Chapter 2953: Chapter 2954: Goodbye, Cha Cha
After a five-minute sprint, Angelâs height was already about the same as when he was seven or eight years old. However, this shrinking didnât mean his "age also got younger"; his build was still roughly that of an adult. From a distance, he didnât look like a child at all, but more like a halflingâor, put another way, a slender dwarf.
As Angelâs body shrank, the shrill caws around him became even more frenzied than before. Rising and falling in waves, they sounded like the mournful music played before a funeral procession.
The Crows that until now had only been heard but not seen also took to the air. They seemed to understand that Angel, at this moment, could no longer pose a threat to them.
They simply perched quietly on the branches, their murky yellow eyes reflecting Angelâs figure, watching him as if they were staring at a dead man.
They were just waiting for Angelâs body to keep shrinking, to the point where he could no longer resist the flock. That would be the day he died.
Angel had long known how vicious this murder of Crows was. Countless times along the way he had wanted to pick up stones from the ground and hurl them at the birds, but he held back every time. If he missed, heâd only alert the enemy; even if he hit, it might not kill in one blow and would only make him look like he was lashing out in impotent rage.
Besides, he was already very, very close to his target location. He didnât want any extra complications at this point.
So, faced with the Crowsâ overflowing malice, he simply moved forward in silence, pretending he hadnât seen them.
If what awaited him at the target location turned out to be disappointment... then Angel would consider dealing with these Crows. At the very least, before he completely turned into a thumb-sized person, he had to find a way to eliminate or scare off this flock.
As Angel was silently thinking this, a patch of low shrubs appeared in front of him.
Once he passed through the shrubs and walked, at most, another twenty steps, he would reach the target location.
Yet even now he still hadnât seen any "signs of people," nor any possible markers of guidance... Could it be that his Spiritual Sense had lied to him?
Angel pressed his lips together and continued forward at a quick pace. He wanted to pass through the shrubs as soon as possible and see whether what lay hidden behind them was hopeâor despair.
Just as Angel stepped into the shrub thicketâ
Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught sight of something familiarâ
These were... footprints!
Right beneath the shrubs, a pair of clear footprints appeared before his eyes.
The size of these footprints was the same as those he had seen earlier, but they were much clearer, to the point that he could faintly make out some patterns.
Angel didnât immediately examine the footprints. Instead, he looked in the direction from which they had come... the west.
Seeing that it was the west, a suspicion rose in Angelâs heart.
Could it be that the owner of these footprints had been heading here all along? And that following the footprints would just take you on a detour?
If that was really the case, then had Angel followed those footprints from the start, he would still have eventually arrived hereâonly his body might have become much smaller than it was now. At that point, faced with Crows lurking on all sides, he would have had to advance with extreme caution, every step on thin ice.
Whereas now, though his body had shrunk, at least the Crows still hadnât reached the point of swooping down on him directly.
So, the guidance of his Spiritual Sense had been correct?
Was there truly a solution to this Anomaly up ahead?
At this thought, the anxiety that had been simmering in Angelâs heart eased a little. He didnât rush forward in excitement to confirm it; instead, he crouched down first and examined the footprints before him.
The footprints he had encountered earlier had all been very blurry. But here, the prints were quite clear; he could see the Pattern on the soles.
Huh?... Soles? These werenât animal tracksâthey were human footprints?
Angel froze for a moment, then reached out and ran his fingertip along the Pattern pressed into the deepest part of the print. Those neatly arranged grooves, and the fact that the Patterns on the left and right prints were symmetrical, really did resemble the tread of shoe solesâand they might even belong to a pair of leather shoes.
But the footprint was only about the size of a babyâs fist. Could it be that these tracks belonged to someone from the Kura Kuka Tribe?
If they really were footprints of the Kura Kuka Tribe, then it made sense that Angelâs Spiritual Sense would react. After all, Angel had once sheltered the Kura Kuka Tribe and had deep contact with them; they fell within the realm of the familiar. It was only normal that his Spiritual Sense would "resonate across a distance."
But was it really someone from the Kulakuka Tribe?
Angel couldnât be sure, but he knew that the answer lay ahead.
Taking a deep breath, Angel continued forward. After walking about four or five steps, the next few meters were so choked with shrubs that he was practically half-kneeling as he squeezed his way through.
When he emerged from the thicket, what he saw was... still the Forest.
However, the ground here was much cleaner, and the footprints on it were clearly visible. It was as if these prints were guiding Angel forward.
Angel walked another ten steps or so. When he circled around a large tree blocking the path, he finally saw the target location!
It was a small tree only two meters tall.
But the main point wasnât the tree itself, it was the fairy-tale-style mailbox standing beside it.
Next to the mailbox was a Rabbit Hole.
"This is the answer?"
...
