Here's the next chapter.
Nobody really questioned the disappearance of Sai besides Fuyuki. They honestly didn't care and most of them were way too thankful to just be out of the Hinata House and not be following their rules.
Their bodies seemed to be programmed against their minds to still be wary of the rules of the Hinata House, some of them would make certain effort to not be exactly 15 inches apart of members of the opposite sex at all times, some of them were a little wary and looked like they felt that they'd never shake off the Hinata House.
It was a sure fact that they were being chased after all.
Fuyuki noticed that the two who had transitioned the most easily to not being institutionalized were Keroro and Tamama. Keroro was pointing out stores and was in a rather cheery mood as if he didn't care where he was and was just kind of going along for the ride- his true motivation. Tamama on the other hand looked like he was using this whole adventure as just another excuse to be lovey dovey and close to Keroro without being separated, saying he needed to hold Keroro's hand in the street and things like that.
Keroro was happy to obliged what he believed were innocent intents.
Fuyuki glanced behind him to see Dororo, Koyuki, Angol Mois and Kululu. Dororo and Koyuki had kept to the back of the group just because they believed they were able to have a quicker reaction time than the rest if they realized they were being followed.
Koyuki looked like she was awkwardly moving her hand over to Dororo's every now and then but the invisible wall placed in Dororo's mind by the Hinata House was preventing her, as he quickened his pace.
Angol Mois and Giroro, who was up in the front of the group trying to get everyone to quicken their pace to the department store, looked like they transitioned by far the least easily into fresh clean air and what they could only know as freedom. Both of them looked very agitated, Giroro's face was tensed up from stress and his legs were shaking as he physically pushed himself to move as quick as he could and keep track of their other party members as if counting them like a mother hen. Every time he saw a flash of a street light or the sound of a loud bus passing by he physically jumped and Fuyuki had to grab the back of his shirt to prevent him from running and hiding – it was like he was reacting to them as if they were bombs!
Mois on the other hand's fingers twitched as if she desperately wanted her comfort item, her cell phone. She also seemed to be keeping the farthest away from members of the opposite sex despite not being in the Hinata House any longer. She kept scurrying up ahead to more of Keroro's side, than moving back to Kululu's again to see if he could walk properly.
"Y-you okay?" Angol Mois looked as if she wanted to offer Kululu a hand or her body to lean on, but the rules in her head of the Hinata House prevented her.
"I haven't walked this much since I was fourteen." Kululu admitted, trying to steady his breathing. "And that was nearly three years ago. Ku, ku, ku."
"Better get used to it, because if you drop and collapse I'm not carrying you. You've served your purpose so if you even start to hinder me, you're dead to us." Giroro hissed. He knew Kululu was the type to purposefully hinder people.
"Me? Hinder someone? But I'm a perfect little angel." Kululu retorted sarcastically. He was a little worried that his body would give out, but he did like making Giroro uncomfortable. And he knew that even if Giroro wanted to ditch him someplace the other group members wouldn't let him. Namely the gullible Fuyuki and Mois. Dororo looked like the hippie sort of type that wouldn't be okay with ditching someone either.
"I can carry you if you drop." Koyuki surprisingly offered. "I'm buff. And I need to work on lifting more often now that I'm free."
"He's so tall! Would you even be able to carry him?" Dororo asked.
Koyuki shrugged. "Maybe I'd have to take it in little steps? Like drag him by his arms across the ground first? I'm pretty good at that."
Kululu paled. He had to keep pushing himself so that didn't happen to him.
"Keroro! If I got too tired would you give me a piggy back ride?" Tamama asked.
Keroro looked down at him awkwardly. "Hmmmm...Depends...How much do you weigh?"
"That's a secret~!" Tamama giggled.
Keroro suspected he wasn't strong enough.
"Look! The department store." Fuyuki pointed. "Sis and Momoka should be acting non-conspicuous to meet us there." Fuyuki hoped that Momoka's escape had gone smoothly. She had been trying to escape her mansion- probably had tighter security than the Hinata House, all by herself.
They moved forward to the department store and headed in front of the sliding glass doors.
"What are these?" Mois asked pointing to the automatic sliding glass doors.
"Ah, I forgot you lost your memory after that earthquake apparently." Keroro scratched his head, "So you've never even been inside a department store. Poor thing."
"I worked at one of these a while back. I liked modifying the doors to malfunction and slam shut while someone was inside them. Ku, ku, ku." Kululu recalled his retail job with great fond memories.
Everyone was silent for a moment and rushed in as quick as they could. They were not caught in the doors.
The department store was filled with people because of the job fair happening during it. Fuyuki had always heard the saying that it was hardest to find someone in a crowd.
He tried to look for Natsumi and Momoka, figure out where they might be.
