Disclaimer: Still do not own anything.
If there's anything non-respectful about the story, I would like it if you please point it out so I can fix it.
Um...Sorry I took such a long break. This is a collab story and it was my turn and all, but I dropped the ball and procrastinated. I will try to get things running again and try to prod my sister into getting things running again.
On that note, I'm sorry for the long wait! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Fuyuki would work with the men in white. That was something he decided that day after what Keroro said.
"Some…. Some people… they don't have anything, you know?" Keroro looked downward. "Maybe no family… no friends… no Gundam… no anything. It's a bit sad… don't you think?"
Some people didn't have anything. He knew what Keroro had meant by that. The men in white who were working with Keroro didn't have anything.
He needed to help them. To figure out their agenda. And even if he needed to pretend for a moment that he was sick, he'd do it.
After all, that was what going undercover was all about.
"Do you think... maybe we should try struggling less against the men in white?" Fuyuki made an attempt at peace with Keroro.
There was another theory to this man-in-white business, another theory that he hadn't thought of. Mind control.
There might be a possibility that they weren't working together with Keroro; Keroro just thought they were.
"Of course we should!" Keroro smiled, giving more evidence to Fuyuki's theory. "But... s-sometimes... even the therapists can't help... sometimes you have to do something for yourself, too. 'Cause when you're out of here, you're on your own," Keroro reminded him. "Especially if you're an adult like me."
Fuyuki must have imagined the waver of fear in the older man's voice.
"That's too bad. But I'm sure you'll make it just fine, Sarge!" he tried to encourage him.
Keroro brushed off the comment as soon as Fuyuki said "Sarge." "I sure hope so."
Fuyuki let the men in white take his blood. He even smiled at them and pretended like they had always been there.
Even if they're doing mind control, they still have personalities and hearts. After all, there was a time Sarge was evil, and now he's my best friend, he reminded himself. He remembered the day fondly when he and Keroro had first bonded.
His doctor smiled at him. "You're being so good, Fuyuki. Thank you for your time."
"No problem!" he said.
Group therapy was with Pururu, which was easy enough.
Should I pretend here, too? Fuyuki wondered. He decided, yes. It would be best to get the whole facility to believe him. Even Pururu. She might have been in on the whole mind control thing.
Pururu always took up a friendly tone with her patients. "Did anyone have any interesting dreams?"
"I... I did!" Keroro raised his hand.
"All right, Keroro, and what happened in it?" she asked.
"Well... there was a Gundam model... And I had it... And that's it. Sorry, I forgot my dream," Keroro lied.
What's with the Sarge? Fuyuki wondered. He seemed more fidgety and worried than normal.
"Very interesting... Okay, next up?" Pururu asked.
"Ohh, ohh! I dreamed about flowers!" Dororo's participation in group activities were all the same.
"I dreamed about... going to school." Fuyuki accidentally cut him off, which was pretty normal for Dororo.
I actually dreamed about aliens, but I can't tell her that. Everybody seems really weird, for some reason, when I mention aliens. I have to pretend like they don't exist. For the men in white.
Pururu was mildly surprised. Whenever they talked about dreams, Fuyuki usually mentioned aliens. "What did you do at school, Fuyuki?"
"Um... well, Momoka was there, and we were in our club... I mean, I was in school, just doing normal work." Fuyuki put his hand on his face, embarrassed. He had messed up. He had mentioned his club, which was an Occult Club that dealt with aliens and the paranormal.
"Oh. Ummm…. It's that sort of dream…. That's why you changed topics pretty fast…. Well, that's normal for boys your age…. You don't need to share that kind of dream, okay?" she pleaded. "I've heard too many of Tamama's already."
"Huh?" Fuyuki looked up, confused. Momoka had turned bright pink, and Tamama and Keroro were both giggling together. "Huh?" Wait. Wait! A minute! Did they think that I had a dream… about kissing Momoka or something? He panicked and waved his hands in the air. "I don't think about kissing her!"
"Meeting dismissed early," Pururu decided. She needed to save Fuyuki from himself and his embarrassment.
Momoka stood there for a moment, blushing, about to say something, but instead darted off, unable to speak.
It took a few moments for Fuyuki to recover. He eventually got out of his seat and headed outside.
Once outside, he overheard Keroro's voice. "My dream wasn't actually about Gundam, Pururu," Keroro was saying from inside.
"Do you want to talk about it? We're alone. And that's why I'm here... to help." Pururu's voice was cheery and optimistic.
Huh? What is it Sarge needs? Fuyuki tried not to listen in, but he did.
"It was a nightmare. About all the times I was let out of this facility. I-I'm just worried… I always seem to end up back here… I don't know how to function outside. Is that going to happen again? Am I going to be trapped here forever?" Keroro wanted to know. His voice sounded like it was tearing up.
