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

"Uhg, what a pain," Shouri complained.

The past week had been fairly mundane after what the prior month had wrought. The cool December days came and went with little to differentiate them. They got up, did some maintenance around their quaint guild hall, hunted at night, and went to bed with comfort in their hearts that the next day would be spent in this bliss.

Shouri's complaining was usually sprinkled in between. The girls were used to it after months of being with him.

"What's up bossman?" asked Rebecca, joining him at the sink as he washed the dishes from breakfast.

He had offered while Taika took the opportunity to take a shower. He motioned at the sink with a jerk of his head. One of the tuners was propped up behind the faucet. A message had popped up on screen over the video he had been watching.

"Hm?" Rebecca plucked the tuner from its resting spot to better read of what it had to say.

"We've been drafted," Rebecca realized.

"We've been drafted," Shouri nodded.

"Want me to get the others?" she asked.

"Would you?"

And with that, Rebecca scampered off to grab the rest of the guild.

Shouri racked his brain trying to think of why attendance would be low. "Oh, freaking duh." He smacked his head with a sudsy hand. "The championship match is tomorrow morning." The Maestro turned off the water and dried his hands on his shirt, picking up his tuner once again.

"What?" He sneered at the screen. "You're kidding right?"

"It's not even until tomorrow morning!" He barked at the screen.

"Sorry Mr. Tomoshibi, a lot of people take the night off for Worlds. It's like the event of the year," one of the MA Office registrars told the guildmaster.

The entirety of PTRS were gathered at the western Dalliva hunting ground. All except Elijah Klein and Zino, who were still missing in action. Though Shouri had a sneaking suspicion that his absence had something to do with worlds.

"We'll leave tactics up to your guild. We'll be managing those others who did show up," the registrar informed the gathered guild before returning to their desk to deal with said arrivals.

Shouri turned to those under his command. "Hmm…" his gaze swept across the small crowd he had the luxury of dispatching. "Okay, here's what I have in mind…"

"He's a madman," Emily groaned as she and her trio trudged through the woods.

"Apparently he did it the same way a few nights ago," Albarich shrugged. "I gotta admit though, I'm not sure we could take them, even in a standard match," he grunted, snorting indignantly as he openly wore his frustration.

"I'm not sure we were ever a match for them. Remember the first time we saw them fighting Feroce Resonators? They were mopping the floor with us and they just waltz in and dismantle them like a common Scherzando," Ritika said with a shrug.

"They are really strong, but they're so warm," Emily sighed wistfully. "I think they'd fit right in on Luna," she replied.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Maybe they'd do something about the church," Albarich spat.

"You kidding? Luna would be full agnostic in a month if Shouri had his way," Ritika scoffed.

Soot nodded in agreement, tapping his head with his index finger before pointing with his pinky finger at Ritika, the sign for "I think the same"

"You're not wrong there," said Emily.

"What about your folks? Do they do any of that worship stuff?" asked Albarich.

Emily shook her head. "The palace is totally agnostic, separation of church and state or something like that. Doesn't mean people haven't tried to change it, but those people are usually removed from the castle, by force."

"Wait, then why did they go to the castle in the first place?" Albarich recalled from when he first met their Maestro.

"They're still allowed to talk and make requests of the Fourteen's Court. They're just treated like any other business or organization," Emily explained.

"Then why didn't any of that Court take us seriously?" Ritika questioned.

"I wish I knew…"Emily sighed.

"Dude is fucking crazy," Mila groused as she and her two partners trudged through the woods.

"I wonder if we can get that strong…" Vince mused aloud.

"I guess I don't know that much about them. They've been a thing for years right?" Zephyr questioned as she floated in between the pair, adorned in her own tiny winterwear.

Mila and Vince stopped and looked at each other.

"No, I think they met in like April or something," said Vince.

"Dude refused to get another Resonator until he met that Taika chick," Mila added.

Zephyr blinked twice. "What?" Was all she could utter.

