Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

Another chapter done. Yay! Three more chapters (probably) of the arc.

Sorry it took long, my sister was editing this.

Kululu's eyes opened. He was in a hospital bed like he had predicted. The room was calm, white, and there were some flowers.

Boring, he thought to himself. Angol Mois was napping in a chair by his side.

Ku. Darn her. I did this so she could take a vacation from me, yet she had to her nice sweet self and stay by my injured side.

He knew that the pill he'd swallowed had taken him out for at least 12 hours. He wondered if she had taken even a little break from him. But it didn't look like it.

The door opened. "Sergeant Major Kululu, you have visitors," a nurse told him. Mois woke up, startled.

"Kululu! You're up! I'm so glad," she smiled with relief.

"Visitors? I shouldn't have visitors..." He wondered briefly who had been so worried about him to visit him in the hospital. His platoon shouldn't have been notified so soon about his injury. And even if they were, he doubted with Mois gone that Keroro was reading any paperwork. But if it wasn't his platoon, who else could be notified about his injury?

His question was soon answered as two faces he wished he could forget walk through the door. An orange Keronian with a bow insignia and a blue one with a band-aid. His older siblings.

"Kululu! We came as soon as we heard what happened. Thank god you woke up." Rinono breathed a sigh of relief as she walked over him.

"Kind of annoying how we had to drop everything we were doing to visit though," Shupepe, his brother, sighed.

"Hello? Um... it's nice to meet you? Whoever you are?" Mois was confused. "What are you doing visiting Kululu's room?"

"What are you doing in his room?" Rinono asked, glancing at Kululu's injuries. He seemed badly hurt.

No. No please, don't tell them Mois. I don't need my siblings to think I'm dating anyone. That's one place I don't need a fake girlfriend... he silently pleaded. But of course Mois had no idea this was his family.

"I'm Kululu's girlfriend, Angol Mois," Mois greeted. Kululu swore in his head. Even when she was mad at him, she kept to the story.

Shupepe and Rinono looked shocked. "Kululu has a girlfriend?" they asked at the same time.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Rinono asked. "You never write home about your girlfriend!"

"Home?" asked Mois. "Who might you be?"

"My name's Rinono and this is Shupepe. We're Kululu's older siblings," she answered simply. Mois let out a squeal of delight at learning more about Kululu. She hadn't known that he even had a family.

"You never told me you had siblings, Kululu." She glanced at him.

"That's because I try to forget them," he hissed. "I'm fine, Rinono and Shupepe. You can leave."

"No. We heard you were gravely injured. I insisted Shupepe and I visit immediately." Rinono crossed her arms. Kululu hated them both. Rinono took way too much after their mother, babying him, even though he was much more capable than she. And Shupepe, he simply didn't care and had the right response of fear toward Kululu.

But Kululu didn't want either of them there with him. He had injured himself so that Mois could have a break from pretending, and now that she had said she was his girlfriend, she wouldn't be able to take it back and she'd be forced to continue pretending. After all, it would be humiliating to tell his siblings that he was faking a relationship for his pride.

"Go away," Kululu hissed.

"No." Rinono shook her head. "If you need rest, we could spend some time with your girlfriend if you want. But we won't leave until you're discharged."

Kululu frowned. What he wanted less than them talking to him was them talking to Mois. She was mad enough already. "Fine. You can do whatever you people do. Run into walls for all I care to entertain yourself."

"No. I'm not going to run into a wall again," Shupepe told him. He didn't like to remember the chip Kululu had implanted into him to repeatedly run into a wall for three days. It had been terrible.

"Fine, ku ku ku. Suit yourself," he responded. He was not looking forward to this recovery process.

It was very clear that Mois was jittery and conflicted. His injury hadn't made things less awkward, and Kululu could tell she was still mad. Despite that, she was a perfect caregiver, bringing him water and fluffing his pillow to make him more comfortable, but as a girlfriend she couldn't act. Whenever Rinono asked about them and Kululu brought his hand over to Mois's to hold hers, she withdrawed it and unhappily.

