Bang!
Bang bang bang!
A continuous thumping sound came from outside the window. Paper Birds pressed against the glass, layer upon layer, completely blocking out the sunlight.
Just as Sen Getsusa tried to lean in for a closer look, the paper birds seemed to have their switch flipped off in an instant, falling away from the window as if they had lost their life.
The ones that had slipped into the room were the same.
They drifted down slowly, then swirled back up, squeezing out through the gaps in the window and spiraling in the air to form a white chain.
Sen Getsusa felt those paper birds were a bit strange... Although the birds, crafted like Shikigami, had no eyes, the perceptive Sen Getsusa realized that whoever was controlling them had indeed glanced at her before directing the paper birds to drift away.
"White Dragon! White Dragon!"
From inside the room, Chihiro's worried voice rang out.
Sen Getsusa looked behind her; it was a complete mess.
The white dragon stood up tremblingly, his body covered in gashes from sharp weapons, blood constantly trickling from his mouth. He stared with wide eyes, letting out a fierce roar.
Chihiro tried to approach but was intimidated by the White Dragon's gaze, stopping in place to stomp her feet and pace anxiously.
"White Dragon, you're the White Dragon, right? Are you hurt?"
The White Dragon looked at Chihiro. Sen Getsusa tilted her head and raised an eyebrow, waving to him from a distance.
Chihiro shuffled forward step by step, still soothing the blood-covered dragon before her: "Those paper birds have all flown away. It's okay now."
No sooner had she spoken than the White Dragon suddenly raised his head!
He puffed out his neck and exhaled—instantly, a gale erupted!
The hurricane-force wind scattered the papers and clothes in the room and blew the window open with ease. The White Dragon grit his teeth and leaned forward, rushing past the two girls with a 'whoosh' and darting out of the open window in the blink of an eye!
Only the glass window remained, rattling loudly in the wind.
Chihiro and Sen Getsusa followed him to the balcony, leaning against the railing and looking up: the wounded dragon flew unsteadily, repeatedly crashing into the outer walls of the Bathhouse, leaving trails of blood behind. Then, he flicked his tail in front of a certain window and dove inside.
"He went to Yubaba's!" Chihiro clenched her fists anxiously. "What should we do? The White Dragon is going to die!"
She instinctively turned to run toward the door, but Sen Getsusa grabbed her by the back of her collar, her bare feet making a squeaking sound on the floor.
"Big sister?"
Sen Getsusa shook her head and pointed to the sky above: "You're too slow this way. Look."
Chihiro looked up, following Sen Getsusa's finger.
At that moment, a massive Crow streaked across the sky, circled once, and flew toward the roof.
"Yubaba is back!"
"Shh—" Sen Getsusa placed a finger on Chihiro's lips, the soft touch and the girl's body heat transmitting through her fingertip. "Is your clothing sturdy?"
Chihiro looked bewildered. "Huh?"
Clothing?
She looked at the old clothes she was wearing. "It's sturdy enough... it's really sturd—aaaaaaahhhhhhh!"
Sen Getsusa snatched Chihiro up by the back of her collar and, as effortlessly as taking a stroll, leapt onto the wooden railing with a 'thud'.
She took massive leaps with every step, stepping on the railings of each balcony or protruding rafters, jumping toward the top floor as if leisurely strolling through a garden.
"This isn't safe!! Aaaaaahhh! Tsukisa!! Big sister!! Sen Getsusa! I'm going to fall!!"
Chihiro gripped her clothes tightly, terrified that by the time Sen Getsusa reached their destination, she would be left holding nothing but a garment labeled 'Clothes worn by Chihiro before she died.'
The wind whistled in her ears; with every jump, she faced rapid G-forces followed by a brief moment of weightlessness. In those few dozen seconds, Chihiro was so terrified it felt like years had passed.
Fortunately, the clothes were sturdy enough, and the two of them made it all the way to the top floor, one pulling and the other being dragged.
"...I'm going to throw up!! Are you really human... or are people who can travel between Worlds all this powerful?"
