Beyond Sight: Start Of A New Journey!

Chapter 1: Oh, a rabbit! (Part 1/3)

The sun is about to reach its zenith and on a long earthy dirt road, surrounded by green, fragrant summer grass, a boy is just heading to the town of Old Providence. There he had planned to meet up with his friend Atara. For some time, Hitshiro, with his arms folded behind his head, has already been strutting along. But already the whole way he can't get one thought out of his head.
I'm sure I've forgotten something important. Maybe I should go back and check?
He turns around briefly, but decides against it in the end.
Oh, I've been on the road for so long now, I'd rather take my chances. If I don't remember it, it can't have been that important anyway. I wonder what Atara has bought again. He always overdoes it so much. I mean, yes he loves to cook. But just a delicious soup is enough for me! It doesn't always have to be a four-course meal with appetizers and desserts.
Something next to Hitshiro manages to distract him from his thoughts.
What's that?
Directly beside him it wobbles all at once in a bush. If Hitshiro was expecting a dangerous animal after all, to his surprise a simple brown rabbit jumps out.
"A rabbit!" exclaims Hitshiro excitedly now. 
But he quickly notices that something is wrong. A few times the rabbit jumps up and down and even a relatively loud grumbling can be heard.
"Are you in pain, rabbit? Do you need something to eat? I'm sure Atara-"
But before Hitshiro knows what's wrong, the rabbit also disappears behind the bushes again.
"Oi! Rabbit! Why are you running away? I'm not doing anything to you!"
Even though Hitshiro has arranged to meet Atara in fifteen minutes, the latter jumps after the rabbit. From a distance, Hitshiro sees the rabbit hobbling away from him faster and faster.
The rabbit is really damn fast.
Hitshiro runs as fast as he can so that he doesn't lose sight of the hare. But while the hare is small and nimble, Hitshiro has to be careful not to get hit by the branches or the leaves while running after it.
Slowly, however, he loses more and more speed and has to take a breath.
I can't go on. Please stop, rabbit! Why do rabbits have to be so fast? I don't want to lose him. Maybe he likes me, then I can keep him. Atara won't have a problem with that. At least, I hope so.
Determined, Hitshiro starts to run after the rabbit again.
Maybe that's why I'm scaring the rabbit, because I'm chasing it? Oh, why should he run away because of that? I don't look particularly dangerous.
Hitshiro's thoughts distracted him from the hare and now he has no idea where it is.
"Rabbit! You don't have to be afraid of me! I just want to take you with me!"
Now, when I say it like that, it does sound kind of funny. Ah, maybe I should just leave him alone after all.
Just as Hitshiro is about to turn around, he hears a boy talking behind the trees. He quickly hides behind one of the trees and peers around it. Now he sees the boy dragging a cat around by its paws very carelessly.
"Well you stupid cat! Where's your owner? Did you lose him?"
What is the boy doing to the cat?

"Why don't you fight back? You're really a stupid critter. Are you no-"
The rabbit that Hitshiro was chasing a moment ago now starts squealing behind the boy.
"Who do we have here? Is this your little friend?" the boy asks the cat.
Now he turns away from the cat and goes to the rabbit, who is still standing there bravely to help the cat.
"What are you little thing going to do?"
Now Hitshiro comes out from behind the trees.
"What are you trying to do?", Hitshiro calls attention to himself.
The boy reacts in shock, stuttering a few words to himself.
"I- I uh- I was just checking to see if the rabbit was okay. It looks like it lost its home."
"And you tried to help the cat, too, by tugging it back and forth?"
With nervousness, the boy doesn't know what to answer and quickly tries to run away. But Hitshiro has already reckoned with this. A large branch on the tree in front of the boy begins to move. Strongly it wobbles and just before the boy manages to disappear behind the trees, the branch slams right in front of his feet and causes a loud crash.
Immediately the boy flinches and Hitshiro reappears right behind him.
"You can't run from me, kid!" smiles Hitshiro. 
"What, how did you do that?", asks the boy hysterically,  "Who are you?"
Proudly, Hitshiro now smiles into the boy's face.
"Me, I'm Hitshiro Kyoiku!"
"What?! Leave me alone, you're creepy!" the boy says, running away again.
I'm not creepy at all! Well, as long as it makes him leave the animals alone, everything's okay.
Hitshiro turns around and in front of him are the rabbit and the cat. Snuggling, the cat moves around Hitshiro's leg and the rabbit looks a lot more relaxed now.
"So you just wanted me to help you get your friend out of the boy's hands? So you weren't afraid of me at all?"
Both animals don't seem to move away from Hitshiro and show their gratitude for a few more moments.
"So I can take you with me after all, bunny?" he asks, reaching for it.
Quickly, the bunny hops away with the cat and Hitshiro is sadly left behind.
Maybe I am scarier than I thought after all.
But his period of mourning doesn't last long, because he remembers again what he actually intended to do.
Oh, no! I'm going to be late!

Hitshiro quickly races through the forest back to the path.
I had to turn right, right?
Still running, Hitshiro heads towards town so Atara won't be annoyed that he's late.
A few minutes later, Hitshiro can already make out the outline of the town. But he has run all the way here as if there were no tomorrow and now has to catch his breath.
I'll make it in time after all!
In front of him is now a city wall with a high archway. On each side is a tower with a black top. Directly in front of the archway are two guards, who greet Hitshiro warmly.
"Good day, Hitshiro. Nice to see you again!"
"Hey, Rudy and-",
Hitshiro is a little surprised that he can't join in greeting Peter as usual.
"My name is Ryan, hello!", the right guard introduces himself and offers his hand to Hitshiro.
Hitshiro greets the new guard, but still wonders why the old one was replaced.
"Why isn't Peter here?"
"He hasn't shown up for a few days now. We are also getting worried by now! I think Mrs. Lyles wanted to talk to you about something, too. You should stop by and see her!"
The mayor? Did something happen?
"Sure thing, I'll check in with her right away!"
Shortly after, Hitshiro enters the city through the archway. Tens of children run past him and the sun shines in his eyes.
Now I just need to know where exactly he wanted to meet.
"Oh, man. I'm sure he told me where we were going to meet!", Hitshiro teases loudly.
"Hitshiro?" someone next to him wonders.
"Yes?"
Now Hitshiro recognizes the person and starts smiling immediately.
The shopkeeper of the best restaurant in all of Sangowa!
"Hey, Musashi! I'm super happy to see you!"

But the latter doesn't react quite as pleased as Hitshiro is used to.
"You still dare to come here?"
"Dare? Why wouldn't I?"
"Do you really think that if you pretend nothing happened, everything will be okay again?"
"What are you talking about?"
What got into him? He's probably just having a bad day, and he remembers that I spilled his soup recently.
Immediately, Musashi turns around and walks away from Hitshiro.