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

“Sho! Sho! Wake up!”

Slowly the Maestro came to. Pacifica’s bright smile greeted him upon his return to consciousness. “We’re here!”

It had been two days since the incident with Cecil in Corhiasela. With that tragic event, none of them wanted to be in that city any longer and decided to move on.

Taking a bus north they found themselves in a much smaller city. An inland city by the name of Leono. The bus had just entered the city proper, but even so, it was a modern town, which kept its rustic roots intact despite all the change. A river cut through the town they found as the bus rushed across one of the many iron bridges that crossed the banks. Many Maestros and their Resonators walked the streets, enjoying the good weather on this late May day.

Soon enough they arrived at their usual accommodations.

“We’re now arriving at the Central Leono MA Office – All planning to get off, please prepare to disembark,” the bus driver spoke over the intercom.

Stretching out, Shouri glanced to his seatmate Taika, who was given the luxury of the window seat. She too had fallen asleep in the four-hour bus trip. They made these seats just plain comfortable it seemed. “Taika, wake up, we’re here.” He gently shook his lunar fox awake.

She stretched and yawned. “Mi sono addormentato?” Her expression brightened upon seeing Shouri was the one waking her up. “Buongiorno Sho!”

He couldn’t help but chuckle, hearing her tail wagging from the hole in her seat. The bus slowed to a stop and finally, the weary group could begin their new journey in this foreign city.

Disembarking was easy enough; they still only had the one bag to their name, though truth be told that’s all they really needed. A couple of other groups also made their way off the bus and quickly dispersed. Shouri’s team huddled at the bus terminal near the MA office.

“Blegh, it’s hot out,” Taika complained immediately, pinching the collar of her t-shirt and moving it rapidly to circulate the air between her shirt and skin.

“Feels fine to me,” Rebecca noted, taking in the nearly cloudless sky.

“Yeah, thanks, Rebecca,” Shouri smirked at his fire Resonator.

“Oh yeah, I do give you some heat resist, don’t I?” She smirked back.

The two exchanged a quick fist bump, much to Taika’s continued ire at the situation. “I’m with Taika, if we’re not hitting the river let’s go inside,” Pacifica complained, before taking the initiative to herd the group to the MA Office they would be staying at.

Dawdling around outside meant they were the last in line and had to wait through the other Maestros getting their rooms. “So! What are we going to do here Sho?” Pacifica asked innocently enough.

Shouri lowered his head, expression darkening; much to his Resonator’s surprise. “I...”

“Next!” the attendant called upon Shouri, who quickly rushed away from the question to the front counter. This left his trio of girls confused, as they all exchanged concerned expressions.

“Wh-what did I say wrong?” Pacifica fretted.

“I dunno,” Rebecca added, frowning at their Maestro.

“Sho.” Taika held herself, ears folded back.

“Let’s go.” Shouri snapped them out of their concern, if only temporarily.

They had gotten room 49 this time, so they had to walk a bit of a distance into the building to get to their room. Down the hallway they went, walking past many other Maestros and Resonators as they did so. Everyone else was in their own little world, just like Shouri. Unlocking the door to Room 49, they could finally relax.

Well, maybe not. The trio of Resonators in Shouri’s care surrounded him. “Yes?” he asked. They openly wore their worry, and voiced their concerns.

“What’s wrong?” Taika inquired.

“You kinda freaked out back there,” Rebecca pointed out.

“I didn’t mean to make you upset,” Pacifica continued to fret.

Shouri let out a weary sigh. “I just don’t feel like working,” he admitted. “Maybe we could see the sights here before moving on,” was added as an aside.

That brought a small amount of relief to the three anxious Resonators. Upon further reflection, they had been going non-stop since basically leaving home. The last time they tried to have a vacation a combination of in-fighting and a second attempted kidnapping ruined that. Coupled with everything else they had been through it was no wonder their poor Maestro was stressed out.

“Sure!” Pacifica nodded.

