Chapter two: The new school
Chihiro walked to her new school. That day was the day after she got free from the spirits world.
'Yesterday, father and mother didn't realize anything. How could that be? I really don't understand. And I miss Kohaku so much….He said he would talk to Yubaba for his freedom….But, after he gets it, what would he do? Will he be an ordinary boy? Or will he reincarnate as a baby? God, show me a sign or clue or whatever….' Chihiro talked in her heart.
Still walked, Chihiro looked up, to the blue sky, hoped that if she could find a shadow of a dragon, a shadow of Kohaku……
She walked until found a big building. She looked at the building, her new school. She saw the running kids, the talking girls, and playing boys. Her new school, her new beginning, her new life after the Land of the Spirits. She walked into the school yard. Suddenly, she thought, that it's hard enough to find a new friend… At that time, the shadows of Rin, Kamaji, the giant baby, the no face spirit, Zeniba, and….Kohaku….came into her mind. She was a little bit faithless, could she discover that kind of great friends in this world?
Chihiro kept walking, through the door of the building. She tried to ignore the noises of kids in the yard. She tried to ignore that everybody had their own friends, and seemed like they don't need a new pal. Chihiro opened the door and came in. She gazed around. The building was so so. It's good enough. Chihiro walked until she slammed a boy. "Forgive me," she apologized. The boy didn't care about her, he just turned his head for a while and continued his run. 'What a impolite kid…' mumbled Chihiro. For some reasons, she really wanted to visit the Land of Spirits once more.
She still tried to find the headmaster office. Then, she saw a woman with glasses and pink blouse. 'May be she is a teacher. I need to ask her,' she said to her self. Chihiro walked to that woman. "Excuse me…." She said. The woman turned her head, glimpsed at her. The woman was slim enough, with her hair in a knot, still young, might be less than thirty years old. "Yes?" she asked Chihiro.
"Where's the principal office?" Chihiro asked her. The woman looked at her eyes deeply, like she knew Chihiro before. Chihiro waited for the woman's answer. But the woman just looked at her. She started to be irritated. "So, where is it, Ma'am?" she asked again. The woman, just like woke up from a dream, seemed astonished. "Oh…yeah…I almost forget about that. Well when you reach the end of this corridor, turn right, keep walking, the headmaster office is on your left," she responded quickly. "Thank you, Ma'am," Chihiro muttered and started to stroll as the direction that the woman gave.
While Chihiro was walking, the woman kept looking at her, looking at her back. May be Chihiro didn't realize something. But, if she could pay more attention, she would find that the woman's face, if it was without glasses and hair in a knot, and didn't wear that sort of blouse, she would discover that the face was so familiar. The woman still looked at Chihiro until that girl turn and she couldn't see her anymore. "You already forgot about us…" The woman whispered. "But it's acceptable. Your world isn't in the Land of the Spirits. Go, find your own world, Chihiro….." she uttered again. Then, she went away…disappeared…..
Chihiro was confused enough. She had walked as the woman's direction. But she couldn't find the headmaster office. She even found a janitor room, not that principal office. 'What a brainless woman, if she doesn't know, just tell me the truth. Gosh! Finding the headmaster office is harder than I thought' Chihiro grumbled in her heart. Chihiro kept walking and she met a fat man with bloated stomache, held on some books. The man's hair was just left half. Chihiro took a glance at him. "Excuse me, could you inform me please where's the principal office?" Chihiro ask that man. That man looked down, at Chihiro.
"Aah….you're that girl right? The new student. You're name is Chihiro, right?" cried the man friendly. Chihiro nodded spiritedly. "Yes, I'm Chihiro," Chihiro reacted. "Aah…I've been told by the headmaster. Come on, follow me. I'll show you the office," he told Chihiro with smile and moved his hand as a sign to follow him. Smile started to show itself on Chihiro's lips. Chihiro nodded and went after that fellow with a little run.
They arrived in front of a room with sign 'Principal office'. For an instant, they stopped. "So, kid, this is where you want to go. This is the principal room," the man murmured. Chihiro nodded, and glanced at the sign. 'Okay, I'm going to meet the principal. I wonder what kind of man is he. Wrong….I don't really want to know, actually….But, what else could I discover in this area?' she conversed in her heart. As a matter of fact, Chihiro was not too excited to meet her new principal. The times from the old school came again and haunted her mind. And, so did the times in the Land of Spirits...
