As Squad 13 fought a particularly tough Klaxosaur, the gang was suddenly engulfed in a blue liquid the being had emanated from an impact. Heliconia, who had impacted the Klaxosaur, took the most. As the others wondered what it was, Miku yelled out, "This shit is gross! What is it?!"

As Heliconia wiped its eyes off, Kyouko said, "This is new. My sensors aren't picking this up as anything but an unknown substance. However, it doesn't appear to be corrosive, so we should be fine."

"You're right," Ikuno replied as Chlorophytum looked over itself. "Regardless, we got a Klaxosaur to kill, so let's get to it."

"Indeed," Kyouko replied. Suddenly, however, she felt something warm hit her back. Immediately, she turned on stealth mode and said to Yasuto, "What the hell was that?!"

"Uh," he replied as he looked up at the cockpit wall. "It's leaking through the ceiling, but the only thing it's damaging is your suit."

"Shit," she replied. "The other girls won't know. Thank God I no longer have to use pistil lock-in." She then paused as they hears a small burning sound. "It's burning my clothes away, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Yasuto replied, laughing as Kyouko also broke out into laughter. "Oh my God, this will be an interesting post-mission brief when we get back. Hold on, I'll radio it out without revealing it." He then grabbed his radio and transmitted, "Heliconia to all Squad 13 units, just focus on the fight. Don't get distracted, and definitely don't ruin your compatibility rates now."

Ichigo, confused as to why he said, asked him, "Yasuto, what's up?"

As Heliconia switched out of stealth mode, Kyouko, who had to stifle a giggle, replied to her, "It's nothing serious. He was just a bit worried you guys got thrown off by the substance, that's all." As they spoke, Zero Two bum-rushed the Klaxosaur with its spear, killing it in one fell swoop and destroying its core with ease. "Awesome work as always, Zero Two!"

"Thank you," Zero Two replied. "Huh? Wait... Darling, is something up?"

"Uhhh," Hiro awkwardly replied as more of Zero Two's suit disappeared before him. "Zero Two, your suit!"

As Futoshi and Zorome yelled at Hiro to stop, Yasuto facepalmed and said to himself and to the others right afterwards, "Oh God, here we go."

"Girls," Kyouko told them through Heliconia as she tried to calm them down. "Don't be alarmed, but we're all gonna need new suits when we get back.

Miku, confused, asked, "Why's that?" She then opened up her cockpit view camera to see what was going on, only to recoil in shock. "Wha-?! WHAT?! MY PARASITE SUIT!"

"Miku, don't pani-" As the other girls all panicked and screamed in embarrassment, minus Zero Two, Kyouko just sighed and shook her head. "Aaaand you all panic anyway. Am I talking to a fucking brick wall or something?!"

Zero Two just laughed in response. "My Darling's already seen me naked, so there's nothing new there for him."

"Same," Kyouko replied as Heliconia and Strelitzia fist-bumped. "This'll be an interesting ride home."

Indeed, it was an interesting ride home. After everyone had disembarked at the Cerasus Franxx Loading Dock, the girls were all provided with towels for modesty by Nana and Hachi. However, Zero Two curiously refused one, and though Kyouko had accepted a towel, she only used it to wipe some ash from her burnt clothes off, not wearing it otherwise. As the other four stared down the boys, Goro attempted to explain. "You don't understand. We didn't tell you guys because we thought you'd all be distracted during the battle."

Ichigo nodded slightly and replied, "Good point, true, but at the same time, it still doesn't feel ri-"

"I just simply found you too beautiful to look away," Futoshi told Kokoro. "It wasn't out of malice, Kokoro! That came from the heart!"

The girl blushed intensely as Kyouko facepalmed and Yasuto told him, "Dude, really?"

"I'm sure she appreciates the compliment," Kyouko told him. "But is this really the right time for it?"

"What's the big deal?" Zorome was annoyed that the girls were making such a big deal out of the situation. "It's not like anyone even got hurt."

Miku replied somewhat aggressively, "That's not the point!"

"Wait up," Hiro interrupted both of them. "Listen, Zero Two once told me that at times, parasites are better off acting a bit, uh... Perverted, right?"

"In a way, yes," Zero Two replied cheerfully as she nodded, much to the other girls' dismay. "And hey, who's to say it doesn't go both ways?"

Ikuno immediately turned away, blushing intensely as Kyouko sighed. "This is just gonna keep getting worse, is it?" Suddenly, she felt part of the clothing in her chest area degrade away, now fully exposing half of her chest. "Huh? Oh, that happened."

Miku facepalmed in disbelief at how seemingly shameless Kyouko was, muttering to herself, "What even is she?"

In the showers in the female locker room, the girls talked among themselves about what had happened. Miku felt the most angry about the incident, telling the rest of them, "I can't believe they were ogling our bodies! Hell, I'm sure they did it at the beach, too!"