"Of course you aren't! There are programs we can enlist you in to help organize your life and future outside of this facility. We'll help you the best we can, Keroro," she told him.
"Th-thanks..." Keroro's voice was breathy, as if he was at the point of tears. "It's just... I don't want to be here all my life. I know that's hard to believe. I might not have much on the outside, but I still want freedom... from here... and myself..."
"We'll get you the help you need. Don't worry," Pururu promised him.
Fuyuki heard footsteps as she lead Keroro away to her office for an emergency conference.
Sarge... needs help? He almost felt his willpower faltering, his suspicion and distress against the men in white fading. If the men in white were here to help Keroro from his own problems, then that was a different matter entirely. I... I didn't even know the Sarge had such fears and issues... I'm not a very good friend if I didn't see that. Fuyuki clenched his fists.
They all wanted out of his house, didn't they? They just wanted their freedom back from the men in white.
And maybe his theory had been wrong, maybe the men in white were there to help, not to control minds.
Maybe they were his friends, too.
Fuyuki suddenly had a strange thought in his head.
Maybe I should start listening to them. For Sarge. So that I can help him. Keroro was more important than any of this, after all, and him unraveling the mystery of the strangers in his home.
Even if Keroro wasn't an alien, Fuyuki knew he'd still have met him, and they'd become best friends.
Maybe what he needed was not to convince the men in white that he was doing well, but to convince everyone else to help the men in white… because the men in white had the potential to help Keroro.
On his way to lunch, he saw Giroro yelling at one of the men in white, the one named Sai.
"Stop it! Just stop trying to do whatever you're doing! I know it's not helping after all, because if it is it's pathetic," he growled.
"Giroro... it's good to talk about your feelings, but perhaps... expressing anger is the problem. Try to act like a gentleman," Sai begged him. Giroro slapped her wrist away.
"OW!" Her eyes teared up.
"Giroro! Hey, Giroro, stop!" Fuyuki told him, getting between him and Sai.
"I've been told not to send you up to the Healing Room again, but I can revoke your dessert privileges for that strike!" Sai threatened, trying to be mean, but only coming off as hurt. "But I won't. I want to be your friend, not your enemy."
Giroro looked between Sai and Fuyuki and sighed. "Whatever. I won't hurt another prisoner here," he decided, and walked away.
As soon as Giroro was gone, Fuyuki turned to Sai. "You okay?" he asked her.
"Yes! Thank you, Mr. Hinata. You're just as nice as I first thought you were!" she smiled. "I wish I could give you a gold star."
"I think the stars should go to the Sarge, not me," Fuyuki laughed. Sai laughed with him, but she didn't know what she was laughing at.
"Want me to walk you to lunch? I'm one of the therapists on duty to make sure everyone remains safe during lunch," she told him.
"Sure!" Fuyuki realized that Sai was nice. My mind control theory was totally off, I guess. She's a sweet person.
Fuyuki entered lunch looking for his friends. He had about thirty minutes before Natsumi would arrive. It was a Friday, and she had promised to see him.
For some reason, he didn't see her much during the weekdays, except today, because there was no school at the moment or something. Was she that busy with school and clubs?
He had a different job than worrying about Natsumi: getting the rest of his friends to trust the men in white so they could aid Keroro in his treatment. Keroro seemed to need this.
It's true he's got a hoarding problem. Maybe these guys are Keronian therapists who want to help us with our problems or something? I can trust them then, he decided. "Hey guys!" He sat down next to Tamama with his lunch.
"Where's Mr. Sergeant?" Tamama asked. He really enjoyed the cool nickname Fuyuki had told him about and used it all the time.
"Conferencing with Pururu." Fuyuki shrugged. "Anyway, I wanted to talk to you guys about yesterday…. Do you ever want to leave this place?" They probably want their own homes instead of mine. "What I mean to say is, do you guys want to get better?" I know that Giroro sure doesn't want to.
"You mean... get healed?" Momoka corrected. "Of course I do. I have a job to do to someday. I have to take over the Nishizawa company! For that, I have to be in perfect condition."
Tamama bit his lip. "I... I don't know. I like it here. with Mr. Sergeant."
"You could always travel with Sarge when you're better. Or recover with him," Fuyuki suggested. Tamama gave a smile, thinking of it.
"I want to get out. But I don't trust any of these people here," Koyuki admitted. "They're saving the wrong things."
"Maybe it's time to trust them then," Fuyuki suggested. "Maybe it's time to be nicer to Sai Uru. She's a nice person. I don't think she means anyone harm."
Koyuki frowned. "What do you mean? Sai Uru's the worst."
"Accidents might happen, though. If Sai means well, that means something in its own right. Caring can be its own reward," Dororo spoke. "And, of course, I want to get better. It's just... harder than that…."
