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

It was another beautiful Thursday morning, which meant Pacifica was up at the crack of dawn, dragging poor defenseless Taika into the family pool. The lunar fox had enjoyed a couple of days of sleeping in, but those blissful times were over as Pacifica was back on her regularly scheduled programming.

“Mmmrgh…” Taika trudged through the house in her swimsuit, attempting to not get too much water on the tile while she desperately made her way towards the bathroom and the blanket of warmth provided by the shower contained within.

Unfortunately, this morning came with its own trials and tribulations. “Good morning sunshine!” Priscilla blocked the way to the bathroom. Truly there was no justice in this world. Taika made a sad whimper reaching out for the fabled warmth of the shower.

“So you made a right mess of my kitchen a couple nights back,” Priscilla began, ignoring the sad noises emanating from the lunar fox. “Wanna learn how to cook?”

Taika perked up but quickly grew suspicious of the sudden offer. “Why?” she questioned.

“Well, it’s a useful skill to have, especially since healing magic isn’t a be-all-end-all solution to fixing up your teammates,” Priscilla elaborated.

The vixen’s ears folded back, as she hugged herself – a perceived failure on her part. “Oh, don’t be that way. All healers learn this lesson," Priscilla stated. "Just be glad you learned it this way and not in the field,” the elder Maestro said with a lower voice.

Taika understood the implication, but that didn’t help raise her spirits. “Being able to nurse someone back to health with good nutritious food is part of the healing process," the elder Maestro told the young healer. "I can teach you the basics,” Priscilla offered once more.

“You know how to cook?” Taika asked, slowly losing her skepticism.

“Sure, the quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” Priscilla boasted knowingly.

That statement encouraged deep thought in the young fox girl. She now had an ulterior motive for obtaining these skills. “Okay, can you teach me?” she acquiesced to the elder Maestro’s pointed offer.

“Sure sure, come on!”

“Aspetta! Let me shower first!”

“Sho… Rebby… wake up.”

Thursday morning began not with either of the remaining occupants in bed waking up of their own accord, but with the owner of the bed in question gently rocking the pair.

“Nnnnghh.” Rebecca weakly swatted at the hand trying to shake her awake. Shouri also protested by pulling the blanket over their heads.

“Come on you two, breakfast is ready,” Pacifica sang, continuing to shake the protesting pair. “Don’t make me go borrow one of Dad’s rubato crystals,” she gently threatened with her singsong voice.

“Mmmmmrgh.” Rebecca and Shouri rose. “Fine, we’re up,” they spoke together.

Begrudgingly, man and fox girl slid out of bed and followed their cheery otter companion into the kitchen. Though they both woke up properly upon seeing the kitchen. There were pans all over the place, with various food residues coating their now-empty basins. Priscilla was at the sink, humming away while washing the dishes.

Taika was standing at the table, pouring the last glass of orange juice while Pacifica already was seated, her tail wagging excitedly. The lunar fox wore a serene smile on her face and a white apron around her neck. Her ears twitched and she looked up, locking eyes with her Maestro. With widened eyes she jumped, not having realized they were there. “B-buongiorno Sho!” she squeaked, spilling a small bit of orange juice from the carton.

The lunar vixen quickly averted her gaze, squeezing the orange juice container. “Prego, si accomodi!” she spoke quickly and loudly. “Spero che sia buono…” she mumbled as a quick aside.

Shouri, not speaking Naturalian, glanced at the fox by his side for translation duty. “She wants us to sit.” Rebecca raised a brow. “I hope it’s good?” the fire fox whispered to herself, not understanding the implication of those words.

Regardless, neither wanted to disappoint their traveling companion and quickly took their seats. Before them was a relatively simple breakfast: fluffy yellow eggs topped with fresh green chives, bacon strips cooked to lovely crispy browns, green-skinned pear chunks had their own section, and a steaming golden-brown biscuit rounded out the meal.

Taika took a seat, having shed the apron. “I hope it’s good,” she repeated, motioning for the group to start eating, all while bearing a slight but persistent shiver.

Without an ounce of hesitation, Pacifica began eating. “Oh! This is great!” she spoke through her mouth full of food.

Shouri and Rebecca exchanged a glance, before focusing on their own plates. Taking a small fork-full of egg, the first bites were consumed.

