“Shouri.” Colette stood arms akimbo over Shouri and his three clingy Resonators. Kaira looked up from her book and paper folding, raising a brow for a second before going back to what she was doing.

Shouri and the four Resonators returned to the suite, Emily had to wait for Albarich to finish healing and Elijah stayed behind to ensure she didn’t have to travel back alone (especially because she was down one Resonator at the moment).

Unfortunately, Colette and Kaira had arrived back first and thus broke up Shouri’s relaxation time.

“You promised we would etude,” The scholar pointed out.

“Surprised you want to so openly.” He noted, recalling Emily’s comment about how weird Riterran Maestros were about etude as a whole.

“It’s just etude, what’s the big deal?” She shrugged.

Suddenly a lot of things about Colette made sense. No wonder she didn’t seem to have friends or at least any that she talked about.

“Alright, do you want to etude with them also?” He motioned to the three clingy girls who stared back at the other Maestro.

“Yeah.” Colette nodded.

“Girls?” Shouri then asked his trio.

“That’s fine.” Pacifica nodded.

“Hopefully there’s nothing wrong with us,” Rebecca commented.

“Sure,” Taika quietly added.

“Oh, can I also do Liza while we’re at it?” Colette requested.

Shouri remained silent for a moment as the Rhythm Studies major stared at him expectedly. “What?” He raised a brow.

“Can I also etude with Liza?” Colette repeated her question.

“Why are you asking me?”

“Well, she’s technically your Resonator right now…”

With a roll of his eyes, he shifted in place, showing he only had possession of three tuners right now. “And besides, she’s not mine, even so, you should ask her first. I only offered these three because I didn’t think they’d say no.” He elaborated.

Colette’s lips turned down. “I see.” She furrowed her brow. “Where is she?”

“Dunno, she’s her own person,” and with that, Shouri went back to watching the TV.

An hour or so passed. Colette finally returned.

“Alright, I’m ready,” Colette mumbled.

“What did Liza say?” Shouri questioned.

The college student mumbled something, shuffling awkwardly in place. “She uh, didn’t want to.”

Shouri rolled his eyes, having expected that result. “Sounds about right.” Motioning with his head, his trio released him from the cuddle cocoon. “Let’s go.” He rose from the couch.

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

Shouri, Taika, Pacifica, and Rebecca sat with Colette on the roof of the hotel – the part reserved specifically for the occupants of the presidential suite.

Colette had come prepared, having laid out a cushioned mat for them to sit on. She sat cross-legged, taking some notes in her trusty notebook.

“So who’s up first?” Shouri asked.

“You,” Colette replied, her pen continuing to race across the page.

“’kay.” He took a seat in front of the other Maestro and offered his hands to her.

There was a moment of silence and hesitation from the scholar. She could feel the three pairs of eyes on her. Yes, Shouri’s trio of Resonators were keeping a close eye on her. They had known Colette for three weeks now; surely, they could at least trust her to not harm their Maestro?

Dismissing that thought, Colette studied Shouri’s hands for a moment. She had done this hundreds of times will all kinds of people. Many more than that outright refused her, which frustrated the scholar, but at least this golden goose was open to the idea.

Knowing Shouri was an à deux user, there were many things Colette wanted to look for. She dried the sweat from her hands on her skirt and took up his hands in her own. “Let it flow naturally,” she muttered, closing her eyes and following her direction.

According to what she had learned about him, he had been a Maestro for four months now. That had to be a lie, his scale – the network of rhythm coursing through his body – was so strong. He grew so quickly and what’s more, his tempo was the most open she had ever experienced. It was no wonder that whenever she read his rhythm it always felt like she was being bowled over like a large wave crashing onto the shore.

But as she got used to it, what she observed defied her expectations.

“It’s… normal…” she breathed.

“Hm?” Shouri raised a brow.

Colette released her captive and took up her pen and notebook from her lap. “Hmm…” Again, her pen zoomed across the page as she jotted down her observations.

“Taika… she’s next,” Colette mumbled, continuing to write.

With a shrug, Shouri swapped places with his team’s first. Colette took up Taika’s hands, just as she had done with the other Maestro before. “Let it flow naturally just as you would with Shouri,” Colette told the fox.

Taika nodded and closed her eyes, following the instructions of Colette.

“Hmm… just normal…” Colette whispered, repeating the process she did with Shouri and taking notes on Taika’s condition. Next, her attention was directed toward Pacifica. “You now.”

Two more etudes later and Colette had gained several pages of notes on Shouri and his team. “Hmmm…” She chewed on the end of her pen while poring over her notes.

“So what’s the big deal?” Rebecca questioned.

