Hmmm... Interesting.

  Oh, my apologies, I didn't see you there...

  It's a joke, I've been trying to lighten up like Luca has been telling me to.

  I suppose if we're meeting again you want to hear another story? Another tale of the boy you've come to cherish over these... five hundred thousand words? My goodness that is quite a few. A mere grain of sand in the face of something as so grand as the Book of Kairos, but an accomplishment nonetheless.

  Let's see, what do I have here? Ah! Here's one.

  The boy you're familiar with and those he shares his love with, you're intimately familiar with their exploits.

  But how about another?

  What say you we explore a tale of a boy named Shouri's chance encounter with one who you have yet to meet?

  That should be interesting, right?

  Dalliva was a big city in the middle of nowhere. In all directions from the massive urban center were rolling hills and farmland.

  Even so, Shouri Tomoshibi still found himself apathetic to his new surroundings. He had been to plenty of cities that looked just like this one. Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate. Not many cities had one singular skyscraper that poked out well above the rest of the moderately tall buildings.

  “Tomoshibi Energy Center” was the name of the singular tall building that blemished the Dalliva skyline with its obstinance. It was almost gaudy in the way that only it alone dared to intrude into Sage Cielto’s domain.

  And then at night, it illuminated in many different colors. Almost as if being the tallest thing in the region wasn’t enough of a draw, it had to make sure it was seen at night too.

  Perhaps that is why the young adult wandered away from his family. Visiting properties across the continent came with the territory of being a CEO’s son. Not that he had any grand aspirations of taking over his old man’s mantle.

  No, there was one thing Shouri wanted to do – find her. His childhood friend who he lost nearly a decade ago. At this point in his life though, with no skills to his name and his refusal to go to secondary schooling, the patience of his parents was wearing thin. He wasn’t an idiot; he knew very well his indecisiveness was going to earn the escalations of his parents' demands.

  But what could he do?

  Walking down a city street was one step. Well, multiple steps, but who was counting? Certainly not him.

  “Oof!”

  Shouri’s thoughts were interrupted by a girl running into him. She was a small thing, just barely up to his chest in height. Her green hair was… strange. The texture didn’t look right. He didn’t have time to analyze her as she grabbed his shirt, looking up at him, her red eyes wide with desperation.

  “Help me!” she squeaked fearfully.

  “Huh?” Shouri blinked.

  “They’re after me! Please!” the girl begged.

  Before he realized what was happening, she shoved him into an alleyway, spinning around him to body-block herself.

  Sure enough, there was the clamor of footsteps behind them, just outside of the alley. Without thinking about it, Shouri stood taller, wrapping his arms around the mystery girl to hide her as much as possible.

  “Where did she go?!”

  “Split up! She couldn’t have gone far!”

  “Mr. Noel will be pissed if we can’t find her…”

  As soon as the commotion faded from their hearing, Shouri released the fugitive and allowed some space. “Thank you,” she sniveled, wiping the tears on her jacket sleeve.

  “What is going on?” Shouri questioned warily. Studying the girl, she was clad in pinks and whites, the sole exception being her green leggings. Her hair was strange, as he had initially observed. It looked almost like grass? He knew she was a Resonator as her rhythm carried the distinct aura of being in a forest – a nature element.

  “They took me from my home and brought me here. I managed to get away but…” She peered around him, trembling fearfully. “I don’t want to know what’s going to happen if they catch me again.”

  She now looked him up and down, studying her savior. “Oh! You’re a human, right?”

  Shouri raised a brow. Referring to him as a human was odd. It was correct, but every time his race had been referenced in his life it had been as a Maestro. “I guess, yeah,” he mumbled.

  “Be my Maestro!” she exclaimed.

  “Eh?! Wait a second, we just met and-”

  “I know I can trust you! You just have this feeling, I can’t describe it, please!”

  “Hold on hold on.” Shouri shook his head, stepping back. “I don’t even know your name.”

  “It’s Holly! What’s your name?” Her smile was bright, a far cry from the fear in her eyes only a scant moment ago.

  The boy sighed. He really was about to take in this little girl as a Resonator, wasn’t he? Damn weak willpower.

  “Shouri.”

  He couldn’t claim extreme familiarity with MA Offices. It seemed simple enough at first pass. He walked in, Holly in hand, and strolled up to the front counter where two attendants awaited.

  “Welcome to the Downtown Dalliva Maestro Affairs Office, how can we help you today?” asked the Maestro of the pair of attendants.

  Shouri immediately shirked at the question. “Yeah, I uh, well I-” he struggled to get the words out.

  Holly shot a glance up, let out a small huff, and changed her expression entirely. “Hiya Miss!” the girl greeted. “This nice boy said he would be my Maestro! I’m so happy someone wants to be my friend!” she beamed.

  Shouri’s expression also changed, to one of sheer confusion. That wasn’t her voice – it was far bubblier and innocent than the terrified nature element he had come to know in the last thirty minutes.

  “Is that so?” The attendant turned their attention to Shouri.

