Entering the World of Spirits

Aquaintance, I Barely Know Her

After he had left, I continued to wonder about our sleeping situation. Not that I was completely opposed to the thought, but I wasn't sure I wanted to sleep in the same room as him. It felt awkward.

I steadily made my way down to the lower rooms, where girls in pink uniforms were cleaning and frogs handed out tokens. I knew this place by heart, from stories. Seeing it was much different from daydreaming. Hanging Lights made the rooms feel secure and warm, as well as the steam from the many baths being run. The colors seemed to whirl into different patterns on the walls as I walked, blending into my imagination. It all seemed so distant still, like I would wake and it would have just been another night wishing it wasn't just a dream. I knew, however, that this was legitimate.

Lost in my thoughts, I bumped into another girl, taller than me with roughly five more inches of hair. She huffed out a "watch it," before strolling to wherever she was headed, bucket in hand. I payed no mind to her expression until it shifted, her face registering shock which turned quickly into joy.

"Chihiro! Chihiro?" As bipolar as Haku, her cry of joy was cut short by a questioning look. "You've gotten older..."

I laughed. It felt good to laugh, like nothing mattered. "I'm Kaharu. Chihiro is my mom's name. Oh, and I'm 17."

She looked sad for a moment before smiling brightly at me. "I'm Lin. (I know it's spelled Rin but for the sake of the readers...Lin it is) I'm a friend of your mom's." She stuck out her hand. In seeing I wasn't going to shake it, she put it back on the bucket handle. "What're you doing here...Kaharu was it?"

I shrugged. I only wished I knew the answer to that myself. "I'm not really sure. I just sort of...found this place. My mom wrote books about it but they were fictional until just a couple days ago...how long have I been here?" The question I asked was directed to myself. It felt like hours and weeks at the same time.

"Well, if you're staying here you should probably get a job. Zeniba isn't like her sister, but she's nobody to mess around with."

I shook my head. "Haku said I didn't have to."

Her eyebrow tugged closer to her bangs. "So you've already met Haku."

"Actually yes. I met him in a dream once too...but I'm not sure if that was just a dream or not. He definitely looks the same."

Her lips curled into a catlike smirk. "Well, I'm sure he's taking good care of you, Chihiro lookalike." She paused. "As long as You're here it would be a big help if you could clean with me. I'm assuming you don't know a lot of people yet. Maybe it will give us a chance to get to know each other."

It didn't really seem like I had much of a choice so I agreed, following her to whatever room she was headed toward. It gave me time to explore different parts of the bathhouse, with my eyes of course. Just as it was described in the story, it was laid out before me in stunning detail.

"I remember when Chihiro was first here, Yubaba had her cleaning the nastiest tub." She shook her head and let out a half sigh, half laugh. "She complied. Luckily today we have the floors and it'll be over." Her footsteps stopped abruptly. "You can eat lunch with me...?"

I nodded. "Okay." In truth I wasn't sure I really wanted to. I had been hoping Haku would be back by then.

"Lin!" Somewhere behind one of the walls a voice bellowed out. "Lin look what I got-oh." Another girl in the same pink uniform came barreling around the corner, she crinkled her nose at me. "Is that your sister, Lin? She smells an awful lot like a human."

Lin rolled her eyes playfully and pat my back in a protective manner. "This is Koharu. You probably don't remember Chihiro but this is her daughter. She-they-are friends of mine." The other girl loosened the strangled look on her face and eyeballed me.

"Well, she's going to stink up the whole place. Get her a bath or something would ya?" I decided I didn't like her very much. I told myself it was because her voice was whiny and not because she was rude to me.

"Alright, alright. Get back to work, Mina." When she rolled her eyes again she was facing me, pointing in the direction of her friend. "She's a handful."

I agreed.

~Time Skip~

By the time we had finished cleaning, eaten and said our goodbyes, Haku still hadn't returned. I sighed and clambered around the plush bed he had entrusted to me. It had been a long day, I deserved some sleep. That's what I told myself as I rested my heavy eyelids and fell into a dream that I hadn't had in what felt like years. A dream of rolling wind and ankle deep grass, with a clear view of a very familiar looking bathhouse.