August 16th, 2047

Currently, Akiri is at a gas station in the middle of a secluded area, filling up his car with fuel.

After waiting for the fuel tank to be filled, he places the nozzle back to the pump and went towards the passenger side window where Fantaisie is waiting quietly inside.

"I'm going to the store. You want anything?" He asked.

"Anything would be fine."

"Alright." He said before walking inside the gas station store.

After a few minutes, he walked outside the store carrying a small plastic bag, as well as two hotdogs.

"Here. Extra hot sauce." He said, handing over the hotdog with an excessive amount of red sauce on it, to the point that the bun is completely soaked with the sauce.

She took the food from him. "Thank you." She then started eating her hotdog as if the abundance of hot sauce isn't a bother to her, rather, she seemed to enjoy it more as a smile grew on her face.

"I still don't get how you can handle spicy things..." Akiri commented, taking a bite of his own hotdog that had only the basic toppings.

"What do you mean?" She asked while still chewing her food and with her head slightly tilted.

"Nevermind... And don't talk with your mouth full." He said with a sigh and the two continued consuming their small meal.

After they are done, they cleaned themselves a little before Akiri started up the car and he drives off, continuing their journey.

"This isn't the planned route to our location." Fantaisie said as she turns her head towards him.

"How did you know?"

"You told me to study the map." She replied and she pulled out a large map and unfolded it. "Continuing through this road will add another forty-one minutes to our journey. May I ask your reasoning behind the detour?" She asked.

"The Symphonica Party is coming to a nearby town this morning and tomorrow as well. There will be music, and that means there's a high chance of D2 showing up..." He replied, keeping his eyes on the road.

Along the trip, Fantaisie noticed that he would occasionally shake his head to keep himself awake, and even sometimes giving his face a light slap. With his shoulders slumped, he then released a yawn and Fantaisie decided to call it out.

"Maestro. You haven't slept in the last twenty-nine hours. I suggest that we stop to take a rest."

"I don't have time for that. We only have an hour until the festival starts. We can't be late." He said.

"But-"

"I'll be fine. Quit worrying about small things like this." He waves her off as he kept on driving despite him clearly feeling exhausted. Fantaisie kept looking at him with a worried expression.

(Timeskip)

"You're detecting any D2 yet?" Akiri asked.

"Negative. The area seems clear." Fantaisie answered.

Currently, the two are at the top of a tall building, overlooking the ongoing festival. Fantaisie was sitting on the ledge, while Akiri is standing next to her with his arms crossed.

"This is a festival?" Fantaisie whispered as she was looking at the sights with looks of fascination on her face.

The venue is loud and festive, with children laughing happily, playing around, with their parents struggling to keep them in check. A variety of carnival rides and attractions are littered around the area.

"So colourful... I want to go there." She said as she turns towards him.

He pinched the bridge of his nose "No. D2 could appear at any minute. We need to focus."

"Understood, Maestro..." She said with a quiet voice as she lowered her head, feeling a bit downhearted.

A few moments later, they then heard someone giving a speech on the stage.

"It has been four years since Grand Maestro Sagan called a truce." The Symphonica officer recited to the people gathered there. "The threat of D2 is not completely gone, but we are still heading toward restoration without fail. We hope that today's festival will help you all hope for the future."

"Hope for the future? What a joke."

Akiri thought.

"There's no future unless the D2 is eradicated completely. And with the way those idiots at Symphonica are handling the situation, I doubt that they can do anything about it..."

As they looked around the area some more, Akiri had noticed that there was a grand piano set up on a stage and his expression turned sour. There were also two girls standing next to it, one with ginger hair tied into a ponytail, and the other had short blonde hair.

"Tch... Playing music again... Have those idiots forgotten why we don't play music anymore?" He muttered with a bit of spite in his voice.

(Timeskip)

After a few hours, lots of people had started to gather in front of the stage, waiting for the person to play the piano to arrive.

The sky had a slight orange tint to it as the sun is beginning to set.

"The performer is late." Said Fantaisie, assessing the situation.

"It'd be better if they didn't come at all." Akiri mumbled. "If they know any better, they should've just destroyed that piano along with every other musical instruments."

A few minutes later, they saw a boy with black hair, wearing a black long-sleeved shirt coming up to the stage. He then sat on the stool and began to play a cheery and heartfelt song as the crowd started cheering.

"He's good. Almost as good as you, Maestro" Fantaisie commented, although the boy beside her doesn't seem to think the same as she saw that he still had a bored expression on his face.

They heard the crowd's cheer growing louder as the performer kept playing and Akiri just kept looking on.

"Maestro. Can I ask you something?" Fantaisie asked, breaking the silence that has been going on for a few minutes.

"No." He refuses, however, Fantaisie decided to ask her question anyway.

"Why do you not like music?" She asked, slightly tilting her head. "With the way you play, one might assume that you have a passion for music, yet you've repeatedly expressed negative feelings towards it."

"It's nothing more than a nuisance. People should just forget about ever playing music ever again." He replied, still watching the performance below as a blonde-haired girl had joined in and they played in a duet. "The only thing it's useful for now is to attract D2s."

"Didn't you used to enjoy playing music in the past?"

He turns his head towards her with a surprised expression.

"How do you know about that?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"The grand piano back at your house. And your vinyl record collection. And also the numerous crumpled up music sheets in the trash bin that seems to be composed by you. Like this one."

She said, showing him a piece of music sheet that looks like it had been crumpled up. The piece ends abruptly halfway, implying that it is incomplete. On the top of the page, there was a writing; For Selene.

"Who's Selene?"

She asked as he immediately snatches the piece of paper out of her hand and shoves it into his pocket without saying anything.

Even hearing the name, he started recalling memories. Memories that he buried deep down, forcing himself to forget. He gritted his teeth, and his fists tighten in response.