Angel walked up to the little tree, intending to take a look at the tiny mailbox. But before he could open it, a crisp voice rang out by his ear.
"Only bad people open someone elseâs mailbox without the ownerâs permission."
Angel paused, and the first thought that flashed through his mind was: thereâs someone else here?
But he quickly realized something was off... Why did this voice sound so familiar?
With a puzzled expression, Angel turned toward the source of the sound.
"Cha Cha?!" Seeing the little white rabbit that hopped out of the Rabbit Hole, Angel blurted out its name on reflex.
However, the little white rabbit lifted its head, its Ruby-like eyes fixed on Angel as it declared righteously, "Please donât try to act chummy. I donât know you."
Act chummy? Donât know me?
Angelâs face went blank. Wasnât this rabbit the same miraculous Life he had accidentally created with a black hat back in Princess Townâthe rabbit Cha Cha?
Angel carefully inspected the rabbit before him. In terms of clothing alone, it did indeed look very different from the rabbit Cha Cha of Princess Town.
The rabbit Cha Cha there wore a little black felt hat, a finely tailored checkered tailcoat, and held a carrot-shaped cane in its hand. The rabbit before him, though also pure white, was dressed in a far more gaudy fashion.
Using Angelâs current height as a reference, this rabbit, when standing upright, reached his chest. On its head it wore a hat shaped like a teapot, and not just any teapotâa teapot bursting with colors. It even had the handle, spout, and lid all in place.
Its upper body was also clad in a tailcoat, but again in the same riot of colors, carrying that wild, childlike sense of color matchingâlike something a kid would draw when their imagination ran wild like a Pegasus.
On its feet it wore a pair of tiny leather shoes... or, more accurately, the shoes werenât on its whole feet, but just on the tips of its toes. In other words, the rabbit was standing on tiptoe the entire time.
The little leather shoes themselves were also very fairy-tale-like: golden uppers adorned with several Red teapot-shaped buttons, each about the size of a babyâs fist.
There was no doubt that the footprints Angel had seen all along the way must have come from this pair of shoes.
Overall, its outfit was a far cry from the Great Demon King Cha Cha. But its size, build, and voice were exactly the same.
But from the way the other party was looking at him like a stranger, Angel started to doubt again whether he really had mistaken it for someone else.
"Staring fixedly at a lady like that is not how a gentleman should behave."
Angel: "You really arenât Cha Cha? Youâyou had a carrot cane, didnât you? And you could make hats for people, all kinds of hats in different shapes."
The little white-furred rabbit gazed at Angel, who knew what it was thinking.
After quite a while, it finally said softly, "So you came to me because you wanted a hat?"
Angel: "Huh?"
When did I say I wanted a hat? And I said all that, and the only part you focused on was the hat?
Angel was half exasperated, half amused, and had just opened his mouth to explain when the white-furred little rabbit snorted, "I understand now, youâre one of those lost people, right? You blundered into Teapot Country without knowing anything, and ended up trapped in the Black Tea Forest... hmph, youâre afraid youâll turn into food for those black Crows, so you found me, hoping to beg for a hat?"
Angel: Is that how it is? How come I didnât know?
After triumphantly exposing Angelâs "true colors," the white-furred little rabbit pondered for a moment, then said in a tsundere tone, "Since you went through so much trouble to find me, and besides, I do feel vaguely familiar with you, like we might have met somewhere, for the sake of all that, I can bestow a hat on you. But you should know this too, right? The shrinking in the Black Tea Forest is irreversible. Even with the hat, it doesnât reverse. When you go back to the Human Realm, youâll still be this small. Youâd better think it through."
Angel hadnât understood everything else, but he did understand that as long as he wore a hat bestowed by this rabbit, he wouldnât shrink any further.
Of course he had to wear it!
As for it being irreversible? If this were the Real World, then sure, it would be irreversible. But this was inside an Anomaly; everything in an Anomaly is both illusion and test, so Angel wasnât worried.
"Alright, Iâll wear the hat." Angel nodded without the slightest hesitation.
First keep his current size from changing, otherwise if he really shrank down to the size of a thumb, that would be tragic.
The white-furred little rabbit didnât hesitate either; with a casual wave of its paw, a hat appeared on top of Angelâs head. As for what it looked like, Angel felt around and confirmed it was a teacup-shaped hat.
After putting on the teacup hat, Angel tested it by walking a few circles around the area; sure enough, his body was no longer shrinking.
Moreover, when the black Crows that had originally been flocking around him saw that Angel was no longer growing smaller, they all scattered and flew away, as if realizing todayâs feast was a bust.
Off to the side, the white-furred little rabbit watched Angel circling around and couldnât help showing a look of distaste, feeling that this human might be a bit dumb.
