Spirited Away: The Wait [ORIGINAL]

Reunion

     Lin directed Kai, the newbie, to the newly constructed furnace that was located in the boiler room.

     It was odd that Yubaba chose the furnace instead of the dumpster in her office. After all, that was the place she’d dump all those insolent workers and other spirits who’d foolishly decided to offend her. The furnace was actually meant for burning the waste food and other trash.

     But then again, perhaps she just didn’t want to stink up her office.

     ‘That works too,’ Lin thought dryly.

     Kai’s brows were creased, and it was obvious to anyone that he was struggling very hard to put up with the smell he’d never encountered before. “Not too long now, newbie,” Lin said, patting his shoulder awkwardly for some comfort which she hardly ever gave. There was definitely something about her and new employees.

     Kai nodded and continued down at a slightly quicker pace, either because he was working harder or because he was close to dying from the intoxicating stench. Lin almost laughed, though she held it in since it wasn’t exactly appropriate, seeing that the human who was being carried by him kept straining her neck painfully to maintain eye contact with her.

     Lin merely stared back at her flatly. Was she that interesting to look at? Last she checked, she was not in the best state since she’d to work 3 days straight with no rest all thanks to that pretty-face bimbo who’d struck a nerve with at least 50 customers after she created such a pandemonium downstairs. She hadn’t seen her for a while though. Thank goodness for that too. Yubaba probably threw her in the dumpster. The ghost of an evil smile crept up Lin’s face. Call her evil, but that felt satisfying.

     “Which way?” a constipated Kai asked, snapping Lin out of her pleasurable thoughts.

     “Make a left turn and then go down the stairs.”

     Kai did as told and immediately swerved to his left, making the human girl groan in pain at the sudden jerk of her neck. Anyhow, she still insisted her way on staring Lin down with pleading eyes. Lin tried to look away. The human girl was already reminding her too much of her memories with Sen—or Chihiro—and her pitiful eyes were just making her go soft. But she couldn’t; it was Yubaba’s orders she had to follow.

     “I’m sorry,” she murmured at the human girl who was still desperately looking at her for dear life.

     Kai opened the door at the side of the bathhouse. It was night and so they were hidden extra well from customers’ sights. If the girl didn’t stink so badly, their cover plan would have been perfect. The hustle and bustle of that night was crazy; business had been booming and was going very well, much to Yubaba’s delight, with the extra gold she earned. But, somehow after Chihiro left, something changed in the old witch. It was not very explicitly shown, but there was still that tweak in her personality.

     Yubaba now gave workers year-end bonuses because of the flourishing bathhouse business, and she even provided a month’s worth of leave in the entire year for the workers, and using up their leave was entirely up to them, but not too workers could take leave at the same time or business would crumble. Now that was a miracle in itself. Yubaba never ever gave her employees a day to rest before, and now workers seemed much happier to work for her.

     ‘The old witch finally learnt about karma,’ Lin smiled. Not that she was mocking Yubaba; no one was. However, for the most part, Yubaba was still the same old strict, profit-driven witch who had high standards for the bathhouse. She’d merely started treating her employees with more respect.