One of my acquaintances, who is viscount, is weird. He lives in a huge mansion with an old woman, who has probably served him for a long time. His age is unknown. Not only he looks like a young man, who seems old, but also he looks like a young looking old man. His real name is unknown either. He doesn't tell it to anybody. When I asked him about it, he said, "A name is just a symbol. Even though the symbol is related to me, I don't appreciate it. Could you tell me why, I should tell you such a thing?"
　After all, he doesn't want people to know his own name for some reasons. Maybe that's because his name is silly.

　When I visit his mansion, he always gives me a cup of tea and a kind of tea has never been the same as before. Our conversation always starts on tea.
　One day, however, there was a yunomi (that is Japanese teacup) in front of me. The old woman reverently brought it to me; nevertheless, the strange thing was that there was not anything for the Viscount. I wondered if he wants only me to drink it.
　"It's Kutani," he said.
　I thought about what he said for a while, and realized that Kutani is a brand of the yunomi.
　Because I thought I should talk about something inside of the yunomi after the conversation on the vessel, I asked him, "Is it Gyokuro (that is a brand of Japanese tea)?"
　"Hot water," he said.
　Hot water... It was a disappointing answer.
　"Is it Rokkou?" I mentioned the name of water, which is famous for its good taste.
　"No, just tap water," he replied.
　Certainly, he is weird. He lets his guest drink hot tap water. When I was about to touch the teacup to drink it even though I didn't feel like it, he said, "Stop it" and interrupted me.
　"Here is a riddle for you," he said.
　It began.
　"Empty the hot water without touching the yunomi," he said.
　This is his bad habit. He sometimes plays at riddle and enjoys watching at people, who are struggling with it. It is not very respectable thing to do; however, I'm not tactless, who call it nonsense.
　I thought about it. After a while, I pulled up a pen from my pocket and said, "I use this pen to fall yunomi."
　He shook his head and said, "You can't move the teacup."
　Again I thought about it for a while.
　"I got it. I suck the hot water through a straw," I said.
　He replied, "That's a good idea, but you can't use any tools."
　He should have said so when he told me the riddle at once. I gave up. "Why don't you just wait?" he said.
　I didn't get what he meant and was confused.
　The Viscount smiled and explained me, "When the hot water gets cold, it'll be just water. In other words, there will be no hot water in the yunomi."
　When he looked at my disgusted face, he truly looked satisfied.