Shouri made his way out of the bedroom at around four the next morning.

“Oh, Shouri, you’re up,” Emily greeted him as soon as he left the room.

“Yeah, just a bit,” he yawned.

“At least you seem to be in better spirits today,” the duelist noted.

There was a moment of awkward silence between the two Maestros.

“Thanks,” he muttered a hushed gratitude.

“No problem! I said we were friends, right?” the lunar Maestro beamed.

“I guess so,” Shouri offered back a reluctant smile.

Emily patted his shoulder. “We’re up first again, so I don’t expect you to catch our game, but we’ll work double time – don’t want to lag behind you Mister Hunter,” she grinned toothily.

Shouri shook his head but grinned back. “You got it, don’t worry about it.”

“Who said I was worried?” Emily laughed heartily before parting ways with her fellow Maestro to finish preparing for the day.

“When did you two become so buddy-buddy?” Colette questioned.

The sudden voice startled Shouri, eliciting a jump from the boy. “Crap, that scared me.” He gripped his chest in a vain attempt to slow his now racing heart.

Colette stepped into the hall proper, pouting at the boy.

“Didn’t take you for the jealous type,” Shouri commented, noting her expression.

“I am jealous – you’re my research subject,” the scholar affirmed her intentions.

“Ah, the truth comes out.” He rolled his eyes. “Fine.” Shouri offered his hands to the third wheel of a Maestro. “Wanna etude?” he asked, the previous shame having been thoroughly squeezed out of him last night.

“Tonight!” Colette barked. “I definitely want to etude tonight, bring your Resonators too. I’m gonna study the crap out of you!” She pointed at him as if it were a threat.

“Alright. See you then.”

Colette quickly rushed off to finish preparing for her day. However, before Shouri could get any further, yet another voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Popular guy you are,” Elijah chimed in, leaning against the wall and wearing an amused smirk.

“You people all spying on each other.” Shouri rolled his eyes, turning to the other male Maestro in the suite.

“I am allowing the two of them to stay in my presidential suite. Unlike you, they have not proven themselves to me,” he pointed out.

“Fair, I guess.”

There was a quiet pause between the two men, Shouri averting his gaze and shuffling in place.

“You appear to be doing better today,” Elijah noted.

“Etude will do that to a motherfucker,” Shouri replied.

“Good. Today you’ll be part of the interview team,” the Klien heir revealed.

Shouri’s expression soured. “What,” was the first word to escape his lips. “I’m not interviewing people,” he protested.

Elijah shook his head. “By the sages, no. I don’t have to be Seres to know you’re a terrible fit for that job. No, these people are just coming off the battlefield, but we need them to look presentable for the camera. A quick heal, towel off the sweat, brush their hair. Easy job for your crew.”

Silence

“…you’re serious?” Shouri hesitantly broke the silence.

“What reason would I have to lie, Mister Tomoshibi?” Elijah smiled brightly.

“I hate you,” the brunet Maestro mumbled.

“Hm?”

“Nothing.”

----------------------------------------

“We’re doing what?” Rebecca questioned; her brows furrowed.

“It sounds kinda fun,” Pacifica commented.

“I didn’t sign up to be a make-up artist,” Shouri grumbled.

“I’ve never used make-up before,” Taika spoke with wonder.

The conversation dropped to a lull as they walked into the stadium. Since they were in early, the group made their way to breakfast. As soon as they entered the staff room, Shouri and Elijah locked eyes. In a childish twist, Shouri huffed and refused the gaze, avoiding acknowledging his employer any further. His trio of Resonators shrugged and just followed their Maestro.

Elijah was simply amused, propping his head up on the table, and wearing the smuggest shit-eating grin he could muster.

“We’re gonna do a bad job on purpose,” Shouri quietly told his Resonators while filling his plate with food from the breakfast buffet.

“Sho, no.” Pacifica gently shoved her Maestro

“I think it would be funny,” Rebecca added.

“Thank you, Rebecca.” Shouri reached around Pacifica to pat Rebecca’s head.

