Kurata took a very deep breath and slowly closed his eyes.

Kazu watched him do this, but did nothing.

“Oh, that reminds me. I heard you got married. Congratulations. Yes, the café staff told me—believe me, hearing that alone made my trip worth it.”

They weren’t just empty words, he really seemed to mean it. His beaming face was seemingly directed to Fumiko, wherever she was.

“...Bye.”

Kurata slowly ended the call. Nagare quietly approached the table, and Kurata returned the handset to him.

“I’ll go back now,” he said softly.

He was smiling but his voice was faltering. He clearly seemed disappointed that he had come all this way to the future only to miss out on meeting Asami.

“Anything we can do before you go?” Nagare said, observing Kurata.

Nagare knew he couldn’t offer anything. But he couldn’t help asking. He kept pressing the buttons on the handset pointlessly.

Kurata must have noticed how he was feeling.

“No, everything is fine. Thank you very much,” he replied with a smile.

Nagare slowly lifted his head and walked off toward the back room holding on to the handset.

“Could you put this up for me, please?” Kurata asked, presenting the tanzaku bearing his wish.

“Yes, sir,” said Miki. Because Kurata couldn’t leave his chair, she came and took it from him.

“Thank you for everything,” he said and, bowing his head to Kazu behind the counter, he picked up the cup in front of him.

In the summer, two and a half years ago...

Kurata had been diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. He was told he could start treatment and hope to survive, or forgo it and be left with only six months to live. It was the second summer of his relationship with Asami. He’d got the news of his diagnosis just after deciding to get a ring ready secretly and propose to her.

But he didn’t give up. If it meant the slightest chance of survival, he had no trouble deciding to begin treatment. It was then he decided to carry out his plan, keeping it a secret from Asami. He had heard from Fumiko that in this café, not only could you return to the past, but you could also travel to the future. The information he obtained from Fumiko, however, wasn’t detailed enough for him to carry out his plan successfully. So he visited the café to find out firsthand whether the plan he had conceived could work.

Getting there was no trouble as he had visited it on two prior occasions when he had tagged along with Fumiko. But just as the weather forecast had predicted, he got caught in sporadic torrential downpours. Even using an umbrella, he was still soaked from the waist down by the time he entered the café.