Chapter Four
The next day, when Chihiro came to school, it turned out that the seat next to her was empty. However, everything happened as Haku had promised. What surprised the girl most was the fact that no one noticed Haku's lateness and his absence, as if there was no such student in the class. Meanwhile, time passed, a week passed, two weeks passed, a month passed, but there was no news about Mr. Haku. And something else surprised Chihiro: it turned out that only she had seen the stone figurines and the houses attached to them. On Tuesday, she witnessed how her mother, while watering the lawn, stepped several times on the place where the stone figurines stood. According to all the laws of physics, her mother should have reacted somehow, stepping on the figurine of the little god. However, after walking on the place where the stone figurines stood, her mother did not comment on this circumstance. From which Chihiro concluded that for everyone except her and Mr. Haku, the stone figurines and their houses do not exist. Meanwhile, the jury summed up the results of the costume festival dedicated to anime heroes. This happened two weeks after Haku disappeared. Surprisingly, the first place went to the school that showed a theatrical performance based on the anime "Spirited Away", that is, the Dragon School. The Tiger School, that is, the school where Chihiro studied, took third place. And two weeks later, a strange thing happened: during the third lesson, Chihiro was called to the principal's office. The supervisor was unusually kind when she personally approached Chihiro and told her that the girl was expected at the principal's, but still the girl cautiously took hold of the door handle, behind which the school principal was. However, Chihiro was afraid in vain, because the principal greeted her with the same wide smile as the supervisor.
It turns out that this is what happened: the television company of the education department was looking for a girl named Chihiro. It cannot be said that this name was rare in this small town. Probably, every school could boast of two or three, or even four girls with such a name, but during the costume festival, an event occurred that gave the producer of the television company an idea. A rumor spread around the city that a schoolgirl of one school was the spitting image of a character from the anime "Spirited Away". Moreover, a bird on the tail brought the news to the producer that next to the girl during the festival was a boy who was the spitting image of the second main character of the anime "Spirited Away", whose name was Haku. It so happened that at the tiger school, Chihiro was the only student with such a name. That is why the director called the girl to his office today. However, after talking with the girl, who was desperately shy, the director decided that it was necessary to negotiate with the girl's parents. Chihiro had nothing against it. She did not quite understand the hype around her name, did not understand what was threatening her in connection with this circumstance and how this story would end. If Haku had been there, he would have quickly realized the danger that threatened the girl, since he had a magical sense, and would have forbidden her to participate in the show that was planned. Yes, I did not explain the problem that caused Chihiro to be called to the principal. The producer of the television company of the education department decided to put on a show, playing on the fact that a girl named Chihiro had plastic surgery to look like the heroine of the anime of the same name. As you and I know, our girl did not have any surgery. And it would not have even occurred to her. But the producer did not know about this. The school principal was flattered by the attention that was paid by the education department. The principal had already begun to hope for a promotion and for huge headlines in newspapers and in the information space, which would sound something like this: "Tiger School has a unique student." However, the principal was unhappy that there was no student named Haku in class today. The supervisor was called, but she could not comment on the boy's absence. The director blushed, began to beat the table and ordered to get the boy from under the ground. But, fortunately, the director and supervisor's work day was coming to an end, and the question of how to find Haku remained open. Chihiro was worried when she entered the classroom the next day. However, to her surprise, everything was quiet, no one said anything about the show, and no one was looking for Haku, but the silence lasted until the third period, during the third period, the smiling supervisor entered the classroom and told Chihiro that she was expected in the director's office. Chihiro, still timidly, approached the director's office, opened the door and saw, that the principal was wearing the same clothes today as he had yesterday. This was thought-provoking. Everyone at school knew that the principal, a short, skinny man, came to school every day in a new formal suit, the suits were made to add seriousness to the principal, and his high platform shoes were also made for the same purpose. Incidentally, the principal also changed his shoes every day. So, the first thing Chihiro saw when she entered the principal's office was that the man was wearing the same clothes as yesterday. However, not only were the clothes yesterday's, but also the questions that the principal asked Chihiro, as well as the conclusions he made from his conversation with the girl. You won't believe it, but when Chihiro glanced at the calendar that hung on the side of the principal's desk, she saw that the calendar had yesterday's date on it. Of course, this couldn't be true, but it was. And then there was more, after talking with Chihiro, the director, just like yesterday, called the curator and, flushed, banged on the table for a long time and demanded that the curator explain why the student Haku was absent from class. Returning home, Chihiro decided that the time loop she had gotten into extended to everything she saw around her. However, this turned out to be wrong, glancing at the lawn near the house, she discovered that there was absolutely no empty space left on the lawn. Now literally the entire lawn was cluttered with the houses of stone gods and, of course, the figurines of stone gods themselves, which were attached to them. Entering the house, the girl first glanced at the calendar that hung in the living room and caught her breath, the calendar on the wall showed the correct date. From which Chihiro concluded that the time loop was only in Tiger's school, in her school. The third day brought no changes, Chihiro had already memorized the topics of the first two lessons, however, it could not be otherwise, because for the third day she had been listening to the same explanations. And in the third lesson, or rather, a little towards the end of the third lesson, she suddenly began to put things in her bag, anticipating that she would be called to the principal again, and her premonitions did not deceive her. Everything was the same as yesterday and the day before. However, there were still some differences. The faces of the principal and the curator were haggard. The curator, a neat woman who was meticulous about fashion, had her makeup running and her lipstick had slightly dried on her lips, while the principal's face, apart from obvious signs of fatigue and exhaustion, showed no traces. However, when he began to pound the table, his fingers were shaking. As you know, our heroine was a kind and compassionate girl, and now she realized that these two people were on the verge of exhaustion. Having fallen into a time loop, the director and the curator probably did not eat or drink anything. Chihiro glanced sideways at the beautiful cup in which coffee was poured, and indeed, the coffee had cooled down the day before yesterday and was covered with a film. Meanwhile, a signal came to the director's tablet, just like yesterday and the day before, that the man's working day was over. The man rose abruptly, intending to leave the table, and almost fell. However, not paying attention to the dizziness, he smiled a forced smile at Chihiro and kindly advised the girl to go home. Chihiro knew that if she didn't take action, the man and woman would end up in the hospital, but something even worse could have happened, dehydration is a dangerous circumstance that can end in death. So the director turned to the door, intending to leave the office, the curator also began to turn around, when Chihiro said:
- My classmate Haku is not in town now. I'm very sorry that Haku's parents did not notify you about this. But he will definitely come back.
Chihiro could have sworn that after her words, something clinked in the director's closet, the curtains on the window fluttered, and the laptop that the director turned off before leaving suddenly turned on by itself.
The man reached for the door handle, but froze, the curator also stopped her movement, turning to the girl, and they suddenly asked at the same time:
- Who is Haku? Why did you come to this office without an invitation? And who gave you permission to open your mouth without prior permission?
Hearing a question that might have seemed dangerous and tearful to another girl, Chihiro smiled and, going around the director and the curator, pulled the door handle and left. No one was chasing her. The girl was not sure that she had brought the director and the curator out of the time loop; everything would only become clear tomorrow. Fortunately, tomorrow came with a new date on the school director's calendar.