The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (8 page)

I remember this scent, she would think to herself. So sweet, so nostalgic. I smelt this somewhere before. But where?

She could see the name Fukamachi on a shiny name-plate by the door of the house, but it was a name that meant nothing to Kazuko. And at that moment, in her heart, she began to dream of meeting someone. Someone special who would one day walk into her life. Someone she would instantly feel she had known for years. Someone who would feel the same about her.

Masako was in the same class as Bunichi Morimoto again. They’d been in the same classes all the way through primary school, but had been placed in different ones the previous year, when they started secondary school. Bunichi had grown quite a lot in that past year, and now Masako only came up to his shoulders, so sometimes felt a little awkward standing next to him. But they were good friends who always spent their breaks working on their homework together. Their classmates teased them about this, but they didn’t let it bother them.

One day, towards the end of summer, Masako was packing her books into her bag when Bunichi came up to her and asked, “Are you going to volleyball practice today?”

“No, I’m going home. I have way too much homework.”

“We can go home together then, if you like,” said Bunichi. “But won’t your team-mates be upset that you skipped practice?”

“They won’t mind. I’m too short to get much time on the court anyway, so I think it’s okay to slack off a little from time to time.”

And with that, the two of them walked out of the school gates side by side and onto the street, to where the sycamore leaves were already turning yellow and a cool breeze danced around them.

“Bunichi?” said Masako in the tone she reserved for asking favours. “Do you think you could help me with today’s math homework?”

“Yeah, sure. Why don’t you come over to my house?”

“No way!” cried out Masako, surprising even herself.
It simply wasn’t like her to react that way.

“There’s no need to shout. I mean, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

“I’m sorry,” said Masako, feeling bad. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“You’re a strange one sometimes, Masako.”

As they carried on walking, Masako wondered why she’d shouted like that. Was it that she really didn’t want to go to Bunichi’s house? There wasn’t any reason for her to feel that way after all. So instead she searched her mind for an explanation and started to think of Bunichi’s young and pretty mother, whom she hadn’t seen in a while.

“I just... didn’t want to disturb your mother,” offered Masako.

“Oh, is that what you were worried about? That’s so not like you!” said Bunichi, laughing. There wasn’t much you could do to dampen Bunichi’s spirits, and that was one of the things Masako liked about him.

“All right then,” said Masako, “I guess I could stop by just for a little bit.”

“Great!”

When they arrived, Bunichi’s mother seemed a little surprised to see Masako.

“Why, Masako, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? I haven’t seen you since your primary-school graduation ceremony!”

“Yes, it has been a while,” said Masako, doing her best to sound older than she was.

“You’re so tanned, and you haven’t grown one bit!”

“Hey! I’m kind of self-conscious about my height, you know!” said Masako in a sulky tone.

Bunichi’s mother laughed. “I’m sorry. It’s just that Bunichi has grown so much this past year, so it’s a little funny to see you haven’t changed at all.”

“Come on, let’s go up to my room,” said Bunichi impatiently.

As Masako followed Bunichi to his room, his mother called out from behind them. “And try not to faint this time, Masako!”

“Faint?” said Masako, turning around. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t you remember? Last time you went into Bunichi’s room, something startled you and you fainted.”

That’s right,
thought Masako. She had seen something terrifying in Bunichi’s room. But what was it that had scared her so much that she’d fainted?

“You know, I really don’t remember what it was that startled me so badly.”

“Maybe it was so scary that you erased it from your memory,” said Bunichi’s mother, laughing. “That’s not so unusual, you know.”

When Masako heard that, it made her not want to go into Bunichi’s room.

“Bunichi?” she said. “That scary thing... is it still there?”

“Yeah, sure it is. Come up and see,” he replied with a smirk on his face.

“No way!”

“Okay, then you wait here. I’ll go ahead and put it away.”

“Do you remember what it was?” Masako turned to Bunichi’s mother, who was now pouring tea for them.

