Zorome was the last one to the mess hall to make breakfast, which he had expected considering it had taken him forever to finish up getting ready for the day. Futoshi grinned at him when he arrived with a piece of dough sticking out from his mouth. The others were too focused on whatever they were making for breakfast to pay Zorome any attention.

"Sup?" Zorome asked, squeezing in beside Futoshi and Ikuno. He was purposely not trying to look at or be near Miku. He felt very strange now that he knew he had some sort of attachment to her that he didn't have with anyone else...that he didn't want with anyone else. He wasn't ready to confront his feelings just yet.

"We're making fresh bread!" Futoshi replied after he swallowed the mouthful of dough. "Ikuno found some stuff we can use to cook them and found a recipe book as well!"

"Oh, that's epic!" Zorome replied, running his tongue across his lips at the prospect of eating a whole loaf of bread. He only then realized how hungry he was and he wanted to stuff himself full of food. "I'm starving!"

"Then hurry up and help us," Miku called cheerfully from the other end of the room. She was at one of the tables kneading some dough with her hands. Kokoro, who was at the table with her, also seemed content with what she was doing.

"Sure," Zorome said. "Uh, what should I do?" He looked over at Ichigo who was directly across from him.

"Help Kokoro and Miku knead the dough," Ichigo replied without looking up from whatever she was doing, which appeared to be rolling up balls of dough with flour.

Zorome hesitated for a moment, his gaze flicking over to where Miku and Kokoro were cheerfully using their hands to squash the dough up. He didn't quite feel ready to be so close to Miku and the thought made a weird feeling stir up in his chest and stomach.

"Go on now," Ikuno said, giving him an annoyed look. "You're in my personal space, Zorome."

"Okay," Zorome reluctantly headed over to the table to join Miku and Kokoro.

"You're finally here," Miku remarked, giving Zorome an amused look. She rolled a ball of unflattened dough over to him. "You're not usually up this late. Anyway, knead this."

Zorome stood beside her and began working into the dough with his hands, massaging it with his fists. He tried not to think about how he felt about Miku at the moment, though that was hard for him since she was right beside him, smiling as she dealt with her own dough.

After a while his arms began to grow tired so he began to imagine that the dough was an enemy klaxosaur, which gave him more energy to flatten the dough. He began to pound it energetically, punching it while imagining that he was in the FranXX.

"HA!" He blurted out loud without meaning to. "I'Ll DESTROY YOU, DAMN KLAXOSAUR!" He grinned as he shouted.

"Stop being such a child!" Miku snapped, bringing him back to reality. She stepped back and crossed her arms, frowning at him. "We're making breakfast, not fighting enemies, but you seem to be too dumb to notice that."

Nobody was paying too much attention to them now, as outbursts and bickering between the two were normal. Kokoro only looked mildly surprised that Zorome had shouted.

"Shut up," Zorome responded to Miku. "At least I'm having fun with my creative brain." He pointed to his head.

Miku scoffed, rolling her blue-green eyes. "Just try to be quiet, okay? Keep in mind we're going to be eating this food as well, so maybe try not to pinch it through the table." She huffily turned back to her own dough.

Zorome scowled and grunted but went back to kneading his dough. Not long later, however, he accidentally hit Miku's side with his elbow.

"Hey!" Miku cried indignantly. "Watch it!"

"Maybe don't stand so close to me," Zorome retorted.

"You're the one that came and stood right beside me, moron!" Miku shot back, putting her flour-dusted hands on her hips as she turned her body to face Zorome. She was glaring at him through narrowed eyes. "That was your fault in every way!"

"You could've moved!" Zorome pointed out. He was feeling both irritated and flustered. He truly hadn't meant to elbow his FranXX partner and start an argument first thing. But he should've guessed that not bickering was impossible between the two of them no matter what time of the day it was. His face was flushing from anger and the slightly awkward twinge in his chest.

"No need to argue guys!" Kokoro spoke up with a hint of nervousness in her tone. "It looks like we're about finished anyway!"