Darling In The Franxx: Omega

Chapter 19 - Lost Souls

So this took quite a long time to get out. I may have taken a break from writing this, but I'm going to get the rest of this story out hopefully. Only two more chapters to go after this.

Squad 13 sits in a meeting room. They all eat from trays that contain food that is the very least appetizing, but will have to do considering their current situation.

"Can't we increase the portions a little?" Asks Ikuno. Ikuno has changed drastically. Her hair is now mostly white and barely showing its original color of purple. "We can't," Ichigo responds, "We only have enough food for one year at most."

"But the veggies are growing just fine," Miku states. "Yeah! We'll be able to harvest them in a couple of months for sure," Zorome says, "Right Kokoro?"

"We're so lucky that Kokoro knows a lot about plants," Miku says. "Oh no," Kokoro replies, "I don't really know much about harvesting."

"Right, so we have to maintain the current status quo until we have a firm estimate for the harvest," Ichigo states.

"Mitsuru, how is the energy system?" Goro asks, getting Mitsuru's distracted attention. Mitsuru picks up his thick booklet of papers while Goro glances at his. "We still haven't serviced the unit that's been acting up lately," Mitsuru replies, "The output has gone down."

Goro touches his chin and huffs. He then turns to Futoshi, "How's the water purification system looking, Futoshi?" "It's efficiency has dropped too," The chubby boy replies. He puts his spoon up to his mouth, but hesitates to take the bite.

"Should we continue to use magma energy?" Asks Futoshi, "It originally belonged to the Klaxosaurs, didn't it?"

"Well what else can we do?" Zorome says, "How else are we going to live?" "It's used in preserving food and treating wounds too," Miku adds.

"I know that," Futoshi states. Suddenly, Kokoro stands up with her hand covering her mouth. "Sorry, I need to lie down," The blonde says.

Mitsuru starts to stand up, thinking of helping the girl, but sits back down. Ichigo watches as Kokoro leaves, then looks at Hiro who has been silent the entire meeting.

"How are you feeling, Hiro?" The blue haired girl asks. "Huh?" Hiro replies. "About magma energy," Goro says.

"Oh," Hiro replies. He tries to say something, but the words don't come out. "Anyway, we've got to survive in any way we can," Ichigo says, "Let's figure out what to do for that."

The door opens and I step in. "It's you again!" Zorome says. "Are you going to keep greeting me that way?" I ask, "It's not like I'm your enemy."

"Uh, Kira, was it? What do you need?" Ichigo asks. "Well, I was thinking I'd like to help you a bit," I reply, "After all, I've successfully done the same thing that you are trying to do right now."

"You have?" Zorome says.

"It took us a year, but we got a stable community going on," I say, "I mentioned it to Hachi at one point."

"Hachi knows?" Goro asks, "When did you tell him." "The day you guys went and made your own food, I was there. I happened to bump into Hachi as I left that night."

"He's been observing you since the Battle of the Gran Crevasse," Lynn says, appearing right behind me.

"So," Ichigo says, approaching me, "You know how to help us in this situation?" "It's difficult, and things are pretty bad," I reply, "We had it harder since we lacked a lot of food at first."

"My Sanctuary has been running well for the past two years," I say, "Everyone is a hard worker. With some support from me, I can help you get rolling."