Hey everyone, I guess I finished this chapter in a day when I thought it might have taken a bit longer.
But it would seem that I am so engaged in making this story that I want to complete it. And maybe in the future, I will get my other reaction fanfics going as well.
Well, without any more delay. Let's begin!
Chapter 11
Jane "Get ready to see the work life in a bathhouse, kids. And the next time you visit one or stay at an inn, be sure to appreciate the workers and give them respect."
The scene changes to the landscape outside the bathhouse, rain clouds rolling in where the once beautiful summer skies turned dark and wet.
Cut to Yubaba and her Harpy flying through the rain, coming back to the bathhouse. Cut to the restaurants turning on their lanterns, indicating that it's night, and they are open for business.
The camera cuts to the front of the bathhouse from the bridge as the rain pours heavily down. The scene cuts to the side of the bathhouse's windows, where all the employees are getting ready for work.
Switch to Lin and Sen's room where the ladies were waking up, getting dressed and ready, while folding their futons and putting them away.
Lin: Where were you, Sen? I was really worried.
Sen: I'm sorry.
J.P. "Geese, they have to work while it's raining?"
Zoe "Well, no one likes to be soaked to the bone."
Takuya "That even applies to spirits."
[Hard Work]
Cut to Lin and Sen walking up the stairs as everyone was heading towards their destination to prepare their guests to stay.
On a big board, there were small wooden planks with each name for the workers, everyone grabbed theirs while Sen quickly found hers and just when she unhooked it off from the hook, one of the female employees bumped into her to get hers.
Woman Spirit: Ugh, out of my way.
Not wanting to cause any trouble, Sen quickly rushes out of the way and goes to work.
Tommy "You think she could have at least been a bit nicer."
Jane "Workers have to move at a pace so that everything is ready for the customers."
Cut to Lin, Sen, and two other girls wiping down the floors as everyone else was cleaning, well, pretty much of everything. However, Sen wasn't keeping up with Lin and the others. She slips once but doesn't complain about it, if anything she gets back up and tries again.
Cut to Sen's point of view, as she twists her washcloth to squeeze out the water from the rag.
Lin (Off-screen): Geese, Sen.
Cut to a full screen of Lin standing over Sen as continues to squeeze the water out from the cloth and into the dirty wash bucket.
Lin: Haven't you worked a day in your life?
Hearing Lin's remark made the children think back to when they hadn't done much work around their house.
Making them feel ashamed of not helping out their parents when they are trying to keep their homes nice and tidy.
Just then, Aniyaku walked over to them with a notebook in his hands and gave them their assigned tub.
Aniyaku: Lin and Sen. You get the big tub today.
Lin was smack at this info.
Lin: Hey, that's frogs work!
Aniyaku: Orders from the top, so quit your complaining!
Sen watched the two bicker but didn't want to bother them and just did what she was told.
Kouji "Something tells me that this is going to be a long day for them."
J.P. "Hey, come on. It can't be that bad."
Cut to the garden doors as Sen walks over to open them and dumps out the dirty water into the garden.
She looks up to see something standing out in the garden. The camera moves to the right to show the same mask-wearing spirit standing in the garden as the rain hits him.
Takuya "He followed her into the garden. Just what's with this guy?"
Cut to Sen bowing her head a little before lifting her head up and asking.
Sen: Hello. Aren't you getting wet out there?
Cut to the masked spirit still standing and staring at Sen, not responding to her question. The scene cuts back to Sen facing the audience (the masked spirit) as Lin's voice is heard from off-screen.
Lin (Off-screen): Sen, hurry up!
Sen turns her head and replies to Lin.
Sen: Coming!
Sen turns to the spirit outside.
Sen: I'll leave the door open for you.
Neemon "That was very kind of her."
Bokomon "Yes, but he should have just used the front door."
Zoe "He might be a customer who is just lost."
Sen picks up the bucket and walks out of the frame.
Switch to the Masked Spirit taken a second or two before he starts walking towards the opened door, disappearing. Cut to the inside of the door, as the masked spirit reappears and steps into the bathhouse before disappearing again.
