“Here,” Elijah offered a glass bottle to Shouri.

Naturally, after Shouri and his Resonators’ heroics, they were allowed a well-earned rest in one of the staff rooms.

Shouri had burned away enough of his rhythm where half of his hair was that lovely ashy grey that signaled he had burned away his extra rhythm.

“Huh?” Shouri glared at the bottle unsure of what to make of it.

“Apple juice. Will make Taika and Pacifica not kill me when you reunite with them,” Elijah chuckled.

“Hrm…” There was a story there, but Shouri cared not. Being stuck with low rhythm sucked and a solution was being offered to him for free.

The cork was already pre-popped, so he simply removed it and drank his fill of the drink. “Here,” Shouri offered the bottle to Rebecca without checking with Elijah first.

Either way, the Klein heir didn’t protest as Rebecca too, took her fill. “Here,” and in turn, the bottle was offered to Liza.

The dragon, unlike the two before her, felt some trepidation. “I er…” Her eyes were focused on the rim of the bottle where the other two had placed their lips already. Did they have no shame?!

Rebecca’s brows descended into a glare. “Just drink it.”

“It doesn’t rhythm burn, tastes pretty good too,” Shouri added.

“F-fine!” Liza snatched the bottle from Rebecca and quickly chugged the apple juice, her prior hesitation entirely evaporating.

“Uhhh…” Elijah made a weak motion for the bottle.

“W-woah… what the heck is this?” The dragon lowered the bottle, her head swaying. It was a good thing she was sitting as Liza slumped over. “Everything spinning,” she squeaked, her tongue sticking slightly out.

Elijah shook his head, pulling the bottle away from the fire dragon. “You have to be careful with apple juice, goodness.”

Shouri hummed and pulled out Liza’s tuner.

Status: OVER

Rhythm: 107%

“I didn’t even know it was possible to go over max rhythm,” Shouri noted.

“Only with apples. Excess rhythm will make it difficult to control one’s body,” Elijah informed the Maestro.

With a nod, Shouri figured out how to fix this. “Liza, use your flight skill and hover for a bit, that should drain the excess rhythm,” he advised.

“Yes! I will do the thing!” Liza smacked herself in the face while attempting to salute. Either way, she extended her wings (giving Rebecca a face full of wing in the process) and attempted to fly as normal.

SLAM

THUD

Elijah shook his head. Liza had jetted into the ceiling and crashed back down onto the couch in a spectacular fashion. The proud horns mounted on the dragon’s head poked some nice holes in the drop ceiling tiles.

“Owie…” Liza rubbed her head (and bruised ego) while Rebecca pointed and laughed uncontrollably at the sad dragon.

Shouri rolled his eyes, unable to suppress a small chuckle.

Status: Ready

Rhythm: 99%

At least it fixed the problem, though.

“Are you feeling better now Mister Tomoshibi?” Elijah inquired of the Maestro.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Using the tuner in hand, Shouri examined his reflection on the screen. His hair was back to its soft brown.

“Good. We need to go see Miss Emelia.”

“Oh! That’s right, how did her match go?” Shouri realized he had forgotten all about it with the whole Feroce attack.

Elijah considered his word choice for a moment. “She lost,” he stated bluntly. “Convincingly so.”

“It… wasn’t close, was it?” Rebecca hesitantly inquired.

“Not in the slightest.” Elijah shook his head.

Shouri grimaced. It would have been one thing if Emily lost to a Maestro like Ophira. But her opponent…

He snapped out of his thoughts when he felt Rebecca’s hand on his shoulder. “We should go see her, bossman.” The vixen smiled warmly.

Taking a breath, Shouri exhaled sharply. “You’re right, Rebecca.”

Once again, Liza sat as the third wheel in the room. Her heart panged as she averted her gaze from the pair sitting by her side.

Why was she here again?

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

Taika sat in one of the stadium’s infirmaries with Pacifica by her side. Both girls were quiet, lost in their thoughts.

Emily’s match was… vexing, to say the least.

It was nothing Emily did wrong. She made all the right calls. They were simply overpowered.

That wasn’t what frustrated the two Resonators, however. Shawn Hawk wasn’t outwardly abusive to his Resonators. He didn’t say or do anything to indicate any kind of maltreatment.

What they felt from him was the part that stirred the two girl’s emotions. He was so disconnected from Resonators as a whole. He didn’t see people; he saw things, weapons, trophies. What was worse was after the match Shawn didn’t even say anything to Emily. He simply left the field with his Resonators.

His victory was of no consequence; it was just another day in the office.

It was all so clinical.

Meanwhile, Emily kept apologizing to her three beaten Resonators. She held them so close and desperately fought her tears, she tried to keep a brave face but ultimately lost out.

And still, Shawn felt nothing. Not joy, not relief, not even contempt. Just… apathy.

