DISCLAIMER: The storyline of Spirited Away, its characters and everything is copyrighted to Hayao Miazaki. I do not own anything of it, or anything associated with it. This is fan work only.
Story notes: In Japan (or in all of Asia if you want to get technical), last names are said first when telling your full name. For example Chihiro's last name—which is Ogino—comes before her name when said, so you would say Ogino Chihiro. I just want to make it a point that when I say (e. g. Misae's real name) Yorimi Kiyo, Yorimi is the last name and Kiyo is the first.
A/N: Hello everyone! I was really happy when I read the reviews I'd gotten! Though I'm still a little unsure as to whether I should keep on writing, I must admit that it was fun and I think I'll write for the sake of relieving myself of recent stress. Coupling is C&H of course!
Chihiro smiled. It wasn't a hotel; it was a bathhouse! At least if she was going to work, it would be somewhere actually worth working. Not that hotels and inns weren't any good, but bathhouses were so much more relaxing inside.
One tentative step onto the bridge was all Chihiro had time for before her name was shrieked so loudly that she swore she was in danger of becoming deaf.
"CHIHIRO!!!!" screamed several girls at once.
She turned around and saw some of her school friends Miwako, Umi, Eimi, Hanako, and Harumi. They all dashed over to Chihiro, with the exception of Harumi who was always very patient and reserved, and began doing and saying all sorts of things to her like shaking her vigorously back and forth or hugging her until she turned purple while asking why she said nothing about changing her mind and deciding to work here after all.
All the while, Chihiro thought this all rather unusual behavior; they had only been apart for perhaps less than an hour or two.
"Wait until you see our dormitory," said Harumi, the only one nice enough to leave Chihiro's personal boundaries alone, "It isn't anything extraordinary with separate beds and all, but futons and sleeping bags really do look cozy when there are maybe twelve of them in one room."
"Twelve?" said Chihiro, a little surprised, "Are the rooms that big?"
"Not really," said Miwako with half of a frown on her face, "But with all of us together it'll be so fun!" she added, erasing any trace of regret written upon her face at once.
"Yeah!" Umi added cheerfully, "The uniforms are sort of neat and there may even be some cute guys there!"
Everyone groaned and giggled in unison at Umi's remark with the exception of Chihiro; she didn't even want to be there, let alone worry about getting a boyfriend. But no one really seemed to notice her slightly sullen look, because she developed a sort of technique to hide certain sentiments a long time ago, so on the outside she seemed to be half-heartedly imitating everyone else.
So after a few moments later when topics for chatter died down and an awkward silence began looming about, the group of girls decided to hurry and register for employment at the bathhouse, excitement filling almost all of them right up to the tips of their hair. The first thing to do was, since the place had just recently opened and there were hundreds of other waiting employees-to-be, line up patiently and listen for coming instructions.
Luckily, none of them had to wait very long because the actual owner of the bathhouse—who apparently had her own residence there—came down to greet all of them. A sudden hush fell over the dim of the crowd as the owner's remarkable physical features shocked just about everyone.
She was an old woman, short, but with an unbelievably enormous head and a seemingly bigger nose. Clad in a frilly blue dress with several underskirts and petticoats just barely visible from below its hem, her style looked very old-fashioned indeed. Her grayish silver hair was tied back up in a bun, and there was a great pink wart at the top of her nose's bridge, in the middle of her humungous brown eyes that were caked with thick, acrylic blue eye shadow. Her earrings—a pair of gigantic spheres—were so incredible in size that one would wonder how the woman's earlobes sustained against the weight.
But despite the poorly hidden gasps of shock or obvious gaping, the woman held herself in such a proud and dignified way that it stressed her high authority, especially to surrounding subordinates. Chihiro felt herself stiffen slightly when the lady was introduced as Mistress Yubaba and she got a clear view of her at last. As absurd as it sounded, she could have sworn she knew this lady! There was no doubt about it; she had seen this character before. With such outstanding characteristics and figure, it was surprising that anyone could forget this Mistress Yubaba.
For some time, Chihiro stood there, dumbly gawking at Yubaba so she pain little attention to the short speech that was being given out about the way employees should act, dress, what is expected of them and so on. There was also a bit of a lecture on punishments that would be "easily distributed" to employees not as diligent than is required.
