The common room hummed with voices.
[Hiro sat in the corner, knees pulled up, watching the others. They moved like normal children. Laughing. Planning. Living in a world that made sense to them.]
Naomi bounced over. [Plopped down beside him, close enough that their shoulders touched.]
"Hey, 016!" [She grinned, bumping his arm.] "We're talking about the future. Come join!"
'Future,' Hiro thought. 'In my timeline, we didn't have one. Not really. Just war and death and her hand in mine at the end.'
He stood. [Followed her to the circle where the others sat.]
---
"Okay," [Zorome said, spreading his arms wide like a leader on stage.] "When we get our FRANXX, I'm gonna be the best pilot ever! Better than 001! I'll save the world like, ten times!"
[He struck a pose. Miku laughed, flicking his ear.]
"You're gonna crash on day one," [she said, rolling her eyes.] "I'll be the one saving you."
"Will not!"
"Will too!"
"Guys," [Goro interrupted, pushing his glasses up.] "We should think realistically. The sync test is hard. Most of us might not pass."
[Silence fell. Heavy. Uncomfortable.]
Kokoro smiled. [Soft. Gentle.] "Even if we don't pilot, we can still help. The Garden needs doctors, teachers, engineers..."
"Engineers are boring," [Zorome groaned, flopping backward.]
"You're boring," [Miku shot back.]
Ichigo raised her hand. [Small gesture, but everyone quieted.] "I want to protect everyone. If I sync, I'll fight. If I don't, I'll find another way. But I won't give up on any of you."
[Her eyes found Hiro. Held them.]
"What about you, 016?" [she asked.] "What do you want?"
Hiro felt their gazes. [All of them. Expectant. Curious. Innocent.]
'What do I want?' he thought. 'I want her. I want red horns and gold eyes and a voice that calls me Darling. I want a timeline that didn't break. I want to stop waking up in worlds where she never existed.'
But he said:
"I want... to find something important."
[Zorome snorted.] "That's vague."
"Very vague," [Miku agreed, nodding seriously.]
"Maybe he means a partner?" [Futoshi suggested, mouth full of bread.] "Someone to sync with?"
"016 can't sync," [Zorome said, too fast.] "He failed the test. Remember?"
[Naomi glared at him. Zorome shrugged, not sorry.]
"That was one test," [Goro said, calm.] "People improve. Maybe 016 just needs the right partner."
'The right partner,' Hiro thought. His chest ached. 'I already had her. She was perfect. She was mine. And this world took her away like she was never real.'
"I don't need a partner," [he said quietly.]
"Everyone needs a partner," [Ichigo said, firm.] "That's the whole point. Two people, one FRANXX. Like 001 and her knight. You can't fight alone."
'I did fight alone,' Hiro thought. 'In this timeline, apparently. I won alone. And it was hollow.'
"Maybe 001 didn't need anyone either," [he said.]
[Silence. The others exchanged looks. Confused. Worried.]
"001 is a legend," [Goro said carefully.] "She's... different. Special. We're just kids."
"Just kids," [Hiro repeated. The words tasted like ash.] "Right."
---
The conversation continued. [Hiro stopped listening.]
Zorome bragged about combat scores. [Miku teased him. Kokoro drew flowers in her notebook. Futoshi ate. Ikuno stared out the window. Goro read. Ichigo watched everyone with her serious blue eyes.]
'They don't know,' Hiro thought. 'Any of it. The war. The deaths. The way she looked at me when we finally synced. The way the world broke and we held it together with our hands.'
He stood. [Sudden. Jerky.]
"Where you going?" [Naomi asked.]
"Nowhere," [he said.] "Just... need air."
[He walked out. Fast. Small legs carrying too much weight.]
---
The Garden was big. [White halls. White stairs. White everything.]
Hiro walked without thinking. [His feet knew the way. Muscle memory from another life. Another body. Another timeline where he walked these halls with purpose.]
He turned a corner. [Down a stair. Through a door marked RESTRICTED — but the lock was broken, or maybe it was never fixed in this world.]
And found it.
[The room.]
Small. [Dark. Not white like the rest of the Garden.]
In his memory, this was where she waited. [Where Zero Two sat on the windowsill, legs swinging, licking a lollipop, watching him with eyes that saw through every wall he built.]
"Found you," [she had said, grinning sharp.] "My Darling."
'Found you,' Hiro thought, standing in the doorway. 'But you found me first. You always did. You chose me when no one else would.'
He stepped inside. [Heart hammering. Small hands shaking.]
The room was empty.
[No windowsill. No red horns. No sharp smile. No lollipop. No her.]