“We can have a real vacation this time,” Taika added.

“What do you want to see?” Rebecca made sure to chime in.

He exhaled sharply, though breaking a small smile. It was nice to have people so dedicated to him that they noticed his changes in attitude. “Maybe we can look around. For now, I just want to relax.”

“Okay!”

“Sure!”

“Let us know if you need anything!”

As they got settled, Shouri was glad they all seemed to be getting along. However, it pained him because they were only united due to him being upset.

He did his best to put his worries to the back of his mind, but being idle didn’t help his mental wandering, and every time he found a spark of goodness to latch onto it was smothered by distant thoughts and memories. As such, he wound up much quieter than usual for the remainder of the day and well into the evening hours. It was so abundantly obvious it didn’t take being socially sensitive like Pacifica and Rebecca were to notice.

They shared his pain in the superficial sense – they were upset because he was. They lacked the understanding of what was causing him this pain, the actual root of the problem, and that only made them more upset.

Shouri excused himself to shower after an awkwardly quiet dinner in their room. As soon as the sounds of the running showerhead hit their ears, the trio of girls began an emergency meeting.

“What do we do?” Pacifica led the conversation off.

“I dunno, this is hard.” Rebecca leaned back in her seat, furrowing her brow with crossed arms. “He’s upset about something, but like it’s deep.”

“I just wish we knew what happened.” Taika’s gaze was locked on the closed bathroom door.

The water element of the trio nodded. She bit her bottom lip before speaking: “I’ve... considered asking him again.”

“Hold up, he’s done this before?” Rebecca inquired, not recalling another instance of this behavior.

“It was when we first met you,” Pacifica clarified.

“M-me?” The fire element pointed to herself.

The otter nodded. “There was something about the way Lyle was treating you that upset him.”

The fire fox lowered her head. “Me?” She wracked her brain trying to think of what it could be besides the obvious.

Taika shook her head after a moment of thought. “I just don’t know.”

“Yeah...” Pacifica and Rebecca sighed together.

Pacifica’s eyes fluttered open as a new morning began to poke through the blinds of the Leono MA Office.

Rebecca was in Shouri’s arms this morning, with Taika at Shouri’s back, and Pacifica herself at Rebecca’s. Thankfully it seems they all slept well – no crazy nightmares to worry about. A sense of normalcy earned a smile from the otter. She was with her best friends and that’s all that really mattered.

That was until the gloomy little storm cloud that hung over her precious Maestro returned. He was getting better by the day, but it was clear he still struggling hard.

The room awoke and returned to the mood of the night prior – the trio of girls were lost as what to do with their depressed Maestro.

“L-let’s go get breakfast,” Pacifica suggested.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” He nodded slowly in agreement.

She could feel it – he didn’t want these feelings of his, but he was trapped. “Fresh air will do you good, come on.” Pacifica urged him out of the room, looking back with a confident smile and thumbs up to her fellow Resonators.

The Leono MA Office was much smaller than its contemporaries in bigger cities. Thankfully it wasn’t as lacking in facilities and staff as the Mt. Wynding MA office and actually had a cafeteria. It was something practiced between the otter and her Maestro. Waiting in line for food, getting the helpings Rebecca and Taika enjoyed, and boxing it all up.

It was nice and stable, even a little comforting for Shouri that they could share this morning task.

That was until a certain voice hit him from the opposite end of the cafeteria.

“SHOURI?! IS THAT YOU SHOURI?!”

It was early in the morning, but there were still quite a few people in the canteen, most of whom looked in the direction of the noise. Pacifica was immediately on alert. Someone suddenly shouting her Maestro’s name wasn’t good – especially when it was a voice she didn’t recognize.

Before the guard otter could do anything about it though, she watched a blonde woman run up and wrap her arms around Shouri, holding him tightly. “Oh my god! I’m so glad you’re okay Shouri!” the mystery woman cried joyously.

“G-get off!” Shouri wheezed, trying to push the woman off. She quickly released him, wiping away the tears of joy she had allowed to shed.

