Darling in the Franxx: Homecoming

Chapter 14- Partner Shuffle

"Hey Ichigo, look at this," you say showing her a piece of paper. The two of you were currently having your morning meeting about squad performance. The sheet shows the kill counts of the past month for each Franxx. Strelitzia leads by a long shot with 102. Terraria is next with 86. Delphinium close behind at 83. Argentea and Genista follow with 70 and 63. Finally at the bottom is Chlorophytum with only 49. 

"You guys are getting pretty good," you compliment, "It won't be to long until everyone has numbers like ours." "Yeah, it looks like Goro and I might just beat you next time," Ichigo replies with a smile. She then frowns looking to the bottom of the page. "Chlorophytum is still low."

"We may need to talk with Ikuno and Mitsuru," you suggest. "No, not yet," Ichigo says sharply, "Ikuno is trying her hardest to make things work." You sigh, "I know she is Ichigo, but the numbers don't lie. They've been the lowest by a significant margin for three months strait. I want things to work for them as much as you, maybe they just need some help," you say, though you highly doubt Mitsuru would like anything of the sort.

"They need to figure things out," Ichigo repeats, "Ikuno says she thinks she has almost figured out the problem." "I can tell you the problem Ichigo," you state, "Mitsuru cares about nothing and no one. I don't think he could connect with anyone else in the squad if he had to. The only reason he can with Ikuno is because they've been partners from the beginning."

"Don't say that," Ichigo hisses, "They are our squad mates, we have to support them," "We need to be careful then, you've seen their paracapacity scores, right?" you ask, "They are barely strong enough to keep Chlorophytum running." "That isn't Ikuno's fault," Ichigo defends her. You suddenly realize why Ichigo was so against intervening, she didn't want to upset Ikuno.

You put down the papers and look across the table at Ichigo, "Ichigo, I am not trying to say that Ikuno is doing something wrong. In fact, her scores are more than stable. I've seen how things are between her and Mitsuru also. I know Ikuno wishes he would accept her as his partner but, he has no interest in trying to change." Ichigo looks down at the table, "How about we try talking to Ikuno first?" you ask, "Maybe then we can work something out with her to try and improve things." Ichigo nods, "Alright, we'll talk to her after the mission today," she stands, "But we'd better get dressed, we have to be out there soon."

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"So what exactly is S-Planning anyway?" Zorome asks. "I don't know," Hiro replies, "Maybe they are digging for something?" he suggests. "That's an excavator for sure," you answer, "As to what they are digging for I have no idea." "It's probably not good," Zero Two says, "I'm about to choke on the stench of Klaxosaurs." Now that she mentions it there does seem to be a smell lingering about. It's metallic yet organic, you ask Kyu, but she hasn't noticed it.

The two of you are sitting in Terraria waiting for the next wave of Klaxosaur. They seem to come every several hours, but there are never to many, and they are always identical. As you wait you have the misfortune of hearing Futoshi and Kokoro's conversation in Genista, one of them having left the com unit on broadcast.

"It's amazing to think we've improved so much that they would send us on this special mission," Futoshi says. "It's all thanks to you," Kokoro replies, "You do so much to help me carry the burden." "Of course I do!" Futoshi exclaims, "If anything were to happen to you it would be my responsibility." Good, you think, he is focused on supporting her like we talked about several weeks ago.

"So, uh, Kokoro," Futoshi stutters, you can hear the nervousness in his voice, "Since I am doing my best to be the best partner you could have," he pauses, and you look at Terraria's face on the monitor. She does not look pleased with where this is going. "You know something I don't?" you ask her. "Well, it's just Futoshi can be kind of possessive with Kokoro," she replies, "He likes her in a different way then she likes him, and I am worried about what he will say."