The Rabbit and the Human
Many claim that monsters possess no emotions. They say these creatures, bound to the Demon King’s vast mental network, move like puppets on strings, their individual wills too insignificant to matter. Such talk circulates even among demons themselves. They whisper that only monsters who have devoured enough to reach a certain threshold gain true intellect, and only those who have fought desperately enough to survive can learn to love their own kind. Only then, they say, do they abandon mindless predation and come to value their kin—only then are they ready to become part of the Demon King’s castle.
It is not entirely wrong. The information that monsters are no different from livestock with their reins cut is factual. They truly live without a shred of reason, unable even to comprehend the meaning of kin, continuing only the struggle to survive. Unless the Demon King herself grants them a direct mission through the consciousness network, they will keep fighting their brutal survival battles day after day until they finally reach that feeding threshold and acquire intellect.
Yet I cannot fully agree.
I have never devoured anyone of my own will. Appearing in this world in the form of a monster resembling the animal humans call a rabbit, I have never preyed upon a single soul. Not because the form I wore was ill-suited to predation. Though its outward appearance seemed docile, its mouth spanned more than half its body, and inside that cavernous maw were ninety-eight razor-sharp teeth packed tightly together. In a way, it was a body designed more extremely for predation than any other monster’s.
A physique built solely for devouring. A structure that made evolution remarkably easy. One could even say the Demon King herself had shaped it with the fate of predation in mind.
Yet from the moment I was born, I never once devoured anyone.
“……”
Because when I first opened my eyes in this world, what stood before me was…
“…Rabbit… da.”
A girl. A small, fragile female, covered in wounds and wrapped head to toe in bandages. Naturally, any ordinary monster would have opened its jaws the instant it saw her, intending to turn her into nourishment for its evolution. I, too, found my mouth opening reflexively the moment that frail creature appeared before me.
“U-uwah…!”
Thud——
Why was it? That impossibly fragile female creature simply toppled backward and stared at my open mouth with wide-eyed curiosity. I felt… strange. The first thing I sensed upon opening my eyes in this world was the instinctive need to devour for evolution, and that every living thing on this land fought desperately for that purpose. Yet from the creature before me, I could feel not even a single trace of such will.
She simply seemed fascinated by the sight of my gaping mouth, as if she had never even considered that she might be eaten. In the end, a strange discomfort welled up from deep inside me, and I closed my jaws with a soft thump———
“Uwoh…”
When I cautiously approached her, she suddenly reached out with startling speed and began touching me without permission. I could not bring myself to resist. Instead, an inexplicable warmth spread through me, making my entire body tremble as I drew closer and bumped my head against her.
“Ah, hello… You’re… a monster, aren’t you?”
The voice of that creature, as if trying to introduce herself, was something I could not understand at the time. But for some reason—perhaps because her palm was so warm—I met her gaze and thought:
“I’m… human.”
She should have been an enemy of demons. I did not know why she had been left alone and collapsed here, but I found myself liking this “human” creature. For a while, I stayed by her side, setting aside both predation and evolution.
“……”
At first, I did not understand what “human” meant. All I could read were her weak gestures. Yet whenever I did anything, she would smile and stroke me. That felt good, so I wanted to feel even better—I wanted to spend more time beside her.
“Maybe this place… is better than there.”
Now and then—sometimes often—she would say such things in a voice that carried an inexplicable negativity. Whenever that small human spoke in that weak tone, I would approach and open my mouth wide——— the way she seemed to like.
“Puhaha——! Are you trying to cheer me up, little rabbit?”
Every time I opened my mouth, she would begin counting my teeth with a smile, even if her face had been sorrowful moments before.
“If I had a mouth like this, surely……”
After finishing the count, she would sink into a wistful expression, as if recalling something. When I closed my mouth and bumped my head against her leg, she would murmur,
“Ah, right, right… I’m sorry. I’ll keep paying attention to you……”
And stroke me with all her heart once more.
So I spent my time leaning into the warmth that rose from deep in my chest and the comfort that seemed to envelop my entire body whenever I was with her.
Thud——
But why? Until that small human suddenly broke into a cold sweat and collapsed weakly.
She had always been frail, yet one morning she simply could not muster any strength and crumpled to the ground. I panicked, unable to think clearly. I had been a tiny monster from the start and lacked the intellect for proper reasoning. Even so—if the small human who had given me indescribable warmth and comfort were to collapse like this, if she were to die, what would I do?
