A young girl stared out the window of her classroom, her dark eyes gazing at a field in the distance. Her long brown hair fell gracefully over her shoulders, her bangs framing her round face. She wore a typical school uniform for summer, a short-sleeved white shirt with blue ribbon and a skirt that fell just above her knees. She sighed longingly as she watched the clouds travel through the sky, her mind wandering to places only she knew about. Suddenly she felt a light poke on her arm and she felt herself being pulled back from her daydreams, her hair swaying as she turned her head swiftly to her right.
"Chihiro, you're only going to grow stupider if you continue to spend your days daydreaming" Her friend teased from beside her, she laughed quietly and shook her head.
"I know I know, but this part of the lesson is so boring!" Chihiro smiled slightly, wishing the day could be over. Her friend, Hana, was going to respond when the teacher glanced in their direction. Always quick to call upon troublemakers he asked Chihiro to stand and read the next page. Her cheeks flushed slightly, she hadn't been listening for at least a few pages, and so she had no idea where she was supposed to read. After a quick scolding, and a few chuckles from her classmates, the day continued as any other.
The classes passed, with many more opportunities for daydreaming, and Chihiro joked with her friends. Luckily it was already the second half of the day, so it wasn't too much longer they were forced through this torture. When the final bell rang, the students all shuffled out of the building quickly, grabbing their bags and switching their shoes. Finally they could feel the warm sun on their faces, and they no longer had to sit in those annoying desks.
"Aaaah" Hana sighed and spun in a quick circle, stretching her arms and facing the sun "I can't wait till summer when we can do nothing but laze around! I'm going to go to the beach and lay in the sand for hours upon hours." Chihiro laughed, she too couldn't wait for these long days in the classroom to come to a halt, even if it was only for a short break. "What are your plans for the summer, Chihiro? Are you going anywhere fun?"
"Not this time, I'm just planning on working at the inn." For the last few years Chihiro had taken up a job at a traditional hot spring inn. She would work whenever she had free time, and her friends never seemed to understand why she seemed to enjoy such a grueling job.
The work required her to clean the baths on her hands and knees, fill the baths, serve the guests, and many other tasks. It was not easy work, and she had callused hands from all the scrubbing of the baths. She loved this job though, claiming it reminded her of something from her childhood. She had moved here from a larger city though, and that only furthered made her friends question her.
She had always been different. From the moment she moved her, she seemed obsessed with an abandoned theme park nearby, and was always looking up stories on spirits. She was distant, always daydreaming and watching the clouds. For that reason she had few friends, Hana being her closest, and she tended to keep to herself.
Though most girls their age, only 18 years old, seemed focused on boys or their futures, Chihiro was focused on returning to her past. She did seem to have a boy she cared greatly for, one she had talked about since her move here, but he never appeared to visit, and no one had even seen her call him. Some believed he was just an imaginary friend Chihiro made up to help her loneliness from moving.
"Of course! You're always working, Chihiro, why won't you just take a break and have some fun! Come to the beach with me, I promise it'll be better than cleaning some bath and serving old people on vacation!" Hana playfully grabbed onto Chihiro's arm, almost causing her to trip as they walked towards their homes. Chihiro merely smiled and shook her head
"I like serving old people. Plus cleaning the baths really isn't that bad, and I get paid! It's not like I'm being forced to do it." Her eyes seemed to disappear into her own mind once more as a distant look crossed her face. Hana laughed loudly and pushed her lightly.
"There you go again! Spirited away into your private world! Well fine, I will just have to laze around for the both of us then" The girls continued their playful talk as they finished the walk home. Parting at an intersection they agreed to meet up as usual in the morning.
When Chihiro walked into her house, she gently kicked her shoes off at the door. Placing her bag down and stepping onto the cold wooden floors she peered around the corner. She called out into the quiet house, knowing her parents weren't home. "Haku! I'm home"