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Description
Sho and Jane walked back to Jane's house together, with their borrower friends riding atop their shoulders. The two borrowers were deep in discussion, their tiny voices fading in and out as they argued on topic after topic. Sho wasn't sure he understood it all; he heard a lot of non-english words like "shi-a-te" and "mi-luu-nai", so he searched Arrietty's memories for the definitions. He found that he could not find the word in her head though, so instead, he asked her.
"Arrietty, what is mi-luu-nai?"
Arrietty, shirt rippling gently with the giant strides of Sho, smiled. "You heard us! Milunayil is a borrower term. I'm not too sure if I could explain it in English, but it is the kind of feeling you get right after a very risky borrowing expedition. Sort of nervousness, relief, and excitement mixed together."
Maribel, her blue dress also dancing with Jane's strides, added on. "It's kind of like slang. It used to mean that formally, but nowadays it can be used simply to mean relief after doing something."
Jane giggled slightly. "I learned to use some from Maribel. It's really hard not to use borrower-slang when I'm in school."
Eyes widening, Sho exclaimed, "I nearly forgot why I came to your house! Can Arrietty stay with you two when my parents come over?"
"Of course!" grinned Jane. "No reason not to! But why are you so anxious to hide Arrietty from your mother? Peedled?"
"Peedled?"
"It means 'afraid someone will ask the wrong question'."
"That's part of it. I don't know how she'll react when she sees Arrietty."
Maribel shouted, "Borrowers aren't meant to be seen, Jane! Remember? Human-borrower friendships aren't unheard of, but we must try to avoid letting the world know about us as much as possible!"
Jane nodded hastily, "Yes, I know. But I was thinking…"
A moment passed as Jane finished her sentence in her head.
"No. No. That won't do."
"Why not? It would surely be wonderfully cruel to watch!"
"NO! You're just doing this for fun, and we're risking the life of a borrower!"
Sho sighed. "What are you two talking about?"
Arrietty jumped up. "I'm getting annoyed now, what's the idea?"
Maribel, tight-lipped and frowning, grumbled, "That both of us show ourselves to Sho's mother. As a surprise."
Arrietty and Sho shouted protests in unison. Maribel and Jane covered their ears, Jane laughing and Maribel groaning. "Most definitely not! I can't let Arrietty and Maribel be seen!"
Jane doubled over. "I… I know… hahaha… just… just….pbththth!"
She could barely speak. Maribel, sitting on her violently shaking shoulders, asked for Sho to get her off of "this stupid girl's shoulder". Sho extended his arm, and Maribel ran up towards Arrietty. They waited for Jane to calm down, and she finished her sentence. "The way you two protested at the same time was hilarious! Are you sure you two didn't plan that out?" All three looked disapprovingly at Jane.
"How could you even think of such a cruel thing?" asked Arrietty. "I've spent my life trying to hide from humans -" She patted Sho knowingly on his shoulder "- except for Sho. And now you want both me and Maribel to become discovered?"
"Now, now, Arrietty, she meant it in good fun. I don't agree with her plan of action, of course, but I can take a joke," purred Sho.
Maribel chimed in as well. "Still, Jane, that was really mean. You don't know what it means to us to be discovered."
"I do know what it means, I just wanted to have a little fun."
Sho sighed. Jane was like that all the time in school. "Okay, so Arrietty will have to stay with you two for a week. After that, you and Maribel can come over any time you want."
Maribel grinned. "That sounds great! When will your parents arrive?"
"I'm not too sure. They could be here tomorrow, they could be here in a week. They didn't say exactly when. They might be at my house already!"
Arrietty smiled sadly. "Alright then. Make sure you keep in contact, okay?"
"I will. See you in a week, Arrietty!" smiled Sho sadly. It was hard to find the line dividing 'keep her safe from other humans' and 'keep her as a secret pet'. At least she would be able to spend time with her sister.
