kurata had been in Sales while Asami was assigned to the Development department, where Fumiko worked.

Nagare had no idea why Kurata had come from the past to meet his colleague, and he had no intention of asking.

“Oh I see. Well, I hope they arrive soon,” Nagare muttered, and Kurata smiled a little.

“If they don’t come, they don’t come. I’m fine with that,” he replied.

“What do you mean?” Nagare asked.

“We got engaged, but it doesn’t look like we will get married now,” he said, looking down glumly.

Has he come to meet his ex-fiancée out of concern?

Kurata’s deflated expression was enough to give Nagare a general idea of the circumstances.

“Oh, I see,” he said and refrained from commenting further.