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

The next afternoon the crew rose from their marathon slumber. “Stiff...” Pacifica was the first to voice a complaint.

“Y-yeah, fuck,” Shouri agreed.

“Gambe...” Taika groaned.

“Warm water will probably help,” Pacifica suggested as they all continued to lay there.

“You think this MA Office has a hot tub or pools for that matter?” Shouri pondered aloud.

“Ooooh! You think so?! This city is big enough! I bet they have a nice pool!” The otter girl sat up excitedly at the prospect of swimming.

“I don’t remember if the Riva Solare office did. I know they had a sizable gym with water arenas,” he informed his watery companion.

“I bet they do,” Pacifica stated wearing a determined smirk.

“Let’s approach this logically, hand me a tuner,” Shouri requested of the currently upright Pacifica.

She grabbed the blue tuner she was bound to and handed it over to her Maestro. He turned and laid on his back, with Taika allowing him only a second’s reprieve before she clung to him once more, looking up at the screen held above her. Pacifica joined them from her side.

Shouri started by looking up how to ease leg pain.

1. Stretching.

2. Muscle massage.

3. Rest.

4. Ice to help reduce inflammation.

5. Heat to help increase blood flow to your muscles.

6. Over-the-counter (OTC) pain medicine

“Hmmm...” The trio reviewed the list, deciding how they could accomplish these tasks.

Some more web searches yielded a couple of videos with leg stretches. Shouri cast the video to the room’s television and they followed the instructions as they played out, albeit with many small cries of pain from them as their muscles weren’t nearly as flexible thanks to yesterday’s activities.

“Okay, next.” Shouri returned to their list.

He played a video detailing what to do and not do when giving massages. “Taika and I could give you a massage first, then me and you to Taika and Taika and you to me,” Pacifica suggested.

“Uhhh, sure.” Shouri nodded. He was a bit unsure, but Taika grabbed his hands.

“It’ll be okay Sho,” she reassured him, “I mean, all three of us sleep cuddled up right?” she offered.

“Yeah,” the boy chuckled sheepishly. What had his life become?

Just focusing on performing the massages on each other was simple enough, though they all got flustered at the pleasured sighs each massagee was making, leaving the group feeling better physically but a bit hot from the atmosphere that had been created.

“I think we should try the pool,” Pacifica once more suggested with a big confident grin on her face.

“Well my legs do feel a bit better now. Just a bit heavy, but they don’t hurt.” Shouri stroked his chin in thought.

“I don’t know how to swim. Also don’t we need bathing suits?” Taika asked.

Pacifica deflated as the holes were poked in her logic. She didn’t want to leave Taika out. “I can teach you,” she weakly offered.

“I know, but I don’t have a bathing suit,” Taika continued her protest

“That is a solvable problem, we’re in a beach town,” Pacifica countered.

At that point, the two Resonators turned to their Maestro. He looked between Taika’s apprehension and Pacifica’s hopeful gaze.

“Mmmrhhh...” He shuffled in place uncomfortably. “On one hand we really shouldn’t be spending any excess money until we can get some hunts under our belts.” Pacifica wilted instantly. “But denying Pacifica chances to swim when she’s a water otter seems unnecessarily cruel.” Said otter perked back up.

“I don’t have to swim,” Taika pointed out.

“But I want to swim with you!” Pacifica hugged Taika from the side. “Please! I promise I’ll keep you safe!”

The fox couldn’t help but feel bad – Pacifica really wanted to swim with her. She was finally worn down. “F-fine...” she muttered.

The water Resonator perked up. “Yay! I promise you won’t regret it!”

Shouri chuckled, shaking his head. “I guess we’re going shopping then.” He referred to his tuner to find the nearest clothing store.

“Come on Taika you gotta show a little skin!”

“But why? I... don’t want to, it’s so embarrassing.”

“Do it for Sho!”

“For Sho?”

“Well yeah, not only to give him something alluring to look at but to make everyone jealous of him.”

“But why would other people be jealous?”

The two Resonators were in the swimwear section of one of the many clothing stores around town. Shouri had meandered off to find a swimsuit of his own whilst the girls worked on Taika’s swimsuit and Pacifica’s night clothes.

