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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What wish does Miki write on the tanzaku paper at the beginning of the story?
(a) She wishes that Kazu would marry her boyfriend.
(b) She wishes that her father's feet did not smell so bad.
(c) She wishes to be allowed to pour the coffee.
(d) She wishes that she could see through walls.

2. What does Kimiko's response to Kiyoshi before she recognizes him demonstrate about her character?
(a) She is kind.
(b) She is determined.
(c) She is flirtatious.
(d) She is a snob.

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

4. How long ago did Kiyoshi's wife die?
(a) 5 years.
(b) 30 years.
(c) 3 years.
(d) 15 years.

5. Who enters the café just after Kurata finally finishes his coffee and disappears?
(a) Fumiko.
(b) Kazu.
(c) Goro.
(d) Nagare.

6. What does Kazu ask Yukio just before she pours the coffee?
(a) She asks him to forgive himself for missing the funeral.
(b) She asks him to pass on her regards to his mother.
(c) She asks him to reconcile with his sister.
(d) She asks him to consider her feelings of responsibility for him.

7. What causes Kimiko to tell Kiyoshi that he sounds like a detective?
(a) His diction.
(b) His tone.
(c) His persistence.
(d) His perceptiveness.

8. On what date does the story "Husband and Wife" take place?
(a) February 14th.
(b) April 1st.
(c) March 1st.
(d) May 14th.

9. On page 71, how does Nagare react to Yukio's sudden appearance in the past?
(a) He is "gratified."
(b) He is "troubled."
(c) He is "astonished."
(d) He is "unfazed."

10. 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 silver stirrer from his coffee cup.
(c) A wish to hang on the Christmas tree.
(d) The Christmas gift he had intended to give Asami.

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

12. When he is in the past, what sound startles Yukio just as he is beginning to relax and feel sleepy?
(a) His phone's ringtone.
(b) An alarm beeping.
(c) The antique clocks chiming.
(d) The bell on the café door.

13. What kind of dancer does the narrator compare Kazu to as she pours the coffee?
(a) A kabuki dancer.
(b) A Shinto shrine dancer.
(c) A flamenco dancer.
(d) A ballerina.

14. After Kiyoshi learns about the time-travel rules in the café, what does he become curious about?
(a) The motivations of the people who use this service.
(b) Where the special time-travel chair came from.
(c) The reason why only women from the Tokita family can pour the coffee.
(d) The number of people who have died using the service.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. When Kurata visits the café to clarify the time-travel rules, what question does he ask Kazu that she does not know the answer to?

2. What color is the dress that Miki choose to wear to pour the coffee?

3. What surprising event ends this story?

4. What did Kinuyo sometimes send Yukio in her care packages?

5. What is implied when the narrator says that, upon hearing of his mother's death, Yukio "heard a tautly stretched string snapping inside his head" (66)?

(see the answer keys)

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