Glad I can be here to write, but being sick stinks. Had to miss three days of school, which in college, is like missing a month x.x'' Blessedly, the teachers are understanding. They say don't come if you're sick, so hey, I'm not going.

Anyway, here's the next installment :) Hope you enjoy and didn't mind my rambling, lol.

Episode 17:
Kirere: An End-of-Summer Friendship
Part 2

The alarm went off again, and Rokiki jumped, soon after gritting his teeth and stomping over to the door. Two weeks he'd been having to deal with just this, the alarm sounding off whenever one of the employees of the shop entered… He looked exhausted from the stress of it.

"It's just me!" Kirere called out as she ran in, tossing her backpack to one side. Haruki pulled up his welding mask and looking out to the young girl, then waving to her.

"Hey, Kirere!" Hiroshi popped up from behind the car Haruki had been working on, mop in hand.

"Huh? You're already here?" Kirere blinked with surprise.

"Yeah!" he set the mop aside and walked over to her. "Come on, I have something I was working on before you got here! Let me show you!" he waved her toward him, and the girl hesitated a moment before Haruki motioned for her to follow the young boy.

"Hehe, reminds me of when I was young, how about you?" Haruki said with a grin to Rokiki, who walked back to his desk with the ripped-out speaker of the machine in hand. The red Keronian set it down neatly on the desk and resumed his typing in silence. "Eh? You weren't really popular with the ladies then either, were you?"

"Again, it's none of your business," Rokiki grumbled. "…I forgot something at my house. I'm taking five, Suzuyama."

With that, Rokiki hopped off of the stool, and out of the garage, hearing the laughter from the junkyard as he walked out of the office.

The walk to his home wasn't a long one, and Chandi was already home from school when he arrived. He arrived to what he could only equate as chaos, with Mora rushing through the home, nearly knocking him down, and Chandi following her mother, looking pained and bored.

"OH! Roki-kun! Just the person I was looking for!" she stopped in front of Rokiki, two dresses on hangers in either and. "Which one do you like better?"

There was some silence from Rokiki as he computed this, and he slowly pointed to the one on the right.

"This one it is!" Mora announced, holding up the one on the left and tossing the other to Chandi, then rushing back to her room.

"What's going on with her? Does she have another wedding to go to?"

"Worse, she's got a date," Chandi said darkly.

"Chandi! Come help me with makeup!" Mora called out from her room, and Chandi answered with another groan.

Rokiki watched as Chandi trudged off, and glanced down at the ground a moment, frowning. He then shook his head, and cursed Haruki's name quietly to himself.

"Hey, it works!" Kirere gasped happily as the old projector clicked and hummed to life, and she looked at hers and Hiroshi's work, delighted. She continued to hop about the old machine, making adjustments, while Hiroshi laughed with amusement.

"Yeah, this is what my dad and I were working on before he left," Hiroshi explained, and Kirere stopped her adjustments, looking up to him stunned. "It's okay. It's been collecting dust for years, so it's about time it got to working. Hey, we should watch a movie on it sometime! I think we still have some at my place!"

"R-Really?" Kirere choked a bit, and Hiroshi tilted his head, puzzled by her reaction to this.

"Yeah… Unless that's too low-tech for you guys…."

"N-No, it's fine! I… I have to get my screwdriver!" she called out, bolting up and rushing to the garage.

"But… You're holding your screwdriver…" Hiroshi muttered.

"Eh? It warm out there?" Haruki walked over as he heard the door slam and saw Kirere leaned against it, her face bright red. "…Oh? Hehehe, I get it! You mean you like him?"

"I… I do not!"

"It's okay, I was like that at your age, too! In fact, there was this one girl, when I lived in the country with my grandma, she was—Eh, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Kirere looked offward, and frowned.

Haruki thought for a moment, and knelt down next to her, "Don't worry, if he's a jerk, I might not be able to do as much as your parents, but we'll make sure he doesn't hurt you, okay?"

Kirere nodded; this was part of what she was afraid of.

"Here you go!" Kirere landed on Hiroshi's roof, and he hopped off of the bike and onto the roof of his house.

"Hehehe, my mom's been wondering how I've been coming in through the back door so quietly!" Hiroshi laughed, and scratched the back of his head. "Eh? What's wrong?"

"Did… You want to bring by one of those films tomorrow? O-Or I was thinking after we were done with work, w-we could go to one at a theater!" Kirere sputtered, gripping onto the handles of her bike tightly.