It was very clear that she didn't like him, at least romantically. He was a little concerned with his siblings finding out and laughing, but what he was really concerned about was why Mois was mad.

He knew his siblings were dumb enough to just take his word that they were dating, so her anger at him would merely look like a rough patch, or like they were about to break up or something.

It would make enough sense in the context of their story. And if she did break down and refuse to fake date him, he could act like they broke up. But would that make her feel better?

Despite how angry she acted at Kululu, Shupepe remained oblivious that there was even a rough patch. Truly, he was the dumbest of the dumb. Rinono was a tiny bit more observant. She noticed that there was tension and suspected that Kululu and Mois were going to split, so she tried to separate them a bit - something that remained unsuccessful.

"So..." Shupepe cleared his throat. "How long have you been dating my brother?"

"Two years," Mois replied. It was the date they had decided on.

"Keronian years?"

"Pekoponian," she responded.

Shupepe whistled. "Long time." He paused for a moment. "Have you talked about getting married or anything? Rinono and I would love some nieces and nephews!"

Mois flushed. "Wh-what...? No, I mean... Kululu and I aren't going to... We haven't discussed it, it's never come up..." She didn't know what to say.

"Marriage doesn't mean children," Kululu interjected. "Id never have brats, anyway."

"Shupepe... maybe you shouldn't talk about this. I'm sure there's a better subject to talk about." Rinono tried to keep her brother from talking about their relationship too much. She knew they were going to break up.

Shupepe looked confused. He had just wanted to tease Kululu! What was so awkward about that? This was a beautiful opportunity.

It wasn't until Mois and Shupepe left to the cafeteria to bring lunch up to Kululu's room that Rinono tried to talk to Kululu alone about him and Mois.

"Have you ever gone through a break-up before?" She knew this would be an awkward conversation. Their parents weren't around any longer to educate Kululu on relationships.

"Look, I don't even want you to be here, so the least you can do if you are here is to not talk to me," he responded.

"But..." Rinono trailed off. "You and Mois...You two look uneasy..."

"Ku. Look I've never broken up and - " If he was going to lie to his siblings, he might as well go big while Mois wasn't here. "Mois's not going to break up with me - she's hopelessly in love with me. Who can blame her? I'm way cool."

Didn't hurt anyone to brag about himself if Mois wasn't around.

"You don't have to deny it." Rinono didn't see what Kululu was doing as bragging. She saw it as not facing reality. "I can see she's unhappy in this relationship, and although I'd like you to be happy, the poor girl looks miserable." Rinono knew she should side with her brother, but she also knew her brother was a major jerk, and so she honestly felt a little sorry for Mois.

"She does look pretty miserable, doesn't she?" Kululu finally sighed, thinking about it. It was obvious to everyone that she was miserable.

For a second, Kululu felt worried enough to try to confide in someone. Maybe he was just so confused and bad at this that he didn't know what to do, but for once he wanted help and although he hated his sister because she mothered him she was also someone he sometimes felt he needed, in rare times. He liked her and trusted her a lot more than Shupepe.

And he was a little happy that she had come to visit him in the hospital immediately. "She's pretty mad at me," he finally admitted.

"Then apologize." Rinono said simply.

"Can't. I don't know what she's mad about," he said. "I'm such a jerk that I love making people mad at me, but this time I have no idea what I did."

Rinono looked at him with pity. But she had no advice for him. Kululu had never righted any of his wrongs. And he was much too old to start now. "Let her go, maybe. I don't know what you did, either, but this... this won't last."

Kululu nodded. But he mostly ignored her advice.

Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to talk to Mois about what he did or her leaving him so she could rest up on her own because Shupepe was constantly with them. Rinono tried to give the two of them some privacy, but Shupepe didn't.

He was still in the delusioned world of trying to tease Kululu about how cute of a couple they were and about the nieces and nephews that Kululu would not have. Kululu was so tired of it.

Mois didn't help the problem at all, feeding into Shupepe's fantasies by answering some personal questions about what kind of wedding dress she'd wear and what kind of flowers. She just loved weddings too much to miss this chance to rant about her ideal type of wedding.

