A.N. All characters belong to Hayao Miyazaki
"Hello, this is Boiler Room Studios(1). May I speak to Ms. Chihiro Ogino please."
"Speaking," Chihiro said, gripping her handphone tightly.
"Ah, Ms. Ogino! Congratulations on winning the competition! We will send you all the details and other necessary documents shortly."
"Oh thank you!" Chihiro was on cloud nine! She could not wait to tell Rebeka.
"May I have you address, please?"
"308 Riverside Drive."
"Righto, have a good day, miss!"
Chihiro hung up, and did a small victory dance. "YES! YES! YES! Oh my goodness! YES!"
"Chihiro have you gone bonkers?" Rebeka asked good naturedly as she stepped into the room. "Did Dave finally ask you out on a date?"
Chihiro sat down, her eyes gleaming. "No, but someone else did."
"Really? Who? I didn't know you were crushing on someone else," Rebeka said, thinking.
Chihiro giggled. "Oh Becky, you are so slow! Think carefully and guess again! I'll give you a hint: You're crushing on him too."
"You're betraying me for some guy I don't even know who?" Rebeka asked in mock anger. "I dunno, Jon? Err… OH! OH! I THINK I GOT IT! No bloody way! You won that competition!" Rebeka screamed.
"Yes, I took you long enough to realize," Chihiro squealed. "I still can't believe it myself, a man from Boiler Room called just now to tell me."
"Oh Chihiro I am so happy for you!" Rebeka said, hugging her. "We should throw a party! I'll give you the best celebratory party ever!" Rebeka was as excited as Chihiro, rattling off brilliant ideas for her party in honour of Chihiro. Chihiro grinned; Rebeka was as good at planning parties as she was messy. Meaning, if she wanted a party, she got a hell of a good party going.
"I'll ask everyone from the campus to join! The guys will all be jealous of Haku and the girls will all be jealous of you! Or maybe we'll just invite our closer friends from our class. What do you think? I'll even get DJs, those dance floors that will light up and everything…" Rebeka asked. Chihiro thought for a while. "How about an all girls' party? I haven't had one in ages. We could get just our clique and have a barbecue in our backyard, then a sleepover." Even though she was popular, Chihiro still preferred to hangout with Rebeka and her two other best friends.
"Okay! Anything for the princess, although I would have like to throw a mega party, complete with boys. But still, gotta listen to the host!" Rebeka chirped. Chihiro laughed at her friend, who was ever smiley and cheery. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let the preperations begin!" Chihiro said. "I'll call Trisha and Maryann over."
Five minutes later, there were four squealing, over-excited girls in Chihiro's dorm.
"I can't believe it, you lucky girl! He's not my type though, even though he is extremely cute," Trisha said, grinning like Cheshire cat. She was an African-American, with olive skin and riotous curls which she never tied up.
"I wish I could be going with you; bring be back an autographed photograph please?" Maryann pleaded. She was as big a fan as Chihiro and Rebeka were. She was a pale slip of a girl, with long blonde hair that fell to her waist. When she did tie it up, she plaited it with a white rubber band.
Chihiro was giddy with excitement and for the rest of the day, she discussed what to pack and which clothes to bring. The following week was spent shopping and going for manicures and pedicures. After all, she wanted to look perfect in front of her idol. She could hardly wait! She busied herself with preparing for the three-day trip to Tokyo, and before she knew it, the day of departure arrived.
Her family, three best friends and almost the whole school was there to see her off, and not to mention many various television crews and news stations, which all wanted to interview her. She felt rather sufforcated by the hordes of microphones pushed towards her, and finally, her mother intervened and told the paparazzi to back off, to whom Chihiro was immensely grateful.
"Thanks mom, I think I would have just died there from the lack of oxygen," Chihiro smiled as Yuko hugged her daughter goodbye. "That was nothing, I'll always be here for you."
"Yeah, so will I," Akio said, entering the conversation. "If that measly scum of a movie star tries anything funny, I'll beat him into a pulp! I'll pulverize him to pieces! I'll…"
"Right, right, okay dad," Chihiro smiled weakly as her father continued ranting until his face turned a shade of beetroot. Yuko led her husband away, throwing Chihiro an embarrassed smile as she left. "Have a good time, dear!"
After her parents left, her friends moved in to talk to her as well. "Chihiro, remember to get me my autographed photo!" Maryann pleaded. "Sure," Chihiro said laughing. "And yes, Trisha and Becky, I will bring you guys back a souvenir from Tokyo."
