Yay~ A new chapter! Sorry if it's really short, but it was worth it. Anyway, enjoy!
The jerks of the Shinkansen rocked 15 year old Nikki Sachi awake. She jolted and rubbed her head. "Oh, this again...," Nikki whispered to herself. She realized that she fell asleep in public, but luckily, there were only a few people in the Shinkansen.
Nikki was on her way to the nearest movie theater in where she was heading to see Ghibli's latest film; When Marnie Was There. She loved Ghibli since she was a young child, and declared to be extremely loyal to her extreme love for Ghibli.
Her grandma loved Ghibli too, and she was the one who introduced Nikki to it. Her grandma let her start with Kiki's Delivery Service, and Nikki loved it dearly. Nikki's first Ghibli film in cinemas was Spirited Away, followed by Howl's Moving Castle, and the following films. Her grandma would often take her to the Ghibli studios since she works there.
That's how she met her BFFS, Miki, Nana, Naomi, Yuka and Satomi. It stated in an ordinary high school day when they overheard Nikki obsessing over Ghibli. They all discovered their interest, becoming the Ghibli Six,
It's been 2 years since she met them, and now she was watching another Ghibli movie with them. They always watched Ghibli movies together from the moment they met.
The Shinkansen stopped, and Nikki realized she was here. She hopped off it and looked around to find her friends. That's when she spotted a group of five at their backs, and they all turned to see her there.
"Guys!" Nikki called out.
The girls ran to her. "Nikki! Your here!"
They all ran up to each other and hugged, as if it has been a long time since she saw her friends. Nikki let go and smiled at them. "Ready to watch the newest Ghibli film?" she said.
The girls nodded and smiled. "Yup!" they all said in unison.
Nana sighed dreamily and looked up. "I've been waiting for this moment, like forever!" she bragged. "It felt like a million years that I had to wait for this weekend to watch it."
Miki wrapped her arm around her sister, Satomi. "We've been waiting since a few months ago," she said.
Naomi nodded. "Same here," she said.
Yuka, who was too shy to speak, she smiled and nodded.
Nana was the prettiest out of them. She had blue eyes, a pale complexion and caramel curly hair reaching to her shoulders. She would often wear bright dresses and heels with stockings.
Miki and Satomi looked like twins, but they swore that they would have be been copied. Miki had chin length hair infested of dark night color and brown eyes, infesting a fair skin tone. Satomi almost looked like her sister except she had glasss and shoulder length hair, but sharing her sister's skin color and eye color.
Naom looked rather boyish. She has light brown hair reaching to her shoulders and a cream white skin tone. She looked Korean- Japanese. She would often wear sneakers and skirts with leggings.
Yuka looked the most timid out of them. She doesn't always stay quiet, but she would often so. She possessed gray eyes and black hair with a pale skin tone, rendering her as the cutest member of the group. However, she had pink braces inside her mouth.
Nikki, as well, looked more average than the others. She had green eyes, a pinkish skin tone and brown curly hair reaching to her shoulders. She would often wear black sandals and stockings with skirts, because cropped pants don't fit her very well.
The girls walked out of the station and found the nearest theater. Miki purchased tickets while the others decided to eat some sushi while waiting for the screening time. Miki came back with six tickets in her hand. "You guys better hurry because the next showing is in ten minutes," she said.
Nana frowned. "But I have to fix myself first!" she complained, obviously comparing her beauty to others.
The others shot her an irritated look. "What?" Nana asked.
The girls shook it off and finally finished their sushi. They purchased tea from a shop and some chips for the food. They entered the theater and saw trailers showing. They sat in the front so they could get a better look.
"Eee!" Nana whispered excitedly. "I can't believe I'm in the theater and waiting for the movie to begin!"
Nikki chuckled. "Don't forget us too, Nana," she tagged along, sipping her tea.
They saw a trailer for a scary movie. It send them chills down their spines and they couldn't forget those horrifying faces they saw. The next trailer they saw was the Japanese trailer of Disney's Big Hero 6.
"I think I'm gonna watch it," Naomi bragged. "Who's with me?"
Only Nikki and Nana raised their hands. Other trailers showed and showed for what it seemed like forever. Just as they were about to prepare for another trailer, they saw the Studio Ghibli logo show on the screen.
"Oh my god! It's starting!" Nikki cheered, which she didn't know that she used her outside voice.
"Shhh!" Her friends and other people shushed her. Nikki turned red in embarrassment. Her friends laughed at that moment and the movie began.
"That was the best movie ever!" Nana cheered, skipping out of the theater, with her friends following along.
Miki jumped. "I know right?!" she squealed. "The feels! The feels!"
"Ive never expected such a tearjerker Ghibli film like this one," Naomi said. "But I give it an eleven out of ten!"
