At Estresey Academy, among a multitude of esteemed institutions, a shared commitment thrived: empowering individuals to forge a profound and meaningful eBunnee presence. Within the hallowed halls of our Academy, every class pulsed with the promise of eBunnee recognition. Shattered were the remnants of archaic education.
(•ω•)
As I walked towards the town of Berghwoodna, yes, I was alone. Larisa had decided to pull a disappearing act. We didn't argue—in fact, Larisa seemed ecstatic about the whole trip—to school, groan, and Pugtopia—groan x2.
At least we would get to see Kai and Eliza, which cancelled out the two negatives. If Larisa decided to show herself again, would that number be positive or negative? I couldn't do maths! Let my brain think of something else!
I started to ponder Larisa's ability to mimic my voice. Could she do other voices as well? This seemed quite intriguing! Sooooo many possibilities for pranks, impersonations, and unexpected conversations. I already imagined the mischief and laughter that awaited us. Who knew what surprising encounters and amusing situations we'd find ourselves in with Larisa's voice-mimicking talent? It was like unlocking a whole new world of playful opportunities.
As I approached the town of Berghwoodna, the streets leading up to the main shopping district were filled with fans holding up banners displaying and promoting their favourite eBunnee streamers. Banners and flags of endearment and admiration were everywhere. Many of the popular ones had cute cartoon mascots representing them.
I saw banners and flags with slogans that the streamers often said. People went all-out for popular eBunnee celebrities here. In the major cities, it was even more hectic. This was just the tip of the iceberg. As usual, there wasn't a single banner or flag for me, but that was okay; I would rather discreetly hide away in the shadows and not draw attention to myself today.
A voice out of nowhere hailed, "Look! I see a banner with Kassy on it!"
"So the spirit returns?! I guess they have good taste," she said as she noticed banners for Jess and Xinx, her slight smile dipped. How the ghost girl knew of Kassy was most likely from my talking about her in my sleep or the posters in my room. Lillian continued, "Anyway, where did you go?"
"Sorry, I got distracted by something so cute that I couldn't resist pursuing it!"
"Are you sure you didn't just see something hideous and had to run?" As soon as the words left my mouth, I realised the possible implications or interpretations. Before saying anything else, I attempted to bring the conversation to a halt by swiping through my phone and looking busy, hoping to divert Larisa's attention away from what I had just said.
Lillian sighed and noticed that someone had uploaded a video titled "Highlights of Lilly's 'EPIC' Most Eventful Stream." I only needed to see that the length of the video was 1 second to know what the deal was.
The comments from the Heart-ling Forest stream last night were still pouring in:
Pirategirlmeta: check tree at 0:23. defo something there
EmzluvsStu: it is just grass, grass and more GRASS!
Demongurl: Lilly so pretty though. I so jelly and cream of her
Facepalmer45: losing respect for you
EmzluvsStu: I hate this stream. At least fake something instead of showing us grasss
Pianoman: not watching just listening to the chill ambience sounds
Demongurl: Emz keep going on and on bout grass. Why not touch so grass? Ffs go b with your bf wont you and stop complaining all the time
Mechabuns: I am bored I am going to stare at my ceiling to pass the time
EmzluvsStu: stu is with me right now. We both hate this
KennyGED: is this real life?
After briefly glancing at it, I simply closed the entire app. They claimed to dislike it, yet they couldn't seem to stop talking about it. This Emz individual kept on commenting.
Eliza started running towards Larisa and me from the crowd of banner and flag bearers. As Eliza drew closer, with Kai walking slowly behind her, I noticed she was hoisting a banner with my portrait on it. I was uncertain if this was meant to mock me. With Eliza, you never knew. The portrait was rather charming, capturing me with a smile, displaying my teeth, and giving the impression of laughter. While it might not have aligned perfectly with ghostly content, people seemed to appreciate the light-heartedness in some of the things I did.
After the dreadful stream from me the previous night, I had my doubts. Why now? I didn't care about the people of eBunnee at that moment—I just wanted Eliza to meet Larisa. I wanted to see if she could irritate this very irritating person. Let the battle commence!
Without the briefest pause, Eliza burst forth: "I heard about your epic stream last night. People loved watching the wind blow the grass and trees in the pitch black. Please let me come next time." She continued on and on, never breaking her concentration or stopping to breathe. I zoned out and didn't even hear the words being said. "Oh, and you wouldn't believe what Kai and I did in VR. We managed to design the most adorable VR pet imaginable! It was absolutely precious!"
