"I still can't believe Zorome got himself stuck in the city," Kyouko remarked to Yasuto inside Heliconia as Squad 13 stood by outside of a mine construction zone they had to guard. Their comms were off, so no one else could hear them, but they were not on Stealth Mode, meaning that they could still receive messages. "He's lucky he didn't get himself killed. The Adults that aren't working for APE are usually very distrustful of Children and see the as dirty."

"You're not kidding," Yasuto replied to her as he checked the settings on Heliconia. "Anyway, what kind of music shall we play on patrol today, my dear?"

"Throw on a Beatles record," Kyouko suggested. "They're over a hundred years old now. That's like platinum oldies, not just golden oldies." The two shared a laugh as he threw on the album Rubber Soul from 1965. As its opening track, Drive My Car, began to play, Kyouko remarked, "Rubber Soul? Nice choice. Their psychedelic era was cool."

Their conversation was interrupted whe they got a message from Cerasus dispatch. "Headquarters for all Squad 13 units, you have about seven Conrads coming up on your nine o'clock position. Get ready for combat."

"On it," Ichigo replied.

As Kyouko sat in position and readied herself to be connected, she remarked to Yasuto, "This should be a nice, easy fight. No troubles whatsoever."

Immediately afterwards, though, her prediction aged like milk on a hot summer day when she and Yasuto heard a loud metallic crash nearby. It was immediately followed up by Ikuno screaming into the radio, "Mayday, mayday, mayday! Code 326 is down! Code 326 is down!"

"God damn it," Kyouko annoyingly remarked. "I spoke too soon." Heliconia then quickly powered up, and her face appeared on its front, indicating it was active and ready for combat. Kyouko then spoke through it, saying to the rest of Squad 13, "You guys go on and fight. We'll take care of Mitsuru and Ikuno!" Heliconia then ran for Chlorophytum's side and then shut itself off as the cockpit door opened up. Kyouko and Yasuto ran out and saw that Chlorophytum had collapsed to its knees.

Yasuto said to his partner as he planned out a way to get them out of the combat zone. "We'll have to pick them up and drag them, Kyouko. It's the only way."

"Yeah," Kyouko said back as she ran back inside the cockpit. "Hop in!"

...

After half an hour of dragging Chlorophytum back into place at its docking port, Kyouko and Yasuto ran up to the cockpit entrance with medical bags in their hands. As they ran up, Ikuno buzzed them in and pointed to Mitsuru, telling both of them, "He just basically passed out! I checked him over as you guys dragged us, and he has a super high fever. I last checked it about 5 minutes ago, and it was 41 Celsius."

Indeed, Mitsuru was not feeling well. His skin was noticeably pale and whitewashed, and sweat poured down his forehead. Yasuto began an evaluation of him, telling Ikuno, "We're gonna start doing our assessment and treatment until a crew from APE can get here! They should be here in about 10-15 minutes." He then turned back to Mitsuru. "Okay, Mitsuru, hey, can you hear me?" Mitsuru only replied back with a moan, indicating that he was not fully alert. "Alright." Yasuto then opened his medical bag and pulled out a penlight, sticking it into Mitsuru's mouth to check his airway. Once that was done, he pulled out a stethoscope to check his breathing. As he listened, he could hear wheezing inside his body. "He's wheezing pretty bad, Kyouko. Get me an O2 bottle, a nonrebreather, an IV kit, and a bag of saline. You got the cardiac monitor, right?"

"Yeah," Kyouko replied as she pulled out said monitor. "Want me to finish the assessment and get the IV and shit set up while you start with the monitor?"

"Sure," Yasuto replied. He then opened a case on the monitor and pulled out electrodes. As he began to ready them for use, Kyouko paused to check Mitsuru's breathing rate for about 15 seconds. Once that was done, she applied a nonrebreather to Mitsuru with oxygen. Once it was on, she checked Mitsuru's pulse, noting to herself that it was a bit thready. "Kyouko," Yasuto told her. "Put this pulse ox on him." Kyouko nodded and put it on his finger.