Jane nodded a solemn farewell to Sho, who returned with a brisk "Thanks". It would be a long week without Arrietty. Leaving her for a whole day at school was hard enough, could he survive one week? He trotted down the road towards the street, and he nearly forgot to look both ways before crossing. The walk home was painfully quiet; Arrietty would normally be humming her song or making up a little poem with him. As he approached the pathway up to his house, he heard a car pull up from behind him. It honked twice, and Sho turned around to see two all-too-familiar faces behind the windshield.
Sho's mother stepped out of the rusty red vehicle, a sedan, and embraced Sho. "Oh, Sho! It's great to see you again! How are you?"
"Um… fine, mom. Thanks," muttered Sho. She was like this every time she came to visit. If she really cared that much about him, why did she leave in the first place?
"I would have come to see you sooner, but my work just did not let up. I'm so sorry!" cried his mother. Sho sighed. This was the fourth time she had said that as an excuse.
"Mary, could you step aside? I need to park this car," shouted Sho's father from the sedan. "Just a few steps to your left."
Mary pulled Sho over. "Oh, sure!" She turned back to Sho, and continued to hug him. The sedan crept dangerously close, and then passed with a gust of wind. "C'mon, let's get back in the house. No sense staying here all day, now is there?"
"'course not, mom." was the brief reply.
Aunt Sadako greeted Sho's parents at the door. "Mary, Dave! I'm so glad to see you two back together again!"
Haru rushed on out, shouting, "Oh, sir and madam! Please, do come in! I have prepared a little snack for your tired bodies. Please, come in to the living room!" She ran back inside, trying to get everything nice and perfect before her guests entered.
Sho watched with fascination at the speed his mother had changed attitudes. One moment, she was squeezing the breath out of him, and the second she was ignoring him completely. Maybe something was wrong…
-----
Arrietty and Maribel were running around the house, playing a game of 'Take Jane's stuff and run with it'. Squealing and screaming, the two borrowers slipped to and fro from cupboard to drawer to table to floor, carrying Jane's little prized possessions. Maribel held on to a little keychain, and Arrietty carried a little stone. Laughing, they rolled underneath the tiniest crevices as they tried to avoid Jane's crazy, flailing, and cumbersome hands.
"Give… them… BACK!" shouted Jane uselessly. She was laughing uncontrollably as well, so she had to choke the words out before falling on the ground, out of breath.
"Catch me first!" taunted Maribel, who leapt down from a drawer onto the floor.
"Oh, I'll get you!" grabbed Jane, narrowly missing Maribel. Maribel shrieked, and dashed off to the nearest safety. Tiny borrower feet were not match for the huge lunges of Jane, and Maribel was soon cackling within the grasp of Jane's hand.
"H.. Here! You caught… you caught me…" panted Maribel through laughter. Arrietty collapsed next to Jane's feet, worn out from the hour of play. She had not had so much fun for a long time. It was much more enjoyable with another borrower around. Jane was a very good sport as well.
"I'm … completely exhausted… Maribel…" whispered Arrietty hoarsely. Her throat had run dry from all the yelling, laughing and screaming. She felt the ground fall beneath her, and she groaned. It was Sho, trying to contact her again. "Jane… Maribel… hold on, Sho's calling me…" and Arrietty fell limp.
Inside of her own subconscious, Arrietty's eyes opened. She glanced around the darkness. Everything was a pitch of gray – even herself. Sho's body appeared, surprisingly as the same size as her. He was entirely gray as well. "I'm sorry I had to call you like this, Arrietty."
"Well, you should have warned me! Where are we?"
"Inside of our minds. My body is physically asleep, but mentally connected to you. You just fainted I think, and Maribel is helping you onto a bed."
"So this is like a dream world?"
"Not exactly. But I did want to try this. The elder told me very quickly about this sub-conscious space when the two of you came out of the forest. We're living in our minds right now."
"This is so cool! But why did you call me in the first place?"
"Well, I wanted to warn you to not come anywhere close to my house. My mother and father are setting up little detection and capturing devices out in the fields and forests. They think I don't know, but I have my ways of finding out. Haru is helping out as well. By the way, have you noticed how clearly we can hear and see each other? It's so different than when we tried talking to each other before."
