Chapter 3
The Test
Ryu was still familiar with the area around the portal. His first order of business was to get closer to greater numbers of humans. He walked along the bank of a strange riverbed where shiny things with humans inside flowed instead of water. After a brief moment of mystification, the knowledge of the fact that it was a road and that the humans were riding in automobiles flooded into his brain. Yubaba was, indeed, providing him with the knowledge he needed when he needed it. He checked his watch. It was stopped. "Plenty of time, I hope."
It was a really strange experience for Ryu--or for anybody else who would find himself in that situation. As his attention shifted away from the road, he lost the comprehension as quickly as he gained it. There were two humans a little further downstream. They were about his size, but they looked and dressed differently. He didn't comprehend why, and Yubaba wasn't providing any help. They stood next to something that he shortly understood to be a bus stop. He approached the humans. "Excuse me, but does this bus go to town?"
One of them replied, "It goes to Tama Center Station."
"There's no excuse for this, but I don't know how much I am to pay."
The other one said, "It's one hundred seventy yen (about $1.70) all along this route."
"Thank you very much..."
The other human added, "Pay as you get on."
"Thank you very much!" Ryu's curiosity was beginning to reach a breaking point. He was just about ready to ask why they looked, talked, and dressed differently when the answer flooded his brain. He pondered the realization. "Girls? Why was Yubaba holding that information back?"
Ryu was now getting a bit curious about the females of the species. "What school do you go to?" One of the girls covered her mouth and giggled. The other replied, "Kohakugawa Elementary School, sixth year, third class"
Without needing time to think, he said, "I go to Kaidori Middle School, first year." He then had a fleeting thought. "Kohakugawa? Could it be?" He asked them, "You wouldn't, per chance, know a girl named Chihiro?"
The girl who was able to answer his previous question asked, "Do you know her family name? There are two I know."
"Ogino, I think."
She thought for a second and replied, "Sorry, I don't think I know her. What year student is she?"
"Third or fourth, I think."
"I'm sorry. We wouldn't know her if she's not in our class."
At that, Ryu smiled at the two girls and thanked them. They looked at each other and giggled. The bus pulled up. He reached into his pocket and extracted the contents: precisely one hundred seventy yen. "All in all," he thought to himself, "that was a pleasant experience. When I return to Yubaba I'm going to ask if she can keep me in this form."
Ryu took advantage of the idle time on the bus and thought about his next step. He had no idea what humans were really like. He didn't know how to identify rich people, poor people, or hungry people. He was starting to worry whether he would be able to learn where and how he was going to be able to perform his task. Yubaba seemed to come up with the information--and the one hundred seventy yen--when he needed it, so it might be that he was going to learn that information when the time was right.
He was right about that...
The bus pulled up to the two train stations serving Tama Center. It was definitely a busy place. There were several large structures that humans were entering and leaving. As before, he seemed to naturally acquire the knowledge that the large structures were department stores and the smaller ones were restaurants, banks, and specialty shops. It was very a clean place. The humans certainly treated their towns better than they did their rivers.
Humans came in many sizes. There were little ones that were carried around, ones his size, and ones larger. There were males, females, and some he couldn't tell which. He thought maybe there were even more varieties, but his main curiosity seemed to center around the females. As his focus shifted toward the females, his recognition of the structures faded. Now he knew why Yubaba tried to hold the information back.
Once again, he checked the watch. Time was moving forward, but very slowly.
When he got off the bus, he was near structure where humans seemed to want to line up. He overheard what looked like a small male say to a larger female, "Mommy, I'm hungry. Can we go to MacDonalds?" "Sure," the larger one replied. The two humans then got into the line. Ryu wondered if that line might be where the hungry gather. If it were so, his job would be short and simple. Yubaba let him know that the place was a restaurant and those particular hungry people didn't need help. He also acquired the knowledge to get the money: go to the bank and ask for it...
He entered the bank and was a bit bewildered at the sight. A bank employee spotted him in his confused state and asked him what he needed to do.
"I need money to give the hungry," he replied.
"A withdrawal. Any counter other than sixteen." He bowed and left Ryu to his task.
Ryu got to the teller at counter twelve. "I need money."
"Please fill out this withdrawal form," the teller requested.
He started filling out the form without any thought at all and handed it to the teller. "So you want to withdraw ten million yen (about $100,000). I'll need some identification, Mr Yamashita. Ryu reached into his pocket, extracted a wallet, and removed a card with a picture on it. The photo on the card was not him at all.
"Everything seems in order, Mr Yamashita. I trust you brought your official seal. The money will be ready in an hour."
Ryu was very concerned about what just happened. He was glad he had the time to think about what he was doing. The bank teller saw a Mr Yamashita at the window, Ryu filled out a withdrawal slip with matching account number and name, and managed to produce a driver's license--whatever that was--with the correct information.
He glanced at his watch again. It was stopped, but several minutes elapsed since the last time he looked. Suddenly, an inspiriation of considerable genius came to him. "Of course!" He sat down in the bank lobby and tried to make sure he was correct. "If my watch moves slowly, I am moving fast from Yubaba's perspective. If my watch is stopped, I am moving infinitely faster than she is. If my watch is fast, I am moving more slowly. But what if my watch is going backwards?" That part bothered him, as it appeared Yubaba was somehow controlling the speed of time. He suspected she was watching him at her leisure, speeding up or slowing down the show depending on the action. The wait for the money to arrive is probably not interesting to her, so she's advancing the action an hour--but why does the watch sometimes go backward?