Yuka nodded. "I really loved it, the story, everything," she quietly said.
Satomi jumped up and down all over again. "I loved all the funny moments there! It feels like I'm going to explode all over from the excitement and joyful moments!" she squealed in delight.
Nikki smiled and clapped her hands. "It has been a truly wonderful film," she said. "We shall celebrate at my house, at Koganei, Tokyo!"
The girls high five in the air together and headed towards the Shinkansen. It ode them back to Tokyo, the capital of Japan. They were excited to celebrate the movie in their extreme love for Ghibli.
It felt like hours getting to Tokyo, but it was all worth the while. They made it to Nikki's house in Koganei, Tokyo. It was a sweet cottage, a second story one. It looked modern, but it had a taste of old fashioned Japanese style.
Miki looked around. "Your grandma sure loves old fashioned Japan," she complimented, looking around the doors.
Nikki felt appreciated. "If your wondering where my cousin is, she's staying at her friends house for 2 weeks," she said.
"Oh," Nana said. "I was eager to meet her."
So the girls prepared every food they could find in the house. Sushi, Drinks, Tea, Leftover sandwiches and others. They gathered all of it on a table and placed a nicely colored rug underneath the food. They all chatted about the movie while munching on their food.
"I loved the part where Marnie takes Anna to the party," Satomi said, mouthful of sushi.
"At first I wanted to hate Anna," Naomi said.
Nikki looked at her as if she was being called a leprechaun. "What?" she spat out in disbelief.
Naomi shook her head. "But I swear!" she protested. "I didn't want to hate her anymore when the story progressed."
"Naomi, it's not about hating her," Miki judged, sipping tea. "It's about the point of her character development."
Nikki looked at her. "What do you mean?" she asked.
Miki summoned all her art and design knowledge. "Disadvantage is the point of her personality," she explained. "I mean, if she wasn't that depressed, the story wouldn't progress. If she hasn't been like that, then that won't lead to the success of her life, she wouldn't even meet Marnie, or Sayaka. The author would have wanted Anna to be an interesting character."
"I think you have a point," Nikki agreed. "Anna is my favorite character because not of her story, or personality, it's how the development of Anna progresses."
Just then, they heard the door open. They turned to see Grandma Saki, Nikki's grandmother. She was old but looked younger, minus the wrinkles and face mold. She had grayish hair tied in a bun and wore bright dresses.
"Grandma!" Nikki said, standing up and hugging her tightly. "How was work?"
Grandma playfully rubbed her head. "Oh, it went well," she told them. "Miyazaki was in a good moody today while I was packing up the papers, what a gentleman he is!"
"And look at you all," she called out to Nikki's friends. She playfully rubbed their heads as she recited each name. "Miki, Satomi, Nana, Naomi and Yuka, you girls looked like what I remembered!"
Miki chuckled. "It's good to see you again, Mrs. Sachi," she greeted with a bow.
"I told you to call me Grandma Saki,"she reprimanded. "But that's okay, darling."
Satomi shrugged. She tolerated being corrected by Saki. "I like her," she whispered to her sister.
Saki suddenly realized something, her eyes moving up as a sign of it. "Wait girls, I have something to show you," she said, heading to the car to get the item she was gonna show them.
While she was away, the girls were discussing what was it. "I wonder if she's gonna appoint us as members," Nikki guessed.
Naomi shrugged. "Don't know," she said. "Maybe she'll give us Ghibli figures!"
Miki and Satomi looked at each other. "Maybe they are gonna give us the supplies they use to draw and paint the animation!" they guessed.
Nana clasped her hands together. "Maybe Ghibli fashions!" she squealed.
"Or an animal that looks like Totoro," Yuka said.
Just then, Saki came back carrying a what it looks like something brownish. She showed it to the girls. "Miyazaki entrusted this to me since the company begun, and now I'm passing it to you girls," she said.
She removed the cover and it revealed to be a brown, shiny book. It had a beautiful decorations and on the front it said, Ghibli World.
"Ghibli World?" Nikki asked, slowly picking up the book and staring at it with amazement.
"This book contains all the Ghibli movies turned to amazing stories," Saki continued. "From Nausicaa to Marnie."
"Wow!" Miki cried in amazement. "So every Ghibli film is here? The whole story, right?"
"Everything," Saki continued. "If you look inside it, it would look like a fairy tale book."
Nana flipped a page, and she saw a beautiful fairy tale illustration like of Sheeta riding with Pazu, they were in the section of Castle in the Sky. "Gorgeous," she muttered.
Nikki turned to another page and saw the illustration of Sophie with Howl. She went back to the first page and saw Nausicaa riding on a glider. "This is amazing, grandma," she said. "But why are you entrusting this to us?"
"Because Ghibli is closing down," Saki revealed quickly with a tone of sadness.
