[You are not a rabbit.]
Said the yellow eyes.
The Tribal God she encountered for the first time in her life denied her identity.
In fear, Kirikiri understood and accepted.
If anyone else had said that, Kirikiri would have refuted it.
She could have shouted that she was a rabbit.
But she could not even dare to question the Tribal God, the birthplace of all rabbits.
[Your blood is mixed.]
All the rabbits that were born from the Tribal God were part of the Tribal God.
Although the number has increased through breeding over the generations, all members of the tribe share the same source of the Tribal God.
The only exception was Kirikiri.
[Hmm.]
The Tribal God looked at Kirikiri and agonized.
In front of the giant Tribal God’s eyes that looked around her, poor Kirikiri could do nothing but tremble.
[It doesn’t matter.]
The Tribal God has decided.
Now, even a speck of strength was a pity.
The human blood is low.
Numerous spirit creatures and demons are trying to gain rank using humans.
It would be fine to eat at least one half human.
[Let’s connect first.]
The Tribal God was a different being from the insignificant monsters who gathered power while using human bodies.
It was a being that was truly classified as a god.
He was a being who knew how to use his power as a god.
He was also cruel and cunning.
To the extent that he gave up a part of himself to create a beast race, and re-absorbed the beast race that had increased in number through breeding. This was the method he came up with to increase his power.
Because he was such a Tribal God, he did not cut off Kirikiri’s head and immediately chew her corpse like a wild beast.
Instead, he took a slightly nobler method.
The Tribal God’s hair grew long.
The tip of his hair, which moved like a giant snake, was as sharp as a spear.
The hair turned behind Kirikiri and stabbed the back of her neck.
Kirikiri’s body dropped.
* * *
[You are not a rabbit.]
Said the Tribal God.
Said the priest Hara.
Said the rabbits.
Said the rabbits from the upper village and a little higher village.
Said the rabbits of the same age.
[Kirikiri doesn’t understand what you’re saying.]
[Suffocating.]
[Kirikiri looks different from us.]
[Strange.]
[Kirikiri is not a rabbit.]
Said her mother, who she had never seen her face in her life.
[Kirikiri is not a rabbit.]
Said her father, who had suddenly left one day, leaving Kirikiri alone.
[We are not rabbits.]
She couldn’t remember the face.
It was obvious.
No one had ever said anything like that to Kirikiri.
The kind and gentle rabbits knew Kirikiri’s troubles.
No matter how young and immature the rabbit was, they did not speak words that would hurt Kirikiri.
Neither her mother, whom she had never seen, nor her father, who she could not remember the face, said so.
[I am not a rabbit.]
Kirikiri was talking to herself.
It was her anxiety, her sense of inferiority.
The memories passed quickly.
As she recalled each of the troubled and agonizing moments, her consciousness sunk deeper.
Kirikiri, who pulled out the memories sleeping unconsciously, soon reached what had been sleeping at the end.
Kirkiri’s consciousness, who reached the source, was connected with it.
[Kirikiri? It’s a pretty name.]
[Kirikiri.]
[Kirikiri.]
[Can you hear me?]
[She can’t seem to hear it.]
[I think we should call her out with our voices.]
[Wow. It’s been six years since I spoke with my voice.]
[Excited!]
[What should I say?]
[How about this. Welcome back to your hometown]
“Kirikiri. Welcome back to your hometown!”
Said the priest Hara.
Kirikiri realized.
She knows that the memories of seeing herself are the memories of when she first came to the Rabbit Village, ten years ago.
Priest Hara stared at her for a long time, and then he shouted welcome.
The young Kirikiri was terrified.
[Kirikiri!]
[I picked up raspberries!]
[Come and eat quickly too! They’ll all be gone by the evening.]
[You idiot. Kirikiri can’t hear you. You have to go and tell her.]
[What do we do? Kirikiri lives in the village below. She’ll run out of raspberries before I bring them in.]
[I have to hide a few.]
One day, adult rabbits picked up a basket of raspberries.
Kirikiri only found out about it in the evening.
In the evening, all the raspberries were gone.
Kirkiri was disappointed.
She was so upset that she felt shocked.
While she was the only one unaware, she was so saddened that the rabbits from all over the town were eating raspberries.
When she returned home with some raspberries hidden in her hands that Hara the priest had brought her, she wept alone and ate the raspberries.
[Will Kirikiri be annoyed with us?]
[I do not know.]
[Because she can’t hear my heart.]
The rabbits were also worried about communication.
Kirikiri was the only one who couldn’t read the heart in Rabbit Village.
In front of an emotional stranger they encountered for the first time, the rabbits were shy and anxious.
The conversations of the rabbits continued to be heard.
It was like reading old letters in a mailbox.
They were conversations stored in a spirit world.
Even the thoughts and emotions that the rabbits felt at that time remained the same.
She recalled conversations that had been so long ago, but Kirikiri had not heard yet.
Among the conversations of the rabbits, there was also a story about Kirikiri’s parents.
[In the end, even a human doctor could not save her.]
[It was a very dangerous birth.]
[How pitiful.]
[How old is she?]
[Five years old.]
[He wants to live in the village with her daughter.]
[Good. We should be family to both of them.]