  “As crazy as it is, we bumped into each other on the street and decided to take the plunge,” the soon-to-be Maestro stated with a shrug. Though he couldn’t keep himself straight and proper, his back gradually curled into a slump. The annoyed gaze through his narrowed eyes told of his exasperation. This was all so exhausting.

  Holly squeezed his hand, looking up at her eventual Maestro. She nodded and gave a short smile.

  I’m being taken for a ride, aren’t I? wondered Shouri.

  “Alright, what species is she? It’s hard to tell,” the attendant asked, starting to fill out some of the paperwork on a tablet computer.

  “Zalavan,” Holly chirped playfully.

  The two attendants looked between each other. With a nod, the Maestro attendant stepped into the back, leaving Shouri and Holly to be managed by the bovine Resonator attendant.

  And Shouri now stared slack-jawed at the little nature element. His first registered Resonator was going to be a Mirage class? He knew something was strange about her but didn’t put the pieces together quickly enough.

  What was worse was the other Maestros milling about the lobby now were interested in what was happening at the counter.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?!” Shouri hissed.

  “I thought you knew!” Holly whispered back in her normal voice.

  “Zalavan aren’t exactly running around the city!”

  “Well excuse me for getting kidnapped!”

  “You got kidnapped?!”

  “Yeah, I wasn’t kidding when I asked for your help!”

  “Oh my god, you’re gonna get me killed.”

  “We’ll be fine, just take me with you!”

  Before their hushed argument could escalate any further, a new presence joined the front counter. “Mr. Tomoshibi?” they asked. The new person was in a business suit, wearing the same MA Office pin on their lapel as the attendants.

  Shouri gulped. This looked like a manager or someone equally as important. “Y-yeah…?” he squeaked.

  “Follow me please.”

  “For all of our sanity, please call in advance before bringing a Mirage class Resonator for registration. We can make accommodations to have the process done at your home,” the manager told the pair who sat together in a small office.

  “Making a lot of assumptions here,” Shouri mumbled under his breath, avoiding the scrutiny of the MA Office manager. Had he figured out what Holly was sooner, he’d probably have shown a bit more discretion. Or maybe headed for the hills. Who knew really?

  “Did we do something wrong?” fretted Holly, that innocent bubbliness coming back in full force.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “Mirage classes like yourself are extraordinarily rare. If anyone had figured out what you were, there would have been quite a rush to see you,” they explained.

  Shouri nodded in agreement. He knew very well of the seven rare elemental Resonators known as Mirages; called such for their scarcity in the wider world. It wasn’t as if they were beings of myth, all seven were of a known quantity and could reproduce and be otherwise found in the “wild” as it were.

  He shot another appraising glance to Holly who looked back at him and smiled.

  “The first thing we need to do is check for an existing chip,” the office manager stated. They stood up and stepped around the desk, holding a baton-like device. “Stand up please,” they requested.

  “Of course!” Holly did as instructed, though she refused to release Shouri’s hand.

  As the manager worked, Shouri noted Holly gripped his hand tighter. He squeezed her hand back in reassurance, a thin smile rising on his lips.

  “Hm, no chip,” the manager noted. They looked between the soon-to-be pair. “I guess the only thing to do is complete the registration process.

  Holly looked to her all but confirmed Maestro, grinning brightly. He couldn’t help himself and returned her smile in kind.

  “Uuuhgg… this sucks…” groaned Holly, face down in an oversized bed.

  “It looked pretty bad,” noted Shouri, sitting by her side. In his hand, he held a green tuner, the screen resting on the linked Resonator’s status.

  Shouri Tomoshibi

  Resonator: Holly

  Species: Zalavan (Ilex Aquifolium)

  Element: Nature

  Attribute: Adaptable (Currently: None)

  Rhythm: 75%

  That wasn’t the interesting part – that came from her spell list.

  Foglie a Lame – (Pianissimo, Piano, Forte, Fortissimo)

  Colpo di Vite – (Pianissimo, Piano, Forte, Fortissimo)

  No other spells existed in her spell list, but with a quick internet search, Shouri discovered those were both basic nature element spells and totally maxed out ones at that. Her attribute was also one he couldn’t claim familiarity with. It must have been another thing about zalavan that he didn't know.

  “Uhhgh…” groaned the zalavan again.

  Now probably wasn’t the best time to drill her with questions. Shouri filed his inquiries away for later and allowed himself to fall back onto the bed. “It’s comfy,” he noted.

  Holly turned her head to face her Maestro. “Yeah…” Her eyelids began to droop. “Comfy…” And not a second later she was fast asleep.

  Shouri sat up. Everyone had made such a big deal about her species, but…

  She looked so tired, so weary. It spoke volumes that she was able to relax around him. That said, he wasn’t sure he could be of any help to her. Sure, he had okay rhythm compared to non-battle-ready Maestros like his parents. But also, eight years of rust clung to the gears of his scale. He never got far with her. Touch casting was a different beast from modern spellcasting.

  He wouldn’t know the extent of his own capabilities until they tried.

  Holly returned to the waking world, the nausea and dizziness from her chipping only hours prior a thing of the past. She immediately felt her head. “One, two,” she counted the berries now resting in the grass that crowned her. “Four hours,” she yawned. The sky that illuminated the room glowed with orange hues. Evening.

