The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

“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.

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.

THE CONSULTATION

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.