"Eh? Yeah, um, sure," Hiroshi nodded. "I'll come by your place."

"A-About eight all right?"

"Yeah, it's a date," Hiroshi answered lightly, and Kirere nearly fell off of her bike at these words. "Seeya."

"See ya…" she mumbled numbly, and Hiroshi hopped into his room via his window. "…It's a date…" she repeated, and then gave a giggle, and sped off. "It's a date!"

Giroro kept vigil by the fire as usual, poking at it every now and again and taking a bite of the newspaper-wrapped sweet potato at his side. He felt a familiar chill, followed by the hot smell of curry. He looked up at the looming shadow, and there stood Kururu.

"What are you doing above ground at this hour?" Giroro asked, looking at the scientist suspiciously.

"Kuku! I was wondering if she was having dinner with you for a change..."

"Kirere? She's not home yet?" Giroro bolted up with surprise.

"She's doing that a lot lately…" Kururu turned as Giroro rushed into the house, and directly to Keroro's room.

"GERO! G-Giroro Goucho! I-I-I-I was just starting on the invasion plans! Really, just right now!" Keroro sputtered as he desperately tried to hide his spread newspaper and the half-assembled Gupla laid out on it beneath a low table. Mois looked up from her tea, and Tamama his comic book and snacks.

"She's not here, either…" Giroro said in a panicked mutter as he began to search behind the furniture in the room.

"All I wanted to know was if I could eat her share, kuku!" Kururu chuckled, and Giroro whipped around, grabbing the scientist firmly by the throat.

"How can you even think about yourself at a time like this when—Kirere!"
The little girl's smile was blissful, and she walked past the puzzled group humming happily to herself, closing the door without a word.

"Could you say walking on clouds?" Mois quipped cheerfully.

"…What do you think got into her exactly?" Keroro wondered, looking toward the door.

"Kukuku, it's not from my side—Ack!" Kururu flinched as Giroro's grip tightened a little, and then left. Kururu fell to the ground, grumbling and rubbing his throat, and Giroro looked at the door Kirere had walked through, not knowing exactly what to think.

"What a day…" Rokiki trudged in and closed the door behind himself, and shuffled into the living room, which, like the rest of the house, was decorated almost exclusively in Indian-style furniture. There were a few Japanese elements to the home, but Indian wall-hangings and statues far outweighed these.

Chandi walked down the staircase, and looked down at Rokiki angrily, "I'm surprised you're not stumbling in…"

"What did I do?!" he barked, and Chandi frowned, and looked toward the staircase.

"Nothing, just… Mora got stood up…. Again…"

"Not my problem, she should have better taste in men," Rokiki grumbled as he trudged up the stairs to his bedroom, which was located next to Mora's.

"He's such a jerk," Chandi huffed, and stormed into her room, which was located downstairs.

Rokiki was just about to climb the small handmade stool he'd made to reach his doorknob when he stopped. It took him a few moments to register the noise, and his hand drooped as he did realize what it was. Mora was crying on the other side of the door. He stood there a moment, listening to this, and then walked into his room, his mind now heavy.

"Maybe this one?" Kirere had pulled out all of her drawers, and went about rummaging through her things, looking for anything that would work. "No… This one…"

"I don't see why you own so much of this when you don't even wear it, kuku! Seems like a waste of space…" Kirere jumped at the sound of Kururu's chuckling, and her eyes went wide.

"I-I was just cleaning!" she sputtered, a jacket she'd been holding up behind her back. "That's all!"

"Kuku, you get your lying skills from the old man," Kururu said with amusement, and Kirere's shoulders fell with defeat.

"Don't tell him, all right? Please?!"

"Don't tell him? About what?"

"About my dat—Oh, I get it!" Kirere smiled, and gave a giggle. Kururu returned this with a chuckle of his own, and walked out, closing the door behind him.

"Kirere-chan has a date?" Mois clasped her hands over her mouth.

"Mm, and she made me promise not to tell Senpai…" Kururu sat laid back in his chair, and took another handful of spicy chips from the bag seated next to him, and began to munch away at these. It was the following morning, and these snacks served as his breakfast, "Didn't say anything about you, though, kukuku!"

And from there word quickly spread, until Giroro was seated on the living room couch, looking blankly into nowhere while polishing his best gun.

