Quick notes : I'm french, translating the fanfiction I am currently re-re-writing in French to English to practice it, and maybe for more people to enjoy the story. Hope my prose isn't to ackward. And my apologies for the misuse of grammar and syntax that will litter the text (long version of the notes at the end of the chapter).
Some days, you feel like you just waked from a dream. A strange, marvellous dream. You feel different, as if you just came back from an initiatory rite that transformed you deep within. Then, you question what you just experienced, you want to turn back and see. To know if it's still there, if it's real, if the trace left on your memory isn't just a flickering illusion.
I wrap myself in the texture of the memory. I feel the hot moisture of the air on my skin as the caress of a dear friend. With closed eyes, I am there: lost in the large building with polished wooden floors. I get goose bumps thinking about the filthy tubs I scoured using all the energy I could summon in my tiny limbs. The atmosphere engulfs me, the smells from the kitchen's steaming food platers, the sounds of the whistling pipes, of the employee footsteps… All the details of this boiling macrocosm turn like a merry-go-round in my head. I remember the tyrannical witch, her bad temper and cupidity, though her righteousness regarding the laws of her realm. She kept her word, and let us go.
I just got my name back. The contract turned into dust, and I ran back. Now I cling to my mother's arm. We are getting away from this abandoned theme park, where mortals don't belong.
My memories are still fresh, but I already fear that they will wear down, rot away and scatter from my mind. So I think, hard, hopefully hard enough to cage them. I remember Bô's strength, the endless work of the susuwatari, Kamaji and the heat of his boiler. I think about my strange friend No-face, Lin-onee-san and her dreams to get away from the baths. The pungent taste of the drug pill, the screeching orders of Yubaba.
I put so much resolve in this, that I almost feel the supranatural wind tangling my hair, that I almost see his green eyes, so strange, baring the depths of my spirit. Him too… he's free now. Free to roam the sky, free to find the remains of his river, free to go. Our ways crossed, and separated for the second time…
"Will we meet again sometimes?"
"Sure we will"
"Promise?"
"Promise"
I continue walking, keeping warm those few words, full of light and hope.
When I get in the car, I pick up my flowers, wilted, and sink in the small space I am left with between the boxes and luggage. The tears that have remained breaming in my eyes, fall over their edges, and roll their bitter sweetness down my rounded cheeks. I don't really know if I'm crying out of joy, of sadness, or simple relief. Behind us, the tunnel opening gets smaller. Its façade, smooth and new when we arrived, is eaten by vegetation. The reddish plastered walls crumbled away, leaving the naked stones sticking out, dissociating slowly from one another. The access seems to be saying that it will disappear, that it will seal itself. Soon.
'Now go and don't look back'
There is no way back.
At the rear of the car, the trees bend, erasing the dirt path into nothingness. We leave the forest, as it closes its gates onto its secrets.
- A new home and a new school. It can be a little scary.
I retort :
- I think I can handle it.
Mom turn back to smile to me, and notice the salty trails on my face.
- Chihiro, honey… Is there something wrong?
I shove forward the first excuse at my disposal.
- Look, Mom! It's my flowers : they all dried up!
- Well… That is also unexpected! We stopped for less than an hour. Hubby, something really doesn't fit right…
Dad doesn't react and engage on the main road, with all his characterized finesse. I try to cope with his driving skills, becomingone with the car seat.
I gaze off into the distance, and the faces of my friends come to haunt me there. Their clarity reassures me, I hope not to forget anything, neither my old school, nor this trip in the kamis world. I hold the memories against my chest: the faded bouquet, and Kohaku's gift. The latter, I am not sure whether he gave it to me intentionally.
The river god was taking me back to the baths, making us cross the skies while holding my hand. I had just shared our memories, spoken his name and the joy was turning us euphoric. Distracted, intoxicated by the flight and our shared emotions, I did not notice at first, that in the hollow of my palm, something was sprouting. Magic slowly condensing, emitting gentle warmth. I don't know if my friend's fingers, clasped around mine, could feel it. Afterwards, I didn't think to tell him about this strange phenomenon, I left without him mentioning it.
