Zorome had gotten the rest of the squad, aside from Zero Two, Miku, and Hiro, to come to the lounge. He had told them what happened. Now they were sitting together, waiting anxiously for their squad leader and her FranXX partner to return from looking out for the source of the loud noises.

"Are you sure you heard a noise?" Futoshi asked nervously.

"Of course I am!" Zorome snapped. "I'm not stupid, I know what I heard...and it was weird." He shuddered. 

Kokoro, who was sitting on the couch with Mitsuru across from Zorome, Ikuno, and Futoshi, scooted closer to Mitsuru with a fearful expression on her face. "I hope it's not anything too bad. I really hope it's not a klaxosaur..." 

Mitsuru wrapped his arm around Kokoro and murmured something softly into her ears that Zorome couldn't catch. It was probably something sappy that he didn't want to hear anyways.

Something that I might tell Miku someday...ugh... Although Zorome hadn't had much time to dwell on his feelings for her that day, they crept up whenever he thought about her for one moment too long. A sudden horrifying thought struck him. If she's sick that means that if there is any trouble she might have it worse than the rest of us. Both her and Hiro. He tried to push the thought aside. 

The five squad members sat in anxious silence as they awaited the arrival of Goro and Ichigo. Zorome was tapping his feet. Futoshi had gotten up for a brief moment to get some bread that had been baked with breakfast that morning and brought it back to stress-eat. Ikuno was gazing toward the doorway, her expression tense. Mitsuru and Kokoro were huddled together. 

He looks pretty protective of Kokoro. It's like he doesn't want anything bad to happen to her. I feel that way about Miku... Zorome thought as he looked over at the couple for a moment. Just then, the door opened and Ichigo walked in with Goro at her side. She walked over to the center of the room and everyone turned their eyes toward her. Her movements were stiff and her shoulders were tense. Zorome knew whatever she was going to say wasn't going to be good news.

Ichigo took a deep breath before speaking. "We heard the strange noises that Zorome told us about. I assume he told the rest of you." She looked around at Futoshi, Mitsuru, and Ikuno who all nodded in unison before she continued to speak. "We sat there for a good hour before we finally saw it. I had my suspicions that it was a Klaxosaur...and I was correct."

The other squad members grew still at Ichigo's words.

"Are we going to do something about it?" Futoshi asked. 

Before Ichigo could respond to Futoshi's question, Zorome stood up. "Of course we are! If there are Klaxosaurs nearby we're going to need to fight them and show them that this is our turf! Even if we failed to protect our plantation, we still have to fight!"

"Zorome," Ichigo eyed him sternly. "We are going to do something. However, we cannot just hop into our FranXX and jump into battle. Without Nana, Hachi, and the adults to guide us we have no idea what we're up against. We'll need to scout the area out first. And we shouldn't send everyone out at once, either."

"Then who's going to go?" Kokoro asked softly. Nervously. "Argentea is our scouting FranXX, right? But Miku's sick..."

Zorome frowned. He didn't like the idea of being left behind, not being able to show off his skills to his friends. "Are you sure she can't pilot?" He asked. "Is she any better today?" As much as he hated that Miku was sick, he also hated the thought of missing out on any action. 

"No," Ichigo replied. "She cannot pilot. She is too unwell for that and it would be dangerous for her to do so. Argentea will not be able to scout for us. Strelitzia won't be able to either, although she is the best FranXX we have. That leaves me, Genista, and Chlorophytum."

"So which one of us will it be?" Mitsuru asked. 

"I think it should be...," Ichigo paused, clearly thinking her choice through. "Delphinium. Goro and I should go. Genista should stay behind and stand guard here in the dome in case things go wrong. We may not have the adults or Nana and Hachi here to help us, but we will find a way to figure this out. We have to." Her expression was somber. 

"Yes, good idea," Goro said, nodding.

"I don't wanna be left out," Zorome muttered under his breath.

"Well you have no choice," Ichigo replied, giving him yet another stern look. "Your partner is sick. Far too sick to even eat properly, let alone pilot Argentea. You'll need to remain here for this mission."

"Fine," Zorome grumbled, averting his gaze. He did feel bad for how he was acting, partly because he truly did care about Miku's condition. But he also hated the thought of missing out on all the action and being left at the boarding house to worry about things. Piloting would've been something that could've helped get his mind off things...

"Let's go," Goro said sharply. "We shouldn't waste any time."

Mitsuru stood up. "Right," He said briskly. Kokoro got up as well. The four squad members then left the room and headed over to get into their FranXX, leaving Ikuno, Zorome, and Futoshi alone in the lounge...