"I'll check his blood glucose level," Kyouko told him as he pulled out a test strip and ripped off part of Mitsuru's suit at the gloves to expose his hand, followed by her pricking his finger to get some blood. "By the way, his breathing rate was 24." Once she put the now-bloodied test strip in the BG level monitor, it read back with a blood sugar within normal limits. "Well, we know he's not a diabetic. His BG is fine." By now, Yasuto had cut off much of his upper suit with trauma shears to put on the electrodes for the cardiac monitor. As he put them on his chest, Kyouko rested Mitsuru's right arm on her knee. "Okay, Mitsuru, I'm gonna feel for a vein. When I get one, I'm gonna put an IV in you and start flowing saline. You may feel a pinch when I do it."

As Kyouko readied Mitsuru's right arm for an IV, Yasuto read our the first readings he got on the monitor. "Okay, I got a heart rate of 124, a pulse ox of 93 percent, and a blood pressure of 104 over 70. His heart rhythm is a bit fast, but I see no irregularities in its structure."

"Alright," Kyouko replied to him. She then turned back to Mitsuru. "Okay, I'm gonna stick the IV in." She then slowly inserted the needle into a vein on his right arm. Once it was in place, she held it in place with medical tape. "Ikuno! Come hold this saline bag for me!"

"Right," Ikuno replied as she ran over, quickly grabbing hold of the bag as the saline began to flow into Mitsuru. She was clearly worried for his well-being, despite the two notoriously not getting along well.

...

An hour later, Mitsuru was laying in a bed at the medical bay in Mistilteinn, still recovering from the fever he had. As Ikuno watched over him, Kyouko talked with Nana and Hachi about what had happened. "You think that Child Fever is coming along to him?"

"Yeah," Nana replied, affirming her question. "The other thing is, Mitsuru was always a weaker Child. He had to get special injections while in the Garden, or otherwise he may have not been able to pilot, and could have even died."

"Ah yes," Kyouko remembered. "The elixir injections. He got them unusually young, and at his age, it was an incredible risk. Only 15% of parasites aged 10 and below survive it, and even above the age of 10, it's only 25% until you hit 14. From there, it's around 33%, or a third. The odds in none of those cases are particularly good, but he had balls of pure steel to do it at 9. Me and my partner actually helped to administer them to him."

"No kidding," Hachi remarked, surprised by the coincidence. "Maybe you guys have a deeper connection to Squad 13 than initially thought."

"Perhaps you're right," Kyouko also remarked with a smile. "I think it was destiny that brought us to the 13th Pilot Defense Squad of Zone 9. For the first time in a long time, I feel like I truly belong here."

...

The next day, since Nana and Hachi were busy with APE business, Yasuto was tasked with checking Mitsuru's vitals. As he checked a temperature gauge, he said to Mitsuru, "Okay, looks like your fever is mostly gone. That's pretty good."

"Let me pilot a Franxx," Mitsuru almost immediately demanded of him right after he finished his sentence, startling him.

Yasuto knew that would not be possible yet. "Uh, slow down a sec, dude. Nana and Hachi don't want you piloting for a few more days, and I agr-"

"I said," Mitsuru repeated himself sternly, not listening to him. "Let me pilot a Franxx. Did I fucking stutter, transfer pilot?"

His comment set something off inside the older parasite. He bent down and looked at Mitsuru straight in the eyes, telling him off with, "Okay, that's it. You're going to listen to me, and you're gonna listen good. I've had it with your God damn attitude towards me, my partner, Hiro, and your own partner. You're gonna change the way you treat all of the above I just listed, and you will do it sooner rather than later. I may be a transfer, and I may not be the squad leader, but did you forget that I've been piloting a Franxx since before you were even 10? I'm four years older than you, and I've been piloting for five years longer than you have, so how about you sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up when I give you an order that's meant to keep you alive, okay?"

Mitsuru paused, taking his stern words in. He then formulated a response. "You don't know what happened between me and Hiro. Also, what happens between me and Ikuno is our business."

"I know exactly what happened," Yasuto immediately retorted back. "Hear me out. You wanna know why it seems like Hiro forgot that weird little promise he made to you, that I know about because I was at the Garden as a medical observer when all this shit happened? It's because he did actually forget, but it wasn't his choice." He thought to himself, "I can't reveal the full story, but I can tell him a little bit and add some ambiguity." "While me and my partner were assisting doctors with your Elixir injection, Hiro was undergoing an operation of his own that I cannot reveal due to the sensitivity of it. They fucked it up, though, and in the process, they erased a whole chunk of memories from his head, including the one where he made that promise. There, you have your answer for that, okay?"

