Weird Girl: WHOOT WHOOT! UPDATED! WHOOT WHOOT!

Bob: (reading note card) Now lets continued with this paid program-wait...this isn't a paid programming...

Outside

I kept telling myself that it couldn't be them…that it could be a different room… different people…I just denied it all. I resisted a yawn. I didn't want to sleep. I just didn't want to. But, my eyes kept growing heavier and heavier. But, soon, I gave in and began to dream.

.

.

It's been six months now, late fall, and everything has been the same. At the end of every month, Mr. Bayer comes to check up on my work, Mr. Watahito would reply saying, "He's doing great!" and "He's a fast learner!", though, they do say that I'm getting closer and closer to being able to watch the experimentations take place. I continue to work hard as I enjoy spending time with the group I was assigned to, though, still making records of what I did with them—minus the toys…and that I'm bonding with them. It can't really be that bad to bond with them, can it?

I made friends with many of the scientists here, and I believe I'm finally getting some of their respect. I guess the closest friends there are Vincent, Aloisia, Mr. Watahito, and sometimes Mr. Mishofugi—I learn a lot more of Japanese culture through Mr. Mishofugi, and I tell him about my culture. Though, I noticed that Aloisia has been down lately, and that it gets worse each day. She hides it in front of her husband though…seems like Vincent doesn't notice it. But I guess it's nothing.

"Hey, Jochen!" I turned around and saw Aloisia and Vinzen. "Happy birthday!"

"How did you guys-?"

"Mr. Watahito and Mr. Bayer told us." Vincent simply answered. Aloisia placed a black forest cupcake with the one cherry stem sticking perfectly straight up, lit as if it was the wick of a candle.

"Blow it out." Aloisia smiled.

I leaned forward a bit, blew out the "candle", then placed the cherry aside, since I would always like to save the cherry last. "Where did you get the cherry for this?"

"Mm, don't worry about it, but it was hard though." Aloisia stated.

I began to eat the cupcake when Vinzen asked, "Why haven't you added some of the things you like to your study yet?"

"Well, it's just an office…and I'm sure other people come in here and use it when I'm not occupying it." I replied.

"No, no, no, no." Vinzen shook his head. "This is your study, your own room. You can even bring in a little cot and put in the corner, spend the night here if you want. This is like your own little room."

"Really?"

"I'm surprised you didn't even know this, and you've been here for six months." Aloisia stated.

"Well, eheh heh…" I rubbed the back of my neck as I finished my cupcake. "But wouldn't that be weird?"

"Actually…a lot of people do it here." Aloisia replied.

"It's easier to wake up, get ready, and go straight to work right when you wake up. You get a lot of work done that way." Vinzenz stated.

"If you want to try it out, you can go to the supply closet, take a rolled up bed, pillow, and some spare uniform and pajamas if you want, they have a couple stacks there." Aloisia said.

"Huh…maybe I should try it tonight." I chuckled.

"Oh! Almost forgot!" Vinzenz pulled out his hand from behind his back and placed down an envelope in front of me.

"Huh?" I picked it up and read who it was from. I began to smile, "It's from my brother!"

"Yes, Mr. Bayer said it came in your mail and said to give it to you—."

"What? Mr. Bayer looked through my mail?" I stared up at them.

"Well, yeah…long story for a reason behind that." Aloisia stated, though, it was her way of saying she can't tell me.

I just shrugged it off and looked at my watch, "Oh, I have to go now!"

"Well, have a happy birthday, Jochen." They said as I walked out the door. I went on my way to visit Kiyoko, Masaru, and Yuki. When I arrived, they greeted me like usual.

"What's that?" Yuki pointed to my letter, her sleeve practically covering her entire hand.

"Oh, this is from my brother, he sent me a letter." I replied.

"What does it say?"

"Let's see…" I sat down and began to open the letter.

"I want to see!" Masaru came over.

"Even if you do see, you won't be able to read it, it will be in their language." Kiyoko pointed out as she giggled.

I smiled as I began to read, "It says, 'Dear Little Brother, I'm proud of you for helping out our country and trying to help the world for the greater good in a different way than mine. I hope you're doing well and enjoy your new job. I see why you're confused, little brother, about why they don't tell you much…I would be too if I were in your position. But I do hope it's going to be all well for you. I wish I can say the same for me.

Brother, we're about to invaded France, and I'm scared—no, worried that we're going to get into a battle—well, of course since we had them before, but a larger one than expected. I don't think I'm prepared as they say we are, or that they're truly unprepared as they say they are. If we do enter a great battle, then I am going to be scared through all of it, but I am going to be strong at the same time. But, to show you how we're doing, and to show you the new friends I told you about in the last letter, I sent you a photo. The one on my left is Fester, and the one on my right is Evert.

Sincerely, Erich'"

I pulled out the photo from the envelope and unfolded it. The on the left, Fester, looked like a strong man, very large. The look in his eyes said that he wasn't afraid of anything, that he wasn't afraid to die. Evert, was a very lean looking man, very nicely looking, like he was a wealthy man before he went to war. My brother was in between them. I was worried for him, the look in his eyes said that he was terrified, but I know he was trying to be strong.

I read the bottom of the letter before laughing a bit.

"What are you laughing about?" Yuki asked.

"It says, 'P.S, Brother, Fester wanted me to tell you that he said when are you going to be a man and find a woman already? Evert says ignore him. Don't they lighten up the mood? Oh, and happy birthday, little brother.'"

Masaru and Yuki joined me in laughing.

"Wait, it's your birthday?" Kiyoko asked.

"Oh, why, yes, yes it is." I replied. "His letter came on time."

"How old are you know?" Yuki asked with excitement.

"Eighteen." I replied.

