“I…
I…” Bonnie’s voice caught in her throat.
She wanted to refuse, but her eyes swept over the children huddled behind her legs.
Those little fuzzy heads were peeking out, round eyes blinking curiously at Kevin.
Besides, she had been the one gossiping about him first.
She was in the wrong.
Just then, Kevin reached behind his back and plucked another little rabbit from his fluffy tail.
The tiny creature was clinging tightly to the tip of his tail, its hind legs giving a futile little kick in the air.
“Hey!
Why is your tail so big?” the little rabbit asked, looking up with a bit of grass still stuck to its nose.
The Hopps’s ears shot up like twin blades.
“Give Little Julie back to us!” Stu launched himself off the ground, snatching the child and spinning away, his back paws kicking up a small cloud of dust.
Cradled in her father’s arms, the little rabbit dazedly craned her neck to look back at Kevin’s tail.
Kevin brushed some stray rabbit fur off his hand, his tone lazy and unbothered.
“He touched my tail.
What’s with the panic?
Let’s go.
I’m curious to see what this ‘Carrot Days Festival’ is all about.” The Hopps exchanged a glance, but Kevin was already walking forward.
His polar bear bodyguards followed quietly behind him like moving mountains of snow, showing no signs of aggression.
They really didn’t seem like they were looking for trouble.
Bonnie sighed, tugging at Stu’s sleeve.
The family had no choice but to continue leading the way, though their steps were noticeably quicker than before.
The little rabbits, however, were not shy at all.
The smallest one hopped closer to Pawbert, grabbing his pant leg and giving it an insistent shake.
“What kind of animal are you?” “A lynx.” “Oh…
Are you the same kind of lynx that invented the Climate Wall?” An older sister rabbit asked, her ears folding forward with curiosity.
Pawbert paused, instinctively scratching the tip of his nose.
“Ah…
that was my great-grandfather.” “Huh?” Stu’s ears flattened back with a sharp snap, as if he’d been lightly slapped.
The next second, he set the two children he was holding onto the ground, rubbed his palms together, and extended his hand toward Pawbert with the solemn gravity of presenting a state document.
“I never would have guessed you were a descendant of that family.” Pawbert blinked in confusion but shook his hand anyway.
“Oh my gosh, I shook hands with his great-grandson.” When Stu pulled his hand back, his fingertips were trembling slightly.
Even the last trace of thin caution in Bonnie’s eyes melted away entirely.
This was a descendant of one of the founders of Zootopia, from the Lynxley family!
How could he be a bad sort?
And this white wolf who kept company with him was probably just a little scary-looking on the surface.
Kevin brought up the rear, chewing on a blade of grass, taking in the whole scene.
A faint, almost inaudible chuckle rolled in his throat.
The deeper they walked into the town, the denser the rabbit population became.
Gray, white, spotted, they were like a rippling carpet of fur spreading across both sides of the road.
Other herbivores were few and far between, serving only as occasional accents.
Whenever Kevin and his group passed by, parents would seize the opportunity, bending down to tie a shoe, pretending to examine a vendor’s wares, to subtly pull their children closer.
Wary glances shot out from under lowered hat brims, then quickly darted away.
Kevin’s ears twitched, catching a child’s voice: “Mom, is that big guy a fox?” “Shh, that’s a wolf.” “Will he eat me?” “As long as you don’t run off…” Turning a corner past a carrot field, several enormous red warehouses suddenly loomed into view.
A faded but still vibrant banner hung across the outer wall: “47th Annual Carrot Days Festival.” Beside the warehouses stood rows of connecting white tents.
The aroma of grilled carrots mingled with the cloying sweetness of cotton candy, all of it riding the shrieks and cheers of children like an invisible tide washing over them.
“Wow, it’s really lively,” Pawbert said, pulling a small camera out of his satchel and snapping away.
His lens captured the carousel full of baby bunnies, the sheep vendor blowing carrot-shaped balloons, and the lineup of ice cream carts.
“And really hot,” Kevin grumbled, unscrewing his thermos and popping a couple of ice cubes into his mouth, his words coming out muffled.
The polar bear bodyguards immediately got the hint and returned from an ice cream cart with two cones, creamy white bases studded with orange-red carrot bits.
Kevin swallowed his ice, took a bite of the cone, and let the sweet carrot flavor bloom across his tongue.
Not bad at all.
Licking his lips, he was about to look for souvenirs when a certain gaze snagged his attention.
