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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What order is Kyoko waiting for at the beginning of the story?
(a) A Christmas cake.
(b) A to-go breakfast.
(c) Daifuku for her husband.
(d) Her usual coffee.

2. What question does Kazu ask Yukio that he refuses to answer?
(a) Why he wants to travel into the past.
(b) Why he did not attend his mother's funeral.
(c) Whether he is angry at Kyoko for keeping Kinuyo's illness a secret.
(d) Whether he intends to leave anything behind in the past.

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

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

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)?
(a) He felt deep shame at having stayed away from his mother for so long.
(b) He was enraged at Kyoko's duplicity and wanted revenge.
(c) He decided that there was no longer any reason to strive to repay his debt.
(d) He realized that nothing more prevented him from committing suicide.

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. How long has Yukio been deep in debt?

3. Which rule does Miki forget to review with Kiyoshi that he later nearly breaks?

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

5. What are the details about Kimiko's clothing meant to convey about her?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Yaeko Hirai's story inspire Kiyoshi to make a change in the way he has been living his life?

2. What news about Yukio does the reader learn in "Lovers"?

3. Why does Kiyoshi feel partially responsible for his wife's death?

4. How do Yukio's actions and emotions during the scene where he first sits down in the time-travel chair foreshadow his plan to not return to the present?

5. What lies does Yukio tell his mother about taking care of himself, and why does he tell these lies?

6. What is so tricky about Kurata's time-travel plans, and how has he tried to plan ahead to overcome this difficulty?

7. What similarity does Kiyoshi see between his and Kazu's situations?

8. When Yukio is discouraged about his future, what keeps him working toward becoming a potter?

9. What is similar about Asami's decision to meet Kurata and the advice Kurata gave her after her miscarriage?

10. What happened when Kimiko tried to intervene in the mugging incident?

(see the answer keys)

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