Chihiro arrived seconds after Yui, and saw the river in time to avoid splashing in it herself, but not in time to prevent Yui from doing the same. With lightning-fast intuition, she quickly surveyed the landscape. Everything was in its place. It wasn't as dark as it had been the first time, when her mad dash through a totally alien town had taken much longer because she had found herself running in several directions and looking for her parents, but it was still dark enough that the river was too deep to ford and rising quickly.
Chihiro saw the faint lights of the town on the other shore becoming visible, and noticed that the staircase they were on, for the moment, was empty. Chihiro realized that it was quite probable that they had been seen by absolutely no one. One more moment's scanning revealed a familiar hiding place. Chihiro entreated Yui to be quiet, and the two of them stole quickly to the grass yard behind one of the many restaurants on the main thoroughfare.
At this moment, Chihiro finally admitted to herself what had been going on all year: it was a boy, just not one from school. It wasn't the place itself; a bathhouse where she had been terrified and enslaved had no innate charm that she should desire to return to it. It was a certain someone that she had longed to see. And now, just as she realized this, she suddenly wished more earnestly than ever that he would suddenly show up and rescue her a second time.
Very soon, she could make out the figure of someone crossing the hill. But it was not one person, but two. And it was two of the last people she could have wished to see: one of them was a giant frog; the other, the manager.
"But why here? Why now?" asked the frog.
"Are you questioning orders?" demanded the manager.
"No." The giant frog sighed. "But I'd at least like to know why we're..." A sharp look from the manager cut him off, but then the manager stopped, too. The frog sniffed the air.
Chihiro tucked herself and Yui closer into the walls. If it had been eyesight they were up against, their hiding place just might have worked. However, they were not up against eyes, but the frogs' notoriously keen senses of smell.
"I smell humans!" declared the frog as he started in their direction. Chihiro and Yui pressed into the wall, as if trying to completely disappear.
"Humans again? I thought that Yubaba had sealed that door with her strongest spells."
"Don't ask me how they got here, all I know is that" - he put a finger on Chihiro's head - "they got here."
"I'll take them to Yubaba," sighed the manager.
The frog nodded his assent, as he backed away and covered his sensitive nose.
The manager, partly through hand motions, partly through grabbing of arms, stood the two girls up and forced them to march toward the hill over which they he just come.
"The bathhouse is this way," indicated the frog, pointing towards the street.
"Don't you think I know that?" demanded the manager. "The last time humans came, though, they caused such a terrible stench in the town that we could smell it for weeks! This time, rather than parading anyone through the main streets, Yubaba insisted that they be brought around the back, behind the pig barns."
The frog said nothing more, and disappeared in the direction of the restaurants.
"This way," commanded the manager gruffly. Chihiro and Yui exchanged frightened glances, completely unsure of what came next.
Chihiro noticed something that complicated the situation even further: She could see through Yui. Because of the way in which they were being marched, however, Yui seemed more concentrated on the ground than on herself, and certainly showed no signs of noticing. If the manager kept up his relatively easy manner with them, she might not notice at all until it was too late.
As they went down past the pig barns, more towards the direction of the railroad tracks than towards the bathhouse, Chihiro finally got up her nerve. "Pardon me, sir, but we don't seem to be headed towards the bathhouse at all."
The reply came back, "Well, were you really that eager to see my sister?" Zeniba's face turned and looked toward them from where the manager's face had been. "I saw you coming, you know. But I doubt my sister did: she has more important things to worry about. That frog got in the way, though. You wouldn't believe how inquisitive he was as to what I, the manager, was doing all the way out there!" Zeniba laughed. "But after the memory charm I used on him, I don't think he'll remember what he was doing out there either, let alone who showed up."
Chihiro interrupted: "Zeniba, thank you so much, but did you happen to bring anything to eat?"
Zeniba replied, "Yes, I anticipated that," and gave a subtle wink to Chihiro.