"I can't list all of the punishments I have for you bums in the period of my lifetime," Yubaba sneered with a glare as she looked around at the now seemingly frightened audience, "but if I hear one single complaint I turn you all into squealing piglets to be eaten for evening supper, understand?"
There was a stiff, but general murmur of understanding from everyone, though they were confused by Yubaba's peculiar choice of words. Most chose to casually ignore this, and waited uneasily for the few men that handed out contracts to be signed and such. Chihiro quietly accepted hers, wondering quietly why she hadn't bolted out of there right then. It must have been because her own feet seemed rooted to the spot making her unable to move.
Pens were also handed out and everyone was instructed to sign this contract. Most unfortunately, Yubaba had neither the time nor the patience to test or personally interview each and every one of them, so she hollered out to them that she would merely have certain people observing their work for a certain time period and judge whether he or she is worthy of staying there.
Once everyone had written their name down, Yubaba had all of them line up again. First she would take a look at each person's name, then with a pen of her own she would cross out certain characters and leave only one left. This would be their name to be used at all times when in the bathhouse. But there were cases when a person got a new name altogether. Umi was 're-named' to Miyuu, Satsuki was now Ki, Miwako was now Mia, Eimi was Saiki, Hanako was Naru, and Harumi was Keiko. Each re-naming took a while, or a minute and a half at least. When it was Chihiro's turn, she was afraid that Yubaba would scare her too much that she might keel over and collapse if she should take too long. However, when it was Chihiro's turn, the strangest thing happened.
Yubaba loomed over her and seemed to be observing her with a look of appraisal, which only took a few seconds, looked down at her paper and 'humph'-ed in an almost knowing sort of way—something she did for absolutely no one else.
"Oh, it's you," she growled in a dismissing sort of way, "Very well Sen, hurry and get out of my sight."
Chihiro was as baffled as anyone who heard this—or rather she would have been, had she not been so distracted by something else. That name, Sen, she knew it! There was something about that name! The character itself came from one in her name, and yet, this was very important to know. It was also important to remember her real name as well! But why was it? Hadn't it been some sort of advice she had been given in that strange dream she had some… five or six years ago?
Chihiro instinctively clasped the sparkly purple hair elastic that she always wore in her hair. A friend had given it to her, she remembered, and for some reason it never got worn out or never seemed to be able to break. It was as though there was something magical about it. She had forgotten, over the years, the details of who had given this to her and why, but she remembered something about it being a protective charm, so she wore it always whether it be in her hair or just on her wrist.
"Hey girl, what are you doing still standing there?" someone said irritably, sharply prodding Chihiro's shoulder. "Get moving, all of you."
Twirling around on one foot, Chihiro fought to suppress a small gasp as she got a good look at the woman who addressed her. She was tall, looked to be maybe eight or nine years older than Chihiro, with long straight cut hair that neatly fell to her waist and with large brown eyes.
As Chihiro stood there and gaped, the woman's facial expression seemed to change as well. From being stern, there was an incredible transition to looking shocked beyond belief. However, not wanting to give out the wrong impression, the woman wiped the look off of her face and instructed for all of the girls to follow her.
Obediently, Chihiro, her friends, and a few others began following the woman accordingly. They didn't travel very far. Having only gone up a few staircases—a little scary seeing as there were no surrounding walls or even railings—no one was too tired when uniforms were being given out. It was pain pink with a darker maroon strip of cloth tied around the waist to keep the shirt in place. It was really like wearing a one-color kimono with pant rather than a skirt, and the shirt did not open up either. Then, there was an apron to wear during working hours.
The woman, it turned out, was named Lin and she was the manager for most of the new female workers. Lin kept on glancing at Chihiro when she thought she wasn't looking, when at the same time, Chihiro couldn't stop looking at Lin. Chihiro just knew she had seen Lin before and it was killing her mind trying to figure out how she knew her.
When everyone had changed and dressed, everyone was shown their rooms (at least nine to ten per room) and Lin was kind enough to grant Umi's—or Miyuu's rather, request to have her friends and her all in the same room. Besides Chihiro, Miyuu (Umi), Ki (Satsuki), Mia (Miwako), Saiki (Eimi), Naru (Hanako), and Keiko (Harumi), there were three other girls sharing that room as well: Misae, Yoko, Rea.