But eventually, Shupepe finally left to go buy something out of a vending machine. Most likely an action figure to play with because he was bored.

"Your siblings are so different than you. I had no idea," said Mois.

"Yeah, they're dumb," Kululu agreed, turning her politeness into what he assumed she meant. "Listen, I don't want to listen to him asking me invasive personal questions anymore..."

"I can ask him nicely to stop so you can rest. You're still injured, right?" she suggested.

Kululu shook his head."I was thinking something that might benefit me by letting them not talk about you anymore and leave me alone. They have no connection to the convention, so whatever we do relationship-wise won't reach anyone there." He paused. "I think we should break up in front of them, since they think we're dating." This would benefit him on several levels. Mois wouldn't have to pretend anymore, would get a break from him, and she'd get to get out whatever anger she had at him during their break-up.

"I suppose that might help." Still, she frowned. "You sure about it?"

"Positive," Kululu grinned. "Next time they're around, let's do it."

Mois nodded. She was ready.

It didn't take long for Shupepe and Rinono to come back to the room.

"They didn't have the model I wanted..." Shupepe frowned about his action figure. Kululu glanced at Mois. Was she ready?

She looked back at him. She didn't know how to start this. So he started.

"Mois. I thought I could handle dating you, but we're just too different. I'm a jerk, you're a romantic... I think we should break this off."

Mois played along, crossing her arms. "You just want to break up because you're afraid I'll break up with you first."

Rinono and Shupepe immediately felt very awkward about what they had apparently walked in on.

"No, I don't!" Kululu denied, trying to do an emotional act. "I just don't like you at all. I thought it would be nice to have you around, since you like me so much, but what I was really in love with was me. Not you." He pushed her arm very lightly, because he was too weak to push her whole body. Hopefully she'd get the cue to act more angry at him, and eventually that anger would turn to real anger, and she'd let off whatever steam and resentment she actually had against him.

It worked a little bit. Mois looked a little hurt from the very light push that even a baby could have done better. "Well, I thought of Uncle whenever we kissed!"

"Umm... should we ask about how she just said Uncle...? Oh, never mind..." Shupepe looked at his feet.

Kululu frowned. That was probably true. Or, she was acting. He didn't know, but it had hurt him anyway. It was too close to the truth. "I thought about a dirty sock, because that's what it's like, kissing you," he told her.

Mois looked very hurt. He really hoped she knew this was pretend. He didn't want her any angrier at him. But she looked very hurt. "Well, I hated your curry!"

At least he knew that one was a lie - she loved his curry. Unless she doesn't... Wait, does she not? He got so worried and paranoid. His curry was a subject of pride for him and shouldn't have ever been bashed in any way.

"I don't like planetary destruction. Tamama could destroy a planet better than you," he hissed.

"Zhuang's smarter than you!"

"You'll never destroy Pekopon!"

"You won't ever invade Pekopon!"

Eventually, they just started trading insults. And Kululu knew he was getting a little across the edge. She had actually started crying after the "never destroy Pekopon" part. That definitely crossed the line. It took everything in him to not try to desperately comfort her.

"L-let's go, Shupepe... Before they start tossing things," Rinono begged.

"Ku. You mean, before she blows up the hospital," Kululu smiled. She did great at destroying buildings. He then paused and went back to fake mad. It wasn't the time to geek out over Angol Mois's destructive capabilities.

Rinono tried to drag Shupepe off. Shupepe just looked at Kululu awkwardly.

"I hate you, Kululu," Mois finally choked out. "And I hate having to do all this... This dating thing."

Shupepe ran off. Rinono closed the door behind them.

"Okay, they're gone. We can stop now." Kululu sighed. But Angol Mois still looked really mad at him, like she did want to destroy the hospital.

I bet I did go too far with the "she won't destroy Pekopon" thing. She's pretty over-sensitive about that. Kululu felt bad.

"I m-meant it, Kululu. I don't like doing this." She was holding back tears. "It isn't as fun as it was when we first started out. I thought that you would be pretending to other people, but... But..."

