Longer chapter and more dialogue.

What do you guys think about me switching to first person? I know that's not like, proper English writing protocol, but whatever. I told myself I was going to switch to first person sooner and I forgot. D'oh.

Obvious Disclaimer: I most obviously do not own Spirited Away or any of its characters. But I wish I did. Not even sure why I included this but like everyone does so I'm just going to put this here so Studio Ghibli doesn't sue me.

"The human has arrived!"

The frog led Chihiro through the bathhouse so quickly that she barely had time to take in her surroundings. They took one of the two elevators, which were in the middle of the first floor of the building, to the 10th floor. Entering this floor required a special key. Thankfully, they did not have to share this ride with a large, smelly, or creepy spirit. Chihiro shuddered at the memory of the radish spirit that she and Rin had to ride the elevator with last time.

Their final destination was a small office filled with countless stacks of papers, gaudy decorations, and old furniture. They stood before a plain wooden desk with a small lamp and various trinkets and papers stacked on top. Before them sat Zeniba, poised in her ornate chair and drinking from a small teacup. It made her disproportionally large head and facial features even larger.

When Chihiro finally met Zeniba's eyes, she was taken aback by how little she had changed. Zeniba's eyes widened slightly as well, probably as equally shocked at how much Chihiro had grown and matured. Her hair was still the same color, but it was slightly longer and hung loosely around her shoulders. Her bangs were pushed to the side. Her face, which used to be rather round and plump, had elongated and become more angular. Her cheekbones were more prominent, and a few light freckles splayed across her nose and cheeks. There were shadows beneath her eyes, giving her a permanently tired expression.

Finally, Zeniba squinted her eyes and turned to the frog. "Are you sure you got the right human, Kawazu?" Before either Chihiro or Kawazu could respond, she gave a hearty chuckle. "Oh, how you've grown, my dear. I forgot that you humans continue to age."

Chihiro smiled softly. "I miss you, Granny. But what am I doing here?"

Zeniba looked back at Chihiro, tucking her chin in and letting out a deep sigh through her nose. "Good question." She tapped her finger in front of her on the desk. "Take a seat, dear. This will take awhile." She looked down at the frog. "You are dismissed. Thank you for bringing me to her in one piece."

"Yes, mam! Happy to be of service!" Kawazu exclaimed with a leap, before hopping out of the room.

Chihiro looked down at the wooden chair with maroon velvet seating and sat down in it gingerly. "I know, I know," Zeniba said, leaning back in her chair with another sigh. "It's rather tacky. I haven't bothered to change the decor in this room since I took it over from the last person, so it's a bit... outdated." She came forward again, opened a drawer, and began fishing around in it. When she found what she was looking for, her face lit up in delight and she pulled her hand out of the drawer into a fist onto the table. "First of all, swallow this. You're starting to disappear, and it's freaking me out a little."

Chihiro glanced down at her hands and regarded them with mild bemusement. She didn't even realize she was slowly disappearing until Zeniba pointed it out. She reached out and gratefully grabbed the pill from Zeniba's outstretched palm, swallowing it quickly.

"Now. Let's start with the purple hair tie. Do you still have it?"

Chihiro obediently stuck her hand in the pocket of her light raincoat and fished around for it. She lifted up the broken purple elastic and dangled it in between them.

Zeniba pouted. "That's no good. Oh well... we'll just have to get you another one, won't we?" She pulled out a drawer to her left, fished out an identical purple elastic, and tossed it on the desk between them. Chihiro stared at it with her eyebrows knitted together, as if in confusion. "I have a lifetime supply of these," she explained with a wave of her hand. "Purple represents good luck."

Chihiro looked up from the elastic and spoke her second sentence since being in the room. "Is breaking it bad luck, by any chance?"

Zeniba chuckled. "No, dear. There's plenty more where they came from. Anyway... a dear friend of ours has gone missing. And I need your help."

Chihiro spoke as she gathered her hair up into a ponytail with the elastic and tied it. "I'm sorry, Granny... but... why me? There's plenty of spirits out there that could help you here. I'm just a human. I don't even know the first thing about finding missing spirits. Let alone people." With a heavy sigh, she leaned forward with her elbows on the desk and rested a cheek on one hand.

Zeniba leaned forward with a curious smile on her face. "But you do, my dear, even if you aren't aware of it yet. And you have something that connects you to our friend." She tilted her head to the side. "Don't you miss him?"

Chihiro's breath caught in her throat. She wasn't sure of how to respond. For the longest time, she couldn't bring herself to mention his name or even think it. Her memories of him were a treat, memories that she brought out every so often in her loneliest and saddest moments. There were times when she could almost feel his presence near her, or protecting her, but this feeling was so ambiguous and nostalgic that she refused to let herself indulge in them for long. But Zeniba's words made her she realize that this presence has been absent lately.

Zeniba placed her large, wrinkled hand over Chihiro's on the table. "Please help me find him," she murmured. "Not everyone gets a second chance."

They talked for about an hour more before Zeniba put Chihiro up in a room similar to the one she slept in at Yubaba's bathhouse. One of the bathhouse workers, Yumi, was called to take Chihiro to the room. "Keep my human in one piece," Zeniba warned Yumi. "And bring her back to me tomorrow morning after breakfast."

Yumi rolled her eyes in response. "Yes mam."

Yumi and Chihiro took the elevator to the 5th floor. They walked out into a dark hallway with two rooms to the left and right. Ahead, there was a window that let in some light from the full moon shining outside. As they walked, Chihiro stole glances every so often at Yumi. Her features and petite stature made her look about 14 years old. She had a shoulder-length blonde bob that swished lightly every time she turned her head. Despite her young features, she was as tall and thin as Chihiro. She wore a similar outfit, but in blue, to the one that Chihiro wore when she worked at Yubaba's.

