Three: Destiny?
The dormitory was a very boring place. The girls were not allowed to put posters or pictures on the walls, which were a pale gray. Each bed had a similar bedcover of a darker gray, and the floor was brown and without carpets. The beds were high, European-style iron structures, not homely Japanese futons on the floor. Under each bed was a trunk for the personal belongings of the students. Beside each bed was a small desk and a chair. The only privacy the girls had was a lock on the top drawer of the desk. But even this was only an illusion of privacy: all the forty-eight keys belonging to forty-eight girls were identical.
Chihiro sat at her desk and held a math book open in front of her. But what she was reading was a letter tucked between it. It was written very carefully in the kind of formal ideograms one usually saw only in holy texts and printed decorations. Each stroke of the brush was perfect, each word a piece of calligraphy art. Yet the paper was but a page torn from a notebook.
"Dear Chihiro,
I'm another beginner at Scuba Diving, I've only had a short course, but I love it already.
It feels almost like flying, and the fishes are like dragon spirits...
I've never been to college, instead I am working as a tourist guide. Before that I worked at an environmental organization, and I still do volunteer work when I have time to. At my job I have learned a lot about Japanese culture and history. I read a lot, but mostly manga. The more artistic and thoughtful sort, not the humorous or romantic, definitely not the science fiction and anarchistic.
I live alone and I have few friends. It would not be respectable to ask you to meet me, but I hope we could write letters.
I enclose a photo of myself, wearing my work outfit (which is rather more ceremonial than anyone in ancient Japan could have worn to work in). The woman beside me is my boss, Mrs. Saito. The landscape is near Fujiyama; the mountain was behind the guy who took the picture.
Yours, Kohaku"
Slowly Chihiro turned the pages and found the envelope she had hidden between them. There was indeed a photo inside it, and Chihiro's fingers trembled when she recognized a friend from long ago.
Kohaku Nigihayami Nushi.
Lord of the Kohaku River. A spirit-god. Haku, the apprentice sorcerer. The white dragon of the river. The boy who had saved her and whom she had saved. They had given each other their lost names.
Chihiro looked at the tall young man in the picture. Handsome, yes. And human.
A short-haired girl peered over Chihiro's shoulder.
'Who is that?' She asked.
'Akemi! This is a private letter!'
'A love letter?'
'No. It's from a friend.'
'Him in the picture? If I were you...'
'You're not, so mind your own business!'
Akemi sat on her bed, the nearest one. When she saw her sulking Chihiro felt sorry for her and said:
'Yes, it's from him, and his name is Kohaku.'
Then she started solving her math problems, hiding the letter inside her pillow when Akemi had gone from the room.