The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

by Tsutsui, Yasutaka

Kazuko fell silent, lost in thought. That’s right! she thought. If I can prevent that person from making the chemical, maybe I can make everything go back to normal.

  “The biggest problem here is...” Kazuo said thoughtfully, “how are we going to make Kazuko leap back in time?”

  Mr Fukushima reflected on this for a moment. “Kazuko, can you remember what you were thinking and feeling when the truck was about to hit you?”

  “I’m afraid not,” Kazuko said with a sad expression, shaking her head. “I don’t think I’d have any idea unless I was in a similar situation again.”

  “I totally understand,” said Goro, feeling a slight shiver as he remembered the accident in the morning. “And we can’t put Kazuko in such a dangerous situation again...”

  “Okay. I will think of a way,” said Mr Fukushima as he got to his feet.

  When they looked around, they realized that all the other teachers had already gone home and the staff room was now empty.

  “You guys are going home, right? Should we walk out together?”

  The three of them left the school with Mr Fukushima. As they stepped out and walked home along the edge of a building site, the cold wind blew gusts at them as they passed gaps in its large boarding fence.

  “If I were to go back four days, would you all be willing to help me?”

  “I’d say yes,” replied Kazuo, “but I can’t promise anything. I didn’t know about anything mysterious four days ago. So if you’d told me anything then, I’m afraid I probably wouldn’t have believed you.”

  “And I might be even more sceptical,” added Goro.

  “So you’re saying I need to work out this problem all on my own?”

  But before anyone could answer, Mr Fukushima ran off the pavement and shouted, “Run! There’s a steel beam falling!”

  Only two or three days ago, at this precise location, a piece of lumber had fallen onto the pavement injuring several people. Kazuo and Goro screamed and followed Mr Fukushima, but Kazuko remained rooted to the spot in terror. I’m going to be crushed to death! she thought. And the moment that thought came to her mind, a strange feeling engulfed her.

  ALONE IN THE CITY AT NIGHT

  Kazuko felt her body lift lightly in the air, as if picked up by some large invisible being. I need to move! she thought. Got to get away before I’m crushed!

  It was almost as if her sheer need to be somewhere else had actually made her body become weightless. What’s more, Kazuko’s vision suddenly darkened, her ears rang, and then finally... there was silence.

  When Kazuko regained consciousness, it was already midnight. Stars sparkled in the night sky. But only a little while earlier, she remembered seeing the late afternoon sun as it tinged the buildings a blushing red.

  “Mr Fukushima!” called out Kazuko. She was about to call for Kazuo and Goro too, but instead she noticed that she was now all alone. She was standing on the road, right where she’d wanted to be to escape the falling beam. But when she turned back to the pavement, the beam was nowhere to be seen.

  Kazuko gasped and covered her face with both hands. She glanced along the road that had been teeming with traffic and pedestrians just moments earlier, but there were no cars and no people any more. So it really was late after all, and she really was all alone – just Kazuko on a dreary street corner at midnight. Then it all started to make sense to her. A-ha! she thought. I must have leapt through time. That would explain everything!

  As she stood there clutching her bag in the freezing night air, she wondered if there had even been a falling beam at all. Perhaps Mr Fukushima had just said that to see if it would make her time-leap. If that was his plan, then it must have worked. But how far in time had she leapt? What time was it now? Was it a different day? Or had she gone back more than a day?

  Kazuko thought hard for several minutes, then she had an idea. She pulled out the notebook she always used in class and wondered if it might answer her questions. As she flipped through the pages, she noticed that all the notes she’d taken that day were already gone, and so were her notes from yesterday, which meant that she had travelled back two days to either the night of Monday the seventeenth or the early morning on Tuesday the eighteenth. Judging by the biting cold of the air, Kazuko felt pretty sure it was early on Tuesday morning.

  In that case, I should be fast asleep in my bed at this very moment, thought Kazuko. But then, she thought, I’m standing here. So if I’m here now, does that mean there’s another me asleep in my bed?

