Chapter 4
The Drain Incident
While the management was at the budget meeting, the workers went about their business unsupervised and the forty six students in the three classes were free for the day. The snail class gathered under a nearby tree and had a tea party. Some of them were singing and some were playing an old gambling game with dice. The students in the frog class were in a nearby open field playing kendo, a traditional fighting discipline using large sticks. It was a beautiful morning, so Lin couldn't resist the opportunity to skip homework and play with her tanuki class friends in the garden right outside the main bath area. The cleanup crew was busy scrubbing the baths and floors.
Because all the doors and windows were open to air the facility, everybody could see and hear everybody else. Suddenly, Lin noticed there was unusual activity in the large bath. Then, "He can't grab the rope!" pierced the quiet garden. Lin and her friends, curious as everyone else who heard the commotion, entered the large room from the garden side just about the same time Aniyaku returned from the adjourned meeting. A large crowd of frogs had gathered around a spot in the middle of the floor.
"What's going on?" Lin asked one of the working frogs.
"Pyon is stuck at the bottom of the drain. He was cleaning the mesh at the bottom and his fingers got caught."
"Can't anybody help him work his fingers loose or cut the mesh?"
"Pyon is nearly as wide as the drain itself. Nobody could squeeze past him."
Aniyaku took control of the situation the best he knew how. He bellowed, "If you don't work in this room, leave immediately!"
Lin approached Aniyaku. "Can we help somehow? We're a lot smaller than you are." As a mammal, she was a lot smarter, too, but she didn't know that.
Normally, Aniyaku's contempt for Lin's kind would result in a declination, but he didn't want to burn any bridges at that moment. He knew this incident could get him fired if it went badly. "I don't know, Lin. You and your classmates can stay, but please be quiet while I figure what to do. Aniyaku went about the room, gathering anything that might help. He figured he'd need plenty of sticks and ropes. He was a very accomplished gatherer.
Lin edged up to the drain. Seeing her, Aniyaku warned, "Don't get too close, Lin. I don't want to worry about pulling out two of you."
"Don't worry about me, I'm always very careful," Lin replied truthfully. Lin then called to the poor frog stuck three meters down the drain. "Pyon-san, you have a very bouncy name. I'll bet you can jump farther than anyone else here."
Despite his predicament, that comment brought a smile to his face. "You bet. It's a bit difficult for me to prove it right now, though."
"Well, when you get out you'll have to show me how good you are. How old are you?"
"I'm twenty-six. How old are you?"
"I'm almost nine."
"I guess our age difference is too great to get married." The two laughed. Lin wasn't yet aware that frogs were a different species, so the humor involving the absurdity of a frog-mammal romance flew past her.
"Yes, wait here. I'll come back several years later," Lin retorted, causing an even greater laughter. The laughter stopped suddenly, however, when the two heard an ominous sound coming from below.
Pyon yelled, "Water!" He looked down to see water beginning to rise toward the mesh. Aniyaku rushed to the edge and began to panic. "Oh, What to do, what to do." In the panic, Aniyaku reverted to his natural frog behaviors and started jumping from side to side with indecision. It wasn't very useful, just instinctive.
Lin's calculating instincts began to take over. She knew Aniyaku was going to be useless, so she had to sieze the moment. "Usa-chan," she called to one of her younger classmates, "find out who is running water and get them to stop it. If they're emptying a tub, have them put a mat over the drain if needed." She then eyed the room for materials. Lin used her finger to point to what she needed. "Ta-chan, get me that bucket and that rope and that rope." She then turned toward the frogs milling around the entrance. "I need..." she didn't know numbers yet, but she did have fingers and held them all up, "...this many frogs. If anybody knows how to use rope, please come forward."
Several frogs entered to help and one frog approached Lin. "I know how to tie knots, Lin-chan."
"Good. Tie this rope to the bucket and tie my feet together with the other."
