"What the hell is going on?!" said Zorome, plopping down onto the bed in the room he was sharing with Futoshi. "All these weird people just suddenly being summoned here by the doctor for no reason at all..." Futoshi was silent for a bit, before answering in a curious tone. "Beats me. But that's not so much my concern about these girls." "Oh, come on, now, fatty," Zorome retorted, much to his bro's immediate anger. "It's about them consuming your big, beautiful baguettes that you even have as body pillow designs, isn't it, dude?" "SHUT UP," the bigger boy growled back. "If you mention anything about me and my bread, you can bet your rear end that I'm gonna whoop you worse than Strelizia demolishing a Gutenberg klaxosaur." "Chill, Futoshi," said Zorome. "This is definitely not where I wanted our chat to go." Futoshi looked at his friend with venemous eyes. "Well, then, where did you want to go in this chat clearly gone wrong?" "What I said," Zorome the Great replied. "I'm at the end of my wits as to what to think about all these weird chicks and their friends who came here." Futoshi sighed. "Dude, I'm feeling the exact same way. I don't know about you, but I'm not sure if we should trust them or not." "Well, I guess we shall have to wait and see," said Zorome. "Good night, bro." "Good night." ~~~~ "You gotta be friggin' kidding me." Nonon and Sanageyama found themselves in a rather sticky situation. As the last people to speak personally with the doctor, they ended up having to be roommates. Of course, neither of them were very happy about this. "Ugh, why does this have to happen to me?!" said Nonon. "I've had enough bullcrap with this Kanto Monkey for years, and now I have to put up with him in the same room at night?!" "Ah, my dear Snake and Monkey," said Franxx, "you two should probably start learning how to get along as soon as you can. You're going to be FranXX copliots starting tomorrow, anyway, so you should probably be helping one another out instead of quarreling. "Eh?" said Sanageyama. "We're fighiting in the same mech? Damn it all!" "I don't give a damn, kendo warrior," said Franxx with a laugh. "Besides, your former leader divulged some potentially amusing information concerning you, Jakuzure." "Satsuki-sama? What did she tell you?" asked a wide-eyed Nonon. She was fearing the worst. "Let's just say this was from your childhood," the doctor replied. "She said that back in the day, you had a certain love for monkeys, and since you seem to call your friend here Monkey all the time, your leader never actually saw it as a symbol of hatred. In fact, she speculates that you actually have a huge crush on him, as much as you quarrel all the time." "NANI SORE?!" said Nonon as her face immediately reddened. It was all Sanageyama could do to keep himself from showing signs of laughter. At his roommate's reaction, however, his resistance crumbled to the ground as he heartily wheezed with mirth. "Interesting that you say that, Doctor," he said once he could catch his breath. "I always noticed a certain emotion in the air whenever Jakuzure would be sputtering out her snake venom of words, and believe me, it was not resentment. It clearly was, er, an attempt to hide attraction toward a certain somebody. I could sense a certain heat always emanating from her upper leg and hip regions. Don't think I didn't see that, Jakuzure." Nonon was practically flustered at this. "Why, y-you filthy-minded... MONKEY!" she sputtered. "You kept your mouth shut until this weird geezer who claims to be a freaking doctor brought it up! I hate you so much..." The snake's outburst was interrupted by the much taller Kanto monkey, who suddenly sprang up to her and embraced her tightly, "Uh, doctor?" said Sanageyama, turning to the former Werner Frank, "I think it would be more fitting for the two of us to negotiate this by ourselves..." ~~~~ Moments later, the two found themselves in their room. Both sat down upon the bed and were silent for some moments. At length, Sanageyama spoke first. "You know, Jakuzure," he said, "I guess even though we the Elite Four were Satsuki-sama's inner circle, it's quite clear we still kept secrets from one another, even Satsuki herself. Now," he said, bringing the issue directly up, "about this- how do I put it?- CRUSH, I knew you were putting on a show the whole time whenever you'd start bickering with me about the tiniest matters. Although, I have to admit, I guess I was, too." Nonon's expressive eyes widened. "Eh? You've spit out threats before to turn me into soup before, haven't you?" she demanded. The Monkey Boy nodded. "And you've always complained how my quirky way of thinking drives you up the wall," he smugly replied. "Looks like you were feeding me some really bald-faced lies there." The Snake gasped. "And what is that supposed to mean?" she said, blushing more furiously then ever. "What is the meaning of all this crap?" The answer she got was completely unexpected. Nonon felt her lips meet with her crush's, and again her eyes widened with shock. This is my first kiss, she thought to herself in that moment, and it's with none other than... MONKEY BOY?!?! The surprisingly suave Sanageyama then pulled away, leaving Nonon with a still shocked expression on her face. "It means, little snake," he said, "that we're certainly on the same page about... well, you know..." It was now Uzu's turn to be surprised. Suddenly, Jakuzure jumped on top of him and started wildly kissing him all over his face as sloppily as a snake naturally could. For a brief moment, Nonon paused, only to say this: "If that's what you're saying, then I'm really, really happy to hear it, my precious monkey boy." Sanageyama smiled. It certainly was going to be a fun night... ~~~~ In the meantime, Ryūko and Satsuki were heating up the stove like none other. With each girl staring wildly at the other's full unveiled glory, it was inevitable that they, too, were in for a wild first night in the Bird's Nest. TO BE CONTINUED