The Test
Ryu was still familiar with the area around the portal. His first order of business was to get closer to greater numbers of humans. He walked along the bank of a strange riverbed where shiny things with humans inside flowed instead of water. After a brief moment of mystification, the knowledge of the fact that it was a road and that the humans were riding in automobiles flooded into his brain. Yubaba was, indeed, providing him with the knowledge he needed when he needed it. He checked his watch. It was stopped. "Plenty of time, I hope."
It was a really strange experience for Ryu--or for anybody else who would find himself in that situation. As his attention shifted away from the road, he lost the comprehension as quickly as he gained it. There were two humans a little further downstream. They were about his size, but they looked and dressed differently. He didn't comprehend why, and Yubaba wasn't providing any help. They stood next to something that he shortly understood to be a bus stop. He approached the humans. "Excuse me, but does this bus go to town?"
One of them replied, "It goes to Tama Center Station."
"There's no excuse for this, but I don't know how much I am to pay."
The other one said, "It's one hundred seventy yen (about $1.70) all along this route."
"Thank you very much..."
The other human added, "Pay as you get on."
"Thank you very much!" Ryu's curiosity was beginning to reach a breaking point. He was just about ready to ask why they looked, talked, and dressed differently when the answer flooded his brain. He pondered the realization. "Girls? Why was Yubaba holding that information back?"
Ryu was now getting a bit curious about the females of the species. "What school do you go to?" One of the girls covered her mouth and giggled. The other replied, "Kohakugawa Elementary School, sixth year, third class"
Without needing time to think, he said, "I go to Kaidori Middle School, first year." He then had a fleeting thought. "Kohakugawa? Could it be?" He asked them, "You wouldn't, per chance, know a girl named Chihiro?"
The girl who was able to answer his previous question asked, "Do you know her family name? There are two I know."
"Ogino, I think."
She thought for a second and replied, "Sorry, I don't think I know her. What year student is she?"
"Third or fourth, I think."
"I'm sorry. We wouldn't know her if she's not in our class."
At that, Ryu smiled at the two girls and thanked them. They looked at each other and giggled. The bus pulled up. He reached into his pocket and extracted the contents: precisely one hundred seventy yen. "All in all," he thought to himself, "that was a pleasant experience. When I return to Yubaba I'm going to ask if she can keep me in this form."
Ryu took advantage of the idle time on the bus and thought about his next step. He had no idea what humans were really like. He didn't know how to identify rich people, poor people, or hungry people. He was starting to worry whether he would be able to learn where and how he was going to be able to perform his task. Yubaba seemed to come up with the information--and the one hundred seventy yen--when he needed it, so it might be that he was going to learn that information when the time was right.
He was right about that...
The bus pulled up to the two train stations serving Tama Center. It was definitely a busy place. There were several large structures that humans were entering and leaving. As before, he seemed to naturally acquire the knowledge that the large structures were department stores and the smaller ones were restaurants, banks, and specialty shops. It was very a clean place. The humans certainly treated their towns better than they did their rivers.
Humans came in many sizes. There were little ones that were carried around, ones his size, and ones larger. There were males, females, and some he couldn't tell which. He thought maybe there were even more varieties, but his main curiosity seemed to center around the females. As his focus shifted toward the females, his recognition of the structures faded. Now he knew why Yubaba tried to hold the information back.
Once again, he checked the watch. Time was moving forward, but very slowly.
When he got off the bus, he was near structure where humans seemed to want to line up. He overheard what looked like a small male say to a larger female, "Mommy, I'm hungry. Can we go to MacDonalds?" "Sure," the larger one replied. The two humans then got into the line. Ryu wondered if that line might be where the hungry gather. If it were so, his job would be short and simple. Yubaba let him know that the place was a restaurant and those particular hungry people didn't need help. He also acquired the knowledge to get the money: go to the bank and ask for it...
He entered the bank and was a bit bewildered at the sight. A bank employee spotted him in his confused state and asked him what he needed to do.
"I need money to give the hungry," he replied.
"A withdrawal. Any counter other than sixteen." He bowed and left Ryu to his task.
Ryu got to the teller at counter twelve. "I need money."
"Please fill out this withdrawal form," the teller requested.
He started filling out the form without any thought at all and handed it to the teller. "So you want to withdraw ten million yen (about $100,000). I'll need some identification, Mr Yamashita. Ryu reached into his pocket, extracted a wallet, and removed a card with a picture on it. The photo on the card was not him at all.
"Everything seems in order, Mr Yamashita. I trust you brought your official seal. The money will be ready in an hour."
Ryu was very concerned about what just happened. He was glad he had the time to think about what he was doing. The bank teller saw a Mr Yamashita at the window, Ryu filled out a withdrawal slip with matching account number and name, and managed to produce a driver's license--whatever that was--with the correct information.
He glanced at his watch again. It was stopped, but several minutes elapsed since the last time he looked. Suddenly, an inspiriation of considerable genius came to him. "Of course!" He sat down in the bank lobby and tried to make sure he was correct. "If my watch moves slowly, I am moving fast from Yubaba's perspective. If my watch is stopped, I am moving infinitely faster than she is. If my watch is fast, I am moving more slowly. But what if my watch is going backwards?" That part bothered him, as it appeared Yubaba was somehow controlling the speed of time. He suspected she was watching him at her leisure, speeding up or slowing down the show depending on the action. The wait for the money to arrive is probably not interesting to her, so she's advancing the action an hour--but why does the watch sometimes go backward?