He knew what she had in mind. "That's not a good idea. Your feet will lose blood and rot. I'll tie it around your waist and you can stay inverted using your hands and legs."
While the knot-tying was underway, Lin was assessing the water situation. It just started to break the mesh and was still rising slowly. If the water rose one meter in the drain and stayed any length of time, Pyon might drown.
She turned toward the knot-tyer. "What's your name?"
"My name is Kabe," he replied, smiling, "...and I'm seventeen."
The number seventeen had as little meaning to her as the number twenty six, but she did have a good wit. "Oh, you're too young." While they were laughing, she told him, "You know what I want. We'll fill that tub with the water, so we'll need some frogs to relay the water and the rest to lower me into the drain. I'm small enough to let the bucket pass by me."
"Understood, Lin-san."
"You can lower me now. Hopefully, the water level will drop and I won't need to do this."
The frogs gently lowered Lin into the drain with her head down and her arms extended downward. She felt uncomfortable as she was being lowered because blood was running to her head, but she felt she could go on quite a bit longer. She stopped just a few centimeters above Pyon's head. "Hi there, handsome. How are you doing?"
"Quite well, considering..."
The water was still rising in the drain, but it wasn't an immediate threat. "You know, I never really talked to any men other than my teacher. You guys aren't all that bad."
"They haven't told her yet," thought Pyon. "I'm sure the boys in the frog class make you think otherwise," he said as he recalled his own school days.
"Kaeru-jiisan taught me how to hold my own against them. It's kind of fun when they think they can tease us."
"Good for you. You know, that old frog has been here forever. The only person who has been here longer is the boiler room man downstairs. Both of them have been here longer than Yubaba. You'll have to meet Kamajii sometime--he's a very interesting old spider."
The water was starting to get within reach of Lin's bucket. She looked for and found a mark on the pipe wall that could be used to measure her progress. When the water reached that point, she dipped the bucket and called the people above to start pulling the water out. When the bucket returned to her, the water level was above the mark--but not by much. She thought she would only be buying time and she was right. She dipped the bucket again and called out, "Can we go a little faster? The water's still rising."
Lin kept at it for about ten minutes. The water had risen considerably, but the top of Pyon's head was still above the surface. He was able to breathe through his nostrils. Suddenly, the water level started to drop. Within a few seconds, the water was below the mesh and the immediate crisis was over. "Well, Pyon," Lin said while examining his situation more closely, "I can't see the floor. You're way too big for this pipe. How are your fingers caught?"
"I was trying to lift the mesh out, but I forgot to release the clips--and now all of my fingers on both hands are caught at the knuckles." Pyon added, "If I could only move the clips, you could pull me out mesh and all."
"Can I get to you from the other side of the mesh?"
That thought hadn't occurred to him. "Yes! all the drain pipes in the bathhouse run together before they dump out. I've been down there. It's very cramped, but someone your size could wander all over the drain system."
"Do you have any suggestions how I can get below you?"
"Go to the Matsu-no-yu bath. That drain is the next one away from this one. There are three clips on the mesh. Just turn all three and it will lift out. There's an arrow on the bottom of the pipe pointing toward the main drain. Go opposite the arrow and you will be able to reach me."
"Got it." Lin called above, "Lower another rope. We're going to lift him out after we free the mesh. I'm also going to need a very, very long rope later." Kabe lowered another rope. Lin studied the knot holding her and figured how to tie the same knot. She looped the rope around his body under his armpits and tied the same knot. "I'll see you again shortly, Pyon." "Ok, guys, pull me out!"
About ten minutes later, Pyon heard a voice from beneath the mesh. "Did you miss me?" Lin was right below him. She was tied at the waist so she could make her way back and get pulled up. Kabe had to tie a few pieces of rope together, but they managed to make one long enough. It took only a few seconds to turn the clips. "I'll see you topside, Pyon."
