Chihiro moved to Tokyo during her first year in college, and her parents decided to stay in Osaka. Chihiro lives in an apartment with her old friend Rumi, and her new friends Aika and Mica.
Chihiro was a major in theatre and arts in Tokyo University of the Arts. She had been studying there for a year already and everything was going great. She had been the top student in her classes, she won trophies and medals for best in caricature, painting and drama. Her life seemed great and perfect, however she felt like something was missing, though she wasn't quite sure what was it.
Aika, Mica and Rumi went ahead to their school while Chihiro decided to stay behind. She was still going to finish her masterpiece for their batch exhibit. She took the cloth covering her canvas, took her oil paint set and brushes, then sat on a stool and started finishing her work.
There's still a lot of time for her to finish it, it was just 7:10 and the bell doesn't ring until 8:00. She dipped her brush in green oil paint and started painting the soulful eyes of the boy that she drew. For thirteen years she had been dreaming of exactly one thing. It was about a queer, enchanting place full of monsters and spirits and phantoms.
She would always find herself running to find some place safe, then in a matter of minutes she would start fading. Then this boy, with captivating emerald eyes would let her eat something that prevented her from disappearing. And just as she was about to ask the boy's name, she would always wake up. 'Great timing!' as Chihiro would say.
She thought of the boy as 'handsome', and she found it really bizarre that she sort of have fallen in love with that boy in her dreams, though she didn't even know what his name was. Thinking about it made her shudder, but she just shrugged it off. She finished her work around 7:45 and her school was just a walking distance so she didn't have to worry about getting late.
Chihiro packed her things , locked their apartment and walked to the university. As soon as she arrived there, she proceeded to her class and took a seat beside Aika.
"Hey Chihiro, what took you so long?" Aika asked.
"Oh, I still finished my work." Chihiro replied
"Can I see?"
"Sure." Chihiro smiled and handed the canvas to Aika
Aika carefully examined the painting, the background was a beautifully painted river, the water was clear and soothing. And there's this boy that Chihiro drew in almost all of her art works.
"Isn't this the boy you always draw?" Aika cocked up her eyebrow
"Yes it is." Chihiro timidly said, she hadn't noticed that she was slightly blushing
"Oh my gosh is he your childhood crush? Or better yet, your boyfriend?" Aika frantically said
"No!" Chihiro blushed even more
"Alright what's the catch then?"
"I don't know, I just always see him in my dreams."
"You're in love with some dude that you just saw in your dreams?" Aika looked puzzled
"Oh never mind that.. and I am not in love with him." Chihiro defended
"Alright as you say." Aika winked, Chihiro just pretended to ignore that, she might be nosy at times, but she's still a great friend.
Their professor stepped inside their classroom and stood in front of the class.
"Good morning Mr. Hikashi." The whole class chorused
"Good morning class, please sit down." Mr. Hikashi sternly said "Now, please pass your masterpieces forward, front liners kindly put the canvases on my table. I'll judge who's works will be placed in the exhibit, there will only be two works to be picked for each class, a total of six works to be placed in the exhibit in your batch."
The students obediently did what Mr. Hikashi told them to do, and he examined their works.
"Mica, your idea was creative, but your work is sloppy." He said "Daisuke, your work is same as Mica, very, very sloppy." He put Mica and Daisuke's works on one side of the table "Chihiro, excellent work, as usual, exquisite and inspiring. Your work will be shown in the exhibit." Mr. Hikashi put Chihiro's work carefully in a big paper bag. Everyone clapped for Chihiro and she shyly smiled. And Mr. Hikashi went on with his criticism for about 20 min. until he finished examining all his students' works.
"Alright, that's about it. Hiyakari and Chihiro's works will be exhibited." Mr. Hikashi said and everyone acclaimed .
As soon as class was over Chihhiro, Aika ,Mica and Rumi went to the coffee shop beside their apartment. Chihiro always felt anxious when she goes there. The waiter (who was hot, according to Aika, Rumi and Mica) was always staring at her. "Two lattes , one hot coffee and one iced chocolate frap please." Mica said to the cashier "That will be $9.00." said the cashier lady, Mica grabbed $9.00 in her wallet and paid. She carried the tray of two lattes, hot coffee and frap to their table.
"One latte for you Aika, one for me, one hot coffee for you Rumi and one iced choco frap for you Chihiro." Mica placed the drinks on the table carefully
"Thanks Mica." Chihiro, Aika and Rumi thanked Mica in chorus
"You're welcome. It's my treat for you guys ." Mica smiled
They sat there for hours chatting and having a good time. But Chihiro couldn't help but notice the waiter who's staring at her for quite some time.