Everyone introduced themselves, and said a little about their life as well. It turns out that the three girls were very interesting people, and Chihiro had imagined her being able to get along with each one without difficulty.
Misae's real name was Yorimi Kiyo whose father was a computer engineer and her mother a graphics designer. Her family had moved to the area just after her school ended and her parents suggested she not waste her whole summer doing nothing. She explained how because her family kept moving around and her interests and tastes seemed to be more maturely developed than others her age, making close friends had been rather difficult, but it was most likely that her family would be staying at this place for quite some time.
Yoko's real name was Toneko Masaya. Though she was rather shy sounding at first, Chihiro could easily tell that this girl was usually very exuberant in expression and a real happy-go-lucky kind of girl you read about in Manga and such. She had a supposedly very sweet and adorable boyfriend who presented her with a bouquet of flowers every chance he got, was always very insistent on kissing the back of her hand, and was one of the top students in his classes at school.
Chihiro mentally pictured the thousands of bouquets that must be drying up in her room at home with envy. After all, Chihiro had only gotten three or four bouquets in her life. All being from her parents except one, Chihiro had gotten one when she had first moved away from her friend, one from 'graduating' from elementary school, one from getting out of junior high school, and one for actually getting a role in the school play. And mind you, these bouquets were rather small except for the one from her friend.
Lastly, there was Rea. Her real name was Ainoko Yui. She shared Chihiro's liking for art, which included music, painting, drawing, and even occasional singing. Though Chihiro supposed that Rea sounded a whole lot better than she did because she couldn't stand hearing her voice. As for artistic skill, even our modest Chihiro could admit (to herself) that she was perhaps a notch or two ahead of Rea, but—to no one's surprise—because Rea began to explore the world of art at eight, not six.
"Hey, do any of you have a boyfriend?" asked Mia excitedly, "Besides Yoko that is." She added with a smile.
Miyuu, Ki, Saiki, and to everyone's surprise, Keiko raised their hand with a bit of a blush on their faces. Surprised gasps were let out from everyone who hadn't put up their hands. Questions broke out at once, to all four of the girls. Hardly anyone could comprehend what another was saying. Soon enough however, Naru gained the floor.
"Alright, alright girls, be quiet! Otherwise Lin will march right back up here and murder us for being so loud!" she said, standing up and waving her hands around.
The noise dimmed down and Naru smiled satisfied that everyone had taken heed of what she said.
"Now," said Naru, "Miyuu first. Who is he? Speak of some details girl!"
Miyuu fixed her gaze at the hard, wooden floor blushing a deep scarlet as she was rather shy about it all. It took a while for her to speak—a while being an entire forty-five seconds—and everyone was dead silent and still, afraid that even the slightest movement would make her not want to speak.
"His name is Ryuusuke," Miyuu said at last, "Seventeen years old, same school, class E. He is working here too I think. He says he wants to be able to see me…"
"Yes?" said Rea, leaning in closer.
"…Everyday."
"You're kidding!"
"Miyuu, that is so sweet!"
"Have you kissed yet?"
"How long have you been going out?"
"Does he treat you with flowers every week?"
"That is not fair!"
"I want a boyfriend!!"
It was too soon that Chihiro had enough. She crawled away from the crowd and opened the door to sit by the balcony and get some fresh air. Talking about boyfriends was absolutely no fun when you had never had one. And for goodness sake, she was almost sixteen! But with school and all, she felt like a relationship that may not even last long was just an immense waste of time. Besides, she had yet to meet a guy who wasn't completely perverted or only thinking about things like that.
Chihiro walked over to the wooden balcony that protected anyone from falling off the edge. The rooms for employees were at the very edge of the building, so it was more often than not that your door leads to a nice outdoor hallway with a roof over it. Cool evening breezes washed over her and Chihiro sighed deeply as she leaned onto the wooden rail, fully enjoying the silence and solitude.
"The river is calm tonight."
