Tales from the Café

If you could go back, who would you want to meet ?

Well the answer to this confusing question has been truly acknowledged and put out intensely by all the bereaved beings who traveled through time, to deliver the best possible explanations. The 2nd book in this series, Tales from the Café asks us to wrap some characters tightly around our head, because mourning time is not over yet.

Yes, there is another sequel that’s coming. After each story of the person who goes to see their dear, deceased ones, I felt this undeniable compulsion rising in me, especially in The Lovers which tells my mind to stay in the present, because it might not just be the one who intend to travel that leaves the chair. The author is tender in his narration to cook our thoughts till it vaporizes to blend in with the traveler.

Welcome again, to the spotless basement café of Funiculi Funicula.

The Best Friend

What weighs more, the pain of guilt or the certainty of death ?

Coming back 22 years to see what you own being caressed by someone else, or more accurately put, your best friend. Haruka, daughter to Shuichi and Gohtaro, as mentioned in the modern video camera by the man of great perception and an ace rugby player has been bereft of parental love until the point of her wedding.

Gohtaro, the current owner of Kamiya Diner felt the need to atone for the sin of not disclosing the details of the biological parents of the forsaken child Haruka. The distance to which one drags their resented mind to be virtuous at any cost is unbearably unthinkable. Oftentimes, that line of survival succumbs to the feeling of needing to come clean by any achievable means.

Even though she was left an orphan, Gohtaro raised her like one of his own, as he felt indebted to the player for his relentless support to help a friend. There are some instances of understanding and shocking revelations as in Nagare assisting Shuichi’s confidante who inadvertently tries to bend one of the rules of time travel, and the identity of the woman in the white dress who owes her senses to the novel and the coffee.

Whatever one undergoes, is always substantially tolerant compared to the pain in the faces of the unexpressed. I totally concur to Gohtaro’s thinking of Kazu, the woman of contained communication.

Mother & Son

What brings forth joy, a heap of harmless lies or absolutely worthless honesty ?

It would be mentally challenging for a mother to say goodbye to her merciless world with her son absent for one final kiss or any kind of sensory solace. Every second of his unredeemable life would be a pilgrimage towards justification of the ever haunting regret. Letting death engulf the man who is entirely deficient of even the most basic needs, Yukio arrived at the quivering decision of finding Kinuyo to fulfil the tentative agreement, of being vindicated by making his mother happy and gratified.

He made the visit long before Kinuyo began feeling ill, to her golden days of life when Kazu served as the regular attendant to her requirements at the café. The coffee was hot and their conversation lived a meal’s span. He cried and his presence rendered her to cry eyes out. Kazu was obvious about the stream of emotional exchange that eats up the limit of time.

When Yukio regained his consciousness, he conveyed the five year old thank you to Kazu that came from his mother’s heart.

The Lovers

Would you sacrifice your only chance at something to make someone happy ?

For Kurata, there wasn’t even a slight second to be called for second thoughts. He was astute in his decisions and keen to comprehend. Being suffering from acute leukemia, he was certain of his remaining days on mother earth. Before he gets to experience his final sunset, there were things needed to be taken care of.

Asami, the light in his life had undergone a miscarriage from previous relationship and was left persistent with the condition. The ice breaker or the moment of realization was when she chose to open up her locus of emotions to the person who gave the advice that costed a fortune, to absorb and appreciate things in it’s most raw form. Kurata learned from Asami the story of her deplored mental state due to the leaving of a child from her womb briefing just 70 days.

At times, a word or two replete with sympathy is all people need to uplift themselves. And we all are abundant in the ability to exhibit a little kindness. The temperament shift of Asami, upon Kurata’s intellectual profoundness, could be related to a child who had their first ice cream of life. She gloated in the joy of sharing with her work partner who cemented the idea of meaningfulness in her far-gone predicament.

On the day of Christmas, the Santa of her life appeared in the chair after a long wait of almost 2 years to see Asami, only under certain conditions as instructed to Fumiko, his best friend.

She arrived, just in time, to see her revived boyfriend. Even though the terms of the meeting were unmet, Kurata was glad once again to see the glittering face of his lover. Asami drenched herself in the puddle of her tears by glancing at the Christmas tree.

All I want is Asami to be happy, read the tanzaku hung by Miki, paper-kissed by her optimist.

The Married Couple

If you could grant someone a happy farewell, how far would you go ?

It took exactly 30 years for Kiyoshi to convert his regret into joy. The joyous face which made Kimiko find answer to all her inner questions during her dubious days of dejection. But her contentment was bound as she had her last coffee, with ears glued to her husband’s moving confession about his worn out work in the police and the forgetfulness of his love.

Days prior to his journey to the past, there happened a small conversation in the café where he enquired about something and Kazu lending him the aid favoring his request.

It was the first of April, when the magic of spring aroused the atmosphere. Well, I could really visualize the length to which her lips stretched to form that swirl of smile between those gleaming cheeks of inclination, dragging her flower flooded body towards her other half.

The waitress at the time was Kaname, the woman in the white dress, who unconsciously fell in oblivion of seeing her husband and letting time swallow her to become the ghost in the chair. That was the consequence of a broken rule, as per the legends.

What happens in us when we see our mother, our daughter, our lover or our wife after the endurance of time ? We show our basic instinct of love and oftentimes we revel in it, similar to what Kaname did and Kiyoshi, who was about to. He expressed his sincere thanks.

The coffee prepared by Miki was going to get cold. The perfect bit of the prolonged wait has taken life. The necklace chosen by Kazu for Kimiko has been handed over; an exclamation followed by disappearance.

The spring of hope did to Kazu, what it does to the cherry trees.

As an ending note fusing all the stories, this is a book where all the characters travel to meet their dead darlings. The author has immensely portrayed every person in a way that respects the plot beautifully. For me, this part of the series was much more refreshing and emotional, more of like a segue from saccharine to saddening.

Though this book could be enjoyed as a standalone piece, I must say, the first part where everything began, was exceptionally written, to flow into Tales from the Café.

Some people die at 25 and aren’t buried until 75 - Benjamin Franklin