And so, change of plans.
Originally, we intended to deal with this nightmare by repelling or defeating Tot Musica in a head-on battle when it came after us.
But at this point, the underlying premise of "dealing with Tot Musica" had shifted.
Somehow, Tot Musica, who had known nothing but malice, had been learning all sorts of things through the countless stories in my memories and, not to put too fine a point on it, was approaching something like developing a sense of self.
If that was the case, then this was, in a way, an opportunity.
Until now, Tot Musica had been nothing more than an entity that destroyed everything, driven by the despair and hatred the Song Girl felt when she brought it into being.
But now an opportunity had come to teach it that other ways of existing were possible.
And Tot Musica itself was reaching out to me and Uta-chan in various ways, trying to learn about a world that was completely unknown to it. Through those battles (?) it was gradually learning something... or so I hoped.
So I decided to deliberately ride that momentum, and on an even bigger scale.
Here's the procedure.
First, we gather all the members who plan to "participate" this time in the bedroom.
Specifically: me, the three girls, and Uta-chan. Five of us.
For the record, I've asked Iris and Snow to continue keeping watch today, just in case.
Next, in order to dream, meaning to enter the Uta World, we need to fall asleep. For this, Uta-chan will sing for us, and we'll listen, letting her guide us in.
That way, not just me but Suzu and the other two can enter the Uta World as well. And by actively using her Powers, Uta-chan herself can maintain the Uta World while staying awake.
The trade-off is a time limit until Uta-chan's stamina runs out and she falls asleep, but that's not a problem either. When that happens, we'll just transition into Tot Musica's version of the Uta World.
The thing is, if that happens, I'm not sure whether Suzu and the others can stay with us.
So I want to settle today's "match" before that, if at all possible.
Uta-chan has been gradually training to control the Uta World over the past few years. She says she wants to surprise Shanks and the others when she sees them someday. Thanks to that, she can apparently maintain it for quite a long time. So there's a decent chance we'll have enough time.
Also, for when drowsiness gets really bad, I've prepared a last resort.
They sell ridiculously potent high-end energy drinks at Gran Tesoro (2,500 Berry per bottle). Apparently they're popular among corporate warriors for making you feel energized, blasting away sleepiness, and tasting great on top of it.
Of course, they're completely legal with absolutely no sketchy ingredients, so no worries there. ...They're just expensive because of that.
Well, I can't help feeling that relying on drinks like these to push through is somewhat unhealthy, or at least unwholesome... but hey, there are times in life when you need them.
...To be perfectly honest, I've relied on them myself when my pen gets going and I end up pulling all-nighters writing.
So tonight, I'll be sleeping in my True Suite alongside Suzu, Leona, and Alice. Listening to Uta-chan's song.
And then, without even being aware of falling asleep... I opened my eyes, and it was already the Uta World.
There, just like yesterday, Tot Musica was standing by, ready for today as well.
Though, as expected, the setup was different from yesterday again...
"Go-karts?"
A ridiculously long paved road.
Several machines lined up on it. Four-wheel-drive karts that looked like they'd pack some serious power.
Cars might seem like over-technology for the One Piece World, but actually, they're really not.
Sure, you don't see them on every street corner, but they pop up in quite a few places.
For example, Gran Tesoro has these luxury-car-like vehicles called Turtle Cars that serve as VIP transportation.
They don't run on gasoline engines. Instead, they're powered by Muscle Turtles, a combat-oriented breed of turtle. Basically, mechanical rickshaws.
Apparently the turtles are properly hired and paid for their services.
When I asked what kind of compensation you pay a turtle, it turns out it's mainly guaranteed food, clothing, and shelter, plus premium protein supplements and access to a training gym exclusively for turtles. ...Combat-oriented indeed.
Beyond that, Smoker-san from the Marines rides around on something called a Billow Bike, and there's even the Sea Train. If you can figure out the power source, cars might actually be surprisingly easy to get running.