"I see everything grayish though," complained Arrietty.
"Hm… that's weird. Everything is color for me. Perhaps it's something that a borrower can't do."
"I wouldn't think so, but whatever. So you say they've placed capture devices? What are they?"
"Well, they're setting up little motion sensors as well as cameras around the entire area, and I guess things that look like mouse traps and cages scattered throughout the gardens."
"Why would they do something like that?"
"Well, my mother has a keen interest in tiny things, and my father believed he once saw one before. It's funny – even though my parents are divorced, the instant Haru told them about Borrowers they got back together again. I'm hoping your parents don't decide to go there anytime soon – I don't think that there is anything I can do right now."
Arrietty felt the connection between them start to sever. She did her best to focus her mind, but she could feel the echoes of Jane and Maribel as they tried to force her awake. Sho felt the rumblings as well, and he gave Arrietty a sloppy salute. "Your friends are calling. You might want to go now."
Arrietty grinned. "Of course you want to get rid of me. Well then, see you around!"
Sho's image turned into static, which morphed into Maribel's worried eyes. "Arrietty! Are you okay?"
Confused and dazed from the sudden changes, Arrietty stuttered, "Didn't you hear me when I told you that Sho was calling me?"
Jane breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought I heard you say that, but before I could confirm you were out cold. You've been asleep for about an hour now."
"An HOUR?! That felt like a few minutes though!"
"Well, it was an hour. We were so worried that you had… I dunno, fell into a coma or something." Jane wiped the sweat off her brow, which splashed on the two poor borrowers like rain.
"Maribel, would you please help me up? My legs aren't listening to me," Arrietty whined.

Sho woke with a slight shudder. Arrietty had broken off the connection a little too abruptly, and his mind was a little sore. It wasn't a describable pain, but it was there nonetheless. He glanced at the clock, which minutes ago read 8:45. It now said 9:41. Time had really gone by fast in that alternate... dimension? Sho was conflicted on what that should have been called.
"Sho, are you awake?" whispered his mother from the door.
"Yes, mom. The door is unlocked."
Mary tentatively opened the door. "I'm sorry to interrupt you. Are you not feeling well?"
"I'm feeling fine, mom. Why do you ask?"
Mary sat on the edge of the bed, to Sho's right. "Well, you went to bed quite early."
"Nah, I'm fine. What are you and dad" there was a noticeable hesitation in his voice "doing outside?"
"...well, remember the stories I've told you about little people? Haru says that she's seen them, and she accuses you of hiding them. Of course, I don't believe you'd do such a thing, but I was still interested to find them."
"And why is dad here?" he probed.
"Haru called him. He met me at the airport."
That was it. Short and sweet. Mary had never truly forgiven Dave after their argument. Sho sighed, wondering if the traps outside really worked. "Mom, why are you so interested in the little people?"
"Don't you think it would be exciting to live with tiny people as pets?" Sho swallowed a sharp cringe. "And wouldn't it be fun to play with them? I'm sure we could show them off to our neighbors... Maybe even a news reporter will drop by!"
Sho had heard enough of his mother's crazy talk. "Mom, please get out of my room."
Slightly disturbed, Mary stood up. "Sure, honey. I'll see you tomorrow morning." The door clicked shut behind her, and Sho went to lock it. He could not believe that his mother would want to keep Arrietty and the other borrowers as pets. The mere thought of it was repulsive. Later that night, Sho established contact with Arrietty again. Half jolted from her sleep, Arrietty replied to his call groggily. It felt like he had knocked on a door inside of her head, and she went to open it. Instead of Sho coming through, she was pulled into the gray room again, and Sho was waiting inside for her.
"Hello and good night, Arrietty."
"Why did you wake me up again? My head hurts from you pulling me in now…" she grumbled, mentally massaging her head.
"Well, your body is getting the rest it needs. I just thought that I wanted to talk to you again."