Pacifica wrapped an arm around Taika and extended her other arm as if beckoning to an invisible audience. “Think about it – they see him with us and think to themselves: 'Man, look at that dude and his two beautiful Resonators, I wish I was him.' That’s definitely what they’re gonna be thinking when they see us.”

Taika wilted. “I’m not beautiful.”

“Hush! Yes, you are!” Pacifica snapped back. “You have a great body and we’re gonna make it known!” the otter declared.

“Abbiate pietà di me, vi prego...”

Pacifica picked out a few swimsuits and shoved poor Taika into one of the changing rooms. The vixen stood alone with a handful of what appeared to her as underwear, herself, and the judgmental mirror. Resigned to her fate, she decided to indulge her friend’s whims and try some of them on.

The first one was a pretty simple bikini, black in color. Stripping down, the fox-girl slipped into the two-piece swimsuit. “She picked out the right size for me,” Taika noted the comfort of the fit. After just about eighteen years of having mis-fitting clothing, it had become easy for her to tell when clothes were the right size for her.

But even with the correct fit Taika still felt uncomfortable. Not physically mind you, but mentally. She was basically naked! People did this?! They just walked on out into public covering only the bare essentials?! What was modern society?!

“Taikaaaaa I know you have one on! Come on out!” Pacifica sang from the other side of the door.

“Sei pazzo?!”

“But I want to see!”

“Allora puoi venga qui!” the fox hissed.

“Fine fine, open up and let me in.”

Covering herself with her jacket, she let Pacifica into the dressing room. It was a bit cramped, but they made it work. Taika still shielded herself with her jacket even with the door re-locked.

“Lemme see,” Pacifica demanded.

Despite her incredibly warm and red face, the vixen acquiesced to her pushy friend’s demand and lowered her last line of defense.

Pacifica stared. Taika was definitely as in shape as she was. Thinking about it, the lunar Resonator never talked about her past. It simply had never been brought up. However, Pacifica was smart enough to not ask. Lunars weren’t treated well for the most part, and she had a sneaking suspicion that Taika wasn’t so fit because she was a health nut.

Upon closer inspection, she seemed a tad bit underweight. Just a bit. Shouri had mentioned that he and Taika had been together for about a month before now, and given they had been living in the lap of luxury until they began traveling, Pacifica could imagine Taika eating more than what was needed to sustain herself.

The otter-girl grinned. “I think you look great!”

“I’m NAKED,” Taika countered, resisting covering herself up as hard as she could.

“Nuh-uh. You’re wearing a bikini,” Pacifica pointed out.

“It’s no different than my underwear!”

“You gotta show some skin! I mean come on, look at what I wear daily.”

Taika looked Pacifica up and down. It was honestly quite deceiving in how her outfit was implemented. On first inspection it seemed as if she was wearing regular clothes, but on a second pass it was clear she really was just clad in swimwear, wasn’t she? How was she so confident in herself that she could parade around like that... even fight?

Pacifica sat on the wooden seat in the corner of the dressing room. “I really do think you look great. I’m not just paying you lip service.”

Speaking so honestly from the heart hit Taika hard. Tears welled up in her eyes. These people were too much. Shouri and Pacifica – they both genuinely liked her for who she was and she simply couldn’t understand why. What had she done for these people to appear in her life like this?

Of course, the ever-sharp Pacifica noticed her friend breaking down. “Hey hey, it’s okay!” She stood up and hugged her lunar counterpart tightly. “It’s in the past. We’re here for you now.” It was so strange how Pacifica knew exactly what to say and when to say it – even after only knowing Taika for less than a week. The teary vixen returned the hug, squeezing tightly and trembling.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I promise it’s okay,” Pacifica breathed out, stroking Taika’s hair while keeping hold of her with her other arm.

After a good cry, the two sat on the small seat in the dressing room. Taika rested her head on Pacifica’s shoulder. “Thank you, Pacifica...” Taika sniffled.

“It’s no problem.”

“No, I mean for becoming Sho’s Resonator.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t think I could do it alone. I wanted to be alone with him. But I couldn’t protect him even two days after we were on our own,” she admitted quietly, pushing herself against her companion more.