Honestly, at that moment, the emotions I felt were hundreds of times more important than the feeling of devouring something I had never experienced. I circled her face, poking her lightly, trying to find out why she had fallen, why she wore that dying expression.
Then—
Swish——
When I drew close to her face, she weakly reached out and stroked me, her voice cracking as she whispered,
“S-sorry… little rabbit.”
“I couldn’t eat… so I ended up like this……”
I still could not understand her words. I barely knew human speech to begin with—how could I grasp her faint voice? Yet there was one thing I did understand.
Food.
“……”
Monsters die if they go too long without devouring before evolving into demons. I knew this instinctively and had been preparing to hunt when the time came. In that moment, I realized that this human creature needed food as well.
I immediately set out to find something edible. But if I brought something I could eat, her frail body would only spit it out without chewing. I needed to bring something soft and tender, something I could chew and feed her myself.
So I left at once to search for prey.
And then I found something perfectly suited.
“……”
A lizard. One that stored clean water inside its body and roamed far and wide—a delicacy lizard. I did not know its name then, but now I do: the Water-Restoring Dragon was wandering nearby.
Without hesitation, I began to hunt it. Fortunately, I was larger and more agile than the creature, so I easily bit it down and carried it straight back to where the small human lay.
When I returned, her eyes were closed. But when I tapped her forehead lightly—
“……”
She slowly opened her eyes and looked at the Water-Restoring Dragon before her. Thankfully, she began to tear into it somehow.
Of course, she soon stopped, coughing and retching onto the ground. Still, she had at least drunk the most delicious part—the water inside the lizard—so I felt personally satisfied.
After she finished eating, she stared at me for a moment and asked,
“This… you brought it for me…?”
Her face looked as though she had returned from death. When I nodded—because I was gradually beginning to understand her words—she suddenly lunged forward and hugged me tightly, whispering in a small voice.
“Thank you, little rabbit……”
That was the moment.
An indescribable feeling began to rise warmly in my chest.
“Because of you… I survived……”
At the time, I could not understand what that feeling was, nor could I accept why it had begun to stir within me. But there was one thing I knew for certain.
“I never thought I wanted to live this much more… Thank you for saving me, little rabbit……”
From that moment on, I began to understand everything she said. Not only could I comprehend her words clearly, but I also started to empathize with her emotions completely.
In that instant, I evolved.
“……”
“P-person.”
“Huh?”
By saving the human whose life I had given up on—someone who had wanted to live more because of me—I had discovered a way to evolve without needing to devour.
“Sm… ile!”
I opened my mouth wide and pulled the corners upward.
“……”
The small human stared at me in a daze for a long while, as if her soul had left her body. Then, before long, hot water began streaming from her eyes as she laughed with a voice full of joy.
“Yeah… I’ll smile……”
The small human, wrapped in white bandages from head to toe, spent that day with me in the depths of the forest, letting out small laughs—alive, warm, comfortable, and therefore happy.
I thought it would last forever.
After all, the habitat of the Water-Restoring Dragon was not far, and the small human’s complexion had greatly improved after eating them. There were also sweet fruits and other edible things scattered abundantly around us. Moreover, I could easily fend off the tiny monsters that tried to prey on her frail body. And as her body grew stronger and her face matured, I too began to feel an unknown power rising from deep within my chest.
Now, no matter what monsters came seeking our nest, I felt I could easily repel them. For the sake of that small human—my one and only nest—I felt I could even devour demons, the next stage of monsters.
Swish——
So I slipped into the palm of my nest, purring contentedly in her embrace as I closed my eyes beneath the warm sunlight filtering through the forest. My precious nest, who cherished me so, stroked me even more warmly than the sunlight and never forgot to say,
“Thank you, little rabbit.”
She always enjoyed our time together, our hearts bound so tightly that we would ache if separated.
Yet—
Thud——
Such happiness was far too fragile, far too precarious. Why had I not known?
“…R-run away, little rabbit……”
Into the nest where we had been staying, it finally appeared.
A survivor of the cruelly fierce survival competition— an impossibly massive and vicious monster. No, a beast. It revealed itself in our home.
The moment the small human sensed its presence, she grabbed me and hid behind a tree, holding her breath. It was an escape driven by survival instinct. I, too, was swept up in that instinct and felt an overwhelming fear.
We had to flee immediately. Only then could we survive. Only then could we protect our warm, happy time together.
But just as the small human tried to escape while holding me—
Crack——
“Kyaaah——!”
Her leg caught on a sharp branch. She fell and cried out loudly.
