Hope you enjoyed your break! We’re continuing with book 5 in the 夜カフェ sequel. This thread will serve as a discussion thread for book 5.
This is an offshoot book club for 夜カフェ which we originally read with the Beginners Book Club. Please follow the links below to guide you to the other volumes in the series.
Start date of current chapter: 1st July 2023 Next time: Vol 5, Chapter 2
The vocab list is a community effort, so if you contribute to the list or even just point out a potential error/typo, you’re helping your fellow readers out! It goes without saying, but feel free to peruse the list to help make your reading experience easier! You’re not obligated to contribute but any help you provide is truly appreciated.
Discussion Guidelines
Please blur / hide any major events in the current week’s pages (however early they occur), like so: [spoiler]texthere[/spoiler] result: texthere
If you’re reading ahead, please refrain from mentioning spoilers in future chapters. If you absolutely must comment something, be sure to add a warning (ex: potential spoiler in chapter 3) before hiding the rest of the spoiler under a spoiler tag.
When asking for help, please mention the page number and identify whether your book is a physical copy or ebook, and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked
Feel free to jump in at any point in the discussion - you’re never too late to the party!
Sharing your impressions and predictions of the reading are highly encouraged! It’s fun to see if the story pans out the way some of us think. Just be careful not to give away anything if you’re reading ahead.
We get a nostalgic scene of just Hanabi and Aiko since everyone’s busy with their own thing. At first, you think they’ll get to enjoy some kimchi nabe by themselves, but then Nanami suddenly appears with a stray cat asking for help.
I like this chapter so far because 1) there’s no long summary of previous events (helpful though if you haven’t read the previous book in a while); 2) we get a nice moment between Aiko and Hanabi even if it’s quickly interrupted; 3) we also get to see Aiko’s kindness again when she goes out of the way to help the kitty and defend Nanami from her mother; 4) if the main issue in this book is persuading Nanami’s mother to keep the cat and learn about the difficulties of taking care of a small animal, this will be a much more pleasant book than the usual preteen drama. Overall this chapter seems promising and refreshing.
Silly me, I forgot to update last week, so I’ll post the chapter 4 poll immediately after. This post is for last week’s reading, sorry about that!
Chapter 2 Thoughts
So everyone is reuniting to welcome the new kitten to their group. A detail that stuck out to me is that Ryoma quit his club so he could make time for cram school. This feels like a potential side plot.
It’s pretty upsetting that Nanami’s mother tried to get rid of the cat while Nanami was at school after reassuring her she can keep it. Then she leaves it near the river where there’s a danger of it drowning especially if it gets swept up while it’s raining. But it’s even worse that she basically barred her from coming home until she gets rid of the cat.
Even if it was because she was genuinely worried about Nanami’s allergies, I think her attitude and going behind her daughter’s back really says a lot about her character. I find it hard to find any redeeming qualities about her, but we’ll reach a resolution eventually.
More interestingly in my opinion is the scene between Ryoma and Hanabi. He’s the hero in this chapter reassuring her and locating the cat before hurrying off to juku. I would be totally on board if these two end up together eventually because the age difference between Yamato and Hanabi still bothers me.
A little late this time but I like to think of it as fashionably late
We’re getting introduced to some of the potential problems that may cause some issues for them down the road - the JHS students being busy with their own things leading to being short-staffed for 夜カフェ hours, Nanami not really letting anyone help her take care of Tora, and one of the ES students revealing her allergy to cats. I wonder how they’ll overcome them! Or if any of them will actually be addressed later in the book or if there’s something bigger waiting.
The chapter ends on a lead on an animal rescue circle. It sounds like it’s run by volunteer college students. In that case, I wonder how they’re going to connect with that group if everyone is an ES or JHS student save for Yamato who’s back overseas.
Chapter 6 Thoughts
Tina seems pretty talented with doing hair. Personally I think she’s going to stop the acting gig when some negative development between her and Ritsu starts and consider working at a hair salon down the line. It fits her better anyway, and I still don’t trust Ritsu doesn’t have ill intentions.
We’re just about a month away until the end of volume 5!
Chapter 7 Thoughts
So Nanami finally decided to stop letting her mother run her life and even made the drastic move of cutting off her hair out of protest.
We learn a little bit about the ES students’ lives that are part of the 夜カフェ get together. Then we’re left with a box of 3 kittens that look very similar to Tora implying they’re from the same litter.
But who left them there? Obviously someone who is aware of the situation or at least knows that Tora is being kept there for now. Would Nanami’s mother be sink so low as to create pressure on her daughter by going through the trouble of delivering the rest of the kittens so she would give up and go back home once she realizes it’s a responsibility she can’t handle?
While I’m still a little behind, I’m only 5 pages from finishing chapter 8. This is a really apt volume, since I’m in the middle of my own cat dramas currently.
I was really confused until my brain finally processed that it’s already Saturday. I’ve been in the hospital the last few days (enjoying “vacation time” after giving birth). The only dates in my mind are my son’s birthday and my discharge day, so thanks for the reminder!