The little rabbits were all crowded behind Bonnie, heads stacked on heads like a totem pole of ears, their eyes uniformly locked onto the ice cream cones in his and Pawbert’s hands.
They cast desperate glances back at the Hopps, but Bonnie’s look silently shut them down.
‘Ha.
Adorable.’ Kevin crouched down and waved his cone in front of the nose of the rabbit closest to him.
“Want a bite?” The rabbit nodded so hard its ears flopped, then violently shook its head.
“I…
gulp, n-no, I don’t.” “Really?
Are you sure?” Kevin took another slow, exaggerated lick of his ice cream, closing his eyes in theatrical bliss.
“Mmm~ so sweet, so cold, so good.” The little rabbit swallowed again, its ears drooping in defeat before snapping back up.
It couldn’t take it anymore.
“Mom!
I want ice cream!” That one cry set off the entire warren.
The other little rabbits grabbed at Bonnie’s skirt, clung to Stu’s legs, and even tugged at their older siblings’ tails.
The chorus of whines and pleas rose and fell like a tide.
“Haha, see?
They’re way more fun when they’re crying,” Kevin said, amused.
Pawbert’s lip twitched at the scene.
He hadn’t realized Kevin had this kind of side to him.
“No, it’ll upset your stomachs,” Bonnie said firmly, resisting the little ones’ demands.
“Come on, it’s a hot day.
Let the kids have a treat,” Kevin said, jerking his chin toward the polar bear behind him.
The bear handed him a bulging leather wallet.
When he unzipped it, it was packed with neatly arranged hundred-dollar bills.
“One ice cream on a day like this won’t hurt.
Thanks for showing us around.
It’s on me.” He walked to the nearest ice cream cart and pulled out five bills, handing them to the sheep vendor in her apron.
“One for each of those little rabbits over there.
Keep the change.” The sheep’s eyes lit up like twin bulbs.
“You got it!
Don’t you move, I’ll bring ’em right over!” She bounced away on springy steps and returned with an armload of ice cream cones piled up like a small mountain.
Stu and Bonnie exchanged a wry look.
Bonnie clapped her hands gently.
“Alright, kids, take them.
And say thank you to the white wolf brother.” “Thank you!!!!!!” they chimed in unison, voices bright and eager.
“Enjoy it.” Kevin casually scooped up a gray-furred rabbit from near his feet and placed him on top of his head.
The little one startled, then steadied himself, licking his cone in small, careful bites while holding a napkin underneath to catch any melting drips, as if worried about staining Kevin’s fur.
The Hopps shook their heads helplessly.
Seeing how well Kevin got along with the children, and remembering that Pawbert was from the Lynxley family, they completely let their guard down.
Bonnie even took the initiative to push aside the crowded rabbits ahead, clearing a path for Kevin’s group.
“The ticket booth is this way, follow me.” Little did they know, in a shadowed corner, two pairs of eyes had been fixed on them from the moment Kevin pulled out his wallet.
“See that?” said a brown fox, his eyes glued to the white wolf, greed undisguised in his slit-pupiled eyes.
“That wallet’s so full it’s practically bursting.
All hundred-dollar bills!
I’ve never seen that much cash in one place.
What do you say we go for it?” “Forget it…
didn’t you see those polar bears?
I think they could crush my head like a walnut,” replied a fox of the same coat color, but a size smaller, his voice trembling.
“Tch, little bro, you’re such a coward.
When I get my paws on that cash, I’m not giving you a single cent.
You can keep eating your carrots.” “Wait!
No!
I’m in, alright?
I’m with you.” —— Kevin’s group was moving toward the red warehouses when a flash of purple bounded through the crowd.
It was a rabbit in a purple T-shirt and gray pants.
Though she was just a kit, she was still recognizable at a glance, Kevin knew immediately this was Judy.
“Mom!
Dad!
Grandpa and I are here!” An elderly rabbit wearing glasses and leaning on a carrot-shaped cane hobbled along behind her.
Little Judy waved her paw as she ran over.
Her younger siblings immediately held up their ice cream cones to greet her.
“Judy!
This big brother bought us all ice cream!
Do you want a taste?” Judy stopped in her tracks.
She just now noticed the polar bear, the wolf, and the lynx standing next to her parents.
She tilted her head, her nose twitching as she studied them.
“Are you guys from out of town?” ————•★•————★ Author Note: Thanks for reading!
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