Chapter 23

I know how you are feeling right now. But if you really love him, you have to handle this situation calmly. Ichika-chan can you do that? After thinking for a long time, she said wiping her tears away, "Fine, I won't cry anymore." But you have to tell me everything you know "." Sure, It's festival night. I don't think there will be anyone behind the temple at this time. It would be okay to go there," said Mr. Takahashi, looking at his wrist watch. While Inoue nodded her head in agreement.

"Gengi! Gengi!" Seeing Takemichi near the bridge, Sato came running. "What are you doing here and where is Inoue? Everyone's worried about you guys" At first Takemichi was astonished to see Sato. "Oh! Sorry for that. And about Inoue. She was with me, but now I don't know where she is..." Then he replied looking down. He was trying to hide his tears." Gengi, is everything alright ?". She asked "Yeah, everything is fine. Inoue went to find you all without taking me with her, just because of that I was a little sad". "Oh, i see..." She was sad to hear Takemichi's words. Still she decided to cheer him up but before that she noticed that his bag was not with him. "Gengi, wait where is your bag". "My bag, oh, I guess it must have been with Inoue."He checked and then remembered that he had let Inoue hold it."Oh well...You know, Fuji won that white bear for Hina." she tried to change the topic. "He won?" Takemichi was surprised. "Yeah, and the weirdest thing was that Hina accepted his love. It was probably the first time I've seen her so happy." "Whoa! This is a new thing. But still I am happy for Fuji. At least someone's love got accepted". "Yeah, ah Gengi..." Sato tried to stop Takemichi by pulling ​his hand. " Hmm? Do you want to say something?". "Ah, can we go a little slower if you don't mind." She asked looking away "Why? Do your feet hurt ? Are you all right?" He was really worried for her. He also asked her to show her feet. "You don't understand anything, idiot" she said while punching his nose hard and then went ahead blushing. "What have I done now?" Takemichi was confused. But he was still worried about Inoue. In fact he was afraid to face her again.

"So, it was about 17 years ago when the prince first came to our world, being the only son of King Arata and Queen Yua, he was born in the royal mansion. His whole body was illuminating.' He is the king of the bright future of our land,' is what everyone was saying looking at his bright face. And that's why the king named him Akihiko, which means bright prince. He was like a gift from God to the king and queen. The prince was truly a ray of hope to our Bunnyland. Everyone always smiled around him. There are a lot of differences between your and our world. Akihiko actually doesn't have a surname. He just randomly chose a family name after entering this world. However I don't know why he chose that surname. Our world is the smallest in the whole universe, we have no last names. Instead we have unique code numbers, you know we identify each other by those numbers. But it is different from the royals. There is only one kingdom in our world Tsuku Dynasty. According to our ancestors, we are the children of Tsukuyomi (God of the Moon). They say that God Tsukuyomi and Goddess Amaterasu were siblings but due to some personal conflict they parted ways. Goddess Amaterasu created her own five children and a heavenly world, that world is yours. While God Tsukuyomi unknowingly created our great ancestors Getsumi and Luna. When God Tsukuyomi learns that he has accidentally created two inanimate creatures that are half human and half rabbit. He got scared and hid them in a different place far away from the earth. When their only father left them. They were sad but then decided to create their own world. They had some unnatural and magical powers. They were the most powerful and kindest creatures ever. They even promised themselves not to show their faces to Tsukuyomi again. Just because they were scared to hurt him . They thought if they went to meet him. He would be very sad to see them. So, they started living on their own and hid themselves from the other world.This is how our world was born. Our world is far away from yours but there is a small portal that connects the earth to our land. They also say that that portal was discovered by lord Getsumei. Who once accidentally entered your world. And people believe that the first child of lord Getsumei and goddess Luna is the great ancestor of Akihiko. All the people of the royal dynasty are identified by the crescent moon on their hands which symbolizes life or death. Its because lord Getsumei went through a lot of hardships, when he entered your world accidentally. Akihiko was a playful kind of kid. He always did what he loved to do. The king and queen used to shower all their love and affection on him. His family was the happiest family ever. But no one could've known that those days filled with happiness would come to an abrupt end. It was when the prince entered your world for the first time. However it was just an accident. He had reached here roaming alone in the forest, he did not even know anything about the existence of this world. At that time he was only a 10 year old kid and was about to get his magical powers."