...Well, worldbuilding analysis aside.
This was probably another "match" Tot Musica had prepared based on some of the stories I'd written.
Tot Musica's face was the same Clown mask as always, but from the neck down it wore a racing suit that looked ready for an F1 race. The visual dissonance was extraordinary... but whatever.
Thoughtfully, there were cars prepared for all of us.
All right then, let's do this.
"Okay, looks like it's every person for themselves from here... so let's go wild! Everyone give it your all! Let's gooo!"
"""Yeah!"""
And so the car race began with everyone hopping into their machines, but the actual substance... wasn't just a simple race, of course.
It turned out to be a pirate-style race, kind of like a Davy Back Fight... or rather, straight-up a certain kart racing game...
"Gaaaaaah! Alice, seriously, cut it out with that! Timing banana peels and oil slicks for right when I'm landing...!"
"Ahaha, it's sad, but this is war! In a way! Come on, if you don't gun your engine instead of spacing out, you'll get left beh... WHAAAAT?! A bomb?! A land mine?! A trap panel?! How?!"
"Hmph... that is what ye get for letting thy guard down. A fisherman's profit is not the most honorable approach, but... what?! Wh-what in blazes, lightning has struck from above?!"
My daughters were having fun. That was what mattered.
Whatever form it took, we'd come into this with the serious purpose of "fighting Tot Musica" at its core, and the atmosphere had been fairly tense, but... almost immediately after it started, things devolved into this.
The Tension was exactly like three high school girls who'd gathered at a friend's house to play a certain kart racing game, or a certain fighting game.
Of course, Uta-chan, Tot Musica, and I were enjoying ourselves just as enthusiastically.
...Lately, if I let my guard down even a little, I almost forget this thing is the enemy.
...It is the enemy, right? I mean, it did destroy Elegia... but then again, at its core this thing is just an ignorant brat, so how should I even put iiiiiiiit WHOOAAAAAA?!
"Hey?! Who was that?! That Red Shell just now!!"
"Hehe, your guard was down, Sue-san! First place is miiine... WHAAAAT?! Why is there no road?!"
A considerable impact jolted me, and as I sat there stunned, Uta-chan's car went blazing past... but looking away at that moment proved her undoing as she vanished into a sharp-curve trap. A textbook example of complacency being the greatest enemy.
***
After enjoying the kart race (?), there was apparently still time to spare.
The world shifted, and we found ourselves facing Tot Musica in the next "match."
Following yesterday's tennis, here was sports event number two: soccer.
...But if you played soccer with physical abilities on the One Piece World's level...
"Real-life Shaolin Soccer..." (I muttered.)
"Hm? Did you say something, Sue?"
Suzu, running through the air to catch up with a ball that had soared high into the sky.
Leona, heading the ball with a skull harder than iron could ever be.
Alice, blowing through the opposing defense with magnificent spinning kicks that would put breakdancing to shame.
And Uta-chan, launching a shot directly into the goal from midfield with steel-like leg strength that seemed impossible given her slender frame, or frankly, given her usual self. (Since this was inside the Uta World, she could freely set her own buffs.)
By the way, since we didn't have enough for eleven players per side, I used my Proxy Dolls to split into copies and cover the remaining seven spots.
The opposing team was entirely Tot Musica.
But with impressive attention to detail, all eleven of them had different heights, body types, and movement patterns... Are you the type who really gets into the details?
That was as far as we got that night.
In the end, the score was 85 to 85, a draw.
(Note: those are soccer scores.)
The plays were so flashy it felt like a run-and-gun game. Like a machine-gun firefight where whoever dropped the ball first lost.
Getting a basketball-like score across first half, second half, and stoppage time... wait, do they even call it "stoppage time" anymore? Or is it something else now?
That day ended there, but starting from that night, the days of nightly "matches" between us and Tot Musica in our dreams began.