“You’re just sucking up to him,” Pacifica grumbled at her fellow Resonator.

“It worked, didn’t it?” Rebecca grinned back.

Taika rolled her eyes but smiled, this was nice.

By the time the group finished getting their breakfast, Elijah and Zino ended up finishing their meals and departing for whatever it was they did during the day. Regardless, Shouri selected a different table to sit at out of spite.

With their stomachs filled with delicious breakfast, they moved out to locate the interviewers. Much to Shouri’s frustration, however, there wasn’t a big sign saying “INTERVIEWS HERE!”

And he certainly wasn’t going to call up Elijah and ask.

Thankfully one of the security staff was more than happy to help. “Oh, you’re part of the interview staff today? They’re doing them in one of the offices right off the main battlefield. You know how to get down there?”

“Yeah, we can manage it, thanks,” said Shouri. And with that, they had their next destination in mind.

“I guess it makes sense they’d do them right off the battlefield huh?” Pacifica wondered aloud.

“With how harsh some of these battles get, having a nice room to relax in before being put on camera tracks,” Shouri commented.

“Especially if they’re like blinded or deafened. Would suck to try to talk to someone like that,” Rebecca added.

Taika simply nodded in agreement with her friends.

It took some wandering around and looking lost for someone to ask the group what they were doing. Upon being told they were helping with interview prep, Shouri’s group was kindly led to their workroom.

“Woah, this is kinda big,” Pacifica noted.

The workroom in question was adjacent to the actual interview room. Both rooms were well lit, both for the sake of making sure no aspect of clean-up was missed, but also lighting for the cameras.

“I have no idea what any of this stuff is for.” Taika smiled at the large amounts of cosmetics available to them.

Shouri glared at the makeup in question, furiously researching what any of it was for.

“Relax, I got this,” Pacifica beamed.

“You know what this junk is for?” Rebecca questioned.

The otter nodded. “Sure! Mom taught me!”

“Why don’t you use this stuff then?” Taika questioned.

“’cause it all runs off whenever I swim, so I just don’t bother,” giggled the water element.

“Sounds like this is now your problem,” Shouri delegated.

“Great! Water please my Maestro~” Pacifica sang.

Dropping a hand over Pacifica’s tuner, Shouri went ahead and provided her the spell link. “Mani Nell'acqua, Rubato.” Shifting his hand over to Taika’s tuner, he went ahead and prepped her spells. “La Bella Vita, Rubato; Purifica L'anima, Rubato.”

“Grazie, Sho.” Taika’s tail wagged at the connection of their rhythm and she fluttered over to Pacifica to see what exactly she was doing.

“What about me bossman?” Rebecca inquired.

“Hmmm…” Shouri furrowed his brow. What could she do? Clearly, she knew nothing about make-up, so helping Pacifica was out of the question. She also didn’t have any healing magic to assist Taika either.

“Here, I got an idea, Famiglio Incendio, Moderato Staccato,” he cast after taking hold of Rebecca’s tuner. “You can have your summons dry things since they radiate a lot of heat,” the Maestro suggested.

“Oh! Good thinking!” Pacifica agreed.

“Yeah.” Rebecca nodded, surprised he found something for her to do.

“What are you gonna do, Sho?” Taika wondered.

“Battery,” he stated plainly, taking a seat on one of the benches.

Thankfully he wouldn’t be entirely bored, as this room had a closed-circuit TV just like the staff break room they had been in a few days prior. Currently, there was a lull in the coverage because-

“Hello?” a familiar voice greeted their ears. “We’re supposed to come here for the interview?” they asked from the other side of the door.

“Oh! Come in!” Pacifica shouted.

The door opened to reveal-

“Hey, Emily.” Shouri waved from his chair.

“Sh-shouri?! What are you all doing here?” the blonde Maestro yelped in surprise.

“Whatever the fuck Mister Klein wants,” he grumbled.

