
Artist's commentary
Mass-Produced Lunar Jewel
Two moon rabbits were enjoying the sunny weather on Earth, chatting away and taking it easy. Ringo was munching on dango and Seiran was looking down at the jewel in her hands. "You know how I lost my Lunar Jewel not that long ago, right? It was a disaster," Seiran said with a sigh. Hearing this, Ringo wasn't exactly sympathetic. In her mind, Seiran got what she deserved for not taking better care of the item she stole from the Lunar Capital. "It wasn't like I dropped it on purpose! I had to look all over for it, but at least I got it back now..." said Seiran as she hugged the Lunar Jewel tight as if promising never to let go of it again. This made Ringo realize that she still hadn't heard the whole story. She didn't know where Seiran looked for the Lunar Jewel or who she ran into on the way. It seems they'd have a lot to talk about today.
Seiran had a plan. She thought she might be able to make living on Earth more pleasant by altering the environment with the Lunar Jewel she sneakily took from the Lunar Capital. But just when she was finally about to enact this plan, she got unlucky. She ran into a sticky-fingered magician and then a treasure-hunting mouse, causing her to drop the Lunar Jewel in a battle of bullets... and it only got worse from there. The constant string of bad luck made it one of Seiran's worst days ever. Hearing about Seiran's big adventure in more detail didn't change Ringo's opinion. She still thought it was all Seiran's fault for being careless.
"So... *chewing* what happened after you dropped it?" asked Ringo with a mouthful of dango. "I asked the kuda-gitsune to help me find it. But when I went to the place she told me to look, it wasn't there. And she even called my precious jewel an air purifier... Like, she's not wrong, but that makes it sound kinda lame, don't you think?" That didn't really answer Ringo's question, but she nodded obligingly. Losing interest in Seiran's tale, she decided to cut to the chase. "So... *nom nom* then stuff happened, you found your Lunar Jewel, and all was well, right?" "I wish! That's when it got really bad! I ended up in Hell!" "...Hell?" Ringo almost dropped her dango in surprise.
Seiran continued her tale. "When I came to, I found myself in a place so impure that the very air felt like a weight pressing down upon me. I breathed a sigh of relief when a friendly voice called out to me, but when I looked up, it was none other than the head of the Kiketsu Family, Saki Kurokoma! She said I was in Hell. Like, can you believe that?! Then, this yomotsu-shikome lady welcomed me, and I was brought to this person called Zanmu. I think she was in charge. Everything was happening so fast that I honestly couldn't keep up! Ringo was still shocked from the first mention of Hell, but she almost choked on her dango when Seiran said the names of the people she met down there. "Yikes, that really does sound like a disaster! I can't believe you met some of the biggest names in Hell!" Contrary to Ringo's expectations, Seiran suddenly went quiet... She seemed to be thinking hard about something.
"What's up?" asked Ringo, slightly concerned. "It's just... the heavy air down there made me feel all dizzy, and then I got beat up by Zanmu, so I don't really remember what happened next." Ringo thought about commenting on how that's kind of a let-down for the end of a story, but instead, she let out a big sigh. She couldn't tell if Seiran's adventure actually happened or if it was just a dream, but either way, it made her tired just hearing about it all. Seiran also felt tired from telling it. "Well, I guess you made it outta there somehow. You and your Lunar Jewel are fine now, and that's all that really matters... Want some dango?" "Oh, yes, please!" Wanting to quickly leave all that unpleasantness behind, she put her Lunar Jewel down and started stuffing her face with dango... completely forgetting that she still hadn't told Ringo where she actually found it.