"Quiet?" "Quiet."

Shouri and Emily were at a loss regarding what to do about Vince. However, Zephyr was quiet too. It was now the morning of the fifteenth. Quite concerning to the two guild leaders that this had gone on for a day, but nothing could be done at the moment besides being a supportive shoulder when they decided to reach out.

"Let's order them food so they don't starve to death," Emily suggested. "Probably for the best," Shouri acquiesced.

With that in the works, the pair decided on what they were going to do for the day.

That was until Colette practically kicked down the door to the front office. She marched right up to the desk where Shouri and Emily were seated, her own laptop in hand.

"I need to borrow everyone," requested the scholar. "Excuse me?" Emily questioned. "Everyone. Call them here, I need them," Colette demanded again. "Colette, use your words – what the hell do you want?" Shouri asked the pertinent question. "Doing some coursework, need to study some rhythm. I have plenty of people here to do so with."

"Why don't you study Kaira?" Shouri suggested. "What's to study? I'm around her all the time," Colette waved off the idea.

Emily and Shouri eyed their opposite, agreeing with one another in that brief exchange.

"Everyone but Vince and Mila. Also, if anyone else is busy you're gonna have to wait," Emily told the eager scholar.

"Thanks!" shouted Colette as she rushed out without a second thought.

Shouri and Emily shared another glance and sighed in unison.

Only minutes passed before Taika was dragged into the room by the auburn Maestro. The poor fox had an apron over her everyday wear and a duster in hand. Her ears were folded against her head and her tail flicked behind her.

Shouri pinched the bridge of his nose. "Colette, what the fuck did Emily say about people being busy?"

"She didn't look busy!" Colette shouted back. "She was just cleaning," asserted the scholar.

For the third time now, Shouri and Emily's patience took a hit before addressing the wrecking ball known as Colette.

"Taika, were you cleaning?" Emily inquired of the lunar vixen. The fox nodded once in confirmation, earning Colette a glare from the guild leadership.

Shouri held his head in his hands. "Colette, please define the word busy for me."

The other Maestro blinked before answering. "Uh, like being occupied or concentrating on something," she replied.

"Okay, and by that logic, Taika cleaning would be her being occupied or concentrating on something, right?" questioned Shouri.

"It's gonna be fast," asserted Colette.

Sensing it would take more time to argue, Shouri motioned for her to carry on. Colette went ahead and set up her laptop on the desk. From the quick peek of the screen, Shouri noted the massive spreadsheet with all kinds of indiscernible information and notes.

"What do I do?" asked Taika. "Just etude with him like you normally do," Colette instructed. "Ah." Taika nodded in realization – it was the same exercise they did in Naiza.

The vixen set down her duster and took up her Maestro's hands. She squeezed tight as they focused. Warmth flooded the pair both ways, and a serene smile was shared between the two lovers.

Colette interrupted the tender moment, clacking away on her keyboard. "Good," she spoke, earning a single annoyed eye from Shouri.

Before anyone could ask what was going on, Colette rushed out of the room.

"You can go back to cleaning," Shouri advised his fox.

She kept a firm grip on his hands. "Non, I want this now."

And so, Shouri had to work and talk with Emily while Taika sat on his lap and clung to him.

The peace was not long for this world, however, as Colette barged back in, now with Ritika in her clutches.

Emily shared in Shouri's prior annoyance, rubbing her temples as the two approached. "She said it was important," Ritika fretted, noting her Maestro's exasperation. "No no, it's not you," assured Emily.

Colette didn't need to dole out instructions, Emily just offered her hands up to her cat, who reciprocated. Their breathing fell into sync as the rhythm passed between the two. Taika perked up, tearing her face from Shouri's shoulder to observe the etude of another pair.

The scholar was consistent if nothing else. Colette flew across her spreadsheet, documenting whatever it was she was studying, and quickly left the room.