"So, shall we come in or not?" mumbled the man, still smiled. 'This man is kind-hearted. He understood my confusion in this new school. He is also friendly and cheerful. I hope this guy will be my teacher," said Chihiro in her heart. "Yes, I'll come in. Thanks a lot for your help," Chihiro said with a smile, and she knocked the door. For few seconds, there's nothing heard, nothing looked, nothing felt. Chihiro started to be confused, and impatient. When she got ready to knock again, the fellow stopped her. "No need to do that, kid. He heard that, but he is not too fast in reactions, you know…old fellow…" he told her. Chihiro glimpsed at the fellow again, and put her hands down.
And he was right, sarcastically, she heard a voice from inside. "Come in," informed a voice of old man. Chihiro looked at the fat man beside her, asking for agreement. The man nodded. Then Chihiro's hand reached the door handle, moved it down, and finally, opened that ebony wooden door. She pushed the door, stepped into the room. She peeked inside, saw a desk with an old man too there. "Excuse me," she snapped. Then, she walked further, into that room, followed by the fat man. "Ah, come in… come in, kid," the old man with white hair, eyebrow, and mustache. He was slim and thin. "Sit down, kid. Thank you, Mori-san," the principal said again. 'Ooh…so that person's name is Mori, I see,' Chihiro said to herself.
Then, Chihiro took a seat on the chair that the man pointed about. The man, sat in front of her, behind his desk. "So, your name is….Chihiro right?" he asked friendly with smile that made his narrow got narrower and narrower, until it just looked like a line. I nodded. "Yes, Sir," I reacted. "Good….This is your new school. You'll have several new friends, new experiences, nothing to be worried here, kid," the principal said again. 'Sure, every principal would just say the goodness of their school, no way they te;; the bad things from their school to the new student, every one knows that surely…' said Chihiro inside her heart.
"By the way, I haven't introduced my self, right? My name is Hayashi, I'm the principal of this school. Nice to meet you," said him. He stood up and bowed to me. "My name is Chihiro. Nice to meet you too," I replied. "Fine… I have called your homeroom teacher. She will be here in two or three minutes, I think," he continued his explanation. 'A woman? That woman before maybe?' I asked my own self. Then, a knock hear from the outside. "Ah, there we in, Honda-san," the principal said with smile, still showed on that old face. Then, the door was opened, and a woman came in.
'Aaaah…not that woman. I wonder who's that….the woman that gave me the wrong direction. I believe I've seen her before…But where? When?' Chihiro asked her self again. The woman came into Chihiro. "Hi, Chihiro. My name is Honda, I'm your new homeroom teacher. Nice to meet you," she said and bowed her self "Ah…Nice to meet you too," I replied and bowed my self too. "Now, let's go to your new class. Your new friends are waiting there," she said with smile on her lips. 'Yeah…right….(mockingly). I don't see they need a new friend, they even didn't notice me this morning,' I said to myself. But I just nodded.
"Good, well, excuse us, Principal. We have to go to Chihiro's new class," I heard my homeroom teacher said to the headmaster with sweet voice. "Okay, be a good girl, Chihiro," the principal told me that. "Yes, Sir," I answered him. And when she had opened the door, and stood in front of the office, and when Chihiro wanted to get out from there too, the woman said, " Don't you want to say thanks to him?". I was agape by her words. "Ah, sure," I replied. Then, I glimpsed at the principal. "Thank you very much, Sir," I muttered and bowed to him. "Yes…now go, get your class," he suppressed while moving his hand that meant 'go'. I nodded, came out, closed the door, and walked, followed Honda-sensei.
Her words….her words reminded to someone…..
'Don't you want to say thanks to him?' …….
I've heard it…..
Ohhh….that's what Rin said to me….
She told me…..to say thanks to Kamaji…..
It's Rin…..
The two worlds….Besides the mysterious tunnel, is there something connected them? I wondered….
Chapter two ended…….