Hide No More, Hare Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A Lie Broken Before It Was Even Spoken.

EDITED BY: Toffee

Her old figurines were still here.

Weird thing to notice, but it was… 5:00 am? Moon’s Scorn, Hapa thought she got over her hating herself phase, but really? Why would her body betray her like this and force her to wake up this early?

She ignored the perfectly logical explanation that she had trained herself to be a light sleeper and an early riser to survive in Akasha.. Gah, she wanted to sleep in on her first night coming back home.

After her mother had brought her into the house, they had talked for a bit. Well, they had tried, but Hapa had near-immediately began nodding off despite her best efforts. Traversing the boundaries between worlds and then putting off going home for a few hours was tiring, go figure. Her mother, being practical, had simply rolled her eyes and shoved her to bed despite Hapa’s protests.

Against her will, Hapa smiled at the memory. She had missed being fussed over. It felt nice to have that again.

Rolling off the bed, Hapa smiled as she looked down at her hands. Still furless, still human. That was good, it meant the transformation held. She’d have to reveal her transformation to her mother at some point, but that day was not today.

Figuring that her mother wouldn’t be awake at this point, Hapa took a moment to look around the room. Her old room was changed. Obviously. With her having disappeared to another world, her sister would have taken the opportunity to claim it for her own.

Her old anime posters were nowhere to be seen, the beige walls were a nice sky-blue, and there was a corner filled with plushies. Not even bothering to check the drawers, Hapa was vaguely annoyed to see not even a single one of her manga or light novel on the shelves. Just textbooks and chapter books.

Her sister always was the more studious one. She really had just taken over the room all for herself.

So it was weirdly gratifying for Hapa to see that her sister had kept the old anime figurines. Most of them were of lewdly clad anime-girls. Not to be confused with scantily. Lewdly, as Hapa used to explain to her sister, was much more elegant than simply being near-naked. It took so much more effort, and thus made it all that more alluring, to make the act of being clothed horny.

Pity her sister never saw the majesty of her magnanimous argument. Honestly, it was a miracle that argument had convinced her mother to not burn her collection.

Picking one up, Hapa traced a finger around the smooth plastic of the bust of a bunny-girl maid and smiled softly, “Guess you didn’t toss them out after all though…”

Placing the figuringe back, Hapa cringed as she realized that the reason her sister had kept the figurines was probably to remember her and… How to say it?

Being remembered for collecting vaguely horny figurines was absolutely painful in the emotional sense.

Deciding that was enough introspection and cringing at her past self, Hapa sat down and sighed, trying to piece together what had happened to her sister. She had left obviously since she wasn’t at home with her mother. Looking around a bit more, Hapa rolled her eyes when she couldn’t find any hints. Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy. Not like there’d be a single clue that revealed everything.

Dismissing her transformation, Hapa waved away the smoke again even as she coughed. She was definitely going to have to ask Tofu to train her. This way of transforming; the leaf, the flip, the stupid smoke, it was a hassle everytime.

Leaning back, Hapa stretched out, luxuriating in her natural bunny-girl form. Her sister was probably off to college or something, nothing stu--

Hapa stared at the ceiling. She blinked twice then wiped her eyes. Looking again, she pursed her lips. In what she thought was very mature of her, Hapa did not scream in frustration at the large poster of a magical girl taped to the ceiling.

She had nothing against anime girls. Hapa had a collection of figurines, she’d be a hypocrite to judge. In fact, she was quite happy that her sister had grown wise to the ways of anime and manga.

Unfortunately, it appeared to be because she had fallen for fucking propaganda like the dipshit bitch of a sister she was.

A smiling magical girl in a blue gothic lolita dress stood on a cliff overlooking a rainbow vista of forest. Holding a magical sword in one hand even as she held up a rifle in the other, she was in a lax position even as various monsters of myth scrambled up onto her position. Imposed on top and behind her were a series of slogans.

JOIN THE FIFTH GENERATION OF DIVERS!

DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE DUNGEONS!

GAIN THE SYSTEM AND CONQUER AND DEFEND!

Still being mature, Hapa heroically resisted the urge to tear that poster down.

Moon’s Scorn, Sun’s Blight, and Star’s Bane, she did not want to have to dismantle yet another damn broken System. She was absolutely down and raring to kill another unjust god, but definitely not dismantling a system, literal/metaphorical.

…That explained why there had been a Guildcenter at least. Wait, no, it didn’t! Guildcenters were bases for Players in the System. The System only worked in Akasha. Why would there be a base in the real world!?

The System only worked in Akasha.

…Or should.

Something wasn’t right. This didn’t add up. Unless that piece of shit god’s plan was-- Hapa had to check something.

She should’ve been doing this from the get-go, but gah, she just wanted to relax, not hunt for conspiracies. Closing her eyes, Hapa began to extend her sens--

Two hard knocks on the door caused her to jolt. Her mother shouted, “ 小僧!出來！我做了早餐!” Little Monk! Come out! I made breakfast!

