Chapter 1: Brown (from ワタル’s point of view, Tokyo)
Young male waiter, ワタル, just got a job at the cafe マーブル・カフェ
Young woman, customer at the cafe, likes to drink cocoa, has an English speaking pen-pal called Mary
Chapter 2: Yellow (from 朝美’s point of view, Tokyo)
朝美, working mom, usually full time, not housewife type
拓海 (たくみ), her son, goes to kindergarten (5yo)
輝也 (てるや), the dad, is a stay at home dad, also an artist and showing his paintings in an exhibit, also did some daytrading
えな, teacher at the kindergarten
添島瑠々, one of the kids at the kindergarten
Chapter 3: Pink (from えな’s point of view, Tokyo)
萌香 (もえか), kid at the day care
泰子 (やすこ), teacher who’s been at the kindergarten for 15 years
マコ, cousin of えな, studied in Australia during highschool, now an English conversation teacher
Chapter 4: Blue (from 泰子’s point of view, Tokyo)
理沙 (りさ), 泰子’s friend, now married
ひろゆき, the husband, recently divorced
Chapter 5: Red (from 理沙’s point of view, Sydney)
Couple married for 50 years, daughter is ピー
Chapter 6: Grey (from 美佐子’s point of view, Sydney)
進一郎, her husband
ヒロコ、their daughter, nickname ピー, had her at 36歳, 36 years ago, has a lingerie shop on the same river as the Marble cafe (where 泰子 bought lingerie in chapter 4), 美佐子 has been to the coffee and had friendly chats with ワタル, thinks he might like a customer that wrote 秋の桜 on a Tanabata wish
幼なじみのあっちゃん, got married in Sydney 2 years ago
陽介, someone she liked / dated at work where she met her husband
A waitress, long black hair, wearing a green bracelet
Character name readings
kanji
reading
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Wooow it’s getting complicated. I went back to reread parts of chapter 1, 2, and 3 to complete my notes a bit! New things are highlighted
Chapter 1: Brown (from ワタル’s point of view, Tokyo)
Young male waiter, ワタル, just got a job at the cafe マーブル・カフェ
Young girl, customer at the cafe, likes to drink cocoa, has an English speaking pen-pal called Mary
Man with a mole in the middle of his forehead, owner of the cafe Marble? he’s the one who put up the sign “staff wanted” and hired ワタル . Wants to be called マスター
Chapter 2: Yellow (from 朝美’s point of view, Tokyo)
朝美, working mom, usually full time, not housewife type
拓海, her son, goes to kindergarten (5yo)
輝也, the dad, is a stay at home dad, also an artist, also did some daytrading. He does some interesting paintings and was invited to exhibit his work at a gallery in Kyoto owned by someone called マスター with a mole in the middle of his forehead
えな, teacher at the kindergarten
添島瑠々, one of the kids at the kindergarten
Chapter 3: Pink (from えな’s point of view, Tokyo)
萌香, kid at the day care
泰子, teacher who’s been her for 15 years
マコ, cousin of えな, studied in Australia during highschool, now an English conversion teacher, got interviewed for CANVAS (a free newspaper for Japanese people living in Sydney) and now writes sometimes for them. えな liked the article ワーキングホリデー体験記
Chapter 4: Blue (from 泰子’s point of view, Tokyo)
理沙, 泰子’s friend, about to be married
ひろゆき, the fiance, newly divorced
Chapter 5: Red (from 理沙’s point of view, Sydney)
Couple married for 50 years, daughter is ピー
Chapter 6: Grey (from 美佐子’s point of view, Sydney)
進一郎, her husband
ヒロコ、their daughter, nickname ピー, got her at 36歳, 36 years ago, has a lingerie shop on the same river as the Marble cafe (where 泰子 bought lingerie in chapter 4), 美佐子 has been to the coffee and had friendly chats with ワタル, thinks he might like a customer that wrote 秋の桜 on a Tanabata wish
幼なじみのあっちゃん, got married in Sydney 2 years ago
陽介, someone she liked / dated at work where she met her husband
A waitress, long black hair, wearing a green bracelet
Chapter 7: Green (from 優’s point of view, Sydney)
Wrote an article called ワーキングホリデー体験記 for CANVAS
Likes a writer called MACO from CANVAS (see characters from chapter 3)
Sandwich seller older man (おじさん) with an orange apron at the botanical garden
Was told by the gallery owner of a gallery she was visiting in her home city of Kyoto while in her second year of college, that the green painting she liked was of the botanical garden in Sydney, a friend of his had painted it. The man (MASTER) had a big mole in the middle of his forehead and the exhibition was not of famous artists but of people the owner liked (see chapter 1 & 2)
20 year old man who gave up back her handkerchief that fell on the floor at the botanical garden
Her mom
Her homeroom teacher from when she was in 5th grade
Her big brother
As for chapter 8, my guess is that it will be the point of view of the man selling the sandwiches at the botanical garden. Remember the color of his apron? Now check the next chapter’s title
I definitely realized some of these from reading, but I missed MACO/マコ and I didn’t make the Master connection to 朝美’s husband. Thank you for your service
My pleasure! The only thing that makes me doubt is that Master both has a cafe in Tokyo and a gallery in Kyoto? Not impossible of course, but would have made more sense to me if it was two different persons I think
So, I see two possibilities … ONE, mystery guy was a real person who she got super close with super quickly and who then suddenly left for unknown reasons (multiple things about this scenario feel a bit iffy). TWO, she fell asleep while painting in the Royal Botanical Gardens and had a cathartic dream (BUT I feel like most writers don’t like to rely on “it was all a dream”, AND where do you even go from there with the story?).
With the way that he acted towards the cafe in Tokyo I don’t find it particularly difficult to believe. (He basically worked there for a day, then Wataru came along looking for a job and called him Master, then he immediately peaced out leaving Wataru to handle everything himself.)
The one thing about him that sort of concerns me actually is the mole in the middle of his forehead. Like, it feels like an overly literal reference to 仏/buddha. And he’s kind of the one behind the scenes moving people around so that they find peace, right? But maybe I’m being too nitpicky right now.
some comments on the character list
I’m pretty sure he was described as being “in his twenties”.
I thought that she was interviewed for that article, not that she wrote it.