I finally interrupted her and said, "It wasn't the wind; it was Larisa in the stream."
"Are you still going on about this Larisa ordeal? When you fake stuff, you actually need to have stuff faked to show. Just give it up, okay? By the way, we've been broadcasting the Whisker-Nyan-Nyan ghost for over three hours, and the best thing of all is that people can actually see him!"
I zoned out momentarily again, failing to listen to anything else she said. Glancing towards Larisa, I noticed she was captivated by every word Eliza uttered. Why wasn't Larisa saying anything? And why couldn't Eliza see her? Larisa appeared utterly entranced and engaged with everything Eliza was saying. She found it genuinely intriguing—her mouth hung open, her eyes hadn't blinked in ages, and her head movements synchronised with Eliza's speech.
I got frustrated and just shouted out, "Eliza, that's a cat, not a ghost!"
"No, it is a ghost."
Lillian's usual automatic response would be, "That isn't no ghost."But she wasn't falling into that double-negative trap again, as she had during previous encounters with Eliza.
Instead, she countered with, "Why would it be alone in an abandoned house all the time?"
"Cats do that!"
"And it stinks!"
"Ghosts don't smell like anything."
I tried to reply, but Eliza hit me with a, "Yak, yak, yak!"
Every time Lillian tried to speak, Eliza interrupted her with, "Yak, yak, yak."
"And the cat is greedy..."
"Yak, yak, yak, yak, yak," Eliza continued.
Kai leaned forward, kissed Eliza on the cheek, and said, "Look, Eliza-ling-kins, our video from last night got over 100k views!" Holding up a phone to her face so she could see, he swiftly navigated through menus, tabs, and settings with such speed that comprehension became a challenge. His familiarity with every menu, tab, and setting was remarkable.
"Yes, Kai-kins, we did so well! Purrfect teamwork!"
Lillian, unimpressed, responded with, "10,000 views, and you deserve every single… none of them."
"You have 100k disciple views?!" Larisa asked, her eyes sparkling with glee.
Eliza and Kai gasped in unison.
After a brief silence from Kai and Eliza, Eliza finally said, "Wow! She's so pretty!"
"Oh, you're talking to me?!" Larisa replied.
"Larisa, why were you hiding?" Lillian asked.
"I had my visibility turned off again. I am such an idiot."
"Finally, some self-awareness," I muttered.
"I can't believe how pretty you are, Larisa. May I touch you? I really want to touch your hair," Eliza asked enthusiastically. "Your look is very semi-translucent, but I really adore your shimmering silver hair."
"You can't touch her; she doesn't have a physical, tactile body," I said.
After voicing these words, Lillian realised she never actually tried to make contact with Larisa. Larisa could physically move objects like grass, and she had been moving objects in my room. Oh yeah, and the spider, which had been resting on her shoulder for quite some time. So maybe 'I' could make contact with her? The curiosity was becoming overwhelmingly intense for her. The experience was akin to a child's first encounter with a sparkler—an irresistible urge to grab the pretty sparks and hold them tightly. It was like a moth drawn irresistibly to a flame, completely unaware of the danger it exposed itself to. Larisa was so ethereal and enchanting, as if she had stepped out of a dream. I simply longed to make some sort of contact.
As I walked, I drew nearer to her, my arms gently swaying by my sides, neither making deliberate movements nor involving the upper half of my body. I maintained a brisk pace without making direct eye contact with her, while keeping my gaze fixed straight ahead and my head perfectly still.
Soon, a misty veil enveloped my vision as my essence tentatively merged with her ethereal figure. Larisa stood there, her eyes wide and embracing my approach, her face wore a curious and somewhat perplexed expression.. I suddenly realised that our forms were already overlapping, causing me to stumble and crash to the ground. A profound chill subtly permeated me, leaving me bewildered and disoriented as I glanced at the banner bearers down the street.
For a moment, I let Larisa slip from my thoughts, overwhelmed by a wave of joy as I witnessed the happiness radiating from them. Even if they did not support the same eBunnee streamer, none of them appeared angry or as if they were in any sort of protest. There was a strong sense of unity among them.