Cut to the main bathtubs as the camera looks up to the rooms just a few floors above before rolling down to the hallway of the lined-up bathtubs as Lin and Sen walk to their assigned tub to clean.
One of the female staff pops her head out of one of the bath stalls.
Female Staff: Heard you got the big tub, Lin~!
Lin (Off-Screen): Leave me alone.
Cut to the filthiest bath stalls, there were slugs, dry mud, bath water that hadn't been drained, and seaweed all over the place.
Lin: Those jerks. They haven't cleaned this tub in months.
J.P. "I stand corrected."
Takuya "Oh man, they have to clean this up?!"
Tommy "I am never going to complain about cleaning up my room again."
Kouji, J.P., and Zoe "Same here."
Two frogs had their heads poking out from their stalls behind them and let out a chuckle of amusement, however, when Lin turned to face them they ducked behind the thin walls that divide the bath stalls.
That seems to shoo them away as Lin steps in to get to work, and Sen follows after her. But after taking a second step, she slips on some seaweed, causing her to fall and toss the bucket that holds their cleaning supplies.
This caused more laughter from the frogs, but Sen didn't let it get to her. She pushes through to get to where she is now and that's not going to stop her.
Cut to Lin pushing a broom to clear away the seaweeds and dirt, as Sen carries them to the pile.
Cut to Sen scrubbing the insides of the big tub with Lin.
Lin (Off-Screen): We only use this tub for a really filthy guest.
Cut to a widescreen of both Sen and Lin scrubbing the slug off of the tub with small amounts of water at their feet.
Lin: Ugh, disgusting! The slug is so kicked on it's going to take days to scrub off.
Neemon "Well, at least they don't have any customers."
Cut to Lin and Sen's bath stall entryway, Aniyaku sticks half of his body in and says.
Aniyaku: Lin, Sen. You got some customers on the way.
Everyone "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"
Takuya "This is completely planned out by Yubaba."
Kouji "No joke."
Cut back to Lin and Sen.
Lin: Wait, give us a minute! This is clearly harassment.
Lin throws her rag down in the tub in a fit of anger and then walks over to Sen.
Lin: We need to soak it off.
Lin scoops her hands under Sen's feet to lift her up out of the tub.
Lin: Get an herbal soak token from the Foreman.
Sen: Wha…?
Sen let out a startled gasp as the camera cuts to Sen sliding and falling to the floor outside the big tub. Lin pokes her head out from the tub and repeats.
Lin: An herbal soak token.
Sen: Right.
Sen rubs her head and rushes out of the stall (frame). Just as Lin was about to go back to cleaning the tub, Sen rushed back in and asked.
Sen: Hey Lin, what's a "Foreman"?
All the humans, "Yeah, what's a 'Foreman'?"
Jane "I'll send a letter to Bokomon to explain it for me."
Bokomon "Why me?"
Jane "Because you give out knowledge from your book, and because I say so."
Bokomon could only cross his arms and mutter to himself about how he got into this predicament.
Cut to Yubaba looking into one of her gemstones. She suddenly halts and looks around in her office.
Yubaba: Something's coming. I wonder what?
Yubaba quickly puts her jewels away back into the little box and rushes to hide them. Cut to the outside of the Bathhouse, Yubaba opens a window and looks out over the small restaurant's village. She sneers at the sight of the dark unknown.
Yubaba: What useless scum is slinking around in the rain?
Tommy "Do you think another human has come into the spirit world?"
J.P. "Maybe?"
As those words leave Yubaba's mouth, the camera zooms in on the lights across the river. Cut to the restaurants, all the spirits in the small town were retreating back into their stores, closing all the doors and windows as well as turning off their lights and lamps.
As the last remaining lights were turning off one by one, a huge blob-like creature was walking down the main road.
Cut to the side of the blob-like spirit creature walking with drips of strange and disgusting ooze leaking out of its body. Even the sound of it coming out is like stepping into a squishy and muddy substance.
Kouji "What the heck is that thing?
Takuya "A slime spirit?"
Zoe "Whatever it is, it's making disgusting grossing sounds!"