I keep this little pebble with me as a proof of our meeting. I roll it between my thumb and index. It is soft and warm to the touch. I observe it more closely...
- Chihiro, choose your room quickly when you get home, okay? So I can put my office stuff in the second one. Take whichever you want, the first one is bigger but the second one has a nice view of both the city and the forest below.
I don't answer my father, fixed on the little stone wobbling in my hand. I blink. It looks like a pearl, a dragon pearl. I try to see through it with sunlight, but it remains totally opaque.
- Ah! Here we are at last!
- You see! I told you you turned too soon!
It's true, my father had simply turned too soon... Obstinate, he had pushed the car on the track, at the dead end he had left the car. Curious, he had entered the tunnel, my mother had slipped in behind him... A bad feeling twisting my stomach, I had forced myself to follow them.
The fields.
The theme park.
Getting across the river.
To the other side.
And then those smells...
Those tempting dishes, arranged there.
The silence.
Their hands had happily plucked at the steaming plates, so that their gullets could gobble, to satisfy their needs without the slightest restraint. I had run away from the shame I felt for them, from their thoughtless actions, only to find them later, turned into pigs...
Three days later, my parents' world has not changed, but mine has. I find myself more metamorphosed than they were then. Sen didn't erase me, she made me grow up. I don't have the same eyes anymore, my frail body seems less puny. My shadow has thickened.
Above all, I have realised the affection I have for this ordinary life. My name, Ogino Chihiro, is a precious possession, and the life attached to it, my greatest treasure. A treasure that I will take the greatest care of for the decades to come.
- Where are the movers? They should have been here long ago. It's too early for them to have finished unloading, or else this is the most efficient company I've ever hired in my life!
My father enters the house on these words. Our boxes are piled up in the hallway. He picks up a letter, left obvious and open on a shelf. He reads it then cry out in astonishment. I'm still on the back seat, contemplating the scene from my window.
I open the door with a sigh, keeping the pearl and the flowers with me. I look sadly at the tired corollas. I wanted to keep the bouquet as long as possible, to take a picture of it to hang in my room. At least that wouldn't wilt...
My parents are talking in hushed tones, I wrinkle my nose and look around.
- Mum! Can I go and see the garden?
She answers, a little disturbed by her conversation with Dad:
- Yes, yes. On the other side.
I walk around the property, behind it, nothing but a large rectangle of loose grass, with three old twisted trees. Soon, Mum will be busy dotting this 'empty space' with lush flowerbeds, beautiful rosebushes, to make the garden like her, like our family: both ordinary and perfect, dispensing orderly happiness.
I go and sit down against one of the trunks, close to letting the fatigue overwhelm me. A heavy sigh escapes me, I confide in the wind.
- I still don't want to change schools... I don't want to... I want to go home, the real home...
I wrap my arms around my knees, sulking again. I didn't want to move. I'm going to miss Emiko, Arisa and Rumi so much. Mum says that at my age it's easy to make new friends, but no one can replace them, it won't be the same. I do a display of frustration by rolling around in the lawn...
- It's not fair! Why should adults always have the last word?
They can't hear me from where they are. It wouldn't make much difference anyway. It was a case of force majeure, we had to move, for Dad. Usually they're prepared to bend over backwards to accommodate my every request. Not this time. The issues are beyond me, I can't do nothing. I am too young, my arguments are childish, futile. I will keep protesting, for the sake of it, to make them understand that I am the victim here.
I want to go home.
I roll with the flowers against me, crushing them again. I pick up the little card, the only unscathed item in the bouquet, and continue talking to myself, flat on the wet floor.
- It's better than nothing... At least here, words don't fly away.
I bury it in the pocket of my shorts, and the pearl falls out. I bring it to my eyes and roll it with my index finger in between the blades of grass. My chin probed on my other hand. Some of Zeniba's words come back to me at that moment :
'Once you met someone you never really forget them. It just takes a while for the memories to return.'
I had not forgotten our first meeting at the river, but the memory went to hide out of my reach. It came back when I needed it, when I gave his name back to the ryuu.