[I like it too.]
[Me too.]
These were the stories the rabbits did not tell.
Kirikiri’s father didn’t even tell her.
[Humans die too easily]
[Is she ill?]
[He shouldn’t be allowed to stay in our village. This place is too high for humans to live.]
[… How do I explain it to Kirikiri?]
[Huh…….]
It was a story Kirikiri had never heard of.
Her dad actually suffered from altitude sickness.
[I can’t speak.]
[The child lost both her parents. She may not be able to endure.]
[We… … .]
That he didn’t abandon her and left.
The conversation continued.
[God is back.]
[We can’t refuse.]
[Let’s run away.]
[Where. How.]
[Let’s hide the children. If we have a few children, even God will not notice.]
[Not everyone can hide. God will find out.]
[What about Kirikiri?]
[I have to get her out of town.]
[Kirikiri can run away.]
The conversation in the spirit world shared by the rabbits continued.
Continued and continued.
From the past to the present.
She was able to read not only the conversation but also the memories the rabbits had experienced.
The closer she got to the present, the clearer the memory.
Kirikiri saw the memory of the next door aunt Rabbit knocking on her door.
She saw the fortune-telling that Hara the priest saw as he broke hundreds of pearls.
She looked at Hara’s memories as he watched Kirikiri weeping as she sat down on the steps in embarrassment.
Kirikiri felt a chill as she turned the memories of the rabbits in reverse chronological order.
Left behind was an ominous feeling, followed by horror.
The festival was held.
A year later, the festival was held again.
The Tribal God appeared on the plateau.
Priest Hara could not contain his agitation.
Every rabbit in town read his thoughts.
He soon foresaw that death was approaching them.
His prediction was only half right.
Their god had no intention of killing the rabbits right away.
Hundreds of gigantic, strong hands spouted out and grabbed the rabbits and shook them.
As if extinguishing a torch by rubbing it on the ground, the rabbits were pressed against the ground.
Tossed, hit, and rolled to the ground like a ball.
He ripped their arm with his fingers and pressed their stomach to make them vomit blood.
The rabbits screamed in pain.
Kirikiri could feel all the things as if they were her own senses.
Kirikiri couldn’t do anything because of the pain that was transmitted through her mentally.
She was tired of the cruelty.
There were other emotions hidden in the pain.
There was satisfaction.
She felt a sense of proudness and fullness.
Only then did Kirikiri understand.
Kirikiri was not connected with the minds of the rabbits.
She was connected to the Tribal God.
The Tribal God was satisfied with the suffering of the rabbits.
Kirikiri couldn’t comprehend it.
In her own suffering, the suffering is enough to lead to death.
She feels the pain of all the rabbits in the village who are like her family.
She had a foreboding of her own death, and she also foresaw the death of other rabbits.
It was beyond cruel.
The rabbits felt betrayal, fear and despair towards the Tribal God, who is the parent of all rabbits.
She felt a mixture of so many evil emotions that she couldn’t even comprehend.
Is it possible to feel and be satisfied with all of this?
Just as the Tribal God was like parents to rabbits.
To the Tribal God, rabbits are children, and they are no different from his own limbs.
This was beyond arrogance.
‘How… Seeing, hearing and feeling all these things, to be satisfied with that.’
Kirikiri’s doubts reached the Tribal God.
Like all other rabbits, it was also possible for Kirkiri because she was connected with the Tribal God.
The Tribal God answered Kirikiri’s question.
[That is the most powerful force. Mixed breed.]
The Tribal God moved the hand holding Kirikiri so she can look better at the suffering of the rabbit.
It was different from feeling through the mind and seeing it with your own eyes.
The wide plateau has always been the pride of rabbits.
The rabbits used to say that they live in the most beautiful place in the world.
When they looked at the end of the wide plateau, it seemed as if it was the end of the world.
There was no mountain on the continent as high as the Blue Mountains, and the only place higher than the plateau where the rabbits lived was the top of the Blue Mountains.
Turning around once in place, it seemed as if this plateau was the whole of the world.
The green field and the blue sky were close to each other like a blanket.
Although it was an alpine area where no mountain animals could walk and no delicious fruit was produced, this was the reason the rabbits did not abandon the plateau in the end.
It was such a beautiful place.
It was a special land that the rabbits considered sacred.
The blue world was dyed red.
Pieces of flesh rolled on the floor.
The rabbits with strong vitality spewed out a surprisingly large amount of blood.
The blood that flowed out was so wet that the ground was wet.
Their homeland was no longer beautiful, warm, or comfortable.
[Suffer more. Be more angry and frustrated. That resentment is the most valuable thing you can throw out.]
Kirikiri felt as if the world was falling apart.
In fact, it was the end of the world for her.
In her despair, Kirikiri saw a light.
It was too big and intense to turn away.
According to Kirikiri’s awareness, the Tribal God also noticed the light’s existence.
The human he thought he had killed a while ago was still alive and awake.
He sure must have exploded and died.
What the man had in his hands was a power so great that it was hard to believe that he was a human.
The Tribal God had no choice but to panic.
[Human…how…… .]
The high seeker, who had blood all over his body, had a face more like a demon than anyone else in the world.
He was holding a sword shining like the sun.
