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Thus, Ekaterina ended up writing the script for the play her class was putting on at the school festival.
But as soon as she started writing, she regretted it like crazy.

Waaah, I’m such an idiot!
I really wanted to avoid being cast as the lead role in the play just like Ekaterina in the Otome game did!
So why on earth did I volunteer to be the scriptwriter?!

I want to punch myself for thinking, “You’re not supposed to take a class play for the school festival too seriously—surely all I have to do is adapt ‘Momotaro’ to this world?”
There’s no way it’s going to be that simple!

First of all, it’s an opera.
We have Olga-chan and Renat-kun in the class, the rising star and the talk of the whole school who were just recently invited by the God of Music and joined the Temple of Music. Since our class is putting on a play, we have to incorporate musical elements, with Olga-chan singing and Renat-kun playing an instrument, or no one will be satisfied.
I mean, it would be such a waste not to make use of such amazing talent; even if someone else forgives that, I certainly won’t. I want everyone to hear these two perform!
But that raises the bar for writing the script…

And so I have to figure out what song to have Olga-cahn sing, then weave that song into the story.
I can’t possibly write lyrics and compose music to fit each scene of the story! I have no choice but to use songs I already know. But there aren’t that many options.
And… since this is such a rare opportunity, there’s a song I really want Olga-chan to sing.
When I first really listened to Olga-chan sing at the Evening of Music, I thought to myself: Olga-chan really is the Imperial Kingdom’s Susan Boyle. I wonder what would happen if Olga-chan sang her breakthrough hit.
It would definitely be great…

But. How am I supposed to incorporate *that* into Momotaro?!
Well, it doesn’t have to be Momotaro, exactly.
But then, if I presented that story instead…? That song is originally from a musical, but there’s no way we could stage that epic tale in an amateur school festival play. There’s also the issue of the historical setting. The Imperial Kingdom has an absolute monarchy, and if I presented a story based on a citizens’ revolution… Eek—that’s impossible!

Ah… I just remembered. Victor Hugo, the author of that story—I’m pretty sure he was deeply involved in the creation of the Berne Convention, the international treaty on copyright.
When I learned about intellectual property and that big name came up, I couldn’t help but look him up. Apparently, he was not only a literary giant whose name is etched in literary history but also a politician.

Speaking of which, a famous figure related to copyright in Japan would probably be Yaso Saijō. He was a poet famous for works like ‘Uta wo Wasureta Kanariya (The Canary That Forgot His Song),’ a lyricist behind Showa-era smash hits like ‘Soshu Yakyoku (Suzhou Nocturne)’ and ‘Aoi Sanmyaku (Blue Mountains)’, and a university professor of English literature. I seem to recall reading in a biography a long time ago that he also served as chairman of the copyright association, the predecessor to JASRAC, and worked tirelessly to raise awareness of copyright.

……

Ah, no! My mind is drifting away from my creative work!
Come on, me! Unleash Momotaro’s potential! I remember a time when every single cell phone commercial seemed to feature Momotaro—his potential must be limitless!
I’m definitely going to have Marina-chan play the monkey and do some action scenes. With her amazing athletic ability, she’ll surely look both cool and cute.

Oh, but if we’re talking about a monkey doing action scenes, there might be other options.
Journey to the West. Sun Wukong.
That might actually be easier to adapt to this world? Alright, let’s consider switching over (without a second thought). Wait, Momotaro said switching was a good deal, too. In that cell phone commercial.

Hmm, in that case, who should play the kappa Sha Wujing and the pig Zhu Bajie? Wait, before that, what about Tripitaka?
And what are we going to do about that song!
Actually, my memory of it is really fuzzy… It’s an English song, after all. There’s a Japanese-translated version, so I do remember some of it. But the melody is really sketchy, so I might have to ask Renat to pretty much rewrite it from scratch?

“Milady.”

Eek!

When Mina called out to her, Ekaterina, who was in bed, nearly jumped out of her skin, silk comforter and all.
That’s right. It was already past lights-out in the dorm, and good girls should be asleep by now. Ekaterina had gotten ready for bed and laid down, but she was completely absorbed in working out the script’s concept and had been lost in thought the whole time.

“I see that you cannot sleep. Would you like some warm milk?”

From the bedroom door, which had opened without her noticing, Mina spoke in her usual calm, matter-of-fact tone.
It was a complete mystery to Ekaterina how Mina could tell she wasn’t asleep when she shouldn’t even be able to see her, but it was too late to wonder about that now. Being a combat maid, Mina probably could sense everything just from her presence and the sound of her breathing.

For a split second, Ekaterina considered pretending to be asleep… but figuring it would probably be pointless, she poked her head out from under the comforter.

“I’m sorry for worrying you, Mina. I just couldn’t fall asleep because I was thinking about the school festival. Please don’t worry about it and get some rest.”
“You’re pushing yourself too hard, Milady.”

As expected, Mina replied in her usual matter-of-fact tone.

“You make it sound like it’s no big deal, but you excel at most everything. You don’t have to do such incredible things all the time. If anyone has anything to say about you not trying so hard, I’ll take care of them.”

Despite her matter-of-fact tone, Mina’s eyes were gleaming with intensity.
Huh… It’s been a while since my beautiful maid’s gone a little psycho…
Although she thought that, Ekaterina smiled.

“Nobody ever told me anything, Mina. I’m just doing this because it’s fun for me.
But I’m sorry I made you feel that way. After all, I promised my brother I’d get some rest early. Thank you, Mina.”

Yeah, I’ll reflect on that.
If I’m awake, Mina can’t sleep either. The risk of death from overwork is right here, right now, so close at hand!
I have to resolve the issue of Mina’s excessively long work hours immediately.

And as soon as Ekaterina drank the hot milk Mina had prepared for her and lay back down, she fell into a deep sleep.