A little bit after dinner, when almost everyone had retired to their rooms for bed, Ichigo was lucky enough to run into Goro in the hallway. The tallest member of Squad 13 seemed to be on his way to the room that he had, until recently, shared with Hiro, ready to wind down for bed as well. Catching his eye, Ichigo waved and said, "Hey, Goro, can I talk to you for a sec?"

He stopped and gave her a warm smile, responding, "Sure, what's up Ichigo?"

Ichigo looked off to the side for a moment before shifting her gaze back to her partner, then asked, "You're going fishing tomorrow morning, right?"

With a light chuckle, Goro responded, "Yeah, I'm going with Zero Two tomorrow."

Blushing now in slight embarrassment over her attempts to keep her motivation hidden, Ichigo again averted her gaze as she said, "Can I go fishing with you tomorrow, instead of Zero Two? I…I need to talk to you about something."

Now both intrigued and puzzled, Goro said, "Uh…yeah, sure. But can I ask why?"

Part of her wanted to just talk to him about it here and now; just get this bit of stress dealt with and out of the way. But no, she didn't want to risk anyone overhearing what she had to say, and she wanted to spend some time alone with Goro anyway in order to see if how she felt was true.

So instead of answering the boy's question, Ichigo quickly said, "I'll see you tomorrow morning Goro, goodnight!" And with that, she scurried off, blushing furiously in the wake of her extremely poor attempt to get some guaranteed time alone with Goro.

Scratching the back of his head, Goro watched as his partner hurried off in the direction of the girls' dorms. With a shrug, he started to make his way to the room that Hiro and Zero Two shared in order to let the girl know that her excellent fishing skills were not going to be exercised the next morning.

It's a shame, he thought, since she's even better than me at fishing.

But, at least he got to actually spend some time alone with his partner; the girl to whom he had expressed his love. A small part of Goro hoped that maybe, just maybe Ichigo had decided that she wanted to be with him after all. But he didn't want to expect too much or something that wasn't coming, so before he could start down the path of worrying about what he would wear (even though he only had multiple pairs of the same two outfits; the parasite uniform and formal attire) or if he should act a certain way, he instead simply took a calming breath and decided that he would enter tomorrow without any expectations, just as he had done since he was a child.

Just as sunlight began to stream through the window of her and Ikuno's room, Ichigo awoke. She blinked and tried to rub the bleariness from her eyes, then yawned and stretched her arms over her head. She quietly got dressed so as to not disturb her roommate who, Ichigo had to admit, was kind of cute as she slept hugging herself, as if waiting for someone to be in her arms.

For me to be in her arms, Ichigo realized after a moment. Something panged in her chest, but before she could dwell on it for too long, she refocused on the task at hand and exited her room. She finished getting ready in the girls' bathroom, then hurried down the stairs to the common area at the front of the boarding house.

Goro was already there, checking through his gear to make sure that he had remembered to grab both of his good rods, enough lures, and some snacks. Focused as he was, he failed to notice Ichigo as she quietly made her way down the stairs and came to a stop a foot away from him.

She broke the silence when she tentatively said, "Good morning, Goro."

Startled, the boy fumbled with what he was holding and dropped a lure back into his tackle box. Ichigo started to apologize, but Goro was chuckling and only said, "It's fine, Ichigo; you just startled me is all," smoothly placating his partner.

He had honestly just been trying to kill time by going through his gear, as he already knew that he had brought all of the necessities. So, after a moment of somewhat awkward silence where Ichigo looked unsure of what was supposed to happen next, Goro decidedly took the lead.

"Let's get going," he said smiling, "this is the best time to catch the best-tasting fish." Ichigo smiled back and nodded, and with that, he picked up all of the gear himself and together they left the house, Goro leading the way to his favorite fishing spot.

Setting up on a small boulder at the edge of a bend in one of the many streams of Mistilteinn, Goro placed all of his tools on the ground next to him before proceeding to pull off his socks and shoes. After he sat down on the boulder and let his lower legs and feet swing through the cool and refreshing morning water, Ichigo followed suit.

He handed her a rod and explained how she should hold it, what she should look out for to let her know that she had something on the line, and how to reel in a fish once she indeed had one hooked. All the while, Ichigo nodded and seemed to be listening, but Goro could tell that she was distracted, thinking about something else.

Probably whatever it was that she didn't want to talk to me about last night, he thought to himself. But, he knew that she would tell him eventually when she was ready, and they had all morning for her to do so.

