After moving a few rooms over, Black Rabbit tried to ease some of the awkwardness she was feeling by asking, "If you don't mind my asking, what Gifts do you possess? It's embarrassing to admit, but I wasn't really able to follow the conversation between you and Shiroyasha-sama."
Chuckling lightly, Vahn casually waved his hand, tens-of-thousands of Gift Cards appearing as he said, "It would be easier to identify which Gifts I don't possess. Even then, I could probably come up with something."
Gawking in response to the truly ludicrous display, Black Rabbit's left ear bent slightly as the other one twitched. It was quite an adorable reaction, but, before Vahn could even think about teasing her, she suddenly shouted, "What the heck!? Even Floor Masters don't possess this many Gifts! Are you for real...!?"
Shrugging his shoulders, Vahn returned the Gift Cards to his body before sitting down and asking, "So? What's the deal with your Community? I know I already agreed to lend a hand, but it would be helpful to know what I'm getting myself into."
Recovering from her shock almost instantaneously, Black Rabbit coughed to clear her throat before explaining, "Since you are someone Shiroyasha-sama trusts, I will do my best to be truthful. You see, I'm a member of a Community called the No Names. We ended up losing our name and flag after a group of Demon Lords targetted us in a Gift Game. Many years ago, we were one of the most well-known Communities in the entire Little Garden. Now, the laws of the Central Network prevent most people from even remembering who we were. Even I can't recall what our original name was..."
Seeing Black Rabbit's ears droop, the only thing preventing Vahn from caressing the space between them was the distance separating them. This caused his fingers to tremble slightly, but, suppressing it with his willpower, he was able to appear unperturbed as he softly remarked, "I see...that sounds rather unpleasant..."
Nodding her head in agreement, Black Rabbit answered, "Indeed. People who use Gift Games to mess with other people's memories are cruel. To make matters even worse, most of the Players in our Community were either exiled, enslaved. Since then, the No Names has been comprised almost entirely of children. Even our Leader, Master Jin, is only ten years old. As for the other 121 children, the eldest is a kitsune girl named Lily while everyone else is between the ages of 4 and 9..."
Blinking several times in a mixture of surprise and incredulity, Vahn asked, "How? How are two ten-year-old children able to look after and care for 120 other children? And this has been going on for nearly two years? It's simply not possible."
Adopting an extremely melancholic look, a stark contrast to the forced smile on her face, Black Rabbit explained, "We do our best to help each other each and every day...Shiroyasha-sama was also kind enough to make me the Thousand Eyes' exclusive Judge Master. There are times when she teases me and forces me to dress up and cosplay, but Shiroyasha-sama is actually a very kind and caring person towards the people she cares about..."
Raising his brows, Vahn shifted his attention towards a seemingly empty point in space. At the same time, back in her room, an impish smile appeared across Shiroyasha's face as she waved her hand at the image reflected on her television screen.
Returning his attention to Black Rabbit, Vahn adopted his characteristically soothing tone as he said, "I see...that explains Shiroyasha's confidence. Even if I did my best to remain natural, there's no way I could simply ignore a Community filled with kids. Once the girls have finished resting, you should introduce me to your Leader. I'm not entirely sure what I can do for them just yet, but, in the grand scheme of things, there isn't much I can't do."
After seeing Vahn pull out a stack of Gift Cards taller than she was, Black Rabbit didn't doubt the veracity of his claim. Her only real doubts were regarding her ability to repay his kindness, as, even if he was unbelievably generous, there was always a limit to the effort people were willing to put in on someone else's behalf. If they didn't give anything back, they would become entirely dependent on him...
Though there was an obvious answer, Black Rabbit didn't believe she would be able to repay Vahn's kindness on her own. In fact, she would actually be the one benefitting in that particular scenario as she was currently the last remaining member of her species. If Vahn truly possessed the capacity to help restore her people, there was literally nothing she could offer of equivalent value...
Intuiting Black Rabbit's train of thought from the complexity of her aura and emotions, Vahn's smile became slightly wry as he remarked, "I see that you're the type that overthinks things. I'm probably not the best person to be saying this, but you shouldn't look at the world in terms of fair and equal exchanges. Everything has a different value to different people. I help people because I enjoy doing so, not because I expect anything in return. In other words, I'm just being selfish. If you really want to repay me, just continue being a good person. You spent the last two years providing for a group of 122 children. You deserve every bit of help people are willing to give."
Though her hair was already pink, it quickly became a more luminous color as Black Rabbit stared back at Vahn with a beet-red, slightly teary-eyed expression. The last two years really hadn't been easy, and, though she would never admit it, there had been times when she considered just giving up. The only reason she hadn't was because the children were relying on her. Her entire family had been wiped out more than two hundred years ago so she understood, better than most, how sad it was to lose the people you relied upon. Thus, no matter how difficult things became, she continued to wear a smile so that the children wouldn't have to worry.
