Chapter Two
Intro
Interior. Yubaba's office. Evening.
Little Bo is bored, but his mother does not let him go for a walk. Today is an especially large arrival of ghosts. Ghosts are arriving - members of the Congress "I died for my country".
Little Bo
Mom, who is this?
Yubaba
Where?
Little Bo
There, standing in the river!
Yubaba
Bo, now I will count and see! It just does not add up! According to my records, 1,000 ghosts visited the bathhouse in a month, and Trigolova's assistant reported to me that there were 999 ghosts.
Little Bo
Mom, come look!
Yubaba
Right now, right now! Right now... No, it's not working. Okay, I'll count it later!
Goes to the window
So, what did you see there?
Little Bo
Someone... Someone who looks like the Faceless One! Only... There are so many of them!
Yubaba
Bo, my little one, do you want to go for a walk?
Little Bo
Mom, I just wanted you to look at those people outside the window.
Yubaba
Why are there people in our park?
Opens the window
Hey, who are you? What are you doing? Why are you driving those pegs into the river?
Moves away from the window and shouts
Trigolovy, who are these people who lowered the river level?
Trigolovy
I don't know.
Yubaba
Then go figure it out!
Interior. River. Five minutes later.
Trigolovy
Give your permission!
Faceless Ghosts
Permission is far away.
Trigolovy
Why did you lower the river level?
Faceless Ghosts
The pressure is too high. He said there would be an explosion.
Trigolovy
Stop working! Yubaba is furious!
Faceless Ghosts
We've already finished, we'll be back tomorrow evening.
Trigolovy
Why are you coming back? The water in the river has gone.
Faceless Ghosts
We'll come back, but not here.
Interior. "Famine and Food" Street. The next morning.
Early morning. The street is empty, as the cooks work at night, and ghosts also visit the street at night.
The silence of the warm morning is shaken by explosions.
Faceless Ghost 1
I can't destroy the restaurant completely, the magic protecting it is too strong.
Faceless Ghost 2
What I did is enough. Now the pressure won't rise!
Faceless Ghost 52
The underground restaurant is protected by a triple ring of magic, the same with the restaurant located on top of a thousand-year-old tree!
Faceless Ghost 1
This is bad. The boss asked to destroy these restaurants first.
Faceless Ghost 99
I'm done. Not a single intact restaurant remains on the street.
Faceless Ghost 1
Crushed ie has dropped, but not completely. It's getting hot, we need to leave. But we'll be back.
Interior. Little Bo's room. The next night.
Bo is wandering around the room, bored. Yubaba's mother has gone out on business. Finally, he takes a book out of the closet and begins to read an old Japanese fairy tale. A picture book, with little text but many illustrations. Bo is gradually immersed in the story.
Suddenly, the book begins to turn the pages on its own. Bo is intrigued, but not scared. Finally, the whirlwind of pages stops the movement. In front of little Bo is a page showing a small dark house from a medieval Japanese fairy tale. The house is three-dimensional, and it's enough to pull the door handle for the house to open. Suddenly, Bo realizes that he is no longer in his nursery, but in a dark room of a fairy-tale house.
Bo
Where am I?
A quiet voice
Go to the ear tube.
Bo
Where is she, it's dark here.
Quiet voice
Go to the window.
Bo
I'm near the window.
Quiet voice
Look out the window.
Bo
Someone in a Japanese warrior mask is standing outside under the window.
Quiet voice
He wants to tell you something.
Bo
What to say?
Quiet voice
Say something important. There's an auditory trumpet under the windowsill. Reach out and get the trumpet.
Bo
I'm holding the trumpet in my hands.
Quiet voice
Put it to your ear.
Bo
I can't hear anything.
Quiet voice
Concentrate.
Bo
Okay.
Masked warrior
Why aren't you on the battlefield?
Bo
I'm still a child.
Masked Warrior
In hard times, everyone must protect their homeland. The war destroyed my entire village.
Bo
Are we at war? Are we at war?
Masked Warrior
The war has been going on for three years. Call me in.
Bo
Why?
Masked Warrior
If you don't call me, I'll kill your girlfriend.
Bo
You can't, because you don't know my name. Don't touch her!
Masked Warrior
Okay. Answer my questions. If you answer correctly, I won't kill her.
Bo
Okay.
Masked Warrior
Question one. How many people were in the carriage when she went to Jinba?
Bo
I don't remember. I think it was two people, maybe three!
Masked Warrior
So two or three?
Bo
Two people.
Masked Warrior
Wrong. Question two.
How many threads were in the elastic you wove for her?
Bo
I remember that. Eight threads.
Masked Warrior
Wrong. You had a chance to save her.
Bo
Stop! There were eight threads, I remember that clearly.
Masked Warrior
No. Wrong. There were seven threads, the eighth was pulled too tightly and snapped.
Bo
No, there were eight threads.
Masked Warrior
It's too late. Look at your friend, she's dead, do you see her body hanging on a branch? Do you recognize her yellow sneakers? And now it's your turn, little Bo!
Bo
No! Who told you my name?
Masked Warrior
I know not only that, I know that you didn't close the door behind you, and I'm already walking through it! I'm getting close, little Bo! Are you shaking? Are you scared?
Bo
No!
A quiet voice
The pressure will drop as soon as you die! The pressure will drop as soon as she dies!
Bo
No. This story is bad!
The boy screams loudly and tears the book. Finally, he stops and looks at the pages of the book. And then he looks around. He is in his nursery, and it is safe here. But little Bo continues to scream:
"No, don't touch her! The pressure cannot be lowered that way!"