Pacifica eyed this woman suspiciously and possessively placed her hands on her Maestro’s shoulders. As a secondary measure, she also gently curled her tail around his legs as if to further stake her claim.

Behind the mystery interloper was a tall lanky man bearing unnaturally perked-up ears. He absolutely reeked of tobacco and radiated a similar heat to Rebecca – a fire element.

The blonde Maestro smirked, catching Pacifica’s slight glare and possessive posturing. “Oho? This isn’t Taika, who’s your new friend Shouri?”

That disarmed the otter girl – who was this random woman who knew about Taika?

“Ah, it’s a long story, but her name is Pacifica.” He brushed back his jacket showing the blue tuner at his hip. “Paci, this is-”

“Aureolin, Aura for short. I’m Shouri’s older sister.” She held out a hand for the Resonator.

“Sh-sho’s sister?” Pacifica blinked before looking down at the hand being offered to her. Hesitantly she shook it.

“This cloud of smoke behind me is Damian.” Aura motioned to her own Resonator.

“Charmed.” He looked the otter girl over, sizing her up like he usually did. “Hoh?”

“What’s up, Dames?” Aura asked her Doberman.

“You’re pretty strong kid,” he noted of the otter in his usual gruff tone.

Aura perked up at that. “Oh yeah?” She looked to her brother, humming in thought as he looked over the other pair. “You both seem pretty close.” Looking around though, she couldn’t see a trace of her brother’s first Resonator. “But... where’s Taika?”

“Back in the room. Pacifica and I come pick up breakfast each morning,” Shouri took a pause. “It’s... easier that way,” he decided.

Aura nodded. “Mhm Mhm. I see I see.” The elder sibling stroked her chin in thought. “Welp! Let’s go then!” She pointed to the exit of the cafeteria.

“Eh?” Shouri raised a brow.

“You think I’m just gonna leave without at least seeing Taika? Come on!”

Taika and Rebecca perked up as the door opened, excited for the prospect of breakfast. However, it wasn’t just their Maestro and fellow Resonator, but two additional bodies.

While Rebecca was apprehensive of the unannounced newcomers, Taika lit up. “AURA!” The lunar Resonator rushed over and hugged her Maestro’s sister tightly.

“There we are! How are you doing Taika?” Aura giggled, returning the hug.

“Bene! It’s so good to see you!” The lunar fox’s tail wagged joyously as Aura petted her.

Rebecca stood back a bit uneasily, analyzing the new pair. Taika knew this woman? What about the dog-man? He was tall, a fire element like her, and hella strong by her admission. Such powerful rhythm was kind of scary – could she take him? Could all three of them take him if it came down to it?

Aura noticed the fourth Resonator in the room. “Is she with you too?” The blonde Maestro pointed to Rebecca.

“Yeah, her name is Rebecca. Rebecca, this is my sister Aura,” he bridged the connection between the two.

“No fucking way you have three Resonators,” Aura laughed.

“I’m crazy, I know.” He looked to his two newer Resonators, as Pacifica joined Rebecca off to the side. “They chose me though,” he said with a warm smile.

Damian chuckled. “You have a hell of an eye.” The Doberman smirked. “They’re both pretty tough cookies,” he noted.

“Or maybe you’re just one hell of a Maestro.” His gaze fell upon Taika. There was a significant difference between the Resonator he knew a mere month ago and the lunar fox standing before him now.

“Sho’s amazing.” Pacifica beamed confidently.

“Y-yeah!” Rebecca backed up her fellow Resonator.

“È il migliore che c'è!” Taika added with a boast.

Aura let out a sigh, though her lips turned up. “I guess I really didn’t need to worry about you two,” the woman chuckled. “Though, I’m not too surprised you ended up with a fire. It’s like it was written in your destiny,” she noted.

Shouri averted his gaze. That remark hit a sore spot.