Mila shrugged. "Yeah. We try not to make a big deal of it, especially around other people. No one would believe us anyways."

"Don't let it get you down, I know we can get that strong!" Vince declared.

"It's obviously etude doing the heavy lifting," Mila added.

"Wait wait wait, if that's really all it takes, why the heck isn't like everyone that strong?" Zephyr pointed out.

Mila and Vince exchanged a glace. "Well, there is another aspect to it," Vince started.

"Yeah, Shouri told us about his à deux thing," Mila further elaborated.

"That's that hero thing, right?" Zephyr questioned.

"Yeah, Shouri said something about that once you hit a certain point there's like a uhhh whats it called, a feedback loop? The Maestro starts taking damage with the Resonator," Vince explained the best he could.

"Oh." Suddenly, Zephyr felt the conflict in her heart. Sure, she hadn't been with Vince for that long, but she still had the innate Resonator desire to protect her beloved Maestro. The possibility of her mistakes causing Vince real, actual pain…

"It's okay," Vince whispered. He scooped the little fairy out of the air and patted her head with a finger.

She leaned into it, hugging the finger in question. "Don't get hurt on my behalf," she whispered.

"We'll cross that bridge when it comes."

"Vince's tempo with his two is really high," Colette said to Miro as they walked through the woods. Joining them were a few of Rebecca's fire foxes (much to Shouri's chagrin about not being able to dart around the forest with his massive fire fox).

"Si! He really cares for his two very nice. It makes me happy to see." Miro beamed, his tail wagging.

Kaira remained quiet as the conversation between the two rhythm researchers continued. She couldn't keep up, not because of lack of knowledge, but because the storm that raged in her mind.

How was she supposed to bridge the gap between tool and the one she loved? Colette was dense. It was going to take some act of divine intervention to get through to her.

Pacifica's words of nearly two months ago still rang in her mind like tinnitus. She didn't give up, but it was so draining every day. Especially watching what Taika, Pacifica, Rebecca and all the other Resonators had with their Maestros.

The closest one to her situation was Zino. Even then, she could sense he didn't care about having anything more with Elijah. He was just content to have fun; or whatever his definition of fun consisted of in that exact moment.

She wished she could be as free as he was.

"Mr. Tomoshibi?"

"Hm?"

Shouri looked up from his black tuner. The registrar found where the guildmaster had holed up in the base camp.

"You're not out in the field?" asked the attendant.

"No, new training regimen for them," Shouri replied, turning his attention back to the glow of his screen.

The registrar turned their gaze towards the dark woods that swayed with the cold wind. It was silent, the nearly half illuminated moon hung above.

"What kind of training?" inquired the MA Office employee.

The training of a guild master must just be that interesting, Shouri figured. He lazily met the gaze of the curious individual. "As much as I want to lean into our," he paused, considering the audience, "unique situation; I need them to be able to fight on their own. I can't have them lock up if something happens to me," he spoke in a hushed tone, as if imparting a great secret to the solitary onlooker.

"Wouldn't most Resonators try to do something if their Maestro is harmed?" wondered the registrar.

"How long have you been doing this for?" Shouri replied with an inquiry.

"Sixth year in January," they replied.

"How many hunts have you seen go bad?"

"A few…" they admitted uneasily.

"And the Resonators?" asked Shouri.

"Well they fought tooth and nail but-"

"Was it ever enough?" Shouri cut them off.

"Sometimes, it's just-"

Again, Shouri interrupted. "As soon as the Maestro goes down, it's over, right?"

The silence was telling. With the implicit permission granted, the guildmaster continued. "I love them, but I don't want them to do something reckless. I want them to be able to think on their own." Shouri smiled. "They're all so much smarter than they give themselves credit for." The young Maestro curled up, hugging his knees.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm trying to teach them to trust themselves as much as they trust me, or something like that."

The registrar had no words, he simply stared at the young man who sat alone in the dark – what had this boy gone through to think such thoughts? What had he seen? Who had he fought?

Perhaps it was a story not to be shared.