The Panda Plushie

♪Poet (Present)♪

After being released by the officials, we continued along the mountain trail. At this rate, we should be able to cross the mountain and reach an inn in the next town before nightfall. With that in mind, I picked up the pace.

“Sorry,” Growl said honestly. “I had to really sell the act, or they never would’ve let us go.”

My ears twitched and my cheeks stiffened, but I answered anyway.

“It’s fine. Having you wipe your feet on me is nothing. Petty pride only gets in the way on a journey.”

“Sorry,” Adagio added. “I sang some random song you didn’t even know.”

At a moment like this, if I refused to forgive them, people would question my character. Besides, even if I was a fugitive, I was still royalty.

And yet my anger wouldn’t go away. Grrr! I’m so mad!
Calm down. Count prime numbers. Two, three, five... and next is...

Just then, a weapon known in Japan as a shuriken—a ninja throwing star—struck the tree in front of me. There were seven of them. Ah. Right. Seven.

“Ambush!” Growl shouted, snapping me back to reality. R-right. This was no time to be counting prime numbers!

“Don’t move!”

Adagio quickly sang a barrier spell with female vocal magic. The shuriken flying toward us lost their force and dropped harmlessly to the ground.

Growl played a deep note on his tuba, and one of the black-clad attackers fell from the trees.

More shuriken came flying in. Adagio raised another barrier.

How many are there? If we keep fighting like this, we’ll be overwhelmed!

“Poet! I’ll support the low end with my tuba. Can you cast Advance Wind? Let’s call it our improvised Wide Wind spell!”

I understood immediately. A full 360-degree attack. Clever. I felt a pang of guilt at the thought of damaging the trees a little, but—

“Got it!”

Growl’s playing and my voice were supposed to overlap.

They didn’t.

“Our rhythm’s off! One hundred BPM! Give it more swing! And you’re a half step sharp!”

I know. I know! I do know! But my head was still buzzing from what had just happened, and I couldn’t put my feelings into the song. Song lives and dies by emotion. I understood the technique, but my heart hadn’t caught up.

“Again!”

I tried once more, but it still failed.

“Why won’t our voices sync up?! Damn it! Is this the end?!”

Even Adagio’s barrier magic was starting to buckle under the relentless barrage. We were done for.
Was I really going to die here, never making it to the capital?

And then—

“Hold your fire!”

“B-but we’re almost done! There’s a reward on them! We have families to feed too!”

Voices rose somewhere in the distance. Were they arguing among themselves?

“Look at the bigger picture! Think about the cause! Ask yourselves which side will still be able to feed your families in the long run!”

“But right now, we have to protect what’s in front of us...”

Their voices gradually grew quieter. It sounded like they had shifted from arguing to talking it through.

“When the gap between public pretense and private truth is small—say thirty degrees—then swallowing the pretense for the sake of immediate reality may help keep society running. But what about now? The gap has widened to forty-five, to sixty, to ninety, and now past one hundred thirty-five. At that point, the more desperately you defend the pretense in the name of preserving reality, the more reality itself collapses. The idealist who once seemed naïve becomes the one speaking most clearly about reality, while the so-called realist turns out to be the dreamer. The actor once cast as the baby-faced fool ends up reversed by the flow of time.”

Then silence fell. Their discussion seemed to be over.

The figure who stepped forward was the older of the two officials. Along with the rabbit whiskers typical of his kind, he wore a beard on his chin.

“We beg your forgiveness. To raise our bows against royalty is a crime worthy of death a thousand times over. Prince Poet... please punish us as you see fit.”

Behind him, ten rabbitfolk dropped to their knees and bowed their heads.

“Raise your heads.”

“Yes, sir!”

They looked at me directly now. If they offered respect, then I had to answer with dignity.

“I am powerless at the moment—too powerless to reward you or punish you. But when peace returns to this country, I swear I will pursue agricultural policies that will help feed your families. I had already noticed that flood control in this region was being neglected. I am sorry. For now, all I can offer is a promise.”

“Your words are more than we deserve!”

They all bowed low again.

“Prince Poet. Masahide-sama entrusted this to us.”

The official handed me an object shaped like a turn symbol from musical notation. It carried the logo of Lala Laboratory. Some new kind of acoustic magic device?

“What is this?”

“A Mirror Code. A device that can reverse the flow of resonance particles.”

Why would he send me something like that? I stopped to think—

And then it hit me.

If I had this, then even if the Noah Society caused resonance particles to run wild and flood the river, I might be able to stop it.

This was a weapon that could save the kingdom.

♪Sniper (Present)♪

So they dragged me all the way out to the Rabbit Kingdom. Apparently there’s some kind of coup going on, but that’s none of my concern. Even a peaceful little country like this has its share of conflict, huh?

My wolf ears stirred lightly in the wind as I waited for my prey.

I’d heard that a guy named Poet had broken through the battle on the plains by himself and was now racing through the mountains. This area was supposed to be one of the points he absolutely had to pass through, so I set up an ambush here.

I’m a professional. I’ve taken out 999 targets.

This one will make a thousand.

A proper milestone.

I already ordered a cake for the occasion. My beloved wife and daughter are waiting for me at home.

I bit down on my cigar, sank into a hard-boiled mood, and adjusted my hat. That’s what it means to live like a man.

The sky was perfectly blue. Small birds flitted through the air. The grass spread thick and green.

Peaceful.

Hard to imagine someone truly dangerous coming through a place like this.

Then again, whoever it is, I’ll kill him.

Something was racing down the farm road.

What the hell is that? A carousel horse?

I’d been warned in advance, but this is idiotic even by those standards.

Fine. Whatever.

I raised my beloved contrabassoon. Doesn’t matter what kind of fool he is. All that matters is putting him down. I drew in a breath—

And then the enemy pointed a trumpet straight at me.

Damn it! He noticed me from this far away? That’s dragonfolk-level eyesight!

No matter. Don’t think. Shoot.

Haaah... haaah...
Well? Did I get him?

What?

There’s a panda plushie stuck in the bell of my instrument?

That bastard! He’s mocking me!

I yanked the panda out of the bell and aimed again.

Then the next instant, a sharp force struck my forehead and knocked me backward.

Heh. So this is where I die.

Well, that’s what it means to live like a man.

But after I hit the ground, I realized something was wrong.

Wait.

My forehead hadn’t been pierced at all.

The thing stuck there wasn’t a metal bullet.

It was a dandelion puff.

That bastard...

Was he making fun of my hard-boiled way of life?

But by then he was already gone, running off into the distance, as if mocking my manly code with that twitching rabbit nose of his.