The fight was over. If it could even be called that.

*I just kicked it as hard as I could. It died already?*

I made sure to confirm the kill to make sure it wouldn't come back stronger like last time. I had kicked it into a house, not over a house, for ease of access. Indeed, it was no longer alive.

*Why was that so easy?*

When I charged at it, it froze up, showing little to no reaction, which made it a very easy target. It was *too* easy, but the results were right in front of my face. As long as I didn't get swarmed by an angry mob of them, I was perfectly fine. And it didn't look this was going to be the case for a while.

Of course, I was still alert. I waited for a few seconds to confirm my safety. I strained my hearing. My senses were pushed to their limits, but I couldn't detect anything out of the ordinary.

*Uh, okay... now what?*

There was a b.l.o.o.d.y corpse of a rabbit just sitting there on the concrete. I didn't know whether to take it with me or leave it there.

*Even though I'm hungry, I really don't want to eat an unidentified object. I retract my diagnosis of "perfectly healthy rabbit!"*

Now that I had deemed this thing an "unidentified object", Doctor Jon could no longer say it was a perfectly healthy rabbit.

*There's still some stuff at home... I'll think about it when I can't use that food anymore.*

So I decided to leave a bloodied mess on a stranger's driveway.

*I guess since there's n.o.body else here, I don't need to worry about cleaning it up.*

There would be n.o.body to complain about it, so what was the point in making someone else's house look nice?

*Let's continue the run.*

I was feeling great about my physical condition. Even though I ran over three kilometers (and kicked a rabbit in the face), I was barely breathing any harder, my heart rate had already returned to normal, and I was hardly sweating. The weather may have had some effect on that, but it's hardly worth mentioning.

*Alright, let's pick up the pace.*

Normally, if I were running at a slightly-above-leisurely pace, it would take me just around four minutes to run a kilometer. I wasn't keeping track of how long it took me this time around, since I was so focused on not being ambushed and keeping pace for a 10k. Humans are very mediocre at mult.i.tasking, after all.

This time, I would keep a stopwatch on my phone. How long would I take to practically sprint one kilometer?

Since I was already halfway around the neighborhood, I jogged back around the loop back to my house so I could accurately gauge one lap. This occurred without incident.

I tossed my backpack and hoodie on the ground and readied the stopwatch on my phone.

The chilly air made contact with my skin, causing me to s.h.i.+ver slightly.

*No need to worry, though. Once I start running, it'll be fine.*

I deeply inhaled, held my breath for a few seconds, then exhaled.

*And... go!*

I pushed off the ground almost as hard as I could. I knew I could almost sprint the entire distance, which meant that I needed to pace myself slightly, even if that amount was small.

And so the race against my previous record began. I sped through the sidewalk faster than I ever had before.

Each landmark I pa.s.sed notified me of my progress.

10%... 25%... 50%...

Even 75% of the way through, I was running a clean race.

However...

*I hoped this event could happen peacefully. But apparently that was too much to ask for.*

Once again, I noticed a rustle in the bushes beyond the sidewalk.

*I don't have time to deal with you now, but you'll get your chance!*

I didn't even witness the perpetrator of this noise as I dashed by the rustling bush, but I didn't need to see it to know what it was. The sound alone was enough. I ignored the noise at breakneck speed. I was almost at the finish line without incident, but reality was cruel.

I turned my head back to confirm my suspicion. Indeed, I was being followed. And not only by one.

*Dammit! Do those guys only come in packs of six?*

Another unwarranted six-pack soured my mood. I didn't even want to deal with one of those monsters at the moment, much less six. I was most likely about to break my 1k record, but these guys just had to show up at the last minute to ruin everything.

As I ran down the edge of the sidewalk, six rabbits chased from behind. This scene would look quite comical to an outsider. A high school kid being chased by a bunch of little bunnies.

*Fortunately, there aren't any "outsiders". This is so embarra.s.sing... I want to die. Actually, I don't. I want to be removed from this world permanently as peacefully as possible.*

Speaking of outsiders, I suddenly remembered the author of the note and gritted my teeth.

*Right, there was someone like that presumably messing with me.*

Even if they weren't physically messing with me, they were still aware of my predicament and observing without interference. The feeling of being placed in a humiliating scenario by an unknown force rekindled my desires to fight on.

*d.a.m.n you, An. I'll get to you eventually. But first... let's smash this record!*

The finish line was close and was coming ever closer.

*I can reach it before they catch up with me!*

I looked back once more. At this point, it was just me against a wall of doom that was ever approaching. No matter how fast I was, the rabbits were faster. Rabbits are faster than humans. This was common sense. I knew that nothing was going to change this fact, yet I continued forward like nothing else in the world mattered.

Five seconds remained before I crossed the crack in the sidewalk that doubled as a lap marker.

Four... three... two... one...

The rabbits were almost on my heels at this point. Their proximity made me apprehensive of what was to come, triggering a miniature version of post-traumatic stress disorder. I knew all too well of what would happen if I let them catch up to me. Perhaps this adrenaline rush is what helped me actualize my goal of setting a new personal record.