So, for the next fifteen minutes, they sat in comfortable silence, listening to the sound of the chirping birds all around them and the babbling of the stream as it passed them by.

Finally, Ichigo looked over at Goro and opened her mouth to talk, but hesitated. She had been thinking a lot about this, about how she felt about Goro and his admission of love. She felt sure in her decision, now. Clearing her throat, she started, "Goro."

Looking to his right at Ichigo, Goro raised his eyebrows and responded, "What's up?"

She took one hand off of her rod to scratch at her neck, feeling as heat started to crawl up to color her cheeks a light pink. "Um, so the reason I wanted to come out here this morning with you is that…is that I wanted to tell you something."

Suppressing a slight chuckle at her statement of the obvious and sensing her nervousness, Goro instead reassuringly said, "Sure, take your time."

Why does he have to be so nice all of the time, Ichigo thought to herself. It just made this harder.

"About what you said…"

Even after all of this time, Goro didn't need to ask to know what she was referring to. Instead of responding, he sat quietly and listened to his partner speak.

Ichigo took a moment to steel herself against the nerves that were trying to rob her of her voice, then said, "Goro, you're the best partner and friend that I could have asked for, and you look out for me even when it's stupidly dangerous for you." She was of course referring to his stunt with the klaxosaur that had absorbed Delphinium; when Goro had ejected Ichigo to save her and almost sacrificed his life to eliminate the klaxosaur threat.

"I really care about you a lot," she continued. Then tears started forming at the corners of her eyes. Now was the hardest part: "But I don't love you, at least not in the way that you love me. I'm sorry." She closed her eyes, shaking from the emotional toll that her admission had taken on her. She felt selfish, mean; like she was hurting Goro unnecessarily.

But she had needed to do this. She didn't want Goro to wait forever for her to reciprocate his feelings, and she wanted him to be happy. Maybe, if they all survived the coming battle that the Nines had talked about before their departure, Goro would end up meeting a girl from another plantation and be with her.

But she couldn't know if that would happen. There were too many possibilities. Suddenly the thought of losing Goro struck her, and Ichigo started to cry harder, trying her best to remain silent as her shoulders shook and tears steadily rolled down her cheeks. It was too much; it was all too much.

She was surprised when she felt a pair of arms gently encircle and embrace her, realizing a moment later that Goro was hugging her, trying to calm her as he patted her back. She could have laughed; here she was, crushing his dreams of being with her, and instead of being upset or even bitter, he was comforting her.

But that was who Goro was, wasn't it? No matter how someone treated him, he always tried to be nice, to be a friend. And that was what made this so hard; there was no real reason for Ichigo to turn Goro down, save for her lack of romantic feelings for him.

Was she being selfish? Only time would tell. If she was, she was sure that she would get what was coming to her; if she wasn't, she hoped that everyone would end up happy in the end, and that her actions did not cause harm to anyone else. She had already caused enough damage trying and failing to steal Hiro away from Zero Two.

For the time being however, she closed her eyes and lost herself in the rhythmic circles Goro was rubbing on her back as he continued to comfort her. She rested her head on his shoulder and eventually, the tears stopped flowing and she felt that she had regained her composure, for the most part.

Feeling her breathing become steady again, Goro gently leaned back to make sure that Ichigo's tears had indeed stopped flowing. Seeing that they had, he let her go and moved to give her a little bit of breathing room.

Eventually, Ichigo wiped the few remaining tears from her eyes and flushed cheeks, then she looked to Goro, waiting to see how he would respond.

He wasn't looking at her when he simply said, "I know."

Ichigo blinked in surprise. Then she said, "You do?"

Smiling sadly, Goro said, "Yeah. We're partners, remember? I see your thoughts whenever we sync in Delphinium." He inhaled deeply, then looked off into the distance, visually following the stream until he lost it in the trees. "I've known for a while, now."

Somewhat shocked at his admission, Ichigo sat silently for a couple of minutes, watching the water flow by on its way to the lake at the center of the bird cage.

Then Goro said, "I can't say I'm not disappointed, but I understand."

Ichigo looked at her partner and asked, "Really?"

He looked back at her as he smiled and said, "Really. I don't want you to feel badly, Ichigo. I said I was being selfish when I told you how I felt, but I needed to do it. It's okay if you don't feel the same, I honestly never expected you to. I just needed that weight off of my shoulders."