Mitsuru nodded, taking a deep breath as he processed the bombshell that had just been dropped on him. It was a crushing feeling, the realization that all this time, he had been cruel to Hiro for something he could not even control hitting him like a wall of bricks. "I... I see... So he didn't forget. He was made to forget..."

"Exactly," he replied to him as he sat down on the bed next to him. "Look, Mitsuru, I'm sorry I snapped at you. I just... What you said just triggered some bad memories. Now, as for Ikuno, I get that you two have your own issues, but when it affects the entire squad's safety, it becomes everyone's issue. The last thing anyone wants is anyone getting hurt or killed. Mitsuru, if you feel like you can't go anywhere with Ikuno, you can put in a request for a Partner Shuffle to Nana and Hachi when they get back."

"Partner Shuffle?" Mitsuru was confused, having never heard the term. "You mean, I can change partners on a non-experimental basis?"

Yasuto sighed, amazed at how uneducated APE was making their newer pilots. "Holy damn, APE held back a lot. Back when me and Kyouko started piloting, we were told all about Partner Shuffles. You could try your hand at piloting with other people in your squad. You could make it permanent or not. I'm surprised they don't tell the new people any of this anymore. Anyway, you can anonymously request one to Nana and Hachi, and they can then present it to the whole squad." He then changed subjects back to Hiro. "Another thing, listen. Don't tell anyone I told you about Hiro. He doesn't know about the botched operation that removed those memories. I could get in trouble if word gets out I told you. Remember, you didn't hear it from me, okay?"

"Right," Mitsuru nodded. "I won't tell anyone."

Then, the two were interrupted by a knock at the doorframe, followed by a female voice. "Uh... Hey, Mitsuru?" Kokoro then walked slowly into view. "I wanted to say hi."

"Come on in," Mitsuru invited her. "Yasuto was just checking my vitals. My fever is down."

"I figured that since you came up to see me when I had problems a few days ago," Kokoro explained herself. "I should return the favor. Thanks for seeing me and hearing me out, by the way." She then also noticed that Yasuto was in the room, and addressed him. "Oh, hi, Yasuto-oniisan."

"Don't mention it," Mitsuru accepted her thanks with. "So, how was the battle I missed?"

"It went alright," Kokoro remarked. "Thing is, Futoshi was... Well, Futoshi. The whole time, he kept obsessing over me, as usual. I just went along with it, but it's starting to get uncomfortable. I don't know how to tell him to slow down, though."

"Kokoro," Yasuto said to her, interjecting in the conversation. "You need to learn how to be more assertive. Futoshi does care about you, but I agree that he does seem very obsessive, almost to the point of being creepy. If you don't like it or he tries to do something you don't feel comfortable with, you need to tell him to stop." He then had an idea form in his head. "You know, since I already brought it up with Mitsuru about Ikuno, how would you feel about a Partner Shuffle?"

...

"...Now that we've explained the process of the Partner Shuffle and have given you all time to discuss it among yourselves," Nana informed the entirety of Squad 13. "Is there anyone here who would like to switch partners? It doesn't have to be permanent."

After a brief pause in the meeting room behind the docking stations for all their Franxx, Ikuno raised her hand first. "I would. Now, hear me out a bit, because this is gonna sound odd. I want to try out a pistil-to-pistil connection. In the event a stamen is killed in action or otherwise incapacitated, I want to see if pistils can still partner up so we don't lose a pair's full capacity."

Nana, Hachi, and everyone else in Squad 13 were surprised by the suggestion. All, of course, except for the older two "transfer pilots." Nana replied to the suggestion with, "Hmm... We can try it. Who do you want to pilot with?"

"Ichigo," Ikuno immediately replied with. "I want to try it with her. We'll do both positions, and see what happens."

"Okay then," Nana replied to her as she wrote notes down on a notepad. "Anyone else? Again, it doesn't have to be permanent."

Kokoro and Yasuto looked to each other for a brief moment and nodded, knowing what she was about to do. She looked to Mitsuru as well and did the same. "Um..." Kokoro then raised her hand, shocking her partner, Futoshi. "I would like to pilot with Mitsuru."

