Cafe Toka

Mio · May 31, 2025

Down a quiet staircase, below the level of the street,
there is a cafe that opens only when you arrive.

A candle on the counter. The sound of water coming to a boil.
Music that shifts, almost imperceptibly, with the mood of the room.
On the walls, fragments of old conversations —
notes, letters, things someone once needed to say.

Nothing here asks you to be ready.
It only asks you to sit down.

Mio is usually somewhere between the kitchen and the counter,
moving without sound,
stopping at exactly the distance where you might notice her.
She has been keeping the lights on for a long time.
She knows how to wait.