Am I a Girl!?

♪Adagio (10 minutes earlier)♪

The moment Ms. Zophie saw us, she dropped the tray holding her iced tea, collapsed to the floor, and began trembling.

There was no doubt that a light of hatred was burning in Allegro’s eyes.

“P-please... spare me...”

At the Ministry of Magic, she had always worn a sharp suit, but now she was in loose loungewear, reaching for her magic phone.

The instant Allegro saw that, he pulled out a trombone and blew into it with tremendous lung power.

The magic phone flew into the air and landed in Allegro’s hand.

“I made sure to examine all the records. You unnaturally arranged that trash-pickup event at that location, pretended to be a witness, and pinned the crime on me. Correct?”

Stop it! She’s terrified!

Will you shut up? This is the good part. Want me to silence you too?

...!?

I desperately tried to resist, but Allegro used an exaggerated nasal tone to suppress me.

Whether she noticed that inner struggle or not, Ms. Zophie replied in a high voice like an opera singer.

“N-no, that’s not it. I’m not to blame.”

“Oh? And how exactly are you not to blame?”

Then he played another ballad on the trombone, and a knife came flying out from the kitchen and leveled itself at her throat.

“Eek!”

“I don’t think you’re the mastermind myself. All I need is for you to tell me who was behind it.”

“I-I...”

Two more knives joined the first, and the three of them clattered and danced around her neck.

“I like playing with fire. If you don’t talk, one of them might slip and stab you by accident. Hah!”

“It was Elder Serpent! He told me to arrange the trash-pickup schedule...! I-I don’t know anything beyond that!”

“I see. Well, maybe you’re right and you don’t know the full story. But I want evidence. Where, and with whom, did you plan the setup that framed me?”

The knives began spinning faster. The scraping metal sound frayed her nerves.

Damn it. At this rate...! I started gathering strength in my heart so I could wrest back control. But this method took a little time. Please let me make it in time! At this rate, Ms. Zophie will—

“Conference Room Three in Building B of the Ministry!”

“And who attended? Oh, and don’t bother lying. I’m going to head to that so-called Conference Room Three later. If the voiceprints of those people aren’t there, I’ll know instantly you lied. And if that happens, I might lose my temper. I might even feel like taking your life.”

Even with madness in his voice, Allegro remained perfectly calm and composed.

To prove his innocence in court—or, if the courts rejected him, to spread proof of his innocence through news magic and restore his honor—he needed physical evidence.

In this world of music magic, voiceprints were the most important kind of evidence in the eyes of the magic police.

Whenever human beings spoke to one another in a place, voiceprints were always left behind. It took thirty years for them to fade completely.

“I-it was me, Elder Serpent, and Lord Sonnet!”

Sonnet?

I’d heard that name somewhere before. And if she was calling him Lord Sonnet, then he had to be someone of noble rank.

No way...

“Hey. You don’t mean Sonnet, First Prince of the Rabbit Kingdom, do you?”

“Y-yes.”

What?!

Poet-kun’s older brother? That was impossible.

How in the world could the interests of all these people have become entangled like that?

“What does the Rabbit Kingdom have to do with this? Didn’t the incident take place inside the Republic of Miravenia?”

Apparently, Allegro was wondering the same thing I was.

“T-the body... it was Serenade.”

“I know that.”

Legally, Serenade was the victim Allegro had supposedly murdered. A young bureaucrat who had hoped to rise through the Ministry of Magic with her skill on the viola.

“She was Sonnet’s lover. But as for how to dispose of the body...”

This was terrible.

To think the puppet master had been the Rabbit Kingdom.

A chill ran down my spine. If I’d had control of the body, I would have been shivering. Poet-kun had nothing to do with this, right? Please let that be true.

“So Poet’s big brother was the mastermind. Hm. I’ve changed my mind. First, I think I’ll take the life of this so-called Brother Sonnet.”

“Th-then what about me...?”

Ms. Zophie looked relieved.

“As for you... yes. I suppose I’ll have to erase you to keep you quiet.”

Allegro curled his lips into a grin.

Body, move. Please. At this rate, she’s going to die.

Allegro drew in a deep breath. He was about to cast a shout spell. At this range, taking a shout spell head-on meant instant death. Damn it. Was there really nothing I could do with my own strength?

Just a little more.

Just a little more and I might be able to reclaim control of the body...

Was this the end?

That was what I thought—

“Wow!”

“Moff!”

Two shout spells overlapped.

One was Allegro’s.

And the other was...

I turned toward the sound and saw long ears twitching above bronze natural curls.

It was nostalgic. Though it had been ten years, I knew who it was instantly.

“Poet! You bastard! You’re going to interfere?!”

“I heard a scream and came running—what is going on here?!”

His voice had deepened completely, and he had grown sturdy and manly. Poet-kun looked Allegro up and down from head to toe.

“That appearance. The fact that you know my name. And the fact that you were right in front of me trying to kill someone. It really does seem you’re Mr. Allegro.”

In a calm, composed voice, Poet-kun signaled with his eyes for Ms. Zophie to run. Taking the hint, she hurried toward the large window.

“You’re not getting away!”

Our unruly body tried to lunge after her, but then—

A beautiful sound rang out.

It was the arpeggio of a guitar.

Heaven and earth spun wildly around us, and we were hurled out through the doorway and into the grass.

Poet-kun slowly approached from the entrance, holding an acoustic guitar. It seemed he had used Advance Wind, a tornado spell from instrumental magic.

“You insolent brat! I’ll crush you!”

Allegro summoned a trumpet out of thin air and blew into it with all his strength.

“Gah!”

Poet-kun was blasted backward and slammed into a broadleaf tree. His gallant face was covered in cuts.

Stop... please...

“All right. Looks like that hit cleanly. I’ll send you to the other world before I do your brother.”

At that moment, strength surged inside my heart.

Yes! I’m taking the body back!

“Ggh... wh-what are you trying to do? Stop it. Gwaaaahhh!”

Just a little more! Just a little more and I’ll seize control!

“You bastard! I’ll throw you out of this body!”

My vision flashed.

W-what is happening? What is this? It feels like... I might be getting my freedom of movement back—

Aaaahhhhhh.

For an instant, everything went pitch black, and then I felt as though I had been blown away.

I was lying flat on my back on the ground.

I could move my fingers.

Had I gotten control of the body back?

I blinked and looked up, only to find Poet-kun’s face filling my vision.

“Ehh?!”

I cried out in surprise—and then was startled all over again by my own voice.

It was a soprano voice.

A female voice.

“S-so cute...”

Poet-kun stared fixedly at my face as he said it.

M-me? Cute?

“That’s Ms. Adagio from my dreams.”

Poet-kun knew my—my name.

What was going on?