Ichigo understood that sentiment all too well. Her love for Hiro had caused enough problems on missions that, had she not gone through the excruciating process of finding out whether he could ever love her back, who knew what tragedies might have befallen Squad 13. But luckily, her selfishness in that situation had led to the team becoming a stronger iteration than ever before, and Hiro had ultimately found happiness with Zero Two. Even though Ichigo would never be with Hiro, knowing that he was happy was enough for her.

And that was how Goro probably felt about her, Ichigo realized. Even though he would never be with her, he was just happy knowing that she would eventually find happiness herself. And that was why she had had to do this; just as Hiro had made it clear that Ichigo was just his close friend and nothing more, Ichigo had to make the same thing clear to Goro. So that he could find happiness too, some day.

The two parasites sat quietly for several minutes, not needing to talk to fill the silence. Whatever tension Ichigo had felt before, now she could finally feel herself relaxing. There was no more immense weight on her shoulders; no more guilt over knowing that Goro was waiting patiently in the hopes that she would someday reciprocate his feelings.

Goro picked up his rod; it had been resting on the rocky surface next to him, forgotten during Ichigo's emotional admission. Ichigo picked hers up as well, and the pair enjoyed another few minutes in calm silence.

Eventually, Goro pulled out a couple of bread rolls left over from dinner the night before. They were both wrapped in small napkins; he handed one to Ichigo, who thanked him, then proceeded to unwrap his and took a bite.

After they had finished eating the snack, Goro cleared his throat and asked, "So… is there someone that you're, uh, you know, interested in?" He immediately coughed and said, "If you don't mind my asking, that is."

Ichigo felt her cheeks heat up again as she contemplated the question. She said, "Well…yes and no."

He smiled and said, "Oh? Who?" His face grew serious. "Please don't tell me it's Zorome…"

Ichigo made a disgusted noise and essentially yelled, "What?! Uck no way!"

Goro laughed at her reaction, thoroughly amused with the response that mentioning their hyperactive friend brought on.

Shaking her head at her friend, Ichigo thought for a moment, debating on whether or not she should tell him about Ikuno. Ikuno had seemed to be worried about what the others might think of her having feelings for another girl, and Ikuno had kept those feelings a secret for years. Knowing how Goro was, however, Ichigo felt that she could trust him with this information.

"Okay," she began in a serious voice, "I'll tell you. But you have to promise to keep it a secret."

Intrigued, Goro said, "Okay, sure."

Blushing even more now and finding it hard to look Goro in the eye, Ichigo held out her hand to him, pinky finger outstretched, and repeated, "Promise!"

Raising an eyebrow at the girl's antics, Goro reached out and locked his pinky finger with hers and replied, "I promise not to tell anyone."

Ichigo nodded and said – more to herself than to him – "good; okay."

Taking a deep breath, Ichigo said, "Two days ago, I went to check on Ikuno after what happened with the Nines."

Goro simply nodded, not wanting to interrupt her.

Ichigo continued, "When I asked if she was feeling all right, she asked me if I really cared that much; cared about her. Then she admitted to me that, ever since we were kids, she's only ever had eyes for me and that she loves me."

Eyebrows slowly raising in surprise at this new information, Goro was only able to say, "Oh. Wow, okay." He took a few more moments to fully process this revelation about his fellow glasses-wearer, then said, "So, is that everything that happened? What did you do?"

Ichigo felt like small flames must have been erupting across her face as she spoke, "At one point, she had pushed me onto my back on her bed, and... and I thought she was going to kiss me."

Leaning forward, Goro asked, "Did she?"

"No," Ichigo answered. But a part of me wonders what it would have felt like if she had. She inhaled a few times to try and get her thoughts in order, and to calm the flush in her cheeks.

Meanwhile, Goro finally felt a tug on his line. Ichigo watched silently as he battled with the fish, eventually pulling it up and out of the water. Goro calmly removed the hook from the large fish's mouth, then Ichigo had to look away as he clubbed it on the head with what she assumed was a fishing club, ending the creature's pain. Goro placed the fish in the special container he had brought, then made sure that his lure was undamaged before casting the line back into the water.

Once Ichigo felt that her blush had mostly subsided, she continued. "I ended up telling her that I used to be like her; a pain trying to be with someone that I couldn't, and that I was sure she would find happiness someday."

Goro looked at Ichigo. "So, you turned her down."

Ichigo nodded slowly, "Yeah. Kind of? I don't think I handled it very well."

Goro spent a few beats in silence, then said, "So…how do you feel about her?

Ichigo looked at her partner and smiled as she jokingly responded, "I thought you could see into my head."