"Thanks for everything, Lin-san." Pyon then called out. "OK, lift me out of here!" Lin stayed to watch him being raised and finally lifted out to safety. Then she heard a terrifying sound. She called out above, "Water!" She was on her hands and knees in an uncomfortably cramped location, unable to turn around. She had to back out. The situation was more dire than she realized. Even though there was a crew helping her with the rope, the knots were going to prevent them pulling her out if she were to lose consciousness. She was able to take in her last full breath of air ten meters short of safety. As the lack of Oxygen gradually robbed her of harsh reality, a splendidly serene world took its place.
At next light, Lin stirred, not quite aware of any particular facts. An off-focus figure appeared in her field of view as she awoke. "Good morning, Lin-san." It was a vaguely familiar voice, but not all her faculties were collected yet.
Lin sat up. She was in a futon bed in a small, brightly lit room. "What happened?"
"You nearly drowned saving my life," replied Pyon. He sat with her during her long period of unconsciousness.
Lin was beginning to recover some of the events, though they were still disjoined. "Pyon? Are you OK?"
"I lost one of my fingers, but I'm otherwise fine. What's important is that you're back. We were all pulling for you. Look!"
Lin surveyed the room. It was full of flowers and...
"Pyon-san, what are those?"
Pyon took one of the several packages from the tabletop and handed it to Lin. "Go ahead, open it."
She opened the package and a huge smile filled her face and lit up the the room even more. "How did you get these?" Lin had a package of one hundred sheets of Genkou Youshi, a special paper designed specifically for writing practice. There were dozens of the packages. "Are they all..."
"Yes, Lin, you have enough practice paper to last until your school days are over. Yubaba made a special trip to the human world and all of us chipped in. I can't give you anything that would measure up to what you did for me, so I'm hoping you will accept my appreciation. I owe you my life."
"No, Pyon-san. You owe me a jump. I want to see how well you can do."
"This room isn't big enough. When you're better, I'll show you at broadjump practice pit, OK?"
"OK!"
The Drain Incident
While the management was at the budget meeting, the workers went about their business unsupervised and the forty six students in the three classes were free for the day. The snail class gathered under a nearby tree and had a tea party. Some of them were singing and some were playing an old gambling game with dice. The students in the frog class were in a nearby open field playing kendo, a traditional fighting discipline using large sticks. It was a beautiful morning, so Lin couldn't resist the opportunity to skip homework and play with her tanuki class friends in the garden right outside the main bath area. The cleanup crew was busy scrubbing the baths and floors.
Because all the doors and windows were open to air the facility, everybody could see and hear everybody else. Suddenly, Lin noticed there was unusual activity in the large bath. Then, "He can't grab the rope!" pierced the quiet garden. Lin and her friends, curious as everyone else who heard the commotion, entered the large room from the garden side just about the same time Aniyaku returned from the adjourned meeting. A large crowd of frogs had gathered around a spot in the middle of the floor.
"What's going on?" Lin asked one of the working frogs.
"Pyon is stuck at the bottom of the drain. He was cleaning the mesh at the bottom and his fingers got caught."
"Can't anybody help him work his fingers loose or cut the mesh?"
"Pyon is nearly as wide as the drain itself. Nobody could squeeze past him."
Aniyaku took control of the situation the best he knew how. He bellowed, "If you don't work in this room, leave immediately!"
Lin approached Aniyaku. "Can we help somehow? We're a lot smaller than you are." As a mammal, she was a lot smarter, too, but she didn't know that.
Normally, Aniyaku's contempt for Lin's kind would result in a declination, but he didn't want to burn any bridges at that moment. He knew this incident could get him fired if it went badly. "I don't know, Lin. You and your classmates can stay, but please be quiet while I figure what to do. Aniyaku went about the room, gathering anything that might help. He figured he'd need plenty of sticks and ropes. He was a very accomplished gatherer.