  Sitting up, she took in her surroundings. She was all alone on the big bed. “Shouri?” she whimpered. Her frantic search didn’t last long as she found him resting on their room’s couch. With a soft sigh, the zalavan pushed herself out of bed and stepped over to where her Maestro slept, being careful not to make a sound. She reached the couch and fell to her knees. Watching him sleep was probably awkward by her own admission, but there was this new feeling that welled up in her.

  It felt as if his essence flowed through her. She understood him so deeply – they shared the same stave, she knew as much. Though she thought her willpower was poor, his lack thereof was deeper than she could ever hope to imagine.

  Him taking her in meant the world then. She felt truly blessed in that moment. She draped herself over him. “Only you have earned my honesty,” she whispered as she allowed his warmth to seep into her. Perhaps she was being rash, all he did was agree to her ridiculous suggestion, but she could feel it – even his following along took every ounce of strength in his pitiful scale to accomplish.

  That wasn’t right – this boy was incredibly bright. He dwarfed her intelligence by a large margin, not even from experience. The divide between the two ends of his staves was a gap that would bring most to ruin. Even so, his logical mind considered everything, even them. The impression she got was this boy was fanatical about Resonators. Perhaps that’s why he so easily agreed to help her, a total stranger.

  “I’ll protect you, and in turn I know you will me,” Holly breathed, tightening her grip around him.

  Shouri stirred, opening his eyes. It was dark, night had fallen while he slept. There was something behind him and wrapped around his chest. The white cloth he realized belonged to his new Resonator. Holly was behind him, her front at his back. She was small enough that they could both lay on the couch without falling off.

  “Holly?” came his somnolent ask.

  As his voice reached her ears, she tightened her grip for a moment before she spoke, “Huh...?.” The grogginess in her voice informed of what she had been doing before his own awakening.

  “Why?” he asked.

  “You looked lonely,” she replied without missing a beat, as if it should have been obvious.

  He cleared his throat, pulling up their shared tuner to check the time. She shuffled herself up, just in time to get flash banged by the bright screen of the device. She squeaked and buried her face into his shoulder.

  “Huh?” Shouri’s confusion inspired Holly to brave the blinding light to find out what perplexed him.

  As her vision cleared, she could read the text displayed on the screen. It was information about her. That shouldn’t have been surprising, but the strange glowing text left no secrets hidden.

  Shouri Tomoshibi

  Resonator: Holly

  Species: Zalavan (Ilex Aquifolium)

  Element: Nature

  Attribute: Adaptable (Currently: Toxic)

  Rhythm: 100%

  Available via the Toxic Attribute

  Spore di Veleno – (Presto, Allegro, Moderato, Adagio, Lento)

  Tempesta di polline – (Presto, Allegro, Moderato, Adagio, Lento)

  Il Raccolto Della Natura

  Linfa Appiccicosa – (Tenuto or Mosso)

  Speaking of secrets, she intuited that he must not know much about what she was. He was like her: he needed info to work with. If they were going to be partners that meant no secrets.

  “Shouri,” she spoke up.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “How much do you know about what I am?” she asked.

  He paused. “Not as much as I should,” he admitted, his voice stoked with shame.

  “Don’t be,” she replied. “I’ll teach you,” added the plant girl. “I’ll make you an expert.” The pride those words carried was enough to convince the boy.

  Lights now on, the pair sat up on the couch, facing one another. A new aspect of Holly’s biology was instantly obvious.

  “You noticed. Good boy,” Holly giggled.

  Shouri flushed, averting his gaze in a huff.

  “We zalavan carry plants atop our heads. Usually, we’re named after monikers our resident plant carries. I’m Holly, and I carry hollies.” She lowered her head, allowing him to take in the majesty of her attached plants. The evergreen branches were small enough to be mistaken for hair clips, a couple of spiny shiny leaves hung from each side of her head along with two bright red berries that graced each branch.

  “For every two hours I sleep, I restore one berry. I can’t grow more than four at a time – trust me I’ve tried,” she continued. “Zalavan can take the rhythm from plants including our own to cast spells. Just as you can ask magic of me, so can I command the magic of Sage Lanvi’s cherished greenery,” the zalavan waxed poetic.

  “It consumes the donor plant,” Shouri guessed.

  “You got it!” Holly beamed, glad she had accurately appraised her new Maestro.

  Shouri hummed thoughtfully. He stared at the tuner, specifically Holly’s attribute. “You get more spells based on what seed types you possess,” came the next guess.

  Holly smirked, pushing herself towards the boy. “Are you suuuure you don’t know about zalavan?” she teased.

  The Maestro backed up. “It seems pretty self-explanatory based on what you’ve already told me,” he countered.

  Another satisfied grin rose on the nature element’s lips. “That makes things easier then,” she replied.

  “Should we go then?” he asked.

  “Go?” and now Holly was confused.

  “Hardware store. You must be really uncomfortable without seeds on you, right?”

  Holly’s smug smile faded as fluster rose on her cheeks. “D-don’t do that,” she squeaked.

  “Do what?” he asked with a head tilt.

  “N-nothing! You’re right! Let’s go!”