Disclaimer: I don't own any Miyazaki creations.

I wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that, I mean, didn't she do that often?

"Oh, uh, how?" I asked with awkward concern.

"The nurses were walking her to a therapy session through one of the bridges with windows and she saw someone on the street, became enraged and tried to break through the glass." Howl told me.

"Yeah, but when she couldn't do that she ran off down the hall way, the nurses tried to stop her but she hit one and bit the other so hard that she bled. When she found a window that was open she tried to jump out of it." Kiki continued, I was horrified, something told me that Kiki wasn't lying about this one. "It took our two biggest security guards to get her out of the window, and even they have some bruises."

"I-is she okay?" I asked, not quite sure whether to be more concerned for San or the staff.

"They had to sedate her but I don't think she was harmed in any way. None of us have gotten any information though." Said Howl putting on a soothing voice that calmed me down a little bit.

I wasn't sure what to think about all this, I was so overwhelmed that I hadn't noticed that Kiki had gotten me a breakfast. She told me it was oatmeal but I was slightly skeptical given the questionable nature of yesterday's meal. Regardless, however I ate it.

"Well, either way, Chihiro, eat up, 'cause we still have classes to go to." Kiki was smiling as I looked at her quizzically; I thought all that would be to do was therapy sessions. "What, you didn't think you would have your schooling cut short did you?"

"Oh." I guess Kiki was about my age come to think of it, maybe a little older, and it made sense that we would have to go to classes. So I slurped down the rest of my oatmeal that tasted surprisingly normal and we went to class.

I asked about Howl but Kiki informed me that, "can't you tell? He's an adult, he's done with school. Geeze."

Sorry I asked.

After that we both walked in relative silence until our classrooms. It wasn't the comfortable silence either, it was that awkward sort of silence where at least one party is attempting to think of something to talk about but is failing. It was my least favorite kind of silence.

Kiki was in a different grade than I was and so we parted ways at my classroom, I was slightly relieved to be parting from her after the walk there considering our silence. I was also strangely happy about being in a classroom setting again, it was the whisper of normalcy in the asylum that I needed. I could also safely ignore the people around me as I pretended to pay attention to the lesson.

I took advantage of that ability and ignored any verbal contact for the next four hours before lunch and then the remaining hours afterwards. When I got out of my last class I was met by Kiki and Howl.

"Now we go to group therapy." Said Kiki, and I followed the two of them down the hall.

In therapy, I mostly observed as the group talked about their problems, Kiki made things up, and most of the time made the therapist mad, Howl sat like me, observing. I listened to one girl who had short brown hair and was outlandishly dressed in blue talk about how she had been exposed to harmful toxins as a child. I thought about what that might have done to her as she rambled on about some prophecy that she still wasn't sure was entirely real.

It wasn't as if these people we're wrongly diagnosed, they all seemed legitimately crazy or should I say ill? Either way it seemed that Kiki and I had been the only ones they were wrong about. Howl hadn't shown any symptoms of his insanity but he may have just been good at hiding it.

I was deep in thought about this when she said my name. "Chihiro, you've been awfully quiet, is there anything you want to talk about?" The therapist leading this group talk had long dark hair that was impressively straight. Her mouth curled down even when she was smiling and her eyes seemed sad.

"No." I replied stubbornly.

She didn't seem fazed at all. "Well, could you at least introduce yourself? Who knows, you could make a few friends."

"Why do I want to make friends here? It's an asylum, it's full of crazy people, I'm not crazy, so I don't want to make friends here." I realized just how rude that statement had been the second it left my mouth, and it alarmed me slightly that I was okay with that. I had no desire to befriend these people, but maybe my statement would get me kicked out of the session early.

"Well maybe next time you'll feel more open, hm?" Then the Woman moved on. Apparently I would have to do something more drastic in order to get kicked out.

I saw Kiki look over to Howl in concern, and I was puzzled because he didn't look any different, in fact he wasn't even looking back at her. She nudged him with her elbow a few times and he finally acknowledged her presence by shoving her away. It was hard enough that Kiki looked slightly pained by it, and it caught the attention of the therapist.

"howl-"

"Oh no! It's fine, I was falling asleep-I stayed up late with Chihiro because of her first night-he was nudging me to wake up, I overreacted about it, you know." I wouldn't have noticed that Kiki seemed slightly nervous had I not seen the truth a moment ago, and even though the therapist overlooked it, I was intrigued.

A/N: Points to anyone that can guess who the patient talking during group therapy is.