"Please tell me it was just a dream, just a dream…" she mumbled to herself.
She slowly pulled herself out of oblivion as she opened her eyes painfully. It was just a dream… please tell me that it wasn't real… She felt as if she was lying on something soft, but it didn't feel like her bed… Finally, her eyes were fully opened and she stared down at…
She wasn't lying down on something… she was lying down on someone. They were face to face, but only one of them was awake. It was a boy, Chihiro realized, and before she could stop herself, she gave a small cry of surprise:
"Aah!"
It wasn't a loud scream, but it was enough to wake the stranger. He moaned slightly, and his eyes slowly opened. Chihiro found herself suddenly gazing into a lively color of sparkling moss green eyes. But they were so… cold.
Abruptly, she was hit by a huge wave of memory: everything finally became clear to her. And she could finally remember her dream!
The Spirit World…
The Bathhouse…
Yubabaa, the sorceress who owned the bathhouse, gave me this name: Sen…
And…
And…
Kohaku.
Suddenly, Chihiro knew who she was lying on… She stared at his mystical green eyes again and realized that he probably had the same astonished look as the one that was imprinted on her face. She was about to say something to him when a small breeze of soft wind passed her: she didn't know why, but it knocked her words out of her mouth. She blinked once and when she opened her eyes again, he was… gone. How? She wondered. How could he vanish like… like that? But then she remembered that Haku was a river spirit… and he did have supernatural powers. However, a question still plagued her mind:
Why did he run away like that…?
Chihiro shook her head and looked up again, making sure that she was seeing clearly. Unfortunately, she was: he was nowhere to be found. She sighed and got up, and then she looked around her surroundings. The same plain I had to cross to enter Majou No Sekai... (A/N: If you didn't notice before, I'm using both names for the Spiritual World, okay? It isn't a big deal, right?) She thought. Even though it was night, the town across the grassy plain was still an abandoned amusement park… at least for now. Maybe it would turn to restaurants full of gods and spirits when she actually entered it…
Full of new determination, Chihiro took a deep breath, and started running towards the ghost town. She tore through the verdant plain, and sooner than expected, she was across it. But what lay in front of her still seemed like a ghost town to Chihiro…
Until all of a sudden, her vision blurred, and when it sharpened again, she didn't stand in the entrance of an abandoned amusement park, but of the Spiritual World. I did it! I did it! Chihiro cried joyfully in her mind as she jumped up and down. Unluckily, she stopped her brief celebration when she realized that:
I'm a human: I'm not supposed to be here!
I need to get some food fast before… I disappear!
Already to her, she seemed as if she was fading. Maybe I should just turn around…she then thought bitterly. She whirled around to head back to the tunnel: but the lush green plain had turned into a midnight-blue ocean to no end.
"I'm see-through!" she shrieked to nobody in particular. "Oh, what am I going to do? What am I going to do?"
"Here: eat this."
"No, no, no…"
"If you don't eat anything from this world, you'll disappear forever… And don't worry; it won't turn you unto a pig."
That memory… she thought. It was from the last time I came here… Thankfully, now she knew what to do. Sadly, this time… there was no Haku to help her.
"Okay Chihiro, take a deep breath: nothing is going to happen to you yet as long as you do something… fast!" she tried to reassure herself.
I need friends here… she pondered, and then she remembered again. Kamajii! Rin! Of course, I need to get to them! But… how? Chihiro also remembered the directions Kohaku gave her; the directions to Kamajii's boiler room. With that memory now in her head, the girl broke into a rapid run once again to the boiler room: past the many restaurants, past the eerie shadows… to be finally stopped by the huge bridge leading to the bathhouse. There were many people there, greeting the gods as they passed through the beautiful, grand bridge. But Chihiro knew that, at the mere sight of a human, they would be alerted to chase he/her. And this time… it meant her. Maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea after all… Maybe…
"You have to hold your breath when we cross the bridge. Even the tiniest breath will break the spell."
"Maybe I should just hold my breath," she told herself. "Yeah… maybe that will work."
