The After-Story of Spirited Away

Chapter 1

                Chihiro and her parents arrived safely to their new town, Tokyo. Chihiro, before the adventure, was afraid of facing her new life, but the present Chihiro felt she was able to face any obstacle. However, she felt sadness in the deepest part of her heart. She missed Haku, the 16 year old, whom she had developed feelings for. After moving into their new house, she started school the following week. Chihiro adjusted to the city of Tokyo, where people moved hurriedly from place to place everyday. She eventually made a friend named Yuki. Chihiro excelled in sports and art but struggled a little in academics. (She would drift off into her own thoughts in class.) However, she studied hard with her friend and they both made it to the same high school. 

               Just like that, eight years passed by. Chihiro bloomed into a beautiful high school girl. Unfortunately, her memories from the spirit world started disappearing as soon as she stepped outside the gate. It was the summer before they entered college. One day, the girls were having a sleepover. Chihiro told her friend the story of her adventure when she was 10 years old. She didn't remember much, but she told Yuki about her first and childhood crush. Of course, Yuki would not believe in Chihiro's wild story and asked for proof. They decided to take an adventure at the abandoned park without their parents or others knowing tomorrow morning.

             All this time, Haku was thinking about Chihiro. He would wander to the gates, hoping that Chihiro will be there, waiting to greet him. However, eight years had passed and Haku lost hope of seeing her ever again. The bathhouse was doing great economically and 'spiritually'. No face became a regular visitor, and he apologized for the ruckus he had caused before. Everything seemed great on the outside, but as always, some people suffered in the inside.

            The girls got up at 4:00 AM to get ready for the car ride. They only had two hours of sleep because of the excitement. After hurriedly gathering all of their supplies and washing themselves, they started driving towards their destination. After about 2 hours, the girls became hungry. Chihiro forgot to bring the bento boxes on the trip. However, the road they were traveling in did not have anywhere that sold food. Thankfully, Yuki packed some snacks. After getting lost a couple times, they finally made it to the park by 6:51 PM. 

             They stepped inside the park's entrance gates. As soon as Chihiro stepped inside the gates, she felt the pang of a mixture of feelings she couldn't explain. From afar, they could faintly smell delicious food cooking. The smell reminded the girls of the emptiness of their stomach. Chihiro's memory about the danger of eating the food had almost faded.. (For some reason, you lose memory of the spirit world from the real world really fast). The lights were on in the shops, but the whole place seemed kinda eerie. Yuki started running towards the food stores. Yuki stopped to beckon Chihiro to run faster. 

            Finally, they climbed the stairs to the town and they looked at the old, yet beautiful red colored stores. Chihiro didn't know she was crying until Yuki pointed it out to her. The memories were slowly and painfully returning back to her. She realized that she had missed this place. Yuki finally believed Chihiro's strange, yet enchanting story after she saw her best friend's genuine tears. This was the first time that Yuki saw Chihiro cry.. After a couple minutes, she calmed down a bit and slowly began to accept her memories. 

              The friends entered a friendly looking shop that sold ramen. Food was already prepared on each table. Yuki yelled, and yelled, and yelled for the store owner, but no one came out. Eventually, Yuki just gave up yelling out of agitation from her long car ride, hunger, and no answers. They decided they would pay for all the food after they finished eating. She started to ravenously eat her bowl of tasty ramen.  Chihiro picked up her chopsticks, and just before she ate the ramen, her subconsciousness told her not to eat the food. Her friend already finished two bowls of it, and would not stop indulging herself. Chihiro desperately looked for help, and remembered some more memories she didn't want to remember again... It was already too late in the afternoon... and perhaps too late for her friend to return back into the human world. Chihiro forced her friend to stop eating and dragged her towards the entrance gates. However, when Chihiro rushed down the stairs, a dark and deep body of water separated her from the entrance gate. This was when she overwhelmingly realized that her story will repeat itself again, in another form.