Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away or any of the characters in it. (It gets really tiring writing that every time. Hmm. Maybe next time I'll think of a more creative one. Lol.)
Imisseduhaku – Thanks! I'm glad you like my story. Hope to hear from you again!
Killua – Thank you so much! Really! But I have to argue with you slightly, I don't think my story is as good as a masterpiece, but I believe it's mediocre. Lol. I'm still super-happy that you like my story though! Hope to hear from you again!
Nichelly – Your grand debut has finally arrived! Lol. But I kind of sacked the idea I first came up with because it's slightly a bit too unrealistic you see. I hope you like your adapted role anyway!
Chibi-Lina-san – Thank you! Your review made me feel nice and happy inside! It's thanks to the super nice reviews like yours that motivates me to write! Thank you!
Sparkling-Ruby Gem – Lol! Thanks! I'm glad you feel so passionate towards my story! Lol! You reviewed my story so quickly after I updated it and it really made me happy to see a review so quickly! Hehe
A/N: Heylo Everyone! I hope you didn't feel that the wait for this chapter was too long. The character Nicola Archbold (Nichelly) of this chapter is actually one of my really good friends in real life. She wanted a part in my story so I gave a small role to play in this chapter. Hope she likes it (because if not, I probably won't survive to write another chapter! Lol!) I've also been experimenting with Chihiro and her new life as a normal person. I've tried not to make her a "perfect" person, because let's face it; no "normal" person is perfect. Lol. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter – it has a happier feel about it than my other chapters (if you understand what I mean…lol) Anyways, enough with me rambling on. Please review afterwards if you have time! Thank You!
Chapter 7: A New Life
- Ring, Ring -
"Hello?"
"Hey Chihiro, it's me"
"Oh, it's you Takakazu. What do you want?"
"Chihiro, listen. I'm sorry, okay?"
"You were busy, what is there to apologise for? It wasn't your fault that you couldn't come to see me or even just call me on my birthday. I mean you were out clubbing with your friends and getting totally wasted, it's perfectly understandable,"
"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. Daisuke and his family are moving to another country, so we had to throw him a leaving party,"
"No need to explain; it's clear that you have your priorities set. Shame you won't ever be on my priorities list again,"
"What's that suppose to mean?"
"We're breaking up, or are you too busy to even break up? Shall I leave a message on your answer machine so that you can listen to it in the morning when you have a hang-over?"
"What?"
"Don't ever call me again!"
Chihiro slammed her phone down, infuriated at her former boyfriend.
It's been five years since the day of the "accident" and Chihiro is now 20 years old. She is in her second year at college and is going out with Takakazu (or at least was). The college that she attends is quite a prestigious theatre school in Japan. Having missed a lot of work from school, she didn't know whether or not she could catch up, and so asked her parents if she could mainly focus on studying arts - learning how to sing and dance. Chihiro spent about six months in hospital after waking up from a yearlong coma. When she did finally wake, her parents were overwhelmed with joy. Although she did not recognise them, her parents were still very happy to see her well. After a six-month recovery time in hospital, the doctors allowed for Chihiro to go home. They thought that maybe if she went home, her surroundings would stimulate her brain and cause her memories to be triggered. And they were right, after another six months of being home with her parents, she remember most of what she had forgotten; she remembered her own identity and that of her parents. She also remembered her previous hometown and the friends that she had when she lived there. But no matter how hard she tried, the memories of what had transpired in her present hometown never came back to her. That intentional accident became the turning point in Chihiro's young life.
"Hey Yukari!" Chihiro shouted as she waited for her friend to exit the hall. "That was an awesome audition! I really think you got the part in the next production!"
"Oh hey Chihiro!" Yukari responded "You know, I think you should have auditioned too; you have a really beautiful voice,"
Chihiro met Yukari when they were both freshman at college. After recovering from the accident, naturally Chihiro had always felt awkward about making new friends and moving to new places, so it was quite a big deal for her to go to college and be separated from her parents. On their first day of college, both Yukari and Chihiro arrived early into school. But Chihiro was shyer and somewhat more timid than she usually was, however Yukari being the lively but also rather eccentric soul that she is, approached Chihiro and they've been best friends since.