She walked up hesitantly, making sure that she was almost invisible to the crowd. She was about to take the smallest step on the bridge when an abrupt horrible thought came to her: even if she did hold her breath, they would still see her because… she didn't cast any spells! Chihiro started panicking in her mind as she heard the voices of yunas and other workers:
"Welcome! Welcome! We hope you'll have a great stay!"
But then she also remembered that she did get caught that day four years ago, even with Haku's spell. It was because I was a klutz, she thought, and then grinned to herself when she realized that it was the same thing Rin always told her.
"You're such a klutz, Sen!"
"Well, I made it last time when I was a ten-year old klutz; let's hope I can still make it now!" she whispered to herself.
She took a hesitant step backwards before she dashed off towards the bridge. Almost immediately, she heard the surprised, shocked, angry voices of Yubabaa's staff:
"Ah! A human!"
"Catch it! Catch it!"
"I can't stand there stench!"
"Yubabaa must be warned!"
But Chihiro ignored their rude comments as she continued speeding on the bridge, off it, and towards the boiler room. But she had to stop a while later, because she was out of breath. She hid into a nearby bush, and sat there as she was buried into her thoughts… What if Kamajii had forgotten her? What if he wouldn't help her? What if…? What if I disappear before I even make it there! She thought desperately as she realized she was already a half-ghost. She stood up and quickly continued her mission to find Kamajii… before she vanished from this world (and her world) forever! But of course, before she could reach the boiler room, she had to climb down… the long, dreadfully steep stairs.
Okay, maybe I won't be afraid of them now: I mean… I'm now fourteen! Chihiro tried to convince herself, but one look down and she shook her head, thinking: Who am I kidding? I'm still afraid! But… but, I need to stay visible! I need to go to Kamajii… in order to know what happened to… Kohaku? She gritted her teeth, closed her eyes to relax for a second, before opening them again and… running like crazy down the really, really, really steep stairs.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Chihiro screamed at the top of her lungs as she dashed down the flight of steps.
She felt as if anytime now, she would fall off, making it the end of everything… but thankfully, she survived to the last step, in which she tripped on and landed face flat on the stone ground.
"OUCH!" she cried painfully, getting herself up and painfully rubbing her nose.
It was then she knew, to her appalling discovery, that there wasn't much time left before she would disappear… forever more. She couldn't see her hands anymore! And her arms were just barely visible! Luckily for her, as she remembered, the door to the boiler room was very close by: Chihiro opened it and crept in. Well, I made it this far… she smiled weakly as she thought about that. Even though her case was urgent, she walked tremendously slowly, and when she had a slight, tiny peak at Kamajii, she nearly fainted in surprise. Although she remembered him perfectly out of memory, he still looked a little strange… and terrifying in a certain way; even though he looked exactly the same way he did years ago… Once again, she had the peculiar feeling to quit, but her life was at stake! Chihiro marched up to Kamajii timidly, but determinedly.
"Kamajii," she said to him apprehensively but clearly and with a determined edge to her voice. "Do you remember me? It's me, Sen!"
He grunted as he worked on, ignoring her. Chihiro got a little irritated by that, and she cleared her throat and repeated again, this time much more loudly:
"Kamajii! It's me: Sen!"
This time, he looked at her, and he gasped in surprise, dropping whatever he was holding in his hand.
"Oh drat!" he muttered as he picked the thing up. "I got to hurry: by this time, the bathhouse is full of orders!"
"KAMAJII!" Chihiro shouted at him.
She truly didn't want to be rude, but she was disappearing every second!
"Yes?" the giant half man/half spider said.
"Do you remember me? It's Sen!"
"Sen? I remember no Sen…" Kamajii answered, scratching his head in a confused way.
"What!" Chihiro became awfully pale: she felt like fainting.
She felt terribly weak, now knowing that she came all this way… for nothing. Unexpectedly, she tumbled on something… something small, wiggly and black. Like a tiny spider made out of soot… a susuwatari!
Kamajii was exploding with laughter as he stared at her. Chihiro didn't have a clue on what was so funny.