"…He's been like that for hours…" Keroro stopped his sweeping as Natsumi walked in and waved a hand in front of the red soldier, but to no avail.

"What happened? Wait, Garuru's not visiting again, is he?" Natsumi snapped her head over to Keroro, and the Keronian sighed flippantly.

"Kirere-chan's got a date… Myself, I think Giroro Goucho's blowing this out of proportion…" Keroro soon found himself with Giroro's gun pressed against his face, and the corporal with a strong grip on him.

"You can't possibly know my pain, you've never dealt with this," Giroro said darkly to a terrified Keroro. "You don't know the stress that comes with parenting, you couldn't know a tenth of it!"

"I think it's nice… At least someone's getting a date around here…" Natsumi sighed unhappily, and Giroro snapped his head up to her. "Don't take it so seriously, Giroro! He might be nice!"

"I… I suppose you're right… Maybe he's a warrior in his own right…" Giroro lowered his gun. "I'll follow them, just to be certain he's the right kind of person."

"Oh, no you don't," Natsumi lifted him up the head and glared. "I'll tie you up, if I have to! No one wants their parents to follow them on their dates! Just relax, she's probably told him enough about you already for him to be scared. I've got to get to shopping, don't do anything weird or embarrassing to her, all right? At least try to be a little normal for once!"

"….I'm not sure if normal is something that's doable for us, Natsumi-dono," Keroro sighed as he saw Giroro still fretting.

"…That's not it, either!" Kirere huffed and wiped her face off. She jumped and fell off of the stool she was perched on as she saw Giroro in the reflection, and he managed to grab her by the arms, and prop her back up.

He looked her over for a moment; she'd dressed up for the occasion already; a short denim skirt, green zip-up sweater, and purple shirt with her symbol on it.

"I… Was just practicing looking like a Pekoponian for the invasion is all!" she answered quickly. Giroro looked down at the makeup spread out, and picked up the powder foundation. Kirere looked at him anxiously, knowing she was in trouble.

"…Is he nice?" he asked, putting the foundation back down on the counter. Kirere flushed bright red, and nodded.

"I… I thought you'd be mad," she said quietly, looking up at him.

"No, I'm not. Just… Take this…" Giroro cleared his throat and laid a small gun-shaped object on the counter.

"Huh?"

"It's to protect yourself. That's the clip, here's the gun," he pulled out from behind himself a large silver gun, taller than even he was. At this point Keroro and Tamama stepped in, and drug him out while he protested.

"W-What do you think you're doing?!" Giroro snapped. "Y-You can't do this!"

"And you were doing so well, too," Keroro sighed as they stopped just outside of the door.

"You think you can do something?" Kururu walked over, with Aki at his side. Mois, too, was there, a small bag of makeup in one of her hands.

"As much as he's hated…" Tamama started.

"…He certainly has a lot of friends…" Keroro finished plainly as Kururu opened the door, and shut it behind the two women.

"Kuku!" Kururu overheard this, and only answered with a chuckle.

Giroro looked up at Dororo with a cold glare, and Dororo jumped at the sight of this look, "I-It's all for the best, Giroro-dono… Kirere-chan is responsible, things will go just fine! Plus she's promised now to stop by with him!"

"The chain wasn't necessary," Giroro looked to his foot, where indeed there was a tether, and Dororo gave an uncomfortable chuckle.

"You've proven yourself untrustworthy otherwise," Dororo answered apologetically.

"Well, what do you think?" Aki and Mois walked out, and Kirere stepped out from behind their legs, and looked out at her father shyly.

"K-Kirere… You… You look great…" answered the stunned corporal.

"Kuku! Of course. You don't think I have ugly children, do you? Kuuuukukuku!" Kururu appeared from behind Aki's legs and grinned widely. Giroro gave a small growl at Kururu ruining this moment, and a look daring him to say anything else.

"You're okay with this?" Kirere walked over to Giroro, and looked at him, hopeful for his approval.

He paused for a moment, and sighed, "Yes. Just… Take this at least…." he asked, revealing a large bowie knife. Dororo gave small groan at this; his friend never changed.

"Eh? Is he here?" Kirere asked excitedly as Tamama walked out into the backyard, looking confused.

"No, just Suzuyama-san with another Pekoponian," Tamama answered, puzzled. Kirere immediately lit up, and rushed into the house.

"That's him!" she called out.