Cut back inside the bathhouse, where Sen is talking to the Foreman to get a token from him.
Foreman: I can't waste a token on you.
But he's refusing to give her one.
Neemon "Is he refusing her because she's human?"
Bokomon "Most likely."
One of the female workers came up to him, and he smiled and handed them their token.
Foreman: Relax and good morning.
Another one walks past a customer, and he hands her one too.
Foreman: Enjoy, have a nice bath.
Another female came up and said.
Female Spirit: For the radish spirit.
Sen turns her head when she hears the spirit's name, as the Foreman hands the lady a token.
Foreman: One suffers soft.
The Foreman's attitude changes aggressively to Sen and barks.
Foreman: Why are you still here? Scrub it yourself!
Cut to a wider screen.
Foreman: I'm not lending you a token.
The foreman notices a spirit customer walking by, and his demeanor changes to a kind and welcoming attitude.
Foreman: Relax. Good morning.
Before switching back to yell at Sen once the customer was away.
Foreman: I said scrub it yourself!
Bokomon sarcastically, "Well, he's certainly nice and welcoming to others."
Cut to Sen.
Sen: But I… was told. It has to be a herbal soak.
Cut to Foreman.
Foreman: Well, that's too bad.
Turning his head to his right, the Foreman hands another token to another employee.
Foreman: Huh, mugworts bath. Relax and enjoy it.
But what he didn't know is that standing right behind his left shoulder was the masked spirit Sen had let in and had made himself visible.
Kouji "Just what is this spirit doing?"
Sen noticed him, as the spirit bowed his head to her, and she returned the bow. The Foreman was confused by her small bow, he turned around to where the masked spirit was, only to find no one there as the spirit had made himself invisible again.
Foreman: hmm?
Tommy "Playing a trick?"
Just then the telephone rang, he picked it up on the first buzz and answered it.
Foreman: Foreman speaking… Oh, yes…
It's faint, but they can hear Yubaba's voice on the other end of the telephone.
As the Foreman was talking, one of the tokens started to float away from his tokens box. Startled by this, the Foreman tried to grab it back, but it landed in Sen's hands. Surprised with the joy of getting an herbal token, Sen bowed, giving her thanks to the Foreman.
Sen: Thank you very much!
And runs back to the big tub.
Everyone laughed at the fumbling Foreman trying to grab the token from an invisible spirit.
Takuya "Okay, that was a little funny."
Tommy "Guess he was playing a trick."
Foreman (Off-screen): Get back here! Hey!
Cut to the Foreman covering his hand over the phone to yell at Sen.
Foreman: Wait a minute!
Yubaba (Over the phone): What's going on!?
Not wanting to get himself into trouble with Yubaba, the Foreman quickly calms down and lies to his boss.
Foreman: Nothing. Everything's fine.
J.P. "Wow, he didn't rat out Chihiro."
Kouji "Seems everyone is afraid of Yubaba."
Cut to Yubaba in her office standing over her side table with her hand on top of a human-ape-like skull.
Yubaba: We have an intruder.
The skull's mouth moved as if it was talking with Foreman's voice coming out from it.
Foreman (Over the "phone"): Is it a human?
Yubaba: I'm not quite sure. Figure it out and report back.
Tommy "So it's not a human, do you think it could be that slimy spirit we saw?"
Takuya "Most likely."
Zoe "I hope we never have to encounter something like that in the Digital World."
Cut back to Sen and Lin, who was admiring the token Sen had received.
Lin: Wow Sen, you got a really good one. Clip this on and let go.
Lin gave Sen a demonstration on how to clip the token onto a stretchy cord to activate the water. She then shuts the hidden door and looks up at where the water pipe comes out.
Lin: It goes straight to Kamaji then he sends us our water.
A wooden beam pops out from the wall and lowers down directly above the tub with a rope handle dangling down. Lin walks over to the rope.
Lin: You pull on this to get the water flowing. Give it a try.
Sen follows Lin and grabs onto the rope, just as she is about to pull on the rope Sen slips with her hand holding tightly on the rope to stop her fall. As the water shoots out from the water beam/pipe.
