The Grim Reaper, Rabbid, Appears

♪ Adagio (present) ♪

“This is awful. You toyed with my heart. I’ve loved you since I was little. Kissing you has been my long-cherished wish. I really thought it was finally going to come true…”

P-Poet? Something was wrong with him. He wasn’t usually this ruled by pure instinct. He edged closer and closer.

“W-what’s wrong all of a sudden?”

“It’s not all of a sudden! Do you have any idea how happy I was to finally meet you? How blissful it made me?”

He was hurling the raw essence of obsession at me. I-I’d only just become a girl. I wasn’t ready to handle a boy’s desire like this. What was I supposed to do…? His eyes were bloodshot. He was serious.

“I’m going to make you mine now. I’ll be taking your lips.”

His face came rushing toward mine in close-up. That beautiful, adorable face. His little nose twitched and fidgeted. At this rate, he was going to steal my first kiss.

“N-no, you can’t—!”

In a panic, I used female vocal magic to pull mizuna out of subspace.

“If you’re such a little bunny, then eat this instead of my lips!”

Poet shifted his gaze to the mizuna and bit into it. Crunch, crunch—he was eating it happily.

T-thank goodness. I’d distracted him. But once he finished eating, he might attack me again. Right. I’d pet him and stall for time.

When I stroked his head, he narrowed his eyes and snuffled through his nose. Apparently it was a rabbit habit. Maybe his head was itchy. I petted him even more.

I kept petting him for a while, and when I finally got tired and took my hand away, he stayed there with his eyes half-closed. It looked like he was still waiting for more pets.

After a while, he started glancing around, and I couldn’t help myself—I began petting him again. Then, after a moment, Poet’s whole body began to glow.

And just like that, he vanished like mist.

“P-Poet?”

“That one was a living spirit.”

A low voice spoke. I whipped around, and there stood a long-eared creature in a black suit. A phantom rabbit! Even fluffier all over than the rabbitfolk.

“Even the living can leave behind a spirit if they release enough powerful lingering emotion. Heh heh heh. Looks like being denied that kiss last night left one hell of a strong impression. That boy is completely crazy about you.”

Poet… So he felt that strongly about me. I’d done something awful to him. But more importantly—

“Who are you?”

“You may call me the Grim Reaper, Rabbid.”

A Grim Reaper. I had heard of the concept before. A being that comes to claim the souls of those near death.

They said that beliefs from Otherworld Earth could sometimes mingle with the all-pervading particles of this world—resonance particles—and take physical form. But to think even a Grim Reaper could manifest…

D-don’t tell me…?

“M-maybe my lifespan is—”

“Not yours. Poet’s.”

W-what!? It felt like a bolt of lightning had shot through my head.

“W-what do you mean? Poet is going to die?”

“Yeah. That’s right. I thought I’d find him here, but looks like this was only his living spirit. I’ll go look for the real body.”

“Wait! H-hey!”

The Grim Reaper vanished, passing straight through the wall. A spirit body, I guess. No, this was no time to be impressed!

I had to go save Poet! B-but where had he gone? I couldn’t save him without a lead! I needed a clue, something—anything.

Lying on the twin bed was a pink ribbon. It was the one Poet had worn on his ear. Something important to him, and yet he’d left it behind.

This was the only clue he had left behind. There was no way I could figure out where he was from something like this.

I dashed out of the inn. I had no idea where the Grim Reaper had gone. But I couldn’t just stand still.

If only there were someone who could find Poet from this ribbon alone…