The sounds of panting filled Strelizia's cockpit. For the longest time, there was no conversation exchanged between them, as they both struggled to fill their lungs with air and relax after such an intense physical activity.

However the feeling of exhaustion was the only common factor their bodies currently shared.

Zero Two shivered in pleasure as her body greedily enjoyed the feeling of piloting with her darling. He rode her really hard during their first time and she wouldn't have liked it any other way. Her muscles were sore in all the good ways as she inhaled the air inside of Strelizia's cockpit. She shivered in pleasure once more as she realized it carried darling's scent intermingled with her own. Subconsciously, Zero Two started to shift her hips without realizing it as her primal instincts made her body attempt to seduce her mate.

That was amazing. She never wanted to pilot with anyone else ever again.

Contrasting to the Pistil shivering from the pleasurable sensations she was experiencing, Hiro however, shivered for another reason.

It was taking every ounce of control from him to not cry out from the sheer pain that racked his body.

Pilots wore suits for a reason. It compressed wounds, administered painkillers and most importantly, it carried a layer of kinetic foam that cushioned against the G-forces that pilots experienced during high intensity maneuvers. It was for that reason no Franxx pilot, stamen or pistil, was ever allowed to board one without a piloting suit as an APE safety regulation.

Hiro basically had just broken every safety regulation in the APE rule book in one piloting session.

He had just taken down a Moho-Class Klaxasour with APE's highest performing Franxx without possessing a stamen suit to assist him with Strelizia's handling. Even for someone with his experience piloting a Franxx, when combined with the previous wounds from the explosions which tossed his body around like a rag doll, it truly pushed his body to it's limits.

But that wasn't what worried him. He clinically knew that it was to be expected when he grasped the handles on her pistil suit in his regular uniform. He had already gritted his teeth and knew this was going to suck.

That wasn't the issue at all.

What worried him was the sharp stabbing pain in his heart while his heart pumped itself so furiously he was afraid it would burst like a overfilled balloon. THAT wasn't supposed to happen when you were piloting a Franxx.

So the only reason that he could think of that caused his heart to stab itself repeatedly under his rib cage was the current bond between him and the infamous Partner Killer.

That was awful. He never wanted to pilot with her ever again.

He broke the silence first.

"Is it over? Code 002."

"Mmmnm, it's over. And don't call me that. You called me something else right before we pierced it's core didn't you?"

She disengaged herself from the pistil terminal, turned around and knelt in front of him as she spoke. She laid her hands onto his as Hiro's consciousness started to slip from the combination of exhaustion and wounds. He tried his best to focus on the horned girl in front of him as he slurred out his final words before the darkness claimed him.

"I'm sorry... Guess we finished it off huh?... Zero...Two..."

And with that, the darkness finally claimed Hiro into a blissful sleep that he sorely needed. In just a short while, he was even giving out soft snoozing noises that Zero Two found absolutely adorable.

So adorable that she wanted to just jump him and claim him right now. But she didn't want to push darling's body anymore right now, considering what he had just been through. She giggled as she reached out to stroke his cheek gently while her sultry voice praised her darling.

"You sure did. You were incredible, darling."

If Hiro was still awake, he would have noticed that the smile on her face looked incredibly seductive.

Outside Strelizia, a crowd was beginning to form. Some were Plantation medical staff that stood by ready to assist the pilots as soon as they exited. Others were fellow squad mates that gazed in awe at the new arrival and it's flashy performance. Ichigo stood beside her previous commanding officer as she bombarded him with questions.

"What is that Franxx? I've never seen it before. It's color scheme is like those from the Strelizia series but it's so much more detailed and engineered!"

She noted how the new Franxx had facial features like eyes and a mouth that were conventionally attractive. The Mass Production Strelizias , or 9-Model as it was called, since it was what APE's Special Forces squad The Nines used. They were much more industrial in design and were obviously much lower in raw specifications when she saw the additional boosters it carried on its waist, the unreal agility it possessed and the large magma lance that it carried.

