Chapter Text
I, Urano Motosu, love books. Give me any kind of book, and I will read it with all of the joy in my heart. It can be genuinely anything, any subject, any topic. Psychology, religion, science, geography, education, poetry, myth, folktales, fiction… anything and everything ever written, because books are the crystallisation of humanity’s knowledge, and I love them with all of my heart.
There was only one thing in the entire world that I cared about more than books, and that was rutrebs.
See, I sort of died?
I wasn’t quite sure how it happened, which I was thankful for. All I really remembered was a really dumb conversation I’d had with my friend Shuu about how I wanted to die and reincarnation, but honestly I’d only been half paying attention since I’d been reading at the time. And then after I got home there was this earthquake, and, well, poof!
I was dead, and then I woke up. I’d clearly reincarnated, but not in the way that any of the stories Shuu had recommended to me seemed to indicate I would. Whatever process had happened to me had felt much more instantaneous, and had left my mind feeling muddled. Though I couldn’t quite tell if that was because of how I’d died, or because I wasn’t human anymore. Right as I’d woken up, I found myself in a forest. It was genuinely pleasant out, with a nice breeze and lots of trees to sit in the shade of, and there was even something nice and soft for me to lie down on. I’d thought about staying there for a while, but I was still a bit confused about where I was, so I tried to get up, only to find that when my body felt like it was standing, I was still so low to the ground that I felt blades of grass tickling my nose.
It was then that I took a better look at my surroundings, and found that the soft and furry lump I had been resting on wasn’t a lump at all, but some kind of rabbit with what almost looked like a fluffy mane around its neck. Confused as all heck, I looked down at myself, only to see a pair of paws with midnight blue fur where my hands should have been.
“Pooey!?” I went to scream, but all that came out was a weird chirping. It was enough to wake the lump that I had been resting on, which had the same colour fur as I did.
Is that my mom!?
Or maybe it was my dad? For some reason, I felt like the colour of its fur was all wrong for it to be my mom, and that meant that it could really only be my dad. Despite my curiosity, I couldn’t get an answer. The larger rabbit in front of me simply looked around for whatever had caused my distress, and then decided it didn’t care when it realised there was nothing around us, which wasn’t very fatherly of it at all. I didn’t quite know what to do in that moment. I had died and been reincarnated, and for some reason, as a bunny. And that meant one very important thing.
NOOOOOOOOO! HOW AM I GOING TO READ BOOKS LIKE THIS!?
I grieved until the afternoon, curled up in a ball, whimpering from my horrible luck. Whatever deity was responsible for this reincarnation apparently hated me so much that they had cursed me to never be able to read a book again! It was a travesty! An atrocity! How could anyone be so cruel as to deny a bookworm her most beloved books!?
Unfortunately, my wallowing couldn’t last forever. A slightly less important fact of my new reality asserted itself when my stomach started to hurt. I knew then that it had been a long time since I had eaten, and that meant that I had to find food for myself. I wasn’t entirely out of luck in that regard, at least. It seemed that my reincarnation hadn’t come immediately after my new form’s birth, and before my memories had awoken, I had had some experience foraging for food. I knew generally what was safe to eat, but something deep within me told me exactly what it wanted most. Rutrebs. An incredible, delicious, wonderful, amazing fruit that was almost as good as reading a brand-new book. Just the though of such a delectable snack was enough to get my bunny instincts to kick in, and, spurred on by my hunger, I began to hop away from the shade where my maybe-mom, maybe-dad was still resting.
Now that I was up and moving, I could hear that there were a bunch of other animals in the area. Some of them were probably bunnies like me, but I probably needed to be careful in case some of them were predators. I definitely wouldn’t get to read any books if I wasted my reincarnation!
Thankfully, the kind of rabbit I was seemed to be well-built for hopping, as despite my small size, I felt like I was able to move rather quickly through the forest. I stopped here and there to nibble on some other edible plants to keep my energy up, but none of them were as tasty as mom’s cooking, and definitely not even close to the absolute jewel of deliciousness that was a rutreb. I really wanted to find one of those soon. Once I had a suitable rutreb hoard to sustain me, I could work on the book problem.
As I hopped through the forest, I realised that I was probably fairly close to civilisation. Occasionally, I’d pass by a building that seemed to be artfully crafted out of some kind of white stone. They were all overgrown and abandoned looking, though, so I was probably pretty far on the outskirts of whatever town or city was nearby. That was probably a good thing, considering my newfound bunny status. People did have a tendency to eat rabbits, and if they didn’t hunt me down, they might very well be keeping pets that might.
I tried to shake that nasty thought from my head as I kept bounding through the forest on my hunt for rutrebs, but as the sun started getting lower in the sky, and shadows started growing longer, I started to wonder if maybe I wouldn’t find them before nightfall. And when the night came…
Ah, shoot! I’m totally lost! I have no idea where I’m supposed to go to take shelter in the night!
Nighttime meant nocturnal animals waking up. And for a bunny like me, nocturnal animals meant predators.
Do I have to choose? Do I keep looking for rutrebs, or do I find shelter and go hungry for the night?
It was an impossible question to answer. I was still moving, hunting for my lovely, delectable rutrebs, and guided primarily by my nose. I had no idea where they might be though, and I had a vague idea of where I might be able to seek shelter. Those abandoned white buildings, though they might be a little cold, certainly seemed sturdy enough. If I could find a way inside, or just a little secluded area by one, then maybe I could be safe for the night, and resume my search in the morning?