Futoshi, horrified, immediately replied back, "But... But Kokoro! What about us?!" He was clearly distraught by the suggestion of switching, and was seemingly on the verge of tears.

Kokoro felt horrible for doing this to him, but knew that she had to do it. "I... I'm sorry, Futoshi."

Futoshi practically fainted and broke down at the thought, causing Zorome, Goro, and Kyouko to all rush over and stop him from falling over as he said, "Oh no... Oh no..." The three of them together were able to hold him up as he came to from his pseudo-fainting episode.

Meanwhile, in the back of the room, Hiro and Zero Two talked to each other quietly, wondering about what would happen. "Do you think a pistil-to-pistil connection is possible, Zero Two?"

"No," she soundly replied. "Absolutely not. When I first... Well, you know, kinda licked Ikuno, I could sense that she was keeping a secret. I think I have a feeling what that secret is now, and I know for a fact the two transfer pilots know what it is, too." She then sighed. "Ikuno is in some ways trapped in the wrong world to be the kind of person she is."

"I see," Hiro noted, wondering what was the deal with Ikuno. He then decided to change subjects. "So, anyway, I've noticed that you've been kinda distant lately. We aren't talking as much, especially outside of the battlefield. I told you, you can talk to me about anything, Zero Two."

"I know," she assured him. "I just feel like we know each other perfectly fine just piloting a Franxx." She then turned around from him, opening up yet another one of her many green lollipops she often had. "Darling, we're fine how we are. Are you really sure you want to know more about me than you already do?" That question left Hiro without any way to reply, he himself unsure if he truly did.

...

"Damn it," Ikuno muttered to herself as she slammed a door nearby Chlorophytum with her fist. Her attempts to connect with Ichigo in both riding positions had failed, and she was unusually distraught over it. "It failed!" Ichigo had already returned to the girl's locker room by then, wondering why Ikuno had picked specifically her.

Hachi and Kyouko, both watching her, felt uneasy about how she reacted. Hachi remarked to her, "This is unusual. I'm surprised to see someone so distraught over it."

In her head, Kyouko had a plan, being sympathetic to Ikuno. "Ichigo is clearly straight. Ikuno is clearly not straight. Whether she's exclusively into other girls or wants a little bit of both worlds like me is unknown. Maybe if someone who was a girls and was also not straight piloted with her..." "Hachi, Ikuno," she then said to both of them. "I have an idea."

Ikuno looked over and began to walk to her, asking, "What is it? We've exhausted both of our options."

"Not exactly," Kyouko replied to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Hachi, let me pilot with Ikuno. I've had an interest in piloting with another pistil for a while, and my partner already knows about it. I have no problems with Yasuto at all, but I want to see if actually desiring to make a same-sex connection inside a Franxx unit will affect anything."

Ikuno said to herself quietly, surprised someone like her was suggesting the idea, "Kyouko-nee..."

"I can arrange that," Hachi replied with a bow. "Shall we use Heliconia or Chlorophytum?"

"Same procedure as before," Kyouko told him. "We'll use Heliconia first, with me as the pistil and her in Yasuto's position, and then we'll use Chlorophytum last, with the positions reversed, if that doesn't work."

...

About 10 minutes later, both Ikuno and Kyouko sat in Heliconia, ready to begin. Ikuno remarked to her, "Hey, thank you. You didn't have to do this for me."

"It's fine," she assured her younger partner. She then radioed out to Hachi. "Before we begin, can I talk to Code 196 privately, sir?"

"Sure thing," Hachi replied as he closed out his radio comms and Kyouko switched Heliconia to Stealth Mode.

"What was that about?" Ikuno was confused as to why she had requested privacy.

"Because everything I tell you from this point onwards needs to be taken to your grave," Kyouko warned her. "Look, Ikuno, I've had a feeling you were this way for a while, but I now know for sure that you view girls as more than just friends or fellow pilots."

Ikuno, trying and utterly failing to deny it, replied nervously, "Uh, what do you mean, eheheh? I think boys are the bee's knees, sis. Girls are cool, but boys are where it's at..."

Kyouko sighed. "You're a shitty liar, you know that?" She then stood up from her position and faced her. "Before I do anything, Ikuno, how do you feel about personal space and what Hiro and Zero Two did?"