"...Don't you ever speak that name-"

"D2."

As she cuts him off, they felt the ground tremble beneath their feet, followed by the loud sound of an explosion. Looking ahead, they saw that the festival have been attacked.

The tents around the venue are up in flames, the area turned dark as the sunlight was blocked by dark smoke and ash filling the air above. Screams of panic and confusion were heard as the people at the venue are frantically trying to run away.

"What the- Why didn't you tell me earlier?!"

He shouted as he turns towards the girl, completely furious.

"I've just detected it a few seconds ago."

"You good-for-nothing Musicart...!" He growled before looking back to see multiple D2s appearing all around the area, attacking the fleeing citizens. He then looks back towards his Musicart.

"What are you waiting for? Go!"

Fantaisie nodded and leapt off the ledge. As she falls down, she transforms with a flash of blue light and Akiri's arm disappears as per usual. At the same time, Fantaisie throws over the conductor's baton towards Akiri and he catches it.

The tarmac cracks as she landed on the ground and summons her scythe before twirling it, with blue petals fluttering around her.

"Concerto commence!"

At the swing of his baton, Fantaisie started to fight off the invading D2s as Akiri went down the elevator to get to the ground.

Fantaisie kept moving around, going for the monsters that were attacking civilians, making protecting the people her main priority. She swings her scythe with speed and precision, making sure not to accidentally harm any nearby people that were still running away from the area in a chaotic manner.

"How are there so many of them?" Akiri said, arriving at the scene with widened eyes as he saw the horde of D2 attacking the venue.

"I'm detecting an unusual noise, coming from that direction." Fantaisie points towards the rooftop of a tall building nearby and Akiri saw some sort of purple light on it.

"The hell is that...?"

He thought.

"Maestro. More is incoming."

True to her words, loud roaring was heard echoing in the distance, indicating that more of the monsters are fast approaching.

Looking around, Akiri saw that there are still a few people left trapped, unable to get to safety. "Fantaisie, I need you to clear a path. Our priority is to get the civilians to safety."

"Affirmative." She acknowledged as with a thrust of his baton, she went running off to fight off more of the D2s to clear a path to safety.

"Everyone, this way!" He shouted, motioning a group of people towards a path that has been cleared, and they immediately ran towards it and the two continued to deal with the other D2s that were rushing over to attack them.

As Akiri and Fantaisie were fending off the horde of monsters, they suddenly heard another explosion happening nearby, followed by a bright flash of red light.

"What was that?" He exclaimed as he looked towards where the explosion had happened and from the large cloud of smoke, emerges what appears to be a Musicart, wielding a golden sword.

"Another Musicart?"

He thought as he watches her start to kill off every D2 in sight.

He then noticed who the Conductor was, it was the black-haired boy who was playing the piano, now with his right arm completely gone. Looking back at the Musicart, he noticed that she looks similar to the girl who was playing with the boy and he knew what had happened.

"I see..."

He watches as the newly created Musicart brutally destroys any D2 that stood in her way and Akiri notices how hard the Conductor is making her fight, every move she makes seemed like overkill.

"He's making her use too much power. At that rate, they'll pass out before they could even take out the rest of the D2..."

He thought before looking back towards his Musicart.

"Fantaisie. We need to end this quick."

His Musicart just nodded as Akiri began to guide her every movement and motion with every wave of his baton to kill off the last remaining D2s.

"Show no mercy. Eliminate them!"

Akiri heard the other Conductor shout and he turns his head to see that his Musicart is now pointing its weapon forwards, and a red ball of energy began charging up.

"Wait! That's too much-!" Akiri shouted to try and stop them, but it was too late as the Musicart fired off the huge energy shot straight towards a small group of D2s.

Just as Akiri predicted, the single shot decimated the D2s, along with demolishing the nearby apartment buildings.

He looked back towards the two to see that the Musicart is now lying on the ground, back in her normal form and the boy fell on his knees.

"Looks like they're already out of fuel."

He thought as he saw many more D2 appearing, surrounding the two.

"Fantaisie!" He shouted and the girl responded by jumping over the group of monsters and she landed next to the two unconscious people before getting into a defensive stance.

"Damn... I'm getting tired..."

He stopped for a moment, trying to catch his breath.

"Maybe I should've listened to Fantaisie..."

"Maestro!" Fantaisie shouted worriedly before she had to block an attack from a D2.

Akiri then heard the sound of an approaching vehicle and he turned around to see a large man and a girl with orange hair, tied into twintails, on a motorcycle stopping in front of him.

"Yo! Akiri." The man greeted with a smile and friendly wave as he got off his bike.

"Lenny-san...?" He seemed to recognize the man.

"Hey, Akiri-tan! Fantaisie-tan!" The orange-haired girl said with a cheerful tone.

"You've done well to hold them off." The man said as he walked forwards. "Let us handle this." He pulls out a conductor's baton. "It's showtime!"

At his order, the orange-haired girl hopped off the bike and started to take out the D2s using her rifle.

As the man continued conducting his Musicart, Akiri slumped down to the ground, catching his breath as he felt his eyelids getting heavier, and his whole body is feeling numb.

Seeing him fall over, Fantaisie returned to her normal form and she immediately ran over towards him.

"Maestro. Are you okay?" She asked as she knelt down beside him.

"Yeah... I'm fine..." He replied. "I just need... a little... rest..." He then blacked out, falling unconscious as Fantaisie caught him before he hits the ground.

Unknown to any of them, on top of a nearby building, a mysterious figure was watching them from above before leaving the site.

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(A/N: So I decided to release one more preview chapter. Keep in mind that this book is still not complete yet, and I can't start working on it at least until the anime finishes airing.

I hope you enjoyed this rather short chapter, and as always, thanks for reading.)