Kululu smiled. So she was finally getting to the reason she was mad at him. She was the sort that couldn't fake anger without really getting angry and sad.

"Be honest, Mois. What did I do to make you so mad? I know you're mad at me. You aren't just pretending to be mad. What did I do to hurt you?"

Mois backed away from him. She looked like she had given up fighting hiding it from him. "You used me. I was supposed to be the one person you didn't use here."

Kululu tilted his head to the side. She looked so distressed, but he never remembered using her. He had been honest about this whole pretense thing. All the time.

But she kept talking. "You weren't supposed to use me, or pretend when it was just me. You weren't supposed to con me or hurt me, even for a moment. But you did. And I guess I'm just more mad at me for falling for your pretense. I was stupid." Her lip was shaking. If his legs weren't broken, he would have gone up to her and tried to do whatever people did when they needed to comfort someone.

So I pretended about our relationship when we were alone? And conned her unintentionally? Kululu didn't ever remember doing that. Maybe she was talking about how he had been a bit more flirtatious with her than normal.

Suddenly, he did recall a moment where he had pretended to like her, something he had assumed she knew about, but she had made it very clear she had never seen any cameras.

He had thought she was just a naturally good actor, but he knew the thing about Mois's responses and genuineness was that they were genuine.

"You... weren't pretending, were you? With Garuru?" The dawning of realization came upon him. She must have thought he had been showing and trusting her with his honest feelings... And that would explain all her actions.

Her eyes sparkled with tears, but she nodded. He fell silent. He wanted to get an apology out, but he was at a loss for words.

She... honestly made out with me? Like... that was all for real to her? He was so confused, so embarrassed, but mostly shocked.

Mois just turned away and left the room.

"Wait!" But it was too late. She was gone.

Rinono entered the room moments after Mois was gone. Kululu still looked shocked. Too shocked to even pretend.

"I'm... uhh... Sorry. I heard everything through the door," Rinono told him. "What do you mean you were pretending?"

Kululu sighed and rubbed his head. "At this tech convention, I made a bet with some bozo that I'd bring my girlfriend next time I saw him. I didn't want to lose the bet because I'm too good to lose bets, but I didn't have a girlfriend, so I asked a friend for help. Unfortunately, it seems like in one moment of our fake relationship, she believed me about something and got her feelings badly hurt. She feels like I used her. And I did," Kululu explained, giving it up. He could tell Rinono.

"That makes sense why she's been so mad at you and disinterested, but still has been looking after you," Rinono pieced together. "So she's just a friend? Then why'd you break up?"

"To get Shupepe off our case. I made her mad for real, though," he said.

"And... let me get this straight, you actually do care about her feelings?" Rinono asked. She wasn't surprised that Kululu would fake having a relationship. It wasn't surprising in the least bit, but the fact that he cared about someone's feelings and how she was mad did surprise her.

"Um." Kululu's lens cracked.

"Oh... that makes it more complicated, doesn't it?" Rinono looked at him sadly.

"What does?" he asked.

"You're in a fake relationship with her, but you actually like her."

Kululu furrowed his brow. "I do not. She's just a friend."

Rinono looked at him. He groaned. He hated that family look like "I know you." It was dumb. But there was no way he was going to admit to anyone that he actually liked Mois. And Rinono would never let him live it down.

Rinono sighed, since Kululu wouldn't admit. "You should tell her, or else she might continue being mad and feeling used."

"I think she'd feel even more used if I had feelings for her. It would mean I was taking advantage of this just to be closer to her and I'm sure she'd feel a bit gross about that. So nah," he decided.

"But what are you going to do when this fake relationship ends? Just go back to normal? Pretend it never happened? Do you plan to never tell her how you feel?"

Well... that was the idea. Never tell Mois anything.

"Fine, I guess you can do what you want, but someday you might end up regretting it. You can't just hide feelings forever, Kululu. They'll tear you apart and you'll wonder forever what would have happened if you just told her. She seems nice enough. She wouldn't hate you for it," Rinono pointed out. "Worst-case scenario, she'd tell you she just wants to be friends. But she wouldn't ditch you entirely. She's been looking after you so much. She cares about you."