"There." Giroro managed to spot Natsumi way before Fuyuki even had the chance to. Fuyuki didn't know whether to clap at Giroro's Natsumi's detection skills or be a little worried at how huge a crush Giroro had.
"What about Momoka?" Fuyuki asked.
Giroro shrugged. He was only able to spot Natsumi.
The group slowly headed past the crowd towards Natsumi who was trying to look inconspicuous and grab some fliers.
When she saw Fuyuki heading over, she ran forward and hugged him. "Did it go okay? Are you hurt?" She asked looking over him completely concerned.
"It's fine. We're all safe." Fuyuki smiled and hugged Natsumi back. She wouldn't let him out of her arms. "Have you seen Momoka?"
"Momoka...That's that rich girl you like, right?" Natsumi had never formerly met her. Natsumi was only allowed to visit during weekends and Momoka had weekends off. But she had heard a lot about her from Fuyuki.
Man does Fuyuki have too high of standards. Natsumi hoped he didn't get his heart broken. Momoka was pretty much the most famous and rich girl on the planet after all. She probably had tons of suitors so why would she go for Fuyuki? Her brother was nice, but not that nice.
"L-like...Like in a friend way?" Fuyuki asked and blushed. "Y-yeah. She's a friend of mine."
"Haven't seen her." Natsumi shook her head.
Fuyuki felt a tap on his shoulder. He tried to squirm out of Natsumi's arms.
"I'm right here, Fuyuki." Momoka stuttered in a quiet voice. "It was a bit difficult to shake off my guards and get rid of everything they use to track me, but I'm here."
"Was it okay? You don't look hurt." Fuyuki was relieved.
"I'm not. They are." Momoka said simply. "I blew up three Nishizawa buildings to escape." She shrugged.
"What! That's going too far." Fuyuki was so shocked. She shouldn't have hurt herself like that for the aliens.
"No big deal. I do it all the time if I want to go somewhere without them. My guards are pretty professional though, but I'm stronger." Momoka rolled up her sleeves. "They won't rest until they've found me. But I have to do this. I have to cut myself off from the Nishizawas for my parents sake. So I don't bring down the company with my involvement in the Hinata House."
Fuyuki was so stunned.
Natsumi let Fuyuki go. "So you're Momoka? Wow! You're just as cute as Fuyuki told me you'd be. I didn't expect you to be well so..." Say something nice, don't mention her violence. "Cool."
Momoka blushed a bit. "F-fuyuki said I'm cute...?"
"Ick. Okay, we've found your sister and your weird girlfriend thing, Fuyuki." Kululu pushed in between Fuyuki and Momoka to stop this sappy love fest. He had an escape to continue orchestrating. No time for romantic fluff. "Don't you think we should be leaving instead of flirting? Unless you want to be rediscovered and pay the ultimate price when they find us."
"The ultimate price...?" Giroro asked.
"A one way ticket for all of you into the Healing room. Ku, ku, ku. Although to be honest I wouldn't mind to hearing few of you scream in the healing room." Kululu shot a glance over at Tamama, Dororo, Koyuki, and his eyes lingered on Giroro much longer than the others.
"What's the problem with the healing room?" Dororo asked. "I mean from what I remember the worst thing about it was that it was on the fourth floor..."
"With you." Keroro finished and pointed out. "And we have to deal with you anyway."
"Did you not understand the purpose of the healing room or something, guys?" Giroro asked, the only one who had actually ever been in it. "It wasn't about healing. None of the staff cared if we healed. It was about keeping us nice and pleasant. It was where they tested on new human experiment stuff."
There was dead silence as everyone let that sink in and paled.
Natsumi was the only one who said anything. She didn't want to think about how Fuyuki had previously been in someplace so dangerous. "Who's this jerk?" Natsumi pointed to Kululu. "I don't remember him being in your group." He must have been a jerk if he waved it in their face the threat of what would happen if they failed. Laughing about being experimented.
Giroro turned pale. He still believed that Natsumi was frightened of mental patients and saw them as dangerous instead of seeing him as a human being and equal to her. If she knew about Kululu and how awful he was she'd probably take Fuyuki and leave, she'd be even more frightened of mental patients he'd just prove how dangerous they were. "K-kululu. His name is Kululu." Giroro stuttered out, "He's a super genius from another group that we thought would be useful for our escape. He can hack things really well and reprogram them. He'll be able to see what the Hinata House will try to do to catch us in advance and warn us. Our escape wouldn't have worked without him so we asked him to come with us."
Nobody who knew Kululu was really sure why Giroro was lying. But they didn't speak up besides Fuyuki.
"He's the sergeant Major! From the sarge's platoon, remember, sis?" Fuyuki prodded.