Looking to her right, Chihiro saw someone there. A boy, looking no more than a year older than she stood there with a calm, reserved look on his face. He was staring absent mindedly out into the river, pondering something deep. Chihiro blinked. The boy had short, straight-cut, even black hair that went down to about his chin and his bangs were even straighter cut so he almost looked to be wearing a wig, but somehow this look suited him and did not make Chihiro want to look away in disgust. The boy turned to face Chihiro and she took note of his sharp, gleaming, emerald green eyes that—oddly enough—looked strangely familiar. He wore robes similar to hers, only his were pure white with blue trousers and a purple strip of cloth tied around his waist.
"Do I know you?" said Chihiro curiously, before she could stop herself.
The boy's eyes seemed to widen a bit in what looked to be a mild shock, and Chihiro wanted to kick herself for being rude. He must have thought her to be someone else, or even just wanted to make a friendly conversation. Of course she didn't know him! How stupid a question was that?
"I-I'm sorry," she said quickly, but the boy looked away remaining silent.
Unsure of what to do, Chihiro decided to do the same. She let her eyes linger on the dozens of multicolored lights on the other side of the river, and the reflection of it in the water. It was a beautiful sight, Chihiro had to say. Cities always looked that way when glanced at from a distance at night, and it always granted her strange sort of satisfaction to look upon it like that.
"I used to think that way too," said the boy beside Chihiro suddenly out of nowhere, "Until I grew tired of looking at the same scene every night. Eventually, you will too."
"What do you mean?" asked Chihiro, already eerily aware of the fact that this person had practically just read her mind.
The boy blinked a few times, looking at Chihiro with a blank expression written on his face. He took his own sweet time in replying; evidently he was in no hurry. A dead silence filled the air for some time save the squeals and shrill giggles heard from Chihiro's room—courtesy of either Miyuu, Yoko, or Saiki. Soon beginning to feel uncomfortable from having this strange, though rather handsome boy staring right at her, Chihiro looked away. Those eyes… they were easily the most prominent thing about him, and when Chihiro looked into them, it was as though they could see right through her and somehow understand her feelings, as if they had been close friends once.
"Chihiro?"
Chihiro couldn't stop her head from jerking back to face him again, her eyes open wide, and her mind wondering if they heard what they did.
"Huh?" said Chihiro, baffled as she swore the boy had just said her name, "What did you say?"
"Chihiro," the boy repeated, speaking in the same tone, "Is your name Chihiro?"
Slowly, with a hint of apprehension, Chihiro nodded silently.
"I see," he replied, looking away again.
'Not again,' Chihiro thought will a mental scowl. She really wished he wouldn't do that, seeing as it made her feel rather uncomfortable just standing there, not sure as to whether she was supposed to say anything, or just stand there like an idiot. But no sooner had Chihiro thought that, had the boy turned to her again.
"I'm sorry, please excuse me," he said quietly, "Goodnight Chihiro."
And with that he went into a room nearby which actually turned out to be a staircase.
Not knowing what else to really do or say, Chihiro just stood there. An odd, tingling feeling prickled the back of her spine and make Chihiro shiver it off. An odd feeling overcame the sixteen year-old girl. Something squirmed around in her stomach, and she didn't notice earlier, but her heart suddenly seemed to be relieved of being in an airtight grasp.
"He…"
Chihiro looked around once to see if anyone had been watching this at all, and saw no one.
"He didn't tell me his name." Chihiro murmured quietly to herself before the door to her dormitory slid open to reveal a very curious Mia.
"Sen? What are you doing out here?" she asked, "We've finally convinced Keiko to start talking about her boyfriend, you have to hear this!"
Chihiro refrained from frowning a little when she heard Mia address her as 'Sen'. Didn't the name Chihiro suffice? Looking briefly at the staircase that the 'mysterious boy' had gone down, Chihiro nodded to Mia and slid the door closed as she stepped inside.
In the girls' room, there was no floor. All you could see were rows and rows of puffy sleeping bags, moving gently up and down due to its occupant's slow breathing. At the very edge of one side, right next to where the door was, lay a dark green sleeping bag, which belonged to Chihiro. She was sleeping peacefully like all of the rest of her roommates until a strong gust of wind burst through the door and forced the young girl to wake up.
