When the silence was almost too much for Chihiro to bear, a soft, warm voice was heard throughout the lobby.
"Nigahayami Kohaku Nushi, Chihiro Megumi Ogino, you may rise."
I thought my mother was the only other person who knew my middle name, Chihiro thought. How did Akane find out?
Following Akane's orders, they both slowly began to stand. Finally seeing Akane up close and personal, Chihiro felt slightly less scared in her presence. Akane was shorter than herself, immediately making her less intimidating. She also had a slight smile on her face, exuding a feeling of warmth.
You can do this, Chihiro thought. Just stay calm and follow her orders.
"If you two could follow me, I think I'd like to be shown around the bathhouse." Akane said pleasantly.
Both Haku and Chihiro nodded their heads and took the lead, beginning the tour. Haku did all of the talking; Chihiro only standing by and watching as Haku handled the situation with eloquence and grace.
"—And this is your room, Akane." Haku concluded. They had finally made their way throughout the entire bathhouse; the kitchen, the main bath area, the private bathing quarters for their more 'secretive' guests, and they had even shown Akane the sleeping quarters for the female workers, if ever she needed to talk to someone right away.
Akane turned towards the two workers, standing side by side. She could tell immediately that Chihiro was frightened of her, and it amused her. She could also see by the look on his face that Haku had taken a protective role over the the girl. She thought she might take advantage of the situation.
"Thank you, Haku. But before you leave, I have one more request." She said, looking him in the eye.
"Yes, Miss Akane?" He said whilst hiding the doubt in his voice.
"Could you go down to the kitchens and fetch my meal?" Akane asked politely.
He nodded curtly and turned to leave, but not before giving a reassuring look to Chihiro, who was obviously frightened at being alone with such a powerful figure. But, Haku had faith that Chihiro would do her best not to offend Akane in any way, especially after she had watched the way he had acted around the woman during the tour. This would be the test to see if she could manage it.
After he had reached the farthest point of the hallway, Akane turned to Chihiro. The toned she used was that of amusement.
"So, Miss Chihiro," She started off in a cheerful tone, "I noticed you wouldn't look at me throughout the entire duration of the tour. Is there something you wanted to say to me?"
If it were possible for Chihiro to get any paler, she certainly did at this inquiry. Without thinking, her defense mechanisms went into overdrive.
"No!" She said almost apologetically, "I mean no, ma'am. I meant no disrespect," She concluded, barely hiding her fear.
This made Akane laugh. "Hahaha! You're very interesting, Chihiro." She said with a smile. "Now, I don't know what you have heard about me, but you don't need to be so nervous in my presence. If there's something on your mind, you needn't fear that I'll strike you down." She concluded with a chuckle.
This sudden reassurance set Chihiro's racing heart at ease. After a slight pause, Chihiro began to speak again.
"Well, you see, ma'am… I couldn't help but wonder how you knew my full name. I had thought only my mother and I knew… so I was only curious-" her voice had begun to fade out, having realized how forward she was being.
"No, please!" This time, Akane interrupted. "It's only natural that you'd be curious! You see, Chihiro, you're quite famous, here in the Spirit World." This made Chihiro's eyes wide.
Famous?
Akane continued. "Judging by your confusion, I'm guessing you hadn't realized. After you discovered who exactly Haku was, 6 years ago, word spread like wildfire. Hundreds upon thousands of spirits outside these walls saw you as a model for courage and hope. Some even saw you as the very essence of love itself; commonly found inside us all."
There's no way… 'essence of love itself'? Chihiro was taken aback, but before she could voice her shock, Akane surprised her again.
"Your biggest supporters were those in the popular sea-faring nation, Piscanem."
This was perhaps the biggest shocker that had come out of Akane's mouth. Chihiro knew that name sounded familiar… she just couldn't place it from where it came. Her mind suddenly switched to last night's episode out in the garden. Chihiro remembered Haku's story.
"—I was born and raised in a land by the ocean, named Piscanem." She recalled Haku voicing.
Haku's own nation knows who I am?! This can't be… this isn't possible.
All of this information had finally taken effect on her. Chihiro's knees began to feel weak, and she had to lean on the wall behind her for support.
"Are you quite alright, Chihiro?" Akane voiced. The look in her eyes was a look of comfort, but there was something hidden inside those silver orbs. Chihiro couldn't recognize what she saw. She assumed it was the lighting, playing tricks on her.
"Yes, ma'am, I'm alright," She breathed. "It's just hard to believe that Haku's entire homeland knows I exist…" Chihiro concluded, unsure of how to feel. She had finally regained stability, and was standing on her own now.
Akane took notice of the sudden pink shade on her cheeks.
" '—knows I exist'?!" Akane playfully mocked. "Of course they do, Chihiro! To them, why, you're they're champion! You had found the lost son of the Nigahayami family!" Although the words she said were cheerful, something in her voice frightened Chihiro. With every passing word, she sounded more and more like she was angry about something.
Akane's voice suddenly turned serious, with large quantity of bitterness. "They had even wanted you to be Haku's future wife." She concluded.
This was not the first time Chihiro felt like she could faint, but none of the other times were ever this severe. Her knees nearly buckled, and her face quickly turned bright, tomato red.
