Consequences

"Crap…"

Sweat rolls down the side of my face as I face down the consequences of my own actions, or more specifically my own inaction.

"Did I always have this much homework…"

Several subjects worth of handouts crowd inside the dedicated folder for homework. Normally, I have most of the subjects done by Sunday afternoon as well as some kind of progress on my big project. Two days is a lot of time when I dedicate all of my free time to school work, but these past couple of days have been anything but usual.

I flip through the handouts, each one being more than willing to remind me of how much trouble I'm in.

"Okay…if I start now, I should be able to get something down for literature and history…then there's this algebra assignment…"

I barely hear the kitchen cabinets close as Mira finishes putting the remaining groceries away. By the time biology rears its ugly head, the rabbit is beside me at the desk.

"What's wrong?"

"Homework…all of this dang homework!"

The roots of my hair tighten up as I grip the black strands in anger.

"Every week! Every week, I tell you! Review this! Review that! You know what? Review it again while you're at it! Do these teachers think we have no life!?"

Out of the corner of my eye is a surprisingly tame Mira. Instead of cowering under the bed as one might expect of a small animal, she's still standing beside me, albeit with her ears covered. The sight of those concerned blue eyes is enough to immediately cool my head.

"No, you're right…"

Talking to nobody in particular, I free my hair from the torture of my claws.

"Who do I think I am? Of course I have no life. My existence is just to do well in school. Right, nothing more, nothing less…nothing more, nothing less…"

"Noa, you're weird…"

"I don't want to hear that from you…"

She looks at me, then at the folder filled with papers she can't understand the meaning of.

"Is this that 'homework' you were talking about yesterday?"

"Yeah…"

Unfortunately, I'm a student. Just as an office worker has a job to reply to emails and write reports, a student has a job to study and score well. Mira has been a rather troublesome distraction, but one that I won't admit to having preferred over doing my homework.

"Sorry Mira, but I—"

"Don't worry!"

My train of thought is lost as my words are cut short. I turn and see Mira with her hands forming fists and her brows forming a determined display.

"Noa has to do his work! I'll do something else while you're busy!"

"S-Something else? Like what?"

"Like—like…"

The rabbit rubs her temples with her fist as she thinks.

"Like…a walk! I'll walk around outside! That way, Noa can focus on work!"

I can barely believe my ears, nor do I want to. The thought of letting Mira wander around outside alone is enough to force my whole head of hair to fall out from stress. Nonetheless, she continues to press with those deep blue eyes.

"I'll be fine!"

Behind that determined showing, I can see her own concerns on the matter. Her hands are making fists, but those fists have been shaking since she declared her will.

For some reason, tears feel the need to fill up my eyes at her proposal. Our relationship is complicated despite only having just begun. However, Mira is already trying her best in providing for me in her own way. I don't want her hard work to go to waste, but I can't allow her to needlessly put herself in danger.

"Thanks Mira, but you don't have to do that."

"Huh?"

I pat her on the head and rise from my seat. The rabbit shadows closely behind me as I grab a drawstring bag and start loading it with textbooks and my handouts.

"What is that for?"

"I'm packing up. Can you grab my notebook?"

"Sure…"

Mira heads over to the still fragmented pile of paper on the corner of the desk. Some parts have been taped to some amount of readability, but it still isn't nearly enough to get the notebook back to its former glory.

"What is this for?"

"We're taking it with us."

Her hair flops slightly to the side as she tilts her head.

"Taking it where?"

"Somewhere more productive than here."

I have no reason to be this vague, but keeping the suspense is fun in its own way. After a few minutes, the two of us are out the door of our apartment.

* * * * *

"Well met, soldiers! I'm glad to see that you all have returned safely!"

Squeak squeak

The small party of floppy-eared rabbits wave their forelegs with excitement as Mira looks down upon them. Children and parents passing by point in awe at the unusual gathering of small creatures in a grassy patch of the nearby park.

"Tell me what you guys found on your quest!"

Mira in her white dress stands out like a sore thumb against the many walls of green surrounding them, but that only makes my job easier.

With a textbook as my table, I'm sitting at a nearby bench off the side of the concrete trail. The folder of various assignments lay on one side of the seat while the torn remnants of my old notebook lay on the other. I have everything I need to complete the most urgent work and the park offers the solution for keeping Mira occupied. It's a win-win.

"Alright, one assignment done!"

I transfer one handout to the back of the folder and transition to the next. Before checking the handout, I look up to check on Mira. She's always in my vision while I'm working, but looking at the rabbits in their natural habitat is a nice break.

"Woah, I didn't know that was there too!"

Mira is sitting on the grassy field with rabbits all around her. Some of the little guys sit on her lap, others lay on her shoulders, and one is even perched atop her blue and white head. A human could never hope to reach this level of intimacy with animals, only another of their kind could.

I pull out my phone and snap a photo of the scene in front of me. If her existence wasn't held with such secrecy, I would have immediately set this image as the lock screen of my phone.

"I guess I can always print it out…"

After gazing at the photo for a little longer, I return my phone to my pocket and prepare to continue working.

"An enemy!? Out here!?"

Mira's frantic yelling causes my neck to jerk back up so that my eyes can take in the situation. The rabbits have spread out slightly with Mira standing immediately behind them. The small creatures crouch down in preparation of the oncoming threat, their gazes directed off to the other end of the grass. There, I see a sight that is just as ridiculous as the one I had just witnessed.

More rabbits.

A party about the size of the one led by Mira approaches slowly from the distance. Unlike the ones around here, these rabbits don't have floppy ears. Their ears stand up tall and strong, but not nearly as strong as the coats they carry. I found Mira to be very fluffy when she fit in my arms, but these rabbits take it to an entirely different level. A thick wool covers the entirety of their bodies and forms something of a mane around their heads. To a smaller creature, facing these guys down is like facing a group of lions minus the sharp claws.

Just like the group of lopped-eared rabbits, the maned rabbits have a seemingly human girl following closely behind. The green of the grassland and trees is pushed to the background by a figure in white. The girl is fitted in a long skirt and a white blouse that cuts the sleeves before her elbow. A large orange ribbon wraps around her collar and rests across her chest. Her hair is a light brown to the point of almost being orange and similar to Mira, she has a white strip of hair directly between her eyes. The mane is unusually thick, bunching all around her neck and down her back. Some stray strands form a cowlick that seems to aim straight up.

"Please don't tell me there's another one…"

I gather my papers and supplies into my bag and run out to the scene unfolding in our usually quiet park.