Before the Coffee Gets Cold

“They were in a windowless basement café. The lighting was provided by just six shaded lamps hanging from the ceiling and a single wall lamp near the entrance. A permanent sepia hue stained the café interior. Without a clock, there was no way to tell night and day.”

This description of the café posits it as a timeless yet retrospective space. Kawaguchi conveys an aura of timelessness via the windowless basement and lack of functioning clocks, which take away the capacity to discern time of day or season of the year. This aligns with the café’s departure from linear, chronological time. The six shaded lamps and permanent sepia hue are resonant of old photographs and provide a retrospective appeal by evoking the pre-electricity era of the café’s opening in 1874.

“She had quite a pretty face, a pale complexion and narrow almond-shaped eyes, yet her features were not memorable. It was the type of face that if you glanced at it, closed your eyes and then tried to remember what you saw, nothing would come to mind. In a word, she was inconspicuous. She had no presence.”

This description of Kazu emphasizes her enigmatic character. Kawaguchi juxtaposes the appeal of physical beauty, a trait that should be memorable, with the vagueness of Kazu’s aura. This paradox gives her a magical tone and makes her apt for performing the coffee-pouring ceremony that requires both grace and stoicism. The emphasis on her discretion highlights her talent for blending in and allowing time travelers to experience their moment without any strong reminders of the present.

“If I return to the past, I might be able to set things right. I might be able to have a conversation with Goro once more. She replayed this fanciful wish over and over in her mind. She became obsessed and lost any ability to make a level-headed judgment.”

This passage shows Fumiko time traveling mentally even before she takes her seat in the chair. The repetition of “I might” as she repeatedly wishes to go back and relive the conversation shows her obsession with changing past events.