A sore spot that only elicited confusion from the trio of girls under his care. “What do you mean Aura?” Taika asked, brow raised.

The elder Maestro was now the perplexed one. “Has he not told you yet?” she questioned, looking between Taika, Pacifica, and Rebecca. Bewildered gazes met the elder sibling.

“Told us what?” Taika finally braved asking. She looked to her Maestro – he looked... ashamed? Ashamed and remorseful.

“He hasn’t,” Pacifica spoke up.

“We know there’s something wrong though,” Rebecca added.

“We just don’t know how to help,” Taika chimed in.

Aura glared at her brother, who refused her gaze. That told her all she needed to know and informed her next set of actions. “Alright!” She walked over to the nightstand where Taika and Rebecca’s tuners lay. Unclipping her tuner, she exchanged it with the two. She then made her way over to the sulking Maestro. “Gimmie Pacifica’s tuner.”

“What?”

“I’m gonna take them out. They need to know about Mila.”

“I-I was going to tell them.”

“Look, I know it’s hard for you Shouri. Just let me tell them – they deserve to know.”

“But I-”

“I promise I’m going to tell them exactly what happened, no bullshit.”

Shouri was still plain uneasy about the situation, his gaze drifted from his sister to the concerned girls in his care. They were worried about him – he was doing a bad job of hiding his feelings; he was well aware of this. He lowered his head shamefully, all he was doing was hurting the people who cared about him.

“Shouri, let me do this, please. I know this is super difficult for you,” she pleaded with her brother. He remained silent even with his sister’s imploration. “Let me make up for not being there when Mom and Dad chased you out.”

Finally, he relented to his sister’s demands, reaching to his side and retrieving Pacifica’s tuner. Aura gently took the device from her brother’s hand. “You’re making the right decision. They care about you a ton. I can tell,” she whispered to him. The boy nodded slowly, refusing to raise his head.

“Dames! Stay here, I’m gonna take the girls out for a bit.”

“Fuck. I shoulda took a smoke on the way back here.”

“Well sucks, stay here.”

“Fuckin’ bitch,” Damian grumbled under his breath. “Fine fine.” He fell into one of the lounge chairs and kicked his feet up on the coffee table to relax.

And with that Aura guided the trio of Resonators out of the room.

“What’s going on?” Rebecca asked her fellow Resonators as they followed their “current” Maestro through the MA Office.

“Aura’s going to tell us something about Sho,” Taika told her companions excitedly.

“But is Sho gonna be okay with that dog?” Pacifica was more concerned about the trade that just happened.

Taika smirked, wagging a finger. “No need to worry, Aura and Damian are super strong. We’re safe with her, and Sho’s safe with him,” the lunar fox informed her compatriots.

“Well, if you think so.” Pacifica decided to trust Taika’s judgment on this.

“What’s she gonna tell us though?” Rebecca wondered.

Aura finally decided to pry into the trio’s conversation. “About his actual first Resonator.”

Needless to say, the interest was piqued, with Rebecca and Pacifica looking to Taika – the first of their group to have joined. “What do you mean by that?” Taika queried hesitantly.

Truth be told, they all knew that whatever story they were about to be told was heavy. Shouri wouldn’t be this broken up otherwise.

Aura led them out of the building to a fountain in the center of the courtyard of the campus. It was a bit warm out, though there was enough cloud cover that hid the late morning sun from bothering them too much. As usual a squad of nature element Resonators employed by the MA Office were working on some lawn care, while a water element stood in the fountain cleaning the statue in the center of it.

Sitting on the stone edge of the water basin, Aura began with a little preamble. “So me and Shouri’s parents, they’re not the best people in the world. They’re not criminals or crooks or anything like that. They just have some shitty opinions about Resonators.”

Taika nodded slowly. Certainly, she knew best of the trio – still vividly remembering the night they were chased from the manor.

“Anywho, this all went down about seven or eight years ago; we wanted Resonators, and our parents didn’t. We went to public school at the time, it all started one spring afternoon...”