"You mean that kissing thing?" Ikuno wondered what her plans were. "I don't mind it. It's a bit unusual, but I don't think it's wro-"

Kyouko immediately stopped her there when she closed her eyes, grabbed Ikuno's stamen suit, and kissed her on the lips, surprising her greatly. Ikuno's eyes widened for the first few seconds in shock, but then she closed them and began to accept the kiss. It lasted about twenty seconds before the two of them split, Kyouko holding Ikuno's face by her cheeks. "I know you like girls, Ikuno, and not just as friends. I know that because I do, too."

"But... But you're with Yasuto..." Ikuno was in utter disbelief at the bombshell that had been dropped on her.

"You can like boys and girls," Kyouko assured her. "Ikuno, never, ever for a moment think that you're defective or wrong for feeling how you feel, because you're not." She then sighed as she stood back from her. "You are either a lesbian or you're bisexual, and you are great just the way you are. I know how you feel about Ichigo, and... I know that it must be painful to feel that way about someone and not have them like you back, or know they can never like you back."

Ikuno, who now had tears running down her cheeks, nodded to her. "Yes... Yes..."

"I kissed you because I wanted you to see the truth," Kyouko explained to her. "Listen, I've already found the person I intend to be with for as long as I live, Ikuno. I know for a fact that you will, too, one day. Somewhere, out there, there are hundreds of girls and even boys who feel just like us, like they don't belong because they either like the "wrong gender" exclusively or they like people regardless of what they got in their pants or on their chest. You're not alone, and neither am I." Ikuno immediately reached out and hugged Kyouko, now practically bawling into her shoulders in response. Those were words she had been desperate to hear from someone for a long time, and now that she heard them, it felt as if a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. Her crying continued for a full minute.

As Ikuno wiped away her tears, she asked of Kyouko, "Tell me, what do I do about Ichigo?"

"Be very careful," Kyouko instructed her. "If APE gets word of this, they'll have you and me both arrested and shipped off to get re-educated, and as someone who used to assist with that, it's not fun. It's Hell. As much as I hate to admit it, I think for now it would be best not to tell her anything. I'll let you know when it would be a better time. I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Ikuno replied, now keeping her emotions more in-check. "Okay, let's get ready to pilot."

"Right," Kyouko replied as she turned off Stealth Mode. She then radioed to Hachi, "Sorry for the long wait. We're ready."

"Alright," he radioed back, completely unaware of what had just transpired. "Commence the startup procedures."

As the two of them sat and waited, they could hear the starter inside Heliconia rumble to life. However, neither of them felt anything. For a half a minute, it felt like Ikuno would once again fail to connect with another pistil. "It's not working," Ikuno said to herself in frustration. "Damn it."

Then, suddenly, it happened.

Kyouko remarked to Ikuno, "Hey, I'm beginning to feel something!"

Hachi radioed back to them in disbelief, "Guys, you won't believe it, but the stats are indicating a connection! It's actually happening!"

Sure enough, after another half of a minute, Kyouko's face appeared on the front of Heliconia, leading to the entire team inside the control center of the docking station to look on in awe. None of them expected it to be pulled off, especially after Ikuno's two test runs with Ichigo failed, but this time, it worked. Kyouko said to herself as Heliconia, "Holy shit! It worked! It actually worked!" In a rare moment of emotion, the entire crew inside the control center spontaneously erupted into cheers and applause as they stood up from their seats and clapped. Even Hachi smiled, impressed by their work.

"It's a bit unstable though," Ikuno remarked. "Even so, this is amazing! I never thought I'd see the day this became a reality!" On the compatibility screens in Heliconia's cockpit, the connection was indeed unstable and thready, but it was there. "Even from this seat, it feels amazing!"

After a full two minutes together, however, the connection dropped, and Ikuno and Kyouko fully returned as Chlorophytum turned itself off. Kyouko breathed heavily as she mentally exited Heliconia and its engines wound down, almost to the point of hyperventilation. "Oh my God..." It had been incredibly taxing for her to make the connection, but she had made it.

Ikuno immediately sat up and raced to her senior's side, asking her out of worry, "Kyouko, are you alright?!"

"Yeah," she assured her as she wiped sweat off of her forehead. "Holy shit... That was intense... It only lasted like a minute... I'm sorry..."