"Sen! I mean… Chihiro! Of course I remember you! How could I not? I remember like it was yesterday when you stumbled into my boiler room, asking for a job! Why… look at you now! You certainly have changed: you seem like quite a fine…"
"KAMAJII!" Chihiro abruptly shouted at him. "Look at me! I'm disappearing! Please help… Before I… I…I-…"
But she never finished her sentence because just then, she felt as if her body had just been erased from this world. The first few minutes she spent in oblivion was horrible… she couldn't think right… she didn't know where she was… she felt like crying except she didn't have a body anymore…
But then, she felt another sensation: it was as if someone was pulling her body –no spirit- out of the shadows, and before she knew it, she was back with Kamajii, in the boiler room. Chihiro looked at her hands, her arms and her feet, hardly believing she didn't disappear forever.
"What… what happened?" she asked faintly. "Why did I come back…?"
"Huh?" Kamajii looked at her through his thick dark glasses. "Oh, it's a very complex spell! Only a few people know about it: I doubt even Yubabaa has even used it!"
"A spell?" Chihiro asked, now a little interested since now, she knew she wouldn't disappear.
"Oh yes, a spell… and a very hard one! You should be grateful that I know about it!" Kamajii chuckled. But then his face became serious. "Since you're here again and you cannot go back to your world (Chihiro gulped at these words), you should once again ask Yubabaa for a job. Or else you'll be turned into an animal! And this time, it won't be so easy since Yubabaa isn't quite so fond of you…"
"I know," the girl nodded solemnly. "But Kamajii, can I ask you something? What happened to…?"
But before she could finish, a small door slid open, and a young woman entered the boiler room with a big bamboo basket.
"Chow time already, Rin?" Kamajii asked, a little surprised at her arrival.
"Nope!" Rin answered happily. "I came here to remind you that you owe me, Kamajii!"
"Do I?" the giant spider asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Of course you do and you know it!" Rin snapped amicably. "You…"
But she stopped as she abruptly realized that there was somebody else in the boiler room. She let her gaze shift to Chihiro, and she gaped and stared at her, open-mouthed.
"Err… hi Rin," Chihiro greeted her timidly.
One minute Rin was staring at Chihiro as if she was an alien from planet Pluto, and the next minute, she was strangling her in a bear hug.
"Look here! Sen's back!" the long-haired woman cried joyfully. "And with her whole memory in one piece!"
The younger girl didn't quite get Rin's last phrase, but she was still quite glad that Rin actually remembered her. Rin looked only slightly older than she was the last time Chihiro came here, although it could have been a simple illusion because the difference was so minor…
"Yeah… I miss you too…" Chihiro mumbled as she struggled to free herself.
"I can't wait to tell him that she's back!" Rin then said happily as she glanced at Kamajii. "He'll be so-…"
However, she stopped when she saw the serious, stony stare Kamajii gave her back.
"Oh yeah… sorry," Rin then whispered softly.
"What are you guys talking about?" Chihiro cut in, frowning.
But both of them just shook their heads, refusing to tell her. Finally, Kamajii said:
"Rin, take Chi –I mean Sen, to Yubabaa's apartments so she can ask Yubabaa for a job."
Rin crossed her arms and put an irritated expression on her face, even though both Kamajii and Chihiro knew that she would be more than glad to do it. She sighed and then cried to Kamajii:
"Fine, I will! But now you owe me even more, old man!"
He just smiled at her before suddenly shouting at the susuwataris, who were all gazing at Chihiro:
"Get back to work, you lazy bums! Do you all want to return to soot!"
They shivered and right away, they returned to work.
"Now come on Sen! Let's go!" Rin groaned.
Chihiro nodded, waved good-bye to Kamajii and the susuwataris and went to Rin, who snapped impatiently:
"Leave your shoes and your socks here! It's not like you're going to need them!"
Chihiro gave her a little smile, and took off her shoes and socks and left them on the ground. The susuwataris quickly came to collect them. Then she walked up to Rin, who nodded before they took off.
"So let me get this straight: you didn't completely shut the portal, didn't you?"
"No."
"And why, may I ask, was this task so impossible?"
"I don't quite know yet, but sooner or later, I am going to figure it out. Do you want me to try to close the portal again?"
"No, since I guess the intruder had already entered Majou No Sekai. Just keep your eyes open."
"Of course."
"Did you actually catch a glimpse of the intruder?"