"What were you even doing Rika?" asked Emily. "Making lunch," the cat replied. She stood there for a moment before it dawned on her. "Oh god! I was making lunch!" and she bolted out of the room.

It was at that declaration that Taika decided she should get back to what she was doing and left the room herself.

Not ten minutes passed before Elijah came into the room followed by Zino. Shouri gingerly applied his head to the desk (if gingerly meant slam).

"Colette?" Emily guessed. "Oh, so Ms. Severine has been making her rounds," said Elijah. Shouri pried his face from the mahogony. "Were you in the middle of something?" he guessed.

Elijah held up a hand. "And it's a pattern then, say no more," said the Klein heir before taking his leave. Zino shot the pair a pitying look before following his Maestro out of the office.

"Maybe we should have been clearer with our instructions," Emily suggested. "I'm not writing her a goddamn book every time we need to tell her something," Shouri groused, attempting to return to their discussion.

"Anyway, yeah; I think getting a second building like this one would be the best idea for our first big investment," Emily resumed where they left off.

"Good. My idea is that we house Resonators normally, but if a Maestro is interested, they can also stay here and mingle with the Resonators. That way we can keep an eye on them and see if they're a good fit before letting them off on their own," Shouri reiterated his previously interrupted thoughts.

"Totes!" Emily beamed. Her expression turned dour as she shot her attention to the unmoving door. "Colette is the most rhythm-sensitive out of all of us, as much as I'm hesitant to admit."

"You think so? I was gonna let Paci handle that," Shouri pointed out. "We shouldn't just rely on one person to track that metric," Emily countered.

The boy hummed, stroking his chin in thought. He nodded after a moment of consideration. "You're right."

"Actually, I wonder if Miro might have good sensitivity too. We'd get three different perspectives if so," Emily added.

Shouri nodded, turning to his computer and adjusting some of his notes. "Yeah, that's a good thought. Rhythm sensitives usually end up studying it because they see shit other people don't."

Emily reclined in her seat while Shouri typed away. "That leaves us with the question of the hour: what do we do with Zephyr?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Good fucking question," Shouri grumbled, leaning back in his chair.

Vince returned to the waking world feeling particularly bad. Not emotionally – he was too out of it for that – but physically. "Uhg…" groaned the boy, sitting up and rubbing his head.

He was most assuredly alive; the pounding headache was a persistent reminder of that. The nausea that flared up alerted him that food was a thing he probably shouldn't have ignored for the last day or so. Dry mouth also didn't feel particularly good, coughing even hurt.

These were all fixable problems – even the headache would probably subside as soon as he got some food in his system, or at least that was the hope.

It all faded away as soon as he swung his legs out of bed. His hand brushed up against the cold case of a tuner. A white tuner.

The static that graced the screen pulled him into unreality as he froze, his breath stolen away alongside his perception. He watched the sniper round go through the people he cared about over and over again, tormented by failures in the distant past.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Panic shattered away as he was jolted from his waking terror. His eyes remained transfixed on the screen. For a moment, the illusion of a smaller figure reflected off the glass. A trick of the mind? He managed to claw his way out of his distracted psyche to pay his regards to the door, a small turn of the head – he didn't have enough energy to even consider getting up. Thankfully his loyal cat was stirred awake from the rude guest. Mila shook her head, shooting a glare at the door. "Fuck…" cursed the cat.

He watched her stand, stretch out her back, and trudge to the door. Their guest wasn't who either of them had expected: Colette. In one arm she had a plastic bag containing a couple of take-out boxes, while in the other she had her laptop computer.

She held up the plastic bag. "I found this outside your door," were the first words that left the auburn Maestro's lips.

"Oh, uh, thanks I guess," Mila said, accepting the bag.

And with that, Colette barged into the room. "Shouri said not to bother you two, but you seem to be doing fine to me," she beamed with all the brightness of a runaway semi-truck.

Mila's tired gaze met her Maestro's who just slowly shook his head.

