Chapter 7
Living as a Human Spirit
"Six years ago, former bank President and suspect Kazuo Suzuki, his wife Haru, and 11-year old Hideki disappeared in what was believed to be a staged family suicide. Shizuoka Prefectural Police located the family vehicle in a thick wooded area next to an old gate structure, where they found a letter of apology and three pairs of shoes at the gate. No bodies were ever found, so this was treated as a suspicious disappearance. This afternoon, a boy claiming to be Hideki Suzuki was picked up by a passing motorist on route 15, barely two kilometers from the spot he dissappeared. He was taken to a police station in Yokogawa then to a hospital, where he was declared perfectly fit. Hideki's closest relative, an aunt, positively identified him fifteen minutes ago."
This first report aired on a local television station in Shimoda. The next day, the story went national. This was the biggest "lost in the woods" story since World War II Japanese Imperial Army Lieutenant Onoda was found in the Philippines in 1974.
From Haku's perspective, the world looked as he remembered it. He could perceive everything, but couldn't comprehend it. He didn't know what a human really was, but he knew the names of everyone within a few meters. Funny, though: he didn't know the name of the boy whose body he lived in. He only knew his own name. All the spirits around him knew the boy only as the same Nigihayami Kohakunushi. He also knew the name of the spirit he sought: Sen--or was it Chihiro? The several practice trips through the tunnel had aparently taken their toll on Haku's memory.
For the next few days, all the public attention Hideki was receiving from the press and academic evaluators was envigorating for Haku--and draining for Hideki. Things were not going well for the human part. His aunt, Tokiko Ueno, told him that he was too far behind to get a good education. He would have to go to a vocational school as soon as he graduated from a private middle school. "Seventeen-year olds are supposed to be thinking about college--not entering middle school," she cruelly scolded. Without saying, his aunt also knew that the shame Hideki's father brought to the family would follow him for the rest of his life. This meant there were no propsects for success. None of this had any impact on Haku, who enjoyed the presence of Tokiko's spirit while her human countenance was trying to fence poor Hideki out of the family.
The old Hideki, introverted and withdrawn from all but his video games and computer, might have believed the insensitive aunt and stopped trying at life. He nearly reached that point before, when his father took the family out for a "ride" in the countryside. Now, however, there was something different about him. This was a different Hideki with a new spirit. He was determined to succeed. After all, he had the spirit of a river within himself. Rivers have a way of sticking to a course and breaching obstacles. Haku also had a strong determination: he was going to find Sen...
Living as a Human Spirit
"Six years ago, former bank President and suspect Kazuo Suzuki, his wife Haru, and 11-year old Hideki disappeared in what was believed to be a staged family suicide. Shizuoka Prefectural Police located the family vehicle in a thick wooded area next to an old gate structure, where they found a letter of apology and three pairs of shoes at the gate. No bodies were ever found, so this was treated as a suspicious disappearance. This afternoon, a boy claiming to be Hideki Suzuki was picked up by a passing motorist on route 15, barely two kilometers from the spot he dissappeared. He was taken to a police station in Yokogawa then to a hospital, where he was declared perfectly fit. Hideki's closest relative, an aunt, positively identified him fifteen minutes ago."
This first report aired on a local television station in Shimoda. The next day, the story went national. This was the biggest "lost in the woods" story since World War II Japanese Imperial Army Lieutenant Onoda was found in the Philippines in 1974.
From Haku's perspective, the world looked as he remembered it. He could perceive everything, but couldn't comprehend it. He didn't know what a human really was, but he knew the names of everyone within a few meters. Funny, though: he didn't know the name of the boy whose body he lived in. He only knew his own name. All the spirits around him knew the boy only as the same Nigihayami Kohakunushi. He also knew the name of the spirit he sought: Sen--or was it Chihiro? The several practice trips through the tunnel had aparently taken their toll on Haku's memory.
For the next few days, all the public attention Hideki was receiving from the press and academic evaluators was envigorating for Haku--and draining for Hideki. Things were not going well for the human part. His aunt, Tokiko Ueno, told him that he was too far behind to get a good education. He would have to go to a vocational school as soon as he graduated from a private middle school. "Seventeen-year olds are supposed to be thinking about college--not entering middle school," she cruelly scolded. Without saying, his aunt also knew that the shame Hideki's father brought to the family would follow him for the rest of his life. This meant there were no propsects for success. None of this had any impact on Haku, who enjoyed the presence of Tokiko's spirit while her human countenance was trying to fence poor Hideki out of the family.
The old Hideki, introverted and withdrawn from all but his video games and computer, might have believed the insensitive aunt and stopped trying at life. He nearly reached that point before, when his father took the family out for a "ride" in the countryside. Now, however, there was something different about him. This was a different Hideki with a new spirit. He was determined to succeed. After all, he had the spirit of a river within himself. Rivers have a way of sticking to a course and breaching obstacles. Haku also had a strong determination: he was going to find Sen...