Yasuto and Kyouko met with Nana and Hachi in a briefing room that overlooked the city below during a meeting to see how well they were adapting to Squad 13. They also wanted to discuss Zero Two. "I see you two are adapting well," Nana told them. "Papa made a good choice bringing you two to Squad 13."
"He did," Yasuto replied as he bowed in respect. He then stood back up again. "Life in a regular squad wasn't for us, I guess."
Then, Kyouko raised her hand to get the attention of Nana and Hachi. The latter asked, "Yes, Code 099?"
"I would like to make a note about Code 002," Kyouko began. "We both think that something happened while she and Code 016 were piloting. Whatever it was, it ensured that Code 016 can only successfully pilot with Code 002, hence why he was unable to pilot with Code 015."
Nana took about a minute to process what she just heard. Then, she sighed. "I... I don't want to believe that, but... There have been cases where the bond between two pilots is so strong they cannot physically pilot with other parasites. Aren't you two one of those cases?"
"Indeed," Yasuto replied. "We are, Code 0-" He then very suddenly stopped himself, almost calling Nana by her old code number. "Sorry, I'm a bit tired. I meant Nana." He thought to himself as Kyouko gave him a 'REALLY?!' look, "Fuck, that was waaaaay too close."
"I see," Nana replied as she looked over a folder's contents. "We will have to take that into consideration. Don't tell anyone else about this yet."
"We promise," they both said at the same time, lying to her since they had already told Zero Two. Both of them thought, "We've already broken it..."
In the lounge area of the mansion, Futoshi, Kokoro, Zorome, Ikuno, Kyouko, Mitsuru, Miku, and Yasuto relaxed and talked about the fight the day before. "I imagine the whole mishap Delphinium had during the fight put the kibosh on Hiro being a parasite," Futoshi said to the group, concerned for Hiro.
Ikuno pushed up her glasses and said to Kyouko, "You did say that the connection was brief according to Ichigo, right?"
"Yeah," she replied as she looked down at her hands on her lap. "It was not a pretty sight to see."
"I told you guys," Zorome once again arrogantly replied. "There's no way that weak shit would pilot. It was a foregone conclusion."
"Says the stamen who only could get a draw against an unstable pairing," Mitsuru added, reminding Zorome of his own failure.
He almost immediately shot back with, "Hey, that's because Miku fell over! That's not on me!"
Miku, annoyed, replied back to her partner, "My fault? Do you remember what you said that threw me off?"
Zorome scoffed, "Pfft, whatever. It doesn't matter anyway."
"Guys," Kokoro pleaded to the two of them. "Stop fighting already. You'll hurt your connectivity."
Yasuto then chimed in, adding to Kokoro's point, "Eh... Me and Kyouko were the same way when we first started, and look at us now." The two then met eyes and giggled. "You still annoy the hell out of me sometimes though."
"Yeah, yeah," Kyouko replied jokingly. "And you do, too."
"Either way," Ikuno interrupted their laughter with. "As I was saying, I don't think Papa would exactly accept a parasite who can't pilot."
"True," Futoshi replied, looking down at a piece of bread in his hand. "We saw so many kids disappear from the Garden because of that."
"It was so sad," Kokoro added. "Especially when Naomi had to leave."
For about a full minute, everyone remained silent, pondering to themselves about the thought of Hiro disappearing to wherever they thought rejected parasites went. Of course, only Kyouko and Yasuto knew the truth, and it horrified them. Kyouko thought to herself, "They may not be dead, but to have your consciousness and body trapped in a state of suspended animation like that through cryogenics is probably worse than dying."
Then, Miku piped up with some criticism of Squad 13's leader. "To be fair, it does seem like Ichigo is biased towards him for no reason. It's not good for a leader to do that." As she began to speak again, Kyouko and Yasuto noticed the subject of her criticism standing nearby and tried telling Miku through panicked body language to shut up, but she did not listen until it was too late. "It perplexes me how Goro puts up with that- aaaaand she's right behind me, isn't she?"
The two parasites nodded as Ichigo said to Miku in a stern voice, "How Goro puts up with what, exactly?"
Goro then walked in, hearing his name mentioned. "What's going on?"
"Aaaaand Goro's behind me, too, isn't he?" Miku then turned around as she gave what was possibly the worst poker face ever in an attempt to deny what she had said. "Eheheh... Nothing, Ichigo and Goro..."
