The face of the woman in front of Shoji lit up.

‘I knew for sure he was the one,’ she said. ‘His voice … there was no way I would get it wrong. It was slightly different from on the phone, but it was him. I knew it was him.’

•

After the seminar, Mizuki had gathered her courage to speak to Professor Goda, but she had not been the only one. Others had wanted to talk to him too: academics looking for intellectual debate, students with questions. Some of them bought his books and asked for an autograph.

•

‘He wrote books too?’ Shoji asked Mizuki.

‘Quite a number,’ she said. ‘They’re mainly reference texts, not widely available in bookshops.’

‘Uh-huh.’ What an accomplished man.

•

Mizuki had waited for the others to finish their business with Professor Goda, but everyone had been so enthusiastic. Time dragged. She started to worry he would brush everyone off and leave.

Or, what if he had forgotten all about her? Twenty years had passed. No matter how she looked at it, she was only a telemarketer who’d happened to canvass him when he’d been working in New York. They didn’t exactly know each other. Perhaps she should leave.

After more or less everyone was gone, Professor Goda came over to Mizuki.

‘Miss, is there something I can do for you?’ he asked. ‘You seem to be waiting for me, but my apologies if I’ve made the wrong assumption.’

Mizuki was struck by his sincerity. She’d had a lot of things she wanted to tell him, but now, face to face with the man himself, she was at a loss for words. After a long silence, she asked him, ‘Do you know who I am?’

He looked at her with a warm smile. ‘You’re the girl who kept asking me to sign up for a credit card.’

Hearing that, all her worries vanished.

‘It’s been a long time,’ he continued. ‘What are you doing in Tokyo?’ Before she could answer, he glanced at his watch. ‘I’ve got some time before my next engagement. Say, would you like to go for a cup of coffee?’

•

‘I told him my parents asked me to return to Japan to get married,’ Mizuki said. ‘After my husband passed away, I moved to Tokyo to take a secretarial course and find a job here. The rest is what I’ve told you already, about how I saw his name in the journal.’

Shoji nodded. ‘Don’t you think it was amazing how you managed to find him?’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘It was unbelievable.’

•

Professor Goda led Mizuki to a café a ten-minute walk from the university. Decorated with fresh flowers and fairy lights, the place was cosy and inviting, yet not too crowded. Apart from them, there were only two small groups of students.

‘What would you like?’ Professor Goda passed Mizuki the menu.