"Hey, seems like that guy's checking you out." Rumi said as she winked
"Oh whatever he's not my type." Chihiro huffed as she rolled her eyes
"Then what's your type that mysterious guy you've been dreaming about?" Aika asked as she grinned
"No!." Chihiro opposed
"Chihiro's got a crush, Chihiro's got a crush.." Aika and Mica hummed repeatedly
"Alright girls enough guy talk." Chihiro said, and the four of them laughed.
When they were about to go out of the coffee shop the waiter opened the door for them.
"Thank you, please come again." He said and winked at Chihiro
Aika, Mica and Rumi looked at Chihiro and giggled, Chihiro didn't seem to take notice of the guy.
As soon as they got in their apartment Rumi jumped in her bed. "I'm bummed out." She groaned. "We're all bummed out Rumi. Alright lights out." Aika yawned as she switched the lights off.
Chihiro lazily changed her clothes in the bathroom and went to her bed. She almost fell asleep when her cellphone rang. It was a call from her mom, she had to answer it.
"Hello Chihiro." Yuko greeted
"Hello mom." Chihiro yawned
"Oh sweetie I'm sorry I called, I know it's late."
"Its ok mom. I'll be visiting you and dad tomorrow. I took the 4:00 pm train going there."
"That's a good thing to hear, I guess I'll let you sleep sweetie. Goodnight. I love you."
"Thanks mom. Goodnight, I love you too." Chihiro ended the call and placed her phone on a small table beside the bed and then dosed off into a deep sleep. And of course, she was dreaming again.
In Chihiro's dream :
Chihiro found herself lying on the floor of a room. She was dazed, this wasn't her usual dream. Suddenly there was a loud crashing sound. Chihiro was half scared and half curious, she went to open the shoji door at the veranda and a white dragon barged in and it crashed to one side of the room.
Out of terror Chihiro stood still and didn't make a single move. The dragon was bleeding, it's eyes were full of pain, it seemed like it needed help, but Chihiro was too frightened to even move an inch. The dragon dashed through Chihiro and flew outside. Quickly snapping out of her stunned state she ran to the veranda and saw the dragon going to the lowest floor of the building. She ran downstairs as quickly as she could.
She saw some kind of elevator with no door and hurriedly went to it as not to make anyone notice her. She pulled the lever down with force and it made a clinking clanking noise as it went down. She quickly got out of the elevator when she realized she was at the last floor. She saw a boiler room. It was raging hot in there, but she still went in curious to see what happened to the dragon.
Chihiro almost gasped in shock when she saw a six armed man sitting beside a boy resting on a tatami-mat. "Well, come here. He needs help, he's been under a curse. A very powerful curse in fact, there's nothing I could do to help, I'm sorry," the man said.
Chihiro slowly approached them. Chihiro looked at the boy, it was him, the boy that's always in her dreams. Chihiro kneeled down beside the boy. "Sen, you need to help him he's very ill." The man said with a concerned voice.
"Sen?" Chihiro asked with a bewildered look on her face.
"Yes Sen, Sen's your name right?"
"No, it's Chihiro."
"We'll have time to worry about names later, right now you have to help him. He swallowed Zeniba's cursed gold seal and I don't know if he will still be alright."
"That boy, I always dream of him, I don't know why. Who is he?"
"Y-you don't know him?"
"I'm sorry, no."
"He saved you. He helped you survive in this dangerous world of ours. Sen, if it weren't for him you would've disappeared already. He's Haku…"
'Kring! Kring! Kring!.' Chihiro heard a loud ringing noise, similar to the sound of her alarm clock. Then everything around her seemed to be fading.
"Wait! No! Not again!." Chihiro yelled
End of dream
"No!" Chihiro screamed as she bolted right up from her bed and saw Aika, Rumi and Mica standing beside her bed with curious looks on their faces.
They tried to pry Chihiro to tell them what happened in her dream but she didn't tell them a single detail. The day seemed to run by fast, it was already 4:00. Aika and Rumi went to have a sleepover at one of their friends' house, Mica went to the mall to shop and Chihiro went to the train station and rode the last train that could take her home to Osaka.
The tunnel that Chihiro and her parents stumbled into a long time ago (the one they can't remember) had been renovated into a railway for trains, though it didn't lead straight to the Spirit World. It was a long ride and there was nothing good to do in the train so Chihiro decided to rest her eyes and eventually fell asleep.
A loud thud woke Chihiro up. When she opened her eyes she couldn't see anything, all she could see was a blinding light coming towards her. She let out a scream as she felt her body crashing to the ground. She was unconscious for a minute or so but eventually regained consciousness. She opened her eyes and saw herself lying on the floor of a queer town. It took a minute for her to realize that it was the same place in her dream. But she wasn't quite sure if it's real or still a dream.
Chihiro pinched herself to make sure it wasn't a dream "Ouch!" she squeeled "It really isn't a dream.. I'm really here." Chihiro was ambivalent as of the moment. But she knew this wasn't a dream anymore… it was real.
A/N: hope you liked it..please comment :)))