A surge of desire to contribute to their happiness filled me, compelling me to find a way to make a difference. In that moment, embarrassment shed its weight and transformed into strength. I realised being vulnerable became the gateway that invited others to step into the depths of the soul.
Eliza: "Wait, did they just kiss or something? What is going on here?!"
Lillian managed to lift herself slightly off the floor, her voice weak and strained. "No, this is me on the floor. Is that how you kiss? Makes sense." She lacked the energy right now to say anything more.
Eliza held up the banner with Lillian's portrait, stared at it for a few seconds, then announced, "No looky! This is how I kiss!" She continued holding the banner up high in front of her face; her gaze locked with the eyes of the portrait, deliberately stalling to further annoy Lillian and tease her.
Kai, out of nowhere, impulsively kissed Eliza on the side of her neck before she had time to react. Eliza touched the back of her neck with the back of her hand very gently and said, "A stupid mosquito just bit me. I'm going to have a horrible red pimple now."
Eliza grinned mischievously and added, "But I really did enjoy it."
"Not a mosquito bite, just a vampire bite. Eat some garlic; otherwise, I will keep doing it," Kai declared.
Eliza responded, determined, "Alright, I'll make sure to remember N O T to!"
Until this moment, Kai had been standing there peacefully, not saying a word, somewhat enjoying the show between the three of us. He did not look frightened by Larisa at all. Honestly, after dating Eliza for nearly a year, he shouldn't be scared of anything, especially not Larisa. Eliza seemingly made everybody she encountered suffer, but with Kai, she seemed like a completely different person.
The three of them—Eliza, Kai, and Larisa—noticed that Lillian was standing again. Eliza panned her gaze to Larisa, overwhelmed with questions to ask. She briefly remembered the phone call she had received not long ago and the voice mimicking it. "So, Larisa," Eliza began, "can you mimic voices?"
"Yes, yes, yes, I can! I am so happy you are talking to me right now. I have been waiting for you to talk to me."
Eliza interrupted, "That is my voice! Stop that immediately!"
Kai chuckled and interjected with excitement, "Could you have her sing Kassy's song about her legs? I've always yearned for Eliza-ling-a-ding-kins to perform it for me, but she never did. Are you familiar with the lyrics? It goes like this: Look at my legs; they are so long and..."
Eliza cut Kai off before he could get to the really crude part, exclaiming, "You don't even know what she's singing about! While I adore Kassy, I don't like this song. Kai-Flutter-Pug, you have poor innocent eyes, and I feel the need to protect them! Wait, I mean ears! Did I say ears? I am quite certain I did!"
"My poor innocent eyes?!" Kai echoed, incredulous.
"You don't have innocent eyes! I was joking. Anyway, nobody is really looking at us right now, even though we are making quite a scene."
"Can any of these people see you over there?" Eliza asked Larisa as she pointed at the parade of fans with banners, signs, and flags.
"Only you three can see me right now."
Eliza, surprised, exclaimed, "Really?!"
"Facts! I only turn my visibility on for selected people."
"How exactly do you turn your 'visibility' on?"
"Well... ummm, I never really thought about it that much. It's something I can do naturally, like walking or sneezing; I don't really have to think about it."
"That explains absolutely NOTHING!"
As much as Lillian enjoyed seeing the two of them get along and chat, I became anxious and felt compelled to ask, "Larisa, the goddess of ice and cold things, do you see that guy over there?"
The four of them all looked in the direction of a man standing on a fish crate. They walked slowly behind him, with Larisa lingering behind.
The man had long, greasy black hair, a long beard, a spiked, studded leather dog collar, and was wearing a sleeveless T-shirt with the eBunnee logo crossed out in red spray paint. Over the T-shirt, he wore a nasty black denim jacket that looked like it was designed for a woman, adorned with haphazardly sewn-on patches depicting symbols, various skulls, and menacing blue dogs with razor-sharp teeth. Baggy pink cargo shorts completed the 'fell into a bargain bin at a charity shop' look. He looked like someone who had peaked in high school and never evolved or moved on.
An overwhelming smell of whisky and blood emanated from him. What the hell had they been drinking? There was no way this could be perfume.
Eliza was about to make a disgusted face, but then he made eye contact with Larisa and slightly bowed his head towards her. However, Eliza thought he was bowing to her and said, "Thanks," extending her arms with her hands tilted backward as if she were willingly receiving praise. Larisa and Lillian looked at each other and smiled.