"Try for somebody else, then. Try for somebody you care about," Fuyuki suggested.
"Hmm...? I will try for Lady Koyuki, then. I really will. I don't think I've ever heard that advice before," Dororo admitted. He looked down into his cup, wondering if he could get through his drug addiction if he thought about Koyuki instead.
"Yeah! I think we should really listen to the therapists!" Fuyuki smiled, trying to start something.
Sai watched from a distance, beaming.
"No way." Giroro was the first one to deny this.
Mois agreed with him. "I don't really want to. They're completely wrong. And, you could say, I don't like them!They're just Pekoponians, after all. Pekoponians who think they're always right."
Fuyuki frowned. Mois might ruin Keroro's recovery with that attitude, yet at the same time, he partly agreed with her, and he was happy that she was the only one who seemed to remember about aliens.
"Look... Mois..." Fuyuki went into a whisper. "I know things are going weird, but maybe you could just... pretend to listen to them? I mean, they're wrong about the whole alien thing, but maybe if we help them, they'll help us, like through the Sarge or something else…. I mean, is there something you want from them? There must be something that could be an incentive to you for listening to them…." He trailed off.
"Th-there is... I suppose..." she admitted.
"What is it?" Fuyuki wondered what important person she was thinking of.
"My cell phone! They took it from me when I came in here. If I finally left, they'd give it back... I need my cell phone." Her hands were fidgeting, as if needing to grab the piece of technology she described.
Tamama giggled. "She's addicted to texting is what I heard."
"But I thought that her cell phone was her weapon of mass destruction—"
"Shhh!" Mois put a finger to her lips, trying to keep on-topic. "I suppose I can try your plan…."
Fuyuki beamed. "What about you, Giroro? Do you want to try to get better with the rest of us?"
"No way. I'll never want to be better. And I'll fight the system with everything I have," he vowed. "It's an awful place…." He hissed and took his lunch to leave the table.
Fuyuki frowned.
"Wow! I see that all of you are bonding!" Sai approached them, having listened in on some of their conversation and their new idea to get better and to try. "I think this deserves something. Who wants to go outside and do some flower therapy? I'll watch over you, and we can go in the very protected garden!"
Everybody raised their hands except Fuyuki. They all seemed to want to do something more interesting than being cooped up.
I have to see Sis. I have to stay. He watched them all go, hoping that they'd have fun.
And he waited for Natsumi.
Fuyuki ate his lunch in peace, until Natsumi came in.
"Sorry, I'm a bit late. There was a flood and it was hard to get here…." She was impatient and in a rush. That was why she didn't notice where she was going and accidentally stepped on Giroro's foot.
"Ow! Look where you're going, idiot!" he hissed at her. "You shouldn't just step on people's feet. Clumsiness could get you killed if this was a war."
"Are you calling me an idiot? You're an idiot! This is no war!" Natsumi shot back. "And it was an honest mistake. I'm not clumsy!"
"I think 'mistake' means you're clumsy."
"Oh yeah, well you're—!"
They began verbally fighting, seeing who could throw more insults at each other.
Fuyuki looked around for help, but everybody seemed to be gone. Nobody was looking at them.
They're acting like they just met. What the heck is going on? Fuyuki wondered.
"I admire that you don't back down, soldier, but apologize for your clumsy feet!" he yelled, practically acting like a child now.
"Never!" Natsumi yelled back, her anger just as high as his own.
"Look, just because you're attractive doesn't mean you can get away with whatever you want," he told her. "You're as stupid and naive as your brother."
Nobody was looking, so Natsumi slapped him. "Don't you dare talk badly about Fuyuki. And don't talk about things as if it's a war! It's not. And if it was, I would just kick your butt, anyway," she threatened.
Giroro stood frozen, in a daze, pressing his hand against his cheek.
"Y-you weren't slapping to kill..." he said for a moment.
"Of course I wasn't. I wanted to defend myself from your insults. I'll use my fist next if you dare insult me again," she growled.
"You... have a fine warrior spirit." He tried to get back on focus.
"Um... whatever." She didn't really know what to say, and instead sat down by Fuyuki.
He noticed Giroro staring at his sister the rest of the hour while he talked to her about the men in white and how he was now going to aid them.
Fuyuki smiled. I knew he was still in love with her.
When Natsumi got up for a bathroom break, he turned to Giroro. "Remember what Sai said. Maybe you should act more like a gentleman and she'll like you. I'm sure Sis will," he encouraged.
For a moment, Giroro glared at him, refusing to consider his words. Then he thought a moment and sighed.
"I don't want your sister to like me, Fuyuki. It's just... I admire her warrior spirit. …I haven't met anyone else with anger issues in here that I could possibly get along with…. She's nice. Especially to you," he noted.
