Darling in the Franxx: Homecoming

Chapter 7- Raising the Stakes

A day later you are standing with the rest of Squad 13 at one of the borders of Mistilteinn. You had gathered in the afternoon to watch the preparations for the kissing between Plantation 13 and Plantation 26.

"Plantation 13 will now commence the kissing with Plantation 26," the loudspeaker announces. Zorome turns to his partner.

"So, remind me what this kissing thing is again?" he asks.

"You've watched this long and still have no clue?" Miku taunts.

"Oh yeah? Then what is it?" Zorome demands, his left eye twitching. "Well, it's, uh," Miku stammers. "Oh! It's when two plantations are stuck together," she confidently states.

"It's important because the two plantations share their magma fuel reserves," Goro replies. "It uses that pipe for the transfer," Ikuno adds. "That fuel's essential, not just for powering the Franxx but for the plantation too. It's the key to our survival," Mitsuru dryly states.

Squad 13 looks to you and Kyu, you nod. "And you said there would be lots of Klaxosaur, right?" Zorome asks. "Yes," Kyu replies. "All right!" Zorome exclaims "We can prove to Papa what we can really do!" "It sounds like it will be really tough," Futoshi says worriedly. "Don't worry about it," Hiro reassures him. "Now that we have Strelitzia and Terraria on our team it should be easy."

"Ichigo," you ask, "Anything from Nana or Hachi on when the ceremony will be?" "I just got word," she replies. "The ceremony will take place in two hours. We are to be in our dress uniforms for it." "We'd probably better get going then," Goro says, "We don't want to be late for the ceremony and I can't ever seem to get the cape right on those uniforms."

"I just hate them in general," you grumble. "They are so itchy and every time we wear them we have to stand for several hours." "You'll be fine, you big baby," Kyu pokes. "Yeah, well I'm going to complain the whole time and guess who gets to listen to it?" you retort.

The others laugh as you and Kyu continue to bicker during the walk back to the boarding house.

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The ceremony was long and boring as you'd expected. The leaders of both plantations talked about the large number of Klaxosuars that would surely come and how through your bravery the plantations would prevail. Squad 13 was amazed by the attention they were given by the adults and drank up every minute in the spotlight. Zorome in particular was having the time of his life, waving so much you were surprised his arm didn't fall off.

Afterward you all returned to Mistilteinn to retire for the night.

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The next morning you awake to Goro putting on his clothes. "Good, you're up." He says, "Now just to get Hiro." You climb down from your bunk while Goro finishes dressing. As you do you notice that Hiro appears to be in a cold sweat. "Hiro, time to get up." Goro orders.

Reluctantly Hiro leaves the bed as you dress. As Hiro moves to find his clothes he stumbles slightly. Then while dressing he takes significantly longer than usual to finish the simple task. He seems to favor his left side and doesn't face you while he dresses. You catch a glimpse of his chest as he puts on his shirt, there is something there that shouldn't be. A large blue growth. "You alright?" Goro asks, "You're really sluggish this morning." "Yeah, I'm fine," Hiro replies in a quick nervous tone walking out of the room. He's hiding something, and that growth I've seen it before.

The three of you find the rest of Squad 13 in the lounge. As you enter Zorome is imitating one of the speeches from the night before. "We believe that you are up to the coming challenge. You are strong and will surely bring us victory!" he recites. Several of the others laugh at his impression of the adults.