  Kazuko shook her head vigorously. So many unbelievable things had happened to her since just the other day that it was difficult to take everything in. And if there was another Kazuko asleep at her house right now, then where should the time-leaping Kazuko go? It was all so very confusing, and Kazuko hadn’t a clue what to do. If she tried to stay out all night, then surely she’d freeze to death. Or what if a patrolling policeman came across her? He’d think she was a runaway, and probably insist on taking her to the station. So what on earth should she do? Without making any clear decision, Kazuko simply started wandering in the direction of her house.

  I could at least try going home, she thought to herself. Maybe I could peek through the window first. It would be extremely scary, of course, to see myself asleep in my own bed. But I have to know!

  Kazuko plodded along, shivering, until she arrived at her doorstep. Unsurprisingly, the front door was locked, so she opened the gate at the side of the house and made her way to the back instead. Quietly and carefully, she approached her window, worrying all the while that someone might see her and think she was a burglar. But luckily, there were no policemen around and no dogs to bark at her either. So, slowly, she pressed her face against the glass and peered into her room, looking first to her night-light, that lent a comforting glow to the room, and then slowly trailing her eyes to the bed.

  A JOURNEY BEYOND YESTERDAY

  When she saw that there was nobody in her bed, Ka-zuko let out a big sigh of relief. But on the other hand, the bed did look quite untidy – as if someone had been sleeping in it just moments earlier. As her relief subsided, she realized that she had yet another problem to deal with. Her window was locked from the inside, as was the front door and the door to the kitchen, so there was no way for her to get back inside the house. She’d always felt safe, knowing her mother was so cautious. But now that she was standing on the other side, the feeling was quite different.

  But what should I do? she thought to herself. I can’t possibly ring the doorbell at this hour and have my mother come to the door. After all, I was supposed to be in bed hours ago!

  By now, Kazuko’s legs were shaking, and her teeth were chattering. Inside the house, her room looked so cosy and warm, with a plume of steam coming from a little kettle placed on top of the heater and the windows fogging with condensation inside. If I don’t get inside soon, she thought, I’m going to freeze to death out here!

  At that very moment, Kazuko felt her body lift in the air. It was the same strange feeling she’d felt earlier at the construction site, only this time she’d made it happen herself. With her own will. Her own power of thought. I did it! she thought. I’m about to leap!

  As the strange floating sensation grew stronger, Kazuko did her best to keep her mind focused on the inside of her room. Then suddenly, just like before, everything went dark and her ears began to ring.

  The very next moment, Kazuko saw a bright light that somehow made her feel dizzy. Then, as the intensity of the light faded, she found herself standing inside her room in the bright afternoon sunlight.

  “It’s the afternoon!” Kazuko yelped in surprise. “And I can time-leap! All by myself! Without anyone’s help!”

  Having yelled all that out of sheer happiness, Kazuko came to her senses and covered her mouth.

  How stupid am I? she thought. It would be a disaster if Mother heard me! Besides, I don’t even know what time of day it is right now! I don’t even know if it’s morning or afternoon... or if I’m still s
upposed to be at school... Mother will be so mad at me!

  Kazuko stopped panicking and listened carefully. There was not a sound in the house, so maybe Kazuko’s mother and younger sisters were all out. Or had she leapt to yet a different day again? Quickly, she reached once more inside her bag for her notebook. But when she opened it, she saw there were no new notes since Friday the fourteenth, and all the pages after that were blank.

  So that means it’s now Friday afternoon, thought Kazuko to herself. That means I jumped three days into the past this time. But can I really assume it’s Friday? It could even be Saturday. After all, I’m here at home now, so I might have missed my Saturday morning class.

  “Oh my gosh,” said Kazuko to herself. “How can I figure this out?”

  She glanced around the room, but there was no clock and no calendar to give her a clue, so instead she sneaked out into the hallway. Please be empty! she prayed to herself as she approached the living room.