Arrietty sat down cross-legged, and Sho sat next to her. The gray background began to shift, and it faded into a beach during a sunset. The colors grew vivid to Arrietty, and she could finally see the hues of her surroundings. "Sho, are you doing this?"
"I think I am. But it is really tiring. I'm just going to leave it like this." He turned to look at Arrietty over his shoulder. Now that they were the same size, he could fully examine Arrietty's face. She still looked more beautiful than ever, her hair flowing back without her hairclip. He was tempted to reach over to hold her hand, but he was afraid…
"Sho? Are you okay?" asked Arrietty, concerned with his silence.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just seeing you for the first time."
Arrietty blushed embarrassedly. "Surely I'm not that pretty. …what's wrong? You look hesitant about something…"
Sho stared out into the fictional ocean, gleaming and roaring with the golden-red sun. "I was just…" but he did not finish his sentence.
Arrietty tried to prod him into continuing. "You were just…?"
It was Sho's turn to glow red. He felt his cheeks burn, even though this was all in his head. "Well, I wanted to…" he took a deep breath "I wanted to hold your hand." He stared at his outstretched feet in awkwardness.
Arrietty tried to control the tremble in her voice. "Well then, why don't you?"
Quietly, Sho said, "I'm afraid that once I touch you you'll disappear. And I'm afraid that if you don't, I'll never be used to having you being a tiny borrower again."
Arrietty understood his concerns, and she tried to console him. "Don't worry about that. I won't disappear. The truth is that I want to hold your hand as well." Her face burned with the fury of the excited sun, brightened by its flares of anticipation. She slowly reached her hand over towards Sho. He stared at it, contemplating the consequences. Slowly but surely, his raised his hand as well. Arrietty's fingers were slightly smaller than his, but they were elegant and they looked as soft as clouds. Their fingers momentarily made contact – and a splitting pain ran through both of their minds. It felt as if someone had sliced their entire bodies in half. Arrietty doubled over immediately, and Sho jerked stiff as his body was ripped apart. The agony lasted for a few minutes before subsiding.
"Arrietty… Arrietty, are you alright?" whispered Sho. He did not get a response. Anxiously, he looked at Arrietty's curled body, unmoving. He instinctively reached over to shake her, but he could not bring himself to endure the pain again. "Arrietty! Arrietty! Wake up! Are you okay?" She was completely unresponsive. Sho's fingers tingled with apprehension, and he knew he had to risk getting a migraine in order to save her. He took his deepest breath and placed his hand on Arrietty's shoulder. He squeezed his eyes shut, in preparations for the worst; but nothing happened. Tentatively, he opened one eye. The world wasn't falling apart. He opened his eyes fully and shook Arrietty vigorously. "Arrietty! Hey, wake up!"
She stirred slightly, and Sho gave a sigh of relief. "Sho? What happened? My head hurts so much..."
"I'm not sure. Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Then, with considerably more surprise, "You're touching my arm!"
"I think that was a one time thing. We're okay now."
Arrietty clambered back up to her knees, and she stared far out into the fake sunset. Something had changed, but she couldn't tell what.
The elder Dore blinked. He had been awakened from his sleep in the forest by an unusual burst of energy. It was one that he could not recognize at first, but as he listened intently, he heard one name being whispered clearly among the stars: Arrietty. "So... It's begun," muttered Dore. "I never thought I would see such a miracle. Spiller!"
Spiller walked into the elder's hut. Tentatively, he asked, "Yes, elder?"
"Remember what I told you about Arrietty and Sho?"
"You mean, the whole thing about her being special?"
"Yes. Go see her right now. Quickly. Find out what happened. There has been a disturbance among the stars, and that cannot be good."
"I will do so, elder. Is there anything else?" Spiller ruffled up his fur coat in preparation to fly.
"No. You must hurry."
As Spiller dashed off into the midnight forest, the elder could do nothing but twiddle his tiny thumbs. If she proved to be too dangerous, he may have to take care of her himself.

