Thanks so much for the questions! (and for allowing me to ramble about my boy)
What was the origin of Kiyoshi’s dreams to own a cafe-library and to become an artist?
- Since his mother manages an art gallery, he pretty much grew up around art - Blanche kept art books at home, there were tons of different paintings/photographs on his house’s walls, etc. She also heavily encouraged him to draw as a toddler/small child, before she started working full-time again, so he pretty much did art since he was a kid. He just really, really liked it and never stopped.
- As for his café-library… well, he got his love for cafés from when he worked as a barista for the very first time, at Tea’se Me, since the clientele, owners and staff were all super nice and friendly (for the most part). In his present timeline, he’s still working as a barista part-time, and his love for that environment just keeps growing, hence why he wants his very own café. The library part comes from him wanting to have a unique concept, and not just a simple café. His first option of having an “art café”, with just art supplies (both tradi and digi) laying around seemed pretty unrealistic and too expensive, so he settled for the next best thing: letting his clientele have access to art books. From there, he decided that he could just add more types of books and voila! There it is.
How did he start sewing?
His best friend, Mia, got him into it! She’s very into nerd culture, and enjoys cosplaying. Kiyoshi’s very much the type of guy who gets interested by what his close friends enjoy, so he asked her to teach him - and he liked it a lot! He ended up taking classes to learn more, since Mia couldn’t really spend all her free time teaching him.
Does he sense that his mother misses him or regrets leaving him alone as a child?
Not really. Since she didn’t really say or do anything during the whole debacle between Kiyoshi and his dad, and she didn’t reach out when he left (he had to, to get some documents he’d left at home for his first job, and they started talking a bit from there).
Was he close to any of his nannies?
Only one of them, since most of them were just students who needed a part-time job and quit once they finished school/found a better, most convenient job. Her name was Anna, and she was a Philosophy student who needed some cash to fund her studies. She took care of him for a good six months, and was always nice to him. She even gave him some snacks in secret! And she told the best stories. From what Kiyoshi remembers, she wanted to be a fantasy writer, and he pretty much was her test audience. She unfortunately had to move to another city to do her Masters degree, and both Kiyoshi and her cried a lot on her last day. He misses her a lot but doesn’t know her last name, and she’s probably changed a lot since he knew her a good fifteen years ago.