Summary

Chapter 2, “Husband and Wife,” begins by giving some brief background info on the café, such as that it opened in 1874. One day, a woman named Kumi Hirai arrives at the café looking for her sister, Yaeko Hirai. (Yaeko is mostly referred to simply as Hirai.) Kumi leaves a note for her sister, who is a regular customer at the café. Hirai simply throws the note away. A waitress, Kei, asks why Hirai is avoiding her sister. Hirai explains that Kumi is always trying to persuade Hirai to help run the inn that the family owns, but Hirai feels estranged from her family. After Hirai leaves the café, a regular customer named Fusagi arrives. The narration reveals that Fusagi is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. When his wife, Kohtake, arrives at the café, Fusagi does not recognize her. Kohtake is saddened to see that the...