Chapter 5.5: Where's BunBun?

Lysia set the plastic grocery bag she was carrying on the ground. BunBun hopped out energetically, and was ready to play with his best friend in the whole wide world and who just so happened to be his owner.

“No BunBun,” Lysia said as she patted him sincerely to go back inside, “you aren’t supposed to come out of the bag.”

“Well,” Akira said looking around, “I don’t really see anyone here since most people are working, so go ahead and play with BunBun.”

Akira sat down on a bench and pulled out his phone to play games.

BunBun hopped around the park cheerfully and Lysia chased him. They ran around the colorful flowers and wove between the trees.

“Don’t wander off too far.” Akira called out, not paying attention to the two.

Lysia and BunBun didn’t seem to hear him, as they ran further into the park. The area was shaded from the densely packed trees and shrubbery. BunBun ran into one of the bushes and Lysia was about to chase after him, but tripped on a tree root and fell.

BunBun ran into Lysia, although she seemed a bit different.

“Hi there little friend. Come on, let’s go somewhere else to play.” said the girl eerily.

BunBun looked at the girl who clearly had the same face and hair as Lysia, but this was not the same person. This imposter only looked like Lysia, but had other intentions. She started putting the creature into a backpack, but he was trying his best to escape.

“Stop struggling! You’re making things a lot harder for me, you know.” the imposter grumbled.

“Must, escape. Not real friend!” BunBun thought to himself.

“Seriously, how does she deal with you all of the time?”

BunBun broke free from the grasp of the girl and started hopping away as fast as he could.

“Run away. Find friend!”

“Get back here you little-” shouted the imposter girl.

The two ran around the park for a while, just narrowly avoiding being spotted by Akira and Lysia.

After what seemed like forever, she finally caught him. The imposter took off with BunBun and walked around the entire park in a big loop, making sure to walk under the cover of the trees so they weren’t spotted.

After about twenty minutes of walking, the imposter entered the train station and took off towards Shibuya.

Arriving in Shibuya, the imposter wandered around for a while in the crowd, just to lose anyone who could have been following them. The imposter changed their face to that of a girl who was on an advertisement for a maid café and walked into a convenience store.

She bought snacks and put them into the backpack.

“There, eat those if you get hungry. Keep it down though. I don’t need the unwanted attention.” said the imposter.

The girl decided to go back to the park to check on the two she had stolen BunBun from. Sure enough, they were still there looking around. The girl sat on a bench and watched.

“Look at those two. They don’t know that I stole BunBun from them. Everything is going just as planned.” the girl thought to herself.

“We still haven’t found him yet…” said Lysia.

“Aw, look how upset she is. I’d feel bad if she wasn’t trying to steal him from me.”

“Lysia, over there. Does that girl have BunBun?” Akira said.

“Oh no, have I been found out already?” the girl thought to herself in a panic.

Luckily for her, the two were heading towards a different girl.

“Whew, I narrowly avoided that one. I should get home just in case.”

The girl got back onto the train and went back home. It was the same apartment building Akira lived in. Her face changed back to her usual face, Sakura.

Sakura walked into the house and threw the backpack into Akira’s closet.

“Alright, things are still going to plan. As long as he doesn’t look in the closet, everything will be fine. That’ll keep him from going anywhere with anyone else, even if it’s the last thing I do.”

Later that night, Akira and Lysia arrived back home. Lysia was asleep in Akira’s arms, clinging to his shirt. This infuriated Sakura, and she couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with absolute rage.

Akira gently laid the girl on the couch and started heading out the door.

“Where are you going? You just got back.” Sakura asked in confusion.

“I’m going back to the park. If Lysia wakes up, distract her until I’m back or something. Just keep her happy. Poor girl’s been through enough today.”

“As if. I’d only distract her to keep her from finding her little pet. Who cares if she cried a little bit? She’s just a kid. She’ll forget about it after a while”

Sakura sat next to the girl to make sure she stayed put. The other maids sat around doing nothing, except for Rose and Yuri who were making dinner for that night.

Meanwhile, BunBun was stuck in the closet in a backpack. He wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, or why he was trapped, but he did know one thing. He missed his best friend.

Some time later, Akira returned, noticeably depressed. Sakura followed him into his room.

He explained everything to Sakura and ended up crying on her lap.

“I really don’t know what to do. I just wanted to take Lysia out for a day of fun at the park, but it was all ruined. Not only do I need to pack tomorrow for our trip, but now I have to worry about BunBun going missing. I just hope some heartless monster didn’t steal him.” Akira said, sobbing.

