The Rabbit Walks into the Trap
“……So you’re saying you’re not a terrorist?”
“Hmph. Obviously. Why would I do something so girly?”
“Damn it, then who was it…… Anyway, I got it.”
Galrm, who had been arrested by the police and heroes of O City, was released thanks to the efforts of Evils Enterprise’s legal team and a lack of evidence.
It happened just three hours after his arrest.
The boss, having learned from the rabbit beastman Haneui that a villain organization had been framed, ordered me to bring her in.
As nothing more than a mere scientist, I had no choice but to go capture that arrogant rabbit girl with both eyes wide open. Like a turtle ordered by the Dragon King to fetch a rabbit’s liver.
“Eightang? What are you doing?”
“I need to make the tools to catch her first.”
While I connected my wristwatch to the pad and worked on various things, Levitan, who was burning to meet Haneui as soon as possible, started whining from behind.
But I ignored every single one of her complaints and focused on the work. I knew full well that charging in recklessly wouldn’t let us catch Haneui.
‘Galrm and Aile both missed her. We can’t catch her the normal way.’
Was it because she was a rabbit beastman, or was it the power of the esper ability she possessed?
The fact that even Galrm, the fastest on land, and Aile, who could fly faster than most airplanes, had failed to catch her meant that ordinary methods wouldn’t work on Haneui.
To catch her, we’d need a net that never misses once it locks onto a target, or a weapon that could strike the enemy while ignoring space and time…… Of course, I didn’t have anything like that, and this world couldn’t make it either.
‘She said she has good ears……’
Recalling the traits Haneui had mentioned herself and the physical data I’d obtained from Levitan, another test subject like her, I developed software to capture Haneui using those two characteristics.
Not long after, having created something especially effective against creatures with good hearing, I stood up as if finished and looked at Levitan.
“It’s done.”
“Really-!? Then I’ll call the others too-!”
“No, let’s go just the two of us.”
“Huh? But then……”
“It has to be just us two.”
At my words, Levitan kept tilting her head as if wondering why, but it couldn’t be helped. Unless she was an idiot, it was obvious she wouldn’t show herself if we all rushed in together.
Especially if she saw Aile or Galrm, she’d be so startled she’d hide somewhere even a satellite couldn’t spot her.
Maybe she wouldn’t appear until her vacation was over.
‘Working on vacation is already awful, but bringing work to the vacation spot too?’
That couldn’t happen.
Since Haneui was targeting Levitan, if I took Levitan out and the two of us wandered the streets alone, Haneui, who would be watching from somewhere nearby, would definitely show herself.
At that point, since I didn’t know the extent of her hearing, it was also impossible to hide allies nearby as an ambush. In the worst case, she might even be able to tell who was around just by listening.
“I’ll let the boss know. Shall we go then?”
“Going-…… Where to?”
“Where do you think?”
A street date, obviously. That’s how Levitan and I ended up wandering the streets alone.
Waiting for the naive beast who didn’t even realize it was a trap to walk right into it herself. Over and over.
Eight and Levitan walked along the beach. Despite what had happened during the day, people were enjoying their vacation as if nothing had occurred.
Well, no one had died, and it was just heroes and villains fighting in a hotel. That sort of thing happened in any city, anytime.
“Ah-! Eightang, don’t you want to eat that?”
“……You do realize we’re not here to play, but to lure the enemy, right?”
“I know-! But we don’t know when she’ll come, and it’s better than staying tense the whole time, right?”
It was a reasonable statement. Eight agreed. And as a man of science, he followed reasonable words when he heard them.
So the two of them paid the tourist trap prices and got cheap food in their hands. The taste wasn’t great compared to the price, but they succeeded in creating the atmosphere of sightseeing.
Levitan acted as if she had completely forgotten this was an operation. From Eight’s perspective it looked that way, but considering her physical abilities, she was probably actually on high alert.
‘I wonder when she’ll show up.’
Eight casually checked the time. Three hours. Enough time for the enemy to have probably spotted them. She would have also noticed there were no allies nearby while watching them.
Worried she might be wary of them calling allies with the wristwatch like before, he had hidden it out of sight. Though he wondered if it was necessary to go this far against an opponent who perceived her surroundings with her ears rather than her eyes.
‘Come on already. I’m getting impatient.’
The two of them began heading toward increasingly deserted areas. Before long, the only people left around them were couples who had the same goal in mind.
Seeing this, Levitan gave a mischievous smile and pointed toward some rocks out of sight.
“Eightang.”
“What?”
“Let’s go over there and do it, okay?”
“……You haven’t forgotten why we’re here, have you?”
“Eing- How boring.”
While walking past her sexual harassment, a man with a deep tan and bronzed skin slowly approached them.