"Yeah!" Fuyuki smiled.
"But that's not saying anything like I'm in love with her! No, I'm in no way in love with her. I can't fall in love after one hit. It doesn't happen like that. I do not love your sister." Giroro suddenly started talking about his feelings for Natsumi and blushing.
"Sure... I know that you like her, it's all right," Fuyuki smiled.
"No. Repeat after me. 'Giroro is not in love with Natsumi. He does not admire her warrior spirit so much that he thinks she's the most amazing warrior princess he's ever met. He does not think she is cute or attractive and he is not thinking about her right now.' " Giroro told the boy. Fuyuki just giggled a moment.
As soon as Natsumi got back into the room, Giroro offered to get her a pudding from the snack bar and suddenly pulled out her chair to help her get a seat.
"I-is... Is he acting weirder than he normally does? Or is this just how he acts when people kick his butt?" Natsumi asked.
"It's just for you, Sis," he told her. "Just you."
Giroro totally liked Fuyuki's sister. And that made him happy.
Fuyuki tried to do his best throughout the rest of the day until evening group therapy. He was especially happy to see Sai again, since she seemed to be pretty nice.
"Hey!" she smiled. "Today we'll be talking about dreams, or your dream for the future. What do you want to do once you are out?"
Giroro squirmed in his chair, still not liking group therapy. And having declared that he would never get better, this made for an awkward conversation for him.
"Momoka? You got anything?" Sai turned to the rich heiress.
"I'm going to take over the Nishizawa company," she remminded everyone.
"That is a lovely dream! You've just got to heal up from your issues and then erase them from your records, and everything should be fine!" Sai smiled.
Momoka frowned at Sai, who wanted her to hide her issues from the world.
"Tamama?" Sai asked, trying to be closer to them to build trust.
"I want to travel the world. AND ALSO EAT EVERYTHING," he declared. The conversation seemed light and happy. Everybody liked talking about getting out.
"What about you, Keroro?"
"I would like... to get a job and be good at it... and function well on my own," he admitted. "Maybe also have a bunch of Gundam models, I don't know."
"Functioning by oneself is a good goal, but you don't need to have it by yourself. You could always find a nice girlfriend to help you." Sai smiled vapidly. "What about you, Koyuki? I'm sure you have a lot of dreams for the outside."
"I want to find my gang again and rejoin up... but I suppose I also want to travel with Dororo. Soul mates have to stick together, you know?"
"I agree. All I wish for the outside world is to be with Koyuki." Dororo smiled at her. "Nothing else matters."
"Ah... young love is sweet. What about you, Fuyuki?" she asked. "I know your goal is probably nice."
He shrugged. "I suppose I just want to be with my Mom and Sis."
"But Fuyuki, your mom is-" Sai was cut off by Keroro shaking his head.
"Don't say anything," he ordered. Sai grew quiet. Then she turned to Mois.
"Mois? We don't know much about your real goals. Do you want to model? To sing? What is it you want to do?" she asked, trying to be nice.
"Destroy the—I mean..." Mois thought a moment about a lie to say. "I like, don't know, I guess I'm just a normal Pekoponian—I mean, human. I have, like, no idea." Sai made a tick mark on Mois's record. Her lies had not been convincing enough.
"What about you, Giroro?" Sai asked.
"I don't want to get out. I'm stuck in here my whole life and I'll never get better. You'll all keep me in here because you believe I'm dangerous," he hissed.
"So there's nothing you want on the outside? No occupation? No dream house? Nothing you want to eat? No girl you want to see?" she asked. Giroro continued glaring at the therapist until she mentioned girl.
"Ummm..." He blushed for a moment, "N-no... And it's not like I could do any of those things."
"Of course you can!" Sai smiled, standing up. "You can get out if you prove the treatments are helping you and that you're not dangerous. If you stop punching things and refusing to participate in discussions, you can make a difference."
Giroro frowned. "But... I can't do that…."
"If you think about someone important, you can," Sai came up with. It was totally original. "Everybody, think of somebody important to you as your motivation."
"R-really?" Giroro asked. "I... I suppose... I'll try..." He blushed.
"Yay! So who's the girl you're thinking of! Is she on the outside? The only way to be with her, then, is to get better and be equals!"
"I…. I know…. I know." Giroro didn't answer who she was. "So what's the next bit of conversation we're going to discuss? I'm ready to participate."
Sai smiled and gave him a hug. It took everything in Giroro to not punch her off.
Just think of my sweet warrior princess... he told himself, remembering the way Natsumi had looked at him with those infuriated eyes, ready to defend her brother and herself at whatever cost.
He'd get out. And in the meantime, he'd do exactly what Fuyuki and Sai said. He'd somehow impress her and apologize.
