Chapter 12
Time and Tide
Chihiro looked at Lin, puzzled. "So the portal shut? How were you able to escape?"
Lin glanced again toward the place where she saw the moving shadow. "I didn't. We went back to Tsukuba that night. Ae's mother and Natori-sensei were running around the Prefecture offices in Mito and the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo. They managed to get the Prefecture to give me up to the Foreign Ministry--and the Foreign Ministry issued me an immigration visa. The Tanaka family was my sponsor. Aiko stayed and we were like sisters."
"How long did you stay there?"
"I stayed a little more than four years. I had a big growth spurt and looked fifteen or sixteen when I entered middle school. After that, I was relentlessly pursued by older boys who were attracted to me. Instead of feeling good about it, I was both terrified and disgusted."
Chihiro looked back at Lin. "Lin-san, I think I can understand why boys would be interested in you. You are gorgeous--and I wish I had those eyes of yours. Not only that, but you are also a very nice person with an individual spirit. I've only known you a couple of days, and that much is easy to see."
Lin still wasn't comforted. "I appreciate your intentions, Chihiro-san, but when I stand at the mirror I can't bring myself to see the same beauty humans do. My brain still tells me I'm a different species. Anyway, I had to tell the Tanakas I didn't belong in their world. My greatest regret was saying goodbye to Ae for the last time."
"So she can never visit this world again?"
At that point, tears started flowing from her already welled-up eyes. "One day last year, Yubaba-sama called us all together for an announcement. Ae had passed away. She was killed by a drunk driver in a stolen automobile as she crossed a street at night. We were all devastated. I wandered aimlessly around the bathhouse complex, bumping into things. They found me sitting outside in the garden, but I don't remember how I got there."
Chihiro sensed the magnitude of Lin's loss. "..."
Lin continued, sobbing, "Yubaba closed the place the next day so those of us who wished could pay our respects at her funeral. Natori-sensei took us to the ceremony and cremation. I was the only one of us there in the shape of a human, so I had the opportunity to speak of her as my sister. She was more than that, though--much more. I don't remember my biological parents--and I don't care. The old nameless frog and Ae were my parents in every way that counts."
The End
Time and Tide
Chihiro looked at Lin, puzzled. "So the portal shut? How were you able to escape?"
Lin glanced again toward the place where she saw the moving shadow. "I didn't. We went back to Tsukuba that night. Ae's mother and Natori-sensei were running around the Prefecture offices in Mito and the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo. They managed to get the Prefecture to give me up to the Foreign Ministry--and the Foreign Ministry issued me an immigration visa. The Tanaka family was my sponsor. Aiko stayed and we were like sisters."
"How long did you stay there?"
"I stayed a little more than four years. I had a big growth spurt and looked fifteen or sixteen when I entered middle school. After that, I was relentlessly pursued by older boys who were attracted to me. Instead of feeling good about it, I was both terrified and disgusted."
Chihiro looked back at Lin. "Lin-san, I think I can understand why boys would be interested in you. You are gorgeous--and I wish I had those eyes of yours. Not only that, but you are also a very nice person with an individual spirit. I've only known you a couple of days, and that much is easy to see."
Lin still wasn't comforted. "I appreciate your intentions, Chihiro-san, but when I stand at the mirror I can't bring myself to see the same beauty humans do. My brain still tells me I'm a different species. Anyway, I had to tell the Tanakas I didn't belong in their world. My greatest regret was saying goodbye to Ae for the last time."
"So she can never visit this world again?"
At that point, tears started flowing from her already welled-up eyes. "One day last year, Yubaba-sama called us all together for an announcement. Ae had passed away. She was killed by a drunk driver in a stolen automobile as she crossed a street at night. We were all devastated. I wandered aimlessly around the bathhouse complex, bumping into things. They found me sitting outside in the garden, but I don't remember how I got there."
Chihiro sensed the magnitude of Lin's loss. "..."
Lin continued, sobbing, "Yubaba closed the place the next day so those of us who wished could pay our respects at her funeral. Natori-sensei took us to the ceremony and cremation. I was the only one of us there in the shape of a human, so I had the opportunity to speak of her as my sister. She was more than that, though--much more. I don't remember my biological parents--and I don't care. The old nameless frog and Ae were my parents in every way that counts."
The End