"No, there's just way too much dancing in this show. I can't dance as well as I sing, you know; I'm not as graceful as you. Anyway, now that classes and auditions are over, what do you want to do for the rest of the afternoon?"
"Not sure. You got anything in mind?"
"Erm. How about a picnic?"
"Yeah, a picnic sounds great!"
The two found an empty spot on the grass area, near the stone water fountain in the garden at their campus. The towering building of the dorms provided cool shade from the sun. The shadow that it cast covered about a third of the garden area. A few students were sat on the wooden benches surrounding the running fountain, conversing. Others were seen having a laugh on the grass whilst sunbathing with friends. It was a beautiful warm summers day and everyone was outside. Whether sunbathing or picnicking or even studying, everyone was there, just enjoying the pleasant weather.
"Yiw madve fese youvrself?" Yukari complemented "Fese rice balls are gwreat! I liove salmon!"
"Thanks. I think," Chihiro laughed, "It was kind of difficult to make out what you said with a mouthful of rice,"
With Yukari gobbling down all the food, the picnic was soon over. They decided to lie down on the grass and watch the clouds float by, for some relaxation from all the stress that they have been recently coping with in school. But their relaxation session was not long lasting. Disrupted by the infamous Nicola Archbold scaring the new students of the school, both Chihiro and Yukari's attention were drawn to her. Nicola is a foreign exchange student from England and went to Japan to study the Japanese theatre. Though she was from England, she spoke fluent Japanese, with only the occasional grammatical error. It usually was quite amusing to watch her because the gullible first years always seemed to believe her stories.
"Holy Crap!" Nicola yelled in an utterly terrified voice, trembling all over.
"What's wrong?" A group of first years went to assist her "Are you alright? CAN-YOU-UNDERSTAND-US-?"
"Of course I can! Just because I'm a foreigner doesn't mean that I can't understand you!"
"Sorry, but are you alright?"
"No! I mean, I don't know. It was so awful!"
"What was?" The first years tensed and were very keen to listen.
"I was in the toilets," she continued "But I wasn't alone, I could hear that there was someone in there with me because the taps were dripping and it sounded like someone washing their hands or something,"
"Really?" One of the first years asked in concern. "Did they do anything to you?"
"No, when I went to look, there was nobody there. But the second I went back into the cubicle I heard dripping again and something like somebody washing their hands,"
"You're lying," They said.
"I'm not! How can you even say that? The lights then suddenly flickered off and when I went out to look, I heard footsteps and then when I looked in the mirror…"
Nicola looked at them as they listened intently.
"If you don't believe, go there yourselves. Turn off the lights and then look at the mirror; you'll see something that you will never forget," Nicola looked them straight in the eye, assuring them that she wasn't lying.
The group of first years had gone as pale as ever. They looked at each other with such fear in their eyes and went away absolutely petrified. Once they had gone Nicola burst into laughter. "Yeah, you'll see your ugly faces!" she said to herself.
"Hey Nicola," Yukari shouted over to her. "That was a good one!"
"Why thank you!" she replied, "Anyway, I've still got another class to go to. See you guys later!"
"Bye!" Chihiro and Yukari both waved to the blonde haired girl as she left.
The two remained lying down on the soft green grass. It has been a while since they had been on a picnic or had so much time to relax; mid-terms had only just finished, and classes were already back to the normal timetable.
"Hey Chihiro?" Yukari finally spoke.
"Hmm?"
"Why are people so scared of ghosts and spirits?"
"I don't know, but I can say that I'm not one of those people; I've never been the one to be scared of that type of thing. I think it's the lack of understanding that causes fear and it's just human nature to fear the unknown,"
"Yeah," Yukari agreed, "Hey, I'll be right back; I just need to go to the toilet for a second,"
"Okay then. Hurry back and don't let any ghosts get you whilst your there!" Chihiro smirked.
Chihiro lay by herself, sunbathing in the warmth of the afternoon sun. She closed her eyes and thought about how she was at long last pressure-free and how grateful she was of it. Giving a sigh of relief, she stretched out her arms and opened her eyes, only to find that someone was standing over, staring at her. Surprised, she twitched in alarm.
