Chapter 30: Bunny Girl
Luna’s costume settled.
I stared at it.
Bunny ears. White and slightly too large for her head, flopping at the tips. A matching white outfit trimmed in pale gold, a small cotton tail visible from behind.
"What."
"The Lady assigned it," she said, with the dignity of someone who had not just manifested in a bunny costume.
"She assigned that."
"Personally."
"Did you appeal it?"
"....."
"...Once."
I pressed my hand over my mouth.
She straightened her ears with two fingers, adjusted her cuffs, and looked at me with the full weight of being older than my entire world.
"If you laugh," she said, "I will find a penalty that has nothing to do with your testicles."
I did not laugh.
I made a sound that was not a laugh.
She moved on. "The Ether Authority aspect is now operating at full capacity."
"Right," I managed.
"You’re welcome."
I looked at the ceiling.
"So the Lady just assigns your outfit."
"It’s a reward system."
"For her or for you."
She said nothing.
"Luna."
"It rotates. Some sessions are more dignified than others. This was not one of those sessions."
I looked at her again.
"You look like a very small, very dangerous rabbit."
"Thank you."
"That wasn’t a compliment."
"I know."
I sat down on the edge of the bed. The room was quiet. Tessira was asleep next door. The spin notification had faded from the corner of my vision.
"Luna."
"Yes."
"How many people got pulled in? From my world."
She was quiet for a moment.
"More than you think," she said.
"Are any of them in this world?"
"Some."
"Are any of them close to me?"
"I can’t tell you that."
I nodded.
"Yui."
Luna didn’t respond.
"She’s still there. In the hospital."
"Yes."
"Does time move the same way? If I go back, will she age while I’m here? Does she..."
"Time runs parallel," Luna said. Her voice had dropped. "What passes here passes there at the same rate. She is exactly as you left her."
Same rate. Which meant every day I spent here was a day she spent in that room with no one sitting in the chair beside her.
"You could have led with that," I said.
"You didn’t ask."
"I’m asking now. Is she okay."
Luna looked at me for a long moment.
"She is stable," she said. "The same as always."
The same as always.
Ten years of the same. The same pale face, the same quiet breathing, the same hand that didn’t squeeze back. I had built my entire life around that sameness.
"I just need to not die here," I said.
"That would be advisable," Luna agreed.
I laughed. Short.
The room went still.
After a moment Luna moved. She crossed to the bed without announcing it, bunny ears and all, and sat beside me, back straight, hands in her lap. Then she looked at me and said:
"Lie down."
"...What."
"You haven’t slept properly since arriving at this estate. Your recovery rate drops when you don’t sleep. It’s inefficient."
"I sleep fine."
"You lie on the bed and think about your sister until your body gives up. That isn’t sleeping."
I looked at her.
She looked back. Ears slightly askew from sitting down. Tail at the edge of my peripheral vision.
"Lie down," she said again.
I don’t know why I did it.
I lay down.
Luna shifted. Settled. And then she placed my head in her lap.
I stared at the ceiling.
"This is strange," I said.
"Go to sleep."
"You’re in a bunny costume."
"I am aware."
"This is genuinely one of the stranger moments of my life and I woke up in a dead man’s body two months ago."
"Go to sleep, Yuta."
I hadn’t heard that name spoken aloud in months.
Yuta.
The hand that settled on top of my head just rested there, ears drooping slightly to one side.
The last thing I felt was her hand resting lightly on my hair.
Then everything disappeared.
The panel opened somewhere in the dark behind my eyes, quiet, the way it sometimes did when I wasn’t awake enough to argue with it.
****
[Mana Heart: evolution confirmed.]
[Cause: Hell’s Fire stress fractures, mana vein activation.]
[Grade: Bronze → Silver Mid-grade.]
[Aspect Acquired: Ether Authority.]
[A mana form untouched by elemental alignment.]
[Mana Heart: Silver Mid-grade]
[Note: Forced advancement. External acceleration recorded.]
***
(Mysterious Pov)
The chamber was silent.
Mana lamps cast a pale blue light across the circular hall, leaving the ceiling hidden in darkness. Nine stone statues stood around the room. Each faced inward. Each represented one of the Stars.
Only eight seats were occupied.
The figure standing in the center slowly looked around the circle.
"Where is Star Nine?"
Several eyes shifted toward the empty seat.
"She departed three months ago," an elderly man answered. "Her mission was to locate the Child of War and confirm the target’s identity."
"And since then?"
"No contact."
The words settled heavily over the chamber.
The figure frowned.
"Star Nine has disappeared before. Never for this long."
Another voice spoke from the shadows.
"Every emergency channel remained silent. There was no distress signal. No withdrawal request. Nothing."
Someone quietly added, "We searched the last known location. There were no traces."
The room grew still.
A sharp crack echoed through the hall.
Everyone turned.
A thin fracture had appeared across Star Nine’s statue.
Nobody spoke.
The crack widened across the stone face, then raced through the shoulders and chest.
The statue shattered.
Stone struck the floor with a deafening crash.
Dust drifted through the pale light.
Every person in the chamber remained where they were.
The statues were linked to their owners. They had stood unchanged for centuries.
The figure in the center stared at the broken fragments.
"...Explain."
Silence answered.
Finally, one of the Stars spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Who could have killed her?"
No one replied.
The question itself was enough to chill the room.
Star Nine had survived wars, assassinations, and creatures that existed only in classified records.
If she had fallen...
Then whatever had killed her was already moving somewhere beyond their sight.
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