Sleepily, annoyed, and most reluctantly, Chihiro crawled out of her sleeping bag to shut the door closed. As she approached the door, grasped it, and tried to slide it shut, she grunted in frustration and then let go. The door would not close! Taking a deep breath just before another strong gust of wind came along, Chihiro tried to shut the door again and even managed to get it to move a few centimeters before she tripped on something and fell flat on her face.
"Ouch, that hurt…" she mumbled as she sat up straight and looked out into the city.
It was as lovely as it was a few hours ago when she lad seen it last. Lights were still on, and unless Chihiro's eyes were deceiving her, the ferry was still in service as well.
"The ferry's still running this late?" Chihiro asked quietly to herself, voicing her thoughts. "I wonder why."
Chihiro walked rather clumsily to the wooden rail of the balcony, leaned against it, and saw multicolor-dressed people crossing the bridge to the bathhouse. Was it that late at all? Then, just as Chihiro was getting seriously confused, she looked down into the water and saw something that nearly made her scream. Black, shapeless shadows were rising out of the water, making it look alive or something.
The last thing she knew was she felt a warm hand placed on her shoulder, and before Chihiro could see who was behind, all went dark.
The first thing Chihiro felt was something hard and pointy sharply prodding her side. Though she turned over to try and shake off the sleep-depriving object, it was no good. In fact, the poking increased and so did its strength. Another three seconds passed and Chihiro finally announced—rather crankily I should say—that she would get out of bed.
It was very gray outside and the sun had just barely risen. A light fog gently hovered over the ground and a crisp morning air woke the more sleepy girls completely at once. Chihiro sighed in pleasure as the scent of dewy grass and dampness filled her nostrils.
Naru, who was apparently leading the group, proceeded to descend down the stairs that Chihiro had seen the boy descend down the night before. Everyone followed silently, some still trying to yawn off the sleep that rested in her. Earlier, everyone had hastily agreed to be as inconspicuous as possible because they didn't want to give the employers the idea that they were trying to assassinate something or something. And of course by 'everyone' I mean any of the girls who were more than half awake.
When the girls finally made it to the lower floors where the baths and guests' dining rooms. The floor was wooden, like everywhere else that wasn't matted, and the walls were paper windowpanes with wooden frames like traditional Japanese homes, only some of the paper was nicely decorated with painted flowers or animals.
After descending down another set of stairs and reaching a point where there were two hallways to go down, it was agreed to split up and meet back in the room in a little while. Chihiro, Keiko, Saiki, Naru, and Misae went left while the rest of the girls headed right. Naru was leading the girls who went right, as she seemed to be enjoying the position of authority, but from the looks of it, Misae seemed to like that position more than Naru did seeing as she seldom had it.
More 'forks in the road' appeared and the girls split up once more: Chihiro and Misae went one way while the other went the other way. As they walked, the girls began to converse as quietly as possible. Misae was shy and reserved sometimes, but Chihiro could see how she usually did her best to give a good impression out at all times. When Chihiro asked Misae if moving was as terrible for her as it had been when Chihiro was ten and had to move, Misae said that it depended on how fond she had grown on the friends she made.
"It's sad that I am usually very reluctant to become too close with anyone, what with my parents always having us move and all," Misae had said to her, "but I think I'll really love it here, and it will be okay because I'm probably going to live here for a long time."
"What's a long time?" asked Chihiro.
"I don't know," said Misae, frowning in consideration, "Maybe four or five years? I'm turning seventeen in a month's time so I'll probably move out and live on my own when my parents decided to move again."
"That's good," replied Chihiro with a little smile that Misae returned.
Misae then opened her mouth to say something else when she stopped dead and blanched. Chihiro, wondering what on Earth could be the matter looked ahead and imitated Misae exactly. There, casually strolling the halls early in the morning when all was quiet was one of the male managers. A rather strict and severe one he was too. It seemed that he enjoyed making people work under him until they collapsed from being so tired.
Not even knowing that she possessed such reflexes, Chihiro instinctively grabbed Misae by the arm and dashed behind a randomly opened door, and slid it shut. Then, pressing their ears against the protective barrier between the manager and the two girls that had practically just saved their lives, they waited until the sound of footsteps died down and the halls were silent once more.