Description
Sho and Jane walked back to Jane's house together, with their borrower friends riding atop their shoulders. The two borrowers were deep in discussion, their tiny voices fading in and out as they argued on topic after topic. Sho wasn't sure he understood it all; he heard a lot of non-english words like "shi-a-te" and "mi-luu-nai", so he searched Arrietty's memories for the definitions. He found that he could not find the word in her head though, so instead, he asked her.
"Arrietty, what is mi-luu-nai?"
Arrietty, shirt rippling gently with the giant strides of Sho, smiled. "You heard us! Milunayil is a borrower term. I'm not too sure if I could explain it in English, but it is the kind of feeling you get right after a very risky borrowing expedition. Sort of nervousness, relief, and excitement mixed together."
Maribel, her blue dress also dancing with Jane's strides, added on. "It's kind of like slang. It used to mean that formally, but nowadays it can be used simply to mean relief after doing something."
Jane giggled slightly. "I learned to use some from Maribel. It's really hard not to use borrower-slang when I'm in school."
Eyes widening, Sho exclaimed, "I nearly forgot why I came to your house! Can Arrietty stay with you two when my parents come over?"
"Of course!" grinned Jane. "No reason not to! But why are you so anxious to hide Arrietty from your mother? Peedled?"
"Peedled?"
"It means 'afraid someone will ask the wrong question'."
"That's part of it. I don't know how she'll react when she sees Arrietty."
Maribel shouted, "Borrowers aren't meant to be seen, Jane! Remember? Human-borrower friendships aren't unheard of, but we must try to avoid letting the world know about us as much as possible!"
Jane nodded hastily, "Yes, I know. But I was thinking…"
A moment passed as Jane finished her sentence in her head.
"No. No. That won't do."
"Why not? It would surely be wonderfully cruel to watch!"
"NO! You're just doing this for fun, and we're risking the life of a borrower!"
Sho sighed. "What are you two talking about?"
Arrietty jumped up. "I'm getting annoyed now, what's the idea?"
Maribel, tight-lipped and frowning, grumbled, "That both of us show ourselves to Sho's mother. As a surprise."
Arrietty and Sho shouted protests in unison. Maribel and Jane covered their ears, Jane laughing and Maribel groaning. "Most definitely not! I can't let Arrietty and Maribel be seen!"
Jane doubled over. "I… I know… hahaha… just… just….pbththth!"
She could barely speak. Maribel, sitting on her violently shaking shoulders, asked for Sho to get her off of "this stupid girl's shoulder". Sho extended his arm, and Maribel ran up towards Arrietty. They waited for Jane to calm down, and she finished her sentence. "The way you two protested at the same time was hilarious! Are you sure you two didn't plan that out?" All three looked disapprovingly at Jane.
"How could you even think of such a cruel thing?" asked Arrietty. "I've spent my life trying to hide from humans -" She patted Sho knowingly on his shoulder "- except for Sho. And now you want both me and Maribel to become discovered?"
"Now, now, Arrietty, she meant it in good fun. I don't agree with her plan of action, of course, but I can take a joke," purred Sho.
Maribel chimed in as well. "Still, Jane, that was really mean. You don't know what it means to us to be discovered."
"I do know what it means, I just wanted to have a little fun."
Sho sighed. Jane was like that all the time in school. "Okay, so Arrietty will have to stay with you two for a week. After that, you and Maribel can come over any time you want."
Maribel grinned. "That sounds great! When will your parents arrive?"
"I'm not too sure. They could be here tomorrow, they could be here in a week. They didn't say exactly when. They might be at my house already!"
Arrietty smiled sadly. "Alright then. Make sure you keep in contact, okay?"
"I will. See you in a week, Arrietty!" smiled Sho sadly. It was hard to find the line dividing 'keep her safe from other humans' and 'keep her as a secret pet'. At least she would be able to spend time with her sister.