"What?!" Nikki cried out in disbelief.
"No way," Miki and Satomi said in unison.
"Oh, how terrible," Nana gasped dramatically, putting her hands on her cheeks.
"Impossible," Naomi muttered in disbelief.
"Oh no...," Yuka whispered.
They felt like the world has stopped. It was as if they have been told that the whole world is ending. They wanted to faint from this horrible news.
"B-B-But w-why?" Nikki choked up. Tears were starting to form in her eyes, and so are the others,
Saki sighed. "They are going on a hiatus due to Miyazaki's retirement," she said in disappointment, shaking her head. "I'm very sorry."
"This cannot be happening," Miki said, putting her hands on the sides of her head.
Nikki wished that they were all just in a nightmare, and they could wake up back in the Shinkansen, but sadly, this was all true. "Grandma..," she choked up. "...you promised us that you would never quit."
"That was the intention of Miyazaki, I'm afraid," Saki said in sadness.
"No...no...," Nikki backed away, refusing to believe the terrible news. "Grandma...tell me this isn't true..."
Saki shook her head. "I'm afraid so," she regretfully said.
Saki didn't want Nikki and her friends to hear it, but clearly, she didn't have any choice.
"So, does that mean...," Miki asked. "You guys won't make any films anymore?"
Saki shook her head, happy to report one consolation. "I convinced Miyazaki to find another successor, we just won't-"
"Be able to make films until then?" Nana finished.
Saki closed her eyes and nodded her head shamefully. It was painful for telling them as it was to hear the grave news. The girls shook their head and in unison, tears spilled out of their eyes. What had became a good day became the last day of seeing a Ghibli film.
Yuka buried her head in her hands and sobbed quietly, but hard. Miki and Satomi hugged each other. Nana and Nikki sobbed quietly together.
Only Naomi was determined. "And your okay with this?" she said, tears spilling down her face. She was desperate to find a twist to end this nightmare. "There must be another way!"
"There's no other option," Saki said. "I hate it as much as you all do."
"When?" Naomi said, and her voice cracked as she fought back emotion.
"We are gonna close the studio tomorrow," Saki reported. "Dawn, at the earliest."
Nikki wanted to go to her room and lock herself inside, never to come out again. But she couldn't move, because she was paralyzed by her own sadness, so are her friends.
Saki placed her hand on Nikki's shoulder. "That's why I'm entrusting this to you," she calmly said, raising the book in front of her,
"How can you say that when we are at crisis here?" Nikki cried through a stream of tears. She wanted to argue, but she knew that it would be disrespectful to yell at her beloved grandmother.
Saki gripped on Nikki's hand tightly. "I know it's hard for you and your friends, sweetheart," she said. "But you've got to face reality. You can't go back to the past or future to change it- it's what it's supposed to happen."
Miki wanted to argue too. "So what does this book have to deal with our heartbreak?" she asked.
"This book contains all the Ghibli movies converted to stories," Saki explained. "If you read all of them, you won't feel sad, you will remember the old and new Ghibli films around us. You would even feel the magic of Ghibli through your heart reading this book."
Nikki and her friends wiped their tears away. "We appreciate your entrusting of the book to us," Naomi said.
Saki ruffled Naomi's head. "That's the spirit," she said. "I hope all of you are okay with this book."
"We are still sad inside," Nikki said. "But with this book, it will make us remember the good times of Ghibli."
Saki nodded, but deep down, she felt ashamed telling her granddaughter and her friends the grave news. She knew it was hard, but she still felt ashamed.
"Nikki, your friends can stay for two days or so," Saki said. "That's supposed to be a good treatment for you girls. I'll call your parents and tell them."
Miki looked happy. "Thank you Mrs- I mean Grandma Saki!" she cheered.
Nikki smiled and hugged her grandma. "Thank you grandma," she said.
"I've got to pick some groceries," Saki said, walking out of the door. "I'll see you girls later."
She closed the door behind, and the girls were left alone. Nikki and Nana wanted to go upstairs and place the book on the bed. They did so, and placed it gently, so that it wouldn't get dirty or crumpled.
Just when they were about to leave, they heard a whooing sound. They looked around, until their eyes fell on the book. The book was glowing.
"I seeing this, or am i just having a concussion?" Nana said, rubbing her eyes.
"I'm seeing it too," Nikki said. She slowly and carefully approached the book. She placed her hand on the cover, and slowly lifted it, and when it was halfway through, a bright light shone on her and she fell on her butt. The book stopped glowing.
"What was that?" Nana asked, helping Nikki up.
Nikki paused. "I think we are experiencing some kind of...magic,"
Whoops! Gotta end it here. Sorry if the feels part escalated quickly, but I hope you enjoyed it. AWinx out!