[Spirited Away] River of Time

? 1.

In the winter of 20 years ago, there were many snowflakes.As soon as the performance of the school festival was over, the girl playing the bride hurriedly left the stage with her snow-white skirt before the curtain call.

"Chihiro, I didn't expect you to temporarily substitute for Risa, and you can act so well!" The senior sister greeted her happily. She is the director of this play, "Although there are only three lines—"

"Is Risa back yet?!" Chihiro interrupted her anxiously.

"No." Senior sister shook her head, at this time Chihiro was anxiously digging out her cell phone and calling Risa.Risa's cell phone still has no signal.

"Why on earth did Risa ask you to act as a temporary substitute?" Senior sister asked in confusion.

Chihiro told her senior about a phone call that was woken up by Risa this morning.

"Chihiro, I'm driving from home to the winding mountain road near the school!" Risa called over the phone.

"Be careful..." Chihiro was still yawning under the covers at that time, "Don't rush too much, the drama will start in the afternoon..."

The school festival performance is about to take place, and Risa had an emergency at home last night, so she had to drive back and forth last night and this morning.Fortunately, it is not far away. According to Risa, there is a winding mountain road as a shortcut, and it takes an hour to drive back to school.

The mobile phone signal was obviously not very good, and Risa's panicked voice was rustling: "No! Chihiro, I heard a baby crying!"

What?Chihiro didn't feel sleepy at all.

"Risa, don't panic, listen, I'll call the police right away...Which mountain is the winding road you're talking about?"

"——That's why Risa was absent." Chihiro said to the senior, "Risa said that the mountain was blocked by heavy snow. I don't know when the police will arrive, so she went to find the baby first, and then temporarily asked me to perform for her."

Senior sister was stunned. "This is too bizarre."

"You also think things are absurd, don't you?! That mountain—" Chihiro stomped her feet, and Risa's cell phone couldn't get through no matter what, she became more and more anxious, "—I know it! My ten-year-old Time to go in!"

That is the mountain where Qianxun Shenyin was.The abandoned tunnel next to the national highway has been rumored for more than ten years.As a member of the legend, Chihiro never went back.

Because, Bailong said, don't look back.

But now, it's snowing heavily, how can there be a baby for no reason?Could it be Granny Tang's trick to lure humans into it?Risa Risa, don't stray into the hidden world.

"It's ridiculous...but it's not unreasonable." The senior sister looked at Qianxun's expression at this time, a little confused, "Chihiro, I've never seen you like this, and people who don't know think that Risa Died an untimely death."

Senior sister spoke very directly, Chihiro seemed to be stabbed in the heart: "What are you talking about?!"

Chihiro was startled.She found that she couldn't help imagining some horrible scenes: Risa turned into a pig, was arbitrarily knifed by ghosts and gods, or, was taken away from her name, enslaved for life, and could never come out... The longer the time, the more Chihiro became. Go to the bottom of the horn.The backstage dressing room was overcrowded, and I don't know when to wait.She couldn't sit still any longer.

Wearing a costume, Qianxun went straight to the school gate and hailed a taxi, and reported the address. Qianxun did not forget to add: "Drive as fast as you can, please!"

The taxi driver saw her in a snow-white wedding dress and costume, and couldn't help joking: "Could it be that you are in a hurry to get married?"

Qianxun didn't intend to joke, and just kept urging the driver to drive faster, and even faster.

"The mountains are blocked by heavy snow, I tried my best... You see, even the police cars can't pass on the national highway... Hey, miss, it's dangerous to hike on the mountain roads in this weather!"

It is the coldest season of winter.The abandoned torii gates and ghost statues covered with snowflakes almost drowned the world.The earth is covered with snow, and everyone on the road is breaking the ice with a shovel.

"Risa--Risa! Where are you?"

Chihiro yelled alone on the winding mountain road, borrowed a lamp from a nearby store, and looked for Risa.From time to time, I stumbled over crooked monster statues and small torii gates, my socks were scratched by dead branches and leaves at my feet, and fine bloodstains appeared on my ankles, swimming on the white wedding gown.

