 Ahiru (literally  Duck  in Japanese), is a petite young girl in a junior high school s beginner ballet program. She s prone to stammering and clutziness. She has a huge crush on her sempai, Mute, a sad-seeming young man who doesn t speak much. Ahiru discovers that Mute is actually the prince out of a story written by the mysterious writer Drosselmeyer. When Drosselmeyer died, the prince and the evil crow he was battling in the story escaped. The prince defeated the crow, but only at the expense of shattering his own heart. Mute is a boy without feeling or understanding. Drosselmeyer, however, has somehow returned, and has offered Ahiru a chance to help Mute. She must become Princess Tutu, a magical ballerina, and help reclaim the pieces of her prince s heart. There is a catch, of course--Mute is being controlled by his roommate Fakia, also a dancer, who seems to want to keep the boy soulless and heartless. Drosselmeyer also told Ahiru that a certain dream she s been having is real. She really is just a little duck, and has been transformed into a girl only so that she can become Princess Tutu. If she starts stammering-- quacking like a duck-- she ll turn back into one.