When she asked him how Kerons... how they well... how they reproduced, he thought he'd have a heart attack.

"W-why are you asking me?!"

She huffed, blushing slightly, clearly irritated by his reaction to her, rather embarrassing, question.

"I'm just curious. You guys have been here years and yet we know so little about you! Fuyuki asked Keroro a while ago, but he didn't give a very straight answer, and there's no way I'm asking that stupid frog. Since we're, you know... friends I guess, I thought it'd be less weird to ask you."

We're... she considers us... friends?

As he sat there in his own dreamworld, still stunned by her question but in wonder at her admission, she grew cross and turned to leave.

"Fine, forget it. It doesn't matter anyway."

Shaking himself from his daze, he shot up on unsteady legs, not wanting to lose this moment with her.

"Natsumi, wait!"

She paused in the doorway, one foot already in the house.

"I-I'll tell you, if you're that interested."

Curiosity reignited, she walked back over, sitting on the grass beside the fire. Relieved but terrified, he lowered himself to his usual seat beside her. Poking at the embers with a stick, he wondered how to word it.

"W-well, uh, from what I understand of Pekoponians, it's pretty similar to that, really."

Her eyes widened.

"So, it isn't the same as frogs here, then?"

"Uh... no."

When nothing but silence followed this, she huffed again, frustrated with his vague answers.

"I don't understand, how can it be the same as us? I mean, you guys are essentially naked all the time. And you're all guys! How come you don't- I mean, you don't have, there isn't..."

She gestured vaguely at his lap, trying to convey her point. Eventually, he caught on. Giroro didn't think he could have blushed any harder if he tried, his face radiating heat. He couldn't believe she was really asking...

"Uh, it's uh..."

He trailed off. How could he even...

"Well? It's what? Honestly Giroro, I thought you were going to explain this to me?"

It all came out in a rush.

"It's internal! It's internal to keep it safe unless we're actually about to- !"

He choked, unable to actually voice the words. Fortunately, Natsumi seemed to catch on, cheeks igniting from a pretty pink to a blazing tomato red. They both stared at each other a moment, both morbidly embarrassed and startled by his outburst, before Natsumi schooled herself back to being calm. She had, after all, been the one who wanted to know in the first place.

"Oh... I suppose that makes sense. I guess it would be awkward if... uh..."

She trailed off into silence.

"W-well thanks Giroro! I'll uh... just get going. See you!"

It was one of the few times he could recall being pleased to see Natsumi leave. He promptly doused the fire and dived through the flap of his tent, absolutely mortified and determined to put this bizarre day behind him.


She didn't know what had given her the urge to ask.

The desire to know had been itching away in her mind for weeks. She knew they weren't clones; she'd met Keroro's father, after all. She even knew there were both males and females of their kind, but found it hard to distinguish the two, since with no external parts, they appeared very similar. But then, if they weren't clones, how did they reproduce? Was it the same as for humans, or did they lay eggs? Did they even have any, well, parts, or did they reproduce like the majority of frogs on this planet? She knew it wasn't important. This was no life or death situation, and she wouldn't really be any worse off for not knowing.

Still, Natsumi was nothing if not tenacious. Se had to find out.

She was near petrified with embarrassment at the idea of asking Giroro, but she had few other options. She couldn't imagine coming to any of the other frogs with a question like that. Besides, of all the invaders, she was most likely to believe what he told her. They were friends, after all. And she'd discussed her love life and dating with him before. Was talking about this really so different?

Giroro sure acted like it was, though he answered her anyway. Strange, how relieving the itch the not-knowing had wrought did not save her from feeling mortified by what had just transpired. It was almost worse knowing Giroro was similarly affected, making her embarrassment all the more acute. Why should she feel so flustered? After all, it had just been innocent curiosity, right? Who could blame her, wondering about something like that, especially when they walked around naked all the time!

Still...

She didn't really know how to feel knowing that the frogs, that he was technically sexually compatible with humans.

And why did she even care?