"I hope the weather is nice for your birthday," Kiyoko said. "just in case you're going out somewhere special."

"Actually, the weather is nice, but, I'm not doing anything special." I stated.

"Why not?" Masaru asked.

"Well…I'm going to be working and…I'm not really anywhere near family, I don't know much of Japan…and I'm going to have many other birthdays, so it's fine not celebrating this one."

"But it's your birthday!" Yuki whined. "You have to do something special!"

I began to think, then grinned. "Well…" I whispered, "I'll come here at night, and so we all can do something together."

"What kind of something?" Kiyoko asked.

"It's a surprise…but you have to keep quiet about this, and just be ready and everything…It's going to be really late by the time I come get you three."

"Okay." They smiled. "But isn't it your birthday?"

I only gave a shrug and smile. "I spend it how I want to spend it, it's my birthday."

They just gave a giggle.

I left the room a few minutes later. I went to the supply closet Aloisia told me about, grabbed a rolled up seeming bed item, a pillow, blankets, and went to my study—room…whatever it was and set up my bed and slept…only for a little bit.

When it was exactly midnight, I got out of the bed that lay on the floor and quietly went out the door. There was nobody around, and if they were, they were in a room busy. I quietly went to Kiyoko's, Masaru's, and Yuki's room, silently closing the door behind me. I quietly went beside them, seeing how they were all laying in their beds.

I shook each of them gently. "Hey, come on, wake up. It's time."

They all, one by one, sat up and rubbed their eyes. Yuki said, "I didn't know it would be this late."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, but I have to make sure nobody will catch us." I stated.

"Catch us what?" Masaru asked.

"I'm going to take you guys outside." I stated.

Now they were fully awake.

"O-Outside?" Kiyoko was wide eyed. "But wouldn't you get in great trouble? Especially since you're trying to aim for that special rank?"

"Not if I'm not caught…besides, you three need to live more, and that's worth more thank the rank I want to get."

"But…you've been working so hard." Masaru said. "I mean, we really want to go outside…but, is it really worth the risk?"

I paused for a moment, then gave a nod. "Now, stay really quiet and—." I looked down at their feet. They wore no shoes. "Do you have any shoes?"

They shook their heads.

"But we don't care." Masaru replied. "We rather walk on anything if we're actually going outside."

I gave a small smile, opened the door, and had them walk out. I kept them close to me as I lead the way out, trying our best not to make a peep. We slowly opened the front doors and went right out. Their eyes went directly to the trees that had leaves of orange, gold, red, and brown. The moon shone with enough light to let us see almost everything in the dark. There was a bit of a breeze and a cold chill filled the air.

Yuki darted everywhere, gathering leaves and started piling them up in a spot before jumping into them, then repeating. Masaru was gathering the leaves, only stick them in his shirt and pants, most likely hoping he could bring some inside and hide them in their room. Kiyoko took out her comb and stood in the moon light, spinning around as she smiled.

"Now, don't try to be too loud, or else others will hear you." I stated. "And, don't try to run off or anything, this is a big forest after all…trust me, even I get lost sometimes."

"Okay, Jochen!" Yuki smiled at me as she continued to play in the leaves. I noticed that she didn't use any honorific. I forgot what that means, so I shrugged it off.

"Hey, Jochen, how old are you now?" Masaru asked.

"Eighteen." I responded.

"Ah, so you're two years older than me then?" Kiyoko asked.

"Oh, that's right, you're sixteen." I said. "Yeah, seems like it."

"I'm eight!" Yuki smiled. "And Masaru's thirteen!"

"Of course he knows that!" Masaru stated to Yuki. "He asked us how old we were when we first met!"

"Oh yeah…I forgot." Yuki stated, tossing a handful of leaves up in the air.

"Oh, how I missed the moon," Kiyoko stated as she stared up at the sky. "and the stars."

"I wish they had given us a room with a bigger window at least." Yuki stated.

"Yeah…if not, give us a bigger room!" Masaru forced a laugh. "But I like it better out here…outside."

"I agree." Kiyoko said, then she turned to me. "Thank you, Jochen, for bringing us out here."

Y-You're welcome, but this is a little gesture, so it's nothing." I said.

"It's not a little gesture to us, Jochen." Kiyoko smiled gently.

At that moment, looking at her in the moon light as the leaves fell from the trees, I felt something different about Kiyoko, but I didn't know what. She just seemed…different to me, or was it that she was always like this and I just began to notice? Or was it that I'm beginning to feel different towards her? I just didn't know what it was, or what the feeling was, so I just tried to shake it off, but it kept bugging me.

Kiyoko blushed a bit, "Is there something wrong?"

"Huh?" I hadn't realized I was staring at her. I rubbed the back of my neck as I looked away. "O-Oh, it's nothing, don't worry about it." I stated.

Yuki gave a yawn as she rubbed her eyes. I went over to her and picked her up, "Let's head back inside."

"Already?" Masaru looked at me with big eyes.

"Don't worry…it's not like this is your last time you'll be out here." I gave a smile to them. "Now, let's go back inside."

As we went back inside, I made sure they stood close to me and that Masaru didn't drop a trail of leaves, still wanting to bring a couple with him. I tucked Yuki in her bed, realizing that she had already fallen asleep in my arms. Masaru and Kiyoko sat in their beds.

"Good night." We said to each other before I left.

A/N: I do not own anything I dont own, and I own what I do own...WHOOT FOR SIMPLNESS!

Bob: ...(Reading note cards) Cookies will be rewards for those who review, silent readers will be locked up in a room full of silence and no sound, and trolls/flamers will get to eat hot fiery hot-sauce.

Weird Girl: THAT'S RIGHT! So yes, please review~ :3