Time-wise, we'd compete in two events per night, winning some, losing some, drawing some.
***
Another day.
The match: "River Rafting Race (Canoe)."
Since every one of us is an Ability User, this is a sport we'd absolutely never do in the real world, but in this world, because it was the Uta World, we could actually swim even if we fell in the river. Apparently the rules here are pretty relaxed.
I'm reasonably experienced with steering a regular ship, but handling a tiny one-or-two-person vessel that's being buffeted and rocked like crazy by river currents? Not exactly something you get much practice with.
We flipped over, crashed into rocks, and had so much fun we half forgot we were even competing.
Well, of course we still competed properly as a competition.
With interference allowed, as per usual.
Toward the end, Suzu snapped after being sabotaged one too many times by Alice and Leona, and used her Powers to generate massive amounts of muddy water, practically flooding the whole river... yeah, that was terrifying.
***
Another day.
The match: "Cooking Battle."
The difference from last time? Tot Musica was the judge.
Hey, weren't you supposed to be competing against us?!
...Well, whatever.
There was at least a set theme: "Dishes using cheese."
...Needless to say, that's my absolute favorite. I honestly wanted to be the judge myself.
I went with cheese fondue.
It's fun to eat, it's delicious, and... when I make this, the kids actually eat their vegetables too. I used to make it for them all the time during our sea voyages, and I still make it now and then.
Of course, dipping things other than vegetables tastes incredible too. Meat, potatoes, bread, you name it.
Leona went bold with a cheeseburger.
Three hamburger patties stacked with six slices of cheese, a token amount of lettuce and pickles, all sandwiched between buns. A carnivorous masterpiece. Very her, if anything.
Suzu made doria. She does love her rice.
You just casually throw in ingredients, pile them on, and heat it up, so it's simple. And if you load it up with plenty of vegetables, the balance is good too. A fine dish, I think.
Alice surprised everyone by going with a simple approach. Ever heard of caprese?
Or maybe it's easier to call it "mozzarella cheese and tomato salad." It's a quintessential Italian appetizer. Its simplicity means the cook's skill and small touches really matter, making it a dish that tests you in various ways.
Incidentally, Tot Musica shouted "Deeelicious!!" the moment it took a bite. I wonder if it actually knew the reference?
And Uta-chan made pizza. She spun the dough herself from scratch.
Topped with tomato sauce, basil, and cheese... a Margherita.
She said it's one of her favorite dishes, and she eats it all the time at Gran Tesoro.
After judging everyone's dishes, the winner was... Alice, of all people.
This girl is the complete package, beauty and brains... I knew her cooking skills had been improving rapidly, but... as Mom, I have mixed feelings. Or rather, I'm just plain frustrated...
***
Another day.
The match: "Super Robot Wars (tentative title)."
I. Was. On. Fire.
No, this one couldn't be helped.
Piloting your own robot to fight enemy robots? If this doesn't get your blood pumping, you're not a boy! ...Well, we're all girls, but still.
For me personally, it was nonstop adrenaline, but unfortunately, not everyone felt quite the same way.
No, I think everyone enjoyed it, but there were obvious differences in enthusiasm due to personal tastes and preferences.
The ones whose Tension shot through the roof like little boys: me and Leona.
The ones who were excited and having fun, just not quite at our level: Alice and Uta-chan.
The one who was more like "...crickets": Suzu. Hmm, guess it didn't click for her...
But when it came to the actual competition, everyone got serious.
Serious while having fun.
While having fun.
That was important enough to say twice.
By the way, the mech selections were:
Me: Mazinger Z
Suzu: Shin Getter Robo
Leona: Gaogaigar
Alice: Aquarion
Uta-chan: Gurren Lagann
Tot Musica handled all the enemies for us.
I've said it many times, but it was genuinely fun. I'm grateful.
Also, about Alice's choice... no, let's not read too much into it.
***
Another day.
The match: "Dragon Quest III" (or something like it).