"Also did it just transform from a beast form into a humanoid one? How does it do that? Does it have a variable frame? Isn't that too expensive to implement and costly to maintain as well? How would the pilots even cope with handing a form that's so much different than a human?"

She felt the questions leave her throat one after another in rapid fire as she didn't even stop to pause between each question. Werner, for his credit, merely let Ichigo run out of steam as he allowed the questions to crash against him like waves against a rock.

Finally, Ichigo stopped to pant for breath as Werner raised an amused eyebrow at her and told her to look at the chest piece of Strelizia for the model number that all Franxx had inscribed on their right breastplate.

Ichigo's eyes widened when she saw the red inscription.

FRX-01.

The ones she operated with Hiro during her time at the Special Tactical Fighter Training Group had the model number FRX-01M.

M standing for Mass Production.

She wasn't totally off the mark, it was a Strelizia alright, just not the Strelizia she knew or piloted.

"It's a Strelizia."

She glanced over to the doctor standing beside her.

"Not a Strelizia. The Strelizia."

Ichigo gasped, that meant...

"It's the prototype? It's the original model that started the entire series?"

"Correct. The form you saw was but a beast. When the negative and positive- male and female factors combine, and their hearts become one, the iron maiden will reveal her true form. Now this is a Franxx! How truly beautiful! How amazing! You're the best, Strelizia!"

"But who's piloting it?"

Nana asked the question that was in everyone's minds.

Probably someone from The Nines, considering how high performance the specs was.

Ichigo thought to herself.

Finally, the chattering of the crowd surrounding them stopped as the telltale hissing sound of a Franxx's cockpit door opening filled the air. Everyone on the scene craned their necks as much as possible to get a look at the pilots of the Franxx that had just blown away a Moho-Class in one hit.

Ichigo's blood froze when she saw them.

It wasn't because the pistil had red horns on her head that deemed her as inhuman. Nor was it because she wore the red piloting suit that stated that she was from The Nines.

It was because of the black haired boy she cradled in her arms bridal style.

"Hiro?!"

Ichigo cried out in surprise as she took in the scene. Hiro was the stamen? Hiro could activate a Franxx once more? What was he even doing there?

And why was he in the arms of another girl?

"What's he doing there?"

Zorome, always asking the obvious questions as usual.

"Wait, there's someone else."

"Are those...horns?"

Ichigo shivered in fear and disgust.

Because she was...

"You mean that Pistil is the one?"

Futoshi asked nervously. Even he had heard of the rumors that she was bad news. That one should stay away from her if they valued their lives.

"The Partner Killer."

Ichigo spat bitterly.

...The Partner Killer. And she was nuzzling her cheek against Hiro's like he meant the world to her.

Ichigo felt sick to her stomach.

"Let me introduce you."

Nana stepped forward and spoke. Everyone's head turned to face her as they awaited to learn the true identity of the infamous Partner Killer. Finally, the rumors would be confirmed, they wouldn't need to say her name in harsh whispers whenever they discussed it during break time.

Except Ichigo. Whose glare never left the sight of the horned girl nuzzling her cheek against Hiro's as she carried him bridal style.

"This is Code 002, a Pistil with the special forces unit APE directly controls. She's a girl that carries Klaxosaur blood."

As Zero Two cradled darling in her arms and snuggled his head tightly to her chest, she noticed a small cut on his right cheek. With the trickle of blood still flowing down her left cheek, she nuzzled against his wound. Hoping to heal it with her love and affection.

Neither of them noticed how her blood intermingled with his and ran into his open cut.

"You're mine now, my darling."

The act of bringing two pairs of lips together, which he had never heard of, was called a kiss, she said. That was how they sealed their contract in the darkness of Strelizia's cockpit.

Hiro touched his lips as he remembered how it felt.

I wouldn't mind doing it again.

The day after the Klaxosaur attack, the start-up ritual picked up where it had left off, but in much gloomier circumstances. Not only were Papa and the other adult's not around to witness it anymore, the events of Garage #2 hung in the minds of the Parasites of Plantation 13.