Just a bed. [Unmade. Dust on the floor. A room that hadn't been used in years. Maybe never.]
Hiro walked to the center. [Turned in a circle.]
"Zero Two?" [he whispered.]
[Echo. Silence. Dust motes dancing in light from a high window.]
"Zero Two!" [Louder. His child's voice cracking.]
Nothing.
[He ran to the corner where she should be sitting. Empty. He checked under the bed. Dust. He pressed his hand to the wall where she leaned, where her horns scratched paint. Cold. Solid. Nothing.]
"Please," [he begged, not caring how small he sounded.] "Please be here. Please. I remember you. I remember everything. Your hand in mine. The way you said my name. The way we —"
[He stopped. Throat closed. Tears burning.]
The room didn't care. [The room was just a room. Four walls. A bed. A window. No magic. No memory. No red.]
Hiro slid down the wall. [Small body folding. Knees to chest. Arms wrapped tight.]
'She's not here,' he thought. 'She was never here. This world has no place for her. They erased her like she was a mistake. Like she was nothing.'
But she was everything. [In his memory. In his chest. In the space where his heart beat too fast for a child who had died once and couldn't forget.]
He pressed his forehead to his knees. [Closed his eyes.]
"Darling," [he whispered to the empty room. To the dust. To the absence that was eating him alive.]
[The word hung in the air. Died there. No echo. No answer.]
---
Footsteps. [In the hall. Approaching.]
Hiro didn't look up. [Didn't care who found him. A broken child crying in an empty room. Let them see. Let them think he was crazy.]
The door opened. [Light flooded in.]
"Hiro?"
[Ichigo's voice. Worried. Young. Wrong.]
He looked up. [She stood in the doorway, blue hair catching light, small face creased with concern.]
"I followed you," [she said, stepping inside.] "You left so fast. I thought... are you okay?"
[She saw his tears. His shaking. The empty room around him.]
"Who were you talking to?" [she asked, soft.]
"Nobody," [he said. Same lie. Same ash taste.] "Just... a bad dream. Again."
Ichigo sat beside him. [Close. Not close enough. Her shoulder touched his. Warm. Human.]
"This room," [she said, looking around.] "It's not used. Hasn't been for years. The caretakers say it was for... special cases. Children who didn't fit the program."
'Special cases,' Hiro thought. 'Children with klaxosaur blood. Children with red horns. Children like her.'
"Was there ever..." [he stopped. Swallowed.] "Was there ever a girl here? With red hair? Horns?"
Ichigo blinked. [Confused. Honest.]
"No," [she said.] "I've never seen anyone like that. The Garden doesn't... we don't have children with horns, Hiro. That's not... we're human. All of us."
[She said it gently. Like she was afraid of hurting him.]
Hiro laughed. [Bitter. Broken. Too old for his small body.]
"Right," [he said.] "All human. All normal. No red. No monsters. No one who makes you feel like more than a number."
Ichigo frowned. [Reached for his hand. He pulled away.]
"Hiro," [she said, hurt in her voice.] "You're scaring me. Who is this Zero Two? Why do you keep..."
"She's gone," [he said, flat. Final.] "She was never here. I know. I get it. This world is perfect. Peaceful. Safe. And I'm the only one who remembers what perfect cost."
[He stood. Wiped his face with his sleeve. Small gestures. Child gestures.]
"I'm fine," [he lied.] "Just tired. Bad dreams. You were right, Goro was right. Just brain stuff. Not real."
Ichigo stood too. [Blocked the door without meaning to. Or maybe meaning to.]
"Hiro," [she said, voice low.] "If you need help... if something's really wrong... you can tell me. I want to help. We're friends. Partners, maybe. Someday."
'Partners,' he thought. 'You were my first partner, Ichigo. In another life. It didn't work. We weren't meant to sync. You were meant for Goro. I was meant for her. For red. For fire. For a love that broke the world and rebuilt it in her image.'
"Thanks," [he said, stepping around her.] "But there's no help for this. There's no fixing it. There's just... waiting. And remembering. And hoping the crack opens before I forget why I'm looking."
[He walked out. Didn't look back.]
Ichigo stood in the empty room. [Alone. Confused. Frightened in a way she didn't understand yet.]
She looked at the dust. [The unmade bed. The high window.]
For a second — [one heartbeat] — she thought she saw something. [A shape in the dust. Two curves, almost touching. Like horns. Like a smile. Like a bird with one wing, reaching for another.]
She blinked. [It was just dust. Just light. Just her imagination.]
But she whispered, to the empty room, to the boy who remembered red:
"Whoever she is... I hope you find her."
[The room didn't answer. The dust settled. The light moved on.]