Looking at the upper stack of a half-dozen takoyaki in the plastic and foil container suddenly brought Sana back to memories when she was younger and playfully sneaking out of the tea house with her grandfather; she would stay under the shade of an old takoyaki store three stores down while waiting. Her grandfather would then come out of the takoyaki store holding two small saucers with different sauces on each takoyaki. That continued on until a few years before her grandfather died and Sana started to go through her teen years. She may have visited Osaka until before her grandfather died but she became somewhat distant to him. Greeting each other in the mornings and the evenings, eating meals together… There was one thing missing, her daily takoyaki snack time with her grandpa.

Going back to their usual spot, she noticed that a new dainty café has taken its place. Sana slowly went inside and went to the counter to order two fruit juices to go with her takoyaki. As the lady was preparing the drinks, she asked her what happened to the old takoyaki store.

“Oh? You haven’t heard? Mr. Nakamoto moved his store nearer to the main streets,” the lady said with a somehow skeptical look. “I remember that when Mr. Mitsuya passed away, they slowly started getting fewer customers in their spot here…” Upon hearing her grandfather’s name, Sana felt a bit of a hollow feeling in her chest.

“Are you related to Mr. Nakamoto?” the lady asked which made Sana look back to the lady and concentrate on her. Sana shook her head and answered the lady.

“No,” she said. “I’m Mr. Mitsuya’s granddaughter, Minatozaki Sana” she tried to smile widely.

“Oh! You’re the one Mrs. Amane has been talking about,” the lady said as she brought over Sana’s drinks and packed them up. “She already told most of the people along this block that her niece will be running their tea house