Yui had to be coaxed to accept the food, but Zeniba's grandmotherly mannerisms, coupled with Chihiro's apparent trust for her, soon ruled the day. Yui's condition improved, and she returned to being fully solid, without having apparently noticed any different.
"You did not touch the bridge, I trust?" asked Zeniba.
"No, we stayed off of that," Chihiro assured her.
"Good. That would have sounded the alarm, I'm sure! But that brings me to a strange point: how did you ever get back here?"
"We came in through the same tunnel as before."
"The old train station, across the river?" Chihiro nodded. "That was the only way I thought was accessible, too. But since the last time, Yubaba's put a powerful spell on it. I've kept an eye on it anyhow, just in case you or anyone else came back. I couldn't figure out how someone would get through, only that someone had broken through the spell, and that they were coming here. It had to be you."
"Me?"
"Since Haku left her apprenticeship, and since you left the realm, she used the strongest spell she had to seal that gateway. It's the only gateway we know of through which humans can pass. But you know what's funny about the strongest spells?" Chihiro shook her head. "They have the strangest weaknesses, and it's usually love." Zeniba laughed out loud at this. "I wonder if my sister was counting on you forgetting your experience, or chalking it up to childhood imaginings? No matter, it's done now. And it's a good thing, too. You couldn't have come at a better time for Kohakunushi."
"Who is Kohakunushi? And who are you? And where are we?"
Zeniba and Chihiro exchanged worried glances at the realization that Yui needed to be caught up on quite a bit.
Zeniba responded, "Chihiro and I will explain most of that to you later on tonight. But as for where we are, we're at my house!" Zeniba clicked the door open. "Come in, I'll make tea and supper for all of us."
Chihiro asked in amazement, "How did we get here so fast?"
Zeniba smiled. "I'm a witch, remember? Did you really need to ask?"
Once they had settled into Zeniba's kitchen with tea, and Yui calmed down a little, Chihiro began telling the story of her adventure for the second time in as many days as they ate.
Although Yui's expression seemed to indicate that she'd rather not believe what she was hearing, the fact that she'd already experienced the impossible several times that day seemed to lend a bit of credence to Chihiro's otherwise impossible tale, and she was certianly more accepting than Chihiro's mother had been. At first, she interrupted the narrative with phrases of disbelief, like "You're serious?" and "Really?", but as the tale dragged on, Yui became engrossed and started asking more contextual questions. When Chihiro started describing Kaonashi, Zeniba took the opportunity to make the introduction. Before this, Kaonashi had wisely been instructed to not greet the newcomer just yet. As the tale unfolded, Yui asked some questions about the details of the story, and when it was all over, she sat dumbfounded.
Zeniba watched the whole thing with mild amusement, and when it was over, she added her bit. "Chihiro, you've never told me all of that. It's incredible how you made it through all of that, even with how rough your introduction to our world was!" She regarded Yui. "It seems that your introduction to this world was downright easy next to Chihiro's!"
Yui laughed nervously, still completely unsure how to process half of what she had just heard. "At least you haven't stolen my name or made us sign working contracts yet!" She then looked around nervously, as if she was afraid that she may have just said the wrong thing.
It was all right, and Chihiro and Zeniba both laughed at the comment. Yui finally joined in and had a good laugh along with them, as a few tears escaped her eyes.
"But there's one thing I don't understand," asked Chihiro. "Why didn't I start to disappear?"
"That is a good question," replied Zeniba, sipping her tea. "But we've had enough questions and stories for one night. The best thing for you two right now," and she put her teacup down, "is a good night's sleep. Kaonashi set up the loft for you both while Chihiro was telling the first part of her story." She indicated the loft, and the access ladder.
Yui still hardly knew what was going on, let alone how to process it. Chihiro, on the other hand, decided that sleep would be the perfect thing. Although she had no way of knowing what time it was, it had gotten thoroughly dark outside, and the day's exertions had left both of the girls more than ready for bed regardless of the real time of day.
Chihiro and Yui said the usual goodnight pleasantries to Zeniba, and they were soon sound asleep.
