Sometimes, when everyone else at Eientei was asleep, Reisen would go outside to look at the moon. Amid the lunar light, the past seeped in. She would remember what had happened. She would remember what they had done. She would flinch by instinct. She would wince, yet nothing could stop her mind.
Sometimes, when everyone else at Eientei was asleep, Reisen would imagine going back. She wasn’t a fool. She knew what would await her - only the same mistreatment, if not much worse. Still, Reisen almost felt she owed a loyalty to the moon. She grew up amid Lunarians, even if they had hurt her. It was wrong to leave, wasn’t it?
Sometimes, when everyone else at Eientei was asleep, Reisen would think of how her past had changed her. She would think of how it would always linger with her, about how she wouldn't - how she couldn’t – be free of what had happened. She would think about how others would always know. She would think of how it changed her, of her anxieties, of her fears. She would always be dirtied by her legacy. She would desperately wish to just be normal - an impossible request.
Sometimes, when everyone else at Eientei was asleep, Reisen would wonder why. Why did it happen to her? Why did she have to deserve it? Why did she have to be broken? Why can’t she be fixed? Why?
Sometimes, when everyone else at Eientei was asleep, Reisen would hurt. The red-eyed rabbit knew it would hurt every time she went moon-gazing. Every time, she knew what would happen. Every time, night after night, however, Reisen kept going outside, staring at the cursed lunar object looming overhead. Reisen felt she deserved it.
Sometimes, when everyone else at Eientei was asleep, Reisen would try to hold back her quickening gasps. She would choke back her thoughts, translating them into tears running from her red eyes. She would try to be quiet. Yet, she would fail.
Sometimes, when everyone else at Eientei was asleep, Reisen would sob into the edge of the bamboo forest, overwhelmed by the silent glow of the moon.
Sometimes, when everyone else at Eientei was asleep, Tewi would be up, too.
Sometimes, when everyone else at Eientei was asleep, an earth rabbit would console a fellow bunny. She would sit on the porch and hold the larger figure in her arms, as best she could. She would embrace her, she would pat her head, gently rubbing her wrinkled ears. She would give the moon rabbit time to cry.
Sometimes, when everyone else at Eientei was asleep, Tewi would tell her friend that she was strong for getting through it all. She would promise it would never happen again. She would promise to always be there. She would protect her friend. Always. Forever.
Sometimes, when everyone else at Eientei was asleep, Reisen would believe her friend. Her tears would grow less frequent, her wretches and sobs quieting, even if only gradually, even if only slightly. In time, they would come to stop. She wouldn’t smile - at least, not yet - but if nothing else, the moon rabbit could imagine smiling again, at some point in the future.
Sometimes, when everyone else at Eientei was asleep, Reisen thought things might eventually be okay.
Only the comfort of a certain earth rabbit made that possible.