Next, many of her schoolmates came to wish her luck, before she headed off to board the plane, almost shaking with nervousness.
She found her seat, and gasped. She had no idea she was travelling business class! She hadn't really had the chance to ride planes before, let alone ride in business class. She settled down quickly, stowing her carry-on bag under her seat. She played with her fingers, still feeling a little surreal. This was almost too
good to be true. She adjusted her dress, hoping that it would not get rumpled during the twelve hour trip. She decided to start reading the book she had brought along to kill time. After all, she had twelve hours.
Majority of the flight-time was spent reading, and she slept the remainder of the time as it was a night flight. When she woke up, she was greeted by an sir stewardess pushing a trolley of food. "Hi there, my name is Lin. Would you like to have your breakfast now?"
"Yes please," Chihiro said. "Eggs and ham or sushi?" Lin asked. Chihiro decided to eat the sushi, as she hardly had to opportunity to, since the number of Japanese food stalls in New York was scarce. Lin placed a tray of food in front of her before moving on to the next passenger, leaving Chihiro to her food. Picking up the pair of chopsticks and feeling immensely grateful to Rebeka for teaching her how to use them the year before, she began to eat.
Halfway through, a piece of sashimi slipped from her chopsticks into the saucer of soy sauce, spilling most of the salty dark sauce. "Oh no," Chihiro muttered, when she saw that some drops had made their way onto her white dress. She hurriedly tried to leave to go to the toilet to clean up, but…
"Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts as the plane is about to land. There will be minor turbulence and you are to be seated at all times. Thank you."
"Oh how conveinient," Chihiro grumbled exasperatedly. "I guess the only way to hide it is to put on a cardigan. Quickly extracting an orange cardigan from her bag, she hurriedly put it on, and sighed with relief when she saw that it covered the soy sauce markings. "I do hope it doesn't stain though," she thought. "It was a new dress, and expensive too."
When she finally alighted from the plane, she quickly set her watch according to Tokyo time, and hurried over to collect her luggage. As she exited the arrival hall, she saw yet another mob of excited newscasters and journalists, eager to hear what she had to say about winning a date with one of Japan's hottest teenage stars. Frantically trying to avoid them, she turned to the opposite direction, hoping that they had not noticed her. Turning, she saw a bald man in his late fifties and a bushy brown mustache holding a white card with her name on it. She hurried over to him and introduced herself.
"Hey there, I'm Chi-"
"No need to introduce yourself, I already know you. I'm Kamaji, the man who notified you of your win the other day," the man said, smiling at her kindly. Leaning down, he looked closely at her through his dark round spectacles, and commented, "Yes, you are quite a looker; Master Kohaku will be pleased."
Blushing, Chihiro said, "Do you think we can get going now? I don't want the press to realize I'm here…"
"Oh, I think it's too late, they're coming over now," Kamaji grinned. "It would be rude to run away, so just answer a few questions and you'll get used to it."
Sighing, Chihiro thanked her lucky stars she could understand and speak basic Japanese as she had taken a night class previously when she first started crushing on Haku. The whole mob was rushing, no, stampeding over, pushing and clamouring to be nearer to her. Questions were flung at her non-stop, and she felt like she was about to suffocate.
"Stop it."
Everyone turned, Chihiro included, to see Haku standing there, and the edge of the crowd. He looked stunning, in a white shirt and rather loose-fitting blue pants which billowed when he walked. His dark green, almost black hair was as immaculate as ever, nary a strand out of place. Everyone fell silent, and even the photographers' flashbulbs stopped flashing.
He turned and addressed Kamaji. "Didn't I ask you to bring her straight to the limo?" he asked, in a perfect American accent. "Sorry to have the press bother you," he said, now turning to Chihiro and smiling. "It's fine," Chihiro smiled. Is he actually talking me? "Let's go, we're going to be late."
"Ahh, sorry… I forgot," Kamaji said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Here, I'll take this for you," he said, taking Chihiro's luggage for her. "Thanks," she replied quietly, thankful that Haku had 'rescued' her from the mob. Chihiro gawked at the well-polished midnight black limousine that seemed to stretch forever. She had only seen cars like this in the movies, and now she was going to ride in one! They made their way to the limousine, which was humming lightly in the bright daylight. People were all staring and whispering excitedly, and some fangirls were trying to get closer, but thankfully, Haku had a police barrier set up, which also protected them from the press.
