An impatient soot ball that jumped up and down in front of Chihiro snapped her out of her thoughts. When the soot ball was sure that it had her attention once again, it began to continue its journey towards its original destination, and Chihiro resumed running after the little ball.

After making a few turns and jumping down streets of empty houses, the soot ball finally entered one of them with Chihiro following immediately behind. The house was mostly empty aside from being lined with tatami mats and had only one opening other than the front entrance which exposed a flight of spiraling stone stairs that appeared to lead somewhere underground. It was a narrow space that would have barely fit Chihiro and its only source of light were the wall torches that casted dancing shadows on the walls with its flickering fires. Chihiro hesitated for a mere moment before she decided to follow the soot ball that had just jumped down the stairs.

As she made her way down, Chihiro had both her hands on the walls and was walking down the stairs one step at a time. There was so little light that Chihiro could only see the step that was immediately in front of her, so her only option was to proceed cautiously. Luckily, the stairwell was not as deep as she had imagined, and after passing about a dozen torches she could see another source of light that was most probably the exit. Chihiro quickly picked up her pace as she wanted to get out of the stairwell as soon as possible, but she realised it was a mistake when she took a misstep and tumbled down the rest of the stairs. This misstep gave her a weird sense of deja vu as she remembered something about accidentally running down a flight of metal stairs and running straight into a wall, though she couldn't quite remember where she had done so...

Chihiro tumbled into a warmly lit room, and as she sat up began rubbing her back to soothe the raging pain that surged through it. A throng of black soot balls suddenly surrounded her and all of them began squeaking excitedly, and Chihiro was confused by their excitement at her appearance.

Chihiro looked around the room to examine her surroundings. It looked like a medicinal shop, with a long, wooden stand that stretched from end to another with small bottles of medicinal wine atop it. At one side of the room there were rows after rows of individual drawers with labels on them, whereas the other side comprised of shelves that were fully stacked with old, worn out books. The small, square room was only about ten metres wide at most. However, Chihiro was only focused on the lone figure in the room aside from the soot balls. It was an old, bald man with multiple limbs that had been busy reading a book while mixing herbs in a ceramic pot on the wooden table and writing down notes in a thin, leather notebook - all at the same time. His back faced Chihiro, so she couldn't see his face, but he had heard the commotion she made and knew that someone had entered his shop.

"Oh, a customer so soon after we opened? What can I do for you-" the old man had turned around and stopped speaking when he looked up from the book he had been reading. He was wearing huge shades that covered his eyes and had a bushy moustache that immediately caught Chihiro's attention.

"A human...? It can't be. Child, what's your name?" the moustache spider-man asked.

"Chihiro. My name is Chihiro, sir." Chihiro replied quickly.

"Chihiro! You're back! You've really grown, I almost couldn't recognise you with long hair. But how did you-" the old man looked at the soot balls that had surrounded Chihiro before he continued speaking, "Don't tell me it was one of you!" his tone had changed to one of anger and it scared the bunch of soot balls into scurrying about in random directions to hide in the cracks of the surrounding walls.

Now Chihiro was even more confused. The old man spoke as if he knew her, yet she could not remember who he was at all. More than that, she was shocked at her lack of surprise at the sight of a human with eight limbs. Had she lost all common sense?

"This is bad," the old man began to mutter, "I don't know how I'm going to get you back this time Chihiro-"

"I can't go back." Chihiro announced, then immediately covered her mouth. She did not understand why she had uttered those words, though it was true that the thought of returning home had never crossed her mind. Then, the sight of the wrecked bathhouse ran through her mind.

"I need to know what happened to the bathhouse."

The old man scratched his head and looked like he was at a loss.

"Well, Chihiro, I don't quite know where to start. After all, it had been quite some time since the bathhouse was ruined...though I'm not sure how much time that would be for you, since the time runs through both our worlds differently."

"Um, I'm sorry for bringing this up so late, but I don't actually know who you are..." Chihiro admitted, "I think I know you though! Or at least, I feel like I know you, but I just can't remember anything about you, or anything about this place, actually."

The old man paused thoughtfully.

"I see. That would make sense." he muttered, then the old man proceeded to search for something under the wooden stand. He eventually emerged with a mysterious brown slab in one of his hands and extended it to her.

"Before we continue, eat this. You're already starting to disappear."

Disappear? Chihiro automatically lifted her hands and gasped. They had turned translucent! She quickly surveyed the rest of the body, and realised that her whole body was beginning to fade as well.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine as long as you eat something from our world. Go on." the old man urged.

Chihiro gulped, then she accepted the unappealing brown piece of 'food' and hurriedly swallowed it so that she wouldn't have to bear its taste. She looked at her hands again, and was relieved to see that they were slowly becoming clear again.

"Thank you, sir."

"No problem. Now then, about your memories." the old man continued and shifted his shades up, "I don't think that they have been erased, but are rather 'hidden' within you. You will probably regain them in time, but I don't know how long that will take. So for now, I'll re-introduce myself. I'm Kamaji, and I worked in the boiler room of the bathhouse you mentioned just now."

"It's very nice to meet you sir, I'm Chihiro Ogino."