“Hm?” Two surprised hums followed by a second bite of egg and a third. Taika let out a sigh of relief as her friends quickly cleaned their plates.

“You made this?” Shouri asked suddenly.

Taika lowered her head. “S-si… I know it’s kind of simple but-”

“It’s good, I didn’t know you knew how to cook,” he spoke excitedly.

“I didn’t really…” Her gaze rose, meeting Priscilla’s.

The elder woman, still standing in the kitchen shrugged. “She’s got some latent talent. I just got her started and she knew when stuff was finished.”

That appraisal of Taika’s supposed cooking skills earned her three pairs of eyes looking at her, impressed.

“Ch-che?” The vixen shrunk a bit upon receiving the scrutinizing gazes.

“I didn’t know you wanted to cook,” Shouri said.

“I didn’t know either, to be honest.” She fidgeted with her jacket’s zipper, avoiding her Maestro’s eyes.

“I mean, the soup you made for me was great. Could have fooled me,” Rebecca chimed in.

“I like bacon,” Pacifica added helpfully, whilst chewing on some leftover slices.

After breakfast was done, the group fell back into their usual routine – gathered around the television and watching something to pass the time. The only change in their arrangement was Taika had her nose in a thick book on cooking. The success of breakfast lit a fire under the young lunar fox and she gained a newfound curiosity for the art of food craft.

That being said, her weak stave of rhythm was knowledge, so despite her overbearing willpower that pushed her into her studies, she maintained physical contact with her knowledge-strong Maestro to clear the fog that usually clouded her mind. For both of their sanity, all that was needed to accomplish this connection was Shouri leaning back on her tail, just being mindful to not crush it too badly. In exchange, he got a nice fluffy pillow-like appendage to relax on.

The trio paying attention to the movie enjoyed it at length. They had decided on a comedy movie about a Maestro and a hotel they ran with a wide assortment of Resonators. It detailed the wacky hi-jinks of their day-to-day lives and ended on a happy note.

“That was a good one,” Rebecca chuckled, her gut a bit sore from how hard she had been laughing. This earned a warm smile from Shouri. Days like this made it all worth it. Seeing Taika, Pacifica, and Rebecca all as happy as could be easily cast out any doubt about the decisions he had made in the last three or so months.

Rebecca herself seemed quite bright and cheery today, which prompted Shouri’s next inquiry, “How are you feeling today?”

The fire fox perked up, realizing she was being called upon. “I feel good,” she spoke after a moment.

“Good.” Shouri nodded. “Wanna head to the court?”

There was an ounce of hesitation, which even Shouri picked up on. Rebecca gritted her teeth hard, balled up fists on her lap trembling. Finally, she opened her mouth to speak: “I-”

SNAP

The group’s attention was turned to Taika, who had slammed her book shut. Without a word, she stood up from the couch and approached Rebecca. Shouri and Pacifica moved to stop her but froze in place when they watched Taika gently grab the other vixen’s hands.

“It’s okay to be afraid. You’re still recovering. You need to work your fire back to where it was before.” With how gently she spoke, it threw Pacifica and Shouri for a loop, not expecting that from the normally catty vixen. “It won’t take you long, I know you can do it.”

“Y-yeah.” Rebecca’s eyes were wide, focused on her own hands in Taika’s. She felt the other vixen squeeze her hands tighter. “Let’s go Sho,” Rebecca spoke with a sudden, newfound confidence.

Satisfied with that, Taika released her fellow Resonator’s hands and simply returned to the couch where she buried herself in her studies once more.

Rebecca stared blankly at the large mirror that proudly hung in the main bathroom. It was the first time in a couple of days that she had donned her everyday wear. While it did give her a small confidence boost, there was still that nagging presence in the back of her mind that made her doubt her ability to conjure up her flames.

Taika’s words raced back to the forefront of her mind. Why had she said all that? Rebecca’s heart raced with an unusual warmth radiating from her face (even for a fire element such as herself). Was she still sick? That had to be it.

Taking in a deep breath, she tried to clear her mind. Slowly she released her held breath, attempting to calm. She wasn’t sure if it worked but decided to roll with it. Dusting off her skirt and blazer, she stole one more look in the mirror. She was never one to critique her own appearance, she wore what felt comfortable, what made her feel good in her own skin. The fiery ombré fox-girl that stared back at her was presentable, she decided.

