It was the Sunday right after my period ended. I was wondering where to go out and have some fun when Lala came running up in a panic. She looked so adorable, yet her urgency made me turn serious as well.

“Forte, the bunny’s calling for you!”

“The bunny? You mean Usa-mofu?”

Usa-mofu was a white rabbit I often saw during my childhood visits to Forte’s house. I remember fondly how it would happily munch on the clover and Chinese milk vetch we picked from the fields.

I stepped into the hallway and glanced out into the courtyard. Sure enough, there it was, ears perked straight up, looking in our direction. Then, it called out in a loud voice:

“This is bad! Akira and Élise—!”

Judging from the seriousness in its voice, I knew we were in danger. I summoned my saxophone out of thin air and floated down from the third floor, gently letting my flared roomwear skirt flutter as I landed on the ground.

“What happened?”

“Both of them were attacked by assassins sent by Edge Shadow Corp! And now they’re headed this way!”

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“What?!”

It wasn’t me who shouted in shock.

“Tenuuto! What are you doing here?”

Normally, I would’ve teased him about coming into a no-boys-allowed area, but there was no time for that.

“I saw some suspicious guy in a black suit with a giant bunny head on his shoulders, staring at your picture as he headed in this direction. It bothered me, so I came to warn you. Looks like I was right…” Tenuuto explained.

“That’s the guy! He’s the one who got Akira and Élise!” Usa-mofu cried out.

“So if Tenuuto spotted him, even if he’s moving slowly, he’s likely to arrive very soon,” I said.

“That’s just it… Largo and Sharp were talking to that bunny. The two of them were trying to tell me something with their eyes while stalling him—like they were saying, ‘We’ll hold him off, so you go and warn Forte,’” Tenuuto said.

“We’ve got to rescue them!” I said.

“You fool! You think you can beat him? Accept their sacrifice and stay hidden,” Tenuuto snapped back.

“I’ve got an idea. I have two secret weapons Akira and Élise entrusted to me—one from each of them!”

I held out two sheets of paper.

The first sheet was covered in a mysterious equation that went on for an entire page—something like “… + kΣD + ….” The header read “Karma Points.” Maybe if I consulted someone good at math… but who would that be? Lala might know something.

The second sheet was a piece of sheet music titled “Blues of Rebirth.”

“That’s a magic song composed by Élise,” Usa-mofu said. “It’s a duet for saxophone and piano that only the Cobalt Princess can perform.”

“A duet? It looks like there’s a third part, though. It says ‘ha.’ Harp maybe?”

“If there’s a third person, I suppose, yeah—it’s basically a saxophone solo piece, and if you can add piano and harp accompaniment, all the better,” said Usa-mofu.

“Hey, you two,” Tenuuto interjected. “We can fuss over the details later. Let’s talk in the basement first. My family’s a bunch of military types; we know all the hidden shelters on campus. If the enemy shows up and finds no one here, they’ll just give up and go home.”