Jane nodded a solemn farewell to Sho, who returned with a brisk "Thanks". It would be a long week without Arrietty. Leaving her for a whole day at school was hard enough, could he survive one week? He trotted down the road towards the street, and he nearly forgot to look both ways before crossing. The walk home was painfully quiet; Arrietty would normally be humming her song or making up a little poem with him. As he approached the pathway up to his house, he heard a car pull up from behind him. It honked twice, and Sho turned around to see two all-too-familiar faces behind the windshield.
Sho's mother stepped out of the rusty red vehicle, a sedan, and embraced Sho. "Oh, Sho! It's great to see you again! How are you?"
"Um… fine, mom. Thanks," muttered Sho. She was like this every time she came to visit. If she really cared that much about him, why did she leave in the first place?
"I would have come to see you sooner, but my work just did not let up. I'm so sorry!" cried his mother. Sho sighed. This was the fourth time she had said that as an excuse.
"Mary, could you step aside? I need to park this car," shouted Sho's father from the sedan. "Just a few steps to your left."
Mary pulled Sho over. "Oh, sure!" She turned back to Sho, and continued to hug him. The sedan crept dangerously close, and then passed with a gust of wind. "C'mon, let's get back in the house. No sense staying here all day, now is there?"
"'course not, mom." was the brief reply.
Aunt Sadako greeted Sho's parents at the door. "Mary, Dave! I'm so glad to see you two back together again!"
Haru rushed on out, shouting, "Oh, sir and madam! Please, do come in! I have prepared a little snack for your tired bodies. Please, come in to the living room!" She ran back inside, trying to get everything nice and perfect before her guests entered.
Sho watched with fascination at the speed his mother had changed attitudes. One moment, she was squeezing the breath out of him, and the second she was ignoring him completely. Maybe something was wrong…
-----
Arrietty and Maribel were running around the house, playing a game of 'Take Jane's stuff and run with it'. Squealing and screaming, the two borrowers slipped to and fro from cupboard to drawer to table to floor, carrying Jane's little prized possessions. Maribel held on to a little keychain, and Arrietty carried a little stone. Laughing, they rolled underneath the tiniest crevices as they tried to avoid Jane's crazy, flailing, and cumbersome hands.
"Give… them… BACK!" shouted Jane uselessly. She was laughing uncontrollably as well, so she had to choke the words out before falling on the ground, out of breath.
"Catch me first!" taunted Maribel, who leapt down from a drawer onto the floor.
"Oh, I'll get you!" grabbed Jane, narrowly missing Maribel. Maribel shrieked, and dashed off to the nearest safety. Tiny borrower feet were not match for the huge lunges of Jane, and Maribel was soon cackling within the grasp of Jane's hand.
"H.. Here! You caught… you caught me…" panted Maribel through laughter. Arrietty collapsed next to Jane's feet, worn out from the hour of play. She had not had so much fun for a long time. It was much more enjoyable with another borrower around. Jane was a very good sport as well.
"I'm … completely exhausted… Maribel…" whispered Arrietty hoarsely. Her throat had run dry from all the yelling, laughing and screaming. She felt the ground fall beneath her, and she groaned. It was Sho, trying to contact her again. "Jane… Maribel… hold on, Sho's calling me…" and Arrietty fell limp.
Inside of her own subconscious, Arrietty's eyes opened. She glanced around the darkness. Everything was a pitch of gray – even herself. Sho's body appeared, surprisingly as the same size as her. He was entirely gray as well. "I'm sorry I had to call you like this, Arrietty."
"Well, you should have warned me! Where are we?"
"Inside of our minds. My body is physically asleep, but mentally connected to you. You just fainted I think, and Maribel is helping you onto a bed."
"So this is like a dream world?"
"Not exactly. But I did want to try this. The elder told me very quickly about this sub-conscious space when the two of you came out of the forest. We're living in our minds right now."
"This is so cool! But why did you call me in the first place?"
"Well, I wanted to warn you to not come anywhere close to my house. My mother and father are setting up little detection and capturing devices out in the fields and forests. They think I don't know, but I have my ways of finding out. Haru is helping out as well. By the way, have you noticed how clearly we can hear and see each other? It's so different than when we tried talking to each other before."