Haku gallantly opened the door for her, and stepped in after her, Kamaji closing the door silently after them before walking over to the driver's seat and driving off. Chihiro gazed around her in awe. She was sitting on a beige leather sofa, and Haku was sitting across from her in a similar sofa. There was a mimi-fridge on her right, and a built-in phone on the wall. "Wow," she breathed. This was… incredible!
"How do you like it?"
She suddenly realised that Haku was talking to her and riverted her gaze to his face. He was smiling benignly at her, and she felt more at ease. "It's great… thanks for helping me out of the press just now!"
"No problem; I guess you have more or less gotten a taste of what it is like to be a star."
"Yeah, not as fun as I imagined, although this limousine is really neat."
"Yes. So… you're still studying?"
"Yes, in University, but I also work part-time at the pet shelter."
"That's great, I hardly have the time to study now, what with all my new movies coming up."
"You still study?" Chihiro was surprised.
"Of course, just that I can't go to public schools anymore, so I have a personal tutor at home."
"Cool! I've always wondered what it would be like to have a personal tutor. What is it like?"
"I still learn pretty much the same thing, except that now I have to study much harder to get straight As as everybody will be watching me. And it's pretty boring as well, without friends to play around with in class…" Haku said, thinking.
Chihiro suddenly felt relieved that she wasn't a movie star, and that she wasn't exactly in the limelight for everyone to criticize and judge.
"…but I'm not saying that being a movie star is bad. There's ups and downs in everything, just that you got to learn to take the whole package, take the rough with the smooth, and you'll come out from the experience a better and stronger person."
"Wow, what a speech," Chihiro commented after Haku finished. He laughed, displaying a set of perfect teeth.
"We're almost there, Master Kohaku," Kamaji's voice came from over the intercom. "Right," Haku replied into the telephone on the wall.
"Why does he call you Master Kohaku and not Master Haku?" Chihiro asked, out of curiosity.
Haku laughed again, and said, "You are straightforward, aren't you? Well, to him he feels that he should address me by my proper name. He's almost like a second father to me."
Chihiro lasped into silence after that, not knowing what to say. What am I supposed to say in such situations? She thought of what she would normally say to Rebeka, but she wasn't Haku, and that had lessened much of the pressure.
Thankfully, Kamaji's voice came back over the intercom again, announcing that they had reached their destination. "Where are we going?" Chihiro asked Haku.
"Going for lunch, of course," Haku replied as he opened the door. "After you."
Chihiro stepped out into the bright sunlight, unaccustomed to its intensity as the limousine had tinted windows. Almost immediately after Haku and Chihiro stepped out from the limo, a circle of beefy bodyguards all dressed smartly in black suits came and made a circle around them, protecting them from yet another flock of reporters.
Haku smiled and offered Chihiro his arm, and she took it, blushing furiously, earning them a collective sigh from the 'audience'. They walked into the restaurant together, accompanied again by Kamaji who walked behind them, Chihiro awed again by its posh-ness. They were led into a quiet corner of the restaurant by the manager himself, and soon they were left alone in the room, with the exception of Kamaji and a bodyguard.
"You look cute when you're blushing," Haku commented as Chihiro sat down, blushing even harder.
"Am I supposed to say thanks?" Chihiro asked, smiling herself, earning herself a small chuckle from Haku.
A waitress came in, and asked if it was alright for the preordered food to come, and Haku nodded his head, waving a hand lightly to dismiss her. He then picked up the hot towel on his right and started to clean his hands. Chihiro quickly followed suit, in case it was custom for them to do so.
Then, the food arrived, and they tucked in slowly. Chihiro noticed Haku's eyes on her, and she looked up to match his emerald gaze. "Yes?"
"Nothing, just looking," he answered vaguely, smiling softly. "Just thinking."
Just as Chihiro was about to enquire what he was thinking about, a man from another table came up to them, shouting profanities. He reeked of alcohol, and if that wasn't proof enough, he was holding a bottle of whiskey in his right hand.
"SO!" the man shouted. Chihiro felt like saying so what, but didn't dare to, as he looked at her challengingly and menancingly. Instead, she shrunk lower into her chair.
"SO!" he repeated. "Thissssss issss the little girlyyy wittle Haku gotttt for a daaaaate!" he shouted, slurring his words almost incoherently. "And she's not eeeeeven PRREEEETTY!" he laughed absurdly. "Youuu haave noooooooo right to beee here, girlyyyy! You are noooooooooooothing but an uuuugly duuucklinggg! HAHA!" he jabbed a finger in front of her nose. Chihiro whimpered and tried to slide even lower in her chair, hearing those familiar, sinister words that had haunted her dreams for many years. Haku, on the other hand was furious. Kamaji and the bodyguard rushed forward, but he waved them away.