The wind blows in front of the tunnel.After more than ten years, it still hasn't changed a bit.In front of the monster statue was a small red car, covered with fine snow, it was Risa's car.Sure enough, Chihiro vaguely heard the baby crying.

Chihiro bit her lip, made up her mind, and ran in.

She never imagined that she would come back to the hidden world in this way.

Bailong, it's not that I look back, but because things force me, I have no choice.

At the same time, there was a faint joyful pain in my heart.

Ten years have passed.Bailong, you said we would meet again, now?

<<

Passing through the deep corridor, the vision suddenly opened up.The sky above the clouds is a deep blue, as clean as washing, like an inverted crystal.The heavy snow covered the oil house with a layer of soft white, and wiped away all the vitality and fragrance.Like a landscape beyond the meaning of time and space: no civilization, no history, only myth and existence.

Following the faint cry of the baby, Chihiro ran to the familiar Edo-style streets.Passing by rows of izakaya-like restaurants along the street, she tried not to look.

Chihiro soon saw the helpless Risa and the baby in her arms.The baby's skin was snow-soft, wrapped in a red swaddle, and the little head was covered with fine snow foam, fragile and helpless.

Seeing Chihiro who desperately came to find him, Risa was very moved: "Chihiro, you actually came to find me in person! Thank you so much for performing for me temporarily, and now you are still walking up the mountain—"

Of course, we are friends who finally reunited in college, and the best girlfriends in the past 20 years.

"What kind of place is this, a theme park? The food is so delicious, I want to have a big meal here."

Just then, the baby in the swaddle burst into tears.Both of them were startled, Risa shook her hands, and Chihiro quickly took the baby in her arms.

The moment Chihiro hugged the baby, the expression in Chihiro's eyes became gentle, and her movements became cautious.

At this time, the red sun was in full swing, and the rosy afterglow was sprinkled on the snow.

"Anyway, let's get out with the baby as soon as possible, before it gets dark."

Chihiro spoke firmly to Risa, but her voice became weaker and weaker, and she couldn't express what was on her mind.

She misses Bailong very much.

With the baby in her arms, Chihiro and Risa ran towards the exit together.Soon, there were distorted and blurred shadows all around.There are ghostly shadows in the latticed windows.The faint candlelight reveals a dark and flickering light in the milky white paper lanterns, like a fate that has drifted away carelessly.

"What are those?" Risa was shocked.

"Don't look back... don't look back." Chihiro said, but there was a trembling sound in his voice, as if to convince himself.

There is a noisy sound behind, and phantoms come out in full force, flowing ambiguously on the long Edo-style streets.Chihiro tried her best to restrain the little nostalgia in her heart, embraced the baby, and finally caught up with the lawn just before dark.Risa had already run to the front of the tunnel in two steps in three steps.

The exit is in sight.

Just before stepping up the stairs, the long train of the costume suddenly got caught in the bushes of the monster statue.Chihiro staggered and fell on the ice and snow all over the ground.

The moment before she fell to the ground, she instinctively used her body to protect the baby in her arms.The baby is finally all right.

"Chihiro!" Risa shouted before the exit, and was about to run back.

"You go out first!" Chihiro yelled sharply.

Shocked by the determination in her words, Risa couldn't help stepping into the entrance of the tunnel as she said, and looked back at Chihiro uneasy.Chihiro stood up again with the baby in her arms, but the hem of the wedding dress tightly clung to the shrub branches next to the monster statue, and the ice crystals fell in large chunks, making crackling noises, and she couldn't break free no matter what.

The snow suddenly rustled, and a young figure appeared from among the flowers.

"Bai——" Chihiro blurted out in surprise, her heart beating wildly, halfway through the voice, there was only a "cha", and it was cut off by the sound of silk tearing.The skirt of the snow-white wedding dress was torn suddenly, and Qian Xun was lightened, and she was free.

At the moment when Qianxun wanted to turn back, there was a cold and low voice from behind: "Let's go!"

However, it was too late.

The night fell at this moment, and the place where the foot was connected to the exit became a vast ocean in an instant.Chihiro held the baby in her arms, her body suddenly lost weight, and both of them sank into the sea.

Waves flow.

The long chestnut hair and the wedding dress drifted away like mist.