Albarich, Ritika, and Soot followed their Maestro into the room, quickly filling it to capacity. The trio of fighters weren’t grievously injured, but it was clear from the state of their dress that it wasn’t the easiest fight.

Taika went ahead and started healing Albarich without a word since he appeared to be the most in need at the moment.

Pacifica tended to Emily, while Rebecca summoned a small cluster of rhythm foxes to dry off and warm Ritika and Soot who were both soaked (and in the case of Ritika, trembling)

“Tough one?” Shouri inquired while Emily was seated across from him.

“Yeah, they had this water deer that just would not let Soot off the field, then Ritika tagged in and immediately started shrieking when she got a face full of water,” Emily laughed.

“HEY! I THOUGHT I WAS FASTER!” the earth cat shouted in defense of her honor.

“You were watching the battle, you knew he was faster, squirt,” Albarich commented.

“I didn’t see YOU rushing to tag out Soot!” she fired back.

Soot just signed “thank you” to no one in particular.

Emily just laughed at her two Resonators arguing about the battle.

“You let them pick who goes in?” Shouri questioned the other Maestro.

“Yeah, keeps them familiar with each other’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as making sure their combat sense is on point.” Her expression clouded. “In case something happens to me,” she muttered.

Pacifica stopped brushing the other girl’s hair, digesting those words.

Emily quickly brightened back up. “Lots of duelists do that!” she exclaimed.

“That Ophira chick did the same thing with her group,” Rebecca pointed out.

The side door opened up at this point. “Miss Ayame?” a suited man asked. “We’re ready for you,” he told them.

“’kayyyy!” Emily hopped up from the chair, dusting herself off. “Come on.” She motioned for her Resonators to follow.

Albarich and Soot followed along without much fanfare. Ritika quickly adjusted her hair and checked her clothes in the mirror before running to catch up with the rest of her team.

The door gently closed and Shouri’s group was left alone with their thoughts.

It wasn’t long before the next group was slated for an interview.

“Hello? Is anyone in here?” a curious voice asked from the other side of the door.

“Yes! Come on in!” Pacifica shouted.

It was another group that Shouri and his Resonators had seen battling before. The yellow-clad woman and her three Resonators – Ophira. “Hello!” the Maestro greeted the room cheerily.

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“I’m telling you Nika, that dude would NOT have been happy to eat leather,” the red mouse girl told her fellow Resonator.

“Hayley… that’s not the point,” said the blue cat, exasperated.

“Can you two please not cause a scene for once?” the lime fox grumbled, stepping between her two teammates.

Ophira’s three Resonators were even louder in person. It wasn’t surprising given their arguments were audible even in the dugout Shouri and his Resonators had watched them from before.

Unlike Emily and her trio, Ophira’s group threw the room into chaos. Shouri did nothing to help. He just sat in the corner and pretended to be in a different plane of existence.

Poor Pacifica was trying her best to be respectful while stopping Ophira from running amok as the woman’s curiosity was off the charts and she rummaged through the various cosmetics and care products strewn about the room.

Rebecca was trying to get in a word edgewise but failed to do so as Hayley and Nika’s argument escalated, which did nothing more than pull Fureena into their antics. Taika just stood in place, her head drifting between her two fellow Resonators, unable to decide which to help.

The room grew louder and louder until finally the door to the main interview room opened. “Miss Mikami?” the suited man from before asked.

“Yes yes! That’s me!” Ophira carelessly tossed away the eyeliner she had been looking at and skipped to the door.

In that same instant, her bickering trio snapped to attention and followed their Maestro, as if the last five minutes of chaos hadn’t occurred.

When the door clicked shut and they were free from the madness, Shouri and his three slumped over.

“I need a drink,” they all spoke in unison.

In hindsight, they would have much preferred working with Ophira’s walking disaster squad after the next group that came through.

KNOCK KNOCK

“Come in!” Pacifica sang as usual.

The man who walked in chilled the room. He scanned the room, raised a brow, and snorted indignantly.

He made his way to the seat Pacifica stood behind. He threw himself back into the seat and snapped his finger. The otter stood there, unsure of what to do. The man snapped three more times, growing ever impatient.

