Zorome X Miku: The Forgotten Children

41: Stressed

Zorome's feet dragged as he looked around the woods for food items to bring home. Three days had passed since most of his squadmates had fallen ill with whatever bug was going around and each day made him more and more sore and tired. Working to compensate for the absence of more than half of the team was exhausting but he knew they deserved to rest and get better. He knew he wasn't the only one feeling the effects of dealing with extra work either. 

As he walked over to a thicket of berry bushes, he noticed that their stash of berries was beginning to grow low, which caused him to feel a little bit disheartened. He knew this meant they'd have to avoid picking them off that specific bush to allow for more of them to grow. Perhaps the squad would have to tend to the plants that grew in the woods as well as the ones that grew in their garden. He knew there were more bushes like that, though this thicket was the biggest in the woods. He'd have to go further out to search for more since Miku wanted to make some delicious jam with them for their dinner later on. She had a bit of a sweet tooth that day, apparently, although Zorome would've much rather had some fish and mushrooms. Hiro was responsible for fishing and water duty. It would mean Zorome could kick back and relax for a bit, at the very least. 

After Zorome finally managed to scrounge up enough berries for Miku to use in their meal, he trudged back to the boarding house and brought them into the kitchen, where she was busy making dough. She looked up at him, her expression showing that she was just as tired, if not more, as Zorome. 

"Hey," She said as he set down the bucket of berries beside the dough on the table. "What took so long?"

"Whatdya mean?" He scowled at her. "Why don't you try trekking through the woods all day picking enough berries to fill one of these." He jerked his finger toward the bucket.

To his surprise, Miku just sighed and rubbed some sweat off her forehead. "Yeah, sorry about that. I kinda just feel tired."

I can tell. Ha! I knew I was right! Zorome thought to himself, though he decided to not say the thought out loud since he knew she'd probably get very irritated with him if he did. She was usually more snappy when she was tired. More cranky! He shuddered inwardly at the thought. "Um," He said instead. "How are things going here?"

Miku sighed. "It's okay, I guess, but I'm not used to doing it without any of the others around to help. It gets tiring having to cook three meals each day between doing laundry and cleaning...all by myself." She sat down in a chair that was nearby. "It feels really weird."

"Yeah, I get what you mean," Zorome started to say. "All this hard work is really tir-"

"Oh, there you are!" Zero Two swept into the kitchen before he could finish his sentence. "My Darling told me to go find you. I thought that maybe you were still out but it looks like I was wrong!" She gave him a knowing look and her eyes flicked from him to Miku for a brief moment, in a weird way that made Zorome feel immediately uncomfortable. 

"What does he want us for?" Miku asked, looking over her shoulder at the tall inhuman girl.

"He wants to do a check-in," She replied. "Before supper tonight. He checked up on the others and I guess he has something to say. Come when you're ready!" She swept out of the room as swift and gracefully as she had entered. 

Miku and Zorome both exchanged a glance and then, in unison, got up and left the kitchen together. In the lounge, Hiro and Zero Two were waiting on one of the couches for them. Zorome blanched when he saw that Zero Two was practically on top of Hiro, murmuring some weird mushy crap into his ears. He noticed Miku's eye twitching when she laid eyes on them and guessed that she felt the same.

"Sup?" Zorome asked, going to sit at the couch on the other side of the table across from them. Miku sat beside him, though she kept a gap between them and was eyeing Zero Two and Hiro with an odd look on her face. Zorome felt the same, though he was just trying to avoid looking at them entirely. 

"I checked on the others," Hiro began with a sigh, looking a bit downtrodden. "None of them seem much better. Goro seems to be the best out of all of them right now. But Mitsuru...he's doing pretty bad, even compared to the others. I'm worried about him. Kokoro too. She hasn't been able to sleep knowing he isn't doing well at all."

Miku and Zorome exchanged a glance and he saw his own worry reflected in her eyes. 

"Oh no...," Miku murmured. "Kokoro. I'm worried about her. If...if she's going to have Mitsuru's child, that means this could be worse for her. If she's pregnant with the baby now."

That sent chills down Zorome's spine. The thought of something happening to Kokoro's unborn child was inconceivable. He was sure her being sick would affect it badly if she didn't recover fast. He also guessed sleep was quite important for unborn children.

Hiro's expression was grave. "I'm not sure what to do. We're running low on medicine to distribute between them all...and I'm worried about you guys too." He looked up from his lap, which was where his gaze had been trained the entire time. 

"Us?" Zorome, echoed, confused.

"Yeah, we're fine," Miku replied to him. "There's no need to worry."

"I know you're not sick anymore but this is a lot even for me," Hiro told them, "Zorome only just recovered from being sick and should be taking it easier, though I know he can't and won't if I tell him."

He was right. Zorome didn't want to be dead weight! 

"I can make him!" Miku declared. 

"Like hell, you can!" Zorome retorted. 

Hiro broke in before they could bicker. "Anyway, I'm going to try and see what I can do to make it easier for us all and to help the others. We might have to drop some chores to focus on more important ones. As for helping the others...I'm not sure what to do yet."