Taika grabbed Pacifica’s hand and held it tightly. The water element was still boiling. She let out quite a few choice words from the dugout. Shawn didn’t hear a single one.

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What was even worse was that Shouri had been fighting while all of this was happening. Taika had attempted to call him, but was barred from doing so; the tuner informing her he was in active combat. They didn’t even know the tuners possessed a lock like that.

Rebecca and Liza’s rhythm hadn’t taken a dramatic fall, so they were probably doing okay. At least that’s what Taika and Pacifica told themselves to not succumb to a panic attack on top of everything else going on.

Emily returned to the waiting room, Ritika clinging to her side. The two women plopped down on one of the waiting benches.

The four-strong group sat in silence for a moment.

“How…” Pacifica trailed off, though found her courage through Taika’s rhythm. “How is Al?” she inquired.

The Maestro didn’t meet the otter’s gaze. “He’ll be fine,” she said quietly. Her focus was on a massive gem held in her hand.

Pacifica caught onto that. “That’s…”

“It’s Soot,” Ritika spoke up. “Golem’s ‘brains’ are these special Rubato Crystals. When their body is too damaged or they run out of rhythm, their body loses its form,” the cat explained. “When Emmy and I feel better we’ll build him a new body, no big deal,” she chuckled, though her smile faded, as her Maestro remained silent.

“You can do that?” Taika wondered.

“Sure. Emmy got me and Soot as a package deal. I found him in some ruins in the Subterris. As long as I have a suitable source of dirt to build with I can make him a new body,” the earth Resonator boasted proudly.

“Subterris?” The lunar raised a brow, unfamiliar with the location.

“It’s the huge desert on the northern part of the continent. Tons of Naturals live there, not surprised you’re unfamiliar with it.” Ritika shrugged.

Pacifica jumped, a sudden coldness from Taika upon Naturals being mentioned. She wondered why, but also knew now wasn’t the best time to ask.

The door opened and-

“Sho!” Taika and Pacifica were instantly at their Maestro’s side, nearly taking out Rebecca and Liza in the process.

“What happened?” Taika asked.

“The tuner said you were fighting,” Pacifica added.

“Another Feroce,” Shouri replied simply. His gaze met Emily’s. “What happened here?” he inquired, already knowing the answer.

“Mmrph…” Emily gripped Soot’s crystal, refusing her fellow Maestro’s gaze.

Shouri motioned for his quartet to step back, which they silently acknowledged by giving him some room. He stepped over to the other Maestro and offered a hand.

Emily stared at the extended hand.

“Etude with me,” Shouri suddenly demanded.

“Why?” Emily mumbled.

“You’re bottling up your emotions. I can feel it,” he threw her words back at her from several nights ago.

The Luna native cracked a smile. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Emily and Shouri sat alone in one of the staff rooms. Taika and the rest of the Resonators stayed in the infirmary in case Albarich finished his rounds in the Viva Unit early.

“You know when I came down here with Al, we didn’t know what to do,” Emily began.

“Right, and someone suggested you become a Duelist as a possible career path.” Shouri nodded, recalling her story from the other night.

“Yeah,” she mulled over her thoughts for a moment. “I think that was a bad idea. I don’t think I’m cut out to be a duelist,” she admitted.

Shouri furrowed his brow. “So, what do you want to do?” he asked.

She smiled. “I think I want to try being a hunter like you,” the Luna-native replied. “We can go on hunts, it’ll be fun. We have six Resonators between us, we could totes barge into any scene we want and take over.” The blonde Maestro grinned confidently.

Her mood was infectious (especially because of the active etude) and Shouri smirked back. “Yeah, maybe they’ll stop pairing me with randos,” he chuckled.

“Right right,” Emily laughed with him. Her smile faded after a moment. She squeezed his hands tightly, focusing more on the etude between them. “I also want to help you with this Feroce thing,” she trembled as she spoke. “I had no idea what they were doing to the Resonators they were taking down here.”

Silence

“Turning into a Scherzando… that’s a fate worse than death,” she whispered.

Shouri nodded slowly, returning her rhythm with some of his own. “We’ll figure it out. I’ll make sure of it.”

He meant every word; Emily was certain of that. Even with Willpower being his weak stave he was absolutely committed to that goal. It was no stretch of the imagination to say the ending of this Feroce pandemic was his guiding force, and whoever was pulling the strings, was his mortal enemy.

What would he do to the person behind it if he ever found them?

She had to make sure he didn’t do something he’d regret – he was too good of a person to lose. If not for himself, then for his three Resonators. The love she felt from them was so genuine, and if they really were affected by à deux, like had been theorized, they’d be crushed if something happened to him.

“We’ll figure it out,” Emily repeated back to him. She finally released him from the etude. “Thanks, Shouri.”

“Of course, we’re friends after all, right?” he once more threw her own words back at her.

“Totes,” she returned his declaration with a toothy grin.