"That's boys for you," Ichigo replied with annoyance. "And to think, I thought we were doing a good job linking up. This is gonna really screw up squad morale."

Kokoro, feeling though this was being blown out of proportion, replied, "Uh, guys, maybe this is getting a bit out of hand."

"Nonsense, Miku replied to her. "What we need to do is put an end to all this. From now on, we need to stop with our mixed-gender communal lifestyle. We're going independent to the boys!"

As the other girls thought to themselves, Ikuno turned to Kyouko next to her and whispered to her around the wall, "You've been quiet."

"I know," she replied. "I'm just gonna keep my fucking mouth shut because I can tell I'm on her shit list. What you all do is up to you, but try not to drag me in."

Later, as Kyouko opened her locker to get dressed after coming out of the shower with the other girls, she found a package inside. "Huh?"

As she took the package out and opened it, Ichigo looked over in curiosity. "What is it?"

Kyouko then pulled out one of five bras inside. "Holy shit, it's about time! My old bras barely fit me anymore!" After she put the new bra on, she exhaled in relaxation and said, "Ah, this is so nice! I finally have breathing room again! I wonder who did this...?"

Very soon after, at Mistilteinn, all of the parasites gathered in the front entrance of the mansion they lived in. As Miku laid down a piece of tape between the girls on one side and the boys on another, she noticed that Zero Two was not with them and sighed. "Ugh... I knew we were gonna have problems with her..." She then got up and addressed both groups while straddling the line of tape. "Listen up. Effective immediately, boys will not cross this line into our territory."

Zorome, flabbergasted at the sudden change, replied back as he attempted to cross the line, "Who the hell died and made you the boss?! This is bullshi-"

"I wouldn't cross the line if I were you," Miku scolded him as she stared him down. Ichigo also stared him down, while Kokoro looked on with unease and both Kyouko and Ikuno looked on with a neutral expression. "You'll regret it."

Yasuto looked around, wondering how this would affect his relationship with his own co-pilot and girlfriend. He also wondered how Nana, Hachi, and Dr. Franxx would take the news. "This is really odd... To have so many parasites go through what APE foolishly calls puberty at once is rare, and especially in this form of expression."

Yasuto and Kyouko both spoke to Werner through video chat in Cerasus' nerve center after Nana and Hachi already had about what had happened. "You both know that what APE refers to as 'puberty' isn't exactly the original definition of the word," he told both of them.

"Yeah," Kyouko replied to him. "If we go by the original definition, we're all long past that. If anything, this form would better be described as mental puberty."

"Exactly," Werner replied as he rubbed his chin in thought. "How are you two taking it? I know you two dealt with it your own way when it settled in for you guys. If anything, your reactions were so minute that APE could find no reason to intervene."

"It helps when you've known them for so long and have seen them naked so many times," Yasuto replied with a humorous comeback. "Anyway, we're trying to stay as far away from it as possible, but we've been made participants in Miku's little challenge." Yasuto then covertly pulled out a flash drive from his pocket and plugged it into the computer. He then used the mouse pad to select the RUN option for the flash drive.

"Are you encrypting us?" Werner knew exactly what he was doing.

"Of course," he replied. "Now APE can't hear us. Anyway, based on my own observations of Miku and Zorome, I can conclude that the two share a deep bond, even if they don't show it all the time. If certain relations were allowed, I would honestly lock them in a room with some birth control pills, a few instruments of pleasure, and some reading material, and, pardon my language, but tell them to fuck the tension between them out of each other and then some. I'm sure the room's contents would be destroyed by the time they were finished, but it would resolve a lot." He then made a motion with his hand similar to slashing with a knife. "I swear, the sexual tension between them is so thick I could cut it with a damn knife."

About an hour later, the girls gathered in their bedroom, Miku gloating about how mad the boys had gotten. "They were soooo piiiissed," Miku told them all, brimming with confidence. "Let me tell you, we are going to win this shit!"

Ichigo then looked out the window and noticed Hiro and Zero Two outside, blatantly breaking the rules Miku had set forth by sitting together. Ikuno and Kyouko looked outside as well. As Miku looked over as well, she got annoyed and groaned. Ikuno really did not care, and Ichigo was more concerned about her own feelings for Hiro. Kyouko just brushed it off and returned to reading Also Sprach Zarathustra.

Later on, as the girls all walked down the stairs together, Miku told the group, "We gotta find a way to reign her in."

"Just let her be," Kyouko tried telling her in response. "She isn't hurting u-"

Suddenly, the front door flung open, stopping the girls in their tracks as Zorome, Futoshi, and Goro all marched in, towels around their waists as they dried off. "What a fun dip in the lake," Zorome replied as the three all walked up the stairs, knowing full well what they were doing to piss Miku off.

"I suggested making exceptions for the bath and dining rooms," Kyouko told them in response. "Thinking about applying them now, Miku?"