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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Whom does Yukio call when he goes outside?
(a) His bank.
(b) Kyoko.
(c) His landlord.
(d) Yamagishi.

2. What detail does the narrator offer about the wholesaler that foreshadows his eventual disappearance?
(a) His business is newly established.
(b) He does not pay his bills on time.
(c) No one in Kyoto has heard of him before.
(d) He complains of large debts.

3. What is Miki's attitude toward being asked to pour the coffee?
(a) Grateful.
(b) Frightened.
(c) Resentful.
(d) Enthusiastic.

4. When Yukio arrives in the past, what is Nagare doing?
(a) Wiping glasses clean.
(b) Grinding coffee beans.
(c) Waving to a child with a red backpack.
(d) Talking with a ghost in old-fashioned clothes.

5. What surprising event ends this story?
(a) Kaname disappears.
(b) Kazu gets engaged.
(c) Miki runs away.
(d) Nagare retires.

6. Why is Nagare confused by Kiyoshi's desire to return to the past?
(a) Kiyoshi's religion explicitly forbids anything related to magic.
(b) Nagare does not know that Kiyoshi's wife is deceased.
(c) Nagare is surprised that a detective would believe in time travel.
(d) Kiyoshi has never wanted to give his wife a gift before.

7. What illness was Kurata diagnosed with two-and-a-half years previously?
(a) Cancer.
(b) Heart failure.
(c) Liver failure.
(d) Tuberculosis.

8. Just before he lifts his coffee to drink it and return to his own time, what does Kurata hand to Miki?
(a) A small red-edged notebook.
(b) The Christmas gift he had intended to give Asami.
(c) A wish to hang on the Christmas tree.
(d) The silver stirrer from his coffee cup.

9. What is the primary intent of the passage in which Miki comes out to pour the coffee and Nagare questions her about her readiness for the task?
(a) To show the deep love and tenderness Nagare feels toward his daughter.
(b) To show how joyful Nagare is to see his daughter growing up and becoming responsible.
(c) To show what an anxious parent the loss of his wife has made Nagare.
(d) To show that Nagare is unreasonably critical of Miki because of his high standards.

10. When the narrator describes Kazu's voice as having "gravitas," what quality is he ascribing to her voice (67)?
(a) Restrained emotion.
(b) Confident authority.
(c) Formal seriousness.
(d) Quiet command.

11. How does Kurata react when he learns of Fumiko's marriage?
(a) He is delighted.
(b) He is amused.
(c) He is worried.
(d) He is bewildered.

12. Which is the best description of how Yukio feels when he returns to the present?
(a) Irritable and embarrassed.
(b) Defeated and bewildered.
(c) Renewed and hopeful.
(d) Exhausted and drained.

13. What characteristic of the café's Christmas tree is stressed in the narrator's description of it?
(a) Its size.
(b) Its color.
(c) Its shape.
(d) Its smell.

14. How old was Yukio when he accepted the wholesaler's offer?
(a) Late thirties.
(b) Early twenties.
(c) Late twenties.
(d) Early thirties.

15. Who bought the café's Christmas tree?
(a) Kazu.
(b) Nagare's wife.
(c) Nagare.
(d) Kazu's boyfriend.

Short Answer Questions

1. What significant event on the previous day is part of the reason for the timing of Yukio's visit to the café?

2. What does Asami show Kurata soon after meeting him in the café?

3. What is unusual about Kurata's time-travel plans?

4. When Kurata visits the café to learn more about the time-travel rules, which rule is he most interested in clarifying?

5. Why does Yukio regret it immediately after he blurts out that it looks as if Kinuyo has lost weight?

(see the answer keys)

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