"I see everything grayish though," complained Arrietty.
"Hm… that's weird. Everything is color for me. Perhaps it's something that a borrower can't do."
"I wouldn't think so, but whatever. So you say they've placed capture devices? What are they?"
"Well, they're setting up little motion sensors as well as cameras around the entire area, and I guess things that look like mouse traps and cages scattered throughout the gardens."
"Why would they do something like that?"
"Well, my mother has a keen interest in tiny things, and my father believed he once saw one before. It's funny – even though my parents are divorced, the instant Haru told them about Borrowers they got back together again. I'm hoping your parents don't decide to go there anytime soon – I don't think that there is anything I can do right now."
Arrietty felt the connection between them start to sever. She did her best to focus her mind, but she could feel the echoes of Jane and Maribel as they tried to force her awake. Sho felt the rumblings as well, and he gave Arrietty a sloppy salute. "Your friends are calling. You might want to go now."
Arrietty grinned. "Of course you want to get rid of me. Well then, see you around!"
Sho's image turned into static, which morphed into Maribel's worried eyes. "Arrietty! Are you okay?"
Confused and dazed from the sudden changes, Arrietty stuttered, "Didn't you hear me when I told you that Sho was calling me?"
Jane breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought I heard you say that, but before I could confirm you were out cold. You've been asleep for about an hour now."
"An HOUR?! That felt like a few minutes though!"
"Well, it was an hour. We were so worried that you had… I dunno, fell into a coma or something." Jane wiped the sweat off her brow, which splashed on the two poor borrowers like rain.
"Maribel, would you please help me up? My legs aren't listening to me," Arrietty whined.

Sho woke with a slight shudder. Arrietty had broken off the connection a little too abruptly, and his mind was a little sore. It wasn't a describable pain, but it was there nonetheless. He glanced at the clock, which minutes ago read 8:45. It now said 9:41. Time had really gone by fast in that alternate... dimension? Sho was conflicted on what that should have been called.
"Sho, are you awake?" whispered his mother from the door.
"Yes, mom. The door is unlocked."
Mary tentatively opened the door. "I'm sorry to interrupt you. Are you not feeling well?"
"I'm feeling fine, mom. Why do you ask?"
Mary sat on the edge of the bed, to Sho's right. "Well, you went to bed quite early."
"Nah, I'm fine. What are you and dad" there was a noticeable hesitation in his voice "doing outside?"
"...well, remember the stories I've told you about little people? Haru says that she's seen them, and she accuses you of hiding them. Of course, I don't believe you'd do such a thing, but I was still interested to find them."
"And why is dad here?" he probed.
"Haru called him. He met me at the airport."
That was it. Short and sweet. Mary had never truly forgiven Dave after their argument. Sho sighed, wondering if the traps outside really worked. "Mom, why are you so interested in the little people?"
"Don't you think it would be exciting to live with tiny people as pets?" Sho swallowed a sharp cringe. "And wouldn't it be fun to play with them? I'm sure we could show them off to our neighbors... Maybe even a news reporter will drop by!"
Sho had heard enough of his mother's crazy talk. "Mom, please get out of my room."
Slightly disturbed, Mary stood up. "Sure, honey. I'll see you tomorrow morning." The door clicked shut behind her, and Sho went to lock it. He could not believe that his mother would want to keep Arrietty and the other borrowers as pets. The mere thought of it was repulsive. Later that night, Sho established contact with Arrietty again. Half jolted from her sleep, Arrietty replied to his call groggily. It felt like he had knocked on a door inside of her head, and she went to open it. Instead of Sho coming through, she was pulled into the gray room again, and Sho was waiting inside for her.
"Hello and good night, Arrietty."
"Why did you wake me up again? My head hurts from you pulling me in now…" she grumbled, mentally massaging her head.
"Well, your body is getting the rest it needs. I just thought that I wanted to talk to you again."
