The following day went by without any incident. Zorome, Miku, Goro, and Hiro had volunteered to gather tubs of snow and boiled the water so that everyone could bathe. They ultimately decided to put the tubs into the former bathing room and had set up a small firepit at the bottom of what once had been their bathing place. The girls had bathed first and Miku had taken advantage of every moment she spent scrubbing herself clean. She made sure to scrub her body super hard. She had started to feel icky without being able to bathe and she was grateful for the fact that her squadmates were smart enough to figure out a way to have water again.
After her bath, Miku had gone to help boil some fish that Zero Two had caught while she'd been out ice fishing by the lake. Ikuno and Ichigo had been cooking and the two of them had been happy to receive their help. They were having fried fish spiced with some of Kokoro's fine herbs.
After dinner, Miku felt tired and decided to head straight to bed. She could hear Zorome, Goro, and Futoshi fooling around downstairs even from her place on her bed. It sounded like they were acting like complete loons, though she supposed that was way better than Zorome had been acting a few days ago. She was just glad to see and hear that her friends were having fun. She herself was actually having fun as well. She liked that she could just relax and enjoy herself whenever she was done doing chores. She and her friends had been thriving without the constant threat of being called out to fight klaxosaurs.
As Miku lay down on her bunk, she reflected on how she had cheered Zorome up the other day. She couldn't help but blush whenever she remembered how it had felt hugging her partner close to her. Something about how she'd been able to comfort him during one of his worst days made her feel really warm and fuzzy on the inside. It was a good feeling. She hoped that Zorome knew how much she cared about him now, though she wouldn't voice that out loud to anyone.
***
Miku woke up the next morning and immediately stretched her arms above her head. When she was finished, she saw that Ikuno was still fast asleep in her own bed, though Ichigo had apparently already woken up. Looking out the window, she saw that the sun had only barely just begun to rise. Ichigo had fallen asleep over an hour after Miku and still somehow managed to wake up before her, though Miku had woken up once to go pee.
She climbed down from her bed and left the room. It was fairly dark inside the building but she managed to navigate her way around regardless. She went downstairs to see if anybody was in the lounge. When she saw that no one was there, she then went over to the dining area.
In the dining room, Ichigo was talking to Goro in a low, anxious murmur. Miku hovered in the doorway for a moment so that she could hear what they were saying. She guessed they wouldn't notice her presence due to how dark it was, especially since their backs were to her and they were deeply focused on whatever it was they were talking about.
"I'm not sure if we can do anything if the plants are dying because it's too cold." Ichigo's whisper was full of anxiety. "I can try talking to Kokoro but I don't think she expected this to happen. Otherwise, she probably would've said something by now. We all thought the plants would be warm enough once they were inside. I can't believe how cold it is in here..."
Goro nodded slowly. His hand was gripping his forehead, clearly conveying his stress as he tried to keep calm. "Well, I'm going to see if Hiro and Zero Two have any idea of what to do. We'll be screwed if we can't come up with something to keep our plants alive in winter."
Miku's breath caught in her throat. She felt like her heart had stopped beating for one second as panic gripped her chest like a dog's jaws. No...How is this happening to us already? As soon as one issue is fixed now we have to fix this? How many times is this going to keep happening to us? Are we ever going to get a break?
Deciding she didn't want to talk to the leader and her partner, Miku silently crept away from the doorway and went to go back to her bed. Whatever else she had been feeling was now being replaced with dread. She couldn't believe that they had fixed the water issue only to find out that the plants were beginning to die even indoors. It felt like the world was against them. It felt like the world was even out to get them. It was cruel and stressful. Her squad had been gifted with a bunch of peaceful months and yet nothing could have prepared them for the harsh reality of winter. She wished they had been properly taught about the seasons and how they worked. Instead, they had been left in the dark about yet another topic. It was obvious now to Miku that Papa and the adults probably hadn't expected them to live long lives.
As she climbed back onto her bunk and settled down, Miku remembered the time she had found out about the previous members of squad 13. The time she had locked herself into a room and stumbled across a picture of them. That was when Miku started to realize that perhaps they weren't expected to have a future after all. It had been devastating and the thought of fighting klaxosaurs had haunted her up until they were abandoned by Papa. During each battle, Miku had been scared that she and her squadmates would end up like the squad before them.
Now, she simply had to hope that they would be able to solve their newest problem. Otherwise, the chances of their survival would begin to grow slimmer and slimmer.
YOU ARE READING
Zorome X Miku: The Forgotten Plantation
Fanfic//Sequel to Zorome X Miku: The Forgotten Children// Nine months have passed since Miku and Zorome had both fallen ill with the strange sickness that overtook the group of forgotten parasites. Things have been going smoothly and Kokoro and her partne...