[Honkai: Star Rail] Bai'e, You're Grown Up, So Why Are You Still Playing with Plushies?

Original title: [Honkai: Star Rail] Would Hugging a Bunny Make You Feel Better?

But when I went to post it, I suddenly felt like the title was too ordinary, so I went a little crazy and came up with the current one (looks it up and down) (puts hands on hips and nods with satisfaction). Nice, this one really suits my mental state.

The glaring sunlight made it impossible to open my eyes. No, I always keep the gauzy curtains drawn in my room. There shouldn't be sunlight this blinding. I rubbed my eyes... This texture...

Trembling, I opened my eyes and looked down at my hands: two little round, brown, furry paws. Then I quickly reached up to feel my head. My heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally gave up. Haha, I felt ears. Two long, soft, fluffy bunny ears, exactly like the ones on my plush toy. I'd turned into the bunny plushie on my bed.

QwQ

“...The plush bunny... moved?” A voice, both familiar and strange, rang out. I turned to look, then froze. White hair, clear blue eyes, and those unmistakable sun-shaped pupils: Bai E?

A voice said: Save the world.

...Huh? Me? Save the world? A bunny? A plush toy bunny, at that? The kind of toy bunny that can only throw rock in rock-paper-scissors?

Why did we set out?

His naturally white hair stirred gently in the mild breeze. The man stood at the place where their journey began, his mind reeling as memories surged up. He was so dazed that he didn't even notice when a plush toy appeared in his arms. Only when he instinctively tightened his hold in pain did he realize there was something soft and furry between his chest and stomach. He looked down, then up, and gazed at his companion in confusion. “...A plush toy...? Where did it come from...?”

This shouldn't be possible. He thought back over the few, yet already long, cycles he could remember. This had never happened before.

The blurry figure was just as puzzled. “I don't know either. It just suddenly appeared. I didn't even see when you took your hand away from your forehead and hugged it. Are you sure you didn't just imagine it?”

Bai E was too shocked to even process the impact of the “truth.” He lifted the bunny in disbelief and pointed at the emblem on it, a triangle framing a chess piece, challenging his imaginary friend: “Is this really a design I could come up with?!” This is way too good for my taste! Aren't you overestimating me?

Maybe his movements were too big, or his voice too loud. Maybe the sunlight in Aedes Elysiae was just right. Whatever the reason, the bunny with its serene expression opened its little stitched eyes.

Bai E: “...”

Bai E: “…”

He wanted to run, but couldn't. The hand holding the bunny trembled slightly.

I-Is it a ghost? QwQ I'm a good person, really! Don't you believe me? I even have the title of savior! Please don't scare me, okay? Okay.

I can't take it anymore. I'm going to write a new Bai E story: a fluffy Doctor bunny accompanying Bai E through his cycles. A mere ten thousand years... Wait, did he pick up the wrong plushie? Oh no, Old Doctor spent ten thousand years asleep. He should've picked up a Kal'tsit bunny...

Anyway, I'm trying to write a fanfic where the plot doesn't change, and there's simply one more person by his side. That way, someone shares every hardship and witnesses every effort. As usual, no romance.

Theme: Through the long, bitter night, companionship and witnessing are the highest tribute I can offer.