Kululu crossed his arms. "I don't want to hear your blathering advice. Go leave with Shupepe; you've interrupted Mois's vacation from me."

Rinono sighed. "Fine, but remember my advice. And get well soon." She pat his hand and then departed.

He probably would. He would probably only take another day to recover. His bones could heal pretty fast, and this alien hospital was high quality.

He was discharged quickly after Rinono left. It turned out he healed faster than he expected. Mois finally approached him, ready to go back to the TEC.

"I suppose we have to go back, huh?" she asked with a sigh.

Kululu nodded.

"Don't worry, I can pretend. I don't want to ruin your reputation. Then all of this would be for nothing. I know you might have been a little irritated about how bad I've been doing things because of my anger, but I'll try... okay?" she asked.

"Mois... I had no idea about why you were mad. I don't say this to many people, but I'm sorry. This might not matter to you, but I never meant to use you. I honestly thought you were in on the pretense... I should have made it clearer that Garuru was watching," he explained.

She thought for a moment. "Thank you. Honestly I'm still hurt, but it does matter to me that you apologized. It means a lot to me. I know it was an accident. I'm really sorry for being mad."

"It's all right. Anger's a natural emotion. And I can understand being mad at me. You've been a real trooper through this whole thing. You deserve to be mad at me. After all, I am using you for your reputation of just being my girlfriend," he added. "I should pay more attention to you. You got pretty mad when I was just bragging about you and making you uncomfortable, too. I'm sorry," he said. "This convention... You wanted to come because you thought it would be fun, too. It shouldn't be all about my issues. I mean, we're friends, right?"

Mois smiled, despite her sadness. "Yeah. We are. We're friends." She shook his hand, happy that a conclusion had been reached.

Despite her saying she was fine, Kululu didn't feel like she was. She had agreed to pretend still, but he didn't know if that was for the best.

He was just using her for his reputation. And that was not how he should act. He knew Mois was more important to him than anyone at this fair. She was the one he saw regularly, not them. He'd probably not see any of them again for one hundred years.

He needed to value her more. And he knew only one way to do that.

"How you doing, Kululu?" Wakuku asked when she saw him at the fair again. Zhuang looked the most concerned, like his environmental message had caused all of this.

"I'm so sorry... Are you all right?" Zhuang asked, concerned. He didn't like Kululu, but that didn't mean Kululu deserved to be hurt.

Kululu nodded. "Should have gotten Mois to check my invention. Double check my calculations. Maybe I should ask her to write my presentations, too. Ku! Plus, she's generally a lot better at dealing with people."

Mois smiled. Flattery shouldn't have been making her happier, but it was definitely helping her mood.

"I'm not smarter at dealing with people then you. I'm way oblivious," she reminded him.

"Ku. You definitely know how to value someone, though. You know the importance about relationships, about friendships..." He trailed off.

Mois frowned. Was he going to say what she thought he was going to say?

"It took me way too long to realize that your feelings are more important than my pride. Ku, I don't care about anyone here. Not as much as I care about you, at least. Why should I care about their opinion of me? I want your opinion of me to be better than theirs, Mois, and that's why I'm going to stop preten - " Mois slapped her hand over his mouth before he finished.

She grinned widely at him. He was willing to throw all his progress down the drain for her? Tell everyone that they had been acting, something that would no doubt humiliate him, just to cheer her up?

"I'm better, Kululu. I know you care," she smiled. She was grinning so widely, Kululu hoped she felt better. But he couldn't speak. Her hand was still on his mouth.

She leaned over and shook her head, trying to communicate to him that he didn't need to tell anyone, to not to give himself away for her.

He nodded. If she really wanted to keep pretending he would. She was a good person.

"Thank you, Kululu." She kissed him lightly on the cheek.

He smiled despite himself. That small gesture made him know she was back to normal. She was happy again.

And that was what mattered most to him.

I tried to make Kululu nicer to Angol Mois because my sister said he needed to do cooler nice things.

Please review!