Exiting the bathroom, her heart leaped into her throat as she hadn’t expected who was standing out there. “T-Taika!” was all Rebecca managed to squeak out.

The lunar fox looked her fire counterpart over and regarded her with a short nod. “You were taking too long,” she noted. Though her word choice was curt, Taika spoke with a gentle tone, once more causing blood to rush through Rebecca in a mild panic.

“S-sorry,” the fire fox mumbled. “I’m ready,” she added

Taika led her fellow fox back into the living room where their Maestro waited. Pacifica was relaxed on the couch, starting another movie. Dropping off Rebecca with Shouri, Taika plopped down next to the reclined otter and resumed reading her book.

“They’re not coming with?” Rebecca questioned, with a finger cast in their direction.

“Nah, they wanted to give us some alone time,” Shouri said.

He had to be phrasing it that way on purpose, thought Rebecca whilst attempting to will the blood away from her cheeks.

“Be good!” Shouri told his two Resonators who were staying behind.

“You too!” Pacifica held up a hand and waved, still focused on her movie.

Rebecca kept her head lowered as they walked to the battle court that this subdivision had. She focused on her heels; they sparked uselessly as she attempted to ignite them with her ad-Lib.

“Hey, Rebecca.”

“Huh?” She snapped up from her futile kindling.

“How used to sparring are you?”

“I did it a lot with other Maestros.” There was a pause. “And when I got my ad-Lib,” she added quietly.

“Ah good. I’ve never had Taika or Pacifica fight other Resonators before. Maybe I can have you teach them.”

“Am I really the best for that?” she mumbled, eyes back to her sparking feet.

They reached the court without too much trouble, but Rebecca’s eyes widened as they were not alone. “There you are! ‘bout fuckin’ time!” Amika barked.

“Sorry for the wait!” Shouri replied with a wave, as Rebecca slightly hid behind him. Of course, it was her. It had to be the fire Maestro that was here. The vixen’s gaze met the chinchilla boy. He looked over, but as soon as their gazes met, Rebecca flinched and lowered herself behind Shouri’s back. Once more she mentally pleaded with her heels to function.

Rebecca’s theatrics were plain to see, even Amika noticed the wavering Resonator’s non-verbal cues. “Your third one, right?” Amika questioned, pointing to the flighty fox.

“Yeah, Rebecca.” Shouri pivoted around the hiding Resonator, to put the spotlight on her. He placed a hand on her head, ruffling her hair. However, his expression quickly soured as he noticed the desperate sparks at her heels. He grimaced, gritting his teeth and balling up his free fist. “I fucked up and she got re-kindling.”

Both Amika and Andi’s expressions pitied the fox. “That’s why she wasn’t out last night,” the chinchilla muttered to himself. “Damn,” he added.

A flick of a fox’s ears meant Rebecca had heard all of that, even as quiet as Andi was trying to be. It just made her feel worse as she too ground her teeth in frustration. It wasn’t even Shouri’s fault she had ended up like this. They were the ones that had decided to chase after him. He would have come back just fine if they had given him enough time to do so.

“She’s not just fire though,” Shouri suddenly spoke up, earning the vixen’s undivided attention. “I know she’s a tough cookie even without her ad-Lib.” He looked to Rebecca, who just stared back in disbelief.

“You sure?” Amika raised a brow. “Andi does have his ad-Lib, it’d be kind of unfair,” she pointed out.

“Totally, I have faith in her.”

“Sh-sho.” Rebecca was solely focused on her Maestro who sang her praises despite it all. Taika’s words once more came to mind. These people were simply too much. “F-fine. Let’s do it,” the fox acquiesced to the implicit demands of the rest of the group.

“A’ight. Andi, let’s do it.”

“Feel kinda bad about it, but okay.”

Amika and Andi walked across the court, while Rebecca and Shouri remained in the Maestro’s box, drawn around them. “Sho, I-”

“I only asked them to come out because of this.” He flashed Rebecca’s tuner to her.

Status: Ready

Rhythm: 100%

Heart Rate: 119 BPM

Oxygen Saturation: 82%

She reached out and grabbed his hand with both of hers, steadying the screen so she could read it.

Status: Ready

It didn’t display illness, panic, or the like. She didn’t know what the other items on the screen meant, but according to the tuner, she should be able to fight. She tried to ignite her heels, but they just continued flicking off small embers, no actual flames.