"To be honest, I'm not sure."
"That answer does not satisfy me. But since it is not important, you may go now."
"Here are Yubabaa's apartments: now run along Sen!" Rin nudged Chihiro out of the elevator going to the top of the bathhouse.
The girl stumbled out rather clumsily as the elevator doors started to close.
"Good luck!" Rin waved before the doors were completely shut.
Chihiro slowly waved back, even though Rin was long gone. Then she sighed and went to the two, huge doors leading to Yubabaa's apartments. She was about to knock on the door when the doorknocker suddenly came to life, starting with a sick roll of its eyes and a sneer.
"So the little weak human has come back, huh?" it drawled with its raspy voice. "That was rather stupid of you to do so because this time, Mistress Yubabaa won't let you go so easily."
Chihiro tried to ignore the strange (and extremely rude) doorknocker. She was about to knock on the door (no matter how much the doorknocker protested) when abruptly, she heard a slow, hoarse voice saying:
"Well, what are you waiting for? Come in."
The two huge doors suddenly opened. A little panic-stricken, Chihiro took a cautious step backwards. However, that still didn't prevent the old sorceress from using her strong, powerful magic to grab Chihiro in anyways.
"AAAAAH!" the young girl cried as she was forced into Yubabaa's apartments, past several unimportant rooms, until finally she tumbled into Yubabaa's office.
I hate it when she does that… she thought bitterly as she got up. When she gazed at Yubabaa's indifferent face, she realized that the aged witch was staring back at her with suspicion and irritation.
"So you came back, didn't you? Even though I gave you a chance to go back in your own world?" Yubabaa asked slowly, glaring at Chihiro. "And now you're here. What do you want now?" she snapped.
"Please give me a job!" Chihiro heard herself blurting out before she had a chance to stop herself.
The old sorceress returned her attention to one of her scrolls as she said:
"Ah, I see that you are the same little, rude, spoiled brat that you were four years ago... Interesting that humans never seem to learn their lessons…"
Chihiro blushed at the blunt words. Yubabaa then suddenly looked up from her work, and barked:
"I should just turn you into an animal for what you did in the past! You are an insolent, lazy girl, even after these years! I don't even know why you bothered to come back here! I thought at least you had some sense in your thick head to know that you should never trespass in the Spiritual World again! But no! You are like the rest of your kind! And I don't know how you managed to break into the portal, even though it was almost entirely closed! But I guess it doesn't matter anyway since you can embrace your lazy life as a human good bye because from now on, you're spent your life as a tiny, fragile piglet!"
Chihiro shivered at those harsh words, but Yubabaa continued:
"No! A piglet is too good for you! I should turn you into something more… horrifying! More disgusting… something so bad you'll fall onto your knees and beg like a low-life being! Why not a piece of coal…?"
"No!" the young girl cried out. "Please! Just give me a chance to prove to you that I am no longer the lazy brat you knew four years ago! I want a job… PLEASE!"
"SILENCE!" Yubabaa roared. "Zip your mouth!"
And Chihiro felt her mouth getting zipped up. She tried to speak, to shout, but it was no use. Yubabaa seemed to calm down slightly as the sight of a quiet Chihiro, because she then asked softly:
"So Sen… why did you come back to the bathhouse anyway…?"
She felt her mouth getting unzipped when the witch finished her question, and she gasped for air, grateful that her moment of forced silence was short.
"I came here…" she answered slowly. "Because I had this strange dream… and now I'm asking: what happened to Kohaku? You didn't do anything terrible to him, did you!"
Once she finished her question, Chihiro was deeply astounded when Yubabaa burst out laughing. More like cackling, because she had the feeling that the sorceress' laughter could be heard from all over the bathhouse.
"Well… what happened to him?" the girl never knew she had that much nerve to ask that question again… to a person that can turn her into a tiny, chubby piglet anytime she wanted to!
Yubabaa stopped laughing and returned her attention to her desk.
"That is not for me to tell you," she replied evenly. "You'll have to figure it out yourself."
Chihiro knew better than to argue with the old witch, so she kept silent until she questioned:
"Can I have a job then?"