  As slowly and carefully as she could, Kazuko slid open the wooden door with its panels made of paper. Luckily there was nobody there. But there was a clock showing the time as 10:30.

  10:30 a.m.! she thought. That’s in the middle of the third period! And with not a moment to lose, she dashed back to her room and grabbed her bag. It was Saturday morning after all, and she simply had to get to school! Because it wasn’t just any Saturday morning. This was the Saturday on which she’d stayed behind after class. The same Saturday when she’d caught a glimpse of that mysterious figure and all this mess had begun. So she had to make sure she was back in the science lab at the right moment and face that person before he or she could disappear again.

  BACK TO THE LAB

  Kazuko arrived at school during the ten-minute break between the third and fourth periods. She felt slightly relieved: if she was careful, she wouldn’t have to explain her absence to the teacher. She might just be able to walk back in with the other students and act as if nothing had happened. But the moment she walked back in with her classmates, her plan fell to pieces.

  All of a sudden, her classmates ran to gather around her with surprised faces.

  “Kazuko!” said Mariko. “Where have you been?”

  “What do you mean, where?” Kazuko asked.

  Mariko’s voice turned into a high-pitched screech.

  “This is no time for kidding around! You just disappeared, right in the middle of the third period!”

  “Disappeared?”

  “That’s right,” added Goro, who was standing at her side. “You sneaking out like that got everyone worried. I mean, no one even saw you leave the room. Even the teacher up front didn’t see you stand up, and no one heard the door open.”

  “That’s right,” Mariko screeched again. “Even I didn’t notice you leave, and I was sitting next to you!”

  Kazuo, with his usual dazed look, also joined the conversation.

  “It’s almost as if Kazuko used magic! You disappeared, just like smoke!”

  Kazuko struggled to piece together what it could all mean. She’d wondered earlier on if there might be a problem of there being two Kazukos if she jumped back in time. So perhaps what they were talking about explained how the problem gets resolved. Could it be that every leap back in time triggers the disappearance of herself from that particular present time? That would explain why the Kazuko everyone was worrying about had disappeared at probably the same moment the future Kazuko had appeared back in her bedroom. But how on earth was she going to explain that to her friends? It wasn’t until days later that she explained everything to them, so there was no way she could expect them to believe her at this moment.

  “So, where were you?” Mariko shrieked hysterically yet again, frustrated that something so strange could happen right next to her without her even noticing.

  “I didn’t feel well, so I went to the bathroom,” offered Kazuko.

  “To the bathroom? With your bag?” Mariko wasn’t having any of it, and her eyes remained fixed on Ka-zuko’s bag, which she was clutching tightly to her chest.

  Fortunately at that moment the teacher, Mr Komat-su, entered the room and all the students immediately stopped talking and dashed back to their seats. Kazuko also took her seat and got out her textbook and notebook from her bag – ready to take notes from a class that she’d already sat through once in the past.

  By the time the class was over, Kazuko was very relieved to find that her classmates had pretty much lost interest in questioning her about her disappearance. Then, just like before, Kazuko was asked by Mr Fukushima to clean the science lab with Goro and Kazuo.

  By the time they finished cleaning, the school had emptied out, and all was silent apart from the occasional sound of a door slamming shut here and there and the distant sound of someone playing Chopin’s ‘Polonaise’ on the piano in the auditorium.

  “That’s good enough,” said Kazuko. “I’ll take out the trash. You boys can go wash your hands.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  Kazuo and Goro left for the lavatories together, and as soon as they were gone, Kazuko went into the small science lab.

  Goro and Kazuo were washing their hands in the sink, talking.

  “Kazuko’s cute, and she’s nice, too. But she can be a little overbearing at times, can’t she.”

  “Oh yeah?” said Kazuo, who had been miles away again. “What makes you say that?”