Yumi led her into a room on the left, and went to fetch bedding from a closet on the other side as soon as they entered. Chihiro stood and gazed around the room. There were a few low-laying cots spread around haphazardly, some with blankets and pillows thrown on top of them.

Yumi returned with a small blanket and pillow for Chihiro. "Here you go," she said, shoving the things into Chihiro's outstretched arms. She continued walking over to a cot on the other side of the room. Chihiro turned to face her and cocked her head.

"Don't you work at night?" She asked curiously. Yumi looked up in surprise.

"Nah, this is my night off," she replied as she lay down and threw a blanket over herself. She motioned to the cot next to her with her chin. "You can sleep on that cot. It's mine. So you don't have to worry about someone coming in and freaking out over you sleeping in their cot," she said.

Chihiro glanced at the cot next to Yumi and walked over. Awhile after Chihiro settled into her cot and was beginning to feel sleepy, Yumi spoke up.

"So how did you stumble upon the Spirit World?" She asked.

"Do you mean the first time... or the second time?"

Chihiro saw Yumi's eyes widen in the moonlight. "This is your second time in the spirit world? I didn't think it was even possible for humans to enter this world."

Chihiro shrugged. "The first time I think I entered the Spirit World through some kind of tunnel to an amusement park with my parents. The second time, I just kept following the river next to my grandmother's house until I stumbled upon some ghost town. Jiufen, I think it was called..."

"Yes, Jiufen," Yumi replied. "That's the name of this town. Wow... you know, there was a rumor going around that some human had managed to enter our world several years ago, but I hardly paid attention to it then." She paused. "I guess it's true, then."

Both girls were quiet for a moment until Yumi spoke up again.

"You know, I used to be a human," she said.

"Used to?"

There was a slight pause before Yumi responded. "I got old."

Chihiro didn't understand how Yumi's words answered her question until they finally sank in. She continued to speak. "I don't think I was a good human. That's probably why I'm stuck here."

"Does that mean every spirit that's stuck here did something bad as a human?"

"Well, not every spirit was a human before they became a spirit." Yumi shook her head. "I dunno. It's complicated. But I like the Spirit World a lot better than Earth, at least from what I remember. There were too many rules there. And violence. Here... I think this world is a gateway between Earth and something else. But I'm not sure what that something else is."

Yumi's words suddenly reminded Chihiro of the conversations she used to have with her philosophy teacher back in high school. She began stopping by her teacher's office after school a few days a week to ask her questions. These short meetings eventually turned into long discussions and even debates about philosophical and spiritual ideas. Her teacher wasn't too fond of spiritual concepts, though. Whenever Chihiro became brave enough to ask a question relating to things like the Spirit World, her teacher immediately shut them down, claiming that they couldn't possibly exist.

She remembers the last time she had tried to bring up the subject. "Chihiro," she said softly. "We'll never know if these things exist or not in our lifetime. Our brains are incapable of comprehending things beyond the scope of our five senses and imagination. I used to ask myself these questions all the time after my father died. But now," she smiled, "I've become sort of... at peace with the idea that's he's still out there somewhere, just in some intangible form that I can't feel."

"I don't think you were a bad human. Maybe you're here because you still need time to figure things out."

If Yumi kept speaking, Chihiro didn't hear. She eventually drifted off into sleep, remembering conversations that she had with her teacher.

"Wake up!"

Chihiro awoke from what felt like the best sleep she's ever gotten to see Yumi's face looming over her own.

"We're going to be late for breakfast," Yumi pouted. "There probably isn't much left for us, anyway."

She led Chihiro out of the room to the elevator, and they rode it down to the 2nd floor. "This floor has the kitchen, laundry facilities, and cleaning stuff," Yumi called out over her shoulder as they entered the hallway. The hallway intersected with another path that led around the perimeter of the building, overlooking the first floor. They continued walking forward and to the right, where the clanging of utensils and smell of food wafted from an open door with a curtain hanging from the top frame.

"Itamae!" Yumi cried as she poked her head underneath the curtain. "Any leftovers for me?" Chihiro hesitantly followed her under the curtain and over to a table that was set up buffet-style. Yumi grabbed two plates and handed one to Chihiro.

"It smells weird in here," one of the busboys muttered as he passed Chihiro. Yumi shot him a dirty look.

"Zeniba asked me to watch over a guest for today," she announced in a chipper voice, "So don't be alarmed if you notice more food than usual is missing."

A round, rotund man with black hair poking from underneath a white cap turned around from a stove to look at them. He squinted at Chihiro and nodded slightly. As the two girls piled some rice and fish onto their plates, Yumi leaned over to Chihiro and muttered, "We can take this back to our room. The busboys are giving you a really creepy look and it's making me nervous." When both girls were done piling food onto their plates, she led Chihiro out of the kitchen with a grateful wave of her hand behind her to Itamae.

Back in the room, they ate together in peace on a small balcony that was connected to the other rooms along the same wall. It looked out over almost the entire town of Jiufen, which was as deserted as it was yesterday. Their feet dangled in between wooden columns as they ate from the plates on their laps.

Chihiro turned to Yumi and spoke after swallowing a bite of breakfast. "I hope I'll be able to see you again."

Yumi turned to her in surprise, and then looked back at the town and smiled softly. "I'm used to people coming and going," she murmured. "But I hope I'll be able to see you again as well."

After they finished, they left their empty plates outside of the door. Yumi led Chihiro back up to Zeniba's office, as promised. Before Chihiro entered the office, both girls smiled at each other. "Good luck," Yumi said softly. Then, she leaned in quickly and kissed Chihiro on the cheek. Before she could respond, the petite blonde had already spun around on her heels and left the hallway.