I will not forget the last three days either. But that won't stop the memories from fading into the dark, one after the other. I'll lose them in the game of hide and seek. When everything will be blurred, when doubt will dare to appear, this little stone will be my reassurance. It is material, palpable, it cannot evade me:
- The flowers may have withered, but you, don't evaporate too quickly, lil' pearl.
My rambling awaits no answer. Yet, the white pebble heats up against my skin. It begins to vibrate, more and more intensely. I grab it with force, fingers criss-crossed around it, like a small cage. Its energy begins to bubble, bouncing against my palms. I keep the nest closed on a stray bird, the magic tapering into the interstices in sprays of multicoloured light. Its radiations tickles me. I remain stunned, motionless during these extraordinary seconds that swarm in my arms. I restrain my movements, hold my breath. Then the magical agitation finally calms down, I am still waiting, in apnoea, listening. I breathe out as quietly as possible, as not to risk awakening the pearl again, and I gently unclench my fists.
The stone shines, blue like a young star.
I drop it back on the ground, a few centimetres in front of my nose.
A grey smoke blooms and rises, takes the form of a tiny being, with spindly limbs and an uncertain tilt to its head. The luminous creature sits down on the rock and remains there, aloof. I reach out a hand tentatively, and go through it. The stardust is swept up by my movement. Its scattered particles take time to gather again. I contemplate them, increasingly disconcerted.
Reconstituted, the creature becomes indignant. It rises to its full height on the pearl. Its tiny limbs flail about in anger, but its gestures make me laugh. Then it crosses its tiny white arms in annoyance. I hold out a finger, which passes through the middle of his stomach. The being recoils, falls from its perch. It circles it three times in panic before rushing inside the sphere. The halo disappears, the stone becomes inert again.
- Hey, come back! Don't be upset! Who are you?
Silence... Broken by my father, from the open window upstairs:
- Chihiro! Are you coming to choose?
I hesitate a second, then :
- I'm coming!
I gather my things, stand up and go back into the house, my mind occupied by the mysteries of the pearl, and the green eyes of my dragon friend.
000
000
Hi everyone,
Those who don't care about authors rant can hurry to the next part, enjoy.
Overwise… Here just a few warnings.
Number one : I'm French, though my English is remotely acceptable (I hope… ^^' ) I am not entirely sure about the quality of my writing, ( and my prose, already questionable in French, might be quite a sorry mess without me being aware of it. I hope my translation won't feel to literal)
Number two, three, and all subsequent : I know that me awkwardly trying to make a fanfiction from a Miyawaki animation film is blasphemy, but still… the end of THAT film frustrated me to no end. I REALLY wanted Chihiro and Haku story to continue... I felt like trying to write it? So, here goes nothing.
I started to write the French version back in 2016 (man I'm too old for this now…), got through half of the planned plot and dropped it. I started rewriting from the start in 2019. Now I am doing a final rewriting in French while trying to simultaneously get the chapters out in English. The aim here is to train my French-speaking brain to format in another language and maybe get more people to enjoy the story.
Respecting the rules of Miyazaki's world is just out of my amateur league. Plus, sticking to the film atmosphere was already quite a ride in French, so… I will do my best? I guess?
Small precision : All elements in the text referring to the Shinto or Japanese culture were just picked out of my few reading on Wikipedia pages and mixed up as I please, and I created some random stupidities on top of it to fit my scenario. If you want some real and serious information on the subject, I'm definitely not a relevant source.
I am, of course, open to all kind of constructive criticism and comments. Any expert of Japan/Japanese and derivatives, getting lost in this story, is invited to point out and cry out in alarm at any big turd I am likely to leave behind as paragraphs go by. Any specimen armed with a better mastery of English than me (not a hard condition to fit) is also encouraged to point out spelling and syntax errors. No, I swear to you that this is not a devious method to collect comments, but benevolence towards you, dear readers, and your fragile eyesight which I would prefer to spare.
I am only writing this for fun
And sharing it for the entertainment of others,
Enjoy,
And see you all next page. ?