There were dozens and dozens of people gathered around him for reasons unknown to them.
"The shilver-hair goddesh ish here to relive our dream," the weird man followed with more:
"She ish the one you all trusht."
"To flourish in life, we need to embarrassh Wally."
"If you are losht, Wally will guide you."
"Wally ish here to help ush all live a wonderfuuul and loving life."
"You jusht need to believe in Wally."
"We musht follow the shtepsh of Wally."
"We will not loshe out in one direction."
"We musht guide othersh on the path of 'Wallyism'."
"We will not shhtall."
"Fallse idolsh like Kassy need to be gone."
"Do not fall down thish path."
"She ish not... in your area."
"She left you all to suffer."
"Kassy ish a snake."
"Why is he talking about Kassy now? I thought he was talking about you, Larisa," I asked.
"He is just rambling nonsensical drivel about many things," proclaimed Larisa.
They continued with their incoherent speech:
"We will not fight back againsht the fire!"
"We musht put the ice in the drink before you drink it."
"Kassy ish not here to help ush."
Larisa grew increasingly impatient and bored as the guy started to speak again. She began to throw her voice, flawlessly mimicking the weird guy's tone and his unique, drunkenly slurring cadences:
"Ish love Kasshy and wanna marry herrr!"
"I criiied at the end of the Pokémon movie with my waifuu, Hatsune Miku!"
The crowd of people didn't think he was speaking out of context with the other gibberish he had been spewing; they didn't react at all, simply standing there idly, soaking in every word, while many recorded the speech with cameras and phones.
Eliza couldn't stop laughing. Her laughter was wild, as if she couldn't catch her breath to speak. It was so contagious that both Lillian and Kai were soon infected by it. The crowd looked over at them, clearly displeased. They saw them as silly, immature children causing a scene. Meanwhile, the drunkard was a serious man who demanded to be listened to and respected.
"Shhhe finally...she-speaksh to ush, you guysh!"
"I've been here for...like, 5 hoursh, shtill shhh...seekin' and shhtuff."
"Her wordsh finally...come to me!"
"I feel...bleshed, man! Sho bleshed!"
Slowly, urine seeped down the left leg of his green cargo shorts and made a big trail down the street.
He seemed unfazed by it and carried on:
"Fear not the...water flowin', my f-friends."
"We all ride the...wavesh, and sssome of us...crash"
"The...river will lead ush, as the one we...wash waitin' for...ish...has shpoken"
"Larisa!" both Lillian and Eliza shouted.
"Hey, don't blame me for this one. This guy is just... eww, super yucky! I don't have magical powers to make people do weird stuff like this," Larisa snarled as urine started to drip down his leg onto the crate he was standing on, mixing the urine smell with the lingering fish smell from the fish crate.
"You musht not leave, 'caush she's finally...ish...with ush!"
After uttering this, the guy briefly glanced at Larisa before resuming his gaze straight ahead, displaying no real acknowledgment of the large mass of people who were revolted by him and were hastily retreating.
"Lilly-poo, I thought only the three of us could see her," Eliza remarked.
"Stop giving me ridiculous nicknames! Especially ones like that! Save them for Kai!" she retorted.
"Okay, no more nicknames for you then. I will fulfil your request. Lillian Rosemarie Steele! I am happy to oblige, Lillian Rosemarie Steele."
"You don't have to say my full name!"
"It's either 'Lillian Rosemarie Steele' or I'll give you another nickname. So just be happy with it, okay, Lillian Rosemarie Steele?" Eliza proceeded to discuss the repulsive man. "So he wasn't bowing to me? Well, looking at him now, I am kind of glad. Just gross, eww eww eww!"
Kai spoke up: "Elizalings, he is just one person. You only have to go 'ewww' once."
"I will just give him one big 'EWWWWWW'," she declared, and she did so: "EWWWWWW!"
"Perfect solution you came up with there, Elizalingkins. And I don't think he was looking at any of us. He just seemed to be staring blankly at random things," remarked Kai.
"Serious question: Does he always do that? Pee down his leg?"
"I really hope not," replied Kai.
"It might be part of his ritual or speech," commented Larisa.
"Can we please just leave now?" asked Lillian, sounding frustrated.
Feeling really disappointed, Eliza replied, "We don't have time to go to Pugtopia and meet Wally now!"
"Oh, what a huge pity," Lillian said with a sarcastic lament.