This one turned into quiiiiite the marathon... also, why jump straight to III?
The volume of content was enormous too... well, at least since everyone was already strong, we didn't need to grind for levels, which was nice.
The five of us formed a party (over the player limit?) and set off to defeat Demon King Totto Musica. Wait, you don't show up until the final boss fight? Are you sure you're okay with that?
By the way, our classes were:
Uta-chan: Hero
Suzu: Warrior
Leona: Martial Artist
Alice: Gadabout
Me: Warrior
...Terrible balance.
And the warrior class is doubled up.
Well, we won anyway, so it was fine.
I mean, everyone except Uta-chan just used Haki and charged in physically, so...
Whether it was Slimes, Wandering Armors, Rampaging Apes, Moving Statues, or Yamata no Orochis.
With a "Spells? What are those, something you eat?" attitude, they just slashed and punched their way through everything, converting them to gold one after another...
***
Another day.
The match: "A Certain Board Game (Friendship Destroyer Edition)."
Extravagant spending... God of Poverty... business failure... God of Poverty... stock market crash... land flipping... God of Poverty...
...I'm so exhausted I don't even want to talk about it...
If I had to say something, it was that keeping things from escalating into a real fight was the hardest part...
...So the bonds between people really are fragile, huh...
I never expected it to get one step away from an actual battle, and for Tot Musica of all things to have to mediate with "Now, now, let's all calm down, calm down"...
***
And so, after spending day after day in matches that had me thinking "what was a Song Demon King again?"... one night came.
I figured today would be the same as always, that we'd be brought to some kind of battle stage. I was wondering what the challenge would be this time... and that's when we were caught completely off guard.
Darkness of night.
An island, somewhere unknown.
A town in flames.
Tot Musica standing at its center.
...Most likely, Elegia on "that night."
Tot Musica had been enjoying these "matches" with us all this time.
Somewhere in my heart, I had started to think that maybe the occasion to face this thing as a "Demon King" would never come again.
But apparently, that wasn't the case.
Still, it didn't seem like Tot Musica had reverted to the malice-only version of itself from before it met us.
Those eyes, as they had been throughout our matches, were the eyes of an "ignorant brat" who had come to know a range of emotions.
...That alone was enough to understand.
Tot Musica had now learned emotions beyond malice and no longer necessarily saw us as enemies. And yet, even so, it was choosing this, here and now: the battle at Elegia.
The motive was probably...
'Probably... just like Uta-chan... this one decided to stop running from the past, too.'
***
Song Demon King Tot Musica.
No one knew when this grotesque Monster first came into existence, but from the very beginning until now, it had always been composed of malice and hatred.
And whenever it appeared, it was always accompanied by destruction and slaughter, screams and despair.
To harm with malice, to break, to steal.
Born from the Song Girl's hatred, he knew nothing else. Therefore he could do nothing else, and he believed there was nothing else to do.
He believed that was fine... or rather, the opportunity, the very notion of doubting, hesitating, or reflecting had simply never existed for him.
He had thought things would remain this way forever.
Until he destroyed everything in the world.
Or... though he couldn't know if such a time would come... until he himself was destroyed.
...All of that changed just a few days, or perhaps a dozen days, ago.
Or perhaps it had begun several months before that, when he, still in the form of Sheet Music, sensed a nostalgic presence, drifted toward it, and slipped into Sue's body as if dissolving into her.
Through the Ability User of the Paper-Paper Fruit named Sue... through that other power besides the Sing-Sing Fruit that could interact with him... Tot Musica was able to learn of the outside world for the first time.
He was able to learn knowledge, reality, beyond what he currently possessed.
And whether by fortune or misfortune, the current wielder of the Paper-Paper Fruit was the world's greatest Pirate Literary Master, peerless in "creating diverse worlds through paper and ink, and moving people's hearts."
