Pruned Trees Re-Sprout!! ~ Ragazza Volpe Magica ~

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Taika, flanked on either side by Pacifica and Rebecca, were rooted on the couch in the Presidential Suite of the Villas Faringway Hotel, watching a movie Pacifica had picked as a distraction for their troubled minds. The plastic bag containing the lunar Resonator field guide and Pacifica’s cards laid on the table in front of them along with some picked at (but mostly uneaten) dinner.

“Pardon my intrusion,” Alfred interrupted the three girl’s brooding. “Are you familiar with a Ms. Severine?” he asked, raising some brows from those on the couch.

“That’s Colette,” Pacifica reminded her fellow Resonators.

“Oh yeah.” Rebecca nodded.

“Why do you ask?” Taika questioned.

“She is at the front desk and is requesting your Maestro,” he informed them.

One could see the gears turning in the three girls’ heads as they tried to parse that information.

“Oh!”

“Uhg, thanks for letting me in,” Colette grumbled. Kaira was behind her, as usual, pulling a large wheeled suitcase.

“Why are you even here?” Pacifica made the pertinent inquiry.

“Shouri told me he and Rebecca got attacked by a Feroce Resonator. I got with Dr. Vim and he sent me down here to investigate and maybe provide back-up for Shouri if needed,” Colette explained. “I’m not a damn cop, I got homework to do,” the college student grumbled as an aside.

The Auburn Maestro took a moment to take in the presidential suite. “It is pretty nice in here,” she admitted quietly. Shaking her head, she returned focus to why she was there in the first place. “Where’s Shouri?”

Kaira perked up, the metaphorical storm cloud almost bowling her over.

“They found Mila,” Taika spoke bitterly.

“Shouri’s missing first Resonator,” Pacifica clarified for Colette, who didn’t know the story.

“He had a meltdown in the middle of a bookstore when he got the news,” Rebecca added.

“So where is he now?” Colette asked her question not having been addressed.

“That Elijah dude took him to some conference room in the hotel to meet with some specialists or something,” Rebecca said. “He didn’t want us with him,” she spoke much lower, also bitter.

“Probably because we’re all in our feelings about it,” Pacifica admitted.

Colette nodded, taking it all in. “Why?” the curious scholar threw out her favorite word.

“Colette, most other Maestros keep a maximum of three Resonators for a reason. It’s not a hard rule enforced by any law; it’s simply believed to be the ideal number of Resonators to be under one’s permanent care,” Kaira informed her own Maestro.

“Well I know that, but Shouri doesn’t seem like the type to care about stuff like that,” Colette pointed out.

Kaira hummed in thought for a moment. “More Resonators mean less attention given to each one. It’s clear these three do not want any more of his time taken away from them.”

The scholar nodded slowly, looking between her Resonator and the other three standing her opposite. All three refused her gaze, confirming Kaira’s theory as fact.

“I see…”

Shouri, Elijah, and Zino returned to the room late. Most of the overhead lights were either off or dimmed, only some night lights were illuminated – the others must be in bed. The elevator ride up to their suite was quiet, deathly so. The Klein heir dared not utter a word, especially after the details of the report gathered by the investigators were revealed to Shouri. Even Zino held his tongue. Turned out the snarky dinosaurian had a line that he would not cross.

“Good night, Mister Tomoshibi,” Elijah broke his silence, though he spoke in a whisper.

The two men stood for a moment in silence. “Should I expect your absence tomorrow?” Elijah inquired.

“I dunno,” Shouri mumbled.

“Right. Good night.”

“Yeah.”

With that Elijah made his departure. Zino remained for a moment, studying the other Maestro before following his own.

“Sho.”

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed but when he looked up, he found Taika standing in the hallway, her brows turned up with concern.

“Taika.”

“What-” the vixen paused. “What happened?” she hesitantly asked.

“They showed me some pictures,” he spoke. It took him some time to gather his words. “It’s her. It’s definitely her,” his voice cracked, his head lowering.

Taika didn’t know what to say. Her normally strong-willed rhythm failed her and she remained where she was, paralyzed with uncertainty.

“She’s alive, but I feel like something is wrong. Something is horribly wrong with her.”

“What do you mean?”

Another moment of silence.

“Something happened to her. I can feel it in my rhythm. She doesn’t look like she did,” Shouri trembled as he spoke.

“It has been almost eight years, hasn’t it?” Taika countered.