Her heart rate ticked up several beats per minute. If she was supposedly “ready” why did her ad-Lib refuse to work!?

“Stop thinking about it.” Shouri pulled his hand away. “Your opponent is a fire Resonator, his spells won’t do much damage, but the difference between you and him is you’re trained in fighting and he’s not. You should be able to take him easy,” he advised.

Shakily, she nodded. Turning her head, she saw the rodent man doing some stretches with Amika supervising. “Th-they got rookie eyes,” she decided.

“Exactly.” Shouri nodded. “Also, if it makes you feel any better: Famiglio Incendio, Presto.”

Rebecca jumped. She fought for control of her body against the rhythm that was bringing her to her knees. Her eyes snapped shut as she didn’t want to watch herself fail again - she hadn’t cast a spell in nearly a week, and she had been sick since then how could she-?!

“See? You still got it.”

Slowly, her eyes opened again. Standing before her was the familiar spell she had gotten attached to. The little fire fox tilted its head, curious about what was going on with its caster.

“Ah.” She stared at the spell, then looked to her Maestro.

“Sotto,” Shouri whispered, causing the little fire fox to disperse back into the rhythm and fire that formed it. “I’m right behind you Rebecca, even if you can’t use your ad-Lib I think you’re plenty strong.”

Her racing heart began to slow. She wasn’t useless to him. Furthermore, he believed in her.

“Okay.” She stood up straight and stepped in front of her Maestro. “Let’s give it a shot.”

“That’s my girl,” the Maestro whispered.

She jumped with that comment, frowning at her heart which sped right back up again.

“You finally ready?!” Amika barked.

“Yeah! We’ll spar to fifty?” he asked.

“What do you take us for? Twenty-five!” the red-headed Maestro barked back.

“Fine fine!” Shouri looked at his tuner, which automatically locked in the battle conditions and displayed a “health bar” for both Rebecca and Andi for his reference.

With everyone ready, Shouri gave one more condition for their battle: “We’ll start at fifty-five!”

2:54:56PM

2:54:57PM

2:54:58PM

2:54:59PM

2:55:00PM

“Andi, Lanciafiamme, Piano!”

“Rebecca, Bolide, Piano!”

Andi wound up and shot a beam of solid fire. However, even with the longer casting time, Rebecca’s massive fireball in the form of the Bolide spell smashed right through that, causing the chinchilla man to cut off his spell early and jump away. He managed to dodge it but found Rebecca was hot on his tail having sprinted towards where he had landed.

“What the-?!” He put up his arms in front of him just in time to intercept a devastating kick from Rebecca. A small cloud of ashy dust was let loose from his form as she made impact, but the vixen quickly squeezed her eyes shut, denying the ash of its blinding effects. Even with her eyes closed, she still was able to continue applying pressure, being impossibly nimble on her feet even without her sight or ad-Lib being usable. She could jump, spin and land kicks all without ever losing her balance and with pinpoint accuracy. The chinchilla-man was simply on the back foot, bearing the brunt of the savage assault.

“Get out of there!” Amika barked in a panic, realizing that Andi’s species trait (which produced an obscuring ash upon physical contact) wasn’t of any use against this opponent.

From his back, a pair of fiery wings erupted, allowing him to take to the skies. He had to fly much higher than he initially anticipated, as Rebecca had quite the jump height, again without her ad-Lib.

“Holy shit, this chick is crazy!” Andi cursed, rubbing his now sore arms. Rebecca remained laser-focused on him, dusting off the ash that he had dropped on her as she assaulted him.

“Focus! Bolide Piano!” Amika barked. Now it was the chinchilla’s turn to use the advanced fire spell, launching it at the grounded fire fox. Rebecca easily dodged the spell, keeping her eyes locked on her target while awaiting orders.

“Bolide, Piano!” Shouri shouted.

“Arcobaleno Fuoco, Piano!” Amika commanded.

Both Resonators shot balls of fire at each other. Where the two spells differed however was Andi’s was faster and had a secondary effect: as soon as the two fireballs collided, Andi’s spell exploded into brilliantly colored light show, temporarily blinding Rebecca and throwing her off her feet from the force of the explosion. The lids of her eyes snapped shut as her vision became useless.