Adrenaline rushing through both of the girls from that narrow escape, they scrambled out of the room and into the hall without another moment's waste, Chihiro leading. Only it was indeed unfortunate that Chihiro was leading because she stopped looking where she was going for a second, and when she looked back she had just barely managed to skid to a halt before something blue and white.
Misae skidded to a halt herself too late, and crashed right into Chihiro sending both girls crashing down onto the clean, hard, wooden floor. Chihiro groaned slightly in pain and Misae was rubbing a sore spot on her head. When the girls heard a male clear his throat and Chihiro found her nose inches away from a pair of ankles, her stomach disappeared.
Gulping, the girls looked up and Chihiro gasped as she found herself face to face with the very same boy she saw in the night. He looked down at Misae blankly for a second, and then when his sharp green eyes traveled onto Chihiro, his expression seemed to soften ever so slightly. Chihiro didn't really notice this, as she was too embarrassed at having been caught wandering the halls, but Misae was extremely observant and her eyes darted back and forth from the boy to Chihiro.
"Chi—" he began to say until the three of them heard quick footsteps nearby.
"Well it looks like we have some early risers and some eager employees," said an unpleasantly familiar voice around a nearby corner.
The three looked up and saw Lin walk casually around the corner and up to the now trembling girls, feeling more like disobedient children than anything.
"Oh hello Haku, I see you've found them first," said Lin dully, nodding her head carelessly in the direction of the boy, "What are you two girls doing, wandering around the halls this early?"
"I requested for them to assist me with some personal affairs Lin," the boy called Haku said calmly.
Lin's eyes narrowed, very much resembling a deadly serpent in Chihiro's opinion, but she was feeling too nervous to think upon it much. Lin glanced suspiciously from Haku, then to Misae, but when she saw Chihiro, her whole expression changed from dull to a satisfied knowing.
"I should have known," said Lin, rolling her eyes a little, "Okay, so you get to steal Sen for a one-on-one talk for now Haku but I'll be back. In the meantime, you can follow me. You don't want to be interrupting their quiet time." She said casually, jerking her head to Misae and beckoning her to follow as she left.
"Thank you Lin," Haku said, turning to look at Chihiro.
Misae was perplexed, about a half as much as Chihiro was bewildered. At first, they were both caught at the contradicting idea of Haku and Lin being strict and severe to actually being forgiving and understanding, but now there was evidently something else going on that the girls didn't know about, which included Chihiro. Still, there was no way of communicating with Misae without Lin or Haku seeing, so Chihiro let herself be vulnerably led away by Haku and Lin dragged Misae away.
As they walked together, Chihiro had no clue of what to say. Should she be grateful? Or should she get right to the point of asking what was going on? Once again that dreadful silence lapsed between the two, and Chihiro was left being the one extremely uncomfortable again. She didn't even know where Haku was taking her, but it seemed as though they were headed outside.
Something that Chihiro learned at once was that watching Haku while simultaneously walking was a bad idea because twice Haku had to stop and pull Chihiro into him because she was about to crash head first into a wall or pillar. And then that left the two into a position more awkward than the silence. Chihiro would just sort of back away looking at her feet and shyly thank him, a deep red looming over her young features.
Haku didn't seem to care though, and Chihiro was amazed at how he could keep such a straight face all the time. But at the same time she felt a little pity for him. His eyes told you that it pained for him to feel such little emotion.
"Um … so …" began Chihiro, trying to think of something to say, "Y-your name's Haku?"
Haku didn't say anything, but Chihiro knew that it was anyway because Lin had called him that.
"So… um, where are we going?" Chihiro asked, feeling more stupid by the second.
"Into the garden," Haku replied simply.
Now they were outside and crossing the same bridge that connected the bathhouse to land. Haku brought Chihiro through a small gate and into a labyrinth of beautiful multicolored flowers. He stopped at a small white bench that stood next to a stone fountain.
"Sit down," he said to Chihiro who sat down as he did.
Haku then looked at Chihiro with the strangest look written all over his face. He seemed to be trying to hide it, and Chihiro wondered to herself why it looked so obvious. She'd never known him before or anything, but that was not her number one concern. What she wanted to know what exactly what was that look on his face? Was it fondness? Worry? Sadness? Nostalgia?
