Based on the song Mikan no Yue (but perhaps we should call it “Mikan no Furu” now) from the album Paradise Lost.
It’s the first time I’ve seen such a brilliant blue in my life. Never before to that extent in my life, neither past nor future. The only color that can be called “blue.” It would’ve been nice if the color were reflected in my eyes, but of course that’s not the case. They remain the same red that drives those who look at it crazy.
It’s so dark and cold here. I hug myself and shiver. That blue must be warm. “I want to go back there someday,” I think intuitively. I don’t want to be in a place like this, where I could die at any moment and I wouldn’t know when. I look around. I thought my comrades would be admiring that blue. But that wasn’t the case. In fact, I’m the only one with blue in the eyes. I shook the shoulder of one of my nearby comrades and spoke to her.
“Hey, hey. Look at that. Isn’t that beautiful?”
“What? …Oh, That’s Earth.”
Earth. Yes, that’s Earth. I have the feeling that I should have known, but I’d never heard of it before. I hold onto that feeling carefully and thank my companion. She looks at me with curious eyes, but then leaves for somewhere else.
It’s strange. I have been taught since I was little that there are impure people over there. Why did such nostalgia come to me? Have I been driven out of my mind day and night by the long war? It’s funny that I, a wavelength manipulator, have gone mad. Or it could be that I have just now woken up from my madness. What if I have been driven mad by my own wavelength since I was a child, or even when I was born, and now I have woken up from it by seeing that blue?
I must return. Yes, I have to return. I’ll say nothing to my companions. Since they were all unimpressed by the blue, they hadn’t even seen that planet. They are still in the midst of madness. Thereupon, this moon capital itself will go insane. Ah, I have to get away from this place quickly. But I must prepare for it secretly and stealthily so that no one will notice. Until that time, when the time is ripe, I must be an obedient pet. I am grateful to my owners for raising me up to this point ever since I was a war orphan, but I want to return to my hometown. I have to go home.
I woke up one day and my mind was still filled with that blue. I hid my true intentions, tried to remain calm, and fought, killed, and accomplished as usual. My attachment to the moon faded day by day and that blue became my hope.
At that time, the moon rabbits were shaken by a tremor.
“Mayday Mayday, the impure earthlings have attacked! Take your places and be ready to go!”
My chance is here, I’m convinced. I start to run. I would meet those humans, listen to their stories, and return to Earth with them. I’m so excited. A lot of noise goes past my ears. I don’t know if it’s actual or telepathic. I don’t hear them cursing me. Everyone is so upset and floundering that they don’t notice me running away. In the meantime, I’m definitely moving on. The wavelengths tell me that I’m almost there and my feet speed up as I see that I’m almost there to meet a human. There is one clear, audible sentence over the buzzing sound and mixed noise.
“Are you leaving!? You selfish coward!”
The words of the one who was no longer my owner don’t pull my heartstrings or stop me in my tracks. And at the same time, a human appeared in front of me.
“Wha, what are you… uh-”
“Don’t be afraid,” I say, trying to get closer as our gazes met. I thought it would be okay for a human to physically come to the moon from the outside, instead of through the moon on earth, because they’re out of their mind. But I guess I was wrong. The human breaks down and starts laughing out loud. I sigh and softly whisper in the human’s ear.
“–If You Are Seeking For The Promised Land In Your Dreams, Paradise Is Here Now–”
“…sen, Reisen, hey, wake up.”
I open my eyes as I shake and twitch. It’s an uneventful night and the full moon, which is not fake, is shining in the sky. The princess looks at me curiously, and I remember that girl who told me the name of the Earth in my dream.
“It kind of looked like you were having a nightmare. Are you okay?”
The princess gently wipes the sweat from my forehead with her sleeve. I take a deep breath and say that I’m fine.
Whether this place is a paradise or that place is a paradise is neither certain nor important. Either way, I’ve already returned to this hometown. The mistress I met here was my owners’ former teacher, and she ended up serving the Lunarian princess. But these two are already earthlings. I, too, am an earthly rabbit.
I look up at the moon. I will never return to my incomplete old home.
“Was your dream really that bad?”
“No, it was a nostalgic… and good dream.”