Yasutaka Tsutsui - The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

“No way!”

“It’s easy to say that. But we won’t know for sure until tonight. So why don’t we just wait until tonight and see what happens? If nothing happens, then you can do as you wish. You can call the mental institution first thing in the morning if you like.”

“I guess…” agreed Goro, reluctantly.

When she got home from Kazuo’s place, Kazuko couldn’t think of anything else, and she certainly had no appetite for dinner. After all, the food was exactly the same as the night before, as was the conversation between her mother and younger sisters.

It’s just like we’re all acting in a play! she thought to herself.

Kazuko couldn’t bring herself to do her homework either. She’d already done it the night before, but once again those pages of her notebook were blank. If she really tried, she was sure she could remember her work and write it out again. But she just couldn’t bring herself to do that. Instead she decided to get into bed and get some much-needed sleep. But sleep isn’t so easy to come by when you’re expecting an earthquake later on. So instead she stretched across the bed and grabbed a study guide for her high-school entrance exams. At least her time-travelling might help her prepare for that, since she’d already gained an extra day.

Before she knew it, Kazuko had dozed off with the book on her face. Then came a low, thundering sound followed by a violent shaking. It was the earthquake!

“I knew it!” shrieked Kazuko, jumping out of bed and into the hallway, where her sisters and mother were already scurrying around in fear.

“There’s no need to be scared!” called Kazuko. “It’s not a big earthquake!”

Once Kazuko had managed to calm her sisters and her mother down, she put on her shoes and headed off for Goro’s house. The fire from the bathhouse would be starting about now, and if she hurried she might be able to let people know before any serious damage was done. She even thought about shouting Fire! Fire! But there was a chance that people might think she was just exaggerating.

Unlike the way she’d remembered it, there was nobody to be seen when she reached the bathhouse. But she could clearly see smoke rising from the edges of the back door as well as the occasional red spark. She thought about shouting out Fire! But instead she held her breath. After all, if Goro hadn’t believed her story, then it might not look good in his eyes if she were to be the first on the scene. He might think she’d started it herself to make her story seem true. Then she’d be branded an arsonist, and the police would come to take her away. It was a thought that made her body shiver. But what could she do instead? Surely she couldn’t just stand there idly and watch the flames spread.

At that moment Shin, a young employee from the local rice shop, stepped out of the bathhouse with his bath bag in hand. He’d noticed the smoke and sparks, gathered his things quickly together and come outside to spread the news with his famously loud voice.

“Fire!” he called out. “There’s a fire!”

And in an instant, doors and shutters seemed to open everywhere, and people spilt out onto the street.

“Someone call the fire department!”

“They just went to do that.”

“Where is the fire?”

“It’s in the kitchen in the bathhouse!”

A few minutes later the fire trucks arrived on the scene, followed by the police, who immediately began herding the onlookers.

“Kazuko!” came Goro’s voice through the crowds. “You were right. Your prediction came true!” he said, running towards her with an unusually pale face.

“So Kazuko was right after all,” said Kazuo, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and was now standing behind her with a similarly pale face.

“Kazuo!” said Kazuko, turning to see her friend. “Wait a minute. I thought you said you didn’t own any pyjamas!”

“Well I didn’t then,” answered Kazuo. “I used to just sleep in my underwear. But when I got home my mother had bought me these ones.”

“So Kazuko really does have the power to predict the future!” said Goro with a hint of admiration.

“Not predicting the future,” said Kazuko. “It’s something stranger than that.”

“What do you mean?” said Goro.

“I’m not predicting the future. I’m jumping back through time. But I can never be sure when it might happen. And if I jump back again, I’m going to have to convince you both all over again.”

“You don’t have to worry about that any more,” said Goro, shaking his head vigorously with his eyes wide-open. “I already believe in your powers.”

Kazuo burst out laughing. “But if this was today or yesterday afternoon, you wouldn’t have believed it. No matter how much she explained.”

Goro made a sour face.

“Well, yeah… I guess you’re right…”

Although Kazuko found Goro’s confusion amusing, she didn’t feel like laughing.

“This is horrible,” she said. “There must be some way for things to become normal again!”

“But that special power…” said Goro, turning to Kazuo. “What’s it called again?”

“Teleportation,” said Kazuo, in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Yes, teleportation. That’s a special power!”

“That’s true, Goro,” replied Kazuko. “But I don’t like the fact that I’m the only person who seems to have this power. Even you are looking at me differently now because of it — like you don’t think I’m human any more.”

“Now you’re just being paranoid,” said Kazuo, smiling.

“But I’m right, aren’t I? Once people find out about this, nobody will ever treat me like a normal person again!”

“Now hold on a minute!” said Kazuo, trying to calm the situation. “We still don’t know if you really do have such powers. I mean, you’ve only gone back in time once, right? It could have been a random and isolated happening. Or maybe you did have a special power, but now you’ve used it all up in one go!”

“You could be right, I guess. But I still feel uncomfortable not knowing whether it could happen again at any moment.”

As the last of the flames were extinguished and the last of the onlookers turned and made their way home, Ka-zuko and her two friends decided it would be better to talk about everything in the morning, so they went back home to bed. Kazuko tried hard to fall asleep, but her mind was racing with questions. Should she confide in a teacher? And if so, which teacher? Would any of them take her seriously? Or would they just laugh? Eventually her mind grew tired, and she dozed off without noticing. And when she awoke, the morning light was streaming into the room casting lacy patterns on the floor. Oh no! she thought to herself as she scrambled out of bed. Today is Wednesday the nineteenth! The day she and Goro were nearly hit by a truck! Why didn’t I think to warn Goro last night! How could I forget until now!

Looking at the clock, she decided there was still time to do something. So she threw on her clothes, gulped down her breakfast and sprinted out of the house.

When she arrived at the zebra crossing, Kazuko let out a sigh of relief. Goro hadn’t arrived yet, so she could stand there and wait for him. But it wasn’t going to be that simple. As she stood there even for a few moments, she could see her classmates passing her, wondering why she wasn’t heading for school too. And what if anyone asked her? What would she say she was doing? She couldn’t tell them she was waiting to save Goro from being flattened by a speeding truck. They’d think she’d done too much studying for her entrance exams and driven herself crazy in the process.