Natsumi sighed. "Darn stupid weird keronian sounding names. He gets this way with all your weird names."
"Ku, ku, ku." Kululu laughed. He had never met Natsumi, only heard about her from Fuyuki and Mois. But it was easy enough to read her face and how strongly she cared about her brother.
If he remembered correctly, the school schedule, she would have just been on her school break. She looked like about high school age, and she looked very easy to manipulate and wind up.
"Pleasure to meet you. Ku, ku, ku. I thought pig tails were out of style on adults, but I guess I was wrong. Are they a fad now?" Kululu asked. He couldn't resit being a jerk.
Natsumi touched her pig tails and frowned. "I'm not an adult! And my pig tails look fine. They were never out of style." She knew what he was implying. That she wasn't stylish.
"Funny, you sure look old. Thought I saw a wrinkle. Ku, ku, ku. I thought for certain you were an adult." He knew she wasn't.
Natsumi rolled up her sleeves and punched him in the side. Kululu buckled down on the floor. Natsumi had nothing against punching jerks. She wouldn't hold back her punches.
Yep. This is going to be quite fun. I see she really is just like Giroro. Kululu thought to himself.
"Nice job, Natsumi." Giroro congratulated.
Natsumi led them to a train that she had tickets for them all to ride. "There's a house in the country that doesn't have that big of a police force surrounding it. I've already gotten permission for you all to stay there." She whispered.
"Is it grandma's house?" Fuyuki asked.
"No..." Natsumi frowned. "But thinking about it now, that would have worked too. Too bad I sold it so we could have some extra money..." She sighed. Their grandma had left it to them after she had died.
They all sat down at the train. Natsumi tried to look around and be close to her brother, supportive of his weird friends. She didn't really know anyone that well besides Giroro, Keroro, and Koyuki.
Kululu on the other hand was making sure he knew everyone. He needed to socialize so he could use them to the best of his abilities.
"So, Tamama...It's nice to finally talk to you. I've heard a lot about you." Kululu laughed again.
"Good things?" Tamama asked hopefully. He didn't know who was telling Kululu about him on the fourth floor. They hadn't wanted to put him up there, right?
"Ku, ku, ku. Heck no. You're a big bully, aren't you? I have to admire that in a way. I mean you could be more cold and heartless than me! I can't believe you're fooling this group of losers into thinking that you value them as friends." Kululu whispered.
Tamama started sniffling and crying, very easily. Kululu's words were very hurtful and he just wasn't emotionally stable enough to deal with them.
"Hey. That was rather mean." Momoka tried to defend her friend.
"Not as mean as your face." Kululu shrugged. He knew he needed to get in good with this group, but he also wanted to be feared.
Being feared was better than being loved.
Momoka growled and tried to keep herself calm.
"Listen, I know you've been on the fourth floor a long time..." Keroro trailed off, "But you can't just treat people that way! Let's start over...Try to build a relationship from square one." Keroro offered his hand, "Name's Keroro. I also had a past in the Hinata House of being mean to people, manipulating them. Making them cry and hurting their feelings. But sometimes you can shake that off. I haven't once made Fuyuki cry or Tamama." Keroro pointed out. "Now tell me your story and tell me who you could hope to achieve to not make cry."
"You don't make either of them cry because they're your boyfriends." Kululu pointed out.
"They are not. They're too young for me." Keroro argued.
Tamama cried a little louder.
"Name's Kululu, and I've read your file mister compulsive liar. I doubt you'd ever be able to shake off manipulating people or being mean to them. It's just natural for you." Kululu shrugged.
Keroro looked shocked but worried. He really was trying to become a better person. Growing was just hard. He sunk into his seat frightened.
"He really does need to hear that. He can't just change the past." Dororo frowned.
"Didn't you turn a guy into a cyborg?" Kululu asked knowing way too personal of information.
"You did what, Dororo?" Koyuki asked surprised. Everybody's heads turned to Dororo- that was the thing they expected least from him, that he was that dangerous.
Dororo hid under his mask. Nobody could see his mouth but they saw that his eyes were frightened. "I...I might have...But I'd never hurt you, Lady Koyuki."
Koyuki for a moment didn't look like she believed him. She scooted a tiny bit away.
"Good choice. At least one of you has common sense, even if she might be so weird that even the mental patients don't consider her normal. Ku, ku, ku." Kululu crossed his arms.
"When we get to the house you're going in a permanent time out." Natsumi sighed. He was just trying to get a rise out of them.
She didn't understand why they had decided to let him come along. He was so gross, creepily laughing, sitting with his legs stretched out- truly terrible.
She didn't know it was all a ruse to make him look like he felt he was better than them, to trick them into thinking that he could afford being without them.
The train continued on it's track.
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