Bunnys were everywhere. Not bunnies, Bunnys. The plural of the proper noun Bunny, our stoic but aggressive friend. Every storefront was swarming with dozens of them. Though each one was clearly Bunny, they were all wearing different clothes. They were just as out-of-character and eccentric as the ones Rose had her trying on earlier. The Bunny sitting on the bench had cat ears and a tail, the two by the fountain were wearing a bee costume and a three-piece suit, respectively. None of them looked like they knew any more about what was going on than we did. Some were sitting quietly, but most seemed to be moving around at random.

“What the fuck,” Rose murmurred behind us. I was thinking the same thing.

“Biologist, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know why you’re asking me! It’s like some kind of crazy family reunion.”

“Yeah, but… You’ve gotta know something right? You’re the otherworldly being here, not us.”

“Hey, I was born on Earth. And it was only a few months ago, so I don’t know everything that goes on. Like this.”

We stood around for a few more minutes, mouths agape. The Bunnys really were a once-in-a-lifetime sight. So many flashy costumes she’d never wear, going places she’d never go. Part of me just wanted to stand by and watch a little, but deep down, I knew what was going on.

“This is probably another thing attacking me, right? I don’t have any other ideas.”

Biologist flipped out her leather notebook again. She thumbed through colorful pages full of symbols and words I couldn’t read.

“It’s like I thought, there’s nothing in this book about the chromatic beasts made after me. I only have info on Red, Orange, Yellow, and Green (myself). Blue, Indigo, Violet, Silver, and the ninth are all omitted. I presume the ninth is Gold, by the way.”

Rose put her two cents in.

“The only ones of those we haven’t taken care of yet are Indigo and Gold. Unless this is something your pet did.”

“Violet’s been in my pocket this whole time. I keep it zipped up in a mini-purse so it can’t get away anymore.”

Violet, huh? That name almost makes it sound like a normal pet. Bunny even called it a “she” a while ago. Maybe I’m the weird one for being creeped out by it. I guess that would somewhat make sense, after all, the beasts are only after me. If this Bunny swarm really is the work of a beast, that means it probably wants Bunny to kill me. But she wouldn’t do that, right? ...Right?

“Hey, uh, guys? I’m gonna try something stupid, okay? If it looks like I’m gonna get stabbed, save me or something.”

Before they had time to respond, I began approaching the nearest Bunny. It was the one wearing a striking sleeveless dress. She was staring at some other Bunnys in the opposite direction, so she didn’t notice me getting close. That was probably an oversight on my part.

The moment she heard my footsteps, she jumped back like I poured a bucket of ice water on her head. Immediately, she took a defensive position—but I didn’t do anything but give her a greeting.

“Hi.”

It was like she was staring through my eyes. No movement, no reaction. Just eyes. I could still clearly see the electrical burns on her face from a while ago. The whole situation was super scary, I was probably sweating bullets. But I held my ground.

“Do you, uh, know what’s going on? With all the you’s and stuff.”

She didn’t say anything. I don’t know if this was an unnatural silence, or just Bunny being Bunny. We had our awkward staring contest for about twenty more seconds before she finally made a move: one hesitant step backwards. And then a second, and a third. Then before I knew it, she was running away from me full-steam. And for some reason, I was chasing her. She was way faster, though.

Why would she be afraid of me?

I expressed this sentiment to my friends when I returned to them a moment later, panting and wheezing.

“Hmmm… Why would Bunny be afraid of someone as harmless and weak as you?”

Rose was being helpful as ever.

“Well, actually, I can think of one reason. She got hurt pretty badly by that Silver monster in the warehouse a while ago, and then you went and kicked its ass like it’s nothing. By transitive property, that means you can kick her ass like it’s nothing, too.”

Hearing that made me involuntarily smirk. I may be a bit more conceited than I thought.

“Even if that was the case, she knows I wouldn’t hurt her for no reason. I think there’s something more to it. The way she looked at me was uncanny. More uncanny than usual, I mean. It might sound obvious, but I think these are fake Bunnys.”

Biologist furrowed her brow and pulled out her leather notebook again. She flipped to a page that was bookmarked. The top of the page read “MINA’S DNA”. Below it was a large circular figure, like you’d see in some grimoire. All around it were notes and bits of text, with lots of highlighting and little reminders. She thumbed two pages, and turned to a page labeled “BUNNY’S DNA”. There was a large figure on this one too, but unlike my page, there were no notes or highlights except for a couple question marks in red.

“Bio, are you going to explain what exactly this is?”

“I keep track of everyone’s DNA. Oh, is that weird?”

“I’m going to skip the answer to that question and just ask another—What’s the big circle with all the stuff in it?”

“That’s your DNA, or at least the important parts. I’ve heard that modern biologists use long sequences of letters, but this method is much more elegant. Besides, it’s not like you’ve never seen sigils before.”

“Like the kind you summon demons with?”

“Yes, the sigil is the demon’s DNA. You aren’t summoning it per se, just creating a new instance of it from its genetic material. And, actually, that could be what’s happening here. Something could have gotten hold of Bunny’s DNA and is creating clones of her.”

“If that’s the case, where did they all get their clothes from? Wouldn’t the clones be formed naked?”

“That is true. You also saw the burns on her face, right? A clone from DNA wouldn’t have those, they only represent the way one naturally is.”

Rose’s eyes shot open, and she muttered something to herself.

“The way one naturally is, huh… You guys stay here, I need to go check something.”

She ran off in a random direction just as quickly as that one Bunny did earlier. Why is everyone running away from me today?

Once again, it’s just me and Biologist.

Well, us and about a hundred Bunnys. But which one was real?