At the same time—
Kuuung———
The massive beast discovered our location and charged.
“———”
I immediately opened my mouth wide to stop it, to protect my precious nest.
Crunch———
It was my body that was torn apart. Half of me was ripped away by its claws and sent flying high into the sky, utterly powerless.
“Little rabbiiiit———!!”
The small human tried to run toward me, but the beast was already bringing its enormous feet down upon her.
“Uwaaaah!!”
Yet in that moment when death loomed before her, a brilliant blue light suddenly burst from the fingertips of that once-frail human and—
Kwaaaang———!
Pierced straight through the beast’s belly.
As I fell endlessly toward the ground, startled, the small human ran toward me with all her strength, leaving the collapsing beast behind.
She caught my falling body in her arms and cried out, tears streaming down her face.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, little rabbit……! I’m sorry……!!”
Seeing half my body torn away except for my face, she began to sob heartbreakingly.
I said nothing. Or rather, I could not say anything. No words came to mind. I simply—yes—felt that same indescribable emotion rising in my chest once more. I just wanted to tell her it was okay.
Honestly, the reason I had liked her warm embrace was… because it was a feeling I could never truly possess myself. That was why I liked it. That was why I wanted to protect it—her warm palm, her embrace.
Yet the small human, who had seemed more fragile than I thought, appeared unharmed. Yes. That was enough. From now on, I would never feel that warm, happy embrace again. But even so—the fact that I could feel it until the very last moment made me so happy.
Small human.
“Smile… my small human……”
I opened my mouth wide and pulled the corners upward. I had always felt this way—seeing the small human shed tears never made me feel good. So I tried to cheer her up, even saying difficult words, and smiled the way I always did when she was happy.
Why did she start crying even harder?
“Little rabbit, little rabbit……!”
Yet just as I was sinking into the thought that I was dying, simply wanting to breathe a little longer in her embrace, the small human desperately poured warm blue light from her fingertips toward my body and cried out,
“Eat me… eat me……!”
For a moment, I doubted my dying ears. But the small human was sincere.
“I’m someone who can die, so it’s okay to eat me……!”
She spoke to me with genuine feeling.
“Really, I’m a completely useless person……! Just… live in my place. Please, I’m begging you……!”
Desperately. Truly. As if she truly did not want to let me die.
“You saved me, didn’t you? You gave me a reason to live, little rabbit……!”
Even so—even so, I did not want to survive by eating her. But—
“If you eat me, I can live inside you forever……”
The small human smiled through her tears as she spoke.
“That’s the privilege of humans… of people……!”
Why was it? Because it was the small human who had always told me interesting stories, just like before.
“It’s true, little rabbit……! So eat me and evolve——!”
Somehow, I could not even consider that it might be a lie. If there was even a chance I could live and continue feeling the small human’s warmth, then it was worth trying.
So—
Crack———
In the end, I opened my mouth wide.
The small human looked momentarily surprised, then said,
“Yes, that’s it……”
She hugged me tightly so I could eat her comfortably and offered her neck.
“That’s enough, little rabbit……”
Even so, it would be a lie to say I felt no anxiety at all. Could I really survive being eaten? Was that truly a privilege of humans—did such a thing even exist? I had my doubts. But I desperately wanted to grasp even the slimmest possibility, to stay with the small human longer than anything else in this world. More than the desire for evolution that all monsters were equally granted, I yearned far more intensely to stay warmly with her for just a little longer.
So—
Crunch———
In the end, my mouth bit into the small human’s neck.
She bit her lower lip hard to hold back the scream that threatened to escape, then whispered,
“…Little rabbit……”
As I began to slowly swallow her body, she said,
“I have… a request.”
Even then, she did not let go of me until the very end and whispered,
“Even so… don’t hate me……”
We were supposed to be together—why would she say that? At the time, I could not think such thoughts.
“You know……”
By the time I had eaten both her arms, her legs, her other wrist, her other arm, and her stomach, she spoke to me in a trembling voice.
“I… really cherished you.”
Until I ate her lungs.
“I love you, little rabbit……”
Until I ate her neck.
“You are… my one and only……”
Until the very end—even until I had eaten everything—she whispered pitifully,
“Family……”
“……”
But at the end—beyond the boundary where I had devoured everything of the small human—after everything was over—nothing could be heard. Nothing could be felt.
The warm warmth she had given me, the comfort. The soft yet rough texture of her palm, the impossibly cozy warmth I had felt in her embrace—none of it could be felt.
