The next morning after having returned to their room in the Lyreann Maestro Affairs Office.

Pacifica’s eyes shot open. “RIVER!” Much to the annoyance of her now-conscious bedmates.

And so began the early morning shuffle to tackle their day. While Shouri, Taika, and Rebecca were functionally zombies who shambled about the room, the enthusiastic otter finished her own preparations in record time.

“Oh boy oh boy oh boy,” Pacifica repeated excitedly to herself as her friends slowly got dressed. The water element sat on the couch bouncing in place, as the television droned on about local news and weather.

“It’s gonna be a scorcher today folks! A high of ninety with no rain in sight!”

“Make sure you wear plenty of sunscreen and keep any Water elements well hydrated today.”

“Yeah, don’t want them catching Evaporation illness!”

“Oh boy oh boy oh boy.” Pacifica was barely processing what was being said by the newscasters, only catching that it wouldn’t be rainy or thundery, so nobody had anything to complain about.

Shouri dragged his feet over to the couch, blue tuner in hand. “Hey, we’re not going straight there,” he told the otter through a yawn.

“WHAT.” Pacifica turned on her beloved Maestro.

Said Maestro winced at the noise. “Inside voice please.”

“Why?” she demanded, heeding her Maestro’s command.

“Colette wants to make sure you all are clean of Feroce,” Shouri grumbled, glancing at the message currently left up on the tuner’s screen.

“I know we’re clean. I know what Feroce feels like.” Pacifica frowned, leaning back and folding her arms. “Just a waste of time,” she huffed.

“Hell hath no fury like an otter’s scorn.” Shouri rolled his eyes, noting how snippy Pacifica got when being denied an hour or so of playtime in the water. “We’ll try to do whatever she needs fast,” he assured her.

Pacifica’s eyes darted away. “It’s for our peace of mind,” she told herself. “It’s fine,” she said more to convince herself over her Maestro.

“It will be.” Shouri nodded slowly.

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

Once more the quartet found themselves in front of building four at Lyreann University.

“Please god, I hope the elevator is working today,” Shouri sighed, recalling yesterday’s visit.

“Me too.” Pacifica was in a worse mood today.

Rebecca placed a hand on both of her friend’s backs. “It’ll be fine. Exercise is good for you, right Taika?”

Taika held her hands over her gut, looking down sadly. “Ho fame,” she whimpered.

“Thanks for the backup.” Rebecca narrowed her eyes at the hungry fox. “Let’s go.” The fire fox pushed the group forward.

[DOWN FOR MAINTENANCE PLEASE USE STAIRS]

The four young adults glared at the same sign from yesterday. Upon further inspection, the sign had quite a bit of age to it.

Attempting to defy fate, Shouri pressed the call button.

Nothing happened.

Press

Press

Press

“Sho, you tried this yesterday,” Pacifica reminded him.

“God I need a fucking drink.” Shouri hung his head in defeat.

“The stairs work just fine, let’s go.” Rebecca re-directed the group to the stairwell once more.

In a repeat of the day prior the four-strong group trudged up the three flights of stairs to make their way up to the destination floor and to Room 448, where Colette awaited them.

Shouri went to knock on the door, but it suddenly swung open and the group found themselves face-to-face with a certain public figure.

“Hm?” Dr. Ilea Vim stood before the Maestro and his trio of Resonators. His scrutinizing gaze pierced the young Maestro, boring through him like a drill. A chill permeated through Shouri’s very being, forcing a step backward. After what felt like an eternity, Ilea took in a breath and spoke: “Oh, you’re Mrs. Nicchi’s replacement, yes.” His attention remained locked solely on the younger male before him, ignoring the three Resonators behind him as if they didn’t exist.

“And you’re… Dr. Vim,” Shouri spoke quietly, keeping his breath shallow. Taika grabbed her Maestro’s hand, glaring at the doctor while the fur on her tail stood on end.

Pacifica furrowed her brows, eyes rapidly scanning the scientist.

Like with his assistants, Ilea Vim earned a baffled expression from Rebecca.

“You did some stellar work with the Jerboa last night. I look forward to your future exploits,” Ilea said, though lacking any emotion in his voice. “Good day.”

And with that the enigmatic man simply walked away, leaving Shouri and his Resonators exchanging perplexed glances.

They were snapped back into reality by Colette. “Hey, what are you all doing sitting out here?”

Shouri’s eyes drifted down the hall that Dr. Vim had left through. “What… was he doing here?” the brunet Maestro questioned quietly, holding himself.

“Dr. Vim? He comes to personally check on any successful recoveries in person,” Colette told the other Maestro. “Come on in.” She motioned to the classroom.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Colette closed the door behind them as the boy and his gaggle of girls shuffled into the room. “What’s his deal?” Rebecca finally spoke up.