Lin edged up to the drain. Seeing her, Aniyaku warned, "Don't get too close, Lin. I don't want to worry about pulling out two of you."
"Don't worry about me, I'm always very careful," Lin replied truthfully. Lin then called to the poor frog stuck three meters down the drain. "Pyon-san, you have a very bouncy name. I'll bet you can jump farther than anyone else here."
Despite his predicament, that comment brought a smile to his face. "You bet. It's a bit difficult for me to prove it right now, though."
"Well, when you get out you'll have to show me how good you are. How old are you?"
"I'm twenty-six. How old are you?"
"I'm almost nine."
"I guess our age difference is too great to get married." The two laughed. Lin wasn't yet aware that frogs were a different species, so the humor involving the absurdity of a frog-mammal romance flew past her.
"Yes, wait here. I'll come back several years later," Lin retorted, causing an even greater laughter. The laughter stopped suddenly, however, when the two heard an ominous sound coming from below.
Pyon yelled, "Water!" He looked down to see water beginning to rise toward the mesh. Aniyaku rushed to the edge and began to panic. "Oh, What to do, what to do." In the panic, Aniyaku reverted to his natural frog behaviors and started jumping from side to side with indecision. It wasn't very useful, just instinctive.
Lin's calculating instincts began to take over. She knew Aniyaku was going to be useless, so she had to sieze the moment. "Usa-chan," she called to one of her younger classmates, "find out who is running water and get them to stop it. If they're emptying a tub, have them put a mat over the drain if needed." She then eyed the room for materials. Lin used her finger to point to what she needed. "Ta-chan, get me that bucket and that rope and that rope." She then turned toward the frogs milling around the entrance. "I need..." she didn't know numbers yet, but she did have fingers and held them all up, "...this many frogs. If anybody knows how to use rope, please come forward."
Several frogs entered to help and one frog approached Lin. "I know how to tie knots, Lin-chan."
"Good. Tie this rope to the bucket and tie my feet together with the other."
He knew what she had in mind. "That's not a good idea. Your feet will lose blood and rot. I'll tie it around your waist and you can stay inverted using your hands and legs."
While the knot-tying was underway, Lin was assessing the water situation. It just started to break the mesh and was still rising slowly. If the water rose one meter in the drain and stayed any length of time, Pyon might drown.
She turned toward the knot-tyer. "What's your name?"
"My name is Kabe," he replied, smiling, "...and I'm seventeen."
The number seventeen had as little meaning to her as the number twenty six, but she did have a good wit. "Oh, you're too young." While they were laughing, she told him, "You know what I want. We'll fill that tub with the water, so we'll need some frogs to relay the water and the rest to lower me into the drain. I'm small enough to let the bucket pass by me."
"Understood, Lin-san."
"You can lower me now. Hopefully, the water level will drop and I won't need to do this."
The frogs gently lowered Lin into the drain with her head down and her arms extended downward. She felt uncomfortable as she was being lowered because blood was running to her head, but she felt she could go on quite a bit longer. She stopped just a few centimeters above Pyon's head. "Hi there, handsome. How are you doing?"
"Quite well, considering..."
The water was still rising in the drain, but it wasn't an immediate threat. "You know, I never really talked to any men other than my teacher. You guys aren't all that bad."
"They haven't told her yet," thought Pyon. "I'm sure the boys in the frog class make you think otherwise," he said as he recalled his own school days.
"Kaeru-jiisan taught me how to hold my own against them. It's kind of fun when they think they can tease us."
"Good for you. You know, that old frog has been here forever. The only person who has been here longer is the boiler room man downstairs. Both of them have been here longer than Yubaba. You'll have to meet Kamajii sometime--he's a very interesting old spider."
The water was starting to get within reach of Lin's bucket. She looked for and found a mark on the pipe wall that could be used to measure her progress. When the water reached that point, she dipped the bucket and called the people above to start pulling the water out. When the bucket returned to her, the water level was above the mark--but not by much. She thought she would only be buying time and she was right. She dipped the bucket again and called out, "Can we go a little faster? The water's still rising."
