As I've mentioned, all chapters will undergo continuous editing. Thanks for all your kind words and reviews :)
Chapter 6: Willow Tree
Spirits stared - no, ogled - at Hisae as she walked along the bridge, to the bathhouse. As the daughter of the Great Willow Tree Spirit, Hisae was a well-known spirit in the spirit world. Although she always dressed simply and modestly, she carried herself with grace. Elegantly, Hisae approached the reception and was received by Haku at the main entrance. She greeted him and graced him with a sweet, polite smile.
"Who's that?" Chihiro whispered into Rin's ear. Chihiro was scheduled to take care of the reception that evening and Rin was there to guide her.
"That's Hisae, a descendant of the Great Willow Tree," Rin replied, "she is one of our honoured guests."
"She's… she's so beautiful," Chihiro stuttered a little, awestruck by Hisae's effortless splendour.
"She is, isn't she? I like her quite a bit too, surprisingly," Rin smiled at Chihiro.
"Surprisingly?" Chihiro raised her brow as she passed a guest a token
Rin took notes in the records and tried her best to explain the delicate matter as discreetly as possible. "Most 'important' guests at the bathhouse - especially the females - are here with… ulterior motives," she said in a low voice, "Hisae's different, though. Or at least that's how she seems to me."
Chihiro looked on at the beautiful spirit that was making her way past the reception. Special guests like her at the bathhouse get to be served more quickly, it seems. Hisae's long mossy hair cascaded down her back and was lightly ornamented with a leafy headdress. She wore a simple yet pristine olive coloured kimono with golden trimmings. Unconsciously, Chihiro started adjusting the navy blue headscarf on her head and smoothened her salmon coloured uniform. Rin looked over at Chihiro and chuckled to herself.
In the midst of her gawking, Hisae's and Chihiro's eyes meet. Chihiro's face turned red and she mouthed an apology before bowing lowly at the lady. She half expected a look of disapproval from Hisae but the spirit simply smiled gently at her. Walking past the reception, Haku gave Rin and Chihiro a small nod before leading Hisae into the bathhouse. The two chatted comfortably as they walked down the corridor and disappeared in the elevator.
"Chihiro, stop ogling! It's rude!" Rin scolded.
"I'm sorry," Chihiro apologised and went back to doing her work. She blushed a little when she realised that a queue was forming in front of her because she was too busy gawking at Hisae.
"They make a wonderful couple," Chihiro thought out loud.
"Shh! Don't let Haku hear you say that!" Rin hushed, covering Chihiro's mouth with her hand, "that dragon's hearing is impeccable."
Pulling Rin's hand away from her face, Chihiro questioned,"why not, what's wrong with her?"
"Nothing's wrong with her!" Rin began to feel a little flustered and fumbled with the accounts.
"Then what's wrong?" Chihiro pressed on, sensing that she was on to something she didn't know about.
"Nothing. Just… just do your work," Rin took the accounts and left. This was not the right time to have this conversation. Not behind the reception desk anyway. It's easy to see why Chihiro got the impression that there was something going on between Haku and Hisae. The Dragon and the willow tree spirit did look good together — their elements even coexisted beautifully, for crying out loud. Countless paintings of willow trees resting beside a calm river were painted by humans and it was common for river spirits to take willow tree spirits as mates. However, Rin knew that no matter how close the two got, Hisae would never earn a fraction of the affection Haku held for the human girl, who was completely ignorant of the situation she was in.
"Haku, you and your games… you're too smart for your own good," Rin sighed under her breath as she headed to the boiler room.
By midnight, the hubbub of the bathhouse was coming in full force and Chihiro was trying her best to keep up. After her shift at the reception and a short break, she was tasked to help out wherever her was needed since she was still getting a hang of things. Most new employees were tasked to scrub the tubs but seeing that Chihiro had just recovered, Rin thought it was better to cut the girl some slack.
Chihiro's first task was to transport the dirty linens from the laundry room to the bottom floors. After making 2 wrong turns, Chihiro finally found a small door at an obscure corner of the 7th floor labelled "laundry room". Sliding it open quietly, she was greeted by a mountain of dirty linens —bathhouses as busy as this one were never short of dirty laundry.
Grabbing as many linens as she could, Chihiro slowly sidestepped out the door and managed to close it with her foot. Now, her new challenge was trying to make her way to the basement with a high pile of laundry obscuring her view. But just when she thought she finally got into the elevator, Chihiro bumped into a great pillar and fell backwards.
"Ouch!" Chihiro landed clumsily on her bum and saw dirty linen lying everywhere on the floor. "Just my luck…" She muttered as she slowly stood up and adjusted her blue head scarf.
"I'm sorry about that, do you need a hand?" A cool voice spoke up. Glancing up, Chihiro realised that the 'pillar' she bumped into was actually a guest! "Oh! Oh my - I'm so sorry. Forgive me, I really didn't mean to-" she stammered, feeling embarrassed and completely useless.
"Don't worry about it, please. Let me help you with that," the tall spirit with clear blue eyes said. His voice was soft and somehow, a little chilling. It reminded Chihiro of cold winter winds. Chihiro reached her hands out wanting to protest but before she knew it, the linens on the floor were swept up by a gentle gust of wind and landed in her hands, folded.
"…Oh?" She looked at the laundry in her hands, incredulous. When she looked up, the spirit was gone. With even stranger events over the last few days, Chihiro has slowly learned to accept the strange happenings around her. Just as she turned to pull the lever of the elevator, she saw a pair of emerald green eyes staring at her from the upper floors. It was master Haku. Chihiro blushed profusely, knowing that the master of the bathhouse had caught her clumsy act.
I need to get it together. Master Haku did not give me a name and a purpose just to so I can tarnish the bathhouse's reputation.
Trying her best to bow lowly while holding on to the laundry, Chihiro hoped Master Haku could sense her sincere apology from where he was. The elevator arrived with a bing and Chihiro straightened, stole a quick glance of her boss, and scurried through the opened doors. Haku watched Chihiro disappear into the lift, his gaze never leaving her until the doors shut.
"New staff?" A warm quiet voice spoke. Haku turned and returned Hisae's question with a small smile, shaking his head as if to say, "you know how they are…"
"Sorry," Haku apologised to Hisae out of courtesy but the smile still lingered on his upturned lips. "She's pretty new. It's her first day, actually. I'm more surprised to see Kenta sama, Prince of the North — I'll have to go send him my greetings later, after we have tea."
"Kohaku, we've known each other a long time. You don't have to play the host with me," Hisae laughed as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "You should go attend to the guests who require your attention."
"You're one of the few guests I enjoy hosting, so just let me enjoy my job once in a while won't you?" Haku winked, "I've made arrangements — let's have tea at the gardens. I know willow tree spirits enjoy the presence of butterflies." He cooed and ushered Hisae to the elevator.
"Fantastic!" Hisae clasped her hands together and brightened immediately, a tinge of pink colouring her cheeks.