Rabbit Rara, the Sparkling Delivery!
Target Audience: Children aged 10 Themes: A New Start, Inner Light, Learning to Smile Again
Prologue: An SOS from a Black Trash Bag
Miyoko Sakuma, 18, attends music college and is called “Miyo-neechan” (Big Sister Miyo). Her dream of composing is stuck in the mud. Every day, her confidence and energy seem to slip away like sand through an hourglass. The midsummer sun is bright, but Miyo’s heart is overcast with thick clouds. Having recently lost her parents, the burden of music, a part-time job, and caring for her younger brother is simply too much.
Her 10-year-old brother, Kakeru, whom Miyo-neechan calls “Kakeru,” was physically unharmed in the accident with their parents, but for some reason, he can no longer go to school. With a big bandage over his heart, he stays confined to his room, absorbed in video games. The air in their house is heavy.
One muggy summer morning, on her way to her part-time job, Miyo-neechan noticed something strange about the black trash bag in front of their apartment.
“Huh? Is that trash bag… trembling?”
She crept closer and called out.
“Um, Mr. Trash? Are you… perhaps alive?”
Suddenly, a tremendously loud “Keee! Keee!” came from inside, like someone screaming!
Miyo-neechan was stunned. Trembling, she tentatively “peeled back” a corner of the trash bag.
The moment light streamed in, what burst out was—
A round rabbit with soft, pale brown fur, like a marshmallow!
Lala, the Sparkle
The rabbit squinted against the bright light, its nose twitching! Though trembling, its round eyes were fixed on Miyo-neechan.
“Well, well, little bunny. You’re not trash at all; you’re a sparkle!”
Miyo-neechan gently scooped it up and twirled around on the spot! Her spirits were instantly lifted.
She brought it back to the apartment and took a cabbage leaf out of the fridge.
“Little bunny, may I name you?”
The rabbit was focused on the leaf, munching away with a vigorous “Chomp! Crunch!”
“You’re a rabbit, so the first sound is La! And the next sound is… hehe, the La from my favorite musical scale! Put them together… it’s Lala! Rabbit Lala! Isn’t that perfect!”
Just as Miyo-neechan merrily began to sing, the curtain at the back of the room was dramatically pulled open, and Kakeru stumbled out, rubbing his eyes.
“Ugh, so loud! Welcome back, Miyo-neechan.”
Kakeru was wearing loud, flowery pajamas—like a walking garden.
“Oh, Kakeru! The master of skipping school is up! Look! Look at this adorable Lala!”
“Huh?”
Kakeru approached with a sulky look. He reached for the cabbage set out for Lala on the table, and in that very moment, WHAP! Miyo-neechan’s powerful retort exploded on the top of his head!
“Kakeru! Your breakfast is the frozen curry! Do you want to be the kind of man who loses even to a rabbit by stealing Lala’s food!?”
Clutching his head, Kakeru retorted, “Quiet! I won’t lose to some rabbit!… Wait, it has a name?”
Miyo-neechan grinned.
“Lala. Now, Kakeru! I’m entrusting you with a very important mission!”
“Huh? What is it?”
“You’re Lala’s mealtime manager! You’ll feed her, keep her cage spotless, and make sure Lala is happy every single day!”
Kakeru yelled “No way!” but he couldn’t defy Miyo-neechan’s intense gaze. After all, without her, he wouldn’t get his three meals a day.
“…Fine,” he grumbled.
Lala, the Mysterious “Energy Barometer”
From that day on, Kakeru and Lala’s chaotic cohabitation began.
As Lala’s caretaker, Kakeru took on the heavy burden of “responsibility” for the first time in his life.
Lala’s favorite food wasn’t leaves from the park; it was apparently an expensive hay called Timothy grass.
“Hmph, what a spoiled rabbit,” Kakeru muttered, but he faithfully replenished the Timothy grass every day.
Then something strange happened.
When Lala munched her food heartily, Kakeru felt the fog in his own heart lift just a little.
When Lala hopped around his feet in a figure-eight, affectionately, Kakeru somehow felt the urge to smile.
“What’s with the spinning figure-eight! Trying to make up for the lonely time I’ve had!?”
Kakeru realized that, thanks to Lala, he had been so caught up in his own sadness and pain.
“Living means Lala is eating and running and living so hard!”
Kakeru was jolted. And for the first time in a long time, he secretly walked through the school gate.
When Miyo-neechan came home from her part-time job that day, it wasn’t just Lala waiting at the entrance.
“Welcome home, Miyo-neechan!”
Next to Lala, Kakeru stood smiling, wearing his school uniform instead of his flowery pajamas!
Miyo-neechan’s eyes widened, then filled with tears, and then she laughed.
“Lala! You’re like an energy delivery service!”
Miyo-neechan gently stroked Lala’s back, whispering from the bottom of her heart.
“Lala, I love you!”
“Hmph. I love her even more!”
Kakeru tipped his nose up proudly. Lala, likewise, twitched her nose upwards, looking as if to say, “I won’t be beaten!”
Laughter and the crunchy sound of Timothy grass being eaten echoed from the old apartment.
That night, the sky above the Sakuma home looked clear and brilliantly bright, as if the summer clouds had finally parted.
I hope this translation captures the warm, energetic, and slightly comedic tone of the original! Would you like to translate another passage?