The man carefully examined Levitan’s rabbit ears and face before finally opening his mouth.
“Miss Levitan?”
“Yes? Who……”
“Looks like it is you. The older sister over there is waiting for you. She said to wait on the hill……”
Hearing those words, Levitan looked at Eight and nodded. Eight nodded back as if it was going well.
Who would’ve thought they’d be the ones calling from over there? That confidence probably came from her hearing, which could easily tell there were no allies nearby, and her leg strength, which would let her escape from anyone.
The two headed toward the hill the man had mentioned and waited there for a long time with no one around. Until Haneui revealed herself first.
Before long, from somewhere came a sharp clack- like the sound of castanets. Turning around at the sound, Eight realized a Japanese sword was now pointed at his neck. Haneui had gotten behind him.
“—Please don’t move, either of you.”
A Japanese sword and a rabbit beastman had appeared.
Seeing Haneui’s face after so long, Levitan couldn’t hold back the tears welling up.
But that was that, and this was this.
No matter how much Haneui was an old comrade and a fellow test subject who shared the same pain, she couldn’t tolerate her touching Eight.
“What are you doing? Haneui.”
“Levitang. I came to save you……”
“Put the sword down right now. You wanna die?”
Haneui, who had been pointing the sword at Eight’s neck, lowered her head at Levitan’s words. Hearing her friend’s cursing after so long really did hurt. Even though she was certain Levitan had been experimented on by Eight and brainwashed in the process.
Haneui put some distance between herself and Levitan with Eight in the middle. Indeed, since she was holding this scientist as a hostage, the brainwashed Levitan couldn’t move easily either.
“You said you were a scientist. You. Hurry up and undo Levitan’s brainwashing.”
“……What?”
“I know everything. That you took Levitan and did suspicious experiments on her, and that you brainwashed her in the process.”
With a sword pointed at his neck, Eight realized from Haneui’s words that she had some strange misunderstanding.
But Eight didn’t bother correcting that misunderstanding. He just let it slide.
“I don’t want to.”
“Hmm…?”
Since no one had ever refused her request in this situation before, Haneui hadn’t expected to be rejected and frowned slightly as she glared at Eight.
This was an experience she’d never had. Was pointing a sword at someone’s neck not an excellent means of conversation?
While she was having that misunderstanding, Eight pushed his own neck against the sword first. A moment later, the sharp Japanese sword passed right through Eight’s neck.
“What-!?”
After being startled by the sight for a moment, Eight’s neck, which the sword had passed through, was completely fine without a single drop of blood.
While she couldn’t understand what kind of magic he had used to make this happen, Eight shrugged his shoulders and glared at Haneui.
“You thought I’d listen to anything if you pointed a sword at me…… Big mistake.”
“……Do you have some kind of super regeneration ability?”
“No? I’m a non-powered person.”
“That can’t be- Let me check again.”
Haneui said that and took her stance again. Levitan tried to quickly step in front of Eight but was stopped by his hand.
There was no need to borrow Levitan’s strength. Eight stepped forward and exposed his body to the sharp blade as if to say, go ahead and try.
“Let me tell you one thing— you won’t be able to touch a single hair on my head today.”
The moment those words ended, Haneui’s Japanese sword flew toward him. Whether she didn’t want to cut a person or not, it was the flat of the blade rather than the edge.
Just like before— this time too, the Japanese sword simply passed through Eight’s body.
Seeing that, Eight let out a chuckle.
“I told you you wouldn’t be able to touch a single hair, didn’t I?”
“Grr……!”
As if to say she’d try again, Haneui kept swinging her sword. Endlessly, as if she would pour out every swing she would ever make in her lifetime all in one day.
Quite some time had passed. Enough time for the sun to set and the sunset to glow. Even after that much time had passed, Haneui was still swinging her sword.
Alone, at empty air.
“……What is that?”
Witnessing the scene, Levitan muttered as if she couldn’t understand the situation. I received the Hawaiian juice she handed me and casually pulled out my wristwatch from my pocket.
The wristwatch was ringing loudly with an “Eng-eng-” sound.
To Levitan, whose hearing was only slightly better than a normal person’s because she hadn’t eaten the genetic enhancer, it was probably just a noisy alarm. But to Haneui, who could distinguish between people and objects with her hearing alone, something completely different must have been visible.
Right now, she was probably fighting against me, who wouldn’t die no matter how many times I was cut by a sword, for some reason.
“It’s a simple trick.”
“Simple…… What is?”
“Surprisingly, sound carries a lot of information, you know? You can even see the screen reflected on a computer just by listening to the fan noise.”
How much more so for Haneui, whose ears were at the level of an omnidirectional radar. She would completely trust the information her hearing was sending her. Without ever realizing that it was a hallucination only visible to her.