Alternate Arrietty: In Love With A Bean

In Love With A Bean

Arrietty Clock had to move away from the house she had lived in for her entire life until she was fourteen years old. Her father, Pod, and her mother, Homily, went with her. So did Spiller, who did not speak very much, though he was not related by blood or marriage to the Clock family.

All four of them were Borrowers. That meant they were all naturally tiny when compared to a human, with Arrietty being about four inches tall, and the other three were not much taller. They had to keep their existence a complete secret from "human beans," which was what they called normal sized humans due to a misinterpretation of the phrase "human beings."

Borrowers who were seen by humans were often never heard of again, so they had to move out as soon as they could. Most Borrowers never considered the possibility that a human bean and a Borrower could be friends. However, that is what happened, as Arrietty was seen by a human boy named Sho.

Sho was staying over at the house the Clock family lived in, and it was going to last a little over a week before he would undergo surgery to fix his weak heart. For most of that time, he feared that the surgery would lead to his death. However, the day before it happened, he had worked up enough courage to face it unafraid.

One night earlier on, the same night that Arrietty was first "borrowing" from the humans, he saw her. She feared for her life, yet that was also the start of her developing feelings for him. She did not get what she came for, but Sho seemed to give it to her anyway on a later day. Her parents thought it was a trap, so she just left it there, and ants came and raided it.

After the ants raided it, she read the note, which said she forgot something. Going against what her parents would want, she climbed to the roof to talk to Sho. She almost let him get a good view of her, as she was hiding behind a leaf, but a hostile crow attacked her and ruined the moment. He may have saved her life, but he did not get a good look at her, as she fled the scene before he could. He was also hiding her from Haru, the maid of the house who was quite immature for a grown woman.

Talking with him made her realize later that she had a crush on him. Maybe it was his sensitive personality. Or maybe it was his looks, which she found handsome.

The encounter with the crow ripped up the sleeves of Arrietty's red dress that she was wearing at the time, though it was neat and turned it into a short sleeved dress when it was long sleeved before. Despite her parents scolding her and telling her never to talk with him again once they found out, she wanted to speak with him more. She went outside to him despite being with Niya, the hostile pet cat of Haru, the maid of the house. They talked a bit before he turned around and got a good look at her. He called her beautiful, and while they continued their conversation, he brought up some darker subjects like mortality, extinction, and how he thought his death would come very soon.

Meanwhile, Haru found Homily due to Sho slipping up and his attempts to help the Clock family. Because Arrietty had good hearing, she could hear her mother screaming despite being a long distance away compared to her size. By the time she had returned to her home, her mom was nowhere to be found, and there was a mess, a clear sign that her mother was kidnapped.

She rushed to get up to the window of the room Sho was staying at and get his attention. After explaining what she thought had happened, he agreed to help her. When he put his hand out in front of her with the palm facing up and the rest of his hand being flat, she knew he wanted her to get on. She got on, and in that moment, she was literally in the palm of his hand. Looking back on that moment later, she realized that she was very fortunate he was a merciful, gentle "giant," as she was at his mercy at that moment. He moved his hand with her near his shoulder, and she got on it. Somehow, she stayed stable despite standing.