Kuroo was suspicious of the quiet.

It was an entirely unusual quiet. Oh, the shrine was safe enough for now, despite some of the things the inhabitants got up to. He had to admit that Arisa knew what she was doing when it came to offering sanctuary. However, she could not do anything about the chaos. And it was almost always chaotic, to the point that Kuroo could not quite believe that in this very moment it was actually peaceful.

I suppose I should check that everything really is alright, just in case…then perhaps I can have a proper rest for a while.

Kuroo flapped its wings as he made a circuit of the shrine from above. It could see Kazuhiro in the nearby forests with his wolves, and Nyo in the sea, swimming around in circles while the android Orpheus stood by the shore watching her. Wisps of their music floated up to him, delicate as clouds, but it couldn't quite hear it. It was more something it felt from this far above, and it resisted the urge to swoop down lower, for reasons it couldn't fully explain to itself. Whatever those reasons were, it pushed them away as it continued his flight and saw another of the androids, a dark haired female wearing white and purple sitting alone in a corner staring down at her phone. It didn't see any of the others, but as it eventually decided to rest atop a tree just outside the shrine it had to acknowledge that nothing particularly annoying was happening.

"Ah, finally," Kuroo sighed to itself. "Peace and quiet."

Almost immediately after this, however, there was the distant sound of an explosion from somewhere deep within the shrine. Kuroo sighed, but in annoyance this time.

"And Jun."

It didn't even need to see what was going on to know that it was Jun's fault, somehow. Nine times out of the ten, it was usually Jun's fault and when it wasn't it was usually Mono. Sometimes Momoiro, but even so, Kuroo stood by its judgement that this explosion was Jun's fault. As such, because Kuroo saw no immediate signs of fire or the shrine collapsing it made no move to investigate. It simply could not be bothered with Jun's nonsense today.

Then there was another explosion, and another, followed by shrieks and laughter, the loudest of which immediately confirmed what Kuroo already knew. Whatever it is you're getting up to, I am going to give you a piece of my mind, I swear….Kuroo jumped off the very comfortable tree branch it had been on and swooped down towards the nearest shrine entrance…

…and almost got whacked in the face by a chunk of watermelon.

Kuroo squawked, flailing as it flew backwards, turning over and over before landing on the ground in a messy, feathery heap, watermelon on top of it.

"Kuroo-san! I'm so sorry!"

"No-Nora?"

Kuroo couldn't believe it. Nora sometimes got swept up in the silly antics of the likes of Jun and Mono, but she wasn't usually an instigator. Yet, here she was, picking up bits of watermelon and helping it to stand. She knelt before it, face creased.

"I'm so sorry, we didn't think the watermelon would explode that far!"

Footsteps and a very familiar cackling laughter announced the arrival of others behind Nora, and the young ikiryo whipped around.

"It hurt Kuroo-san! Come and apologise!"

"Whaaaaa? Why? That's funny! Hah, look at the bird, upside down like that! You look ridiculous, old guy!" Jun taunted.

"No, no….I'm not seriously hurt. Do not worry, Nora-san."

"O-oh!" Nora looked back at Kuroo and blushed. "Are you sure? You fell quite hard."

Nora was so wide-eyed and earnest that Kuroo couldn't quite keep up its annoyance when looking at was a little bruised, but it didn't want her to know that. It could live with bruises, after all.

"Just a few ruffled feathers." It said gruffly. "Anyway…."

Kuroo stood as tall as it could and glared at Jun and the others who were gathered- a number of the other androids along with Momoiro, Mono, Kotone and Hyouka. Almost every single one of them was covered in bits and pieces of watermelon. Momoiro, Hyouka were each eating a larger piece, while the green haired android was feeding another piece to Kotone, in feline form and draped across the android's shoulder.

"What on earth were you doing?" Kuroo asked them all crossly.

Momoiro answered, but since she was chewing the words came out garbled.