Thinking about it carefully, that made sense too. Not staying nicely in the Human Realm and insisting on barging into Teapot Countryâif that isnât dumb, what is?
Still, even though it thought Angel was quite dumb, the white-furred little rabbit didnât truly dislike him. Mainly, this human gave it a very, very familiar feeling, as if they really had met, and there was even a sense of closeness... Only, where this feeling came from, it had completely forgotten.
After finishing his tests of the hatâs effects, Angel, quite pleased, walked back over to the white-furred little rabbit.
He still had a bellyful of doubts that needed this white-furred little rabbit to answer.
Angel hadnât said much before, but heâd been listening carefully to the white-furred little rabbitâs words. From what it said, Angel had caught a familiar name: Teapot Country!
Could this place actually be that strange land recorded in "Louisâ Hat": Teapot Country?
He was a bit surprised, but after thinking it over, Angel didnât really find it unexpected.
Because the Mysterious Object "The Mad Hatâs Coronation," in a sense, originated from "Louisâ Hat."
And he had used the Mad Hatâs Coronation, so for the Anomaly to simulate Teapot Country seemed reasonable.
Only, what Angel couldnât figure out was: what exactly had gone wrong with this Anomaly?
Previously, Angel had thought that the shrinking mechanism in the Forest, plus the Crows treating him as meat, were the puzzle of this Anomaly. If he solved that puzzle, perhaps he could leave the Anomaly.
But now he had already solved the shrinking issue, and the Crows had left as well, so why hadnât the exit to the Anomaly appeared?
Could it be that this Anomaly actually had nothing to do with the Forest?
Angel had a head full of questions, but just as he was about to speak, the white-furred little rabbit suddenly said, "I gave you a hat. In exchange, you have to answer a question for me."
Angel: "What question."
"You may have heard from someone else that Iâm in the Black Tea Forest, but they definitely donât know my name. How did you know Iâm called Cha Cha? And why do I find you familiar? Where have we met?"
When Angel heard the white-furred little rabbitâs words, he froze for a moment... So this guy really was Cha Cha?
Previously, Angel had been doubting whether his memory was wrong, but now it had outed itself, and it had clearly said it "felt familiar" with Angel. There was no doubt: this was absolutely the rabbit Cha Cha.
Also, the reason his Spiritual Sense had resonated with this place from afar might very well be because of Cha Cha. After all, the rabbit Cha Cha in Princess Town was created by his own hand, inseparably linked to him; it was perfectly normal for his Spiritual Sense to pick up something.
The problem was, how was he supposed to explain all this? He couldnât exactly say: youâre a Mysterious Object lifeform I created, itâs just that you forgot me because weâre inside an Anomaly.
Everything else he could perhaps talk around, but the Anomaly was hard to explain.
Seeing that Angel stayed silent for a long time, the rabbit Cha Cha seemed to understand something and gave a light snort. "If you donât want to say, then forget it. Consider that hat a bargain for you. And also, stop rummaging through my mailboxâthere are no letters in there!"
With that, the rabbit Cha Cha was about to jump into the Rabbit Hole.
Angel quickly said, "Wait, can I consult you about a few things?"
Rabbit Cha Cha: "You wonât answer my questions, but you want me to answer yours, how does that make sense?"
Angel sighed. "I want to answer you, but I really donât know how to say it."
Rabbit Cha Cha: "What do you mean?"
Angel thought for a moment, then simply sat cross-legged on the ground. He picked up a dead twig nearby and drew a picture on the ground.
The picture showed a rabbit in a tailcoat and a felt hat, with a haughty expression, waving a carrot cane in its paw.
"This is the Cha Cha I know. Itâs a lot like you... but itâs no longer in Teapot Country, it lives in the world of humans. So when I first saw you, I mistook you for it."
After thinking it over, Angel decided to use the "mistaken identity" explanation to gloss things over for now.
The rabbit Cha Cha stared at the drawing in the dirt and pondered for a long time. "I vaguely remember, when I was dreaming, I seemed to have worn this kind of outfit, and held this kind of cane... Could it be that we met in a dream?"
Angel instinctively wanted to say: What are you talking about? Sleep-talking?
But before he could say it out loud, he saw the rabbit Cha Chaâs serious expression. It really, sincerely believed they had met in a dream.
Since that was the case, Angel thought it over and said, "Maybe?"
Rabbit Cha Cha tilted its head. "I feel like youâre still hiding something, but... forget it. Iâve seen this outfit from the drawing before, so we really might have met in a dream. Besides, I can feel you donât mean me any harm, so if you want to hide something, then hide it. I wonât ask."
With that, the rabbit Cha Cha imitated Angel and sat down on the ground as well.
"For the sake of us having met in a dream, I can answer your questions. But only three. Youâd better think carefully about what you want to ask me."
Angel thought for a moment, then nodded. "Alright."