a brief interlude with some familiar frogs wherein i reveal that giroro has been in this fic the whole time

Corporal Giroro was having a bad day. Granted, it was one in a long string of bad days that only seemed to be getting longer. Today was particularly odious thanks to last night's chaos. He'd called a platoon meeting, thinking it might help, but he should've known better.

"So, the warrant officer's papers got stolen because a girl punched you in the face." Kururu laughed. "You've got a problem with women."

"I don't have a problem! She was small and—and she seemed defenseless. She only managed to get away because I let my guard down."

"You should probably know better by now."

Giroro folded his arms. "It wasn't even that strong. And it's not like it's my fault. There were automatons everywhere, plus a dozen people who could've helped. Not that any of you did anything."

"It was a party," Tamama said, opening the cookie tin on the sideboard. He took a handful. "It's not our job to work security for Bariri's house. If he didn't want someone to steal his stuff, maybe he could've locked it up better."

"I don't think you're getting how serious this is." Giroro pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt a migraine coming on. "She stole classified documents and disappeared into the night. They still haven't found her or any of her accomplices."

A hand fell on his shoulder. "We understand it's serious," Dororo said. "There's not much we can do about it. Tamama has a point; no one's assigned us to this." He gave Giroro's shoulder a pat. "Don't feel too guilty. It happens to the best of us."

"You're too relaxed about this! Keroro?"

"Huh?" Keroro glanced up from his models. He was always puttering away at them during meetings. One of these days, Giroro was going to chuck them out the window. "What were we talking about?"

Giroro gritted his teeth. "Bariri's house. Official documents. Classified documents. They were stolen. You were there."

"Oh. I see." Keroro leaned back and nodded like he understood. "I guess it's up to the police to catch the criminals, then."

"No!" Giroro banged his fist on the coffee table, rattling their cups. Tamama jumped. "This isn't a job for the police! The military needs to handle it."

"Do you even know what was in those classified papers?" Kururu asked. He sipped his tea, a grin barely concealed behind the cup.

"Uh… well…"

"Even if you feel personally responsible, that kind of thing is above our paygrade. They probably have someone else working on it."

Dororo nodded. "Really, Giroro. You shouldn't worry about it. It's not good for your health."

"My health is fine," Giroro muttered. He felt guilty. He shouldn't have hesitated when he saw the girl going through Bariri's desk. He should've dragged her downstairs immediately and told someone to call the police. Instead, he'd let her get away.

"So, it's not our problem?" Keroro said.

"Not our problem," Kururu confirmed.

Tamama raised his teacup. "Hooray!"

Giroro sighed. He didn't know why he bothered. "I have to go. I promised I'd bring Natsumi home for the holidays. See you at dinner, Keroro."

Keroro waved. "See you at dinner!"

"I'll go with you," Dororo offered, grabbing his coat and scarf.

"You don't—"

"Koyuki might need an escort. Not that I don't trust you to watch out for both her and Miss Hinata, but—"

"Alright, alright."

Once they'd left their usual meeting room—a parlor in the house Keroro boarded at—Dororo turned to Giroro and said, "You didn't tell us what she looked like. We can't go searching for her, but we can keep our eyes open and report to the higher ups."

Giroro waved a hand. It was a good suggestion, but it didn't feel right somehow. He kept remembering the terrified look in the girl's eyes. She hadn't seemed afraid of him, but of something else. As if there was an axe dangling over her head. Not to mention she'd apologized after hitting him and sounded sincere.

Maybe she just reminded him of Natsumi and his protective instincts had been triggered.

As if reading his mind, Dororo asked, "She didn't, um, look like Miss Hinata, did she?"

"No. She seemed a bit older than her actually."

"And Miss Hinata wasn't there at the party?"

"No." Giroro frowned. Why was he asking?

"Strange. I thought I saw her there, but she seemed different. No, it wasn't her. Obviously."

"What are you talking about?"

Dororo blinked. "There was a woman at Bariri's party who strongly resembled Miss Hinata. Sorry I didn't mention it earlier. I didn't think about it until just now."

"By 'strongly resembled'…"

"They had similar faces. Her hair was a little redder, but I was fooled for a second. She doesn't have an older sister or a cousin, right?"

"Just a younger brother," Giroro said. There are plenty of people who look the same. Aren't there? There wasn't much to be suspicious of. And yet… He dismissed it. He hated to admit that Kururu was right, but they didn't have the orders or authority to get involved in an investigation.