Ngh! Why does being a bunny have to be so hard!? Why can’t I just relax with a nice bowl of rutrebs and a good book!? Why do I have to worry about predators!?
I decided to turn around, hopping right back the way I’d come, and heading towards one of the white buildings I’d seen. If nothing else, I could start looking for a way to take shelter before night fell, and it got too dark.
Of course, that was when I smelt it. Something delicious. Something delectable. Something so mouth-wateringly delightful that I couldn’t possibly ignore it. It had to be a rutreb. A sweet, sweet, rutreb.
I bounded towards it, forgoing all sense of danger as I rushed towards my delicious prize. I wanted it. I needed it. I was starving, and only a rutreb could satiate me, though I would settle for reading a good book if it was offered to me.
But then-
“My lord, look out!”
People.
And not just any people. Big people. Tall, scary-looking people with muscles, and one of them was even wearing armour and carrying a sword. And they weren’t alone. There were animals attacking them. Big, cat-like things with sharp claws and pointy teeth that looked like it could tear a poor, innocent, bookworm bunny like me in half in an instant. My body immediately panicked, my tiny heart pounding in my tiny chest as I ducked into a nearby bush to hide from the yowling and the caterwauling and the shouts as the men and the animals clashed. I curled up there, shivering from fear as I listened to metal rend flesh and the howls of dying animals and the occasional shout from the men that had been under attack.
“My Lord, behind you!”
“Ah! My bag!”
“My Lord, are you injured!?”
The fighting continued beyond my sight as I tried my best to stay hidden. But there was something calling to me out there. Something sweet. And it was getting closer.
Rutrebs?
Slowly, carefully, I poked my nose out from beneath the bush. The smell was close by, really close, so I poked my whole head out to get a look. There in front of me was something small – well, from a human perspective, from a bunny perspective it was about the size of my head. It was round and a faintly shimmering, pearlescent white, and looked nothing like I had expected a rutreb to. But it had that sweet, delicious smell, and I felt like it was calling to me.
And so I sank my teeth into it.
So tasty!
It was everything I had ever dreamed of. It was the most delicious thing that had ever graced my palate, and I couldn’t get enough of it. I took bite after bite after bite, with absolutely zero care for any of my surroundings. Nothing could engross me this completely except for a new book.
“Dammit, a shumil got to one!” One of the people from nearby yelled. Did that mean that people thought that rutrebs were as tasty as I did? Was he even talking about me? Did that make me a shumil? I didn’t quite care for the answer to any of those questions, not when I had something so tasty in front of me.
“Wait! Don’t kill it yet! Let it eat it. We’ve already failed in what we set out to do, haven’t we, my lord? This could be a valuable opportunity to gather rare brewing ingredients. Shumil evolutions are exceedingly rare, after all.” Another one of the people said. I didn’t quite get what he was talking about, but I knew that they were talking about me now, and it sounded like they were going to kill me once I finished eating my delicious rutreb. I… was kind of glad that I was going to have a last meal that was this tasty, but I seriously did not want to die before I got the chance to read another book. So while I ate my scrumptious rutreb, my eyes flicked around for a way to escape. Maybe if I was fast enough, I could make it through the bushes?
“Rare? What kind of brewing materials could be acquired from an evolved shumil? Regularly shumils are only worth hunting for their claws and their meat. I struggle to see what could be so beneficial that you would suggest we allow it to evolve into something more dangerous.” The third man of the group said. Becoming more dangerous was actually sounding pretty good to me right now, since it could very well save my life.
Come on then, rutreb, work your magic!
“Ah, but it is quite interesting! When the males evolve, they grow large antlers that have extremely potent rejuvenating properties, while the females are much more rare. Supposedly, instead of antlers, they grow wings, and there is very little research available that would indicate the properties of the feathers when used in a brew.” The man who had suggested leaving me alone for now said. While I was definitely appreciative of him delaying my demise, I didn’t like the idea that he still wanted to kill me!
But if he’s going to let me grow wings, then I’ve got a great way out of here!
I wolfed down what was remaining of the magic rutreb, and felt a surge inside of me. Everything suddenly started getting brighter, and I felt myself… growing? It was a strange sensation and-
It hurts!
Everything happened so suddenly. The surge within me overwhelmed me like a wave of fire rushing through my insides, while at the same time my body was being assaulted from every angle. My bones were straining from the forces being applied to them, and my muscles felt like they were being grabbed and stretched in every direction possible. I felt like my skin was going to snap and burst open, spilling out my guts all over the forest floor as they ignited from this heat that was overwhelming me. I was dying. I was definitely, definitely, dying, and I’d only just reincarnated.
Curse you magic rutreb! You were supposed to give me wings!
All at once, the pain stopped. I flopped down onto my side, lying in the grass on the forest floor. That awful, terrible pain hadn’t killed me, but it had drained me to the point that I was certain that the mean men who were waiting for me to evolve certainly would. I couldn’t feel any wings on my back, though, so they weren’t going to get any of those feathers that they were so curious about. In fact, I couldn’t really feel any changes to my body. All I could feel was the grass against my skin.
Hang on, skin?
I glanced down at myself, and I saw the most astonishing thing I’d ever seen. My midnight blue fur was gone, replaced my soft, pale skin. Because I was no longer a bunny. I was a person. And I was naked.
“Eek!”