A New Generation: A ZoroMiku Story

50: Zorome's Breakdown

Miku

"Zorome, what's wrong? You've been moping around almost all day!" 

Twelve hours had passed and all Zorome had done was eat, go to the bathroom, and sulkily kick his ball around outside. That hadn't been at all what Miku had been expecting him to do knowing they'd be going back to normal and she was beginning to worry about him. 

"Huh?" Zorome, who'd been sitting at the foot of his bed tapping his pencil against his notepad, looked up at her. "Oh...it's fine."

Miku, who'd just got out of the bathroom after changing into her nightclothes, put her hands on her hips. "Pfft, Zorome, you're such a bad liar. I know something's bothering you. What is it?" 

Zorome glared at her. "What?! For one thing, I'm not bad at anything! I'm Zorome The Great! B-but uh, I wasn't lying."

Miku rolled her eyes and proceeded to give Zorome a long, hard, prying look. He tried to return her gaze for a moment then gave in. This was a tactic she used a lot to get information out of him because it never failed. He was so predictable!

"Fine," Zorome sighed. "It's just...it's just that..."

"I'm listening," Miku said, though her voice had since softened. Zorome looked so stressed. It was a very rare sight and it made her feel sad. She wanted to help him feel better, especially if they were going to start going back to teaching meetings in a couple of days. She also realized they had yet to let the others know they'd be ready to return, though they'd promised they'd still hold less important meetings while Miku recovered from the attack. 

"Well...this whole Hyaku thing has made me a bit protective of you," Zorome was looking down at his knees, heavily averting his eyes from Miku. The boy was also blushing as he spoke. "I mean, like, we don't really know these people all that well. We've only been here for a couple of months, not long enough to know them like we do Squad 13. I mean, yeah, I hated Hyaku's guts but I never thought the guy would try killing us!"

"I've thought about that too," Miku admitted. She felt relieved that she wasn't the only one who'd harboured thoughts like that recently. "But I don't think we have anything to worry about from the rest of the teachers. They've shown us nothing but support!" She reasoned. 

"Yeah, I guess that's true...," Zorome sighed. "But what if one of the other ones goes insane the way Hyaku did? Hyaku wasn't always like that. What if that happens to one of the other teachers...what if that happens to our friends or even us?" His voice was barely more than a whisper and his purple eyes conveyed his troubled feelings. 

Zorome

Zorome's self-consciousness faded away as he poured his emotions out to Miku. He was lost in his own thoughts, his own fears. It felt natural for him to simply continue explaining his thoughts to her at that moment. "I mean if it's a problem with his emotions, doesn't that mean it could happen to any one of us at some point?" He asked. 

Miku sat down beside him, causing the bed to move a little as she did so. 

"Maybe," She admitted. "But I don't think that will happen to all of us. I think it's worse for some people compared to others. I think Hyaku's experience was different. Maybe he saw something that we didn't that caused losing his partner to affect him so much."

"Yeah, maybe," Zorome agreed. "But that still doesn't mean it can't happen."

"It doesn't sound like something that can't be fixed," Miku reasoned. "Maybe someday Hyaku will get better. Maybe we'll get better if it happens to us or someone we care deeply about. But we have to hope that it won't happen."

"B-but Miku," Zorome's eyes began to water. "I don't want to lose you! What if someone else tries to kill you because of it... What if someone tries because they go crazy like he did?" He found himself leaning toward Miku, wrapping his arms around her. He buried his head in her chest and began to cry. 

"It'll be okay," Miku's voice was soothing. She gently put her hand on the back of his head as she spoke. "I'm stronger now. I won't ever let my guard down again, I promise. But I can't live my life distrusting all of our friends, new and old. Life is about taking risks, right? You like taking risks!"

Zorome sniffed and straightened again, wiping tears from his eyes with his hands. "Yeah, you're right. We're stronger than most people, right? I mean, we piloted Argentea, the best FranXX ever!"

"Yeah! So stop being a crybaby and let's get back to business tomorrow!" Miku stood up and smiled, looking proudly at him.

"Hey! I ain't a crybaby!" Zorome retorted.

"Yeah, whatever," Miku waved her hand dismissively at him as she yawned. "Why don't we just go to bed? I'm tired! I can't wait to tell the other teachers the good news tomorrow!"

"Yeah, I'm tired too," Zorome sighed. "I had a pretty crappy sleep last night."

With that, the two former parasites said goodnight to each other and climbed into their beds. Miku crawled under the covers but Zorome, who was feeling warm, decided to lie on top of his. Then, when he closed his eyes, he had a peaceful and regenerating sleep instead of one full of nightmares and fear. Opening up his emotions to Miku had worked after all.