Lin kept at it for about ten minutes. The water had risen considerably, but the top of Pyon's head was still above the surface. He was able to breathe through his nostrils. Suddenly, the water level started to drop. Within a few seconds, the water was below the mesh and the immediate crisis was over. "Well, Pyon," Lin said while examining his situation more closely, "I can't see the floor. You're way too big for this pipe. How are your fingers caught?"
"I was trying to lift the mesh out, but I forgot to release the clips--and now all of my fingers on both hands are caught at the knuckles." Pyon added, "If I could only move the clips, you could pull me out mesh and all."
"Can I get to you from the other side of the mesh?"
That thought hadn't occurred to him. "Yes! all the drain pipes in the bathhouse run together before they dump out. I've been down there. It's very cramped, but someone your size could wander all over the drain system."
"Do you have any suggestions how I can get below you?"
"Go to the Matsu-no-yu bath. That drain is the next one away from this one. There are three clips on the mesh. Just turn all three and it will lift out. There's an arrow on the bottom of the pipe pointing toward the main drain. Go opposite the arrow and you will be able to reach me."
"Got it." Lin called above, "Lower another rope. We're going to lift him out after we free the mesh. I'm also going to need a very, very long rope later." Kabe lowered another rope. Lin studied the knot holding her and figured how to tie the same knot. She looped the rope around his body under his armpits and tied the same knot. "I'll see you again shortly, Pyon." "Ok, guys, pull me out!"
About ten minutes later, Pyon heard a voice from beneath the mesh. "Did you miss me?" Lin was right below him. She was tied at the waist so she could make her way back and get pulled up. Kabe had to tie a few pieces of rope together, but they managed to make one long enough. It took only a few seconds to turn the clips. "I'll see you topside, Pyon."
"Thanks for everything, Lin-san." Pyon then called out. "OK, lift me out of here!" Lin stayed to watch him being raised and finally lifted out to safety. Then she heard a terrifying sound. She called out above, "Water!" She was on her hands and knees in an uncomfortably cramped location, unable to turn around. She had to back out. The situation was more dire than she realized. Even though there was a crew helping her with the rope, the knots were going to prevent them pulling her out if she were to lose consciousness. She was able to take in her last full breath of air ten meters short of safety. As the lack of Oxygen gradually robbed her of harsh reality, a splendidly serene world took its place.
At next light, Lin stirred, not quite aware of any particular facts. An off-focus figure appeared in her field of view as she awoke. "Good morning, Lin-san." It was a vaguely familiar voice, but not all her faculties were collected yet.
Lin sat up. She was in a futon bed in a small, brightly lit room. "What happened?"
"You nearly drowned saving my life," replied Pyon. He sat with her during her long period of unconsciousness.
Lin was beginning to recover some of the events, though they were still disjoined. "Pyon? Are you OK?"
"I lost one of my fingers, but I'm otherwise fine. What's important is that you're back. We were all pulling for you. Look!"
Lin surveyed the room. It was full of flowers and...
"Pyon-san, what are those?"
Pyon took one of the several packages from the tabletop and handed it to Lin. "Go ahead, open it."
She opened the package and a huge smile filled her face and lit up the the room even more. "How did you get these?" Lin had a package of one hundred sheets of Genkou Youshi, a special paper designed specifically for writing practice. There were dozens of the packages. "Are they all..."
"Yes, Lin, you have enough practice paper to last until your school days are over. Yubaba made a special trip to the human world and all of us chipped in. I can't give you anything that would measure up to what you did for me, so I'm hoping you will accept my appreciation. I owe you my life."
"No, Pyon-san. You owe me a jump. I want to see how well you can do."
"This room isn't big enough. When you're better, I'll show you at broadjump practice pit, OK?"
"OK!"