"Only two out of four," said Haku all of a sudden.
"What?" Chihiro blinked.
"…Have you never noticed that you mumble your thoughts aloud?" said Haku quietly, not in a mocking voice, but in the same calm tone as always.
Unbeknownst to Chihiro, her face burned with a cherry red. Again.
"W-what? No I d-don't, what are you…" Chihiro stammered, hoping that this boy was kidding.
How embarrassing!
Then, realizing that this boy wasn't lying, Chihiro bit down on her lip and hunched her shoulders in a determination not to speak again in this boy's presence.
Silence took the place of chatter but only one of the mute conversers felt uncomfortable. The other wore a stony expression that did not change, or move. He was frozen, even when he spoke, but when he looked at Chihiro, something… changed. Though Chihiro couldn't quite understand what did, she didn't care to; it was all too confusing.
More silence followed.
Chihiro felt a subtle inner satisfaction as she noted that her lips were still sealed shut. She must not have spoken! God bless.
"You don't remember do you?"
"Huh?" Chihiro never found that she could understand what Haku said when he would just say something out of nowhere.
"Nothing, I'm sorry," Haku said looking away so Chihiro couldn't tell as to whether he was angry or disappointed.
Chihiro looked down at her shoes shuffling in the grass for a bit, and couldn't help but feel bad for something. But why?
Then it struck the girl that she had not thanked Haku. He had saved them from the angry fits of the manager Lin after all. The least he deserved was a grateful smile, even if it was forced.
"Um… Haku-san I—"
But he had gone.
Chihiro turned around in her seat and look around in all directions but saw nothing. The only thing that had left to keep her company was a sudden strong gust of wind. Feeling a little put out and ridiculous, Chihiro headed back to the bathhouse, wondering what the whole point of them coming out was.
It was a good thing she hadn't looked up in the sky though, otherwise she would have gotten a real shock indeed, seeing a white flying dragon and all.
"I demand you tell me everything!"
"I did!" Chihiro sighed for what felt like the hundredth time.
"Stop saying that!" Misae said scowling in annoyance, "You told me nothing!"
"And that's exactly what happened!"
"Don't get smart with me young lady," Misae said sternly, promptly poking Chihiro's shoulder, "What's up with you and that Haku guy?"
"I don't know!" said Chihiro, extremely frustrated; Misae wasn't the only one who wanted answers for goodness sake!
"How can you not know?" asked Misae, knocking on Chihiro's head and wondering if it was nothing but hollow wood.
"Don't ask me," replied Chihiro irritably, swatting away Misae's hand, "How many hours are there in a year?"
A thoughtful silence fell over Misae as she tried to multiply twenty-four by three hundred and sixty-five in her head.
"Eight thousand, seven hundred and sixty!" Chihiro snapped, "How can you not know that?"
"Some of us think of our clothes more than memorizing how many hours are in a year Chihiro," Misae said jokingly, and then pretended to sigh, "And here I was thinking you were one of us."
And without any kind of signal, the two girls broke out into a merry laughter.
"But all joking aside, what happened?" asked Misae as their laughter died down, "Did he just walk you here and leave without saying a word?"
"I wouldn't exactly say that…"
"Then what happened?"
Chihiro frowned as she tried to remember everything that happened.
"He took me into the garden for some reason and we sat by the bench together. It seemed for a second that he wanted to say something to me but then just disappeared as soon as I looked away." Chihiro said simply.
"He took you into the garden?! Just the two of you?!!" Misae exclaimed, biting her nails.
When Chihiro nodded slowly, Misae squealed. She squealed very loudly too.
"Did he say anything to you?" Misae inquired eagerly.
Chihiro grimaced ever so slightly. She felt like she was at an interrogation!
"Not really, no," Chihiro said quietly, shaking her head.
"What do you mean by not really?"
"If I asked him a question, he replied with an answer five syllables or less! Happy?" Chihiro snapped, a little harsher than she had intended. "I don't know why you're getting all excited about it."
"So there's no more to it?" asked Misae, crossing her arms.
"None," Chihiro replied firmly.
"Nothing to wonder about?"
"No."
"No feelings?"
"No."
"No love?"
"…Misae, you're just like Umi."