Haku's WIFE? He would never… I could never… Her mind suddenly flooded with emotions.
They were only friends, right? Sure, Chihiro had had her girlish fantasies after leaving the Spirit World, but she had known even back then that a situation where Haku and Chihiro were married could never be. Could it?
As these thoughts whirled through her like a tornado, Akane was thinking to herself, as well.
Does this stupid mortal really not know of our engagement? She thought. If she truly didn't, she needed to take this chance, or else things were bound to get complicated later on.
"Chihiro?" Akane asked meekly, trying her best to imitate a sweet, innocent girl. "Can I ask you something, from one girl to another?"
Poor Chihiro was far too distraught and distracted to catch on to Akane's plan.
Chihiro's mind was in a haze, but she put her own thoughts to the side and nodded quickly. "Absolutely, what's wrong?"
Akane took a deep breath before she began her speech.
"Well," She started off, faking bashfulness. "Haku and I have been engaged to be married since we were children, as arranged by our parents." She took hidden delight at Chihiro's immediately stunned gape.
"The only problem is," She continued, "He doesn't know about it yet." This, on its own, was enough to make Chihiro's head spin, but Akane wasn't finished. She had to deliver the finishing blow.
"I need your help in making him fall in love with me." She concluded, still enjoying every moment of saying the words that she knew would break the other girl's heart.
Instantaneously, the air seemed to turn into concrete as Chihiro took a moment to digest what had just been said. She felt so many emotions, many of them she had never experienced before. Confusion, she could label immediately.
But, no, there was something else inside her heart. This emotion was something she had never before experienced, but had heard described to her many times by those around her. Something so painful, far too painful to be ignored.
It suddenly dawned on her what this excruciating feeling was.
Heartbreak.
I'm in love with Haku.
This realization was enough to bring tears to her eyes. Suddenly, all the pain she had felt whenever she dreamt of Haku, all the times she had looked lovingly to her stuffed dragon at home, all the tears she had cried over a pain in her heart she could not fulfill; all of them made sense. She was in love.
Come on Chihiro, knock it off. You can't love Haku, he only sees you as a friend. I mean, come on, look how happy she is! The voice in her head sounded so strong, but she felt so weak.
Chihiro thought about these things, looking over to the girl standing beside her. Her mouth was spread in an ear to ear grin; she was obviously overjoyed, probably from the engagement.
They've been engaged since they were children… I can't. I can't love Haku. I could never bring myself to take away such an incredible feeling from someone else.
She kept saying this over and over in her head, but it didn't lessen the dull ache she felt in her heart.
Chihiro finally realized she had been staring at the wooden flooring for the past few seconds.
Akane looked at her, entirely satisfied with her reaction. The manipulative woman's mouth had contorted into an evil grin, but the tears in Chihiro's eyes warped her vision to the point where she couldn't notice.
Slowly, one by one, tears began to fall as she stared at the wall with her mouth open. Her entire face was frozen in what anyone else could see was shock, pain, and sorrow.
Suddenly, from behind Akane, Chihiro could hear footsteps, and the sound of a food cart being pushed. She knew exactly who was there, even without seeing his face.
Oh god, it can't be. Not now.
She had previously been so caught up in her emotions, she had completely forgotten that Haku would be back at any second. Chihiro suddenly felt embarrassed.
She knew what she had to do; she had to get out. Now. But, before she could make her escape, she had to give Akane her answer.
"Akane." Chihiro said quickly, "I'll…" Her voice cracked ever so slightly. She coughed, clearing her throat. "I'll help you."
At this point, Chihiro was beginning to look rather ill. She managed to get out an "Excuse me…" before breaking out into a sprint, tears streaming, ignoring the flabbergasted looks from both Akane and Haku.
She had enough. All of this was too much for her to take in. Her feet ran as fast as they could; to where, she didn't know.
Akane gasped in synthetic surprise, loving every second of the commotion Chihiro was making. She stood where she was with the smirk on her lips, looking at the frantic Chihiro as she turned the corner of the hallway.
Haku stared at the running girl in absolute shock. He hadn't heard a word that transpired between the two girls, and Chihiro had been running so fast, he was blind to the tears that were falling down her cheeks.
He wanted more than anything to run and catch up with the girl and see what had happened, but he remembered what he was doing in the first place.
"Akane." He said sternly, forgetting his calm composure. "What happened to Chihiro?" His face was worried, but more than what was normal. Akane didn't like it, not one bit.
"Oh, I have no idea!" She responded, playing up her innocent appearance. "I asked her whether or not we could be friends, but something happened to her and she ran off!" She tried her best to fake a look of worry, but it was tinged with sarcasm.
Haku was much harder to fool than that pathetic display. He grit his teeth.
"I don't know if you were the cause of this," He said, barely managing to keep his voice at a calm volume, "But if you were, I guarantee, I will find out."
He turned and began a brisk walk down the hall; completely abandoning his food cart and Akane. This infuriated her. Not one person ever had the guts to speak to to her in that tone, especially not for the petty reason of some flimsy, mortal, weakling.
"You'll regret this, Nigahayami Kohaku Nushi." She swore as Haku faded further into the corridor.