Her heart skipped a beat.

“Monster..” she whispered to herself.

After the longest second of watching Akira lie on her lap, vulnerable, helpless and sad she eventually pulled herself together enough to encourage him.

“Don’t worry, he’s safe.” she says, clearing her throat “I can feel it. I just know that tomorrow you’ll find him safe and sound. Trust me.” Sakura reassuringly says, combing her fingers through Akira’s hair.

“Yeah. I’d go look again, but I’m just… so… tired.” Akira said as he fell asleep.

Sakura thought about what he had told her. She thought about how absolutely torn apart Akira was, and how much seeing him like that pinched her heart.

“Monster..,” she thought again, “Maybe.. Maybe I should just pretend this never happened.” Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t realize she was pulling on his hair rather than just stroking it. “Oh, but the way he came to me! ME!” She thought. “If I keep making him depressed, he’ll keep coming back to me for comfort.”

Akira let out a small discomforting groan. He was asleep. She looked down at his tear covered face, gently wiping his cheeks and observing him quietly. She let out a quiet laugh to herself. “Or maybe I shouldn’t stop.” she thought once more. “I don’t need to confess. I’ll make him come to me!”

Early the next morning before anyone else woke up, Sakura quietly grabbed the backpack from the closet and took off for the park.

“Dang, it’s too cold for this right now. I just have to make sure nobody sees me and everything will be fine. Well, I guess I do need to get back before anyone wakes up too. Oh well, I’ll deal with that if I need to.”

Sakura opened the backpack and dumped BunBun into the colorful flowers. BunBun, dazed from the fall, looked around in terror and relief from being freed.

“Now,” said Sakura, her face changed to someone she saw on the street so as to not alarm BunBun when he returned home “your sweet little owner should come looking for you later, so just stay hidden here until then, m’kay? I’m not doing this for you, I’m doing this for Akira. I don’t want to ruin our trip just because a stupid blob with ears went missing.” She whispered angrily before stomping away.

BunBun tucked his ears down and was shivering, both in fear and from the coldness of the morning air.

Sakura took the train back to the apartment. She tossed the backpack she was using to carry BunBun into the dumpster and went back inside. Thankfully for her, everyone was still asleep.

She headed back into Akira’s room and sat back down, laying his head gently back on her lap so he wouldn’t suspect anything when he woke up.

“Ah, there he is, still sound asleep. He’s so cute when he’s vulnerable like this. I wish I could just keep him captive forever and ever. He would be all mine, and nobody else could have him!”

Just then, a sudden jolt hit Sakura, as if she had been struck in the head by some unseen force. She looked around her, dazed and confused as to what was going on. The latter made her blush in embarrassment.

“What am I doing here? Why is Master Akira sleeping on my lap? Is this something I did without knowing it?” she thought.

A sharp pain rushed into her head, causing her to wince in pain.

“Ow! Jeez, I think I need to sleep. I don’t really remember what happened recently, but my legs feel really sore too, almost as if I was out walking somewhere. That can’t be right, can it? I thought I was taking a shower last I remember.”

Before she had time to collect her thoughts, Lysia came bursting through the door and catapulted herself onto Akira, who woke up in panicked confusion.

“Come on, come on, let’s go!” she shouted.

“I just woke up, calm down. Why’d you let her do that?” he said looking at Sakura, whose lap he was still laying on.

“She just came in unannounced, so I didn’t know.” Sakura responded.

“Alright, go eat breakfast and then we’ll go.” Akira said, still half asleep.

“I already ate, so let’s go now.” pleaded Lysia.

“Aren’t you going to eat, Master?” Sakura asked, unaware that anyone had even been up to make breakfast already.

“I can’t, I’m too upset to eat anything. I just want this all to be over with.”

“Well, you should get going now. Don’t want to keep BunBun waiting now.” Sakura said, smiling.

“You’re right, let’s go.” Akira said to Lysia.

The two walked out of the apartment and Sakura was left alone in the room to think.

“BunBun is waiting for them? What’s that supposed to mean? Is he waiting for them somewhere? This is all too weird. I have no idea what’s happening. Oh man, I hope I’m not sick. I don’t want to ruin Master's trip tomorrow.”

Sakura rubbed her head and went into the kitchen to grab something to eat. She hoped that eating would make her feel better, but she really had no idea what was wrong with her.

Little did she know, she was the reason why Akira was upset. She was the reason why BunBun went “missing.”

At least, that’s how it would seem.