Arrietty sat down cross-legged, and Sho sat next to her. The gray background began to shift, and it faded into a beach during a sunset. The colors grew vivid to Arrietty, and she could finally see the hues of her surroundings. "Sho, are you doing this?"
"I think I am. But it is really tiring. I'm just going to leave it like this." He turned to look at Arrietty over his shoulder. Now that they were the same size, he could fully examine Arrietty's face. She still looked more beautiful than ever, her hair flowing back without her hairclip. He was tempted to reach over to hold her hand, but he was afraid…
"Sho? Are you okay?" asked Arrietty, concerned with his silence.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just seeing you for the first time."
Arrietty blushed embarrassedly. "Surely I'm not that pretty. …what's wrong? You look hesitant about something…"
Sho stared out into the fictional ocean, gleaming and roaring with the golden-red sun. "I was just…" but he did not finish his sentence.
Arrietty tried to prod him into continuing. "You were just…?"
It was Sho's turn to glow red. He felt his cheeks burn, even though this was all in his head. "Well, I wanted to…" he took a deep breath "I wanted to hold your hand." He stared at his outstretched feet in awkwardness.
Arrietty tried to control the tremble in her voice. "Well then, why don't you?"
Quietly, Sho said, "I'm afraid that once I touch you you'll disappear. And I'm afraid that if you don't, I'll never be used to having you being a tiny borrower again."
Arrietty understood his concerns, and she tried to console him. "Don't worry about that. I won't disappear. The truth is that I want to hold your hand as well." Her face burned with the fury of the excited sun, brightened by its flares of anticipation. She slowly reached her hand over towards Sho. He stared at it, contemplating the consequences. Slowly but surely, his raised his hand as well. Arrietty's fingers were slightly smaller than his, but they were elegant and they looked as soft as clouds. Their fingers momentarily made contact – and a splitting pain ran through both of their minds. It felt as if someone had sliced their entire bodies in half. Arrietty doubled over immediately, and Sho jerked stiff as his body was ripped apart. The agony lasted for a few minutes before subsiding.
"Arrietty… Arrietty, are you alright?" whispered Sho. He did not get a response. Anxiously, he looked at Arrietty's curled body, unmoving. He instinctively reached over to shake her, but he could not bring himself to endure the pain again. "Arrietty! Arrietty! Wake up! Are you okay?" She was completely unresponsive. Sho's fingers tingled with apprehension, and he knew he had to risk getting a migraine in order to save her. He took his deepest breath and placed his hand on Arrietty's shoulder. He squeezed his eyes shut, in preparations for the worst; but nothing happened. Tentatively, he opened one eye. The world wasn't falling apart. He opened his eyes fully and shook Arrietty vigorously. "Arrietty! Hey, wake up!"
She stirred slightly, and Sho gave a sigh of relief. "Sho? What happened? My head hurts so much..."
"I'm not sure. Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Then, with considerably more surprise, "You're touching my arm!"
"I think that was a one time thing. We're okay now."
Arrietty clambered back up to her knees, and she stared far out into the fake sunset. Something had changed, but she couldn't tell what.
The elder Dore blinked. He had been awakened from his sleep in the forest by an unusual burst of energy. It was one that he could not recognize at first, but as he listened intently, he heard one name being whispered clearly among the stars: Arrietty. "So... It's begun," muttered Dore. "I never thought I would see such a miracle. Spiller!"
Spiller walked into the elder's hut. Tentatively, he asked, "Yes, elder?"
"Remember what I told you about Arrietty and Sho?"
"You mean, the whole thing about her being special?"
"Yes. Go see her right now. Quickly. Find out what happened. There has been a disturbance among the stars, and that cannot be good."
"I will do so, elder. Is there anything else?" Spiller ruffled up his fur coat in preparation to fly.
"No. You must hurry."
As Spiller dashed off into the midnight forest, the elder could do nothing but twiddle his tiny thumbs. If she proved to be too dangerous, he may have to take care of her himself.