Yasutaka Tsutsui - The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

“Who told you such a scary story?” Masako asked.

“Nobody,” said Yoshio, shaking his head.

“So you made it up yourself?”

“I’m not making it up! She’s really there!” Yoshio shouted, with tears welling up in his eyes.

Masako wondered if her mother or father might have told Yoshio such a story. First, she checked with her mother, but she knew nothing about it. Then, when Masako’s father came home from work, she asked him too.

“Why would I tell him such a silly story?” said her father, visibly upset.

That night, Masako woke up in the middle of the night with an idea. She got out of bed and went over to Yoshio.

“Wake up, Yoshio!” she whispered. “It’s time to go to the bathroom. If you don’t go now, you’ll wet the bed again. Come on! I’ll go with you!”

“No way,” said Yoshio, his eyes peeping out from under the covers, “I’m scared.”

“But there’s no need to be,” said Masako, reassuringly. “I’m telling you, there’s nobody in there.”

“Oh yes there will be,” said Yoshio. “She’ll be there.”

If you don’t go, you’ll wet the bed again. Come on, we have to go.”

The two of them got up and started walking down the long hallway towards the toilet. Masako was sure she could see Yoshio trembling.

“Yoshio, you really are a coward aren’t you? Stop shaking!” said Masako, laughing. But, inside, Masako was a little scared as well. What if there really was someone in the bathroom? What if there was someone wearing a Prajna mask? If there was, she would surely scream!

As they carried on down the hallway with its squeaky floorboards underfoot, Yoshio held Masako’s hand tight. His palm was now sweating and his body was trembling. When they finally reached the bathroom door, Yoshio squatted down on the floor and said, “I can’t do it. I’m scared!”

“It’s all right.” Masako reassured him, but her voice was quivering slightly too. So without saying another word, she gripped Yoshio’s hand tightly and slowly opened the bathroom door.

“You see?” said Masako. “There’s no one here.”

“That’s because you’re here,” said Yoshio. “If I was alone, then she’d be here.”

Masako wondered what she could do. How could she possibly convince her little brother that the woman in the bathroom didn’t exist? She couldn’t even convince herself that the stupid Prajna mask wasn’t scary! Perhaps she needed to find out the reason behind both of their fears. Perhaps then they would be able to overcome them.

The following Sunday, on the way home from the movies, Masako decided to ask Bunichi for advice.

“Okay,” said Bunichi, laughing, “so we’ve got a brother and sister and both of them are cowards.”

Noticing that he was the only one laughing, Bunichi cleared his throat and spoke in a more serious voice.

“Actually,” he continued, “my uncle is a psychologist, and he once told me that when people find out the cause of their fear, then that fear usually goes away. So maybe that’s the key to Yoshio stopping his bed-wetting.”

Encouraged by Bunichi’s words, Masako decided to get to work on doing something about her little brother’s fears as well as her own. Maybe then the other boys her brother’s age would stop teasing him and let him join in with their games. Then he wouldn’t always have to play indoor games with the girls nearby, such as Atsuko, who lived across the street, or Hisako, who lived two houses down the road. Masako’s mother would be happy too. She was quite a tough woman, and was a little embarrassed about her little crybaby son.

Later that day, Masako and her mother were sitting in the living room — with Masako reading a book and her mother busy with her craftwork — when all of a sudden Yoshio came running in with tears trickling down his cheeks.

“Oh Yoshio!” said their mother. “Have you been bullied again?”

“I was playing with Hisako and Atsuko, and Hiro called me a sissy!” said Yoshio between sobs.

Hiro was a first-grader and the biggest bully in their neighbourhood. But their mother was sick of hearing this kind of thing and was in no mood to cheer her son up.

“Oh come on now, Yoshio! I hope you didn’t just come running home without saying anything back to him!”

Yoshio stopped rubbing his eyes and dropped his hands to his sides.

“I did say something! I said I’m not a sissy!”

“And?”

“And then he kicked my book.” And with that, little Yoshio started to sob again.

“That’s awful!” said Masako, standing up. “I’m going to go have a word with Hiro!”

“No, Masako,” said their mother. “You stay here.”

“You’re a boy, Yoshio!” said his mother. “You need to start acting like one. You can’t keep crying and running home like this. You know they pick on you because you’re always playing with girls. Why don’t you join in with the boys and play their games?”

Masako watched as her mother started to rant. Once she started, there was no telling how long she would go on for, and Yoshio had already started to sob again.

“Boys need to have the courage to fight back!” their mother continued. “If you want to keep on playing with girls all the time, I’m going to have to snip off your weenie!”

“Oh!” gasped Masako.

“What’s the matter?” said her mother, slightly annoyed at having her lecture interrupted.

“I know why Yoshio is afraid of going to the bathroom, and why he always wets his bed! It’s because of what you say when you tell him off for playing with the girls!”

“What?” said their mother, looking first to Masako, then to Yoshio.

“The scary woman Yoshio sees in the bathroom at night — it’s you, Mum! And the reason she’s always holding scissors is because, well you know, the scissors are for…”

Masako watched her mother’s face change as she slowly put the pieces together.

“Oh, so what you’re saying is that the scissors are for cutting off Yoshio’s weenie?”

Yoshio, who had since stopped sobbing, looked up at his mother, while Masako and her mother looked back at him. For a moment there was silence, then both Masako and her mother burst out laughing at Yoshio’s quizzical expression.

“You know what that means, don’t you Yoshio?” said Masako, pulling herself together. “It means you just made that woman up in your mind because of what Mum said to you. Do you see? That means there’s not really a woman there at all, so there’s no need for you to be scared any more!”

“Oh, I see,” said Yoshio, though it wasn’t clear if he really understood or not.

Yoshio’s mother didn’t say anything, but she seemed to be feeling bad about the careless choice of words that had scared her son so much. And though Yoshio didn’t entirely understand what had just happened, he did at least understand that there was no woman in the bathroom to be afraid of. So from that day on, he was always able to go to the toilet all by himself, even in the middle of the night, and he never wet his bed again. As for Masako, she was surprised at how well she’d been able to help Yoshio overcome his fear. Now she felt even more determined to conquer her own.

When Masako sat down and thought about it, the Prajna mask wasn’t the only thing she was afraid of. She was also pretty scared of heights. To be fair, quite a lot of people are scared of heights. But in Masako’s case, the fear was a bit more extreme. Even if she had a really firm grip on the handrail, she could never bring herself to look down whenever she was standing somewhere high up. She’d certainly tried on many occasions to have a look at the ground far below. But somehow she was scared that if she did, then she might suddenly feel a strange and sudden urge to climb over the rail and step off. And just the thought of that made her want to scream. There were also many cases where she was too afraid to even grab hold of the handrail. After all, what if the part she was holding on to suddenly were to break off and send her plummeting face down to the ground below?