Darling in the Franxx: Cold Blood

Chapter Twelve: Official Introductions

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One Month left until the due date

The day was fresh and new. The morning sun bathed the forest in an orange hue. Dew coated the ground, soon to be taken away by the rising sun. The calls of different birds sang out to the morning sky as life under the dome began to come to life. Resting near the edge of the forest was a boarding house. Vines and ivy that grew off the side of the side of the house slowly stretched to start absorbing sunlight as quickly as possible. The light shown through many windows of the house. Illuminating the interior of the building almost completely in the sun's warm glow. Standing in the main hall of the Boarding House were three individuals.

"Is everything ready to go?" one of them asked as they looked to the other two.

"Yep." the girl next to him responded. "Everybody should be heading or is already waiting inside the upstairs lounge."

"Alright, good." The man said as he turned to the other figure. "You should go ahead and get going Hiro. Remember, you need to keep her in her room. We don't want her to mess everything up now." The boy nods before stepping away from the group. Both of them then watch as Hiro walks up the stairs towards the girls' side of the building. Turning back to one another. The man starts to speak again. "You should get going as well, Ichigo. I need to finish up some things real quick. But as soon as I'm done, I'll meet you up there."

"Okay," the girl quickly responds. "But please don't take too long. I think I can hear them getting impatient." The two of them look up the stairs as the sound of voices echoes down to them. Before the man could respond. Ichigo had started to make her way up to the second floor. As she walked, she could hear the voices become louder and louder with each step. Her mind raced as possible outcomes flooded her mind. The ideas of things that could go wrong far outweighed the ones that went right. Chief among them was the thought of someone finding out who wasn't supposed to. If Hachi, Nana, or to some degree, if Zero Two found out. Not only would he be in extreme trouble. But so would those who knew about it.

Which was the primary driving for why Ichigo didn't want to do this. She had tried to convince Him that this plan of his was too risky for him to try. But, somehow, he was able to convince her to let him do it. Reaching the door of the sitting room. Ichigo stopped and stared through the glass of the door. The silhouette of her squadmates could be seen moving on the other side of the glass. The back and forth talking of tired voices filled the room beyond the wooden entrance. Questions of what they were doing up so early and wanting to, at least, eat breakfast first were audible to the girl.

Sucking up her worry as if it were a drink through a straw. Ichigo lets out a breath of air as she opens the doors in front of her. Stepping into the lounge, Ichigo could see her squad all sitting on one of the three couches, all except for Hiro and Zero Two. As she silently walked towards one of the couches in the center of the room. The blue-haired girl kept a close eye on her teammates. Most were half asleep and struggling just to keep their eyes from shutting. The other had been quick to wake up and seemed more anxious than anything. Then finally, there was Zorome. As always, the small boy was full of energy and taking up the spotlight.

Stopping next to the couch that Goro. She lightly taps on the boy's shoulder to catch his attention. Looking up from the conversation that Zorome was having with some of the other members of the group. Without a word, the girl points down to the spot next to Goro. Realizing what she was wanting. He swiftly started to scoot over to let Ichigo sit down next to him. The sound of Ichigo taking a seat caught the attention of Zorome. Who immediately turned to face her. "She's here. Why don't we ask her?" The young man said as he pointed towards the leader of the group. "Why did you wake us up so early just to make us sit here?"