As Hiro watched the gathered Franxx of Plantation's 13 squad walk out to assemble in a line at the training yard, he never noticed how Delphinium's eyes flickered towards him and smiled.

"Meow Meow~ Are mew from around here?"

The black cat purred happily and rolled over to give Ichigo greater access to it's belly as she scratched it. Ichigo was more than happy to oblige and scratched it even more.

"Ichigo?"

Ichigo jerked at the sound of Hiro's voice, the sudden motion causing the cat to get spooked and dash off. She stood and faced Hiro while pretending everything was normal and she wasn't just caught talking to a cat. Ichigo already could feel the telltale heat start to flush against her cheeks.

That was so embarrassing!

"You didn't have to wait out here for me."

Ichigo looked away to the side, trying to use the bangs of her hair to shadow her face and prevent Hiro from noticing her blush.

"It's your fault for running away early in the morning! Awkward as it is, you're still considered one of us."

She noticed the darkening look in Hiro's eyes and she moved closer to him in concern. She knew that haunted look in his eyes, she had seen it before.

"I was just paying my respects to Naomi."

So thats what it was.

"I heard about it. I wish she was still here with us."

She moved forward and tried to hug Hiro as a form of comfort, but Hiro moved past her and towards the Parasite Lodge before she could even lift her arms. Ignoring the stabbing sensation in her heart, she inhaled deeply as she asked the most important question towards him about yesterday's events.

"Were you the one piloting Strelizia?"

"Yeah. It was me."

Hiro already knew what she was going to say. But this was the only way forward for him. If he had to make a contract and sell his life away to pilot once more, he was more than willing to pay the price.

"Congratulations. You finally managed to pilot again. I was thinking about submitting a request to HQ in order for us to pilot together again like old times."

"Forget about it. If you do so, who will Goro pilot with?"

Ichigo's heart clenched at that rejection. Why was he being so cold towards her? Didn't he want to go back to the good times they had?

"So you're going to pilot with her again? That girl isn't part of our squad you know!"

"I don't care, as long as I get back on active duty."

"Then pilot with me instead! If it works out, you'll be reinstated to active duty as well! It'll be like how it used to be!"

Hiro closed his eyes. Sometimes he wished that Ichigo would be more rational when it came to him. Didn't she see that was exactly why the rest of the squad held a grudge against her?

"If we pilot together, who will Goro pilot with? Do you really want to push him to the bench and have him watch us from the sidelines?"

Hiro pointed out the cold truth, but Ichigo pressed on.

"You heard the rumors about her as well. None of her partners could ride with her more than three times. They didn't make it out alive. If you keep going with her, you're going to die!"

like that silver-haired stamen's broken corpse on the ground tossed away like garbage.

"We don't know if it's true or not, but I want you to stay away from her."

Her final appeal. She hoped it would work.

"I'll guess we'll find out."

With a firm voice, Hiro smashed her appeal to pieces. He started walking back into the Parasite Lodge when Goro came out of the front door, oblivious of what had just occurred between him and Ichigo.

"Hey, Hiro. Get inside quick. That girl's in our mess hall."

Hiro eyes lit up. She was here? He had so many things to ask of her! His pace quickened and he rushed to the mess hall along with Goro.

In his rush to get to the mess hall, he never noticed how Ichigo was watching the entire exchange with her fists clenched so hard that her nails drew blood.

"Urgh... Who eats like that!?"

Miku suppressed the urge to puke as she saw Zero Two douse her entire breakfast plate consisting of eggs, meat, fruit and bread in a thick layer of golden honey. Using her hands, she spread the honey all over her foods, making sure both sides were coated. Making a mess all over her hands, sleeves and uniform.

"I guess she just really like sweets?"

Kokoro interjected with a smile.

"She's not a person, not with her horns on her head."

Miku was about to continue when the voice of Ichigo sharply cut her off from any further comments. She was using her "Team Leader" voice that booked no argument.

"Cut it out. She's our saviour, you know."

Miku made a noise and looked away, but she refrained from making any further comments at the expense of Zero Two.

