Yasutaka Tsutsui - The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

A few moments later, Mariko came along.

“Oh, Kazuko. Why are you standing here?”

Here we go! thought Kazuko to herself. “I’m waiting for Goro.”

As an explanation it was innocent enough. But Mariko chose to read a little more into it. Maybe it was because she’d always been a little jealous of Kazuko’s friendship with him and Kazuo.

“Ooh, waiting for Goro, are you?” said Mariko with a cheeky smile spreading across her face. “That’s interesting. I always thought you liked Kazuo more.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” said Kazuko, blushing. “It’s not like that at all.”

“It’s okay.” Mariko let out a high-pitched laugh and patted Kazuko on the shoulder. “There’s no need to hide your feelings. But you know Goro is always late. Careful you aren’t late too!”

Kazuko stomped in frustration as Mariko stepped out onto the zebra crossing. Then, just as the traffic light turned red, along came Goro dashing around the corner.

“Morning!” he said in between deep breaths. “Looks like we’re both running late, huh?”

I’m only running late because I was waiting for you! thought Kazuko to herself. There was no point in complaining to Goro now. The most important thing right now was for her make sure Goro stayed off the road until the traffic light turned green again.

“You know, most accidents happen when someone is running late,” said Kazuko.

“Don’t say that. You’ll put a jinx on us.”

“But it’s a fact.”

“Well, we don’t need your facts or your worrying maternal instincts right now, thank you.”

“Fair enough. Just don’t go jumping out into the street the moment the lights change.”

“Okay, okay!”

A few seconds later, the light changed, and Goro made an exaggerated look to the left and right before getting ready to step out.

“Wait!” screamed Kazuko.

Surely enough, a large truck was hurtling towards them from the other side of the intersection, and Goro jumped back in panic.

“Wow! What’s up with that truck!” said Goro incredulously, and the two of them stood transfixed as the truck careered past them and mounted the pavement, causing the screams of terrified pedestrians to fill the air.

From the crowd, a voice called out, “The driver’s asleep!”

Then, just a moment later, the truck slammed into a large trash bin on the street, sending it flying into a man walking nearby and knocking him to the ground. From there, the truck continued, sending a young housewife flying too, before finally smashing into the front of a store selling western clothes — hurling shards of broken glass in all directions. Once it came to a stop, Kazuko could see that the windscreen was broken, the front half of the truck was twisted beyond repair, and smoke was beginning to rise from the engine.

“Help!” Came a shout, as a middle-aged man came limping out of the shop — his clothes covered in blood and his face frozen in shock. Then came another voice — the scream of a woman from inside the shop. And as all of this unfolded before their eyes, Kazuko and Goro could do nothing but stand and watch.

Following the crash, the intersection descended into chaos. People from all over the neighbourhood were rushing to the scene, and the piercing sound of police and ambulance sirens grew louder and louder. More onlookers seemed to come from out of nowhere, and Kazuko and Goro remained where they stood in a daze.

Goro turned to Kazuko, his eyes wide with amazement. “So many weird things happen when you’re around.”

“How dare you say that!”

“What? Don’t get hysterical because of what just happened!”

“You don’t even know what just happened!”

Since Kazuko and Goro were now very late for class, they stopped their bickering and started to walk quickly. And as they went, Kazuko explained everything to Goro.

“So if I hadn’t hung around waiting for you. If I hadn’t stopped you, then both of us could have been—”

“Hit by that truck!” said Goro, jumping in to complete her sentence as a shiver ran down his spine.

“That’s right.”

When they eventually got to school, class had already begun.

“Ah, late together, eh?” said Mr Fukushima as the two of them walked sheepishly into the room, causing all their classmates to laugh. But when he saw how pale they both looked, he decided to stop teasing them and get back to teaching.

Goro and Kazuko quietly took their seats, but since their hearts were still racing they were in no mind to concentrate on their studies.

That’s it! thought Kazuko as she glared at the blackboard, I can ask Mr Fukushima about it. He’s been teaching me since the first year, he’s kind and he’s a science teacher, which could be handy for a problem like this. I’ll ask Goro and Kazuo to come with me and ask him.

Kazuko discussed the idea with her friends at break time and in the hallway between classes, attracting eyebrows raised in curiosity from Mariko and some of their other classmates. Then, after the day’s classes had finished, they nervously went to knock on the door of the staff room — hoping they could catch him out of earshot of the other teachers. Luckily, they found him sitting alone in the corner, so they crowded around him for a private discussion, with Kazuko speaking first.

“Mr Fukushima?”

Their teacher looked up in surprise and put down his science magazine.

“Ah, it’s you lot,” he said, cracking his characteristic smile. “Have you come to apologize for being late this morning?”

“Well, it does have something to do with being late,” said Kazuko. “But I also want to ask your advice.”

“Is that right? Well, take a seat.” Mr Fukushima casually dragged three chairs over and invited them to sit, then he lit a cigarette. “So, what’s this all about?”

Kazuo was the best at speaking, and his friends had agreed he should speak first. “Well first of all, it’s important for us to ask you to hear us out to the end without laughing. I say that because any normal person may well think our story sounds stupid or like a dream or make-believe, and so most people might just shrug it off. We weren’t even sure if we should tell anyone at all, but in the end we decided you might understand.”

“I see,” said Mr Fukushima, the smile disappearing from his face. “Seems like a complicated situation.”

“That’s right.”

“And you’ve come to me in confidence. Right. I will listen to the end without laughing.”

“Thank you,” said Kazuo with a relieved expression. “It’s actually about Kazuko here…” And so Kazuo began telling Kazuko’s incredible story.

When Kazuo finished his long monologue about what happened to Kazuko, Mr Fukushima heaved a sigh and remained lost in thought.

“Hmm. I see,” he said quietly.

Kazuko watched Mr Fukushima’s every move with pleading eyes and felt extremely impatient. Please believe us! she pleaded in her mind. If you don’t, there’s no one else we can turn to!

Goro couldn’t stand the silence any longer. “So Mr Fukushima, do you believe us?” he blurted out, his voice betraying his urgency.

Mr Fukushima looked at each of them slowly, then nodded slightly.

“Of course. I will believe you. I don’t think you three would go to the trouble of telling such a lie as a prank — and, besides, I can tell that something shocking has happened to Kazuko just by looking at your faces.”

Already, Kazuo and Goro began to feel a little relieved. As for Kazuko, she could hardly contain her happiness at the thought that Mr Fukushima was on their side.