Shouri shook his head. “No, no.” He pursed his lips, his gaze remaining fixed on the ground. “There’s something different about her. Something bad.”

Taika shifted in place, unsure of what to do what that comment.

“I think she’s the Resonator that attacked me and Rebecca.”

The next morning

Shouri awoke around seven in the morning. Despite being exhausted from everything that happened yesterday, he still found it difficult to sleep. His mind raced with possibility and anxiety. Even the etude of the three Resonators did nothing to soothe his frayed nerves.

“Sho,” Taika whispered. She was the one in his warm embrace this morning, part of his shirt balled up tightly in her fists as she looked up at him with concern in her eyes.

He didn’t give a verbal reply, he met her gaze with a pained expression. She pulled herself up, gently kissing him. After a moment, she pulled back, the tips of their noses touching. “I’m worried about you,” she spoke on a breath.

The hurt only intensified. Shouri tightened his grip around her, gently squeezing the breath from her. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he squeaked.

Taika nuzzled his cheek, smiling warmly. “Don’t be, be as greedy as you want - I’ll never leave your side.” Her grasp on his shirt tightened. “Anche se il mondo finisse domani, sarò tua.”

He buried his face into her shoulder, trembling. She could feel the warmth gathering where he pressed into her as he let loose the streams of anguish that he had held back. “It’s okay Sho,” Taika whispered gently into his ear as she stroked his hair and allowed him to cry.

By the time Rebecca and Pacifica had woken up, Taika and Shouri had snuck out of out of bed.

“We’re doing a half day today,” Shouri announced to the group.

“Are you sure?” Pacifica questioned, brows raised with concern.

“I need to do something, I’m going to go crazy if I don’t.”

Pacifica glanced at Taika – the two of them were oddly leveled out. “Aha…” the otter breathed out, smirking coyly to herself. Early morning etude is what she suspected, though she wasn’t enough of a social wrecking ball to let her nosiness get the better of her. (She’d ask later.)

“What are we doing today bossman?” Rebecca made the next inquiry.

“We’ll be doing healing stuff in the main stadium, specifically on the sidelines,” he replied.

Taika perked up. “Oh?” She had not been apprised of the situation.

“Yeah.” Shouri nodded, pulling a tuner out of his shorts pocket. “Elijah said the main rounds of play are usually so intense they need to have a trauma squad on standby. Healers with Lento-rank La Bella Vita are in short supply, so we’ll be an asset. Or so he claims.” He rolled his eyes, re-pocketing the tuner.

“You also got the status cleansing spell the other day, so that’s probably another reason they want us specifically,” Rebecca chimed in.

The healer of the group nodded. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Let’s get ready. We can have Alfred bring us breakfast and then make our way to the stadium,” Shouri laid out the plan for the group.

“Sounds good!”

Alfred set the table with breakfast ordered from the downstairs kitchen. Shouri and his trio slowly filed in, avoiding getting in the way of the two cat maids who were already in full-swing cleaning mode.

“Please enjoy your brunch Master Tomoshibi,” the butler bowed, before taking his leave.

Irene and Sophia quickly wrapped up their cleaning tasks in the dining room and followed the butler.

As the quartet dug into their breakfast, Pacifica remembered an important event from last night. “Colette is here by the way,” she informed the Maestro.

Shouri raised a brow. “The hell is she doing here?” he asked. “And when did you even see her?” came the second question. As far as he was aware none of his trio had left the suite last night.

“She said that doctor guy sent her here,” Rebecca recalled.

“Ilea?” Shouri wondered.

“Yeah, him,” Rebecca replied with a nod.

“So where did you see her?” Shouri re-asked his second question.

“Uh, here,” Pacifica said.

Shouri chewed on his breakfast for a moment, trying to figure out what that meant. “Wait, ‘here’ as in here here?” He motioned to the suite.

“Si! She brought bags and everything,” Taika replied.

Once more Shouri went silent. He grunted in annoyance and pulled a tuner from his side, quickly thumbing up a text to Elijah. “People need to fucking communicate,” he grumbled.

The trio of Resonators exchanged concerned glances. “Sorry Sho,” Taika spoke up for them.

“Not mad at you, mad that Colette didn’t have the decency to tell me she was on her way down here,” Shouri continued to complain as he resumed breakfast. He sighed after a moment. “I suppose I didn’t tell her we were leaving for Naiza, so fair’s fair.”

Taika and the others smiled and went back to eating their food.