He walked over to the drunk, shoved him away from Chihiro, and said, "Stop harassing her! For your information, any sane person would see that she is indeed very pretty, just that a drunk like you can't tell the difference!"
By then, they had the attention of everyone in the restaurant, even most of the restaurant staff came out to watch, everyone freezing to watch them. Kamaji worried.
Haku was glaring at the man, daring him to retaliate. The man, on the other hand, looked smug. "So!" Chihiro thought that must be the man's favourite word that day. "You loooove your little girlyy!" Haku's arm twitched with the want to punch the guy. Thankfully, Kamaji intervened, and held Haku back. "It would not be good for your image if you make yourself out like this, Master Kohaku," Kamaji told his young charge softly.
The bodyguard secured the drunk and brought him out of the restaurant, lifting him up physically under his arm.
Haku collected himself, before addressing the public. "I'm so sorry for this commotion caused. All your meals will be charged to me today," earning himself a roar of approval from the people. Order was soon restored, and everything went back to normal, as if someone had just unfroze a television screen that was on pause. Haku turned to Chihiro, who was still looking very shocked, memories all rushing back. "I'm so sorry… are you alright? Chihiro…?"
(flashback)
"You're nothing but an ugly little excuse for a girl! Useless, ugly thing! Good for nothing brat!"
A small girl of about four whimpered in the corner of the dark alley. "I'm sorry…"
"Sorry? What's the use of sorry now?! Now all because of you showing your face everywhere when I tell you to go straight to the warehouse you were recognized, and now your parents know you're alive. You good for nothing! You will regret this for the rest of your life! You mark my words, those stupid, friggin' Japanese arses will pay for this one day!"
The Chihiro of four years flinched and pressed herself to the grimy wall in one of the back alleys of New York city, crying silently, not wanting her kidnapper to hear her or she would be whipped again…
"You fool! You Japs have no right to be here! You are nothing but an ugly duckling!" The man said angrily, picking up a stick from the floor. Chihiro flinched again, seeing the horrible stick, knowing what would happen soon after. She closed her eyes tight as he raised the stick above his head, and prepared to lower it…
Just then, the wailing of police sirens were heard, and almost instantaneously police car headlights illuminated the dirty alley, cornering the kidnapper. Three policemen rushed forward and quickly apprehended the kidnapper, as a man and a small boy that looked about Chihiro's age stepped out of the police car as well. They rushed over to Chihiro.
"Don't worry, everything is alright now, everything is going to be okay…"
A pair of arms encircled Chihiro as she realised the boy was hugging her, whispering soothing words into her ear. Chihiro held on to him tightly, tears still flowing freely, wetting the boy's shoulder…
(end flashback)
"Chihiro?"
She looked up at Haku, seeing his emerald gaze bore into her chocolate ones with concern. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I guess I rather spaced out there…"
"Would you like to go to your hotel to rest?" Haku asked, bending down to be of the same eye level as Chihiro, placing his hands on her shoulders.
"Yeah, sure… okay."
Chihiro was silent for the ten minute journey to the hotel, oblivious to Haku's obvious concern for her.
What is wrong with her? Haku thought, as he watched her. The drunk couldn't have been so frightening, so… what had happened?
When they reached the hotel, Haku escorted her to the hotel room himself, the circle of bodyguards still protecting them from the mob of reporters who had recently learnt of the 'lunch incident'. He reluctantly left Chihiro in her room, and made his way back to where Kamaji was waiting for him in the limousine.
"Where to, Master Kohaku?"
"Home," Haku answered, still worrying about Chihiro.
Kamaji looked back at Haku from the diver's seat and said, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you actually liked her!"
Haku was taken by surprise, and scowled. "No I don't. And if anyone, I should know myself whether I like her or not. Sure, she's a nice girl, but I'm not sure yet. And come on, Kamaji, I've only known her for a day." Although I feel as if I've known her from before, he added silently in his head, sighing, unable to put his finger on it.
A.N. (1) I know I put Boiler Room Theatre in the previous chapter, but I'm lazy to change it… hehe.
I apologize for the wait, because I had this full day choir workshop thing for the past few days, which sort of prevented me from posting. And I think the ending is sort of weird, but anyway, review please! :D