Cut to the inside of the tub being filled up with water, before cutting to Sen climbing herself back up again, with Lin looking out for her.
Lin: Agh, you're such a klutz.
Sen: Yuck, what's in this water?
Lin: Dried worm salt. It's supposed to be good for you.
Cut to an upper half close-up cut of Lin's body, smirking over to Sen.
Lin: And with water this murky, you can't see all the slug in the tub.
Zoe "I don't know if that's good for humans or not."
The guys think back to how their mothers would sometimes have some kind of bath beads or bath salt for their baths and wonder if it's the same or something similar to the ones used in the movie.
Either way, none of them were willing to try it out.
Lin turns and walks down from the tub, she turns back to face Sen.
Lin: Yank it again when the bath is full, it'll stop. You can let go of the rope now, I'll go get us some breakfast.
Lin walks away as she finishes her last sentence as Sen calls out.
Sen: Okay!
Sen slowly lets go of the rope, she looks at the water being filled in and can't help but smile to herself at the small achievements she has made today. And had not once complained about the work.
Neemon "Wow, look how happy she is."
Bokomon "She's gaining confidence, though I suppose being happy is the right word for it."
Tommy "You know, ever since we came here I've been gaining some confidence in myself too. I could have gone back home, but I choose to stay here with you guys."
Takuya "I believe we all gain some confidence, Tommy."
Zoe "Being in the digital world and turning into digimon really changed us."
J.P. "Yeah, both metaphorically and literally."
Kouji "It's strange, but at the same time it feels good to change into something more."
Sen turns around to see the Masked Spirit lurking in the corner of the bath. A bit surprised by his sudden appearance in the room, Sen loses her footing as she slips, and slides down to the floor, hitting her head at the base of the tub. Hard.
Sen: Wha, Ow!
"Ooh."
Everyone wince at Chihiro's pain.
Takuya rubs the back of his head, almost feeling the pain. "Why is it always the head?"
Sen clenched the back of her head in pain, as she curled her body in pain, she even clenched her toes together. The Masked Spirit walks over to Sen as she gets back up and speaks to him.
Sen: Ah, Sir. The bath's not ready yet.
The Masked Spirit wasn't here for the bath, instead, he showed Sen what he had in his hands. Many different types of bath tokens that he took from the Foreman. He jiggled them in his hands to show Sen, who was surprised.
Sen: They're so many.
Tommy "Did he take them!?"
Kouji "You mean he stole them."
The Masked Spirit shakes his hands to Sen to take them from her, as a sign of kind generosity gesture, while making an "Ah. Ah." breathless noise.
Sen: What? They're all for me?
Zoe "I think he wanted to give them to Chihiro because she needed one."
J.P. "Is he… Trying to be friends with Chihiro?"
Takuya "Maybe, but something about this doesn't feel right."
Cut to a close-up of the Masked Spirit's face as he nods his head, 'Yes'. Cut back to Sen shaking her head, 'no'.
Sen: Thanks, but I don't need any more.
But the Spirit, still persistent, offers Sen the tokens once again, but she turns him down again, more firmly with a tiny gentle tone.
Sen: No. I only needed one!
The masked Spirit let out an ex-hale "Ah." before vanishing again, as he disappeared all the bath tokens that were in his hands fell hard onto the wooden floor. Startling Sen in the process.
Kouji "Well, at least he left."
Takuya "I don't know, something tells me that he hasn't left."
Standing in place, Sen looks around for the Masked Spirit, but with no luck. The water started to overflow the tub and was beginning to flood the room. Sen then sees the water around her and turns around to let out a frantic "Ah!" at what is happening behind her.
J.P. "Awe Beans! The water's flooded over!"
Bokomon "This is why you have to pay attention to your surroundings."
Neemon "Now let's see. You're here. I'm here. Takuya is over there, and-"
Bokomon "That's not what I- Agh! You make my brain hurt!"
That's for Chapter 11.
Hope your days are looking bright and remember to not let any negativity drag you down, okay?
See ya later.