A little while later, the platoon was sitting together on the twin couches in the Hinatas' living room, waiting for Natsumi and Fuyuki to come home from school.

They waited in silence, not having anything to say to one another. Kululu's announcement about the base had come as a shock and an embarrassment; but, Giroro reasoned with himself, if they had not believed the virus to be something more malevolent the platoon may not have left right away, may not have reached the sergeant major in time.

Giroro's leg jogged restlessly on the floor; aside from having apprehension about seeing Natsumi again after so many weeks, becoming readjusted to comfort and safety was not proving easy for him. The familiar smell of the house contrasted sharply with the memory of the previous weeks.

He glanced sideways at Kululu and was startled to see that there were tears streaming down the sergeant major's cheeks.

"Kululu...?" Giroro had only seen Kululu cry maybe three times since they had met, and at least one of those times Kululu had been drunk. The sergeant major was slumped forward and his face was expressionless.

"What's wrong with you?" Giroro asked him, feeling on edge. The others were watching now too.

Kululu didn't answer but just wiped his face on his sleeve.

Keroro, who was seated across from Giroro, caught his eye and gave him an anxious look. This just made Giroro feel more uncomfortable, so he fixed his gaze instead on the wall clock behind Keroro. It was just after three; school would be out by now.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before the platoon heard the front door opening and the Hinatas' voices came drifting down the hallway.

"I'm going to get the noodles boiling and then take a shower. Will you watch them for me?" Natsumi was saying as she came into view at the door to the living room. "Just don't let them get overcooked; I won't be long and then I can finish-" She entered the room and froze, her mouth still partially open in speech, and stared at the platoon.

Nobody dared speak. Giroro held his breath at the sight of Natsumi standing there, and the full force of how much he had missed her suddenly struck him. He ached to run to her and embrace her but he restrained himself, feeling a little silly.

Natsumi was not looking at him, nor did she seem to notice Kululu; her gaze was fixed on Keroro, who stared back apprehensively. He gulped and, with a small smile, announced bravely, "We're back, Miss Natsumi!"

This was the wrong thing to say, and in only three steps Natsumi was suddenly in front of him, her eyes glinting with fury. Keroro tried to scramble backward across Tamama but Natsumi bonked the sergeant hard on the top of the head with her fist. "BACK?! BACK FROM WHERE?!" she shouted and they all winced. "HOW COULD YOU JUST LEAVE FOR WEEKS WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING?! WHAT KIND OF IDIOTS DO THAT?" She looked almost deranged; a vein in her neck pulsed dangerously.

"We went to find Kululu!" cried Keroro unhappily, squinting in discomfort.

"What?!" Natsumi asked incredulously. She turned around, her fist still on top of Keroro's head. When her eyes landed on Kululu her hand fell limply to her side. Shock registered on her face as she saw how frail he looked, his head bandaged, and she seemed unable to speak for a moment. Kululu turned his face away from her.

"What happened to you...?" she asked him, a crease between her eyebrows. Her anger at the platoon seemed to have vanished.

But before anyone could answer, Fuyuki entered the room, clearly having been drawn by the commotion. "What's going on, Sis?" he asked as he walked in.

"Fuyuki!" Keroro exclaimed with joy and clambered to the end of the couch that was nearest Fuyuki, giving his friend a watery smile. But Fuyuki did not return the greeting; he had already noticed Kululu's conspicuous presence.

"Kululu?" he said uncertainly, his eyes wide with confusion. Kululu continued to act as though the Hinatas weren't there.

"What happened?" Natsumi asked again, more insistently.

Sighing heavily, Keroro turned back to her. "Why don't you two sit down?" he suggested. Natsumi, looking deeply unnerved, took a seat next to Giroro, and Fuyuki placed himself in between Keroro and Tamama. He eyed Kululu, looking concerned, but with a definite glint of curiosity in his eyes.

For over half an hour the platoon (minus Kululu) spoke in earnest, describing the harrowing details of their four-week long expedition. The Hinatas seemed to become paler with every word, and by the time they had finished, Natsumi looked sick.

"That's... horrible," she finally uttered in a small voice. Hearing the story had left a cold feeling in her chest, as if she had swallowed a stone.
Keroro nodded at her in a slow, impressive way, his eyes closed.

They all fell into silent contemplation. "But," Fuyuki began after a moment, frowning, "I don't understand. What made the Rurlough all die at once like that?"

"I was wondering about that too, actually," said Giroro. "We're not sure why, but they all just-"

"Radiation," croaked Kululu, speaking for the first time in hours. The others all looked at him. "It's… the Rurlough... they're weak. From-from the radiation."

"What are you talking about?"

Kululu crossed his legs at the knees and pulled his arms tightly around himself before he began to explain. "The sun in the Rurlough's solar system is a black dwarf sun… it doesn't give off heat or light… and if there hadn't been another source of light, none of the life on the Rurlough's planet or any of the adjacent planets would have been possible."

Giroro shook his head. "The Rurlough's planet is completely dark. The don't have another source of light."

Kululu shot him a look and said, "Not anymore."

"What?"

"The planets in that region used to rely on a… uh… a supergiant sun that was positioned some seven billion miles away… in a neighboring solar system.

"It was about… um… I think it was about three billion years ago that the sun exploded. It obliterated the surrounding planets, obviously, and even though the Rurlough were far away enough to avoid destruction, massive amounts of radiation wreaked havoc on the planet's surface. It killed off most of the population and gave the rest radiation poisoning. That left them lethargic… unable to reproduce naturally… And, it eliminated their source of light and heat..."

Kululu coughed and winced in pain. "The Rurlough are cold-blooded. They need heat. That's why they retreated to the warm depths of their planet: to be near the core. But they still couldn't reproduce, so they cloned themselves instead. Now, the new generations are still sick, even though it's been almost three billion years since the sun exploded."

"I still don't understand," said Fuyuki, his brow furrowed in thought. "That still doesn't explain why they suddenly died."

Kululu didn't answer right away. He looked drained. "They screamed," he said finally. "All of them. They tried to blow out our eardrums and liquefy our brains or whatever, but they were too weak to do something like that. They're just too tired…" Kululu settled back against the couch with a sniff, obviously not wanting to speak anymore.

So there it was. They had gotten Kululu home and their questions had been answered. But no one felt any relief or closure. Each was saturated with grief, each sunk so deeply into his own thoughts that the room and those in it were forgotten. When the sergeant major weakly began crying again, no one looked at him.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

(no not really)

This is the second-to-last chapter in this story, so the next chapter will be the last one :'(

~The end of an era~

Be sure to leave a review and PM me with any questions~