Goro smiled in response and said, "Yeah, but this thing with Ikuno happened after the last time we used the FranXX. We haven't synced since then."

Ichigo laughed lightly and said, "True." After a moment, she grew serious again and said, "Honestly, I don't know how I feel. That's one of the reasons I wanted to go fishing with you today.

"All I know is that I haven't been able to stop thinking about her confession since it happened, and now I feel awkward whenever I'm around her. I try not to show it because I don't want her to be uncomfortable, but I feel like I need to do something."

Goro reeled in his line before placing his rod back down on the rocky surface next to him. Scratching the back of his head, he leaned back on one arm. After a few moments, he said, "Why don't you spend some time alone with her? Like what you did with me today? Maybe that'll help clear up whatever you're feeling, and you'll be able to put it to rest once and for all."

Somewhat shocked at his apparent acceptance of the fact that Ikuno was attracted to another girl, and Ichigo at that, the blue-haired girl couldn't help but ask one of the questions that had been burning in her mind since Ikuno's confession: "So you don't think it's weird that Ikuno and I are both girls? That she loves me and not one of the boys?"

Goro looked Ichigo directly in the eyes now as he said, "I don't think it's weird that she loves you, Ichigo. Trust me, I of all people understand why she would."

Ichigo blushed again. Damn the human body and its responses to emotions.

Goro continued, "And if I've learned anything from Hiro and Zero Two, it's that love can take any form, and be between any two people. Most of us wouldn't call Zero Two human, and in reality, she's not.

"But that didn't stop Hiro from falling in love with her and finding true happiness. So, no, I don't think it's weird or crazy at all that Ikuno loves you. As I said, I think you should spend some time with her and see what happens – if that's what you want, of course."

Was that what she wanted? She had essentially turned Ikuno down immediately, but after the amount of time she had had to think about it, Ichigo really was considering each aspect of this possibility. As squad leader, Ichigo had to be able to look at situations from different perspectives, but she had no good experience in this area, and especially with another girl. Her romantic endeavors with Hiro were equivalent to a burning klaxosaur corpse, but they had indeed ended up remaining friends.

Ichigo began to question herself: What's the worst that can happen if I give this a chance and it doesn't work out? What if she's who I'm meant to be with? If this doesn't work out…will we still be able to be friends? Will this negatively affect the upcoming mission the Nines mentioned? What if this somehow destroys the team? What if….

Seeing Ichigo's gaze lose focus and become clouded as the girl lost herself in a sea of increasingly negative questions and self-doubt, Goro placed his hands on her shoulders and gently shook her. Ichigo blinked and shook her head, looking up into Goro's eyes. He said, "Listen, you can just spend time together as friends. It's not like you have to make a decision right this second. The more time you spend with her, the clearer your own feelings will become. I'm sure that you only felt confident enough to tell me how you feel about me because of how close we already are, right?"

Ichigo nodded. It was true; had it been any of the other boys – besides Hiro – admitting their love to her, she probably would have brushed it off and not acknowledged it, for fear of ruining her relationship with said suitor as a friend.

So maybe Goro was right. Maybe the best course of action was to spend some time with Ikuno, one-on-one.

Overwhelmed by the support Goro had shown her, Ichigo pulled her partner into a tight hug, burying her head into his shoulder. After a few moments, she pulled back and said, "Thank you Goro; for understanding my feelings, for listening to me, and for being such a good friend."

It was finally Goro's turn to blush. As he looked away and brought a hand to the back of his head, he said, "Yeah, well, you're welcome, Ichigo. I'm glad that you trust me as much as you do. And," he picked up his rod and recast his line, "I hope you do find someone to share your heart with, whether it's Ikuno, or someone else. I hope you find true love."

Blushing again herself, Ichigo whispered a quiet, "Thank you, Goro. You, too." Then she picked up her rod and recast her line as well.

A few hours later, they had managed to catch a total of 16 fish; ten by Goro, six by Ichigo. They packed up their gear and haul, then proceeded to make their way back to the boarding house to share the bounty with the rest of the squad.

As the house came into sight through the trees, Goro asked, "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I've been thinking about that, actually," Ichigo responded. She wanted advice, but this was something only another, specific, girl could help her with. At least, she hoped she could help her. "I need to go talk to someone. I'll let you know how it goes."

Goro smiled and said, "Can't wait."

They walked the rest of the way to the house in silence, simply enjoying each other's company. It wasn't too long before they heard talking and saw that some of their friends had begun their morning chores as well.

For the first time in a few days, Ichigo felt like things were truly looking up.