" Gaining magical powers in ten years?" Inoue asked. "Oh, I haven't told you about it yet ? Okay, so listen in our world when a child is born. He comes with a slight aura. But as soon as he turns 10, he has to receive magical powers from his parents or someone from his own family. They perform a ritual called 'Kamisama no Okurimono' (meaning gift of God) for that purpose. And after gaining the magical powers that child's aura doubles up and he become able to transform himself from bunny form to human form and from human form to bunny form. But in Akihiko's case it was different. He was supposed to get his magical powers that day but unfortunately he came here. The king and queen were so worried that they even decided to go find him themselves. But it was my father who managed to stop them as they were getting frustrated and he made them understand that in such kind of situation it's unsafe to do anything out of emotion. My father went to find the prince along with the other knights. I also wanted to help them but I was only 16 so father left me to protect the king and queen in case any trouble comes up. Then suddenly I remembered seeing the prince going inside the forest. I asked other knights of my age to stay with the king. And set out in search of Akihiko. When I reached the forest, I started calling him out loud, I searched for him everywhere. But his whereabouts were unable to be traced. Then suddenly I saw something glowing near a huge tree. I went near that tree and I saw a big hole in it. I found the prince's favorite bracelet lying on the ground beside the tree . Before I went inside that hole, I didn't know that it was the portal that connects our world to yours.

That portal was connected to a forest in your world. As soon as I got here my body started reacting on its own and changed my appearance to that of a real bunny. I didn't know why this happened but I paid more attention to the prince's search. And I saw some bunny footprints going to the inside of that forest. I followed them and on the way I saw you running 'Bunny stop, bunny' and you were repeating this same phrase over and over again.' That's when I realized that prince Akihiko would be there somewhere nearby. I followed you but I lost sight of you. Still I kept on searching and finally I found both of you inside a cave. But by the time I got there it was too late . You two had already kissed each other, it all happened by chance because you were unconscious. At first your kiss turned him into a human. Then when one of the wolves tried to attack you he again changed his form and became a monster, injuring one of them and while scaring them, he chased them away.After that he calmed himself down,he turned into a human again and fell unconscious beside you. I was there I wanted to help you both. And then I remembered the only law of our land. That if a child enters this world before getting his magical power and comes in contact with humans, develops his magical power on his own. He becomes one of the humans and he can never turn himself into a bunny again. But he can develop ears and a tail when the time is right. But he can never change to his normal form. In our country they call it a heinous crime. It's because it happened to Lord Getsumei himself. When he entered this world for the first time. He had fallen in love with a women named Raiya. But when other humans came to know about him. They tried to kill him mercilessly, but due to his magical powers he was able to heal himself. But he could only survive four more days. I know this because it happened to my own brother. "

"Brother? You mean Mr. Kai?" Inoue interrupted "Yeah, but how do you know about him?" Mr. Takahashi asked in surprise. "Akihiko told me about him, and he also said that he is no more" she replied. "Yes, it is true...." with a little sigh he continued the tale "So, when they came to know about my brother the king banished him from the kingdom. I cried and tried my best to stop him, but our own parents didn't say a word even after seeing him leave us like that. I was so angry that I wanted to kill all those who had done all this to my brother. He was a man who had never done a single wrong thing in his entire life. He was the kindest person i have ever met. But before leaving he asked me to make a promise to him. He asked me to protect our land and its people for him. Even after all this, he was still thinking about the people of that land. I could not refuse him. Because he was the only person whose words I could never avoid. I decided to become strong and protect bunny land till my last breath. I didn't know how Akihiko knew him because my brother had left the land before he was even born." "But how did he die? Your brother?" "Inoue intervened again." He died fighting Kabuto. The evil man who serves the devil. And pretended to be the most honest and faithful knight before the king and the queen .This is what my brother found out. He knew that Kabuto's sole purpose was to destroy our land and create a new world of evil creatures. He tried his best to stop him but in the end he Lost his own life after killing my elder brother. He pretended to be the hero of the country who killed a demon. He turned my brother into a demon and became great in the eyes of the people. And now he wants to fulfill his dream by awakening Akihiko's demonic power.