"…It's good Kirere is—Wait. WHAT?!" Giroro snapped his head up as it finally clicked with him. At this time Kirere walked back out, with Hiroshi beside her.

The faces ranged were a sea of shock… Save for Kururu, who started laughing so hard he began to hold on to his sides.

"This… Is my dad, and that's my papa…" Kirere looked worried to both of her parents. Kururu was leaning on the side of the house still laughing, and Giroro had gone stark white. "Bye!" she kissed Giroro on the cheek, and walked over to Kururu, looked at him worried, and backed away, then rushed over to Hiroshi.

"…Kirere-chan does take after Giroro Goucho a bit, it would seem…" Keroro said tiredly as Kirere walked out with the boy.

"Well that's just precious," Haruki smiled happily to himself as he watched the two fly off. Rokiki stuck his head out from the backpack Haruki wore and gave a grumble.

"You can drop me off when you're done mooning over this moment," Rokiki snapped.

"You're off early tonight," Haruki said as he started up the bike and continued his drive, now towards Rokiki's house. "Do you have a date, too?"

"Just drive, Suzuyama," Rokiki demanded.

"Boy, I'm behind," Haruki sighed sadly. He dropped off Rokiki in front of his home, and the Keronian wriggled out of the backpack, taking along with him a paper bag. He'd gone out shopping during his break that day, and had been silent on where he'd gone off to.

Mora was cleaning in her room when she heard a knock on the door. She floated over to the bedroom door, expecting Chandi. She was floored as she saw it was instead Rokiki… A very different-looking Rokiki.

"A chef at a restaurant owes me a meal for a drinking game I won last month," he answered uncomfortably, knowing Mora was taking in this as quickly as she possibly could. "…It's one of those fancy ones that think you're Space Yakuza if you have too many tattoos…" he answered, attempting to explain why the tattoos he normally wore were gone.

"Is… Are you wearing makeup?" Mora asked quietly, and Rokiki grew angry at this question, but only briefly, relaxing and taking a deep breath.

"It's just to cover them while we're out."

"We?"

"It's a nice restaurant… It'd be a shame to waste a free ride there on myself…" Rokiki answered, looking increasingly cagey. "Do you want to go or not?"

"I… I'll grab my purse…" she blinked. "C-Chandi! Rokiki-kun and I are… Going out for a bit. We'll be home soon!"

Chandi heard this from her bedroom, but said nothing. Only gave a small smirk and continued flipping through the television channels as she laid in her room.

"It's sold out?" Kirere frowned as they walked up to the theater, and Hiroshi sighed, and scratched the back of his head.

"I knew I should've bought the tickets in advance…" he grumbled. "It's okay, um… We'll get something to eat, instead! I know a place that has these hot noodles, you have to have a stomach of steel to eat them!"

A little while later, Kirere was on bowl three as Hiroshi still ate his sandwich, and watched her with awe, "…Where the heck do you put it all?"

"Eh? I.. I'm sorry, I…"

"Nah, it's fine! Noodles are cheap anyway!" said cheerfully. He sat cross-legged on a bench outside of the ramen stand, and only now noticed people passing by without so much as a glance to the little girl, who had turned on her invisibility shield. "So what do you want to do after this?"
Kirere thought for a moment, and then smiled as she caught sight of the large tower in the distance.

"Woah! I've never been up this high! I didn't think anyone could get all the way up here!" Hiroshi gasped as he clung on to one of the beams of Nishizawa tower, then looked down at the bright lights beneath them. Kirere sat there smiling at his awe over the scenery in front of them, and he laughed and joined her. "Everything looks so small! Will it still look like this after you guys invade?"

"It'll be even brighter!" Kirere answered confidently.

"Wow… It looks like stars already from down here!" he chuckled. "…I'm gonna miss it… I'm glad I got to see it like this, at least once…"

"Huh?" Kirere shot her head over to him, and her smile fell. "Hiroshi, what're you talking about?"

"We're going to move to America…"

"W-What? When?!" she yelped, her eyes wide. "You can't!"

"Soon... Really soon... Tomorrow. Mom says we have to…" Hiroshi answered. "I… I knew about two weeks ago, I just didn't want to say anything because I was having such a good time hanging out with you."

"Tomorrow?! You… You can stay with us, if you want! There's lots of room in my Papa's lab, we'll make you a room!"

"It's okay… Someone has to look after my mom, she can't do it on her own," Hiroshi answered. "I'm all she's got."