"Look," Ichigo groaned. "I'm not biased or anything towards Hiro. I simply recognize that he has massive potential, and I will do everything in my power to unlock it, since that is what's best for the team as a whole. With an unlocked Hiro by our side, we will be unstoppable. Even if he was unconscious, he did save us. I believe in him."
"Ichigo," Mitsuru began. "I get why you're interested in him. But since he was unconscious, he was only taken for the ri-"
"I said it before," Yasuto interjected. "Stats from Strelizia's journey in that fight prove that there had to have been a stamen inside it with Zero Two, and Hiro is the only option."
"The stats could be wrong," Mitsuru said back to the older parasite. "It is said that Zero Two can pilot by herself even without that Stampede Mode you mentioned." He then turned back to Ichigo. "Hiro, even for a double-digit, was a cut above all of us. We were all certain he'd become our leader. But I guess real life had different plans for him. Hiro could not become a true parasite. He's not what he used to be. We need to stop trying with him. It's getting pathetic."
Later that evening, after dinner, Yasuto and Kyouko communicated with Dr. Franxx, who wanted to check in on both of them directly to see how they were adjusting. "I'm impressed," he said to the two. "I thought you two would find it hard to adjust since this most recent iteration of Squad 13 is brand new, but I guess you two fit right in."
"Yeah," Yasuto replied as he smiled. "I guess the fact that Squad 13 Mark III is an experimental custom squad helps. If this had been a regular mass-produced squad, we may have ran into issues."
As the two kept talking, Kyouko thought to herself, "Something just isn't adding up at all with Hiro's past. Children in the Garden don't just suddenly lose their abilities and go from the valedictorian of their group to failing the final tests. Something had to have happened to him, but I'm afraid to ask. I have a few ideas, but..."
Suddenly, Dr. Franxx asked Kyouko, "Hey, Kyouko, you seem a bit off. Is something bothering you?"
"Huh?" Kyouko was slightly startled by his question. "Oh... I... You don't have to answer this if the answer is confidential, Doctor, but..." She then took a deep breath. "Did something happen to Hiro in the Garden? You don't just suddenly lose your abilities like he did without any explanation."
Werner was startled by her question. He muttered under his breath," Shit..." He thought to himself, "How did they figure it out?" "All I can say is that we did run Hiro through a medical procedure, and there was a complication that may have damaged his abilities. I cannot get into what the procedure was or why it was done, unfortunately, due to that information indeed being confidential."
"I understand," Kyouko replied. In her head, she was frustrated by the half-assed answer given by him. "Damn it... They won't even tell us about the specifics... It had to have been bad."
"We have received sortie orders from HQ," Hachi said to the squad during a briefing.
Immediately, the reaction from everyone was of some nervousness and worry. Futoshi nervously asked, "What?! We're being sent to battle already?"
"Don't panic," Nana reassured all of them. "You won't be facing a large klaxosaur like before. In fact, this one is much smaller." She then used a clicker to pop up a holographic map of a magma energy mine. "You will be facing a Conrad-class that's been harassing this Level 8 mine. A Conrad-class is a bit smaller than a Franxx, so one shouldn't be able to overwhelm you by itself."
Hachi then added, "For this mission, Strelizia will not be taking part. Additionally, Heliconia will only be observing your progress from the ground above, and will only intervene if deemed necessary."
Both Yasuto and Kyouko were surprised. Kyouko raises her hand and asked, "Why exactly are we being relegated to the sidelines for this fight?"
"HQ wants the rest of Squad 13 to experience a fight without a highly experienced pair of pilots like yourself," Hachi explained to them. "Don't worry, this is only for this first fight. For all other fights after this, you two will be regular participants. As for the battle itself, Ichigo and Goro will have field command. That is all."
"Everyone," Hachi then finished with. "Godspeed, and get prepared to enter battle."
At the docking station, Kyouko and Ichigo talked to each other before going their separate ways. "Is the mock battle still bothering you?"
"I can't let it," the bluenette replied. "I'm the leader of the team, after all. If I break down, the whole operation collapses."
"True," Kyouko replied as she wrapped a shoulder around Ichigo to comfort her. "Hey, listen, I know what you did with Hiro in the cockpit of Delphinium. It's fine."
Immediately, Ichigo blushed in embarrassment. "I thought that that kissing thing would really work. I was wrong."