“I think you’re stronger than you let on.” Pacifica stroked the other girl’s hair, a warm smile on her lips. “But I can’t take any of the credit. That Maestro of ours is just so strange I couldn’t help myself.”

“Why do you say that?” Taika questioned.

“Well you know, he doesn’t see us like tools or things; he sees a couple of girls who want to be with him. He sees us as friends.” She let out a contented sigh. “We really struck gold.”

“You really think so?”

“I know so. I traveled a bunch, remember? I’ve seen all kinds of Maestros - guys, gals, non-binary pals, the whole gambit really. There are very few like Shouri. That Makani dude from last night didn’t seem bad himself, but maybe that just comes with the territory.”

“Territory?”

Pacifica nodded. “It takes a special kind of Maestro to willingly take in a lunar. It takes someone seeing you as a person and not a thing.”

“I haven’t met many Maestros,” Taika admitted. “But it’s been a mixed bag,” she added.

They both sat in each other’s company for a little bit. That was until they heard their beloved Maestro’s voice in their heads.

“Hey, are you two alright?”

“Y-yeah Sho! Just still trying on swimsuits! Turn off that listener!” Pacifica shouted.

“Fine fine, was just worried.”

“We’re fine I promise!”

Pacifica exhaled. “Well, this took a turn for the unexpected. But if you ever need to talk, I’m here for you Taika. Please don’t bottle it up.”

The fox stared at the otter girl with bewilderment. “Why are you like this?” she muttered.

“I don’t like seeing my friends upset or troubled.” Pacifica wore a big grin as she said this. “I just want what’s best for my friends.”

Taika cracked a smile. “We’re friends?”

“Of course silly!” She turned to the door, back towards her companion. “Why wouldn’t I be friends with someone who saved my life?”

And with that, Pacifica left Taika alone in the dressing room.

“Amiche...”

Shouri meanwhile was all alone. He didn’t want to hang out in the women’s clothes section, so he stuck to the men’s. It didn’t take long for him to find a swimsuit – they had his preferred color and style it turned out. That left him time to meander around and browse the internet. Mainly he was studying up on water spells.

“Idrante, Ghiacciolo; those are the basic water and ice spells. Pacifica is piercing, so I need to watch incoming spells to make sure she doesn’t take a slashing attack,” he noted the two spells even Pacifica herself knew. He looked up from his studies for a moment, digesting that thought while watching some of the worker Resonators fold some clothes.

Returning to his tuner, Shouri continued to read on. “Mani Nell'acqua is just a utility spell, no in-battle merit, but it is our 'fill water bottles' spell, so I’m sure this will level quickly,” another side note.

“Okay, Manga de Agua.” Now was the spell he randomly blurted out when fighting that snake Scherzando. “So it does move faster and get bigger with higher ranks.”

Moving on, the next spell on the list was: “L'onda di tempesta,” he read aloud. That was one of the spells that they didn’t end up using against the snake. “Ah, this should combo nicely with Manga de Agua. This creates a river of water. Trap a target, hit it with the tornado,” he reasoned out. “Oh, you need special modifiers for this one. Accelerando pushes the water away from the user. Rallentando pulls the water towards the user.”

He paused. “Now why doesn’t the tuner list those?”

The final spell Pacifica had in her possession was: “Meravigliare Bolla.” This one was the most unusual of the bunch. “Oh, it’s meant as a combo spell. I’ll keep that in mind,” he decided.

Thinking about unique traits, he realized he didn’t know a lot about Pacifica’s unique traits as a water-otter. He already knew she could heal herself if she came in contact with water, but what else did she have?

“So she’s faster in the water and can breathe underwater at the cost of some rhythm.” He did recall she was able to swim against the rapids with little problem - it certainly saved Taika's bacon.

“Oh. I also get healed by water now.” He hadn’t realized she was passing that trait to him like Taika’s night vision. Certainly useful to have. Probably could have saved some rhythm in the whole kidnapper attacking them ordeal yesterday if he had realized.

Pacifica was a fast attacker, especially if water got involved. Taika could support her and keep both of them healthy in battle. It was kind of nice how well the two of them could work together.

