"Ahhh! I awakened as a maiden again! No matter how many times the hologram of a handsome guy kisses me, I don’t transform, but just one wall slam from Tenuto, and I’m transformed! It's like I'm saying I like him! No, no, no! This is way too embarrassing! I’m a man! I’m a man!"

"Does this mean Tenuto knows about my condition? No, he shouldn’t know. I don’t want him to find out! If he does, I’d just want to crawl into a hole and disappear."

“Now’s not the time to be embarrassed! Come on, use the session magic,” Lala orders.

Intimidated by her command, I perform the session magic with Tenuto. We're starting to be more in sync than we were even while fighting the witch—almost like lovers… No, I can’t think like that!

Deep breath, calm down. Hee-hoo-hee-hoo. Wait, that’s the Lamaze breathing technique! Why am I practicing that? As if I’d actually… have that kind of relationship with Tenuto in the future… Ahhh!

Alright, I’m calm now.

Anyway, we unleashed a series of flashy spells based on fire, water, wind, and earth. But the battle with the owner of the red mask was at a stalemate. We’re about evenly matched, it seems. No, they’re the stronger one, actually—it's taking both of us to barely keep it fifty-fifty.

“Shall I join in? I may not be much help, though,” Lala offers.

“Do whatever you want,” Tenuto responds coldly.

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“I’m out of ideas, but there’s one last thing I want to try. Forte, can you do free jazz?”

“Never done it before. And you can cast magic with free jazz?”

Free jazz was a cutting-edge style of jazz that flourished in 1960s Otherworld America. With its heavy experimental elements, no one really considers it magic-worthy music.

“No one’s explored it, precisely because we don’t know what it might do. It’s worth seeing what effects it might bring—could be anything from helpful to horrifying.”

“I see, a gamble then. I like it. Let’s give it a shot.”

Just as our strategy meeting wraps up, the masked figure taunts us.

“What’s this? Consulting on inheritance for after you die?”

Ignoring that, I decide to ask something I need to know.

“Hey, do we really have to fight and hurt each other? Can’t we talk this out? If I’ve hurt you in the past, I apologize. Would you tell me why this is happening?”

“Shut up! Apologies won’t bring back what’s lost! Pay for it with your life!”

He raises his biwa and begins to play, so we counter with a three-person session. Tenuto looks so sharp and cool. But our playing is all over the place, and no effective magic is taking shape.

Are we out of options? Just as it seemed so—

“My head… my head is killing me!”

The red-masked figure drops to his knees, clutching his temples.

“Did the free jazz magic work?” Tenuto wonders.

“No, our playing was too disjointed. No magic effect should’ve triggered. Maybe the harp had an effect instead? What did you play?” I ask.

“Oh, I couldn’t think of what to play, so I went with a spell for sweet dreams,” Lala says.

“That’s totally unrelated!”

“Well, it’s the first spell I learned. Haha.”

As we banter, the red-masked figure runs off into the distance.

“Wait!” I start to call out, but Tenuto stops me.

“No, let’s not chase. Who knows what kind of reinforcements might come? As long as we’re in this amusement park area, if we just stall, the magic police will show up.”

As if on cue, a magic carriage approaches in the distance. Seriously, could they not have come sooner?

“Even though it was self-defense, we’re probably still going to get scolded,” Lala says, to which I respond with a girlish nod, “Yeah.”