"Hey, uh, Annette, we kinda want our privacy right now," Mila tried.

And failed. "Huh? Who's Annette?" questioned Colette. She shook her head and moved on before either occupant could answer. The scholar set herself up on the little table sitting in the room, opening her computer to her trusty spreadsheet.

"While I'm here, could you two etude for me?" she requested.

"Huh? Why?" asked Mila, raising a brow. "I'm studying the tempo between all of the Maestros and Resonator groupings here. It's a school project," Colette explained.

"Tempo? That's that like bond thing, right?" Mila questioned while she made her way to the bed to sit next to her Maestro.

"Close, but not really!" Colette exclaimed. "Everyone has some form of tempo with everyone else. Though, for it to make any meaningful difference in your life, you need to have some sort of connection; whether that is physical or technological, such as the tuner."

Mila and Vince exchanged a tired glance before digging into the bag of mystery food delivered to them, leaving Colette to drone on.

"-spells could only pass from Maestro to Resonator if the Tempo was sufficiently high enough between the two individuals."

Those words in particular got Vince's attention. "Can you repeat that?" he suddenly asked.

"Huh? Oh, I was saying, before the advent of the tuners, spells could only pass from Maestro to Resonator if the Tempo was sufficiently high enough between the two individuals," she repeated.

Vince lowered his head, brows furrowed in thought. Mila hummed while chewing on her food.

"So, all that being said, please join hands and etude for me!" the pushy request came down from the scholar.

Despite her cavalier attitude about it, Vince complied, holding out his hands for Mila. The cat easily accepted her Maestro's implicit request and closed their eyes. They focused on their rhythm, connecting with one another's scales. She squeezed his hands tightly, a message being transmitted on pure emotion.

"Follow your heart – I'm right behind you," is what she said to him.

Vince nodded slowly before opening his eyes.

"Wow, I didn't expect you two to rank so highly. Only a hair behind Emily and her Resonators," Colette commented.

"Hey, can you check my tempo with someone else?" Vince requested. "Uh, sure, who?"

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Zephyr stirred. She sat up and looked around in a daze. This room was not designed with her tiny frame in mind – that much she had already established. That being said, she could have sworn she heard someone knocking.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Definitely knocking. Plucking her glasses from the plush sheets she had fallen asleep on, the fairy flew over to the door, putting the frames on her face before looking through the peephole. It was some Maestro she didn't know the name of. The red-headed chick. Maybe Odette or something? Either way, she took in a deep breath to answer the door.

"What is it?" she called out.

"We're coming in!" announced the woman.

Zephyr had literal seconds to blast herself away from the door before it swung open.

"Jeeze! Warn a girl before you shove your wood in her face!" the fairy barked. However, her gusto petered out upon seeing who was with the rude Maestro.

Vince locked eyes with Zephyr. She balled up her hands into fists, his gaze remained transfixed on her.

"Etude with me," he finally spoke. "E-eh…?" the fairy's face flushed with fluster. "F-forward…" she whimpered quietly.

He presented his open hand to her. "Please," he requested.

"Y-y-you can't be so genuine about it!" the fairy squeaked, though this didn't shake Vince's resolve. Zephyr curled up, hugging herself tightly as she floated in place, trying to decide whether to accept the invitation. Finally, she submitted to the whims of the Maestro, floating down into the palm offered to her.

She dropped down onto his hand, sitting on her knees. Her head drifted up as he offered a finger to her. There was a moment of hesitation before she reached out and grasped the extended digit.

"I've never done this before. Not with a Maestro. J-just promise you'll be gentle with me!" she shouted, trying to shake him.

"Of course."

Her face only reddened further. Her usual bag of tricks was failing her. The boy was just too damn pure!

She closed her eyes, still in the dark about what she should do. But it came to her suddenly and naturally. Pull on his rhythm, push her own; in that dance, they were only two. It flowed so easily that she found herself relaxing where she had been so strung up before.

This was… nice…

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