"Do you think it's really true about her having Klaxosaur blood? Besides, I thought nobody had single-digit codes."

Ikuno added her observations to the conversation while never taking her eyes off her book that she was reading at the girl's table.

Hiro felt annoyed at the lack of tact displayed by his squadmates, did they not realize she could hear them all? Their mess hall wasn't that large and they were hardly being quiet about it. He felt an elbow bump into his side from Goro who grinned at him.

"She's a looker but she's ruining it with the way's she's eating!"

Hiro chuckled at the good natured jab from his best friend until he realized something about her.

Her injuries from the previous battle had all been healed.

He stroked the small bandage on his right cheek as he wondered if her body was really human to heal that quickly. His train of thoughts were broken by a source of movement going towards Zero Two. His eye twitched when he heard the catcall. Zorome never hid the fact he liked to ogle at girls he found attractive.

"Hey there!"

Now to see how she would respond.

"It was a real treat to see you in action against that Klaxosaur." Zorome continued even as Zero Two ignored him in favour of making sure the corners of the bread she was holding didn't miss a spot of honey.

"I, Zorome the Great, shall graciously ride with you if you so desire. I'm sure I can do better than that washed up loser."

At the boy's table, Mitsuru tossed a smirk at his direction the moment he had heard Zorome refer to him as "washed up". However, Hiro had better things to do than to take part with this childishness. He continued to observe the current interaction between Zorome and Zero Two. He wanted to gleam as much information about this enigmatic Pistil, the fabled Partner Killer.

"So what say you and me... EEEEK!"

Apparently, Zero Two was currently using Zorome's shirt as an oversized napkin as she wiped all the honey that had gotten on her hands onto it.

"Ahhh stop! What do you think you're doing?!" Zorome yelled out. "Aw my sunday best! You ruined it!"

The rest of the room just rolled their eyes and ignored Zorome's antics. Hiro was about to turn away as well to return to his breakfast until he heard the scraping of a chair being pushed away.

Zero Two had gotten up from her seat with her plate of food in hand as she was making her way towards the boy's table.

Or more accurately, to him.

She unceremoniously sat on his lap without even asking for permission as she swung her legs around to the side so she could face him. She then put an arm around him and unashamedly leant into him to cuddle.

Hiro froze and kept his back as stiff as a board as he desperately tried to fix his eyes on the mess hall's door pretending this was all completely natural and nothing was out of order. Of course he was failing miserably as everyone in the mess hall was already looking at him, except Ichigo who seemed particularly interested in killing her bacon once more with her knife by the way she was slicing it.

I'm sorry bacon, you did nothing wrong.

Zero Two didn't seem to pay the newfound attention of her peers any mind as she broke apart a piece of bread and smeared some honey onto it as she offered it to him.

"This is really sweet and compliments the bread well. If you'll like, we can eat together from now on."

After a moment's hesitation, Hiro took a bite out of the bread in her hands as he said the first thing that came to his mind without thinking.

"I'm sorry Code 002, I didn't really catch your name during the rush of yesterday's battle."

The moment those words left his lips, and by the dangerous glint that had just appeared in her eyes, Hiro knew that he had just signed his own death warrant.

And Zero Two knew it too. With his eyes silently begging Zero Two to show mercy and spare him further embarrassment, Hiro desperately prayed to Papa himself for a chance to escape this situation with a modicum of his dignity intact.

However, it seemed Hiro was on Papa's waiting list when it came to his list of potential saviors.

Thus, as Zero Two leapt at the opening Hiro had left her, she pouted and delivered the killing blow in her huskiest voice that penetrated the silence of the mess hall.

"Awww, you don't remember? Yesterday, you were crying out my name while you rode me as hard as you could, Darling"

"Da...Darling?"

The entire room repeated the word at once, except for Ichigo who was currently struggling to expel the water that had entered her from the wrong pipe.

"What's that mean?" Miku asked.

"I have no idea." Kokoro replied.

Hiro had thought he was unflappable. He prided himself on training it during his bout with depression after he had been released from active duty.