When Tot Musica touched a fragment of Sue's memories and knowledge through the Sheet Music and the Paper-Paper Fruit's Powers, something flooded into the space inside him that had held nothing but hatred and malice, overflowing all at once.
That completely unknown "something," that "something" that surged in like a deluge... strangely, it didn't feel bad at all.
Instead, only the desire to know more of it welled up within him.
Following that desire honestly, and this was already a departure from his former self, though Tot Musica wouldn't realize that for quite some time yet, he engaged in match after match with his "playmates," who conveniently appeared every night, and whose numbers had even increased along the way.
He didn't win most of his battles. In fact, losses made up the majority, and he was deeply in the red.
Yet he felt good, and all he could think about was wanting to fight more, to know more, to experience more of the unknown.
Those were days of nothing but playing without thinking, and yet throughout them, steadily, little by little, he was learning. The things his former self had lacked. The things his former self could never have noticed, could never even have conceived of.
And then, one night.
After his "playmates" waved goodbye with smiles and left.
Left alone in the silent Uta World, Tot Musica found that the knowledge and emotions he had accumulated finally clicked together, leading him to a single realization.
It wasn't limited to tonight.
Every time, after everyone went home and he was left alone in this world, he would recall, just a little, his former self. The self from not long ago that had done nothing but hate, destroy, and steal.
That time had become something unpleasant for the current Tot Musica.
But he had never understood why it made him feel that way.
Until today... when he finally realized it.
Ah. What his past self had done... was something that shouldn't have been done.
It wasn't fun. It was unpleasant. It was wrong.
In truth, as he was now, the thought of doing such things to the "playmates" he currently enjoyed being with didn't cross his mind in the slightest.
Rather than that, there were plenty of more enjoyable things to do: racing in karts with interference battles, making and eating delicious food, and so much more.
But back then, that was all he knew. So that was all he could do.
And besides, he had originally been born from that emotion, created to be that way.
His creator, the Song Girl, had wished for it. He had never questioned it. ...Was it right to deny her feelings now? That thought, too, crossed his mind.
His former self, rampaging in despair and hatred, spreading destruction and slaughter.
His current self, smiling and enjoying things together with everyone, with no sadness or suffering in sight.
If asked which was right, the answer would be the latter. If asked which he preferred, the answer was also the latter.
Yet even so, completely denying the former, which had been the Song Girl's final wish and desire, didn't sit well with Tot Musica. He didn't want to do that.
That had been, at the very least, her true feelings in that moment, and those feelings themselves hadn't been wrong. What she had endured was enough to make anyone feel that way, enough that it could only be called inevitable.
But if it had been possible, the Song Girl too would have wanted to smile... and it would have been better if she could have.
She simply wasn't allowed to. It was simply taken from her.
The Song Girl, who had burned through every last bit of her life to bring him into being, was gone. She had vanished without ever being able to grasp the happiness he now enjoyed.
The thought of dismissing even her final feelings as simply "something wrong" was unbearable too.
Caught in that spiral of thoughts, Tot Musica had an idea.
If it was them, then maybe...
His current self, whatever the initial catalyst, had come to know the world because they had faced him head-on.
Then surely, they who had been unfazed by his malice and hatred... even if the Song Girl's despair and sorrow were hurled at them, they would deflect it as if to say "so what?"
Deflect it, and then... save her, just as they had saved him.
There was no evidence, no basis for this... in fact, it was a conclusion reached through something closer to "wishful thinking" or "hope."
And the Song Girl, to whom this should be conveyed, was already gone.
Even so, Tot Musica... no matter what, by any means necessary... wanted to do something about this sorrow the Song Girl had left smoldering inside him. Wanted to do something for her.
That was why he made the deliberate choice to face them with those emotions unhidden, unfeigned, and at full force.
Whether that decision was the right one... or whether it was meaningless...
The answer to that... no one knew yet.
Not until a future a little further ahead, when his "playmates" would bring it to him.
To be continued...