"Now, now, you know it is rude to talk with your mouth full," Mono said with a laugh. "However, we were simply conducting a science experiment. A very simple children's science experiment that Persephone-chan showed us. "

At this, Persephone held up a small, colourful-looking book with pictures of young humans on it holding glass tubes. Kuroo could only conclude it was some kind of artefact from the human age, although why Persephone would have it was utterly beyond it.

"We exploded watermelons, using rubber bands. Thousands of them. Mono had the rubber bands and…"

"I stole the watermelons!" Jun boasted. "But I had too many to eat all by myself, so when I saw Seph looking at that thing in the book I was like 'hey let's do it' and well, we did it!"

"I feel like I may regret asking this," Kuroo said. "But what exactly is exploding watermelons an experiment for?"

"Potential energy moving towards becoming kinetic energy!" Nora proclaimed proudly. "It's the kinetic energy from the rubber bands that makes the watermelon explode, once there are enough on there!"

"I see."

This was a lie. If anything, it was now more confused than he had been before. Kuroo understood the concepts of energy well enough, but it wasn't entirely sure what watermelons and rubber bands had to do with anything. It was not entirely sure he wanted to know any more, despite the dozens of questions that it still had.

"Haha, I bet that it really freaked you out!" Jun said.

"One does not expect to be rudely hit by pieces of flying fruit, no." Kuroo commented acidly.

"We're so sorry, Kuroo-san!" Nora exclaimed, wringing her hands. "We really are. I hope we didn't disturb your rest."

"Oh, you were resting? Oh, you poor thing!" Persephone suddenly exclaimed.

Even more inexplicably, she suddenly knelt down so that she was almost eye level to Kuroo. Kotone, still on her shoulder, did not seem bothered. Indeed, now she'd finished eating watermelon she'd apparently fallen asleep.

"You're actually kinda cute, with your three legs and all. Awww, we'll make sure that once we're cleared up that we're quie-"

"I won't!"

With this interruption, Jun ran off and for some inexplicable reason this made Momoiro chase off after him. Persephone turned to glare at them both, but once they were gone she looked back at Kuroo.

"Oh, I know! Come with me! Orph and Nyo should be finished practising-we're going to record them, you know, for the humans, But you should listen to them too for they are so very soothing! Come, I'll take you."

Before Kuroo could reach, Persephone had suddenly scooped him up, clutching him tight to her as though it was nothing more than a child's cuddly toy. She even had the audacity to pat its head as she set off striding, yelling something to the others about leaving the rest to them. Kuroo squawked in protest, but Persephone seemed cheerily oblivious as she carried it firmly and eventually, Kuroo had to resign itself to being held. However, as they got closer to the bay, it found that the feeling was not wholly unwelcome. There was something solid and reassuring, if a little cold, about the feel of her arms. It was almost comfortable.

When they finally got to the bay, it almost didn't want her to let go. However, he made a show of seeming like it was all too pleased when she loosened her grip and he flew out to sit atop a nearby bush. It was at this point Kuroo realised Hyouka and Cassandra had followed them too, with some sort of equipment which they set up as Orpheus and Nyo got themselves comfortable.

"Alright," Persephone said. "We'll be recording in three…two…one…GO!"

A green light flickered into life on one of the devices, and Orpheus and Nyo started their song. It was the same one that Kuroo had heard from high above earlier, the delicate, cloud-like music. However, where before wisps of it had only just managed to brush at it, this time the music wrapped all around it, pulling all the tension away from it muscles and making it disappear. Reassuring, and solid despite its delicacy. It reminded it a little of being held on the way here, the comforting support of that.

It glanced askance at Persephone, and saw that she was sitting quietly, legs crossed and face tranquil. Kotone curled up on her lap, still apparently asleep as Persephone petted her. Nearby, Cassandra and Hyouka sat together, finding kinship in their silence as they swayed slightly to the song. Then, of course, there were Orpheus and Nyo, perfectly in sync, smiling at each other as their instrument and voice layered over each other, creating this beautiful sound that stretched out everywhere.

Ah, finally, Kuroo thought inside its head this time, closing its eyes, peace and quiet.

And this time, nothing interrupted it.