Pacifica jumped and went to tend to this stranger like she had the last two Maestros. However, she caught sight of her own Maestro, who was glaring at this mystery man. The water element nodded, folded her arms across her chest, and closed her eyes, refusing to move.

Meanwhile, the man’s three Resonators had followed their Maestro and stood as still as statues. Taika quickly took to healing them, she mentally noted their conditions. While they were worn down from the battle they were just involved in, they appeared healthy enough. At least physically. Mentally, they did not look so hot. All three of them…

…they looked dead. Their expressions were vacant, machine-like, emotionless. Automatons, they were not. They were certainly Resonators, and they were certainly alive… at least in the strictest sense of the term.

Rebecca grimaced, holding herself. The longer she stared at the trio of Resonators the greener she grew. Finally, the vixen pardoned herself from the room, exiting without a word.

BEEP BE-

One of Shouri’s tuners had started beeping but was swiftly silenced by its owner.

Taika resumed work, silently taking vitals, going much further than she had with the other groups of Resonators.

“Shirt please,” she requested. The male Resonator she was examining complied, lifting his shirt. The healer looked him over and repeated the examinations with the other two. None of the trio said a word and complied with anything asked of them by Taika.

The entire time the room remained quiet. The man scowled at Shouri, who was more than happy to glare. Pacifica mirrored her Maestro’s expression, looking down at the duelist sitting in front of her.

“Mr. Hawk?” the suited man broke the silence. None of the occupants of the room had even noticed the interview room door open.

“Shawn Hawk?” was asked again.

“Yes. That’s me.” The duelist broke his stare down with Shouri, rising from the chair, having been totally ignored by Pacifica for the duration of his stay. He shot back a glare at Pacifica. “Hmph.” He walked into the interview room, snapping his fingers again, and his Resonators following.

Click

THWICK!

A pair of scissors were embedded in the door after it had been shut. Pacifica’s arm was outstretched, eyes wide, jaw clenched as she breathed heavily through her nose.

“I didn’t see any signs of physical abuse Sho,” Taika informed her Maestro.

“At least there’s that.” Shouri drew Taika’s tuner from his jacket pocket.

Ricerca Vitale (New!)

Presto (New!)

Shouri stared at the spell for a moment. “Hmm…” His gaze rose to meet Taika’s. They locked eyes for a moment before Taika nodded and walked over to the door.

Pacifica raised a brow, watching her fellow Resonator crack the door ever so slightly to peek into the room.

“Ricerca Vitale, Presto,” Shouri cast.

Taika focused on each of Shawn’s Resonators in turn.

“Oh? Now this is an interesting spell,” Shouri commented as information flooded onto Taika’s tuner.

“What is it?” Pacifica finally spoke.

“It’s a scanning spell. It lets Taika see information about the Resonators she looks at. The information is relayed to me via her tuner, just like Rilevare l'intenzione,” he explained, flashing the display to Pacifica.

The otter wandered over and took a look.

Sure enough, there was a total read out of the very basics about the trio of Resonators that had just graced the room with their presence.

Shawn Hawk

Resonator: Arin

Species: Demi-Human (Alluridae)

Element: Fire

Attribute: Piercing

Rhythm: 95%

Shawn Hawk

Resonator: Ceri

Species: Demi-Human (Tiger)

Element: Lightning

Attribute: Crushing

Rhythm: 97%

Shawn Hawk

Resonator: Izar

Species: Demi-Human (Raccoon)

Element: Null

Attribute: Null

Rhythm: 94%

“Oh wow, that’s a lot,” Pacifica noted.

“It’s pretty surface level, to be honest.” Shouri reviewed the information once more. “I’m interested to see the level of information we can get with this thing at Lento though,” He mused.

“Not too useful right now,” Taika added, having joined her fellow companions. “I mean, we can tell what kind of Resonator they are at a glance for the most part.”

The otter frowned, stroking her chin in thought. “Yeah…” Pacifica acquiesced.

