Tmeline: This takes place shortly after Chihiro leaves the Spirit World.
Don't look back. That was what Haku had said. Chihiro had badly wanted to look back and it took all her willpower to stop herself from doing so. As she left with her parents who were nonchalant as they had not remembered anything that happened to them while they were in the Spirit World, Chihiro felt as though she had left a part of herself behind, in that strange world she was convinced not many others like her have had the privilege of entering. She left with a heavy hard and as she finally turned to look back at the entrance, her mind reeled. She thought of all of the spirits she had met, Kamajii, Lin, No-Face, Granny, Boh and many others and most of all, Haku.
He had promised her that they would someday meet again. And Chihiro had already started the countdown to that day. Her heart ached as she thought about Haku. She entered the car and her father drove off towards their new home, a new life. The latter then mentioned that moving to a new place and meeting new people could be scary.
"I think I can handle it," Chihiro replied, a small smile on her face. After everything she had been through in the Spirit World, nothing seemed to hard or scary in the human world now. She could definitely handle meeting new people; she had met so many... well, not exactly people. She had met spirits whom normal humans, normal 10-year olds would get freaked out by. She could definitely handle hard work; work at the bathhouse had been made even worse by worries of Yubaba catching them slacking off or not attending to a customer. And of course, she can definitely handle a job interview in the near future. Which interviews in the human world are worse than a job interview with Yubaba?
Chihiro reached up and touched the hair band which bound her hair together. Granny had told her that it would protect her as the cloth had been weaved by her friends. Her heart ached even more as she thought about No-Face and Boh. She would definitely miss them as much as she missed Haku. She looked back at the gate getting farther and farther away as the car drove off. She vowed to go back someday in hopes of being able to find the Spirit World again. As she thought about it, Chihiro was seized by a realisation that if it weren't for her parents, she wouldn't have left the Spirit World.
"Are you okay, dear?" Mrs. Ogino asked, turning around in her seat. She smiled at her daughter.
"I'm fine, mom," Chihiro replied, as she sat back in her seat, as the gate finally disappeared from view. Her eyes were moist. She fought back tears, as they could raise her parents' suspicions.
Little did she know that when Haku had told her not to look back, she would slowly forget about the Spirit World, so she could go on with her life without remembering the events in a world parallel to the one she belonged in. As Chihiro sat back, she realised this. Those memories... they were fading away.
"No!" Chihiro gasped, silently. There was no way in the world she would forget the Spirit World. She hurriedly grabbed an empty notebook among her stuff in the car and a pencil and began scribbling down everything she could remember about her stay in the Spirit World. She wrote down all her friends' names, and even Yubaba's.
She reached the part where she left the Spirit World with all the spirits cheering and thanking her as she ran off with Haku. She felt drowsy. Leaning her head back, she slowly drifted off into a slumber where all memories of the Spirit World would be erased.
In a few minutes' time, her parents would arrive at their new home and gently bring Chihiro in and lay her down on her new bed in her new bedroom. Her stuff would be brought in and she would wake up a few hours later and find the notebook. Opening it, she would read once more everything she had written down. She would think it was an amazing story she had somehow written herself. And she would have it published someday. And when she would start out at her new school, she would always feel a strange connection she couldn't explain to another world. And when she would walk down that path and see the gate again, the connection would be stronger. And once day, when she was older, she would walk down that path, curious, and stumble upon the Spirit World again as that fateful day, the gate happened to be opened. But that, of course, is another story.
She would always think there was a story behind the hair band, but she would never be able to remember. Part of her insisted it had something to do with the story she wrote. Another part claimed it was just something attractive she had bought at a store in her old town. But one thing that will confuse her, the band would never elongate or go out of shape, it would always remain as it is and she could always use it.
And one day, she would visit the Kohaku River again and dream about a certain boy she would think she had never met before.