"No. I am now deciding what animal… or thing… I should turn you into: a piglet, a rat, a piece of coal, or…" she smiled evilly. "Dragon chow?"
Again, these words sent shivers to Chihiro's spine, but she kept determined. The last time she was here, she managed to make Yubabaa give her a job, and she'll do it again, if she had to! Because she had a feeling that she didn't regain her precious memories of this world for nothing… That's when she got a brilliant idea to make Yubabaa give her a job…
"Err… Yu –I mean Miss Yubabaa…"
"Yes, dragon chow?" Yubabaa asked, raising her eyebrow and her finger as she prepared to give Chihiro the ultimate punishment.
"I remembered that four years ago, you made an oath that you'd accept any worker who was determined to have a job, right?" Chihiro asked tentatively. "And I guess you didn't break the oath yet… did you?"
Yubabaa sighed loudly and put down her finger.
"Urgh… I wish I never made that stupid oath," she muttered. Then she cleared her throat and said more loudly to Chihiro: "Even if I did make the oath you're talking about, I can easily break it!"
But Chihiro kept her gaze steady on Yubabaa's, and the witch's mouth twitched as she realized that she couldn't get rid of this human as easily as she expected. Finally, she levitated a contract with her magic to Chihiro.
"You got some nerve for a human!" she hissed at the young, and fragile (in her opinion) girl. "And since I can't get rid of you, I…"
She didn't bother to finish her sentence, and Chihiro looked at her contract: it seemed like the same one she signed the last time she came to the Majou No Sekai.
"I need a pen please," she said to Yubabaa when she realized she didn't have anything to sign the contract with.
Yubabaa sighed once again, threw a pen at Chihiro, and muttered:
"The only reason I'm letting that human get away with this instead of turning her into dragon chow is because I swore on Bou, and I would never, ever give him away!"
Chihiro heard that and smiled secretly to herself, and she was about to sign her name when Yubabaa said:
"You know… you could as well sign your name as 'Sen', because I don't see the point of taking your name away from you."
"What?" Chihiro asked, startled.
But then… how will she control me..? She wondered. But she regretted her question when the sorceress said again, this time with a smirk on her face:
"I know what you're thinking Sen: and I have other ways to control you."
"H-… h-… how?" the young girl asked, half-trembling as she revised the possibilities.
"One of the best ways is to directly take a memory of a loved one out of your mind," Yubabaa stated, and even though she wasn't smiling or smirking in any way, Chihiro could have sworn she saw a malicious sparkle in the witch's eyes.
"Err… is there any other way?" she asked hesitantly.
Yubabaa glared at Chihiro, and for a second, the girl thought that Yubabaa would surely turn her into a piglet. Thankfully, the aging witch had something else in mind:
"I guess there is other ways… What about this, Sen? Since you are a human and you don't belong here, I'll take away your freedom…" she paused for a while before ending: "It means you will be stuck in the Spirit World forever more, and there will be absolutely no way you can ever return to the human world… again."
Chihiro gulped, and her eyes must have shown deep fear because Yubabaa smiled nastily and added:
"Of course, you don't need to sign the contract… and instead, I can just turn you into dragon chow."
The human girl looked at her contract once again, and then at Yubabaa. Do I really want to be stuck forever… just to see Kohaku… and the others… again? It wasn't worth it… She felt weak and stupid. But she had to remind herself that she never had a choice: And either way, I'll be stuck here… She sighed sadly and declared quietly:
"I'll sign the contract."
Yubabaa's malicious grin spread wider as she said:
"That's a good girl, Sen."
Chihiro winced as she turned around, pressed the contract on the wall so she could actually sign it, and touched the paper with the pen. Within seconds, it was done and it was now final: she was stuck in the Majou No Sekai and there was no way out. I hope it'll all be worth it… she thought. I hope I'll see him again… Kohaku, I hope you're grateful that I came all this way, made all these sacrifices… to fulfill your promise… I hope.
Yubabaa levitated the contract and the pen away from Chihiro, who was now Sen. She grabbed the contract, which disappeared immediately in her hands, and let the pen gently land on her desk. Then the mistress of the bathhouse turned away from the human girl, and said quietly:
"Welcome to the Bathhouse, Sen."