"Oh… I… I guess that's how it is with me and my parents, too…" Kirere's voice fell, and she looked away, now near tears.

"Huh? Hey, it's not like I'm dying! What's wrong?" Hiroshi asked worriedly as he saw Kirere averting her eyes from him to hide the fact she was close to crying.

"I… I really like you!" she shouted out in a tone much louder than it'd sounded in her head. Her face went bright red, and she slapped both of her hands over her mouth as soon as she'd said this.

Hiroshi flushed with surprise, and then chuckled a bit, "I… I like you a lot, too."

"W-What? Really?!"

"Yeah… I just thought I'd sound stupid if I said something… You're really nice, even if you can be a jerk…" he added with a grin. "I know if I get a girlfriend over in America I'll have a hard time finding someone half as smart! You know... My mom would've really liked you, too!"

"You really think so?"

"Uh-huh. Hey, maybe if I explain it well enough, you'll be able to come and visit us. I hear the music's even worse over there."

"Hey!" she snapped, but this was through laughter. "So… Just friends, right?"

"Yeah. You're okay with that?"

"Mm-hm!" she nodded happily, although as she did so there was still a sadness in her eyes.

"Well, I can honestly say I'll miss the help around here!" Haruki sighed as he looked out at the surprisingly clean garage, then back to Hiroshi and Kirere.

"Hey, what's up with him?" Hiroshi pointed over Haruki's shoulder to Rokiki, who was more focused-looking on his work than usual.

Rokiki jerked his head up and barked to the three, "We're just friends, all right?!"

He then went back to his work, leaving the other garage employees thoroughly confused.

"This is for you. I think I owe it to you after all of the hard work," Haruki presented the stunned Hiroshi with a white envelope, and the boy was silent with surprise by the yen bills in the envelope.

"What… I… I don't get it…."

"You worked for it," Haruki smiled and winked. "You really think I'd have you put in that much work for a few parts? It's not my style!"

"This is why we're always broke!" Rokiki snapped.

"You did go on a date last night!" Haruki chuckled. "Eh?... Hey, did one of your tattoos disappear?"

Rokiki glanced over to his arm, and flinched; he'd forgotten to clean off the makeup on his right arm.

"I'm gonna go take him to the airport!" Kirere called out.

"Oh, hey, Suzuyama!" Hiroshi turned back around just as they were about to walk out, and lifted up a brown box, passing it off to Haruki. "My mom says we can't take him to America with us, so he's yours now, okay? Take good care of him!"

"…Eh?" the two were out the door, and Haruki pulled back the flaps on the moving box. Out from the box hopped a small brown Shiba Inu pup, who barked and panted as he looked up at Haruki.

"Well, aren't you cute!" Haruki laughed, taking the puppy in his arms. "Look, we're parents!"

"Get…Get that thing away from me, Suzuyama! I mean it!"

"Come on, he's cute! What should we name him?"

"I mean it!"

The rest of the Keroro Platoon watched from afar in the airport as Hiroshi said goodbye to Kirere. Natsumi, Mois, and Fuyuki stood behind them, Fuyuki looking especially uncomfortable at Mois's crying.

"Could you say not happily ever after?" Mois choked.

"Tch," Kururu snorted, and Giroro nudged him sharply.

"Have some respect!" he snapped, and looked out ahead. It was too loud for him to make out anything that was being said, but Kirere ended up giving a nod, and Hiroshi stood, and began to walk back towards his gate, and his mother.

"Ojiisama!" Mois cried out, and grabbed onto Keroro tightly, now bawling. Keroro's oxygen was quickly being squeezed from his body as Mois held onto him, and Tamama ground his teeth in jealousy at the sight.

"At least it's over now…" Giroro said, a distinct tone of relief in his voice. He then watched as Hiroshi turned back around, as if he'd forgotten something, and bent down, kissing the unsuspecting girl on the cheek. Giroro gave a yelp at this, and even Kururu's expression was difficult to pin. But he did not laugh as Hiroshi did this, then stood and waved Kirere off.

She turned back around, and walked back to the group. She looked over her shoulder, and Hiroshi was with his mother now, heading towards the door that would take them to the plane. He waved to her, and she waved back.

"…Bye…" she said quietly.

"Hey, Kiichi, come on!" she heard Tamama call to her.

"Coming!" she called back, and rushed back over to the group.