Chihiro gagged a few times, crouching on the windowsill and leaning against the window, her face pale.
She leaned on it unconsciously, and—click—
The window opened.
"Eh? Was the window not locked?"
Chihiro curiously pushed it open and poked her head inside, looking left and right; she didn't seem to hear Yubaba's voice.
She turned her head to wave at her 'eccentric' sister and, clutching her still-churning stomach, carefully hopped inside from the windowsill.
The two girls who jumped into the room didn't notice a paper bird quietly flying out from behind the window and slipping back into Chihiro's belt.
Sen Getsusa pulled Chihiro through a bathroom filled with colorful gilding, passed through a corridor, and entered a room painted entirely in green—the walls were padded with cushions of the same color, pterodactyl and bell toys hung from the ceiling, and colorful pillows littered the floor.
This was a nursery.
As Sen Getsusa thought this, she heard a familiar voice coming from not far away.
"Honestly, how did things get into such a mess? That fellow must be No-Face." Hearing Yubaba's voice, the two of them exchanged a knowing look, kept their mouths tightly shut, and simultaneously pricked up their ears.
Not only that, but Chihiro also crept behind a red curtain, lifting a corner to peek outside. Yubaba was talking into her little skull-shaped telephone.
|˙?˙）
"...I was so eager to make money that I actually brought in someone like that!"
Sen Getsusa overheard the gist of it from behind the curtain, while Chihiro turned her head with a dejected expression and mouthed to the girl: 'It seems... I'm the one who let him in.'
'That monster. I thought he was a guest.'
'Now everything is a mess, and downstairs is in total chaos!'
Facing the despondent Chihiro, Sen Getsusa curled her lips into a smile.
She gave her a thumbs up... "Don't do anything rash before I get there." Yubaba hung up the phone huffily and instructed someone invisible: "You lot, get rid of the White Dragon! He's useless now anyway!"
Having said that, she walked straight toward Chihiro's direction.
The urgent girl quickly turned her head, gesturing to her sister for help.
'She's coming, Yubaba is coming.'
The latter understood and gave her a smiling beckon with her finger.
Chihiro understood immediately—she helplessly turned around, her back to Sen Getsusa. Then, a tugging sensation came, and she was lifted into the air, dangling from her hand.
Yubaba walked in the next second.
Sen Getsusa gripped a protruding stone carving on a pillar with one hand while holding Chihiro with the other.
Below them, Yubaba was rummaging through a mountain of colorful pillows—revealing an enormous head inside.
"Baby! Baby is hiding here again Why aren't you going to bed to sleep-y-sleep~" A syrupy voice came from below, making Chihiro's stomach feel uneasy again.
So the Yubaba who is so fierce to outsiders is like this with her own Child? It's like a plot where a career woman over-pampers her Child... Sen Getsusa thought as an unhappy grunt came from the baby below.
"Oh Baby was sleeping and got woken up~ But Mama has to go to work now~~" Yubaba sprawled across the pile of pillows, her feet together and off the ground, and kissed the Giant Baby on the head.
Mwah~
"Sleep well, Baby The lights are going off now"
Snap.
Tap tap... tap...'She's gone.'
'Wait.'
'What's wrong?'
The two girls, one above the other, silently exchanged 'you don't understand, and I don't understand' hand signals.
The lights dimmed gradually as Yubaba's footsteps faded away. Chihiro signaled Sen Getsusa to let her down, but the person beside her shook her head and pointed at the pile of pillows.
Chihiro stared with wide eyes, not daring to speak; there was still a massive baby in there.
'What is it?'
"I see the two of you."
The voice broke the silence in the room.
It was the voice of a little Boy, crisp and innocent.
Chihiro remembered that her friend Eri's younger brother had a voice just like this, and would occasionally chase her for her phone. But terrifyingly, what came out from the pillows was not just a voice, but also a thick, sturdy arm.
Then, the arm rudely pushed aside the pillows, revealing a face.
"I see you." The baby's giant face emerged from the pillows, eyes narrowed, his voice innocent yet cold.
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