“Well,” said Bunichi’s mother, looking a little unsure. “I didn’t really pay so much attention to what it was that scared you. My main concern was that you had fainted. I do recall that it was actually something quite silly, though.”

“Masako!” called out Bunichi. “You can come in now.”

“Are you sure you’ve put it away?” asked Masako as she anxiously approached the door.

“Yeah, it’s fine. You can come in now.”

Slowly and cautiously, Masako stepped into Bunichi’s room. And as soon as she did, out jumped Bunichi from behind the door with a mask on his face! It was a “Prajna” mask from one of the stories Bunichi liked, with hollow eyes, a gaping bright-red mouth and an expression so fierce it could only belong to a creature from another world.

Masako let out a scream, pushed Bunichi out of her way and ran right past his mother and out of the front door – without even stopping to put on her shoes. She felt as if her heart might jump out of her mouth at any moment, and she didn’t stop until she was a good ten metres away from the house, where she squatted down on the pavement and tried to catch her breath. Now she remembered all too well. That was the same stupid mask that had terrified her the last time! And how nasty was it of Bunichi to scare her like that! Perhaps he thought it was funny. Well, it most certainly was not! He should know how frightened she was of that mask!

“That’s it,” said Mariko to herself as her eyes became red, more from anger than fear. “I don’t need his help with my homework any more. I’m never going to hang out with him ever again.”

Mariko stood up and looked around. The street was completely empty, except for a single black cat that was sitting next to the mailbox. She wished she could just go home. But first she needed her shoes, so reluctantly she went back to Bunichi’s house, and as she entered she heard Bunichi being scolded by his mother.

“What were you thinking!? Masako is a girl! That was way out of line, young man!”

“But...” Bunichi stammered. “I didn’t think it would scare her so much. I mean, she’s not a kid any more. If anything, I thought I would get a laugh out of her...”

Bunichi sounded genuinely confused and concerned.

“Stop making excuses and go look for her. Now!” his mother shouted.

“It’s okay, I’m right here,” said Masako, feeling a little sorry for him.

Both Bunichi and his mother hurried towards her, apologizing profusely as they came, and Masako started to feel a little embarrassed for making such a big deal over a small thing. As an apology, Bunichi offered to break his piggy bank and use the proceeds to take her to a movie on Sunday. Masako was happy and ready to accept his apology, but she thought she’d better stay in a sulk for just a little while longer. After all, if she went back to her usual mood too quickly, then Bunichi might tease her about the whole thing.

Several days had passed since the incident with the Prajna mask at Bunichi’s house, but Masako couldn’t stop thinking about it. The mask was certainly scary, no question about it. But it was just a mask after all. So Masako couldn’t quite understand why she’d reacted in such an extreme manner.
What’s so scary about a stupid mask? she thought to herself. Surely there must be a reason. Or could it be that I’m just more easily scared than others?

As she mulled these thoughts over in her head, Masako remembered that Bunichi was afraid of something too. Spiders. Masako, on the other hand, had no problem with them.
I guess...
she pondered,
different people are just scared of different things.
But still, there was something about the incident with the mask that continued to bother her.

Thinking back to her first year of secondary school, Masako remembered a time when she’d had to draw a Prajna mask for art class. When she’d first seen the mask, she’d felt a shiver go down her spine, but she’d soon got used to it. So it seemed it was only scary to her now when it suddenly appeared in front of her. Perhaps it wouldn’t be scary any more if she were to look at it for long enough. It also occurred to her, for the first time, that maybe the reason she didn’t like art class was the fact that the walls of the art room were decorated with Prajna masks. She’d loved art class in primary school, after all. But in secondary school, she hadn’t even bothered to join the art club. Instead, she’d decided to join the volleyball club, even though she wasn’t any good at it. Perhaps there was something more to her feelings about the Prajna mask. Could it be that she’d had some terrible experience with a Prajna mask some time ago? An experience she could no longer remember?