I had been foolish. Completely, from beginning to end. Only after devouring all of her did I realize it. I had been completely deceived by her sweet lie. I had fallen for her lie that she would save me.
I had not even known what a lie was. I had believed everything she said, thought that everything she said was the whole world. Because she, who knew a wider world than I did, had been my entire world.
But—this was not right.
I—just—simply sat where she had been and stared blankly at the sky. Truly—truly, I felt nothing. The consciousness, the voice, the breath, the heartbeat I thought I would feel inside me—none of it could be felt. It was far too quiet.
That quietness was… far too painful. For me, quietness had never been a concept that existed.
Why—why did you want to save me even by lying? Why—why, my small human?
I—was just a tiny creature who could not even properly kill a large monster like you.
“……”
I simply curled up on the bloodstain where the small human had lain, my body half torn away but the bleeding stopped and partially healed. If only I could feel it again—just once more. If only I could feel that warmth just one more time. It would be so good. I could leave the small human without any lingering attachment. Just once. So just once more, I wanted to touch it. Just once more, I wanted to feel that warmth.
But—I had eaten it all. I had erased it. I should not have fallen for the lie. Liar. You’re a liar. Humans are liars.
So I simply closed my eyes, curled up, and little by little—little by little—
“……”
I shed tears I thought I would never shed, drop by drop.
“……”
And I absolutely—absolutely did not want to forget. That warm sensation. That cozy warmth that felt like it would never fade. I absolutely did not want to forget. The voice of that small human who had whispered to reassure me until the very end, even in pain. The warm palm of that small human who had held me until the very end, even in agony. That face, that smile. Even the sad expression. Even the unpleasant habit of holding her breath and chuckling whenever she was happy. I wanted to remember everything.
So from the moment I realized the small human had lied to me, I closed my eyes and curled up there. And I slept. I slept, wanting to be trapped in that memory forever. So that—even if only in that memory—I could live forever with the small human. Together with my small human, my one and only nest.
Yes. Yes, my small human—why? Why was it like that?
Even in a dream, I thought it would be nice if I could meet the small human. So I closed my eyes.
How much time had passed?
“……”
After dreaming a long dream, I found myself tightly bound in a place where not a single ray of light entered.
“…Ugh.”
Crack———
As I twisted my body and reached toward the place where light was beginning to seep through—
“Uwah.”
Whoosh———
The forest disappeared, and I found myself beneath a sky where sunlight poured down brilliantly.
“……Ah.”
And suddenly, I discovered a pair of long arms and a pair of long legs attached to my body.
“……”
The moment I saw them, I kicked off the dirt pile and ran straight toward a nearby stream. But the stream had long since dried up. The land was completely parched and desolate. As I frantically looked around for a way to see my reflection, I caught the scent of a reservoir not far away and ran toward it—
Thud——
I collapsed as if sliding and pressed my face to the water’s surface.
“Haa……!”
“Ah, aah……”
Yes. That was it. My body—my appearance—had evolved by devouring the small human.
Having fallen into a deep sleep from sorrow, I had unconsciously given my body time to evolve. During that long period, my body had been buried in soil eroded by moving stream water. Yet in the end—yes, I had changed.
“…Human… ah……”
Beyond the water’s surface I was looking at, the small human was watching over me. I carefully touched that face and tightly closed my eyes.
“……”
Even now—why did she lie? Why did she go so far to save me? Why did she love me so much? What was love, that she could do such a thing? It was so heartbreaking that tears streamed down my face once more.
“……”
Now that I had become this body myself, I thought I understood. Even though I could not feel the same warm, cozy comfort the small human had given me, I at least loved that small human. A person with unforgettable warmth and comfort—therefore, a person I never wanted to be separated from. That indescribable, fluffy feeling I felt from her. That feeling of wanting to stay together forever—that was love.
“……”
But now there was nothing I could do. Because I, who had been so foolish, had eaten her, there was nothing I could do.
Yet—
Thud———
Perhaps it was because I had drunk from the reservoir’s water, but a group of massive monsters appeared from somewhere. The largest among them, their leader, approached me with an extremely wary posture. I stared blankly at it for a moment, as it showed no intention of attacking. Then the monster—
Swish——
Began rubbing its body against mine. I realized it was not attacking because it wanted to breed. It revealed its genitals.
The moment I saw them, I kicked away and clenched my fists tightly. Even as the monster glared at me and made hostile sounds, I furrowed my brows even more and shouted,
“Don’t touch my—my small human……!!”
