Chapter Three
"I know how this story ended," Chihiro suddenly screamed. "I said that my mom and dad were not among those six pigs."
Suddenly, silence reigned on the stage, all the heads of the actors and spectators turned to the girl. - Oh, look, this girl looks so much like the character from that anime! - someone from the crowd suddenly shouted. - Girl, what's your name?
Chihiro opened her mouth to answer, but felt someone pulling her hand. Haku opened the umbrella over her and tried to lead her away from the stands as quickly as possible. However, it didn't work out quickly, voices were following Haku and Chihiro:
- Oh, look, and the boy is the spitting image of the anime hero, what was his name? Haku? Dragon Haku? His eyes are just as green!
Hey, where are you running off to? Talk to us!
- Why are you pestering people? - another voice reached Haku and Chihiro. - Didn't you get it, they just had plastic surgery to look like anime heroes.
The girl and the boy didn't hear what the first voice answered, they were already far from the stands of the School of Dragons.
Chihiro ran after Haku, and it seemed to her that this was happening more than once, she remembered the situation when she and Haku were running away from someone. Finally, she got tired of running and timidly said:
- Mr. Haku, let go of my hand already, we ran too far. I want to tell you something.
The boy stopped immediately.
- Forgive me, Chihiro, but it suddenly seemed to me that you were in danger, and I hurried to quickly take you away from that place.
- Haku, I remembered, what you were hoping for happened, watching the actors' performance, I suddenly remembered.
- Did you remember everything? - the boy looked into the girl's eyes with hope. - If so, then we are saved!
- Yes, I remembered almost everything, - the girl shook the water off her umbrella. — There are still some unclear things, some fragments of memory in my head seem to be under a layer of deep water, but they will definitely emerge.
— Well, that's exactly what I was expecting. I want to ask, are you hungry, perhaps? You were so excited, usually after that a person wants to eat.
— Yes, I would like to eat a bun. But Haku, have you forgotten that we need to watch our school's festival program? The teacher will punish not only me, but you too, if we don't come.
— Chihiro, you worry too much about things that you don't need to worry about. If you remembered everything, then you should understand that I stopped time. Our school's festival program will start the moment we reach the right point in the park. But to calm you down, let's turn in this direction and take a shortcut. If we go along the central alley, we will constantly run into other students.
Haku, as always, was right, the festival only started when the girl and the boy approached the stands.
Making herself comfortable, Chihiro waved to her classmates and received smiles and greetings in return, but the girl's smile faded when she saw the threatening look of Malvina and the girls from her company. However, unexpectedly for herself, Chihiro suddenly raised her hand again and made a welcoming gesture in the direction of Malvina and the other girls with multi-colored hairstyles. Malvina's mouth fell open in surprise, she was used to a different reaction from her classmates, and Chihiro's boldness confused her. Yes, yes, now that Chihiro remembered everything, she was no longer afraid. Is it possible to scare a girl who went through so many trials, saw so many terrible and magical things, was in such despair and sacrificed her life, is it possible to scare her now with simple human aggression? In the meantime, the festival program came to an end. The jury will announce its decision only tomorrow, the task facing the jury members was too difficult. There were so many teams, and so many interesting things happened on the festival grounds that the jury was confused. Haku went to buy a bun and a milkshake, soon the stands were completely empty, even Malvina and her gang left. Chihiro sat alone on the stands, but Malvina did not dare to touch her. Soon Haku returned, the boy was worried and told Chihiro that he would probably have to return to the magic park for a while.
Chihiro ate the bun, drank the cocktail, shook the crumbs off her skirt, and then touched Haku's jacket sleeve.
"Mr. Haku," she said quietly but firmly, "I want to go with you! But if something threatens my parents, then, of course, I will stay here.
- No, - Haku thought, - there is no longer a threat to your parents. This story was told to the end, and you did everything to free r parents. Yubaba can be anything: evil, greedy, envious, but she is true to herself in one thing, she always keeps the terms of the contract. The whole world of magical baths for ghosts rests on this.
- In that case, take me with you!
- No, you can't go now, you're not ready yet. I'll be gone for a few days, and when I return, and if you still have a desire, then you'll come with me. Well, the festival day is over, the rain is getting stronger, and you need to go home. Go, Chihiro, we'll meet again.