When it came to being easily scared, nobody was more easily scared than Masako’s younger brother, Yoshio. He was almost five years old, but still he kept wetting his bed because he couldn’t go to the toilet on his own at night – no matter how many times his parents told him off for it. Masako felt sorry for him, not only because he was always being told off by their parents, but also because his classmates had started to tease him and call him “bed-wetter”. If only there was something she could do to help him stop wetting the bed! Several months earlier she had even asked Yoshio about it.

“Hey, Yoshio,” she’d said. “Why is it you’re so scared of going to the toilet?”

“Because it’s so far from where I sleep,” Yoshio had replied.

Yoshio did have a point. After all, they lived in a relatively large house, and the hallway leading to the bathroom was really quite long.

“And it’s dark,” Yoshio had added. “And there’s something there too.”

“What do you mean ‘something’? Do you mean a ghost?”

“No, nothing like that.”

“What then?”

“Something scary.”

“Is it a person?”

“Yeah.”

“A spirit of some kind?”

“No, not a spirit. It’s a woman.”

“Why would a woman scare you?”

“Because her hair is all messy and her face is pale and scary.”

“It must be a spirit of some kind then.”

“It’s not.”

“Well how do you know it’s not a spirit?”

“I don’t know
how
I know! I just know that it isn’t.”

“And this woman is in the hallway?”

“No, she’s inside the bathroom. When I open the bathroom door, she’s always standing there with a pair of scissors in her hand.”

Yoshio looked genuinely terrified as he explained this to Masako.

“Why does she have a pair of scissors on her?”

“I don’t know.”

Now Masako was starting to feel a bit scared, too. She imagined this woman with crazy hair and a pale face, with the eyes of a fox and with a pair of scissors in her hand. Surely there was no way Yoshio could have imagined all that by himself. Somebody else must have told him to try and scare him.

“Who told you such a scary story?” Masako asked.

“Nobody,” said Yoshio, shaking his head.

“So you made it up yourself?”

“I’m not making it up! She’s really there!” Yoshio shouted, with tears welling up in his eyes.

Masako wondered if her mother or father might have told Yoshio such a story. First, she checked with her mother, but she knew nothing about it. Then, when Masako’s father came home from work, she asked him too.

“Why would I tell him such a silly story?” said her father, visibly upset.

That night, Masako woke up in the middle of the night with an idea. She got out of bed and went over to Yoshio.

“Wake up, Yoshio!” she whispered. “It’s time to go to the bathroom. If you don’t go now, you’ll wet the bed again. Come on! I’ll go with you!”

“No way,” said Yoshio, his eyes peeping out from under the covers, “I’m scared.”

“But there’s no need to be,” said Masako, reassuringly. “I’m telling you, there’s nobody in there.”

“Oh yes there will be,” said Yoshio. “She’ll be there.”

If you don’t go, you’ll wet the bed again. Come on, we have to go.”

The two of them got up and started walking down the long hallway towards the toilet. Masako was sure she could see Yoshio trembling.

“Yoshio, you really are a coward aren’t you? Stop shaking!” said Masako, laughing. But, inside, Masako was a little scared as well. What if there really was someone in the bathroom? What if there was someone wearing a Prajna mask? If there was, she would surely scream!

As they carried on down the hallway with its squeaky floorboards underfoot, Yoshio held Masako’s hand tight. His palm was now sweating and his body was trembling. When they finally reached the bathroom door, Yoshio squatted down on the floor and said, “I can’t do it. I’m scared!”

“It’s all right.” Masako reassured him, but her voice was quivering slightly too. So without saying another word, she gripped Yoshio’s hand tightly and slowly opened the bathroom door.

“You see?” said Masako. “There’s no one here.”

“That’s because you’re here,” said Yoshio. “If I was alone, then she’d be here.”

Masako wondered what she could do. How could she possibly convince her little brother that the woman in the bathroom didn’t exist? She couldn’t even convince herself that the stupid Prajna mask wasn’t scary! Perhaps she needed to find out the reason behind both of their fears. Perhaps then they would be able to overcome them.

The following Sunday, on the way home from the movies, Masako decided to ask Bunichi for advice.