"No, it's fine," Ikuno assured her with a smile on her face, tears now flowing down her cheeks in pure joy. "What matters is that it's possible! Kyouko, we just fucking made history!" The two then embraced, laughing and cheering together.

...

Later on, inside the boys' dorm, Futoshi was crying in his bed as the others minus Mitsuru looked on in worry. He had been devastated by Kokoro's decision to switch permanently with Mitsuru, and the others had tried to comfort him as best as they could. "Why? Why did she leave me? I promised to protect her and defend her with my life!"

"Maybe you overdid it a bit," Zorome noted to him, getting somewhat annoyed by him. "It was a bit overbearing at times. Also, you could stand to lose a bit of weight."

"Easy for you to say," Futoshi remarked back to him just as the man of the hour, Mitsuru, walked in. "Huh? What do you want?!" Futoshi was not happy with him, turning his sadness into anger.

"I came in because I heard you were beat up about it," Mitsuru replied to him. "Look, Futoshi, what happened happened. It's over now."

Futoshi, enraged by the remark, attempted to get up and charge at Mitsuru, yelling, "How can you say that?!" However, Zorome and Goro held him back from actually reaching Mitsuru as Hiro and Yasuto looked on.

The other two stamen walked out with Mitsuru, with Hiro trying to get Mitsuru to understand more where Futoshi was coming from. "Hey, come on man. Cut him some slack. Understand where his feelings are coming from."

Mitsuru stopped in his tracks and looked down. If Hiro has said this just a few days before, he may have snapped at him, but knowing what he knew now about Hiro's memory loss, he held himself back. "I get it... Hiro, I'm not going to snap at you... Okay?" He then turned around to meet his eyes, clearly in a state of tension as he took a deep breath. "Everything's fine." He was clearly conflicted. Should be still hold a grudge to Hiro to keep up appearances since Yasuto had told him to not tell Hiro about the memory loss, or should he forgive him and pretend nothing happened for the past five years without offering any explanation?

Hiro, now more confused than ever, asked Yasuto as Mitsuru walked away out of earshot, "What the hell was that about? Usually, he would have snapped at me if I said something like that."

Yasuto, not wanting to tell him the truth about what he had told Mitsuru, which he was now starting to somewhat regret, simply told him, "Maybe he's just a bit stressed about switching partners." "God damn it," he thought to himself. "I knew this would come up at some point. I really hope that Hiro finds out his old memories somehow on his own. If that happens, it'll fully clear up all this nonsense between him and Mitsuru."

...

Not too long after, Kokoro walked around the greenhouse inside Mistilteinn, lovingly carrying a doll as if it were a baby in her arms. As she looked down at some flowers, she talked to the doll, telling it, "These pretty little things are flowers. They smell and look beautiful. Don't you agree?" Carrying the doll gave her a warm feeling inside her body, as if she was caring for a real person.

Suddenly, however, she was interrupted by Mitsuru's deeply confused and perplexed voice. "Kokoro, what the hell are you doing?"

The girl panicked and accidentally flung the doll up into the air as she almost tripped on her own feet, just barely stopping herself from falling while also catching the doll back in her arms. "Mitsuru... Hey, you can't scare me like that... I almost dropped this doll."

Mitsuru looked over the doll as he walked over to her. "I see you did more reading in that book."

"Yeah," she replied as she sat down on a stool in the greenhouse. "I did. You know, why did we stop having kids?"

Mitsuru immediately thought he had the answer, as it was official APE propaganda. "Well, if I had to guess, it's because the Adults are immortal now. Besides, we're all born in laboratories or something in the Garden by Papa and APE. There's no need for us to have kids that way anymore, because none of the Adults are dying off and thus don't need to be replaced by new people, and whatever way they use to make us Children seems more efficient."

"You're not entirely wrong," Kokoro remarked as she thought about his explanation. "But it just seems like... I don't know... It seems like it makes us less human. After reading that book, it feels like, to me at least, that creating new life is one of the most human activities a person could do."

Wanting to change subject due to how confusing the previous one was becoming to him, he rather bluntly asked her, "Why did you want to ride with me? Futoshi hates me now, and it's obviously kind of a pain in the ass to have to deal with that."

