Spirited Away III: A Tale of Two Worlds

Chapter 2

One of Chihiro's strongest virtues was responsibility. It wasn't something she acquired during her stay in the Spirit Realm as a ten-year-old; it ran in her blood, and the older she got, the more that trait took dominance. As a child, she did well in school, emerging at the top of her classes and quickly becoming a bit of a social butterfly. As a homeschooling student, she was vigilant, even during her deepest and thickest bouts of depression. That, along with her "dogged-to-the death" stubbornness, rescued her as a bewildered ten-year-old in a different world. She just got used to scraping up bits of time to finish her work. After all, if she saved her parents from becoming pork chops as a kid, then why couldn't she do anything else, especially something as normal and human as homework?

Therefore, it came as a bit of a surprise that, despite a grueling two hours of homework late into the night, she barely scraped by on her biology test with a "B."

"I can't believe this," she muttered, staring pale-faced at her red-inked answer sheet. She felt herself go paler by the minute.

"What's got you so worried?" chirped some nameless student. Chihiro only knew that it wasn't Cassie because this student was a male.

"Nothing unexpected," she said blandly.

"The test?" he persisted.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, it was ... one of the difficult ones," he said sheepishly. "I hope the next one will be easier, though."

"As do I," she breathed.

Thus was her disappointment that she sulked all the way home, steering clear of Cassie's Mercedes aswell as any eager taxis. The hour-long walk earned her painful blisters, but at least her features were schooled into an unassuming mask and her sadness controlled.

"Chihiro, where have you been?" hollered her mother, poking her head out the window. She paused. "Have you walked all the way home?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Why?"

"Because I was missing out on exercise," she said offhandedly, by which Mrs. Ogino was thankfully satisfied.

"Speaking of which, Chi, will you have dinner?" she offered. "It's pork fried rice-- hey, what's wrong? Are you all right?!"

For Chihiro suddenly blanched and swayed, gripping a nearby stool for support. It wasn't due to her slight aversion to pork, of course; the sight of meat never made her faint, not even when she witnessed Bathhouse cooks marinating fillets of questionable origins. The word "pork" had her mind jumping to Lin and her suspicious sadness.

"I'm fine, fine, just hungry."

Mrs. Ogino's eyebrows drew together. "This isn't about the Spirit World, is it?"

"What?" Chihiro'ssurprise, needless to say, didn't need feigning. "No -- no, of course not."