After a talking-to from Nana and Hachi, which Kyouko and Yasuto were exempted from, the boys and the girls in Squad 13 had been sent to their rooms separately. Zero Two and Kyouko giggled to each other on one of the top bunks while the other girls angrily stared at them, now realizing they were the ones at fault. Zero Two addresses the rather annoyed crowd, telling them all, "Ah, that was so much fun! Let me tell you, it was so rebellious!"

Ichigo demanded of her, "Are you serious?! Zero Two, I demand to know why!" She was bitter that she had been the fault behind the yelling she had received from Nana and Hachi.

"Well," Zero Two explained to her and the others as she jumped down to the floor. "Your little game was stupid, so I figured that was the best way to end it. Anyway, let me leave you all with one last bit of advice: Don't half-ass things, or you'll just become an Adult." As she approached the door, she stopped dead in her tracks, and her tone of voice drastically changed. "Also, I'd recommend you don't keep secrets and be so mistrusting of each other, because you're all gonna die sooner or later."

Kyouko, surprised that she had gotten so dark so fast, told Zero Two, "Well, I wouldn't put it that wa-" Zero Two ignored her and walked out, closing the door behind her. She just shook her head and buried her face in her right hand. "Damn it."

Kokoro asked the older girl, "Is that true? Are we really going to die soon?"

Kyouko could not bear to tell her the full truth. "Well, you know the attrition rate among us is high because of the risks. However, Zero Two isn't necessarily right about all pilots dying early. If you fight safely, recognize your warning signs, and use some common sense, you can live a while." It hurt to not tell her the full truth, which included stuff like Protocol 32. "It's just... Zero Two was on the front lines for a long time. She wasn't attached to a specific Plantation for defense, so all she saw was just constant fighting and rather high mortality rates. I can attest from personal experience that being on the active front lines isn't the best for your mental health. At least me and Yasuto were rotated in and out between active combat and Plantation Defense to give us a breather. Zero Two wasn't, and that colored a lot of her perceptions about the world and people around her. That, and the fact that people looked down on her for those horns of her's, well... I'm not surprised one bit she turned out the way she did."

"That sounds about right," Ichigo noted, agreeing with her assessment. "I would probably be just as cynical in her shoes."

Kokoro, looking at the book she had hidden from the others, then stood up and addressed the group, a rarity for her. "Hey, you know what? This can't go on! If we keep fighting, we won't be able to battle. We can't pilot Franxx units alone, but that isn't the only thing. Look, I know the boys have their perverted thoughts and whatnot, but are we any better? No, absolutely not! We may be different from boys, but that doesn't mean we can't get along with them. That other thing... When boys and girls get together, that's how things are born... I think..." Kyouko's eyes widened as she realized what Kokoro was saying, so she shot her a look that told her to not go any further on the birth and reproduction subject. Kokoro realized she was looking at her and nodded. "Anyway... We can't keep this up. Nana was right. We are in no condition to sortie, and if something were to happen, Zero Two's prediction... It might come true."

"It's unusual for you to be so assertive," Ikuno noted. "But I like it. You're right, too. We can't be the ones complaining all the time."

Miku, angered at the response, replied to her, "Are you suggesting we forgive them?! Fine, suit yourselves!"

As she climbed down from her bunk, ready to leave, Kyouko told her, "Miku, don't leave. Miku, come o-" She then flung the door open and stormed off, trying to sort her own thoughts out. "MIKU!"

As the boys walked through the living room of the mansion, they talked among themselves of their next plan. They had agreed to formally apologize to the girls for their past behavior, and to make general amends. Yasuto instructed, "Okay, so, Goro, you'll start off first with the apologies, got it?"

"Of course," he replied. "Now, Futoshi, you'll probably be ne-" Suddenly, they all stopped in their tracks when they saw that the girls had joined them, all of them with worried facial expressions. "Huh? Ichigo?"

"It's an emergency," Ichigo replied as the boys noticed Miku was not with them. "Miku ran off, and we can't find her!"

"God damn it," Yasuto replied to himself as he shook his head. "I knew this would happen."

Hiro then readied up both group, rallying them with, "Everyone, split up and search for her! Let's go!"

In one of the old dorm rooms, which had its tape ripped off by Miku, the aforementioned girl sat in the back, thinking to herself. She muttered as she heard the squad call out to her, "Who cares about them?! They've made up already! I don't need them anyway!" She then sighed and looked around the empty room. "Come to think of it, anyway, it looks like whichever squad was here before us just got up and left everything here." She then stood up and approached a study desk with a picture of the old Squad 13 on it. "So, these were the pilots of Squad 13 Mark II, huh? Not a bad looking group." She then set the picture down and noticed two journals, one red and one blue, plus a vase with dead lilacs in it. The red journal read out, "Girls' Journal, S13MII," while the blue one read out, "Boys' Journal, S13MII." On a hunch, she opened up the red journal to the last page, flipping back through empty pages to find the last page with an entry.