Hearing Vahn's kind and considerate words, even Black Rabbit was surprised by how relieved she felt. He was someone that even Shiroyasha, one of the most powerful residents in the entire Divine Realm, regarded as capable. Hearing that he would support them caused her to feel as though a tremendous weight had been removed from her shoulders. Thus, for the first time in a very long time, she ended up crying tears of relief, sadness, hope, and tremendous loss in front of someone else...
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After nearly an hour of emotional release, Black Rabbit's hair had returned to a rich and creamy blue as she absentmindedly stared off into space. Vahn had hugged her shortly after she began crying. His care and warmth caused her to cry even harder, but, after a while, she began to calm down in response to his persistent and gentle caress. It was unlike anything she had experienced, and, though it caused her quite a bit of embarrassment in the beginning, she quickly got used to it.
"You're so warm..."
Speaking the first thought that had entered her mind in the past ten minutes, a not-so-subtle blush appeared across Black Rabbit's face as Vahn responded with a light chuckle. At the same time, he, very gently, massaged the interior of her ears with his thumb, rhythmically circling his finger as he mused, "I get that a lot..."
With her ears twitching, more so from his words than the actual touching, Black Rabbit's expression became marginally more 'aware' as she muttered, Oh yeah...going by Shiroyasha-sama's words, I'm guessing you had a large harem back in the lower realms? What happened to all of them? Did you really leave them behind just to come to the Divine Realm...?"
Without any hesitation whatsoever, Vahn answered, "Of course not. I'm quite greedy, you see? Most of my wives, lovers, and children are currently residing within my Internalized Realm. There, the flow of time has been reduced so that a single day inside is roughly ten years outside. Once I have made adequate preparations, I imagine some of them will want to come out to play..."
Blinking in surprise, Black Rabbit extricated herself from Vahn's embrace, staring into his eyes as she asked, "You brought all of them with you? That...that shouldn't be possible..."
Gesturing in dismissal, Vahn cheekily replied, "I'm the God of Infinite Possibilities. I don't particularly care what others say is impossible. Don't worry though. I'm not going to destroy the balance of the Little Garden by summoning millions of people and waging war. I'll most likely continue doing my own thing until I either reach the single-digit Gates or find a way to supersede the Little Garden in its entirety. As for what happens after that...well, even I can't say for certain..."
"You're serious about reaching the one-digit Gates? Even Shiroyasha-sama was unable to surpass Rank 10. I don't doubt you, but you shouldn't underestimate the deities who preside over the Little Garden..."
As the heiress of the entire Moon Rabbit, the 'aristocrats' that served only the Gods, Black Rabbit was intimately familiar with the power possessed by some of the most powerful beings in the Little Garden. Their Patron God, Indra, was only Rank 14, yet, in spite of this, he was capable of producing lightning capable of annihilating higher metaversal structures, each containing a functionally infinite number of multiverses.
Though he was tempted to tease her for trying to change the subject, Vahn just smiled in response to Black Rabbit's words, caressing her head as he said, "Don't worry. I never truly underestimate my opponents. I just trust in myself and my ability to achieve the goals I set for myself. Even if I fail, I'll just pick myself back up and try again. I don't quit. Not really."
Seeing the unfettered confidence contained within Vahn's gaze, Black Rabbit couldn't help believing in his words. He didn't speak with any traces of arrogance. Instead, his words came across as casual, almost as if he were discussing the weather outside. In other words, rather than telling her about his dreams and ambitions, he was basically just making an observation...
"You really are powerful, aren't you...?"
Chuckling in response to the timid bunny's remark, Vahn continued to caress her head as he mused, "At times, I actually feel a little too powerful..."
Shaking his head, Vahn preempted any response Black Rabbit might have had by rising to his feet and saying, "The girls just got out of the bath a little while ago. It's been a few hours since they had anything to eat so I want to prepare something before they go to bed. Care to join me?"
Staring at Vahn's extended hand, Black Rabbit only hesitated for a moment before grabbing it, a radiant smile developing across her face as she exclaimed, "Of course~! Even if you don't expect any kind of repayment, the least I can do is help you with things like this! If there's ever anything I can help with, anything at all, you need only say the word~!"
Pulling the blue-haired bunny with a bit of force, Vahn drew her into his embrace, startling her quite a bit as he brought his face to within three centimeters of hers and said, "Careful with your words. I wasn't joking when I said I was greedy..."
With her hair and face immediately turning a bright shade of pink, Black Rabbit found herself at a loss for words. Vahn, taking advantage of her stupor, planted a kiss on her forehead before smiling as he promptly released her. This ended up being something of a mistake, as, immediately after he released her, Black Rabbit fell onto her butt, steam rising from her head as her face turned bright crimson...
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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Vahn Kaiba casually showing off his card collection...','Imagine being a single mother trying to take care of 122 kids o_o...','Black Rabbit.EXE has stopped working...')
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