Free The Girl Who Leapt Through Time by Yasutaka Tsutsui

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.

THE PRAJNA MASK
     
    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