March 6, 2067, Sunday

We have an important mission tomorrow early in the morning, but as the leader of the pistils, I don't think we're exactly ready. February was a tough month for us, with Codes 325 and 219 being KIA in early February and being replaced so soon with new pilots, and of course this past week was Hell with the fighting between 300 and 169. Even my own partner is becoming less trusting of me due to the fighting. The Adults think that 300 and 169 are going through Puberty. We already had that incident on the 5th where 169 and 300 began fistfighting, and I fear what will happen if they fight while we are in combat. God help us all tomorrow.

Code 160

"Holy shit," Miku said to herself as she began to put the pieces together. "But Code Numbers 325, 169, and 160 were taken by brand new Children in the Garden just before we graduated. This entry was only a month before we got assigned here. Don't tell me... Oh my God..." She then dropped the book on the floor and crumpled to her knees, crying as the realization hit her: Squad 13 Mark II had been completely wiped out on March 7, 2067, just a month before Squad 13 Mark III had moved in. As a result, the code numbers of the squad got reused for new pilots-in-training.

After a minute, Miku heard a knock on the door. On the other end was Yasuto's voice, who explained to her, "Miku, if you're in here, get away from the door! We're gonna fore it open!" On the other side, Yasuto held a halligan bar while Kyouko held an axe, both of which had been grabbed from the tool shed. Yasuto then drove the adze end in between the door jamb and the door, then forced the bar down to damage the lock. Yasuto then told Hiro, "Get me that wooden wedge on the ground." Hiro then grabbed a small wooden door wedge and handed it to him, which he shoved into the gap he made to hold it open. Yasuto then shoved the fork end in, and instructed Kyouko, "Okay, hit!" Kyouko then hit the flat adze end with the flat end of her axe. "Hit! Hit! Hit! Hit! Hit!" After six hits, the door was opened, and the squad made their way in.

Miku was sitting on the ground, curled up in a ball with her legs. Zorome ran to her and asked, "Miku! Miku! Are you alright?!" Kokoro joined him to comfort Miku.

"The journal," Miku told him as she pointed to the red journal. "I read the journal."

"So," Zero Two told to Miku as she walked in from behind. "You found out what happened, huh?"

Kyouko gasped as the realization hit her. "Now... Now I remember... They all got killed in a mission on March 7th of this year. Me and Yasuto got sent here for a day soon after as part of rotations the active-duty parasites did to defend Cerasus until you guys graduated from the Garden to fill the gap. They died because two of their parasites had gotten into an argument during the mission, and in the course of that, they got distracted and killed."

"Just like we're all doing now," Ichigo depressingly noted.

The next day, the squad gathered in the courtyard early in the morning, led by Ichigo, all dressed in their formal uniforms. As they all stood at attention, Ichigo stood before them and addressed them with, "Everyone, today, this morning, we shall hold a memorial service for our predecessors in Squad 13 Mark II. Already, we have renovated their room, and a new door is on order. Even so, we have one last task to honor their memory. Goro and Yasuto have volunteered to present and fold the flag of APE, while Kyouko shall play us a memorial song she learned from her explorations that humanity has used in the past to honor its war dead."

Goro, carrying the folded-up APE flag, and Yasuto then walked up to the front and unfolded the flag, holding it opposite of each other over the ground. Kyouko also stepped forward, holding a bugle she had found and salvaged in the past from ruins. "Now, this song was used by the military of the United States of America many decades ago, before the Klaxosaurs, before APE, before any of this. Its melody is haunting, and it serves its role as a memorial song very well. It is for this purpose that among pilots, its unofficial use in memorial services has grown ever since I recovered the song. As warriors of the United States many years ago gave their lives for their country, these warriors of today give their lives for humanity, and we shall honor them with this song, simply entitled Taps."

"Squad 13," commanded Ichigo with a yell. "Present, Arms!" Kyouko then took a deep breath, and began playing the song, its haunting and melancholic melody tugging at the heart strings of all in Squad 13. Even Zero Two began to shed tears as a result, closing her eyes as she tried to hold it in.

Once the song was done, Kyouko put her bugle to her side and joined in the salute as Goro and Yasuto began to summarily fold the flag of APE into a triangle. Once it was folded, Goro placed the flag onto a small table containing the same flower vase from the old dorm room, albeit with fresh lilacs placed in by Mitsuru, between him and Ichigo and joined in the salute, all members of the squad facing the table, which was used in place of a coffin or other memorial marker for the ceremony. "Squad 13, Order, Arms!" The squad then broke their salutes. "Squad 13, At Ease!"