"You used to be known as Sen around these parts, you know. So don't be shocked if some people call you by that name."

"Huh? Why would I be known as Sen?"

"Hmm, that would take a long time to explain. In a nutshell, the last time you came to the spirit world, you worked in the bathhouse as well, and the owner of the bathhouse was a witch called Yubaba who controlled her workers by taking away their names. That's what she did to you, so your name 'Chihiro' was taken away and she gave you a new name. 'Sen'."

By this point, Chihiro was pretty overwhelmed by all the new information about her old self that she never knew she had. Why had she been in the spirit world before? Why did she end up working in the bathhouse? And how did she return afterwards? She decided to put away those useless thoughts. She would understand everything once she regains her memories, and that would be her priority for now.

"Mr. Kamaji, what happened to the bathhouse after I left?"

Kamaji scratched his head before he replied. "Well, Chihiro, I'm not quite sure myself. After you left, the bathhouse was operating as per normal. Then, after some time, a group of thug spirits suddenly showed up and claimed ownership of the bathhouse. And Yubaba even handed the bathhouse to them obediently and asked all of us workers to comply to the wishes of our new owners. Subsequently, they chased all of us out of the bathhouse and closed the bathhouse. Without anyone taking care of it, the bathhouse eventually fell to ruins, which is usually what happens to any abandoned buildings in our world. As for us, the bathhouse workers, we split up to search for ways to fend for ourselves after losing our jobs and I ended up in this medicinal shop since I've always had my ways with the herbs, but I doubt the others were as fortunate."

After listening to Kamaji's story, Chihiro took a few minutes to digest all the information she had gathered. Since the owner of the bathhouse, this Yubaba person- I mean, spirit, handed the bathhouse over to the new owners without a fight, it must mean that she had already known that they were coming and was prepared to hand the bathhouse over? So she must have had a reason for that...maybe she was threatened? Or she had a deal with them? But why did the new owners just left the bathhouse to waste away? Wouldn't they lose a profitable business by losing the bathhouse? Unless they took over the bathhouse for another reason...

Chihiro realised that she had a lot of questions, and that she needed answers. Kamaji doesn't seem like he knew enough to answer her questions, so she just needed to find someone who could. But who? Yubaba? Yes, she would look for Yubaba.

"Mr. Kamaji, do you know where Yubaba is right now?"

"Sorry, dear, but I don't. After she handed the bathhouse over to the new owners, she just disappeared with her son and pet bird. Even Haku doesn't know where she disappeared to."

"Who's Haku?"

Kamaji paused again.

"Yubaba's apprentice."

"Well, is there anyone else who might know where Yubaba is?"

"Not anyone from the bathhouse, no. However, there might be one spirit who would help you. But, Chihiro, what are you going to do after you find Yubaba?"

That was a good question. Chihiro herself wasn't quite sure why she was so concerned about the bathhouse, other than it being the only clue she had to regaining her memories. Her memories...that's right. She had wanted to regain her memories.

"Mr. Kamaji, I'm going to find Yubaba and restore the bathhouse. That way, I might be able to recall my lost memories. I'm not sure if restoring the bathhouse might be of any help, but it's the only way I can think of right now!"

Kamaji nodded. "Ok, I understand. Come here, you soot ball!" he commanded and one of the soot balls immediately emerged from a crack in the wall and jumped up to the wooden stand. Kamaji rummaged through one of the medicinal drawers and grabbed a handful of powder, then he sprinkled it onto the soot ball while mumbling incessantly under his breath. After he finished sprinkling the powder, he completed his ritual by bringing two of his hands together for one resounding clap in front of the soot ball and Chihiro felt a strong wave that passed by her momentarily.

"Take this little guy with you, he'll lead you to someone who'll be able to help you find the spirit who might be able to find Yubaba, but I can't guarantee anything."

The magically enchanted soot ball jumped off the wooden stand and rested on Chihiro's shoulder as Kamaji spoke. It didn't seem any different to Chihiro, but then again, she wasn't quite sure how magic actually worked in the spirit world.

"Thank you, Mr. Kamaji. I'm really grateful for everything!" Chihiro thanked, then stood up and proceeded to leave.

"Hold on, child." Kamaji stopped Chihiro, then he began taking random items from the drawers, shelves and under the wooden stand before packing them all in a small cloth and tying it up securely with a knot with a sling that would make it easy to carry.

"Here, some provisions for your journey. Now, remember Chihiro, most spirits aren't too fond of humans so I want you to be careful. That soot ball should be able to protect you from the weaker spirits, but it won't be able to protect you from the stronger ones. So if you meet any dangerous spirits, I want you to run. Also, it would probably be safer for you to meet up with Haku. He's strong enough to protect you from any of the stronger spirits that may stand in your way, plus he's also looking for ways to restore the bathhouse. I'm not too sure how to find him though, since he's always travelling here and there. Remember, Haku is a river spirit who can take the form of a dragon and a human. I don't know how he looks like as a human, since his form has probably changed after so long, but I can tell you that he will probably look like a boy."

Chihiro nodded and thanked Kamaji again for the wealth of information he had provided her, then left his abode.

"Poor Haku. I wish those two kids all the best." Kamaji sighed.