Yasutaka Tsutsui - The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

It’s just like yesterday all over again! she thought to herself. Could it be possible that the teacher would call on her again too?

“Kazuko. Can you come up and solve this problem?”

“Ye-yes,” stammered Kazuko as she stumbled to her feet.

Taking a piece of chalk from Mr Komatsu’s outstretched hand, she desperately wrote out the answer she remembered from the day before for all to see. Maybe this is the dream! She thought. Maybe everything else was real — the earthquake, the fire and the truck. Maybe it was just this part now that was the nightmare!

“Impressive,” said Mr Komatsu, blinking in surprise. “You seemed to breeze through that one.”

Kazuko bowed to Mr Komatsu, returned to her seat and leant in close to Mariko.

“Mariko.”

“Yes?”

“Today is Wednesday the nineteenth, right?”

“Let me see.” Mariko thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. “No, it’s Tuesday the eighteenth.”

Kazuko couldn’t concentrate on anything for the rest of the day, and the more she tried to understand what was going on, the more confused she became. Had time just slipped back by one day? No, surely that couldn’t be! After all, nobody else seemed to have noticed. So did that mean that only Kazuko had gone back one day in time? It would explain a lot of things. But how and why on earth would such a thing happen? Then suddenly, her mind became clear.

Oh no! she thought to herself. If today really is yesterday, the eighteenth, then doesn’t that mean that the earthquake is going to strike tonight? As well as the fire that threatened to destroy Goro’s house! Kazuko’s mind was racing, and she pushed away her homework half-done. Then again, she’d already done that homework once, hadn’t she? And what did it matter anyway? Surely homework was the least of her problems right now!

Kazuko left the house with no destination in mind, but she was dying to tell someone. At first, she thought about visiting Goro. But then, Goro could be easily scared and was sometimes rash in his behaviour. Perhaps it would be better to visit Kazuo instead? Sure, he came across at times as being a bit spaced out. But underneath it all, Kazuo was really rather smart. So off she went.

It didn’t take long for Kazuko to get to Kazuo’s fashionable western-style house, with its garden on the right-hand side of the door and its greenhouse full of unusual flowers that always seemed to be in bloom. She took a breath and smelled something sweet. It was the unmistakable scent of lavender!

“That’s the scent,” said Kazuko to herself as she filled her lungs with air. The flowers all belonged to Kazuo’s father, and Kazuko remembered how he’d once shown her all the different kinds he was growing. She remembered he’d told her that lavenders belong to the Lamiaceae family, and that they are green all year round. She also remembered that the plant was originally from southern Europe, where its unique scent had made it popular as an ingredient in perfume.

As she stood on the doorstep waiting for someone to answer the door, Kazuo’s window opened, and both Kazuo and Goro poked their heads out.

“Look, it’s Kazuko!” said Goro.

“Hey Kazuko!” said Kazuo, “come on up, there’s nobody home!”

Kazuko nodded, stepped inside and made her way over to Kazuo’s room.

“Is everything alright?” asked Kazuo.

“If there’s something bothering you, I’ll be willing to help!” added Goro, doing his best to affect a masculine nod.

“Well, yes there is something I’d like to tell you,” said Kazuko, taking a seat in front of them.

“Whatever it is, it seems very formal!” said Goro, his back straightening in anticipation.

Kazuko was still not entirely sure she was ready to talk about what was happening. Would they believe her if she did? Probably not. But then, she was getting nowhere trying to think about it all by herself. So she decided to tell them anyway.

“Okay, now, I have something to tell you that is very difficult to believe. So it’s hard for me to tell you. But please try to listen to me until the end of my story. And please try not to laugh!”

Kazuko started with the earthquake the night before and ended with what happened in the classroom earlier on. And although she’d expected her friends to giggle all the way through, they sat there listening attentively with bated breath until the very end.

“There,” said Kazuko. “That’s what I wanted to tell you. I don’t care if you believe me or not. I probably wouldn’t, if someone else was telling me. But I really did experience everything I just told you. It wasn’t a dream. I’m sure of it!”

Kazuo and Goro appeared to be lost in their own thoughts, and Kazuo in particular seemed to be taking this far too seriously to just brush it off as nonsense.

“I really want to believe it,” said Goro, breaking the silence. “I want to believe it because it’s coming from you, Kazuko. But I can’t help but feel there must be some sort of misunderstanding.”

“I expected as much,” said Kazuko to herself.

“Kazuko!” pleaded Goro, his face turning redder by the minute. “You know what I mean, don’t you? I mean, for a whole day to just rewind on itself…”

“Wait a second, Goro,” interrupted Kazuo. “Maybe you have some sort of special power!”

“What do you mean, special power?”

“Well, I don’t know much about it, but I remember reading somewhere that there are some special people who have the power to transport themselves to other places in the world, just by thinking about it. It’s called teleportation. So when the truck was about to hit you, you might have used some power like that to move through time and space — even without knowing it!”

“What? No way! That’s ridiculous!” Goro shook his head violently. “That’s impossible! So unscientific! It goes against all common sense!”

“But things happen all the time that can’t be explained by common sense.”

“But there’s no evidence, Kazuo!” shouted Goro, annoyed. “Can you prove any of it?”

“I can!” shouted Kazuko in response. “We’ll just wait and see if there’s an earthquake tonight, and if your house ends up being threatened by fire.”

“How can you say such a thing!” shouted Goro, now scarlet with anger.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” said Kazuko. “But this is the only way to find out if there’s any truth to this.”

“Of course it isn’t true!” said Goro, storming out of the room.

“Now I’ve made him angry,” said Kazuko to Kazuo.

“What should I do?”

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” said Kazuo, frowning. “He’s not a bad guy, but he needs to learn to control his temper. Besides, you’re right. It’s the only chance we have for finding out what’s happening.”

After several minutes had passed, Goro still hadn’t returned. So Kazuo stepped out of the room, only to find him leafing through the phone book in the hallway.

“What are you doing?” Kazuo asked.

“Looking for a mental hospital,” Goro replied.

“Don’t be so nasty to Kazuko!” shouted Kazuo. “Would you really consider having one of your best friends locked up in a lunatic asylum?”

“But…” said Goro angrily, “she’s already starting to go mad. If we don’t get her to a doctor soon, she might go completely nuts!”

“And you can prove that she’s mentally sick, can you?”

“I don’t have to. Her absurd story is proof enough!”

“But what if it is true? If there really is an earthquake and a fire tonight?”