"Oh, Shugo, hi," Chihiro sat up, still feeling somewhat startled by his sudden appearance. "Well done on writing your last script by the way; you're really poetic,"
Shugo is not particularly one of those boys that appeal to girls very much. His hair seemed always to be greasy and his face had, to a certain degree, overwhelming acne. But, he has always been friendly with Chihiro, so she felt that she it was only polite to talk to him, because he has never actually done anything wrong or to offend her.
"I'm glad you think so," he sat down next to Chihiro and fidgeted with his glasses and gave a pathetic attempt to show off his dashing smile. Or maybe, his not so dashing smile might be more fitting.
Detecting his unusual behaviour, Chihiro carried on by saying "Well, what I meant to say was that, you're so poetic, I'm sure that many girls like you on this campus,"
"I only try to impress the prettiest girl, of course," he said, moving even closer to her. His face had become a noticeably flushed, in contrast to Chihiro's, which had remained a normal and healthy hue of pinky-beige.
'Oh no! He's hitting on me! Yukari! Where are you?'
"Shugo, I-,"
"You need not say anything, my love," He interrupted Chihiro mid-sentence and began to edge his face closer to hers. She could already smell his excessively 'pepper-minted' breath; he had clearly tried hard to make an impression her.
And closer..
And closer..
And closer..
Oh! But he misses! With a mouthful of grass, he looked up at Chihiro who had swiftly moved out of his way.
"Shugo, what I was trying to say before was that sorry, but I already have a lover,"
He sat up again, fidgeting endlessly with his super-sized glasses, which Chihiro was sure were not prescribed for him, he felt utterly embarrassed. "I see. Who is he?"
"SHE is me!" Yukari stood proudly above the two, standing in an almost superman-like pose. Chihiro wanted to laugh desperately, but managed to stifle it, skilfully.
"You mean, you two are…?" before he could finish asking, Yukari slapped his back-side as he stood up.
"Now, scat!"
"Yeah, you'd better listen to her. She'll grope something a lot more painful next time," Chihiro explained.
The puberty-challenged boy ran off within a second, leaving the two quite entertained.
"Thanks Yukari, he's going to have the entire school thinking that I'm a lesbian now, but I have to admit, that was a very nice save,"
"Who's going to believe him anyway; every knows your not. And thank you very much, and yes, if I do say so myself that was a very nice save wasn't it? Well, what can I say? I've learned from the best,"
"Since when did I teach you to practice your lesbian tendencies on the world?"
The two laughed in a jovial manner, until Chihiro spotted someone, or more so 'some-two' behind the shed again, "Eh! They're at it again! You'd think they would at least have the decency to find a room or something!"
"Yeah," Yukari concurred with disgust in her eyes "Hey! You two! Love maybe blind, but the teachers on campus aren't! And neither is everyone else!"
She then turned back to Chihiro briskly, as though just remembering something that she had forgotten. "Oh yeah, Chihiro, did you finish Takakazu then?"
She gave a confirming nod in response to the question and began to play conscientiously at the grass with her hands. "But, I think I might have been a bit too harsh on him. You know how I told you that five years ago I lost my memory…"
"Yeah, but you can't keep using THAT as an excuse"
"I know but, I found out that he was the one that stayed with me after I blacked out after the accident, and well I just feel in debt to him I guess,"
"He's not worth your time if you ask me. I mean he's a good for nothing loser, and you deserve so much better than him,"
"I know but, I just feel that I owe it to him to forgive him, or maybe it's because I really do love him,"
"The decision isn't mine to make; it's yours,"
"I think I might call him later," Chihiro thought aloud.
"So, do you want to go shopping this weekend?" asked Yukari.
"Sure,"
The two stayed in the garden for the rest of the afternoon, just simply lazing on the grass, slothfully. And that was how another ordinary school day had passed.
Wow that was a lot of dialogue, wouldn't you agree? I think the entire chapter is dialogue based, with the exception of the occasional paragraphs that explain or set the mood. I didn't actually mean for this chapter to have so much speech, oh well, it happens. Lol.
I know this chapter is slightly shorter in comparison to my previous ones, but it is mostly for set up purposes really. I will try to make the next one longer!
Everyone (or at least the people who chose to read this story, lol) Please review if you have time! It motivates me to write! And subsequently the chapters may even be updated sooner! Also constructive criticism is always welcomed with open arms. Thankies!
See you all next time! Take care! Buh-Bye!