My feet left the ground for one last stride.

*And, finis.h.!.+*

I hit the stop b.u.t.ton on my phone's stopwatch and immediately threw in into the gra.s.s. I had no time to gloat about my new record, because I didn't even know what it was yet. Rather, I had to focus on not dying, as there was a fatal threat rapidly closing in on me.

*There's no need to worry, though. I have this all figured out.*

As soon as my left foot hit the ground, I pushed with more strength than usual, leading to a jump. My body was also twisting through the air as I had applied rotational force in my jump.

I focused on my target, which was a silvery-gray rabbit closing in at high speed. I was already running really fast, and the fact that this thing was still able to close in like a bullet was a testament to its speed. But there was no need to worry, I still had everything under control.

I flung my body around and executed a reverse roundhouse kick with my right leg onto the gray rabbit's skull.

*CRACK!*

With a satisfying sound effect, the rabbit went limp as I forcefully changed its velocity. It tumbled through the air and skidded across the street, rolling to a stop. Although one was confirmed down, there were still five more. Everything was still under control.

I was still in the turning through air, and one rabbit was flying at me with four more tailing farther behind on the ground. Using my momentum I had gathered from my initial jump, I twisted my body, turned through, and executed a normal roundhouse kick on the second flying rabbit's skull.

*CRACK!*

Another satisfying sound effect resounded, and this foe met a similar fate to its companion.

*That's more like it.*

I landed back on the ground in the same direction I was initially running and slowed to a stop.

I abruptly turned around to face the enemy, and performed the same strategy that had led to my death prior. However, this scenario was different. This time, I knew for certain that I had everything under control.

I dashed towards the rabbit all the way on the left, and threw a punch with my right arm at it as it jumped towards me. Another crack resounded, and I knew it was dead. I also successfully avoided the vicious bites of the remaining three.

Suddenly, I heard a familiar digital jingle. Since I still wasn't sure what it meant, I remained alert. I didn't even know if it was a good or bad sign. I had no method to confirm *because* I had no clue what it was.

*I really don't have time to focus on that right now. All I need to know for now is that these rabbits are more dangerous than that mysterious sound.*

I had to focus. Even though I was distracted for a split second, I wasn't in grave danger.

*I really would've been endangered if I continued to be distracted, though... here they come. Let's try something new this time.*

The three rabbits dashed at me once again.

*These guys seem to fight in a similar manner as that last group. I wonder why that is... If that's the case, I feel confident about this.*

All three simultaneously jumped at me. More specifically, they all went for my head.

*Good! If they jumped at different heights, this plan wouldn't work. Here goes nothing...*

The rabbit flew so quickly through the air that their parabolic arc was invisible; it's as if they were flying in a straight line towards my face. But I stood still.

*Wait for it...*

A mere five meters separated us - five meters until mission failure. Four meters... three... two...

*And... action!*

I quickly slid over to the right side of their formation and performed a crescent kick on what seemed to be the strongest of the group.

As the side of my foot collided with the body of the rabbit, it launched sideways... directly into the rabbit in the air next to it. Then, those two struck the third rabbit to the left of them.

*Well, it's my left, and their right, but the point is, mission accomplished! A collateral kill!*

Of course, at least one of them had probably survived. The force of my kick would be severely dampened through the bodies of two squishy rabbits. Despite that, I had perfectly executed a plan I concocted myself, and I was feeling proud.

The fleshy ball-like ma.s.s of three rabbits cuddled up against each other flew through the air and hit the asphalt at a high speed. The impact unfurled this ball, and the singular projectile split into three, two of which were completely rag-doll. The third one was severely shaken up, but still alive. It looked at me in...

*No way... fear? Those savage things have feelings? I'm definitely imagining it...*

I definitely had to have been imagining it, because it didn't hesitate to throw its battered body against my own once it regained some semblance of... "sanity"...

*Sanity is definitely the wrong word. It's quite obvious which state of it is more sane. Jeez...*

I had no better word for its state of being, though.

*Returned to normal? No. Aggressive behavior is in no way normal for a rabbit...*

The half-dead thing was still stumbling towards me. It was clearly not in a healthy state, yet it still wanted to fight.

*Yea... in no way is this normal.*

I quickly put it out its misery with a final kickball kick and looked around the once-peaceful landscape. There were now four b.l.o.o.d.y messes and two unmoving rabbits strewn about the concrete and asphalt. Calling it a war zone was a little over the top, but seeing this amount of carnage in a suburban neighborhood wasn't normal to say the least.

I sighed and turned my head towards the overcast sky. Only then did I realize how tired I was. I had run a kilometer as fast as I could prior to fighting my heart out. How would I not be tired?

*Oh, right! How could I nearly forget... what's my lap time?*

I had nearly forgotten the purpose of running that last lap. I looked around frantically for my phone that I had thrown carelessly into the gra.s.s.

*There it is. Now...*

I reached down, picked it up, and apprehensively unlocked it to reveal the secret. What was my new record for running one kilometer?