I find Aoi and Miki hiding in such a way as to be totally obvious to any passing rabbit. Beside them lies a big pile of carrots, arranged haphazardly and screaming ‘trap.’ Any rabbit would have to be really dumb to come out. I sigh and walk towards them. Aoi spots me and runs out of her hiding (well not really) place and jumps me. “I knew you would come!”
       I struggle to disentangle myself from her. “No. I'm just passing by, on my way to the library.”
       Miki gives me an amused look. I ignore her.
       “Look!” I gesture at their sad rabbit lure. “You guys don’t know what you're doing. The rabbit will never come out if you do it this way.”
       I head over to where Miki and Aoi placed the carrots and start adding other vegetables to the pile from the bag they have with them.
       “What are you doing?” asks Miki.
       “Making rabbit salad,” I say as I add more lettuce and greens from the bag of vegetables.
       “You just need to mix them up?” asks Miki. “Is this some trick?”
       “No. Tricks are for kids,” I say. “THIS is pro animal science. There is a specific ratio. Officially known as Hiroto’s Golden Rabbit Ratio.”
       “What is it?”
       “Sorry, trade secret.”
       “Cheapskate.”
       "You'll just have to wonder about it for the rest of your days." I finish up. "Okay, now let's hide!"
       “Oni-chan,” asks Aoi. “Are you sure this will work?”
       “We’ll find out.”
       Fifteen minutes later, I hold plump Mr. Hoppy in my hands. I hand him to Aoi.
       “It worked! How did you know to mix up the greens?” asks Aoi excitedly.
       “I used to have a rabbit. Well, rabbits. Three to be exact.”
       “You’ve raised rabbits before?”
       “His mom had an ‘animals’ phase,” Miki says. “Dogs, cats, rabbits. They had everything at their house. Visiting his house then was like going to the zoo.”
       Aoi looks at me with open admiration. I start to get embarrassed.
       I say, “Now that you’ve found Mr. Hoppy, I gotta go.”
       “Thank you for rescuing Mr. Hoppy, oni-chan!” She beams.
       I will NOT admit to having just helped a Watanabe. So I’m petty. Big deal.
       “I didn’t do anything. You should thank Miki.” I nod to Miki. “She’s the one who helped you set up the lure and waited with you all this time. And she’s scared of animals. It takes guts to do what she did.”
       Miki blushes and mumbles something.
       “Oh, I thanked Miki-chan already,” says Aoi. “But you helped us find Mr. Hoppy!”
       “I’m sure he’d have turned up sooner or later with or without my help. Whatever. Don’t lose him again!” I say.
       “You bet!” says Aoi.
       And so Mr. Hoppy returns safely and my afternoon ends. I miss my workout, again! Another wasted day! I promise myself I'll avoid the Watanabe sisters like the plague from now on.