First Blood: The Murder Rabbit's Trial
The day he was kicked out of the orphanage because of the age limit for the murder rabbit, a scrawny kid regained memories from his past life. His name was Ryude. He had only been fourteen years old at the time.
Shaaaaaaa—the rain poured down. It hammered the tree branches as if the sky itself had been ripped open. "Where... am I?" Ryude looked around. A chaotic flood of memories from his previous life crashed over him. Nothing would organize itself. It only deepened the confusion.
"Ugh..." His head throbbed violently. A piercing headache stabbed at both temples. He clutched his skull with both hands and sank to the ground.
Plop. A stream of water landed on the bridge of his nose. It wasn't from the torrential downpour. Water that had collected on a large leaf had finally grown heavy enough to fall onto him. Only then did Ryude manage to pull himself together a little.
"...A forest?"
Trees and undergrowth pressed in from every direction, so thick they blocked most of the view. The sky was hidden behind heavy storm clouds. At least it didn't seem to be night, but the canopy was so dense that almost no sunlight reached the ground. Between the branches and leaves, the entire area was steeped in shadow.
"What the hell is going on..."
Questions swirled through his mind. He could at least tell this wasn't the world he'd originally come from—the incoming memories made that clear. But why was he in a forest like this? That part had been sliced cleanly from his recollection; no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn't surface.
Rustle. An eerie sound came from the bushes nearby. At first he thought it was just the rain beating on the grass, but the persistent noise put him on edge. Ryude stared hard at the undergrowth and clenched his fist.
"What's this?" Only then did he notice the object gripped in his hand. A rusted dagger. The blade was badly dulled. It probably couldn't even cut a decent branch. He was also wearing sturdy-looking leather armor, greaves, and elbow guards. The reason for the equipment came to him instantly.
"Kiiieeeeeek—!!" Crimson eyes flashed between the bushes before the creature charged at terrifying speed.
A chill ran down his spine. Ryude realized the thing hurtling toward his head was a blade.
Clang— The reaction came from pure terror of death. He barely managed to stop the edge from slicing across his throat. Ryude poured strength into the dagger held in front of his face. Sparks flew between the two blades with a metallic screech.
In that split second, he finally got a clear look at his enemy. A red-eyed rabbit. The murder rabbit he'd only ever seen in games and anime—the Vorpal Bunny.
"Ugh..." His face twisted on instinct. The creature's shape was grotesque. It had the same small body as an ordinary rabbit, but its arms and legs were unnaturally long. That was how it could swing a dagger.
Thud. Ryude drove his free fist straight into the rabbit's skull. The blow wasn't particularly powerful, but it landed clean. The rabbit should have gone flying into a tree.
Boing. "You little fuck..."
A small body meant less air resistance. Using the momentum from the impact, the rabbit kicked off the trunk and launched itself forward again, thrusting its dagger in a straight line. This time Ryude couldn't dodge. The blade tore through his shoulder as it passed. Blood pattered to the ground. The wound must have been deep—his left arm went completely limp.
He couldn't die here. Ryude let the useless arm hang while he kept his eyes locked on the rabbit.
"Kiiieeeeeek—" Once more those red eyes flashed, and the creature let out a scream like a wailing child. It looked like it was already sneering, certain of victory.
Rainwater mixed with blood ran down his arm. Just as the droplets were about to hit the dirt—
Rustle. "Kiiieeeeeek—!!!!" The rabbit that had circled him once leaped straight for his waist.
...No way I win like this. He couldn't even use one arm anymore. Letting his guard down had been a mistake, but it was already done. The past couldn't be rewritten. And the rabbit's speed was clearly superior. Wild rabbits back on Earth were already faster than humans; there was no catching this thing.
So Ryude made his choice. He would trade flesh to break bone.
Shing. "Ugh..." A groan of pain slipped out. When his shoulder had been cut earlier, he hadn't seen it coming. This time he had deliberately offered his side. Agony exploded through his body. He clenched his teeth so hard they creaked, barely holding on.
"Fuck, got you now, you bastard..." With the dagger still buried in his flesh, he locked his arm down, pinning the rabbit against his ribs. He might lose in speed, but he had the advantage in raw strength. After all, it was a tiny rabbit.