“Hope you’re ready to grind again Taika,” Shouri smirked at his Resonator.

“Oh boy, be gentle Sho,” she chuckled nervously.

“Eh?” Pacifica looked between her friends.

“We ground casting Rilevare l'intenzione for a month straight to have it at Lento rank for hunts,” Shouri informed the otter.

Taika shrugged but smiled. “Hopefully it’ll be easier this time now that our tempo is better.”

“I didn’t realize you two did that,” Pacifica said, impressed.

“I figured if nothing else, we’d be able to know what kind of shit storm we’d be walking into with hunting.” Shouri rose from his seat. “I’m gonna go check on Rebecca. I’ll be back.”

Pacifica shot a glare at the door. “’kay, we’ll be here,” she replied.

“I’ll keep her from swinging,” Taika chuckled.

“Thanks.”

Content that two of his three Resonators were okay, Shouri went to locate the third member of his party. Even in such a massive venue with a suffocating amount of rhythm surrounding him, it was still easy for him to pick out Rebecca’s rhythm amongst it all.

He followed her string of rhythm a couple of stories up and into one of the higher seating areas.

She was sitting all alone in one of the nosebleed seats as they were called. While her gaze was cast out on the battlefield, Shouri could tell even at a distance that it was an empty one.

Shuffling down the row, he took a seat next to her. “Hey,” he greeted her.

“…hey.” She hugged her knees close to her chest.

The two sat there silently for a few minutes, as the field crew prepared the battlefield for the next round.

Finally, Rebecca broke up the silence.

“I thought I had moved past it,” she spoke. “But seeing them…” the vixen trailed off. “That could have been me. I could have been broken like them.”

Shouri opened his mouth. “But-”

Rebecca turned and grabbed his shirt in such a swift motion it surprised him. Tears broke free, her eyes wide with fright. “If you weren’t there I-” Her fists trembled while the anguish continued to stream down her cheeks. “H-he was so close to breaking me Sho…” she squeaked.

The Maestro just stared in awe. His heart panged with the same fear his poor Resonator was being subjected to. “Come here.” He grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her around the armrest.

“Sho-?!” Rebecca yipped as she suddenly found herself sitting on his lap. “We’re in public!” she hissed, her face rapidly reddening.

“We’re not doing anything illegal,” Shouri whispered; his face dangerously close to hers.

“But but mrrrpgh-!” He silenced her protests with his lips.

The poor flustered fox only voiced her objections when he was done. “Sho!” she hissed louder, her heart refusing to calm itself.

All that protesting earned was him holding her tighter. “It’s okay Rebby,” he spoke gently. She slowly calmed, the thought of being seen in such an intimate position with her Maestro fading.

“I don’t deserve you,” she whimpered. Another squeak as he placed a single finger on her lips.

“Hush, if anything I don’t deserve you,” the boy snarked back.

After a moment of sitting there, Rebecca grinned toothily. “Yeah, you’re right,” she boasted.

“Brat,” Shouri chuckled back, pinching her cheeks.

Needless to say, with such open affection, Shouri and Rebecca dissuaded anyone from sitting near them lest they overdose on the saccharine atmosphere radiating from the pair.

----------------------------------------

“We’re back,” Rebecca announced to the rest of the room upon their return. And immediately, she found herself squished between Pacifica and Taika’s embrace.

“Are you okay?” Pacifica asked, allowing her fellow Resonator some breaking room.

“You left so suddenly, we were worried,” Taika added.

The Renard fought to hold back her tears – it wasn’t just Shouri, she didn’t deserve any of them.

“I’m fine now, I just-” Rebecca cleared her throat as her voice cracked. “-that man reminded me of some of the other Maestros I’ve had,” she admitted.

For the third time today, poor Rebecca let out a squeal of surprise as her two fellow Resonators once more hugged her tightly.

“It’s okay,” Pacifica said.

“We’re here with you,” Taika added.

“Y-yeah.” Rebecca allowed herself to smile as the tears flowed anew.