“Rebecca dodge!” She heard Shouri yell. She rolled to her right, the distinct sound of an impact to the left of her reaching her ears. Still unable to see, she reached out and made a grab.

“The fuck?!” came Andi’s surprised shout. She had managed to hit his leg with her arm but failed the grapple. She pivoted her body and spun back up to her feet. He hadn’t landed yet.

“Holy shit, she’s a monster!” Andi shouted. However, he cut the idle chatter when he noticed that Rebecca was “looking” in his direction with her closed eyes.

“Damn it, was hoping to stop her crazy hearing,” Amika muttered, having noted Rebecca’s ears still twitching with her own words. She took the blindness as a consolation prize.

Shouri remained calm, despite how bad the situation seemed. His thumb pivoted to the talk button to issue a command directly to Rebecca’s head: “Famiglio Incendio, Presto Staccato. Cast as many as you need,” he told her.

With a short nod, Rebecca stomped the ground and with it, five tiny fire foxes sprung to life around her.

“The fuck?” Amika muttered, not familiar with the spell. She had seen Shouri cast it before their match started but wasn’t sure what it did.

Andi remained floating in the sky, keeping his breathing shallow so Rebecca couldn’t track him. “Arcobaleno Fuoco, Piano!” Amika decided she wanted to roll the wheel of debuffs and go for a second shot at deafening Rebecca. However, she folded her ears back and dodged it normally, her mini fire foxes similarly scattering to dodge the incoming explosive.

The spell hit ground zero where Rebecca had been and exploded into a second flurry of rainbow-colored lights. “Arcobaleno Fuoco, Pianissimo Staccato! Keep up the pressure!” Amika barked.

The chinchilla in the sky began firing multiple shots of the advanced fire spell, lighting up the battlefield in a flurry of rainbow-colored explosions.

“Cortina Fumogena, Allegro Staccato!” Shouri commanded. As Rebecca was dodging the explosions, she began to release thick black smoke from her hands, quickly shrouding the battlefield.

“Oh fuck…” Andi breathed out. She could be as reckless as she wanted with the smokescreen spell since she couldn’t see anyway. Furthermore, he very quickly lost sight of her. The only thing he could see was the little familiar spells that were running about, and even then, he couldn’t see them all that well, only being able to track the glow of their fiery bodies from within the cloud.

“Fuck fuck fuck,” Amika cursed, covering her nose and mouth with her jacket to avoid the billowing smoke that rapidly filled the court.

“I think that’s just about game Amika!” Shouri’s voice boomed from the inky blackness of the smokescreen.

“Bullshit! I have you blinded and running around scared!” Amika shouted.

“You sure?!” came the confident rebuttal.

“Gack!” At that moment Andi cried out in pain, his hand reaching behind him. The skin around where his fiery wings connected to his body was blackened at this point. His rhythm rapidly approached the limit they had set. “Andi! Down now!”

Without thinking about it, the Resonator heeded his Maestro’s instructions, allowing himself to fall back down to the battlefield, and with it, into the smoke.

He still had a bit of “health” left to spare, but now he stood with no visibility.

“There we go, we’re even – neither of us can see,” Rebecca’s voice echoed sinisterly from the depths of the black fog.

Andi spun around, trying to figure out where his opponent was. “Anello di Fuoco, Tenuto!” Amika commanded.

Kneeling, Andi created a ring of fire around himself, blowing away a small bit of the smoke and giving himself some visibility. He breathed hard, keeping his form low to the ground. Suddenly a small figure jumped over the firewall he had made for himself.

“What the-?!” Before he could dodge the little fox unleashed a wave of fire from where its mouth would be, forcing Andi to drop his spell to dodge it. Unfortunately, he ran into a second, a third, and a fourth of Rebecca’s spells, barely managing to dodge the spells being thrown in his direction. They were very simple spells, looking like the base-level fire spell, Lanciafiamme. With how much rhythm he had given up during this battle though, even one of them nicking him would put him below the hard limit they had set.

“Gotcha!”

THWACK!

Out of nowhere, he suddenly felt his face being compressed as a foot met his left cheek. The chinchilla was taken off his feet and slammed into the ground hard, sliding a small distance away.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Both tuners began to loudly protest with electronic beeping. “Fuck!” came Amika’s frustrated shout.