The creature began thrashing wildly between his side and arm. First he had to disarm it.
Crack. "Kiiieeeeeek—!!!!" He crushed its arm. The sickening sound of bone snapping rang out, and the dagger dropped from its grip.
Without its blade, even a Vorpal Bunny was just a rabbit. The only remaining threat was its teeth.
"Kyaaaaak—" Sure enough, it struggled even harder and opened its jaws wide, trying to bite into his side. If he let go now it would either attack again or flee. Before those teeth could reach him, Ryude seized its head and drove his finger straight into one crimson eye.
Squish. "Kiiiek—!!!!" The rabbit began flailing and convulsing, but Ryude ignored it and gouged the eye out completely. Plop. Nerves and gore, soaked in blood, splattered onto the ground.
The rabbit thrashed in agony for about a minute before blood loss finally took its toll. It went limp and died.
"Haa... fuck..." He wanted to tear the thing apart limb by limb. But there was no guarantee it was alone. The smell of blood could draw every monster in the area, just like any other wild beast.
Ryude hurled the corpse deep into the bushes and staggered out of the undergrowth. Blood still poured from his shoulder and side. The endless rain kept the wounds from clotting. He walked. And walked. He had no idea where he was going or even where he was. He simply kept moving.
The bleeding continued for a long time. His vision blurred. Feeling left his limbs. His head grew foggy. Crunch. He bit down until his gums bled, fighting to stay conscious. As if in answer to that desperate effort, the sound of running water reached his ears.
Beyond the stream lay a cave. Getting out of the rain came first. The blood loss was bad enough, but his body temperature was dropping fast.
Gulp, gulp. After drinking from the stream to soothe his burning throat, Ryude dragged himself into the cave. Whether beasts already lived inside didn't matter.
"Huu... ha..." His eyelids grew heavier. Why did he have to go through this? Why had any of this happened? Countless questions rose, but no one was there to answer them. He leaned his collapsing body against the cave wall. By the time the roar of the rain grew muffled in his ears—
Thud. Ryude collapsed and lost consciousness.
-
"Ugh..." Blinding sunlight stabbed into his eyes. Ryude groaned and forced himself upright.
"Aaaack—!!!" His shoulder and side screamed as if begging to be put out of their misery. He nearly blacked out again but clung to consciousness by a thread and checked his condition.
"Shit, this hurts like hell." Dark, dried blood was caked to his clothes. The sight was gruesome, but the wounds appeared to have closed. At this point infection should have set in, yet he felt no fever. Looked like he'd avoided tetanus at least.
"Ugh..." Before he could wallow in self-pity, he needed to focus on survival. Last night the cave had been too dark to see its full depth. Now that the rain had stopped and bright sunlight poured in—
"Oh... it's actually pretty cozy." The space was decently sized, with a solid wall at the back. Thinking about it now, it was pure luck that no monsters had found him while he lay unconscious.
"Seriously, how am I still alive?"
Setting those questions aside for now, Ryude stepped out of the cave. The stream he'd seen last night was still babbling along. Thanks to the rain it wasn't muddy at all—crystal clear water sparkled in the sunlight.
...Did I really drink muddy water yesterday?
The thought made him feel sick, but he shook his head and pushed the memory away. Ryude stripped off his leather armor and the tattered remains of his shirt by the stream. Dried blood tore away from his skin with a sticky sound, but thankfully the flesh beneath his shoulder and waist looked intact.
"Ow— that stings!" It might feel fine now, but infection could still set in later. He had to clean the wounds properly. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Ryude washed himself thoroughly and even took the chance to scrub his hair.
"Haa... now what?"
Unlike yesterday, Ryude felt remarkably calm. There was a reason for it. He was fourteen years old. While he'd been unconscious, those fourteen years of memories had sorted themselves out inside his head. If he'd known nothing, he'd still be panicking. But with this much knowledge, he could at least begin to understand the world he'd landed in.
Of course he wasn't happy about ending up in this mess. But what had happened had happened. There was no changing it. If he wanted to live, he had to fight for it.
"More importantly, where did I throw that bastard I killed yesterday?" In this world they called those monsters demonic beasts. And demonic beasts could be sold for money. If he brought that dagger and the rabbit's head, how much would they give him?