I exploded with uncontrollable rage—not because the monsters had tried to harm me, but because they had tried to defile the precious body of the small human I had taken. So I immediately confronted them. To protect the body of my small human. To protect my precious small human.
And so—I fought. I fought, and one by one, I began to tear them apart methodically.
The human body was quite useful. Far more practical than the rabbit’s form. It showed perfect efficiency for grasping things with both hands, and standing on two feet also provided clear balance.
However—it was too soft.
Crunch———!
“Kaaagh——!”
One of them merely swung its front paw, and even though I was only grazed, all the skin on my body was torn away, muscles ripped, and blood poured out. But it did not hurt.
“How dare a mere insect harm my small human……!!”
More than that—they had injured my small human’s body. My one and only. My precious small human’s body. The last thing left to me—her legacy.
I—ultimately tried desperately to kill them. I wanted to properly avenge the ones who had harmed the last legacy of my small human.
However, the leader who had been watching from a distance until the very end only approached after all the smaller ones had died by my hand. By then, I was barely standing, gasping for breath from deep wounds. It slowly approached and—
Thud———
Finally knocked me down, weakened by my injuries, intending to use me as its breeding vessel.
I resisted until the very end, but my body, drained of all strength, no longer moved according to my will. Now there was nothing I could do. In the end—I failed to protect it once again and collapsed helplessly.
My warmth. My small human. My precious small human.
Shhh——
But just as I was about to give up everything and accept my fate, a thick fog began to spread from somewhere. It grew so dense that even the monster before me became invisible. As I panicked and tried to gather my returning strength—
Bang———!
A figure appeared before me and smashed the monster’s head with a single punch.
“Whew, I spread too much.”
The figure waved their hand vigorously, casually clearing the fog.
“Hello…… Huh? What’s this.”
Afterward, they stared at me for a moment and said,
“I came to pick up what I thought was a newly born demon, but it was just a monster? Did you eat a human?”
With eyes full of curiosity, they examined every corner of my body. For some reason, I felt an unpleasant sensation, as if they were treating the small human’s body carelessly, and I showed a wary expression, trying to distance myself from this suddenly appearing figure. Yet the woman with the peculiar hair color who wore a human appearance—a demon woman—waved both hands as if to reassure me and stepped back, saying,
“Ah, no no~ I just came to show pure goodwill!”
“……”
Though she tried to reassure me, I could not bring myself to trust this demon I was meeting for the first time, especially given her suspicious and overly familiar behavior. Even so, as she continued trying to reassure me until the end, I gradually began to let my guard down. Then, in the voice that followed,
“You’re… something interesting, aren’t you?”
I blinked my slightly softened eyes and looked at the demon woman who exuded a strange atmosphere.
“Want to come with me?”
The demon woman carefully extended her hand, as if offering a handshake—the gesture I had only heard about through the small human.
Even so, I stared alternately at her hand and her face without lowering my guard. But why? The option of following this strange and peculiar demon seemed at least better than staying in this forest.
Even though I still wore a somewhat reluctant expression, I cautiously took her hand, avoiding her burdensome gaze little by little.
“You’re really coming? Right? That’s it, right? Wahaha, great!”
Unfortunately, the demon woman began to rejoice genuinely regardless of my feelings and revealed her identity while pulling me up from where I sat.
“I’m an executive of the Demon King who lives in the Demon King’s castle not far from here——”
She cried out,
“Heize~! Just call me Heize!”
I stared blankly at the face of the demon woman who smiled so brightly, then—
“……Heize.”
For a brief moment, I was lost in thought, because the small human I missed so much had suddenly come to mind. I gazed at Heize, the demon woman whose hair shimmered.
However—even so—Heize was not my small human.
But Heize said,
“I don’t know what your name is, but listen carefully, okay?”
After treating my severely injured body as much as possible, she walked toward the Demon King’s castle with me. Walking backward while looking at me, Heize cried out,
“What would it feel like if you fell asleep one night and woke up to find the world had changed?”
I looked at this eccentric existence and thought—
“All the evil that pollutes this world disappears, and only the things you love remain.”
For some reason, I kept thinking of my small human, who could never return.
“Doesn’t that sound like an ideal world?”
Although, unlike my small human, this demon called Heize seemed somewhat off-kilter in her very existence, she at least seemed off in a good way. So I willingly listened to her chatter without saying a word as we headed toward the Demon King’s castle.
Step, step———
Through Heize’s introduction, I met for the first time—the lord of monsters, the master of all monsters.
The Demon King.