What time was it!? 5:30? Well, her mother always did wake up early, but not this early! Shit! She was in her natural form. Leaf! Leaf! She had to find a leaf and do a flip to transform into her old shell.

Frantically, she deepened her voice as she stalled for time, “啊，媽! 不要進來! 我沒有穿衣服!” Ah, mom! Don’t come in! I’m not wearing anything!

“我的兒子，你說的謊話太乱七八糟了” My son. Your lies are all over the place.

“...你已經知道了?“...You already know?

“小僧. 昨天晚上,我看你長出了兩隻兔子耳朵. 我怎麼可能不知道呢?” Little Monk. Last night, I watched you grow two bunny ears. How can I possibly not know!?

Wait, how? Her transformation had held. Hapa knew it held, she had checked her hands and… only her hands. She had only checked her hands and forgot to check her head. Fuck, she had grown bunny ears, hadn’t she?

“啊.” Ah. What else could she say?

“你出不出來嗎?” Are you coming out or not? Her mother asked in a tone that very much ordered her to come out.

This was most definitely not the plan. Hapa had been hoping to stall the reveal for maybe… a day? Two days? Forever? Forever would’ve been great, but..

Her mother pounded the door twice. “小僧,!你要出來或者你要我進來啊? 你快選擇，或者我為你選擇!” Little Monk! Do you want to come out or do you want me to come in!? You hurry up and choose or I’ll choose for you!

Neither! She’d prefer her mother just leave and-- Fuck. Those were very loud knocks. Hapa knew from past experience that her mother was perfectly willing to kick down doors to prove a point. There was just no winning against her.

“是,媽咪”  Yes, mommy. Hapa braced herself as she slowly opened the door, wincing when her mother grew impatient and forced the door all the way open to glare at her.

A small Chinese woman wearing a red apron with blue fishes should not be that intimidating, but in Hapa’s defense, that small Chinese woman was her mother and was also holding a rice paddle. The final nail in the coffin was the glare.

Hapa loved her current self. She was cut, hot, and a bunny-girl. That being said, she really missed being taller than her mother because meeting that glare was intimidating at this height. It was mildly better when she had a dick and was taller than her mother, but being the same height? Having to meet her eye-to-eye on the same level?

Hapa felt that being stabbed would be less painful.

Not wasting anytime, her mother cut to the chase, “為什麼你是一隻兔兔?” Why are you a bunny?

Wringing her hands behind her back, Hapa muttered, “我去了另一個世界.” I went to another world.

Her mother sniffed, “你的解釋有點短啊.” Your explanation’s a bit short.

Hapa shrugged, “整個故事有點長啊.” Entire story’s a bit long.

Silence reigned. As her mother simply stared at her, scanning up and down, Hapa began to rock on her feet, a nervous habit that had passed through even with her now-having digitigrade legs. How it worked, she didn’t know, but it was comforting to rock back and forth.

She jolted when her mother suddenly grunted, “男或女?” Boy or girl.

“...女.” Girl.

One last quick scan and her mother rapped Hapa’s nose with the rice paddle, softly scolding, “好吧,我的女兒. 我們一起去吃早餐吧. 你告訴我什麼回事在那一個世界. 真心话這次” Okay, my daughter. We’re going to eat breakfast. You’ll tell me what happened in that other word, honestly this time.

Rubbing her nose, Hapa simply nodded. Then winced when her mother rapped her nose again with the rice paddle.

真的.敢騙媽媽.” Really, daring to try and trick your own mother.

“可是我還沒騙你呀,” But I didn’t even lie yet, Hapa protested as she followed her mother to the kitchen, flinching back and shielding her face when her mother whirled around and held the rice paddle up threateningly.

“你想做已经做.” That you thought of doing it was already wrong though.

Taking one and biting it, Hapa forced down a smile at the familiar taste of red bean filling. Her mother still remembered her favorite. She couldn’t be happy right now when she wanted to be annoyed at her motherSitting down and taking a seat, Hapa grumbled, “對不起.” Sorry.

“哼,”Hmph. Her mother scoffed as she slid a platter of steamed buns on to the table, “吃一點包子. 吃後再說.” Eat a few buns. We’ll talk later.

Grabbing a few buns, Hapa found it difficult to be as angry as she wanted to about being forced to reveal herself. She had thought the reveal would be so much worse, but… not only had her mother simply accepted the changes, she had remembered her favorite bun-filling too, red-bean paste.

…Why was she trying to be angry? This was a win on all accounts. Her mother was surprisingly accepting. Of her change in species, her change in gender. Hapa should simply be thankful for that. And she was.

“等一下，我們需要買給你買內衣” We’ll need to buy you underwear later. Her mother idly called out as she cleaned the steamer.

…Maybe there was such a thing as too much acceptance though.