It was his job as the Maestro to guide them – to string together their combined pool of spells to win in combat. Yet he just couldn’t yesterday against that man. Losing could have cost them everything.

“You ruined my life, now I’m going to ruin yours.”

The boy shuddered. Running was one hundred percent the correct choice. Pacifica was right - they weren’t ready to fight him head-on yet. Taika only was able to save them before because she had the element of surprise. Even the kidnapper knew that and made sure to immediately bind up the lunar fox on the second encounter. He let out a tired sigh. They were in town now, even if that man was still chasing them, he wouldn’t dare try to pull something with all these people around… right?

“Shoooo!” Pacifica’s voice snapped him out of his intrusive thoughts.

“I’m over here!” he shouted back.

Appearing from the racks of clothes was Pacifica, in her usual attire, but also an unwilling Taika, clad in swimwear of her own.

“I tried to get her to show more skin, but alas.” Pacifica held the back of her hand to her forehead dramatically.

The vixen herself refused to comment as Shouri scrutinized her choice of swimwear. She was wearing a black, sleeveless crop top with a matching skirt, though the skirt had crescent moon patterns decorating it. Much more modest than he was expecting given Pacifica’s fashion sense. Though on closer inspection the whole outfit seemed to be made of that meshy swimsuit material. The final thing he noticed was the longer he stared at Taika, the more she began to fidget in place.

“Is that even swimwear?” Shouri questioned, shooting a skeptical glance at Pacifica

“Absolutely!” the water-elemental insisted. To demonstrate this point, she lifted both the crop top and skirt, showing that the fabric was covering a more traditional-looking bikini set. More specifically the extra fabric was sewn to the actual “swimsuit” part of the clothing.

“Ti prego non fare così, Pacifica!!” Taika screeched, yanking her clothes back down and trying not to die from embarrassment

“You can at least let our Maestro appreciate you,” Pacifica grumbled as an aside.

Shouri cleared his throat loudly, attempting to disregard the otter’s comment. “Anyways, is that what you want Taika?”

A moment of hesitation. “Si...”

A short nod from the Maestro. “And what about you – got good night clothes?” He turned to Pacifica.

“Yes sir!” She held up a pair of baby blue pajamas adorned with seashells.

“Cool. I got my swim trunks too.” He held up a pair of green and white swim shorts. Taika and Pacifica stared at the shorts, both of their minds running amok with impure thoughts. To say they were both excited to go swimming now was an understatement.

Much to Pacifica’s disappointment; Taika refused to leave the store wearing the swimsuit. So after a short trip back to the dressing rooms, they made their way up to the front to pay for their purchases.

The employee scanned the selections, only pausing when they reached Taika’s swimsuit. “Hmph, interesting,” they commented to themselves, whilst seeming to minimize their contact with the garments in question. Pacifica caught the inflection and went to give a heated comment of her own, but Shouri stopped her just in time. She settled on glaring down the worker, instead.

“Why are people so frustrating!?” Pacifica finally let loose once they were out of the store.

“It’s not that big of a deal. I’m used to it,” Taika muttered. Though she said this, her ears were folded back and her tail wrapped around her leg.

“You shouldn’t have to be used to it!” Pacifica grabbed Taika’s shoulders. Her eyes glowed with a slight red tint to them. After a moment of contemplation, she just hugged Taika, refusing to let her go. “It’s not fair.”

Taika hugged Pacifica back. “It’s enough knowing some people care,” she whispered. Pacifica squeezed tighter.

Shouri himself was just as frustrated as Pacifica. It just wasn’t consistent. Some people were perfectly fine with Taika and others turned their noses up at her as if she was any less of a person than any other Resonator. It was exhausting.

He joined the group hug, much to the delight of his two Resonators. It didn’t matter what other people thought. He was happy with his friends and that’s what truly mattered.

Given how late it was by the time they got back to the MA office and how they had exacerbated the stiffness of their legs, they decided to take it easy for the night and try again in the morning.

Pacifica didn’t argue with the continuation of the sleeping arrangements that night. However, as she fell asleep that night, she finally understood a part of her parent’s relationship. Being close to your Maestro was nice... heavenly even.