Ha...Leave it now let's continue where we left . So, when I saw Akihiko transform. I was really scared for him, I didn't want to lose the prince. So, I decided to keep it a secret. In the morning, when your parents came He left your side and went deep inside the forest. I followed him. And found him sitting near a river. I asked him to keep it a secret that happened the previous night. At that time he knew nothing about that rule. Still he listened to me and promised not to talk about it in front of others. But when we went back to our world. Everyone was staring at the prince in anger. We were surprised to see this, yet we kept on moving forward. When we reached the mansion. The atmosphere seemed quite terrible. Everyone was looking at us as if we had committed some crime. But the prince, didn't care about others. Seeing his parents coming he ran to them. And hugged the king tightly. But the king didn't do the same"Go away, don't you dare to touch me. You are just a worthless scum to me." He pushed the prince to the ground.That's when I realized that the king already knew everything. But I didn't know how. Even after seeing the prince falling still the Queen Yua remained silent. Yet, it seemed to me that she was a little concerned about her child. The prince does not understand anything. He didn't understand why his own father called him scum. And why all of a sudden everyone start to hate him so much? The king did not banish him from the kingdom but forbade him to leave the mansion. He was not punished like my brother because he was his own son. and the sole heir to the dynasty. He was not even allowed to go out and play like other children of his age. I felt bad for him, but somewhere I could feel some relief. Because he was not thrown out of the kingdom like my brother. My parents also started treating me harshly. But you know, I've never seen a stubborn boy like Akihiko before. He used to sneak out from the mansion to play with the other children. But everyone was afraid to come near him. That's why he used to roam inside the forest alone. And sometimes he used to come here too. When I came to know of this I followed him and caught him secretly watching you. You've played with him once before, I think you must have forgotten about it. But to be honest, he was very happy that day."

"Yet his happiness did not last long. Because the king came to know that he sneaks out of the mansion everyday to come here. That day the king punished him severely. And I blamed myself for all this, if I had stopped him before. He would not have to face this kind of situation. Then I came to know that someone has told the king about you too. That he is secretly leaving the kingdom to meet a girl, because of whom he turned from bunny to a complete human being. Yes, that is you. The king threatened him that he would have to kill you if he tried to visit you again in this world. At that very moment Prince Akihiko lost his temper and turned into a great monster. He also attacked the kingdom and the king. So, after attacking he ran fast and came here in this world. I was really angry not because he attacked the king rather he did not spare even the people of the state too. I was really vexed with both of you especially you. Because of you he became a demon and I was unable to protect the kingdom. But now I realized that it was Kabuto who created all this mess. So that he can kill the king as soon as he gets a chance. Akihiko was 16 when he came here. He made that cave his home, near the portal that connects our world with your world . When he enrolled in your school so that he can stay with you. The queen was already very angry after the death of the king. And from above that the prince took admission in the same school where you study. Because of this, she got even more furious. Kabuto got a chance to control her mind. And he succeeded in making her an evil. He started sending evil creatures into this world to kill you. But that boy kept fighting for his love, yet in the end he was forced to leave your side. And in the end he had to erase his own memories from your mind. Can you even imagine how hard it must have been for him to leave you? In this place only you are his own. And I know that only you can save him from that evil Kabuto's hand. I hate to admit it but i must say that now the future of our land depends on your decision... so what do you say-" After telling the whole story of Bunny Land and Minamoto, Mr. Takahashi turned to Inoue and his eyes widened as he saw Inoue's weeping face. She looked both sad and angry . It seemed as if the sparkle in her eyes had disappeared. Tears were flowing like a stream. And her whole body was frozen.

Meanwhile " Inoue...? " Takemichi came....

To be continue.....