The soft crackling sounds of the blazing campfire accompany Hitshiro and Arvid into the late evening hours. The sky above them is still streaked with a delicate orange hue as they both watch, spellbound, the dancing flames. A moment of silence surrounds them, and apart from the chirping of crickets in the bushes and the rustling of leaves, nothing can be heard. Hitshiro leans against a tree to relax completely, while Arvid has taken a seat on a crosswise tree trunk.

"Are you sure you don't want to sit here too?", Arvid asks the boy caringly, as his sitting position doesn't look very comfortable in Arvid's eyes.

Hitshiro looks over at Arvid and nods.

"The grass is definitely a lot more comfortable than the hard log you're sitting on. I won't do that to myself."

Just as Arvid is about to remark, he notices something sticking out of Hitshiro's pants pocket.

"Hitshiro?" wonders Arvid, who is now staring at the object in Hitshiro's pants pocket. Hitshiro notices the stares and follows them before hastily pressing the item back into his pocket.

"Are you still carrying around that stupid bunny?" smiles Arvid, causing Hitshiro to start blushing slightly, "Aren't you getting a little old to be playing with stuffed animals?".

"Shut up!" exclaims Hitshiro to Arvid, embarrassed. His gaze lowers, and slowly he retrieves the golden bunny from his pocket. For a few seconds, he contemplates the stuffed animal in his hand, and his voice becomes noticeably calmer.

"It's not just a cuddly toy. Stop saying that all the time."

"Oh, yeah? Because explain to me the peculiarity of, "Anna" was the name, right?" wants to know Arvid, who doesn't understand all the fuss about the bunny, because in his eyes it's just a stuffed animal that Hitshiro found somewhere once in the back corner. But Arvid has always made up much more of a story about it and never really knew what this seemingly special golden rabbit was all about.

Hitshiro thinks back to that day when he found the hare. He was just running away from an angry store owner after stealing something from the store. It was still very early in his life, however he can remember every second as well as if it had just happened. Marked with injuries from his escape, he sat down on the shore after about an hour and stared at the water. Despite his wounds, he wore a smile on his face, for he was too young to be discouraged by setbacks and knew no other reality.

As he sat there for a few minutes, the orange-red light of the setting sun sparkling in his eyes, he thought about all he had discovered on the island. But suddenly his thoughts were interrupted. A small wooden box was washed up on the shore by the water and landed right in front of young Hitshiro's feet. His curiosity did not let him find peace to continue his thoughts, so he picked up the box. He shook and rattled it, hoping to hear sounds that would tell him what was inside the box. But there was no knocking or other sound to suggest any contents. Still, Hitshiro was not discouraged and used all his strength to open the box. He jumped on it several times, hit it, threw it against trees or tried to break it open with stones. It took a while, but finally Hitshiro managed to open the mysterious wooden box. When he finally caught a glimpse of the contents, he was pleased with what he saw: a small, hand-sized golden bunny with long ears and a note by its side.

"For the one who must embrace loneliness," Hitshiro now whispers to himself. Arvid gradually begins to understand why the bunny has such significance for the boy.

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"Anna wasn't just washed up. She was sent for me," Hitshiro explains, stroking the bunny's plush.

Arvid now looks back and forth between the stuffed animal and Hitshiro in turn.

This is why he longs so much to get off the island!

"Someone knows me. Someone out there cared about me and sent Anna to me. I didn't even know there was anything out there," Hitshiro adds as his voice is filled with a mixture of gratitude and longing.

"So do you want to leave here to find out where the rabbit came from?", Arvid wants to know.

"No.", Hitshiro says, which confuses Arvid a bit.

"You know, there are so many great things out there that I've only ever dreamed about! And when I think about it, I get all excited and can't sit still at all! It's just mega exciting!", Hitshiro explains and stands up, "It's not just me that wants to get out of here, someone, and I don't know who, but I don't care either. Someone wants me to go out there and see all of the world, I'm sure of it!".

Arvid looks over at Hitshiro, speechless, and can't hide his proud smile.

That's a lot of interpretation for merely a wooden box with a cuddly toy.

Even though he knows what kind of dangers are waiting out there and what it could do to Hitshiro if he leaves the peaceful island of Nonemu, he wishes the boy to be able to do what he wants the most.

"If that is truly your wish," Arvid leads, making his way to Hitshiro, "and you are willing to fight for it and give it your all. If you're willing to promise me that you won't let anything get you down, and especially won't let anyone get in your way. If you're ready for that, then we need to hurry," Arvid explains.

"Hurry? Why hurry?", Hitshiro wants to know.

"I was going to wait a little longer to do it, but there's already a trading ship leaving for Sangowa tomorrow morning."

Hitshiro remembers the map from earlier and his eyes begin to sparkle even noticeably brighter than the flame in front of him.

Sangowa? That was that giant island in the middle of the map. I could be there tomorrow?

For the first time, Hitshiro feels a tautness run through his body, in addition to the joy. It could soon be the moment he has been waiting for a long time.

"And how are we going to do that?" asks Hitshiro excitedly now.

"As I said before, I'm the only hunter here, and I'm taking care of a lot of the cargo being delivered to Sangowa by Nonemu. I could just hide you among the cargo.", Arvid explains, which sounds like a safe plan to Hitshiro. "But," Arvid begins, which immediately takes the smile off Hitshiro's face, "I can't accompany you during the shipping. That means you have to make sure you get back down safely from de merchant ship without being noticed.".

Does he really think I can run away from bears and other critters, but can't manage to run away from some people who are probably so old they wouldn't even chase after me?!

"Don't worry about that, I'm fast and I can climb too!", Hitshiro assures him.

Even though Arvid knows that the boy's lonely life on the island means he's up to all sorts of things, he still worries about his well-being as soon as he arrives on the island. Communication across the oceans is difficult, and Arvid doesn't even know exactly where Hitshiro will land.

"Tell me," Arvid wants to know, "what do you want to do first anyway when you get somewhere else? Where do you want to go first and what do you want to see?".

Hitshiro sits back down on the ground and thinks about the question for a moment, but raises his shoulders in response.

"I haven't thought about that yet. I think I would just look around at where I end up and go from there."

Arvid still thinks about his worries for a moment, but knows that's what Hitshiro wants and tries to suppress his worries with a smile.

That does remind me of someone. Hitshiro, you just don't do anything stupid, please.

He senses that the boy is ready to have new adventures and explore the world beyond Nonemu Island. Despite his reservations, Arvid wants to give him a chance to find his own way.

"All right," Arvid finally says and stands up, "We should get ready for tomorrow morning. The departure of the merchant ship doesn't leave much time.".

Hitshiro nods excitedly and stands up as well. His gaze falls on the golden bunny he still holds in his hand. He can hardly believe that the time has finally come.

"And if you ever get stuck or lost," Arvid says as he turns his gaze to the sky, "look up!".