Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Fumiko had planned to speak honestly—after all, it wouldn’t change the present. But she couldn’t say it. She felt that saying it would be to admit defeat. She would have hated herself for saying anything like, Which do you choose—work or me? Until she had met Goro, she had always put work first. It was the last thing that she wanted to say. She also didn’t want to be talking like a parody of a woman, especially to a boyfriend three years her junior—she had her pride. She also was perhaps jealous that his career had overtaken her own. So she hadn’t spoken honestly. Anyhow… it was too late.

“Fine then, go… whatever. It’s not as if anything I say will stop you going to America.”

After saying this, Fumiko gulped down the rest of her coffee. “Whoa.”

Kazu continued with her outlandish plan. After filling the cup with coffee she would offer again: “Would you care for some coffee?” She went on doing this, and every time it was offered, the woman in the dress would reply, “Yes, please,” and drink it down. But after a while, the woman began to look uncomfortable.

[…]

“She looks so uncomfortable. Why doesn’t she just refuse?” Kohtake commented, sympathizing with the woman in the dress.

“She can’t refuse,” Kei whispered in Kohtake’s ear.

“Why not?”

“Because apparently that’s the rule.”

“Goodness…” Kohtake said in surprise to the fact that it wasn’t only those traveling back in time who had to follow annoying rules.

“Hirai!”

“I can’t drink it!”

Kei could see how distressed Hirai was. She bit her lip and looked grave.

“You just promised…” she said with a trembling voice. “You just promised your sister, didn’t you? That you would return to the inn. […] You said that you would run it alongside her. […] That means you have to return. That makes it more important than ever. […] How unhappy would your sister be if she knew that your promise was only made for today? She would be devastated, don’t you think?”

Yes! Kei’s right. […] Even if Kumi is dead, I promised her when she was alive. I have to make sure her happiness was for something.

[…] People don’t see things and hear things as objectively as they might think. The visual and auditory information that enters the mind is distorted by experiences, thoughts, circumstances, wild fancies, prejudices, preferences, knowledge, awareness, and countless other workings of the mind.

[…]

Until now, Kazu had never sought to challenge or influence people’s opinions or behavior. This was because her own feelings didn’t form part of the filter through which she interacted with the world. Whatever happened, she tried not to influence it by keeping herself at a safe distance. That was Kazu’s place—it was her way of life.

[…] But this was different. She had made a promise. She was encouraging Kei to go to the future, and her actions were having a direct influence on Kei’s future. It crossed Kei’s mind that Kazu must have her reasons for her out-of-character behavior, but those reasons were not immediately apparent.