“What’s that?” Colette asked.

“His rhythm doesn’t match,” Rebecca frowned, unsure of what she was saying.

“No, you’re right Rebecca,” Pacifica spoke up. “His emotions felt crafted. Like he was putting on a show.” The otter told her fellow Resonator.

“You felt it too?”

And suddenly all eyes were on Kaira, who gazed back at Rebecca and Pacifica in disbelief. The jackal girl left her corner of the room and made her way to the two emotionally-strong rhythm users. “That man isn’t right.” The way she spoke told the two everything they needed to know.

“What’s going on?” Shouri asked.

“That Ilea Vim guy is super weird,” Rebecca told her Maestro.

“His rhythm isn’t “glitchy” like his assistants, but it feels more like he’s trying to hide or suppress it,” Pacifica added her own take in.

Taika simply squeezed her Maestro’s hand, focusing entirely on him; which worked, spurring the Maestro to wonder about the apparent figurehead of this whole program they were now a part of. Shouri’s gaze drifted to Colette.

“What do you know about him?” he asked.

“Dr. Vim?” The red-haired Maestro pursed her lips, pondering the inquiry. “Not much that isn’t publicly known.”

“He’s one of the foremost researchers in Rhythm Studies, earning a doctorate in the subject at only fifteen years of age. His control and rhythmic potential exceed that of any known Maestro measured, yet he keeps no Resonator in his company,” Colette laid out some of the basic facts.

Rebecca grunted uneasily. “That dude is supposed to be strong?” she hummed in thought.

“It’s not that he’s strong, he just has potential. Other Rhythm masters have claimed if he properly trained his rhythm, he could have a near infinite pool of rhythm,” Colette replied. She looked to Shouri. “Like if he had your skill with Resonators and put the time into them, it would be no exaggeration that he’d be unstoppable.”

“Spooky.” Shouri rolled his eyes, unimpressed by the theatrics.

“Anyways, let me just check up on your girls real fast and I’ll let you go. I gotta get to class here soon.” The scholar grabbed Taika’s hands without waiting.

Colette focused on the lunar fox, eyes closed to block out any other stimuli. “Hm?” The rhythm major’s brows pinched together as she hummed in confusion.

“That… doesn’t make sense,” the Maestro breathed out. Her gaze rose and met Shouri’s; brow raised. Without alerting anyone else to her inner thoughts, she linked her hands with Pacifica’s. The otter twitched at the sudden linkage of their digits but avoided jerking her hands away.

“Oh…” And for yet a third time, Shouri’s Resonators were subject to the whims of the Rhythm Studies student, this time Rebecca had her hands taken up. Like her water counterpart, the fire fox just barely avoided her knee-jerk reaction of yanking her hands away.

“You too?”

Shouri frowned hard, finally deciding to speak up. “Out with it,” he grunted.

“Well, they’re-”

“Colette.”

The two Maestros jumped, surprised at the sudden appearance of Kaira.

“We’re late,” the jackal-girl noted.

“Oh shit! I’ll text you later Shouri!” Colette scrambled to grab her bag.

“No! Stop!” Shouri barked. He made a grab for the other Maestro but missed entirely allowing for her escape.

“See you at the hunt tonight!” she shouted as the door slammed shut behind her.

“Damn it!” Shouri kicked a nearby chair. Pacifica rushed over and grabbed him by the shoulders to try to calm him down, lest he cause property damage they’d have to pay for.

“What do you think she was gonna say?” Taika asked Rebecca.

“Dunno, she was confused by what she felt from us, that’s for sure,” the fire fox mulled over the situation.

“Well, she didn’t tell us we’re infected, I’m sure we’re fine. She was just plain confused like Rebecca said,” Pacifica spoke up, rubbing their Maestro’s shoulders.

Shouri snorted in irritation. “Don’t make a big fucking deal of something and run off without explaining yourself,” he grumbled at the absent Colette.

Pacifica continued her shoulder massage. “Relax relax, she’ll text you and if she doesn’t, we can wring the answers out of her at the hunt.”

The Maestro mumbled something to himself irritably. “Whatever,” was the only real audible thing that came out of his mouth.

“River?” Pacifica asked.

“Breakfast?” Taika also chimed in.

Shouri looked to Rebecca, who remained silent until she realized she was now the center of attention. “Do what they want!” She yelped, pointing back at the other pleading girls.

With a roll of his eyes, Shouri acquiesced to his Resonator’s demands. “I saw a M’Kroc’s in the station, let’s just grab something there and wait for our train.”

“Yay!” Taika and Pacifica cheered.

“Yippie…” Rebecca said as deadpan as she could muster.