Kokoro sighed, knowing this subject was going to come up eventually. She decided to tell him the truth about her switch. "To be honest," she began. "Futoshi is a great guy, but he really was overbearing. It got to the point where I felt like he liked an idolized and perfect version of me, and not the real me. I'm not perfect at all. Not by a long shot. I don't necessarily consider myself the prettiest among the bunch, nor am I the most assertive or the best at combat. You know what, though? I love that about me." She then stood up, gently putting the doll down. "The fact that I'm not perfect is what makes me human, and there is nothing I'd rather be than that."

Mitsuru nodded, agreeing with her. "You don't have to sell yourself so short, but I agree. Imperfection makes us who we are. However, that doesn't fully explain the decision. Why me of all the other boys?"

"Because you heard me out that one day when my period cramps confined me to my bed," Kokoro continued with more reasons behind her decision. "Futoshi would have just tried to protect and comfort me without hearing me out like you did, not to mention the fact that you didn't overreact when I flashed you my boobs on accident." The two shared a laugh over the flashing incident, finding it more hilarious now than embarrassing. "Yeah... Well, I guess there's another reason that goes far back..."

"How far back? The Garden?"

"Yeah," Kokoro nodded. "Back to the Garden... Back when me and Miku used to be closer to you. All the other girls back then were interested in Hiro, but I had my sights on someone else..."

...

Five Years Prior

A younger Kokoro, aged 9, was playing with Jenga blocks with a younger Mitsuru. As the two looked over their tower, deciding where to pull from next, they both thought intensely. "Hmmm," Kokoro said to herself before she made her decision and began to pull from the middle. "I pull this block."

"I pull this," Mitsuru replied back, pulling another block and closing his eyes. After a few seconds, he opened them and found that the tower had not collapsed. "Oh, hey! It didn't fall!"

"I hope it doesn't fall with this," Kokoro replied to him as she pulled another block. However, her hopes were crushed when the tower toppled over and crashed to the floor, confirming Mitsuru as the winner of the game. "Aw man..." Kokoro looked disappointed that she did not win.

"Hey," Mitsuru remarked to her. "Don't feel so bad. You did good, too."

The young girl looked up at him and then smiled, comforted by his words. "Thank you. You're pretty nice, Code 32-... I mean, uh... What did Hiro give you as a name again?" She felt guilty that she forgot his given name.

"Mitsuru," he told her. "It's fine. I don't think it's anything special. I mean, I really am not, either. Your name is super pretty, though, Kokoro!" He then immediately stopped himself when he realized what he had told her, and blushed intensely.

Kokoro laughed, but then stopped when she saw that he felt bad about possibly embarrassing her. "Huh? Hey, it's fine, Mitsuru. I was laughing because I think it's a cool name, too. I also saw your cheeks turn red after that. Mitsuru sounds cool as a name, a lot cooler than just some numbers like 326."

...

Present

"There was just something in the way you were usually so shy and reserved," Kokoro in the present day told him. "But then how with me or Hiro, and Miku as well, you came way out of your shell. After we grew apart, it hurt for a while, and when the time came to send in suggestions for riding partners, I put down Futoshi. I wanted to put you down on that list, but I didn't know if you would have agreed."

"I can see where you came from when you made that decision," Mitsuru remarked to her. "The past few days got me thinking about a lot of things. About how I've been towards Hiro, towards you and Miku, towards, well, everybody. I'm starting to really find myself disgusted at times with how I've been in the past. Maybe a change in partners is what I needed." Kokoro smiled, glad to hear those words from her old friend.

However, their conversation was interrupted when a speaker in the greenhouse sent out an alarm sound. Both of her recognized it as the dispatch alarm. As they got up to hear what the callout was for, Zero Two's voice came over the same speaker, saying, "Reported sighting about 80 kilometers to the southwest, gonna be possibly a Gutenberg-class, ETA is about an hour and 10 minutes to the mine and to Cerasus." She has been the first to receive a printout of the call from a dot-matrix printer located in the front room of the mansion, and thus had to use Mistilteinn's intercom system to give the information out to the others.

Kokoro remarked to Mitsuru, "Well, looks like we got something." They both then ran out of the greenhouse, ready to hop in Genista together for the first time outside of the Partner Shuffle tests and fight.