Totoro Is My Neighbor?

Chapter 11 - Explanations?

Chapter 11  - Explanations?

I felt wordless as I stared at the two of them. I couldn’t even reply on several minutes, I just blankly stared at them as I heard the voices of the spirits outside the bakery. Actually, I only tried to load in the information, and grasp the fact of how it was.

Afterthought, it wasn’t as surprising. It actually made perfect sense. Thinking about it, this how everything could be explained. This is probably the only way it could be explained. How would it otherwise work out? If it was a ghost town, how would the Tsukino family be affording to run a bakery, if there was no one coming to visit the shop? How would the family even get the necessities if this wasn’t how it was? How about the always welcoming and opened stores in the village, which also made this fact more relevant.

Might that maybe be able to explain the strange things occurring in my aunt’s old house?

Maybe it was all because of spirits?

I scratched the back of my head. “I would have suspected it…” I said lightly at the two of them. Soichi and Mrs. Tsukino exchanged a look, as if they found my statement suspicious. “Why is that?”

“It wouldn’t be as surprising, thinking about it.” I hummed to them, glancing carefully at them from the corner of my eyes.  “It does in fact explain a lot of gaping holes in the explanation on this town. Is this the secret you kept from me since I moved here? Is this why night always comes earlier than it’s supposed to as well why I always have to rush home early? The reason would be that the town’s citizens are spirits, right?”

Mrs. Tsukino pinched the bridge of her nose and gave an approving smile. “That is in fact correct. To think you’d have noticed that, that was unexpected indeed!”

Soichi gave me a puzzled gaze, question whether I was talking the truth. “How did you find out about it? Why did you come here now? How did you find your way through the deep darkness of the forest on your way here?”

I wanted to explain exactly everything that happened back at the house, how everything turned against me. How I practically got pranked by the house, until I found my way out of it. Was it really spirits in my house? It felt like a ghost haunting the house, with all the surprising things appearing now and then there. But then again, why would there be a ghost there? That it would be a spirit is more believable.

“I found some help along the way here.” I answered simply.

Soichi frowned and shook his head. “It must have been some spirit, figures.”

“Though I want to ask one thing, how come only the Tsukino family lives in this village as living people? Or might you be spirits as well?” I asked after a moment of silence while slightly stepping forward towards them. They gave each other quiet glances at first before bursting out in a thick laughter. “We spirits? No, no that’s not it.”

Mrs. Tsukino chuckled and took a step backwards. “You see, we belong in this town. This is where our whole life lies and circulates around. This where our past and future lies. From generations to generation, this spot has always belonged to the Tsukino family. Nothing in the world could change that, no matter the ups and downs. And believe me, there sure has been some real though disadvantages when living in this town.” She took a short break in her explanation and glanced at the direction of the voices, where the spirits were waiting.

“It’s unbelievable, but this haven’t always been a town with only spirits.” She mumbled quietly to herself, as confident facial expression lowered one slight degree. The older woman huffed to herself and narrowed her eyes. “The past is a place where no one wants to visit, if it’s the past our family had.” Mrs. Tsukino finished saying, and went to the spirits waiting at the counter.

The silence evolved in the room between me and Soichi, as we both felt confused by the others presence. We had questions, but Mrs. Tsukino didn’t want to answer them herself. Since it was the easiest way, of course that’s not how it should be, in our luck.

Soichi raised his eyebrows and leaned against the wall behind him. I took support against the wall behind me and slumped my shoulders. I cleared my throat to bring his attention after a while, which he almost jumped in surprise at. “Huh?” He asked nervously.

“Could I perhaps know the rest? Do you know the rest?” I asked and crossed my arms.

“No… I don’t know of the ‘truth’ you’re talking about...” he mumbled and stuttered rather harshly at saying some of the words.  His eyes swayed around from the floor to the roof, which was a denying sign.

“I don’t think you’re speaking the truth, are you?” I said grumpily and pouted.

Soichi let the silence answer for him.

“I take that as a yes. So please, tell me the truth of all this! Finish what Mrs. Tsukino didn’t want to!” I exclaimed in a pretty loud tone, which made Soichi immediately hush me with a disturbed voice. “You need to be quiet!”

“Will you tell me the truth then?” I said quietly but also confident in each and every word.  His gaze slowly made its way towards my eyes, as he shut his mouth for a split second.

“I’ll tell you, but then you must tell me in detail why you appeared here so suddenly, and why you came to this place!” He crossed his arms as he bluntly whispered that. I nodded at him right at the moment he gave that offer and smiled brightly. It’s simple really, there wasn’t so much of an interesting answer. “I will, don’t worry!”

Soichi cleared his throat and locked eyes with me. “Well, as said, the town wasn’t always a town of spirits but the Tsukino family has always lived in this town. To be honest, I was barely knowing of the happenings, since I was really young, but there was a certain incident. The town was influenced by a sickness, though not a deadly one. It was affecting the minds of the people in the village, making them having the will of moving away. After such a long time the citizens were glad and happy for living in the town, it was supposed to as cheerful and bright as sunshine all the time. Though, once the sickness came, they weren’t satisfied anymore. From just a little amount to absolutely everyone got affected and searched after another place to live. When that occurred, the whole town turned into a ghost town. That’s when the spirits of all around the area took their chance of making this town their own.”

He waved his hand at me, motioning me to come closer to him. I did, and he gripped my shoulder and brought my ear just an inch away from his face. “Though, the whole Tsukino family have always said that it was a curse. A sickness caused of the spirits. They wanted to make the town theirs, and there was no one against it, so they simply just made it theirs.”

I blinked at him. This information though, sure was a bit more shocking than the other given. A sickness? The spirits cursing the town?

His deep brown and green eyes fell over the light of the candles on the table ahead. “Though the reason why we still live in this house is a shared point of view.”

“Two points of views?” I asked curiously.

He held up two fingers in front of me. “Yes, as in meaning two comprehensions of the one and only truth.”