Well, he thought wrong.

His face felt hot as all the blood in his body seemed to rush into it at once. His vision seemed to blur from embarrassment as his mind seemed to be bogged down in some sort of hazy fog. While he couldn't deny the pleasurable sensations he felt when she stressed out that special word she always seemed to reserve for him, the presence of his fellow squad mates when she did such things made him terribly embarrassed.

Unfortunately for him, Zero Two wasn't done yet.

"Hey, I got some left on my finger. Do you mind?"

She offered her forefinger to him as it glistened in the light from the golden liquid that had gotten on to it.

With his brain experiencing failure from the lack of blood since it seemed to be concentrated in his cheeks, he nodded mutely and proceeded to suck the offered finger clean of honey. Zero Two beamed so hard it seemed even her eyes cheesed with her when she felt her finger enter the mouth of her darling.

The sounds of wood being impacted interrupted their shared moment.

The girl's table rattled as Ichigo slammed her palms down on the wooden surface. Silver cutlery lightly bounced up into the air.

"Hey! Stop making a scene and get back to your table! You're bothering others!"

Ichigo glared at the Pistil seated in Hiro's lap. But Zero Two wasn't an ordinary Pistil. She was a fighter. And she didn't go down without a fight.

Especially when it came to darling.

So Zero Two narrowed her eyes and prepared to defend her territory.

"The only bother I see here is you."

Ichigo sucked a breath through her teeth. This homewrecker! This intruder! How dare she!

"What did you say!?"

Just before the situation could escalate anymore than Hiro's poor heart could take, he was saved by the sound of the mess hall door opening to reveal his savior.

"Okay, keep it down, kids!"

"Nana!" Kokoro exclaimed.

Nana nodded at Kokoro and continued,

"I'll be your caretaker just like I was in Garden. APE has assigned me to Plantation 13. My name is Nana, I look forward to your cooperation."

"Yes! We got lucky!"

The entire room broke out into cheers and Zorome grinned at Nana's well developed figure which made Miku roll her eyes at the sight of it. Her stamen was just so crude that she wished he would be more delicate sometimes, she grumbled.

"Nana!" Ichigo called out.

"What is it, Ichigo?"

"Is that girl going to stay here?"

"We're still awaiting orders from HQ in regards to Zero Two. But in general, she won't be working with you guys. However, she will be garrisoned here till further notice."

Ichigo frowned at that statement.

"Now come, Zero Two, you're supposed to sit at this table."

"Ehhhh? But I wanted to eat with my darling..."

Zero Two complained as she hopped off Hiro's lap and made her way back to the girl's table.

Hiro stopped her before she completed the trip back to the girl's table. There was something important he needed to tell her.

"Wait a minute! Hey, Zero Two!"

She tilted her head back to look at him and grinned as she awaited him to continue. Hiro gathered up the courage within him and made his request.

"Let me ride in Strelizia again! I need to be reinstated to active duty!"

With a skip in her step, Zero Two was about to turn around and tell her darling that he could feel free to ride her anytime, until Nana cut in, her firm tone leaving no room for argument.

"That isn't for you to decide. It's up to APE HQ and Papa to assign you your orders. The same goes to the rest. Just sit tight until then." Nana and Zero Two proceeded to leave the mess hall after that.

"Hiro is going to get his orders directly from Papa?" Zorome sneered as he continued. "Again? Why does he always get preferential treatment?"

Closing his eyes as he performed a breathing exercise to calm himself, Hiro refused to take the obvious bait that Zorome was trying to lead him in. His day had just started and it already felt too long.

"You can't just keep running off as you please."

"I just wanted to enjoy a meal with my darling."

Zero Two tapped her foot as she rested against the wall of the elevator.

"Avoid contact with the Parasites. You're too much for them too handle."

Nana told her impatiently.

"He felt so good though."

Her coy smile was reflected on the glass windows of the elevator as she gazed towards the lifeless city outside, it's yellow lighting casting a dark shadow over her face.

At the sight of that, Nana shivered from the fear that rolled down her spine.