Black Gold
Where he is going, where he comes from No Face does not know. Instead he stares up at the black sky. Today too, is a dark, vast shroud. He does not know where his body begins, and where the night sky ends. No Face cannot see the outline of himself, he has never been able to.
On days like this, only the stars are visible. They look golden, too immense and beautiful. No Face's fingers unconsciously trail along the lines of his mask, it feels solid, certain. But he cannot understand this beauty, the beauty of the stars. And the next moment when he looks down, everything disappears. No Face's touches the black space of his body, and finds only a faded golden residue.
The day he first meets Chihiro, No Face thinks of the stars too. He sees a spark of gold in Chihiro's eyes, in edges of her hair. Captivated, he touches the lines of her steps, feels them grow unshakable. Finally when Chihiro looks at No Face with a steady gaze, he feels himself begin to crystallize. Soon he will become just as solid, just as certain too. The next night, No Face does not look up at the starry sky, instead he steps into the glaring light of the bathhouse.
It is not all he thought it to be. No Face wants to enshrine the spark of gold in Chihiro's eyes. Each day the layers of his hunger softly deepen, until the pressure turns into golden fragments inside of him. No Face does not notice when he becomes rigid, as hardened as the equally hungry spirits around him. He only feels the gold in his stomach, solid and steady. It is is a dull brilliance, and so very heavy in his hands. Chihiro arrives just in time to see golden pebbles spew from his mouth, onto the stony ground.
No Face is finally made of gold, there is weight in his steps, and in his words. But he cannot anchor Chihiro to him. Instead he sees the line of her back slightly farther away. He comes to hate how the gold softly adorns her hair, and her steps which are still solid, steady light. He wants to weigh her down with gold, until she cannot move, away from him. But No Face collides into the uneven wall, convulses horribly, violently.
Gold no longer spews from No Face's mouth. Instead he retches putrid slime. Belches fingers, hair, and eyes that are not his own. He feels the ground tremble beneath him, no longer solid, but broken. Yet Chihiro waits for him patiently, gently coaxing his faint shadow. He staggers after the trail of her shimmering steps. And when No Face finally exits the bathhouse his eyes are closed, it is a little too bright.
When No Face opens his eyes again he sees the blue horizon. The mirror of water is an unwavering straight line, and Chihiro is reflected more clearly than ever. But it is moments before No Face makes sense of what she is saying. "My mother once told me, the known is finite, the unknown infinite. There is beauty in uncertainty too," she whispers to him. And when Chihiro smiles, it is almost as if she had been there with him all along, watching him gaze up at the starry sky.
The following train ride is a long, but quiet repose. In the middle of the night No Face looks out the window, at the black sky. His hands touch the cool glass of the window pane. No Face still cannot see the outline of himself in the darkness. He looks a bit closer and thinks this might be the first time he has truly seen the inky sky. He gazes into its velvet depths. Until his body blends, dissolves into the vast, dark space. He hears Chihiro's quiet breathing beside him. Something softly dawns on him.
For the first time ever, No Face sees the beauty of the black sky. And finally understands the beauty of the stars too.
Some time later when Kaonashi steps out of the train, he follows a charmed lantern to a humble cottage. Although Kaonashi does not know where he comes from, or where he is going. He finally meets another soul, just as infinite as his own.