  “Don’t you think she can be overbearing?” said Goro, puffing up his chest to match his face, which was always rather red and puffy. “She treats us like we’re kids. Come on. You boys can go and wash your hands, she says.”

  Meanwhile, Kazuko was hiding behind the partition in the science lab, waiting for the mysterious person to arrive. Her heart was pounding.

  It’s nearly time! she thought. I need to hold my ground! Kazuko puffed up her chest and flexed the muscles in her arms and legs. Just then, the door to the science lab opened, and someone stepped in slowly.

  This is him... thought Kazuko.

  IDENTIFYING THE INTRUDER

  Kazuko thought she would be able to remain out of the enemy’s sight for a while. But maybe she was being a bit hasty by thinking of him as the enemy. After all, she had no reason to believe that he meant her any harm. Come to think of it, she had no reason to believe it was a he! It could just as easily be a girl! But whoever it was, that person had caused a lot of difficulty for Kazuko, and she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

  Only moments later, the shadowy figure walked over to the chemicals cabinet, where he or she began rummaging through its contents. Kazuko then heard the clatter of chemical bottles and test tubes being lined up on the desk.

  If I can just stay out of sight a little longer, thought Kazuko, that person will begin making the strange chemical concoction again. Then I’ll step out of the shadows and catch the intruder red-handed!

  But in reality, Kazuko was too scared to do anything like that. What if that person was violent? What if that person decided to attack her to protect his or her secret? After all, she was only a girl. What hope did she have of protecting herself? If only she’d asked one of her friends to accompany her... But it was too late. And what was the point – she knew they wouldn’t have believed her anyway! There was no choice. She’d simply have to face the intruder by herself. But what sort of a person could it be? She knew that the intruder was capable of giving her superhuman powers. So was that person a genius? A lunatic? Or even a monster? She didn’t like her new-found powers, and she really didn’t want her friends to think she was any different to anybody else. So she needed to look this person in the face and demand that she be made normal again. And if that didn’t work, then maybe she’d have to trick or threaten that person into making her normal again But what would she do if the intruder didn’t want to or was unable to do what she wanted? What would she do then! Kazuko began to worry.

  Getting a grip on herself, Kazuko remained silent and listened to the sound of chemicals being mixed.

 
This is the moment to make my move! she thought to herself. But her legs felt like jelly, and she couldn’t get them to work. What am I waiting for! I’ve gone through so much trouble to be here, and if I don’t do something, then it will all have been for nothing!

  You’re a coward, Kazuko!

  Then suddenly there came a voice: “Okay, Kazuko. You can come out now. I’ve known all along that you were hiding there.”

  It was a voice Kazuko knew well. The voice of someone close to her. Surely, it couldn’t be him!

  Kazuko gingerly stepped away from the partition to find the intruder standing by the chemicals cabinet, smiling at her.

  “Kazuo!” screamed Kazuko in both surprise and relief as her friend stood before her with his usual daydreaming expression.

  Was he really the one she was after? Could it really be that Kazuo – who’d been with her through this whole thing – was the intruder? Kazuko found it hard to believe. But she knew she had to, and that it would be better if she could hear it directly from him.

  “So it was you? You made that odd chemical and gave me these strange powers?” said Kazuko, doing

  her best to suppress her anger. He was supposed to be her friend, but he’d been watching her suffer all along without ever saying a word!

  “Yes, that’s right. But I didn’t do it to cause you trouble. It was just a coincidence that you came to have those powers. I didn’t mean for it to happen. There’s a reason why I didn’t tell you before. I was trying to protect you. I just hope you can believe me!”

  “But, but...” Kazuko was suddenly lost for words.

  There were so many questions, so many things she wanted to say. “I just can’t believe it. Why would you...”

  Kazuo wore a smile of pity on his face, and Kazuko was surprised to see there was something a little more mature about him. Not like when some of the students pretend to be grown-ups, but a genuine maturity. The person standing in front of her was no longer a boy – at least not like the rest of the kids at school.