“Given your experience levels, there’s nothing abnormal about any of your scales. Your rhythm flows normally.” Colette kept her eyes trained on her research. She held out a hand without looking up. “Tuners please,” she demanded.

Stolen novel; please report.

Shouri shook his head but complied, placing the three tuners in the extended hand. Colette wasn’t the most graceful and ended up dropping them all in front of her.

“Hmmm…” Yet another hum as Colette poured over the spell lists and took further notes. “Interesting,” she mumbled.

“What’s that?” Shouri raised a brow.

“By all accounts, you should have ultimate level spells at this point, simply based on your tempo,” Colette replied. “On all three of them,” she clarified.

That was shocking news, the quartet exchanging glances between each other.

Colette stopped writing for a moment. “I guess there is still a level of growth that needs to be completed to unlock them.”

“Surprised you don’t have an answer for that,” Shouri commented.

“Ultimate Spells aren’t well understood. We know only a few things about them.” She laid her pen on her lap before continuing. She held up three figures.

“Every Resonator can only unlock one for their entire life.” Down went her ring finger. “Once it’s unlocked, it’s available no matter which Maestro has possession of them.” Middle finger. “They can fundamentally do things that are impossible, such as the Nature Support Ultimate being able to generate an infinite supply of rhythm for its caster.” Finally, her index finger dropped.

“How and which one the Resonator gets are a mystery. There are theories that strong tempo does it, and typically how a Resonator is being used determines if their ultimate is an attack spell or a support one,” Colette continued her explanation. “It’s commonly accepted as fact, but there are too many outliers for the wider academic community to accept it.”

Shouri and his Resonators exchanged concerned glances.

The scholar theorized on though, “You all are another example of the tempo-usage theory being wrong though. I have examined Maestros who have much weaker tempo with their Resonators and have their Resonator’s Ultimate unlocked.” She flipped through her notes as she spoke. “And unlike other spells that you can call out if you know them, calling a locked ultimate does nothing.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask – what happens if someone calls a spell not in the tuner?” Shouri decided to sate that small curiosity from the beginning of his time with Taika.

“It can range from the spell working fine, to the Resonator’s scale being permanently damaged. A lot of the Resonators you find with crippled scales are a result of a misfired spell. This was much more common before Rose invented the modern tuner in 1555,” Colette explained. “Either way, it is never worth the risk.”

Shouri nodded – that’s what he had suspected, but didn’t want to look into it. It just seemed like something that would produce gruesome search results and he was never in the right state of mind to view such content.

Colette rose to her feet. “Anyways, you’ve given me a lot to study, thanks.”

“Sure.” Shouri had something on his mind as well, that much his Resonators picked up on.

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

“Maestro Shouri,” Kaira greeted the group upon their descent back into the presidential suite.

“Hey Kaira, what’s up?” Shouri raised a brow.

“I cannot find Liza,” the earth Resonator informed him.

“What?” Rebecca stepped up next to Shouri. “Where did she go?” the fox asked, brows descending into a concerned glare.

Kaira remained calm and stoic as usual. “I do not know. She was sleeping in Colette’s bed, and when I went to check on her, she was no longer there. Mister Belvedere also did not see her leave.”

“Let’s go look for her then!” Pacifica went to take off but was yanked back by her vest.

“Work smarter, not harder,” Shouri told her, keeping the otter in place.

With his free hand, Shouri grabbed Taika’s tuner. “Rilevare l'intenzione, Lento.”

Taika nodded, closing her eyes and placing a finger on her temple.

Shouri, Pacifica, Rebecca

Colette, Kaira

Two presences

Four presences

She opened her eyes, frowning. “Are the others here?” the lunar asked the jackal girl.

Kaira nodded in the affirmative. “Yes, Maestro Klein and Maestro Emily returned only five minutes ago. They did not see Liza as they were making their way up,” she informed them.

“So Liza is gone gone then,” Shouri hummed. “Oh well.” He shrugged.

“Sho?!” Rebecca spun to face her Maestro.

“She’s her own person. I’m not her Maestro,” Shouri stated adamantly. “If she wants to go it on her own, then so be it,” even as he said this though, his expression clouded. “I wish she would have said something to us first though,” he mumbled.

Rebecca ground her teeth, lowering her head as she trembled with frustration. She knew he was right and she hated it.

The group fell into silence.

“I’m gonna uh, go review my notes,” Colette mumbled, taking her leave.

“Maestro Shouri.” Kaira took a small bow before following her Maestro.

Shouri remained quiet, distracted by distant thoughts.

Rebecca took up one of his arms. “C’mon bossman, let’s go relax.”

Taika grabbed his other arm. “It’s been a long day.”

Pacifica hugged her three friends from behind. “Let’s order some food and chill.”

He nodded slowly and submitted to the rhythm of his three precious Resonators.