A New Generation: A ZoroMiku Story

10: Fourth Meeting

Miku

 Zorome and Miku spent the entire week doing things together, just the two of them. They'd run into a few of their new pals, such as Fifty, Hyaku, Jasper, and Bella, though other than that they'd mostly been doing things alone together. 

For some reason, Zorome had been adamant about going to the beach with Miku. When she'd pointed out that she didn't have any swimwear at the moment, the idiot had actually asked her why she didn't just go into the water naked. For that, he'd gotten a flick to the nose. After that, though, the two of them had decided to compromise by just relaxing on the lake beach together, gazing at the gently lapping water while they chattered, bickered, and bonded with each other. 

Now, as the two of them stepped into the Meeting Centre after having spent a week of time doing nothing but bonding, Miku found herself feeling more at ease than she'd been since leaving Bird Nest. Although she wasn't sure when she'd be able to work up the nerve to, she realized she felt the need to thank Zorome for spending so much time with her, as he'd been a hoot to be around. Not only did he bring excitement and various other emotions to her life, but he was actually great fun when he wanted to be. He came up with ideas that likely would've gotten them both into trouble when they were still parasites. Some things he tried getting them to do together were boneheaded, however, such as burping contests or other dumb competitive things that only a stupid boy would come up with. Miku loved it. She...well, fine, she loved him too. She cherished every moment they spent together. 

"Hey!" Hyaku was the first to greet them when they walked into the main room within the Meeting Centre. His eyes had a happy glint and his blue gaze met Miku's. "We thought you'd be here first! Looks like we beat you, huh?"

"Yeah, well, it was her fault." Zorome jerked his thumb toward Miku while tilting his head up arrogantly. 

"My fault?" Miku practically squeaked at her partner. "How?!"

"You kept slowing us down with all your chitchat," Zorome replied with a shrug. "I had to stop, like, twice, just to understand what you were yammering about."

Miku inhaled and her nostrils flared out as she prepared to scold him. "The nerve!" She huffed. "You were the one who wouldn't shut up about your blueprint ideas. Anyway, if you're so smart and great, why'd you have to stop just to process my words, huh?"

Zorome's arrogant look faltered. Now he looked flustered and unsure of himself. 

Typical! Miku thought. 

"I-I...um...," Zorome sputtered. "W-well you're just, you know-"

"Hey, did he tell you the good news?" Hyaku broke in, to which Miku was grateful. She was kind of tired of listening to Zorome pathetically try to come up with a comeback. 

"Of course he did!" Miku replied.

"Of course I did!" Zorome blurted at the exact same time. 

Zorome

Zorome found himself puffing out defensively in front of Hyaku, though he wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because he'd interrupted her and he was annoyed. Hell if he knew. Something about the dude made him feel defensive. Similar to how he'd felt at first when Hiro had joined squad 13 again, though not as bad.

"We should start the thing..." Zorome grumbled, heading to the part of the main room where the former parasites usually met now; the benches in front of the stage. Zorome and Miku felt no need to stand on the stage now, as he was sure everyone knew they were in charge, plus it was much easier to chat when they were sitting right by each other anyway. 

"Hello!" Bella greeted them as they joined the rest of the group. She was sharing a bench with Jasper, as usual, and was leaning against him. He had one arm around her and flashed a grin and a nod as Zorome and Miku settled down beside them. 

"Hi!" Miku greeted the shy girl excitedly. As Zorome watched her, he wondered if Miku was reminded of Kokoro whenever she talked to Bella. After all, they shared the same demeanour. Both girls were shy yet amazing and friendly. Both had the same weirdly adoring look in their eye whenever they looked at their partners. Maybe Bella reminded Miku of her best female friend. 

"Hey," Said Pondo, the chubby boy who definitely reminded Zorome of Futoshi, though he didn't eat nearly as much as he did. "How are you guys doing?" 

Thinking of Futoshi made Zorome feel a rush of homesickness, which he forcefully threw to the side. "Amazing! This place seriously rocks!"

Miku nodded. "It really does," She agreed. "Although I really wish our house would get some pipes and electricity soon." She sighed. "Going to the outhouse is a pain!" 

"Yeah," Agreed Hyaku, the only one who had decided not to sit and was standing behind them with his arms crossed. He was nodding. "Hopefully they'll be able to finish that up soon. Maybe I can talk to someone about it?"

"Yes please!" Miku said in an exasperated and rather dramatic way. "I'm getting tired of having to go out to go to the outhouse at night only to have this jerk over here scare me whenever I walk through the door." She shot Zorome an accusing glare. 

"Well, what can I say?" Zorome shrugged extravagantly. "You look so damn hilarious whenever I do that. Seriously," He added to their future teacher pals, "you should see the look on her face whenever I jump out at her! You think she'd be used to it by now!"

The group laughed at that and laughed even harder when Miku flicked the side of his head. The two bickered for a bit before calming down and returning to talking about the materials they'd need when they taught, which apparently consisted of a lot of things. 

The group seemed to be getting on fine, though Zorome still felt like he needed to do something to make them understand that he was in charge. He realized that they seemed to be acting like a squad, which was nice and all but...didn't they need a leader to keep them in shape?

Oh, ha! I got it! I'll go bring the blueprints to someone and ask when they can build the place...before I tell everyone else! I'll surprise them, build the best building ever, and everyone will be thanking me on their knees!