“Sotto,” Shouri called out, causing the thick blanket of smoke to rapidly dissipate and reveal the outcome of the battle.

Rebecca stood over a fallen Andi, breathing hard. Her eyes were still shut, with one last Famiglio Incendio sitting on her shoulder.

Andi sat up, groaning as his body began to protest the damage it took now that the adrenaline had worn off.

Shouri walked over to Rebecca, placing a hand on her free shoulder. “Good game,” he directed at Amika.

“Man, that’s bullshit! She’s way too fucking strong,” Amika grumbled.

“I mean you’re not wrong, but you did well. You quickly realized Rebecca doesn’t need her sight and tried to take her ears out of the equation,” Shouri pointed out.

“Got unlucky.” Amika rolled her eyes.

“Sho was already ready for that.” Rebecca patted the tiny fox on her shoulder.

“Aw man, we never stood a chance,” Andi realized, limping over.

“What’s that?” Amika looked over to her Resonator.

“Can you see through those?” the chinchilla asked the fox.

“No, but I can sense where they’re at. They have their own like will or something so I can give them vague mental commands like 'attack' or 'scatter' and they’ll just do it,” Rebecca revealed. “I kept this one on my shoulder to confuse you, since you weren’t attacking them.”

Andi slumped at the analysis of the situation. “Damn it, you did have the read on me the whole time.”

Amika too sighed and dropped her shoulders, realizing how thoroughly they were beaten.

“Honestly what cost you was over-using your ad-Lib,” Shouri commented. “It drained your rhythm so quickly that the familiars could easily land the finishing blow.”

“You gotta use it to boost your speed and power, not be it,” Rebecca added.

“Damn damn, I’m kinda glad you didn’t have your ad-Lib, you would have fucked me up if you did,” Andi cursed.

“You’re one hell of a Maestro Shouri,” Amika grumbled, not happy about it.

Shouri chuckled nervously. “It’s not me, they’re just all talented.”

Amika responded by punching the boy’s arm. “Stop the modest act. You were one step ahead of us the entire battle.” She glared at him.

The brunet Maestro rubbed his arm where Amika had punched it. He didn’t open his mouth again in case she wanted to take another swing at him.

“Did you have to beat him this badly?” Taika muttered to Rebecca while healing Andi.

“It was either him or me,” Rebecca replied simply, thankful to have her vision back.

“Yeah yeah, I suck thanks.” Andi rolled his eyes, though appreciating the courtesy heal.

“Mannnn I should have gone,” Pacifica pouted, leaning over the back of the couch over the trio of Resonators huddled just behind it.

“And have you suddenly tag in? No thanks, she was enough of a monster as is.” Andi pointed at Rebecca as if she was some kind of demon.

“Man, this is a nice house,” Amika spoke with her mouth full of pear.

“It’s not mine, it’s Pacifica’s parents’,” Shouri commented.

The two Maestros were sitting at the little dining room table, killing time while Taika took care of healing duties. Amika originally just wanted to take Andi to an MA office and have him healed up there, however, Shouri insisted he could just have Taika do most of the healing to save them a trip.

“Pacifica’s parents?” Amika furrowed her brow.

“A Maestro and her Resonator,” Shouri replied.

“Oh.” Amika looked over to Pacifica, looking over the otter who chatted with the other three Resonators who were sitting on the floor. “Isn’t that kind of weird?” she asked with a hushed voice.

“What’s weird Amika?” He looked down on her.

“Just that you, kind of well, have their daughter now?” she whispered.

Shouri’s judgmental gaze faded. “I thought so too,” he admitted. “But her mom gave her blessing, so I try not to think about it too much.”

Amika nodded, leaning back in the chair. “I guess if I was in her shoes, I’d want my kid to go to a good home,” the redhead decided.

“Doing my best,” Shouri sighed. He stole a glance at Rebecca’s tuner. “Thanks for the level on Bolide, by the way,” the boy added, flashing the tuner which proudly displayed the spell’s new Forte rank.

“And the rich get richer,” complained Amika, who hung her head in defeat.

With Andi healed up, they went to take their leave.

“Hey, Shouri,” Amika spoke up while they were all at the door.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for today, I had fun. We all should go out sometime.”

Shouri was taken aback by the offer. Pacifica went to accept in her Maestro’s stead, but he beat her to the punch: “Sure.”