/
“Do you know Mom?”
“Mom?”
The rabbit pricked up its ears.
With each blink, the rabbit became more transparent and then came back.
“Seria is your mom?”
“Yep! How do you know my mom?”
Is something special Mom mentioned back then this rabbit?
“Seria is my friend. Then you’re my friend too.”
To think that a rabbit ghost is Mom’s friend.
“Mom’s friend… Are you a ghost?”
“I’m not, though?”
Then, suddenly, the rabbit quickly ran away somewhere.
I just stared at it, and the rabbit stopped.
“Follow me.”
I followed the rabbit across the bookshelves like a maze.
I’m not going to go to a strange place again, am I?
Certainly there was no Zenda, no Kamaye, no Russphe here.
It was just me and this strange rabbit.
I don’t know how it happened.
It was only after running out of breath that I reached the other end.
On the other side of the old bookshelf, at the far end from the entrance I entered, there was a huge mural.
I think it’s a painting of gods…
The rabbit went right into the mural.
I hurriedly tried to get in, yet I hit a hard wall and failed.
“I can’t.”
I tried hitting the head first, but to no avail.
After a while, the rabbit popped out again.
“…Aren’t you coming?”
“I can’t go in. How do you get in here?”
The rabbit tilted its head and went back inside.
I stared at the mural in vain.
Mom’s friend is weird.
This time the rabbit came out with something in its mouth instead.
It was a stone slab the size of my two palms combined.
“Take this.”
The rabbit spoke well even while holding the slate in its mouth.
I took the slab with both hands.
“…What is it?”
“Me.”
“Me?”
“No, not you, me.”
“What are you talking about?”
The rabbit looked at me quietly.
I had no choice but to look at the slate that the rabbit held out.
The stone slab was carved with a rabbit holding a bat and striking something.
“You say this one in here is you?”
“Yep.”
It seemed that it was boasting that it was now depicted on a stone slate.
“It’s so cool. I saw it well.”
I held out the stone slab again and smiled.
“…Seria did well on her own, though.”
The rabbit had no expression, but his trembling voice was transmitted as it was.
I was curious about something more than the slate.
“Was my mom here too?”
“Mm.”
“Often? I came through the small aisle in the bookshelf. Did Mom come that way too?”
“I don’t know. Because I met Seria inside here.”
Hearing its words, I swallowed.
“Then, Rabbit. About what my mom’s ability is… You know that?”
On the day Mom had an accident, she fed me a red jewel and made secret promises to me, but Mom never told me about her abilities.
She only said I would have special eyes.
But I thought that Mom might have had the same ability to see the future as I did.
Could it be that she had other abilities than mine?
So what ability did Mom have?
“Of course.”
The rabbit gave me the answer I wanted.
I knelt down and crawled closer to the rabbit.
“Really? What ability is it?”
The rabbit said, “Ahem.” And it told me what it knew.
Mom’s abilities were truly special.
First, she could hear what birds were conveying.
This is Mom’s first ability, it said, she found a stone statue in the shape of a bird and awakened her powers directly here.
And with her powers, which she obtained from a spider-shaped brooch, I heard, she could even briefly bind a person’s feet.
It’s really brief, but even an ability to avoid rain.
“Why did Mom have that ability?”
“Seria is the one who wakes us up. She’s a very special person.”
“The one who wakes you up?”
“Yep. She made me wake up from that slate. Maybe the other guys too…?”
“This?”
As I pointed to the stone slab, the rabbit twitched its ears.
“Mmhm. I’ve been sleeping there for a long time. Only those with special powers can wake us up. Then, in return, we lend that person abilities that will help them.”
“You’re lending me your powers?”
“Yeah. But we can’t get caught by the hunter first. We should only wake up to someone special. If we get caught by the hunter, we will never be free.”
My curiosity was being resolved, but the rabbit’s words brought another curiosity.
Someone special? Hunter?
The rabbit’s words sounded like riddles.
Mom is a special person, and there seems to be another hunter, but the rabbit said that the hunter is dangerous.
The hunter…
When the carriage accident happened, my memories were scattered, but there was a voice that came to my mind vaguely.
Could it be they?
Are they also bad people?
“Seria told me that someone dear to Seria would come here one day. I guess that was you. Because you smell like Seria.”
Smells like Mom!
The rabbit said I smelled like Mom.
I was very happy about that.
“That’s right. Mom said I was the most precious thing in the world.”
“But I didn’t know you were this young.”
“Ah…?”
“Even while doing that.”
“Even that?”
As I didn’t understand what it meant, the rabbit gave a short sigh and said.
“You say you don’t know anything, but you already have some of Seria’s treasures.”
“Really?”
“But it would be better for you to figure it out for yourself later than for me to tell you. If you want to awaken the strongest, you’d better learn it yourself.”
Like a rabbit consoling me, it put out its little forepaw and rested its chin on mine.
“And if I force myself to tell you something, it could go wrong.”
I bent down flat to meet the rabbit.
“Could you explain slowly again? I don’t know anything about Mom’s abilities. Also tell me how you met Mom. Hm?”
Then the rabbit stared at me.
I wasn’t sure if it was seeing me fully as I only saw black eyes, but it just felt that way.
“Alright.”
“Really?”
“Yes, if you want. Then you should listen carefully, you know?”
“Yep, got it.”
I opened my eyes to mean that I would concentrate.
“We are souls belonging to ancient artifacts. I wasn’t originally like this, but over a very long time, I changed into the image engraved on the stone slab.”
“It’s not what you’re supposed to look like?”
“Yep. We were messengers and representatives of God, and we were originally just like you. It’s been so long that I can’t quite remember it now.”
“I see…”
God’s representative, God’s messenger.
I had only been to the temple once with Mom.
She said that there are people who pray every day, and there are people who visit occasionally like us.
The priests there called themselves messengers of God, but it seems that such a thing existed a long time ago.
“Seria is the one who wakes us up and brings back our memories.”
“Mom…”
“Then we will stay by her side and be Seria’s strength. And when Seria sends us away, we become free.”
The rabbit said that there are many beings like it everywhere in the world.
There are those who haven’t yet awakened, and those who have already awakened and found freedom.
It explained that special beings like Mom don’t appear often and rarely, so they must be lucky to regain their original memories and abilities.
A special friend who appears only a few times in a millennium.
The rabbit called such beings the seekers, or ingator, or indagatrix.
“By the way, following Seria, you have the ability.”
“I see. So, do you have any other friends besides me?”
“Yes. However, it’s very rare that the seekers meet each other. If we meet each other, we can share our abilities, but instead, we have less power than when we first got it, so we don’t really try to find each other.”
The rabbit said it was worried because I realized the strength when I was too young that I shouldn’t have realized it until I was an adult.
Ah, and rabbit-like beings are called ancient artifacts or treasures.
“What about the hunter?”