"Listen," Kyouko replied to her. "You can't tell anyone else, but me and Yasuto have been kissing for a long time. Truth is, it really has not much bearing on how well you connect with someone. We connect just the same as we did before we found out what kissing was so long ago." She then looked up and saw Hiro staring down at them from above. "I know that you're good friends with Hiro, best friends in fact. Look, one day, he'll find a partner he can truly ride with. It may not be you, but as long as he rides, you should be happy for him."
"You're right," Ichigo replied as she gave a smile. "Well, I'll see you out there, Kyouko. Thank you."
"No problem." The two then fist-bumped before going their separate ways.
About 10 minutes later, Squad 13 got ready, connecting with each other and starting up their Franxx units. As always, Yasuto and Kyouko were the first to fully connect, doing so with almost no hitch. Then, soon after Heliconia went live, Kyouko turned to Chlorophytum and noticed that it had not yet been activated. "Huh?" She decided to radio Mitsuru and Ikuno to see what was going on. "Hey, Mitsuru, Ikuno, what happened?"
Inside the cockpit of Chlorophytum, Ikuno grew more and more frustrated by the minute as she tried to keep connecting with Mitsuru. "Fucking hell, just connect already!" By now, sweat was pouring down her face and forming a puddle below her.
Mitsuru radioed to Kyouko, "We're stuck here."
"Damn it," Kyouko replied. She then radioed Ichigo. "Delphinium, I don't think Chlorophytum is gonna be able to get off the floor."
"Got it," Ichigo radioed back through Delphinium. "Delphinium to Headquarters, I am requesting that Chlorophytum be taken off of this mission or at least delayed due to a 10-27."
"10-4," a dispatcher at Cerasus Headquarters replied. "Chlorophytum, you can go 10-8 at this time."
"Chlorophtyum, 10-4," Ikuno reluctantly replied, not wanting to give up.
Kyouko then radioed Headquarters as Heliconia and the other three Franxx units rolled out. "Heliconia to Headquarters."
"Heliconia, go."
"Do you want us to take this assignment in as a 10-14, or hold fast as the 10-13?" Both her and Yasuto hoped that they would be able to get to fight.
"You can remain the 10-13 at this time," Headquarters replied back, disappointing both of them.
"10-4," Kyouko groaned.
Yasuto said to her, "That fucking sucks. Those three will have an even tougher time now."
FRANXX UNITS 10-CODES:
10-1: Call barracks by telephone
10-2: Return to barracks
10-3: Call Plantation Headquarters by telephone
10-4: Acknowledgement
10-5: Repeat your message
10-6: Stand by
10-7: Verify location of attack
10-8: In service on the air
10-9: Off the air
10-10: Current location
10-11: Give a radio test count
10-12: First-arriving Franxx unit give preliminary report
10-13: Assign Franxx unit to Rapid Intervention Team
10-14: Assign Franxx unit to Main Operations
10-15: Return all Franxx units except 1
10-16 Return all Franxx units except Leader Franxx unit
10-17: Proceed to location of attack at reduced speed
10-18: False alarm
10-19: Training sortie
10-20: Patrol sortie
10-21: Standby sortie
10-22: Reported Non-Klaxosaur Attack (e.g. other alien races, human warfare)
10-23: Reported Klaxosaur Attack
10-24: Non-Attack Sortie (e.g. natural disasters)
10-25: Confirmed Non-Klaxosaur Attack, auto-dispatch next closest squad to standby in loading dock
10-26: Search and Destroy Sortie
10-27: Franxx unit has lost connection
10-32: Protocol 32 activation
10-45: Injured civilians (Code 1=Dead, Code 2=Critical, Code 3=Serious, Code 4=Minor)
10-66: Mayday transmitted for missing, trapped, lost, and/or injured Franxx unit or parasite, auto-dispatch next two highest alarms, mobilize Rapid Intervention Team for rescue/recovery, and notify APE HQ
10-75: Confirmed Klaxosaur Attack, auto-dispatch 2 Franxx from next closest squad to the attack location and all other Franxx to standby in loading dock
2nd Alarm: Dispatch all Franxx units from next closest squad and put third-due squad on standby
3rd Alarm: Third-due squad to scene, fourth-due squad to standby and shuffle Franxx units for coverage
4th Alarm: Fourth-due squad to scene, fifth-due squad to standby and shuffle Franxx units for coverage
5th Alarm: Fifth-due squad to scene, sixth-due squad to standby and shuffle Franxx units for coverage