Dororo shrugged. "Oh well, I guess it was just something I noticed. Don't be too mad at Keroro for not wanting to do anything."

"Why are you always defending him? He needs to grow up one of these days."

"I defend you, too," Dororo said, uncharacteristically deadpan for a moment. "You've gone along with just as many of his decisions as I have, by the way. It's better when we stand together. We're friends, you know, not just colleagues."

"I know," Giroro said, chastened.

"As your friend, you don't have to feel burdened with catching the thief or bringing her to justice. We should be spending this time relaxing with loved ones." Dororo adjusted his mask. "You should put on a good face for Miss Hinata and Koyuki. They just finished their exams."

"I can put on a good face." Giroro spotted a wanted poster stuck to a shop window. It was already damp and a little torn, but the image was clear. He recognized the woman he'd caught in Bariri's office. Even on the poster, she didn't look like a hardened criminal.

Poor girl, he couldn't help thinking. They were going to lock her up for life if she was caught. They would question her for sure. Giroro didn't want to picture faceless, uniformed men raising a hand against her. However, the image came anyway and he shuddered.

There were other things that troubled him about last night. The autoservants had chased the girl into the back garden—a dead end—yet she'd escaped, leaving several frozen and disabled automatons in her wake. It was confusing to say the least. The police were puzzled by the lack of a trail. If she'd scaled the wall, which was unlikely, then surely there would have been footprints on the other side. But there were none to be found.

Giroro was still thinking about it when Natsumi and Koyuki's train arrived at the station. He remembered to put on a good face when he saw the girls. (Seeing his ward and her friend naturally made him smile.) Natsumi seemed glad to be home.

"Final exams were awful," she said, not bothering to sugarcoat things. "But I passed."

"I'm proud of you," Giroro said solemnly. He briefly squeezed her shoulder, then gathered her luggage for her. "I'm sure your mother will be, too."

Natsumi beamed. She stood up a little straighter. "Thank you, sir."

Meanwhile, Koyuki was talking animatedly to Dororo about all the things that had happened at school the past few weeks. He listened without interrupting. When there was a pause, he asked, "Did you remember your training?"

"Yes! Never skipped meditation, either. My highest marks are still in gym." Koyuki smirked. "All the other girls are jealous."

"How's Fuyuki?" Natsumi asked as they headed toward the Hinata household. "Did he study for his exams, or did he waste all his time on conspiracy theories again?"

"I don't know. Keroro sees him the most often. We're waiting for the results."

Natsumi sighed. "What am I going to do with him? He has to grow up at some point. He's thirteen."

Giroro also had no idea what to do. Fuyuki had always been a big believer in ghosts and otherworldly beings, as well as secret government conspiracies, and it had been a harmless hobby until he decided to found a club at school. It wasn't making him many friends. Giroro was worried her younger brother's odd interests might damage Natsumi's reputation going forward.

"Oh, um…" Natsumi twirled a piece of reddish hair around her finger. "Has Saburo been around?"

Giroro bit back a groan. Finding out Saburo's whereabouts would mean asking Kururu, and Giroro would rather die. Kururu was only tolerable in small doses. He recalled Kururu's smug expression earlier and clenched his hand into a fist. Should've punched him.

"You'll have to find out yourself. I haven't been keeping track," Giroro said. He hoped Natsumi would move on from this crush soon. She deserved better than an artsy layabout. Sadly, he understood that these sorts of feelings didn't disappear overnight.

"Why are there wanted posters everywhere?" Koyuki said.

Dororo and Giroro shared a glance. How much did they want to tell the girls? Natsumi and Koyuki were both intelligent young women, but they were here to spend time with family and friends, not worry about a crime that didn't directly affect them.

"There was… there was a thief at Warrant Officer Bariri's ball last night," Giroro said. "They're looking for the culprit."

Natsumi's eyebrows went up. "Were you there? You usually go."

"Yes," Dororo said. "We were there, but everything happened so fast, we don't know what happened." He met Giroro's eyes.

Giroro understood. It was better to downplay his involvement. They weren't on the case, therefore what he'd seen was irrelevant. And yet looking at Natsumi's face reminded him of the pink-haired woman. Where had she come from? Did she have any friends or family? Could she be persuaded to turn herself in to avoid a worse punishment? Most of all, why? Why steal those papers?

He might never know the answers to those questions. Yet they burned in his mind all the way home.